According to foreign media reports, today, Apple updated its Apple Research application, introducing updates for its Apple Hearing Study and Apple Heart & Movement Study. There is a new Speech in Noise test in the Apple Hearing Study, which is designed to help researchers understand participants’ hearing in various situations, including the presence of background noise.
In the Apple Heart & Movement Study, there is a new survey to help researchers understand the impact of new coronary pneumonia on daily life.
Those who downloaded Apple Research and registered to join one of the above studies will see the new features of the application.
Apple first launched the Apple Research app in November 2019. The application was created to make it easier for iPhone users to participate in and contribute to medical research. If you want to learn about the iSimu refurbished iPhone Kenya, please follow the blog of i-simu.com.
Report: Apple Continues to Rely on China as iPhone 11 Production Plans Fail in India
It is no secret that Apple is heavily dependent on China when it comes to the supply chain. The company talked about relocating its supply chain during U.S. China trade wars and the same is being said now. This time around, coronavirus has dampened Apple’s production plan as the epidemic claimed thousands of lives in China.
A new report by the Wall Street Journal claims that Apple’s operation executives suggested in 2015 that the company should shift assembly one of its products to Vietnam. The plan was to train the workers across multiple years and ready component providers outside China.
Some operations executives suggested as early as 2015 that the company relocate assembly of at least one product to Vietnam. That would allow Apple to begin the multiyear process of training workers and creating a new cluster of component providers outside the world’s most populous nation, people familiar with the discussions said.
However, upper management dismissed the idea and felt that the shift would end up being too challenging. At the same time, Apple was looking to ramp up its production in India. This would allow them to completely make an iPhone in India and reduce reliance on China. Apple is said to have halted the process as India was not ready to supply skilled labor. Furthermore, the report also claims that India’s infrastructure was lacking.
Our Take
Does this mean Apple will shift flagship iPhone production outside China? Apparently not. Despite the coronavirus and other challenges, the company is likely to continue the production of the iPhone in China. India seems to be a close second, however, due to the reasons above, Apple is delaying its plans to shift to India. Meanwhile, Apple’s supply chain in China is seemingly hit. The company has downplayed the impact and maintained that the iPhone is built across the world and not only in China.
[via iSimu]
Take This Wireless Speaker Outdoors or in the Shower [Deals Hub]
Wireless speakers are everywhere these days, yet Bluetooth technology still seems pretty new to some of us. We get the tendency to treat some of these speakers with kid gloves, and in the case of cheap, flimsy speakers, that extra care is warranted.
But what’s the point of a wireless speaker if you can’t take it places? That’s why we’d recommend a unit like the HyperGear Wave Water Resistant Wireless Speaker.
True to its name, the HyperGear Wave boasts an IPX4 water resistance rating. That means it’s protected from sprays of water in any direction, which makes it ideal for use in the shower. (It even comes with a strap for hanging on your shower fixtures.) And if it can stand up to that, you know it’s safe to take out to the beach – even in rainy conditions.
Transmit music wirelessly from your Bluetooth-enabled player of choice up to 33 feet away, use the included auxiliary cable or a Micro SD card. Whichever way you choose, you’re good for up to 4 hours of music on a single charge.
Want to hear for yourself? Pick up the HyperGear Wave in the iPhone Hacks Deals Hub for $34.99 – a full 12% off retail.
New Logitech Powered 3-In-1 Wireless Dock Can Simultaneously Charge iPhone, AirPods, Apple Watch
Logitech’s new 3-in-1 Dock doesn’t come cheap at $129.99. However, it looks aesthetically pleasing and is something that would look adoring on your work table. Talking about features, the dock comes with two wireless charging zones, a flatbed for AirPods and a stand meant for iPhone. The Apple Watch charger protrudes out of the phone stand and allows you to charge all the three devices in a single go.
Logitech’s new wireless charger dock is Qi-certified and this means you can use it with other devices that support Qi wireless charging. However, Apple uses proprietary technology for charging Apple Watch and this means the charger cannot be used with other smartwatches.
Moving on, Logitech’s 3-in-1 Dock supports charging speeds of up to 7.5W for Apple and 9W for Samsung. As mentioned earlier, the new wireless charger is priced premium as opposed to its competition. Logitech seems to be charging a premium for the design which in my opinion is justified.
