Apple may add a temperature sensor to the Apple Watch 8, smart speaker manufacturer Sonos makes its own voice assistant, the Apple Watch can detect a weak heart muscle, start selling the refurbished Apple Watch 7, attend the Apple Developer Conference, the new Twitter Circle feature, and other exciting news in On the sidelines...

News on the sidelines Week Mar 5 - Mar 11

Foxconn suddenly stopped hiring at the iPhone factory amid a new closure and fears of delaying the iPhone 14

Nearly 28 hours after saying it would ramp up hiring and incentives for new employees, Foxconn, Apple's main iPhone supplier, said today it will abruptly stop hiring new workers for its factory in Zhengzhou, China, following new shutdowns and restrictions imposed due to... COVID-19 affects a city of nearly 11 million people.

Just two days ago, Foxconn was indicating that it wanted to hire more workers to meet growing consumer demand, as well as additional demand caused by supply chain constraints for the upcoming iPhone 14 series. Now, the South China Morning Post reports that Foxconn has suspended hiring new workers, saying that could "complicate" production of the iPhone 14‌ due to be launched next fall.

Intel looks to simulate the manufacturing process of the M1 processor

Intel is considering manufacturing 5th-generation "Meteor Lake" CPUs at least in part using 1nm technology by TSMC's to simulate Apple's MXNUMX series chips, and this decision could help it better compete with Apple's processors.

The sources added that potential orders for Meteor Lake processors would be large enough to encourage TSMC to increase its manufacturing capacity of 5nm chips by the end of the year. Intel's Meteor Lake processors are scheduled to launch in 2023.

It is also said that TSMC has now received chip orders for the iPhone 14 lineup using its own 5nm technology.

Apple stops dealing with BOE, which produces iPhone screens

Apple has suspended business with China's BOE, a supplier of iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 screens, after discovering changes in the design of its OLED screens. BOE has been making OLED screens for 6.1-inch iPhone models since last year, but the company has only made a "tiny amount" since February, and screen production is said to have "dropped over the past four months".

The initial reason for the production drop was a shortage of integrated circuits, as the supplier of these integrated circuits, LX Semicon, gave priority to LG Display. As a result, BOE changed the design of its OLED screens, and when Apple discovered this, it asked BOE to stop production.

However, BOE is unlikely to be excluded from the OLED supply chain as its presence pressures Samsung Display and LG Display to be more competitive and lower prices, and BOE's plant in Sichuan is said to be still operating, and it is possible that BOE is currently working on a workaround to meet Apple requirements.

Elon Musk Says 30% Apple App Store Fee Is 10 Times Higher Than It Should be

Elon Musk has once again criticized Apple's App Store fees, saying the fees are "literally 10 times higher than they should be". Apple takes a 30% discount from app developers who earn more than $15 million through the App Store on a yearly basis, but for smaller developers who earn less, Apple has lowered their fees to XNUMX% through the Small Business Developer Program.

Twitter is testing a new Twitter Circle feature

Twitter announced yesterday that it is testing a new Twitter Circle feature, which is designed to allow people to share tweets with a smaller audience. With the Twitter Circle feature, Twitter users can share their tweets with up to 150 people, instead of sharing their content publicly. Each user will be able to create a Twitter circle consisting of people who will be able to see the user's tweets on that circle. This feature is similar to Instagram's "Close Friends" story sharing feature, which allows users to choose a group of people to share stories with instead of sharing stories publicly with all their followers.

Apple allows submissions to attend WWDC 2022 Developers Conference

Apple has updated its WWDC 2022 Developer Conference website, providing more information about the event scheduled for June 6, 2022. A small number of developers will be invited to attend the opening keynote for WWDC 2022 and developers will be able to apply to attend on Monday, May 9. Apple said:

“We are hosting a special all-day experience at Apple Park on June 6 to kick off WWDC22. Get together with others in the developer community to watch the opening keynote and State of the Union videos alongside Apple engineers and experts, explore the all-new Developer Center, and more. We can't wait to get in touch in person.”

The Apple Park event is free, and invitations will be allocated through a random selection process. Applications will be accepted from Monday 9 May 4:00 pm until Wednesday 11 May 4:00 pm Cairo time. Developers will be notified of their status by Friday 12 May at 1:00 AM Cairo time.

