The Apple Beat: Apple Pay now an option for donating to causes and non-profits, MacBook Pros in the wild

 

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Apple Pay has been touted as the next generation mobile payments platform and Apple’s done a great job of securing global banks and partners, making ApplePay an option in major retailers and restaurants and even tuning their hardware so Apple Pay is one fingerprint or password away from enabling a quick and secure sale, even the new MacBook Pros feature a Touch ID button to make this easy.

According to their newsroom, Apple Pay now ‘makes it easier and more security to donate to nonprofit organizations.’ This is a great and safe option not just for responding to emergencies such as earthquakes, floods and other catastrophes but also for sending funds to causes, nonprofits and other charities. The list of nonprofits and charities is up on Apple’s website, it’s mostly from International and American organizations, I hope Canadian nonprofits can be included soon, specially as we’re headed into the season of giving.

Click to read more ...

Analyst: Apple's iPhone captures 103.6 % of smartphone profits in wake of Samsung Note fiasco

Analysts at BMO Capital Markets estimate that Apple captured 103.6 % of total smartphone industry profits in the wake of Samsung's monumental product recall for its faulty and now discontinued Galaxy Note 7 flagship. Samsung's profits are at 0.9%. BMO says that Apple also took more than 100 % of profits because a majority of vendores (i.e. LG, HTC) recorded losses on theri smartphone divisions this third quarter.

Samsung tried to steal the thunder from Apple's iPhone 7, they rushed their product to market and even bumped up the name to Note 7 (foregoing the Note 6). This backfired completely when Note 7 devices started exploding and causing fires. This propelled Samsung's brand into notoriety to the extent that no Note 7's were allowed on any airlines and the company recalled the product to the tune of $2 billion loss.

Click to read more ...

Emoji get redesigned and detailed in public beta of iOS 10.2

Emoji have replaced letters and words for many users specially in messaging and chat apps. Apple's given various emoji more than a fresh coat of paint and added more detail and nuance to various designs. Older emoji weren't designed for viewing on larger displays or on high resolution displays.

Participants of Apple's iOS Public Beta program who install iOS 10.2 on their devices will get the new emoji that conform to the Unicode 9.0 standard. these include about 72 new icons, such as a clown, bacon, a selfie, and a sneezing face. Existing ones have also been redrawn with more detail, and/or different styles. These emoji will be standard once the OS is rolled out as an update to all users.

Here's everything Apple announced today

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

We finally have new MacBook Pros. Although this leaked and anticipated update to Apple's line of pro notebooks has been percolating for months, there are now three new slimmer MacBook Pros outfitted with newer processors, faster I/O and, on the two more expensive models, a new OLED Touchbar that's designed to change as users move through apps.

The adaptive TouchBar is the big innovation for this cycle and makes the MacBook Pros that feature it far more versatile to use. Final Cut Pro users, for example, will be able to scrub through their timelines, apply edits and precise changes plus navigate the app's shortcuts using the TouchBar. Hit jump for a wuick overview.

Click to read more ...