We have huge news for you this week, as Apple has announced the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, as well as the Apple Watch Series 2. But that’s not all: Apple also unveiled the AirPods, new Bluetooth wireless earbuds powered by a proprietary W1 chip. Apple’s September 7th event boasted other surprises as well, including new commitments to education, real-time collaboration features in iWork, and a Super Mario Bros. game for the iPhone. And if that weren’t enough, Apple that day also published the release date for macOS 10.12 Sierra and tweaked its iPad lineup. In other news, Dropbox is removing the capability to host Web pages with its service. Finally, Jeff Porten takes a deep look at how foreign hackers could affect the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Be sure to read ExtraBITS right away for news of a spectacular one-day sale on iTunes Movies! We have no TidBITS Watchlist for you this week, as most developers delayed releases to avoid being overshadowed by Apple’s announcements.
Before Apple dove into hardware announcements at its September 7th event, the company discussed education initiatives, new enhancements to iWork, Apple Music, and more.
File sharing service Dropbox has informed users that as of 3 October 2016, it will no longer render HTML files stored in Dropbox Public folders or shared in other ways. If you are using Dropbox to publish a simple Web site of static files, you’ll need to find an alternative host soon.
It’s true: the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus abandon the headphone jack, but offer stereo speakers, improved cameras, better performance, and more. Josh Centers has a roundup of new features.
Apple has gone a long way toward addressing complaints about its original Apple Watch with a new Series 2 model that can go under water, provide GPS location without an iPhone present, and generally work in a more zippy fashion. It has a brighter display as well, but it isn’t any thinner or lighter.
Apple may have dropped the headphone jack from the iPhone 7, but the company simultaneously introduced a new system to circumvent some of the flaws of existing wireless audio technology. Along with it comes a set of futuristic Apple earbuds that do more than just play audio.
During a period of partisan debate about threats to political uses of information technology, Jeff Porten tries to bring a technical perspective to a noisy argument.
In ExtraBITS this week, Apple is having a spectacular one-day sale on iTunes Movies, Google Photos now works with Live Photos, Apple has tweaked the iPad lineup, and you can read a thorough explanation for why Apple removed the iPhone headphone jack.