Microsoft Edge browser outperforms Safari

Microsoft's Edge browser has overtaken Safari to become the world's second most popular desktop browser, according to data provided by web analytics service StatCounter. According to the data, Edge browser is now used on 10.07% of desktop computers worldwide, 0.46% ahead of Safari, which is 9.61%. Google Chrome browser is still in the first place with a share of 66.64%, and Firefox browser is ranked fourth with a share of 7.86%.

It is worth noting that Apple has stopped releasing the Safari browser for Windows devices since 2012 and only offers it on its Mac computers, meaning that Apple's share of Mac computers only.

Apple Adds iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 2 to Old Products List

‌iPad Air‌ 2 was first released in October 2014, and it was the first iPad Air‌ to have a fingerprint sensor. It's also powered by an A8X processor and is noticeably thinner than the original iPad Air‌.

The ‌iPad mini‌ 2 was launched in November 2013, with a Retina display with a resolution of 2048 x 1536. It was visually identical to its predecessor, and was equipped with the A7 and M7 processors that were used in the iPhone 5s.

The Old Products list shows devices that Apple stopped selling more than five years ago and less than seven years ago. Apple will provide service and replacement parts for older devices for up to 7 years, or as required by law.

Apple is now selling refurbished Apple Watch 7 models

Apple has started selling refurbished versions of the Apple Watch 7, the latest Apple Watch model released in September 2021. The watch starts at $339 for the 41mm aluminum model and $359 for the 45mm aluminum models, with discounts of $60 and $70 For $7 a row, all Apple Watch Series XNUMX currently available are GPS-only, and in the future, if Apple adds cellular versions, pricing will be even more expensive.

The use of artificial intelligence in the Apple Watch to detect heart muscle weakness

Researchers have created an artificial intelligence algorithm that is able to use the ECG taken from the Apple Watch to find patients with weak heart muscle, and this muscle weakness, or left ventricular dysfunction, is a problem that affects 2 to 3% of people around the world, and up to 9% of people over the age of 60.

Miscellaneous news

◉ Sonos, the famous smart speaker manufacturer, plans to offer a voice assistant service that competes with Siri, Google Assistant, Alexa and other personal assistants.

◉ Apple recently started selling a 4-meter Thunderport 3 Pro cable through its online store, as spotted by the French website MacGeneration, and the cable can be used to connect a Mac with Thunderport ports to the new Studio Display and other peripherals.

◉ Apple Pay competitor PayPal played a role in the European Union's decision to target Apple with antitrust complaints over its mobile wallet. PayPal was one of the "multiple companies" to file unofficial complaints about the way Apple restricts third-party apps from accessing the iPhone's NFC capabilities, which in turn led to the European Commission issuing a statement of objections against Apple.

◉ Apple has released the fourth beta of iOS 15.5, iPadOS 15.5, watchOS 8.6, macOS Monterey 12.4, and tvOS 15.5 updates to developers.

◉ Apple sued SoC Startup Rivos, a company that used several high-ranking former engineers from Apple, and according to Apple, Rivos not only stole Apple employees, but also stole the secrets of its processors.

◉ In line with a report late last week, the European Commission has officially announced that it has issued a Statement of Objections to Apple over its restrictions preventing third-party services from accessing iPhone's NFC capabilities, thus restricting competition in iOS mobile wallets.

◉ Apple has canceled plans to add a body temperature sensor to the Apple Watch 7, due to problems with the algorithms that deal with that, but the feature could come to the Apple Watch 8, according to famous analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

◉ This week marks the 999th anniversary of the $17 US eMac, built for educational use in the classroom and featuring a 4-inch CRT display, a 700MHz PowerPC G128 processor, and RAM 40 MB capacity, 56 GB hard disk, and five USB ports. Then it offered an upgraded model with a faster 1199K internet modem for $XNUMX.

This is not all the news that is on the sidelines, but we have brought you the most important of them, and it is not necessary for the non-specialist to occupy himself with all the incoming and outgoing. And help you with it, and if it robbed you of your life and got busy with it, there is no need for it.

Sources:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10| 11| 12| 13| 14| 15 | 16

Related articles