By news@appleinsider.com (William Gallagher) Apple’s free business promotion service is now available to companies without a physical location, such as online-only ones, plus it offers more branding options.Apple Business Connect users will be able to display logos and brand names — Image credit: AppleApple Business Connect launched in 2023 as a free way for firms to promote themselves through Apple’s services such as Maps, and Wallet. Companies register with Apple and can fill out a Business Connect form with logos, images, and so on, which will then be displayed on Apple Maps.The service is free, but it was specifically limited to businesses with physical locations, such as retail stores. Now, however, any firm can go to businessconnect.apple.com and register without having a real-world address. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
By news@appleinsider.com (Malcolm Owen) Supergiant Games has brought the sequel to its Underworld brawler “Hades II” to macOS, with it now natively supporting Apple Silicon hardware.Hades II – Image credit: Supergiant GamesHades II is a sequel to the Supergiant Games rogue-like dungeon crawler Hades, with it available as an early access game on Steam. While it was initially distributed for Windows, the developers have now made it available on macOS.In Wednesday’s “Olympic Update” patch, the game has been given many updates and tweaks to gameplay. One of the highlights is the addition of Mac support, with it now running natively on an M1 chip or later. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
By news@appleinsider.com (Malcolm Owen) Apple’s App Store and Mac App Store are having issues on Wednesday, with users unable to download apps among other problems with the digital sales platform.Apple System StatusA number of Mac and iPhone users discovered that they were not able to download apps from the App Store and the Mac App Store. AppleInsider editorial team members were able to confirm the problem existed, but it was a periodic issue for some writers.It is unclear how many people are affected by the outages, but some have taken to X to post about their inability to install apps. It doesn’t appear to stop users from browsing the App Store, only downloading new apps. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
By news@appleinsider.com (Andrew Orr) Despite Apple’s dominance in consumer tech, its smart home speaker strategy is lagging behind Amazon and Google. But the company has a new strategy.HomePod and HomePod miniApple, a leader in smartphones, tablets, and wearables, has struggled to replicate its success in the smart home market. Recent reports show that the company’s smart home offerings struggle to secure a significant market share.Apple’s woes with smart speakers are particularly evident, with Amazon’s Echo series and Google’s Home devices dominating the market. A Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) survey reveals that Amazon’s Echo commands over two-thirds of the U.S. market, while Google holds about one-quarter. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
By news@appleinsider.com (William Gallagher) Begun in 2017, Apple’s $1.3 billion data center in Waukee, Iowa, has at last opened — at least partially.Apple’s data center in Waukee, Iowa, is finally operational (Source: Zach Boyden-Holmes/The Register)Apple has technically had data centers that took longer to build, but only because protests ultimately led to the abandonment of one in Athenry, Ireland. In the case of Waukee in Dallas County, Iowa, Tim Cook himself gave a speech about it in 2017, saying that he hoped Apple would help the local community.Seemingly nothing then happened for five years, until 2022, when Iowa authorities reportedly reviewed Apple’s plans. Then in August 2024, Apple applied to the city for permission to rehabilitate some of the land it bought, aiming to create a wetland restoration area around the data center. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
By news@appleinsider.com (Malcolm Owen) Apple has proposed for a shortening of validity for security certificates used by websites from 398 days down to just 45 days, a move that system administrators have objected to publicly.SSL/TLS helps keep website secure for usersSecure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security (SSL/TLS) certificates are used to make sure that a website user’s connection to a website is secure in a browser like Safari. As a form of identification for the site, it aids in a cryptographic system that protects the user’s data when communicating with the site.As it stands in October 2024, certificates have a lengthy lifespan of about 13 months. However, in a draft ballot provided by Apple to the Certification Authority Browser Forum (CA/B), it wants to shrink down the amount of time certificates will be valid. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
By news@appleinsider.com (William Gallagher) The new UK government is considering reversing its predecessor’s refusal to adopt the EU USB-C charger mandate, while Apple holds its breath for the future of the iPhone.A USB-C charging cableJust over a year before the UK’s long-standing Conservative government was voted out of office in mid-2024, it made one of its many anti-European Union moves. It declared that it would not copy the EU’s USB-C common charger standard.The official wording included the phrase “so there,” but out of all such declarations, this was the smallest and also the easiest. It was small because the UK had other concerns, that’s entirely why the government was trying to distract people by looking as if they were taking action on something. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
By news@appleinsider.com (Mike Wuerthele) There is one reason to buy the 2024 Apple Watch Ultra 2, and that’s the new incredibly cool and stylish black finish.Apple Watch Ultra 2 in black reviewThis is a strange review to write. The product is updated, but unchanged internally year-after-year which in itself, is unusual.The Apple Watch Ultra 2 in 2024 is, fundamentally, the same device that Apple introduced in 2023. However, the “Glowtime” update one year later offered a change that was big enough to warrant a lot of marketing from Apple. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
By news@appleinsider.com (Malcolm Owen) Apple Watch owners are praising the capability to spot when the user will get sick, thanks to the Vitals app that was added in watchOS 11.The Vitals app in watchOS 11As part of the updates in the watchOS 11 update, the Vitals app provides users with a quick reference point for their daily health. A month after its release, the feature is receiving praise from its users for detecting when they are about to be unwell.Posts to Reddit have surfaced, with users noticing the Vitals app is notifying them of issues before they get sick. In one to r/AppleWatch, a user proclaims “The Vitals app knew I was sick 3 days before I did.” Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
By news@appleinsider.com (William Gallagher) Apple Vision Pro is being praised by surgeons for its high resolution images and its ergonomics, which may even save them injuries that now lead to early retirement.Surgery underway using Apple Vision Pro (Source: UC San Diego Health)Since its launch in February 2024, the Apple Vision Pro has already been used by surgeons in the US, and across the globe. Now the first surgeon to ever perform a robotically assisted gastric-bypass operation, is now a proponent of the Apple Vision Pro both for patients and surgeons.Santiago Horgan heads the Center for the Future of Surgery at UC San Diego, and told Time magazine that the Apple Vision Pro is more significant than the robot tool he used in 2000. “This is the same level of revolution, but will impact more lives because of the access to it,” he says. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
