Category: Apple Insider

By Christine McKee
Sunday, March 24, 2019, 11:47 am PT (02:47 pm ET)

In what amounts to the steepest discount available on Apple’s six-core 15-inch MacBook Pro, Amazon has issued a $400 price drop on the standard model in Space Gray. Apple’s current quad-core 13-inch MacBook Pros are also $200 to $300 off, with prices starting at $1,599.

Each MacBook Pro deal, which rings in as the lowest price available, according to our 2018 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar and 2018 15-inch MacBook Pro Price Guides, includes free shipping for added value. Supplies may be limited, and Amazon’s Apple deals have been known to sell out quickly, so don’t delay if you want to take advantage of the bargains. For a full rundown of the lowest prices on Apple hardware, be sure to check out our Apple Price Guide, which is updated throughout the day.

2018 15″ MacBook Pro

2018 13″ MacBook Pros with Touch Bar

Don’t miss out on these exclusive deals

Additional Apple Deals

AppleInsider and Apple authorized resellers are also running a handful of additional exclusive promotions this month on Apple hardware that will not only deliver the lowest prices on many of the items, but also throw in discounts on AppleCare, software and accessories. These deals are as follows:

It’s very easy to add another cheap subscription if you’re want to try out an app or a video service. Before you know it, though, you’re paying out a lot of money every month. Here’s how to find out what you’ve subscribed to, through the App Store and what you can do about it.

Even if it’s only Apple Music or Netflix, the odds are high that you subscribe to some service. And, the odds are even higher that you’ve never needed to unsubscribe.

When you do, though, it’s not exactly obvious how to get out of these subscriptions. But if all services and all developers make it temptingly easy to add subscriptions, getting rid of them is easy too —once you know where to look.

Watch an AppleInsider two-minute tip video on this or read on for extra detail.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geHRASbtlhA&w=560&h=315]

It’s worth it

We will never tell you that Apple Music is anything but a bargain. We’ll never say Netflix isn’t worth it, either. Yet just by taking those two, you’re spending a minimum of $13.99 per month. That’s if you qualify for the Apple Music student fee of $4.99 per month and you’re willing to put up with Netflix’s poorest picture quality. More practically, you’re going to be spending at least $23 per month.

It doesn’t stop being a bargain, but it does add up. Over a year you’d be spending around $280 just for Apple Music and Netflix. Add in any app that needs a subscription for its pro features and you’re over the $300 for the year.

Again and always, that could well be worth it for you. The issue is how the fees are paid automatically every month and when you don’t have to cut a check yourself, you forget.

So even if you have no intention of dropping any subscriptions, take a moment to look at how to do it —because that will also show you exactly what you’re paying out for every month.

How do it

On your iPhone or iPad, go into Settings and tap on your name at the top. Next, tap on iTunes & App Store, which you’ll find about midway down the screen.

Now tap on your Apple ID at the top of the page that appears. Choose View Apple ID and let your iPhone identify you.

Your subscriptions are tied to your Apple ID so begin by logging in to view the details of that account

Whether that’s through Touch ID or Face ID, depends on which iPhone you’ve got. And so does this. On an iPhone XS Max, the Subscriptions button is at the foot of the screen. You may well have to scroll down to get it on other iPhones. When you do, tap it and you’re into the subscriptions page.

There may be two sections here. One is to do with subscriptions that have ended. So if you’re wondering why you suddenly don’t have Netflix or some other subscription, see if it’s listed in the bottom section, the Expired part.

The more useful section, though, is the first or Active one. This shows you all the recurring subscriptions that you’re paying out for via the App Store.

It only tells you the title, however, with the briefest of descriptions and when your next payment date is. Tap on any entry, though, and you can see more.

While every subscription is different, the way you use them is identical. Each one has a list of prices for your territory and there will be a check mark next to the one you’re currently paying.

Every subscription has options for you to change the fee you’re paying or to cancel completely

You can change this to any of the other fee options available or you can tap on Cancel Subscription. If you do that, your subscription moves to the Expired section and you’re done.

That’s it

One poor thing is that there’s no way to remove the Expired subscription from this list. But equally, one good thing is that if you change your mind, you can tap on any entry there and resubscribe right away.

This is all about managing your subscriptions. That can mean cancelling some and renewing others you long ago dropped, but really it’s about knowing what’s going on.

Know where your money is going every month and you’ll be in control of what you choose to spend it on.

Keep up with AppleInsider by downloading the AppleInsider app for iOS, and follow us on YouTube, Twitter @appleinsider and Facebook for live, late-breaking coverage. You can also check out our official Instagram account for exclusive photos.

