Apple may not be the only company about to ditch the century-old 3.5mm analog audio connector with the release of the next iPhone this fall. AnandTech reported this morning that the semiconductor giant Intel is backing the industry's “strong desire to move from analog to digital” by proposing that the 3.5mm audio jack be replaced with USB-C on smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices.
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Safari to gain support for audio/video chats via WebRTC standard without needing a plugin
Apple is hard at work on adding support to its Safari browser for cross-platform audio/video communications capability that won't require any special plug-in, enterprise computing blog No Jitter learned yesterday.
The Cupertino firm's reportedly decided to incorporate support for the open-source WebRTC project, a real-time video and audio standard originally created by Google.
Microsoft's Edge and Mozilla’s Firefox browsers have adopted this technology recently, which lets web developers create messaging applications that run in a browser and offer two-way audio/video communications capability without a plug-in.
Apple patent would use Apple Watch to intelligently adjust iPhone alert volume on the fly
Apple has been researching software solutions that would tap into a user's Apple Watch to intelligently adjust an iPhone's alert volume on the fly, by monitoring and comparing ambient sound samples.
Filed for with the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) back in 2014 and published on Thursday, the patent application titled “Volume control for mobile device using a wireless device” outlines volume control adjustments by having a Watch's built-in microphone sample an alert generated on an iPhone to “detect a distinct contribution corresponding to the audible alert.”
Several reasons why Apple could (and should) pull the plug on the headphone jack
Greed! Greed! Greed! Apple will kill the headphone jack out of greed. They just want to sell you $30 adapters.
This ridiculous claim is the result of narrow thinking. After all, it's much easier to yell "greed" than trying to think of rational reasons why Apple would pull the plug (pun totally intended) on the 3.5mm headphone jack.
Apple is of course no stranger to that kind of situation. The company has been known for killing various technologies over the past few decades, and the bright side is that all of us have survived to tell the story.
In this post, I lay down a few more or less plausible reasons why Apple could eventually leave the headphone jack behind.
Rumor: high-fidelity Apple Music streaming due in 2016
For years, Apple has been rumored to be working on high-resolution audio formats for iTunes, but we're yet to see concrete evidence of those efforts. Still, the rumor persists. On Monday, the reliable Japanese blog Macotakara reported that high-resolution streaming is coming to Apple Music in 2016.
Citing industry sources who spoke to the publication at the Portable Audio Festival in Tokyo, where some of Apple's products were exhibited, the report states that Apple will offer better-than-CD quality music.
In addition, high-end audio equipment makers are allegedly planning to add audio cables for Lightning to their lineups.
Rumor: iPhone 7 to lose 3.5mm headphone port in favor of Lightning port
Apple's next iPhone will be so thin that the company has decided to ditch the standard 3.5mm headphone port for the first time since the iPhone's 2007 inception, a reasonably accurate Japaese blog, Macotakara, reported Friday.
The move should help Apple's engineers shave off another millimeter of thickness or so, reports the publication, adding that users will instead connect wireless headphones over Bluetooth or compatible wired headphones over the Lightning port.
New Apple TV lacks optical audio port but makes it up with Dolby Digital Plus 7.1
If you rely on the optical audio jack to enjoy crystal-clear sound on your home stereo system, you're in for a major disappointment as the new Apple TV no longer features an optical audio port on its back.
As evidenced on Apple's Tech Specs webpage for the new Apple TV, both audio and video are now sent over the HDMI cable exclusively.
SoundCloud for iOS gains shuffling, related tracks, sharing improvements and more
SoundCloud, a Swedish online audio distribution platform based in Berlin, today issued a refresh to its gorgeous iPhone and iPad application, in time for the summer.
SoundCloud 3.10.0 for iOS now lets you play related tracks, shuffle liked tracks and audio files in your playlists, add or remove tracks directly from your playlists, plus share directly from the search screen and your list of liked tracks.
Tweetbot’s iOS app gains alerts for Quoted Tweets, support for longer Direct Messages and more
About ten days since Tweetbot for OS X brought these new features to the Mac, now Tweetbot for iPhone and iPod touch has picked up support for notifications related to Twitter’s new embedded quoting feature while laying groundwork for longer Direct Messages, a feature Twitter announced almost a month weeks ago but has yet to enable on its end.
Also, Tweetbot 3.6.2 for Mac now produces crisper video thanks to improved video upload quality.
This tweak adds audio and haptic feedback to music controls on iPhone
Listening to music on our iPhones is one of the most classic uses for the device. The Music app has been with us since the beginning, in the form of the old iPod app. It has gone through a few iterations and improvements throughout the years, but there is always something that third-party apps are doing differently or better.
Feedback, by Ron Thakrar (@ronthakrar) enables audio and haptic feedback for media controls. It only works when controlling audio playback remotely, like in the Control Center or Lock screen. For example, it doesn't work within an app itself, when you're in the Music app and press play or skip track it won't make any feedback sounds.
Audible audiobooks service gains support for Apple’s CarPlay in latest update
Audible, an audiobooks service owned by Amazon, pushed a major update to its iPhone and iPad application this morning which added CarPlay functionality along with a couple nice-to-have improvements in the app's iOS edition.
After downloading today's update, the Audible app will automatically appear on the dashboard of CarPlay-enabled vehicles and those supporting CarPlay via aftermarket solutions from Pioneer, Alpine and other companies.
How to enable battery charging chime on your MacBook
Learn how to use this simple Terminal command to make your MacBook play a confirmation sound when you plug it into charging.