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Apple Delays HomePod

Apple issued an official statement to TechCrunch and other news outlets today saying that the release of the HomePod would be delayed until 2018. Originally announced at WWDC in June with a promised ship date of December 2017, Apple’s statement says the HomePod will be released in ‘early 2018,’ and the smart Siri-enabled speaker will be available initially in the US, UK, and Australia.

The full text of the statement made to TechCrunch is as follows:

“We can’t wait for people to experience HomePod, Apple’s breakthrough wireless speaker for the home, but we need a little more time before it’s ready for our customers. We’ll start shipping in the US, UK, and Australia in early 2018.”

Apple Posts ‘What’s a Computer’ Video Promoting the iPad Pro

In a new video posted on YouTube called ‘What’s a Computer?’, Apple follows a girl as she leaves home on a bicycle and travels around a city with her iPad Pro. Set to ‘Go’ by Louis the Child, the girl uses FaceTime to chat with friends, marks up a screenshot of her chat, and sends it via Messages. Later she’s seen writing a report in Microsoft Word. In the middle of writing, she sees a praying mantis, swipes up to access the Dock, and takes a quick photo of it.

In the next scene, the girl draws with Procreate using the Apple Pencil. Later, she’s seen sitting in a park taking notes on ‘Bugs in the City’ using GoodNotes, and then reads a Wonder Woman comic book on the subway ride home. The video ends in the girl’s backyard. She’s lying in the grass typing away on her iPad Pro. When a neighbor asks her what she’s doing on her computer, the girl replies ‘What’s a computer’ making the not-so-subtle point that an iPad Pro is more than enough computer for many tasks.

Apple Encourages Developers to Update to watchOS 4

In a short note to developers on its Developer News and Updates site, Apple is encouraging developers to:

Take advantage of increased performance, new background modes for navigation and audio recording, built-in altimeter capabilities, direct connections to accessories with Core Bluetooth, and more. In addition, the size limit of a watchOS app bundle has increased from 50 MB to 75 MB.

The carrot of new functionality comes with something of a stick as well. After April 1, 2018, watchOS 1 app updates will no longer be accepted and all updates must be native apps built with the watchOS 2 SDK or later. New app submissions must be built with the watchOS 4 SDK.

Apple Fixes iPhone X Bugs with the Release of iOS 11.1.2

Not long after the iPhone X was released, there were reports that the screens of the devices became unresponsive when the temperature dropped rapidly. That issue along with ‘an issue that could cause distortion in Live Photos and videos captured with iPhone X’ were fixed in iOS 11.1.2, which was released a short time ago.

iOS 11.1.2 can be downloaded by going to Settings ⇾ General ⇾ Software Update.

Firefox Receives Speed Bump and Design Refresh

I was an original supporter of Firefox in 2004. At the time, the Internet was in desperate need of change. The web browser market was dominated by Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, which was clunky and becoming an increasingly closed, proprietary system. Firefox found immediate success because it was fast and had an extension system for extending its functionality. Over time though, Firefox lost its speed advantage and fell out of favor.

Now, Firefox is back with a new and improved version called Firefox Quantum that focuses on speed and a fresh design. According to the Mozilla Foundation:

Firefox Quantum is over twice as fast as Firefox from 6 months ago, built on a completely overhauled core engine with brand new technology stolen from our advanced research group, and graced with a beautiful new look designed to get out of the way and let you do what you do best: surf a ton of pages, open a zillion tabs, all guilt free because Firefox Quantum uses less memory than the competition.

I haven’t had an opportunity to thoroughly test Firefox on my Mac, but even after opening 50 tabs on a fresh install of the browser, many of which were notoriously heavy sites, Firefox remained responsive. In addition to being twice as fast as the previous version of the app, Mozilla says Firefox Quantum uses 30% less memory than Google Chrome.

The under-the-hood improvements are coupled with a refreshed user interface that’s designed to scale from mobile devices to large screens. The redesign includes the incorporation of Pocket article recommendations. When you open a new tab, you get three article recommendations from Pocket, which was acquired by Mozilla earlier this year, along with links to popular Pocket article categories.

The update to Firefox for macOS is coupled with a similar design refresh on iOS. Version 10.1 of Firefox brings Firefox’s new design to iOS, including Pocket recommendations. The iOS version of the browser also has a ‘no image’ mode that uses less data and loads faster.

Firefox for macOS is available directly from the Mozilla Foundation. The iOS version of the browser is available on the App Store.

Stranded Kitesurfer Used His Apple Watch to Call for Help→

John Zilles, a 49-year-old who has been kiteboarding for 20 years, recently found himself stuck at sea after crashing about a mile off the coast of Ventura, California, an area known for great white sharks. Zilles told his story to the Daily Mail:

’I started thinking about all the great white shark sightings in our area, and although I realised I could probably swim in, I couldn’t stop thinking about sharks - it was a real mind bender.

’I realized I had my watch - so called the Ventura Harbor Patrol, explained my situation and asked for help.’

The harbor patrol sent a boat, and Zilles spotted it, but the boat was heading in the wrong direction. Another quick call on his Apple Watch and Zilles was in the boat heading back to safety.

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Quip: Care for Your Teeth [Sponsor]

Behind the elegant design of the quip electric toothbrush is a mission to care for your teeth. Fixing bad habits makes a big impact on oral health, but too often, it’s ignored and glossed over by oral care products and services. The quip toothbrush changes that.

The quip brush has a beautiful slim design that makes other electric toothbrushes look like power tools by comparison. The slender body of the quip brush also makes it easy to take on the go when you travel.

There’s more to quip than its sleek looks though. The brush has sensitive vibrating bristles with 30-second pulses that guide you through a 2-minute brushing routine. There’s also a wire-free, suction-based wall mount that doubles as a carrying case for when you travel. Best of all, quip is affordable.

Brush heads wear out and if they’re used too long become unhygienic and ineffective. That’s why quip also offers a subscription plan that delivers a new brush head to your home every three months along with a AAA battery to keep it powered. For added convenience, you can even add a tube of quip toothpaste to your subscription. Subscribing is an effortless way to start a good habit by putting brush head replacement on autopilot.

We have a special deal just for MacStories readers. You can get your first brush head refill from quip for free by using this link. Start a good habit and take care of your teeth today with quip.

Our thanks to quip for sponsoring MacStories this week.

The App Store Adds Weekend Deals Feature

Apple has introduced a new feature in the Today tab of the App Store called ‘This Weekend Only.’ Each Thursday, one app will offer an exclusive deal to users that lasts through Sunday.

The new feature is being kicked off with five deals instead of one:

The new promotion strikes me as a good way to help drive traffic to the App Store on weekends, which are slow sales days for many developers. It also makes sense to kick off the App Store’s new feature with apps from relatively large companies with broad appeal, but I hope that in the long run, smaller independent development shops are included too.