With the W3 Stand for the Apple Watch, Elago has tapped into Apple nostalgia while solving a practical problem: a charging stand that looks like the classic 128K Mac. With a watch positioned sideways within the accessory in Nightstand Mode, users get a geeky bedside clock.
Apple has updated all of its operating systems, with the macOS Sierra 10.12.3 update addressing the serious bug introduced in 10.12.2 that caused Preview to delete OCR text layers in PDF files.
Just a few days after receiving them, Josh Centers started to have connection and stuttering problems with his AirPods. Here’s how he fixed them.
AirPods, Apple’s cordless versions of its iconic EarPods, are finally here. Julio Ojeda-Zapata spent time with the Bluetooth earbuds and found them to be worth the wait. Their audio quality is not spectacular, but voice calling works superbly, and wireless pairing with Macs and iOS devices is painless.
After initially promising shipment of its AirPods for late October 2016, Apple has finally made the wireless, Siri-controlled earbuds available for purchase for $159. Apple may have opened up ordering on the AirPods, but that doesn’t mean they’re shipping in volume — they’re already backordered by four weeks. Hope you weren’t planning to give someone a set for Christmas or Hanukkah!
The latest update to watchOS fixes some highly specific bugs and patches a pair of security vulnerabilities. It’s minor but worth installing.
Pebble, a pioneer in the smartwatch space, has been purchased by fitness-tracking company Fitbit and will no longer function as an independent entity. As a result, Pebble is “no longer promoting, manufacturing, or selling any devices.” The company says that Pebble devices will continue to work normally, but functionality may be reduced in the future. Pebble is no longer accepting orders and warranty support has ended. If you have products on order from Pebble, you will receive an automatic refund. We’re sad to see Pebble go, but it seems likely that Pebble’s fate was sealed once Apple and Google entered the smartwatch market.
If you were champing at the bit to buy a pair of AirPods — Apple’s upcoming wireless earbuds — you’ll have to wait a bit longer. Apple initially promised them for late October 2016, but now the company says it needs “a little more time” to get them right. “We don’t believe in shipping a product before it’s ready, and we need a little more time before AirPods are ready for our customers,” Apple said in a statement to TechCrunch. The company did not provide a date when the AirPods would go on sale.
Apple has released its first set of updates for macOS 10.12, watchOS 3, and tvOS 10 to address a variety of bugs. If you have already updated to the major releases, these updates are worth installing soon, but if not, hold off for another week or so to make sure they haven’t introduced some new problem.
Josh Centers takes a look at the Studio Neat Material Dock, a premium walnut dock that holds both an iPhone and an Apple Watch.
watchOS 3 isn’t a game-changing update, but easy face switching and the new app Dock might make you more likely to interact with your Apple Watch more regularly.
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.
Apple has sent out invitations for its fall media event, which will be held on 7 September 2016 at 10 AM PDT at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco. We’ll be watching the event’s live stream and chatting with TidBITS readers in SlackBITS; feel free to join us! We expect to see new iPhone models and possibly an update to the Apple Watch, but we’re also hoping for some additional surprises.
Apple has updated all of its operating systems with security updates and unspecified bug fixes.