Wearable devices like the Apple Watch and Internet of Things hardware could have an easier time connecting to iPhones and other devices in the future, with Apple coming up with multiple ways to deal with inter-device connectivity, including the ability to make a wide-area network where Internet access isn’t available.

Communications between an Apple Watch and iPhone could be improved if Apple adopts its communications ideas in future products

The increase in the number of devices in the world is producing new challenges relating to connectivity. Users are carrying more connected devices about their person than ever before, and with there being more network-connected hardware in homes and businesses, including smart home devices and those classified as part of the Internet of Things, the sheer quantity of potential connections could make things hard for devices to discover each other, or even to connect at all.

As part of a solution to this, Apple has filed three patent applications with the US Patent and Trademark Office suggesting slightly different ways to establish and operate a connection between pieces of hardware.

The first patent application, “Control and Shared Channels in Device-to-Device Communication,” handles how narrowband connections between devices can be handled. In short, it suggests a device can go through device-to-device (D2D) discovery once it has synchronized as part of a group, then establish initial resources for control with a second device it needs to communicate with.

The first device transmits control information to the second, as well as indicating a buffer status, and awaits a signal from the second control to acknowledge the indication and to start a transmission. To make the connection more robust, it is advised the first attempt at establishing communications uses a “multi-tone transmission configuration,” before switching down to a “single-tone” version if that fails.

The first patent application’s illustration of an “exemplary cellular network supported device-to-device communication architecture”

The control information could include various bits of data, including a frequency hopping pattern, transmit power, and the transport format. Periodically, the resources can also expire in terms of availability between the two devices, with the system re-initiating D2D discovery in those cases.

The second patent application, “Synchronization Sequence Design for Device-to-Device Communication” handles the same narrowband communications subject, but instead deals with synchronization sequences.

On establishing a connection with another device, the first sends a preamble of an initial synchronization sequence, which includes a number of repetitions of “orthogonal frequency division multiplexing” (OFDM) symbols. Namely this is a system where data is split into multiple sub-signals and sent simultaneously, speeding up overall transmission times.

It is suggested the synchronized sequences can be transmitted with a gap between each individual sequence, sent cascaded, or via a number of different sequence methods, such as a “Zadoff-Chu” sequence.

An example of “possible timings” of a preamble-based narrowband device-to-device communications framework

The third, “Off Grid Radio Service System Design” is actually quite similar to the second, dealing with the use of synchronization signal repetitions for a transmission. This synchronization signal can be generated a few ways, with root index values based on the number of repetitions or a value for a Zadoff-Chu sequence.

A secondary synchronization signal is then able to be generated, with the value again able to stem from a Zadoff-Chu sequence, or even the device identifier for the transmitter, with the synchronization signal able to include details of a physical broadcast channel with frame number and subframe number.

Again, characteristics of a transmission based on repetitious synchronization signals can be used by the receiving device for establishing the connection, including the signal strength and quality, and the number of repetitions.

The D2D synchronization preamble could also be set to be transmitted at a time and frequency maintained by a local clock on a device, which would most likely be synchronized with the clocks of other devices or under universal time (UTC.) Knowledge of the timing would help with being able to monitor for transmissions especially when attempting to re-establish an expired or failed connection.

While the time clock drift between devices communicated with each other, it is suggested that the devices could be synchronized by using the time received by a GPS system, which one device can potentially receive, correct itself, then synchronize with others in the area.

Though the patent applications largely deal with wireless communications that do not necessarily involve human interaction, like an Apple Watch maintaining a connection to an iPhone for example, it may also work in other ways.

One extreme example could be a natural disaster that knocks out or overloads cellular networks in an area. By being able to establish connections between mobile phones without relying on the cellular network, this could allow there to be a mesh-style network running between all of the devices, allowing some level of communications through.

Apple files numerous patent applications with the USPTO on a weekly basis, but it isn’t a guarantee the technology brought up in the filings will make its way into future products or services. The filings do however reveal areas of interest for the company.

By Roger Fingas
Wednesday, March 20, 2019, 12:50 pm PT (03:50 pm ET)

Mac buyers can now get AppleCare+ coverage in several more markets, two of the biggest additions being Spain and China.

The warranty is now also available in Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand. Chinese coverage includes the “special administrative regions” of Hong Kong and Macau.

AppleCare+ extends Mac warranty coverage to three years, offers priority phone/chat support, and reduces repair costs for two incidents of accidental damage. In the U.S. that brings screen repair down to $99 before tax, and all other repairs to $299. Desktops can even be fixed on-site in some cases.

The above markets did previously have access to basic AppleCare, which omits accident benefits. Below this is Apple’s default warranty, limited to one year in total and just 90 days of “complimentary” support.

AppleCare+ for Mac is available in a range of markets. Others on the list include: Austria, Canada, Mexico, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.A.E., the U.K., and the U.S.