Apple

Reports indicate that Apple is keen on investing in satellite technology. If the company’s under-wraps satellite project succeeds, data transfer to iDevices could be possible without the internet. In an era of increased digital surveillance, this could provide users with greater control over their own data.

Surnamed "Northern Wind," this year's last major update to War Thunder comes with a full aircraft tech tree and two premium tanks for Sweden alongside two new naval maps, a few solid graphics engine upgrades — including Ray Traced Global Illumination and HDR support, as well as over a dozen of new ships, aircraft, and vehicles for other nations.

Opera released a variant of its browser optimized for gaming earlier this year. Now, it has announced that the same app, known as GX, is compatible with macOS as well as Windows. Therefore, those using such systems can now use features such as Twitch support and network limiters in their browser.

A bug in iOS 13.3 allows users to easily circumvent the Communication Limits feature. While Communication Limits is supposed to block users (specifically children) from communicating with or adding unknown or unapproved numbers, simply setting up the phone to not sync to iCloud will bypass the feature and allow users to add new numbers without verification.

Apple recently acquired control of U.K. startup Spectral Edge Ltd., a company that developer AI-based photo processing software. The software merges an infrared picture with a traditional photograph to sharpen the image and improve color balance. Apple may use this technology in future iPhones, though in its current state, it relies on infrared cameras.

Huami is a wearables OEM that has made a name for itself largely through its Amazfit brand of smartwatches. However, it has revealed that it intends to push into additional product categories next year. The company has secured a CES 2020 booth, at which its new products may be revealed.

The latest version of macOS Catalina (10.15.2) brings a slew of minor updates and bug fixes. Interestingly, the update may have fixed the speaker snap, crackle, and pop issues reported by some Macbook and Macbook Pro users, though nothing official has been stated by Apple.

The iPhone may be doing well in Western markets, but the handset saw a massive 35% year-over-year drop in shipments in China last month. This news from Credit Suisse analysts flies in the face of prior predictions from Apple and others that claimed the iPhone 11 would do well in Chinese markets due to high demand. The most likely cause for the drop in sales lies at the feet of policy; the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China has driven iPhone prices up in the mainland, likely killing demand in the process.

At least 60% or more of US consumers aged 55 years or more favor Fitbit when buying a wearable. This is due to the demand for smartwatches and fitness trackers in the relevant age ranges. However, Apple is more popular among those aged 18 to 24.

Apple's new Mac Pro is expensive, but most of the components seem worth the asking price (for the most part). But what about the wheels? At its asking price of $400, Apple is pushing the limits of supply and demand.

Get ready for what could be the most expensive cheesegrater in your life: the new Mac Pro is here. It is now available to pre-order from Apple.com and retailers such as B&H. This new PC has configurations that go from 4- to 6-figure USD prices.

As surprising as this might be for many of us, "iPhone 11" was the only tech-related search in the global top 10 queries that people entered on Google Search this year. Ranked fifth globally, Apple's handset only managed to grab the ninth spot in the most popular Google Search topics stateside.

In addition to the significant performance boost over its predecessor of up to 12 percent, the latest driver package for AMD Radeon video cards also comes with brand new features such as Radeon Boost, Integer Scaling, and a brand-new AMD Link app. AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 2020 Edition also comes with a fully redesigned gaming application.

AZIO has a new RGB mechanical keyboard up for crowdfunding on Indiegogo. This one has a less retro appearance, yet is still touted to be high-end in terms of its materials and build quality. It also has the OEM's new FOKAL spinning control, which can be used for a variety of sliding-value options and also acts as a 360-degree joystick.

Apple is suing Gerard Williams III, one of the founders of Nuvia, for breaching an intellectual property contract and soliciting Apple employees to leave Apple and work at Nuvia. Williams denies that he actively recruited Apple employees and claims that Apple intruded on his privacy by reading through his personal text messages.