Logitech has also announced two standalone wireless chargers. The stand styled wireless charger for iPhone is priced at $59.99 while the flat wireless charging pad is priced at $39.99. The Logitech wireless charging dock uses a proprietary connector and this is a glaring disadvantage as opposed to other wireless chargers that offer USB-C or Micro-USB. The wireless charging dock will be available starting next month.
What do you think of the new Logitech 3-in-1 Wireless Charger? Let us know in the comments below.
[via iSimu ]
Apple is fined 10 million euros and the appeal fails due to the slower iPhone
Due to the slowdown of the iPhone due to software updates, Italy fined Apple 10 million euros in 2018. The court recently rejected Apple’s appeal.
In October 2018, the Italian antitrust regulator Autorit Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM) issued a fine to Apple after investigating a complaint about the slow operation of the device. At that time, the accusation also targeted Samsung.
Apple’s 10 million euro fine consists of two parts. The first 5 million euros is the same as the fine imposed on Samsung, but Apple has a second 5 million euro fine because it did not provide users with advice on how to properly maintain or replace the iPhone battery.
Apple tried to appeal the verdict, but was rejected by the Lazio Regional Administrative Court. Apple raised some objections in the complaint, including claims that the court did not conduct sufficient technical tests on the alleged deliberate slowdown, lack of evidence, distortion of the facts, and serious errors in the investigators’ logic.
Despite Apple ’s protest, the court held that the regulator believed that information related to battery use and aging should have been provided to consumers. This idea is correct. The court also dismissed Apple ’s appeal against the regulator ’s investigation and prosecution, and ultimately dismissed Apple ’s overall appeal.
As part of the ruling, Apple will also have to pay the cost of the appeal judgment in the amount of 7,000 euros.
After the “speed reduction door” was discovered, Apple apologized and launched a plan to temporarily reduce the cost of battery replacements beyond the warranty period from $ 79 to $ 29, and then added battery health in later software updates. Features.
Apple’s Future Mouse Could Adjust according to User’s Palm for More Comfort
Apple makes a lot of great products, such as iPhones, iPads, and the Apple Watch. However, the Apple Mouse is not among its good products, and it has received a lot of flak from all types of users. The company is now looking to make amends, at least as per one of its recent patents.
The Apple Mouse has multitouch gestures and other useful features, but it is pretty bad in terms of ergonomics. Due to its thin shape, it doesn’t fit a user’s palm, making it hard to use for extended periods. The company, however, has been working on technologies that could make a mouse change its shape to fit a user’s hand perfectly.
According to a patent filed by Apple with the USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office), the company has been working on a mouse that has a shape-changing enclosure. Underneath its top surface, the mouse could have articulating plates inside, and they are attached to an actuator. The actuator raises or drops the height of the top surface of the mouse to fit a user’s hand.
The curvature and width of the mouse could be changed as per a user’s preferences as well. There could be overlapping articulating plates inside the mouse so that the user doesn’t come in contact with any opening. Moreover, when the shape of the mouse is made thinner, it becomes easier to carry. The actuators can be of various varieties, including magnet-based actuators, multi-segment actuators, rotating motors, scissor switches, or others.
Our Take
While Apple files for hundreds of patents every year, most of the patented technologies are never used in the final products. However, we think the company should work harder to release a mouse that’s based on this patent as it is quite useful in developing an ergonomic mouse.
An Apple Magic Mouse with shape-changing capabilities could be very beneficial to users, and we bet that a lot of consumers would be ready to buy them. What do you think of the current-generation Magic Mouse? Let us know your thoughts on this patent via comments.
[Source: iSimu]
How to Change Background During Zoom Video Calls to Hide Your Messy Room
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of people around the world have been forced to work from their homes. This has led to a spike in usage for video calling and conferencing services like Zoom so that employees can easily hold virtual meetings. The thing is that while working from home, you don’t always have the best room to work out of.
You could be working in your laptop sitting in a room that’s filled with toys of your kids or more embarrassingly, you could have your toddler walk into the room while you are on a video call. Just ask this dad whose kids walked into the room while he was on a live BBC interview video call.
The good thing is that Zoom offers users an option to mask the background while they are on a video call. They can change the background with some of the pre-defined themes so as to not show off the messy room that they are working out of in their home.
