Apple Pay Website Updated to Suggest Some Partners May Not Make 2014 Rollout Goal [iOS Blog]

As the end of the year approaches, Apple today slightly altered its micro site dedicated to Apple Pay to update the status of several of its partnerships. Retailers that teamed up with Apple and plan to implement Apple Pay support in retail stores and apps in the near future are now listed under sections labeled "Coming soon" instead of "Coming later this year."



The minor change in language suggests that many of Apple's Apple Pay partners will not be able to implement Apple Pay support in the last week of 2014, instead rolling out support in the first months of 2015. Many retailers that have chosen to implement Apple Pay may still be working to train employees, update hardware, and swap out point-of-sale systems, leading to variable launch dates.



Just in the last few weeks, multiple partners who were initially listed under the "Coming later this year" category managed to implement support before the end of the year deadline, including Walt Disney World, which will begin accepting Apple Pay later this week, and Ticketmaster, which updated its app to support Apple Pay on Monday.





On Apple's site, retail partners listed under the "Coming soon" headings now include ACME, Albertsons, Anthropologie, Free People, and Urban Outfitters. Walt Disney World continues to be listed, as Apple Pay will not be available until December 24. Upcoming app partners include Starbucks, StubHub, and Tickets.com, with Ticketmaster continuing to be listed despite implementing support earlier this week.



Since its October 20 launch, Apple Pay has proven to be popular with iPhone 6 and 6 Plus users. Despite only being available for six weeks, Apple Pay was responsible for 1 percent of digital payment dollars in November, with the most money being spent at Whole Foods, Walgreens, and McDonald's.



Apple Pay is currently limited to the United States, but according to comments from Visa and a recent job posting, Apple has an Apple Pay team in London working on bringing the payments service to new countries in 2015.

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Posted in 2014 at 06:18PM, December 23

MacRumors Folding@home Team Reaches Two Billion Points [Mac Blog]

The MacRumors Folding@home team has contributed over two billion points to the distributed computing medical research project, reaching this milestone on November 12. It took 11.5 years for the MacRumors team to accumulate its first billion points, but the team completed its second billion points in only 12.5 months, thanks in large part to today's faster GPUs, as well as Quick Return Bonus Points and users running the client software with optimized configuations. The team has risen from #55 to #45 among the over 225,000 folding teams.



We're proud that our supporters and forum members are contributing to medical research by participating in Folding@home, and MacRumors encourages you to join our team as well. Folding@home participants receive work units as computation assignments and completed work units are assigned points based on their value to the project's scientific purposes. Client software is available for OS X, Windows, and Linux, and users should feel free to ask questions in our Distributed Computing forum.



The MacRumors Folding@home team was formed in May 2002 by MacRumors owner Arnold Kim. The team currently averages over 78 million points per month, almost 40 times its rate a year ago. Over 2000 users have contributed to the MacRumors team effort, with 5 team members (rwh202, twoodcc, Louis_Wu, ChristianFAH, and whiterabbit) each having contributed over 100 million points. Additional team statistics and graphs can be viewed at Extreme Overclocking.






Folding@home, run by Stanford University since October 2000, uses otherwise-idle computers to run protein folding simulation software, helping researchers search for cures for Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease, AIDS, influenza, and many forms of cancer. The software simulates how proteins, RNA, and nanoscale synthetic polymers fold, both to gain understanding of how proteins fold into their three-dimensional structure and to study the causes of the abnormal folding that leads to disease.

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Posted in 2014 at 06:18PM, November 13

Spotify Connect for Computers Turns An iPhone Into a Remote Control for Mac [Mac Blog]

Spotify on Friday added a new feature that allows subscribers to use an iPhone or iPad as a remote control for playback on their Mac. The new feature is available for free as part of Spotify's $9.99 monthly premium subscription.

We've just released a great new Premium feature, which lets you play Spotify through your computer, using your phone or tablet as a remote. Use the Spotify app to control the sound. It's brilliant if your laptop’s hooked up to your speakers. Or if you just don’t want to get off the couch.

Using the new Connect for Computers feature is simple, according to Spotify's setup instructions. After downloading the latest version of the mobile and desktop app, subscribers only need to log in, tap the "Now Playing" bar and hit "Connect" to direct music from an iPhone or iPad to a computer and its connected speakers.






Spotify is among the leading music streaming subscription services, sitting behind market leader Pandora and edging out Apple's Beats Music in App Store Revenue. Spotify recently introduced a new Family Plan feature that allows premium subscribers to add up to four additional lines for $4.99 each.

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Posted in 2014 at 06:18PM, November 07

“Alive Inside” Film Explores Power of Music to Restore Memory

Re/code writes about “Alive Inside,” a documentary that chronicles the experiences of Alzheimer’s patients who have been revitalized through music. The film follows social worker Dan Cohen, whose nonprofit works to bring iPods loaded with personalized playlists to elderly Alzheimer’s and dementia patients across the U.S. Re/code describes a scene from the movie where a 94-year-old dementia patient comes alive with joy as soon as he hears a song from his youth. “I had goosebumps over my whole body when he was waking up. I had tears in my eyes,” said filmmaker Michael Rossato-Bennett. “They say every artist only tells one story over and over again. If I had to tell my story, it’s the finding of life where you think there is none.”

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Posted in 2014 at 06:18PM, July 21

Legere rips Amazon with brutal ‘Facebook phone’ comparison

If you don't understand why Amazon is releasing its first smartphone as an exclusive device for AT&T, you aren't alone. T-Mobile CEO John Legere took to Twitter on Tuesday to bash Amazon for its reported decision to go with AT&T as its exclusive carrier for the new smartphone it will unveil on Wednesday.

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Posted in 2014 at 06:18PM, June 17

LG G3 home screen, killer new features revealed in new leak

If you want a new Android phone but aren't interested in either the Galaxy S5 or the HTC One (M8) then you might want to check out LG's upcoming G3 flagship device. Digital Trends has scored some leaked pictures showing off the G3's revamped home screen that the publication says features "flatter and brighter icons, a revamped weather widget with built-in suggestions, a much cleaner looking notifications screen, and circular icons."

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Posted in 2014 at 06:18PM, April 22

Apple Rolls Out CarPlay for Safer iPhone Use on the Road

Apple has announced that leading auto manufacturers are rolling out CarPlay, the smarter and safer way to use iPhone in the car. CarPlay gives iPhone users an intuitive way to make calls, use Maps, listen to music, and access messages with a word or a touch. Users can control CarPlay from the car’s native interface or push and hold the voice control button on the steering wheel to activate Siri. “CarPlay has been designed from the ground up to provide drivers with an incredible experience using their iPhone in the car,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s vice president of iPhone and iOS Product Marketing. “iPhone users always want their content at their fingertips and CarPlay lets drivers use their iPhone in the car with minimized distraction.” Vehicles from Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, and Volvo will premiere CarPlay to their drivers this week, while additional auto manufacturers will bring CarPlay to their drivers in the future.

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Posted in 2014 at 06:18PM, March 03