OPPO's Inno Day 2019 event was mostly dominated by upcoming products such as its AR headset. However, it also teased new wearables that may launch soon as well. They are a new pair of truly wireless (TWS) earbuds, as well as a square-faced smartwatch.

The update that was supposed to add a few high-tier dual-barreled tanks to the Russian tech tree sadly fails to do so, leaving the Anonymizer feature as the only big change for World of Tanks 1.7. However, Crew Directives — previously available for bonds — can now be purchased only for credits.

According to analyst Jun Zhang of Rosenblatt Securities, Apple may cut its production of the iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max by as much as 25% in both December and March due to a market shift toward 5G smartphones. However, Zhang's predictions are at odds with other analysts, who claim that the iPhone 11 family is selling quite well.

Apple is said to be planning a successor to the iPhone SE for next March, which has hitherto been referred to as the iPhone SE 2. The comparatively compact smartphone will apparently sport an iPhone 8 design, with an informed source now being cited that Apple will call it the iPhone 9.

The eSIM market is thought to be capable of growing rapidly in terms of shipment volumes until 2025. New research on the same subject now shows that its value will exceed US$700 million by the end of the year. This may be driven by their use in consumer-grade devices, as well as in newer cars and in the internet-of-things (IoT).

The panel-maker Vizio has reported that it "exceeded expectations" over the Black Friday/Cyber Monday period just gone, having sold 500,000 or more units of its smart TVs between these days in 2019. For example, it sold 87% more premium 4K UHD big-screens year-on-year (YoY) compared to the same event in 2018.

MAGFAST is a company set up to offer power accessories with an innovative magnetic interface. Its largest product is the Extreme, a charging station with 3 Qi-wireless charging coils on its top. It can also support USB type C, type A and Lightning-ported devices - as well as jump-leads for a car.

Garmin has launched its Venu wearable in the Indian market. It has a smartwatch form factor, with a round 1.2-inch AMOLED display, but also has modes to track over 20 fitness-related activities and an inbuilt coaching interface for workouts. It will go for 37490 INR (or about US$525) when it is released to Amazon.in on December 15, 2019.

Apple has finally admitted to secretly tracking the location data of iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max users. The company stated that the tracking was necessary for the Ultra Wideband (UWB) hardware in the 2019 iPhones to meet regulatory standards. Some countries require that UWB radios be disabled within their borders. Apple further stated that a future iOS update will allow users to fully disable this location tracking.

The smallest MacBook Pro released this year has an issue and one that could seemingly strike at any time. Apple has acknowledged that many MacBook Pro 13 machines released from July onwards this year are experiencing random shutdown issues, but is yet to address it with a proper solution.

Apple and Qualcomm are pushing hard into the launch of a 5G iPhone. According to Qualcomm's president Cristiano Amon, the release of a 5G-capable iPhone is the chip manufacturer's "priority number one" in their relationship with Apple. However, some roadblocks may keep a 5G iPhone from hitting markets in 2020.

Apple returns with a new MacBook Pro that addresses many of the concerns that we had about the fourth-generation models. While the MacBook Pro 16 may look an awful lot like its 15-inch predecessor, Apple has made several tweaks that make it a pleasure to use.

Due to copious amounts of data collected by Google from smartphones running Android, iPhones are often seen as a more privacy-conscious option. One of the key comparisons is the relative ease of disabling all location requests on iPhone, compared to the various hoops you must jump through on Android, but that appears to be less clear-cut with the iPhone 11 Pro.

The new Snapdragon 865 was unveiled yesterday. The device has now been benchmarked on an outdated version of Geekbench. Recorded scores show it throwing blows with the Apple A12 Bionic, matching the Apple A13 in multi-core, while equalling the Exynos 9825 in single-core and destroying it in multi-core.

Two new rumours about next year's iPhones are doing the rounds, and they imply that Apple is considering making its smartphones better value for money. Heresy, right?

Some subscription-based streaming platforms have become huge for a number of reasons, the total lack of ads being one of them. However, there are emerging alternatives that reinstate this potential disadvantage back in return for no monthly fee. Research has shown that their uptake in the United States has increased by nearly 10% over the last 12 months.