If you use Skype for video meetings, you can blur your background on that video calling service by following this guide.
Hiding Your Background During Zoom Video Calls: Things to Know
- This feature available on PCs, Macs, and iPhones.
- You will need a fairly new PC with at least a recent dual-core or a quad-core CPU.
- It is a bit glitchy and might not work properly if you move around a lot. It also does not seem to work well with multiple faces.
Hide Your Background During Zoom Video Calls on iPhone
What’s great about Zoom’s virtual background feature is that it is also available on the iPhone. You can follow these steps to change the background during Zoom video calls on your iPhone so you can take them to new and visually pleasing places.
Step 1: On your iPhone while on a Zoom video call, tap the More button.
Step 2: Then select Virtual Background after which you can select the virtual background of your choice. The options on the iPhone are limited when compared to Zoom’s PC version, though you can still use a custom background if you wish to.
How to Change Background During Zoom Video Calls on Mac or PC
You can change the background of your Zoom video calls without having to be in a call first. This is useful as you can decide which background works best for you beforehand. You can follow these steps to change the background during Zoom video calls on your Mac or PC.
Step 1: Open the Zoom app on your Mac or PC.
Step 2: Click on the Settings cog located on the top-right corner and go to the Virtual Background option in the window that pops up.
Step 3: In total, there are five different virtual backgrounds that you can select from. The first time you select any of them, you will be prompted to download them first.
If you want, you can use a custom image or video as your background as well. Just click the ‘+’ icon and then select the source image/video file. Admittedly, the default backgrounds in Zoom are not professional looking so you might just be forced to use a custom background of your own.
Step 4: Do not move around much while on the video call as that might lead to some glitchy effects. If you are taking this entire thing work from home and video meeting thing seriously, you can always invest in a green screen setup as that would help with the virtual background effect.
You can also enable a virtual background while on a Zoom video call as well. Just click on the Up arrow beside the Stop video button and select the ‘Choose virtual background’ option.
Customizable Zoom Backgrounds
You can also download free customizable Zoom backgrounds from Canva and use them in meetings. You can select from over hundreds of backgrounds and customize them as per your liking.
Have you been using Zoom for holding video meetings? If so, how has your experience been? Have you found the virtual background feature in the app handy? Drop a comment and let us know!
How to Change Background During Zoom Video Calls to Hide Your Messy Room
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of people around the world have been forced to work from their homes. This has led to a spike in usage for video calling and conferencing services like Zoom so that employees can easily hold virtual meetings. The thing is that while working from home, you don’t always have the best room to work out of.
You could be working in your laptop sitting in a room that’s filled with toys of your kids or more embarrassingly, you could have your toddler walk into the room while you are on a video call. Just ask this dad whose kids walked into the room while he was on a live BBC interview video call.
The good thing is that Zoom offers users an option to mask the background while they are on a video call. They can change the background with some of the pre-defined themes so as to not show off the messy room that they are working out of in their home.
If you use Skype for video meetings, you can blur your background on that video calling service by following this guide.
Hiding Your Background During Zoom Video Calls: Things to Know
- This feature available on PCs, Macs, and iPhones.
- You will need a fairly new PC with at least a recent dual-core or a quad-core CPU.
- It is a bit glitchy and might not work properly if you move around a lot. It also does not seem to work well with multiple faces.
Hide Your Background During Zoom Video Calls on iPhone
What’s great about Zoom’s virtual background feature is that it is also available on the iPhone. You can follow these steps to change the background during Zoom video calls on your iPhone so you can take them to new and visually pleasing places.
Step 1: On your iPhone while on a Zoom video call, tap the More button.
Step 2: Then select Virtual Background after which you can select the virtual background of your choice. The options on the iPhone are limited when compared to Zoom’s PC version, though you can still use a custom background if you wish to.
How to Change Background During Zoom Video Calls on Mac or PC
You can change the background of your Zoom video calls without having to be in a call first. This is useful as you can decide which background works best for you beforehand. You can follow these steps to change the background during Zoom video calls on your Mac or PC.
Step 1: Open the Zoom app on your Mac or PC.
Step 2: Click on the Settings cog located on the top-right corner and go to the Virtual Background option in the window that pops up.