Huami has released a statement on how its latest device, the Amazfit GTS, did in the recent November 2019 sales event. It claims that the smartwatch was a hit on numerous regional online sales platform. The GTR and Bip Lite wearables also allegedly sold out in 1 hour in 1 store.

DxOMark has shared its thoughts on what it considers to be the best smartphone cameras of 2019, grouped into specific sub-categories. There are a few iffy choices, but one major takeaway from the list is just how impressive the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Pro is.

The 16-inch MacBook Pro may have pleased fans and reviewers alike with its scissor-switch keyboard, Apple's latest laptop remains just as difficult as ever to disassemble. Even a mundane task like cleaning the fans poses the risk of damaging the device if you remove its bottom case incorrectly. We accidentally damaged our review unit, but you don't have to.

Recently, reports of Twitter's intentions to delete inactive accounts, starting December 2019, came to light. However, the company has come up against resistance to this idea from more vocal users. Their main objection appears to be that the move would result in the removal of the timelines of the dead.

North Pole Engineering has launched heartbeatz, a new device that acts as a bridge between an Apple Watch and any exercise bike or treadmill with ANT+. This enables the machine in question to display heart rate information directly from the wearable while in use. No more checking your wrist during a workout!

Prompted by the botched and buggy release of iOS 13, Apple has changed its internal development and testing processes for future operating system releases. The new changes will disable new or in-development features by default in OS versions under testing, allowing testers to better pinpoint problematic software.

OPPO may have an equivalent to Samsung's Exynos SoC line in the works. This is in line with a new report that the OEM has registered the name M1 in relation to this product category with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). This hardware could thus join or even replace Qualcomm silicon in future phones from this company.

Apple launched battery cases for the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max today. The new cases feature a dedicated camera button that can snap a photo or start recording video without the need for launching the Camera app or unlocking the device. The cases are priced at $129.

The Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max costs between US$1,099 and US$1,449 depending on which version you buy, making it one of the most expensive smartphones currently on the market. However, although Apple extols the device's camera capabilities, DxOMark seems to think that a smartphone that costs up to 3x less offers a better camera experience than Apple's latest flagship does. While DxOMark is not the arbiter of camera reviews, but Xiaomi can probably chalk this one up as a win.

Rumors of Apple releasing a 14-inch MacBook Pro have been around since at least the start of this year, although the 16-inch refresh of the 15-inch model points towards the smaller entry in the series receiving another incremental upgrade. Apparently launching in mid-2020, Apple may once again be taking inspiration from its past with the next baby MacBook Pro.

NUVIA, a new company founded by three former executives with experience in designing and manufacturing Apple CPUs and SoCs, has officially been announced. NUVIA will manufacture hardware for use in data centers with a focus on delivering more powerful silicon that runs significantly more efficiently than existing chips from AMD and Intel. The venture has currently raised $53 million from companies like Dell.

B&H Photo Video is offering a US$100 "holiday" discount off the first MacBook Pro 16" units it has in stock. However, they all have 16GB of RAM, whereas this new Apple product also has 32GB and 64GB options. Some do have a core i9 processor, albeit the one with a base clock of 2.3GHz.

A new study of wearable uptake in the US shows that 56% of its participants own such a device. Furthermore, another 13% of this group reported considering the purchase of one by 2020. This study's publication also contained some recommendation for Google's next moves in this game following its Fitbit acquisition.

Google has reportedly set up partnerships, or at least talks for partnerships, with various US banks and credit unions to offer a new kind of checking account linked to the Pay service. This may help it battle Apple, not to mention other bodies such as AliPay and Samsung Pay.

The wait is over for long-suffering Apple MacBook Pro fans as the company’s rumored 16-inch MacBook Pro finally debuts. Among the headlining features is a new Magic Keyboard with scissor switch, up to 64 GB of RAM and the option to ramp storage all the way to an 8 TB SSD.