Step 3: In total, there are five different virtual backgrounds that you can select from. The first time you select any of them, you will be prompted to download them first.
If you want, you can use a custom image or video as your background as well. Just click the ‘+’ icon and then select the source image/video file. Admittedly, the default backgrounds in Zoom are not professional looking so you might just be forced to use a custom background of your own.
Step 4: Do not move around much while on the video call as that might lead to some glitchy effects. If you are taking this entire thing work from home and video meeting thing seriously, you can always invest in a green screen setup as that would help with the virtual background effect.
You can also enable a virtual background while on a Zoom video call as well. Just click on the Up arrow beside the Stop video button and select the ‘Choose virtual background’ option.
Customizable Zoom Backgrounds
You can also download free customizable Zoom backgrounds from Canva and use them in meetings. You can select from over hundreds of backgrounds and customize them as per your liking.
Have you been using Zoom for holding video meetings? If so, how has your experience been? Have you found the virtual background feature in the app handy? Drop a comment and let us know!
iOS 13.4 Release Time in your Time Zone [Updated]
After five beta releases, Apple is now all set to release the final build of iOS 13.4 to the public. Last week, the company announced that it will release iOS 13.4 to the public today, March 24.
A leaked Alipay marketing material also pointed to iOS 13.4 being released on March 17th, though it was later found to be fake. iOS 13.4 and iPadOS 13.4 are a major point release from Apple that packs a number of new features such as the highly anticipated trackpad support for all the compatible iPads. More importantly, perhaps, it packs a number of bug fixes that iOS 13 sorely needs.
If you are looking forward to the release of iOS 13.4 and are wondering when it will be released in your time zone on March 24th (and March 25th in some places), check out the image below. Apple tends to release new software builds at around 10 AM PST/1 PM EST and it should follow a similar timeline with iOS 13.4 as well.
* Adjusted for Daylight Saving Time (39 places).
Tue = Tuesday, 24 March 2020 (120 places).
Wed = Wednesday, 25 March (23 places).
If you don’t find your city on the list of 143 cities, then head over to TimeandDate to find out iOS 13.1 release time in your time zone.
Do note that it is possible that Apple decides to push back the release of iOS 13.4 by a week or two due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Apple has asked all of its employees to work from home which could delay the final public release of iOS 13.4.
Are you looking forward to the release of iOS 13.4? What changes are you excited about the most? Drop a comment and let us know!
Update: Apple did not release iOS 13.4 to the public on March 17th. If the update is not released on March 18th, it would then likely be released next Tuesday i.e. March 24th. The delay has probably been caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and it is entirely possible that Apple ends up delaying the release of iOS 13.4 until the first week of April.
Update 2: Apple has confirmed that iPadOS 13.4 will be released on next week onMarch 24. iOS 13.4 should also be released on the same day. [Source:iSimu]
iOS 13.3.1 Bug Stops VPN’s from Encrypting Entire Traffic
VPN’s or Virtual Private Networks adds an extra layer of security while using the internet. Now a newly discovered bug on iOS 13.3.1 and later is found to be blocking virtual private networks from encrypting all traffic. As the VPN is not able to encrypt entire traffic some bits and pieces are exposed. This will eventually expose users’ data and IP addresses. The vulnerability was discovered by a security consultant who disclosed it to ProtonVPN.
The issue occurs when iOS fails to terminate all the existing Internet connection before allowing the VPN to connect. Proton VPN says “Most connections are short-lived and will eventually be re-established through the VPN tunnel on their own.” they further add that “However, some are long-lasting and can remain open for minutes to hours outside the VPN tunnel.”
When the connections are outside VPN tunnels they are vulnerable. In cases like this user, data can potentially be exposed to third-party apps and in some cases, users’ locations can be tracked once the IP address is leaked.
Ideally once connected to VPN, the traffic between devices, local IP address, VPN should be shown. As you can see in the screenshot above this is clearly not the case. Apple server IP’s figure out in the list due to previously opened connections that are not terminated prior to VPN connection.
The blog goes on to mention that Apple Push notification is a good thing as it shows a certain process that is connected to Apple servers. However, things can take an ugly turn as this bug will affect other services or apps used on the iOS device. Apple has already acknowledged the vulnerability and has assured that it is working on resolving the same.