Category: Apple Insider

Called “The Zane Lowe Interview Series,” the new podcast grants listeners on-demand access to Lowe’s ongoing series of interviews with popular musicians. Lowe announced the podcast’s debut in a tweet Friday.

“Hey I’m excited to share that I now have a new Podcast series where these conversations will live ongoing. You can hear my latest with [Lady Gaga] alongside others right now on [Apple Podcasts],” the tweet reads.

A seasoned DJ and tastemaker, Lowe is known for in-depth, candid one-on-ones with the world’s biggest music acts. Lowe cultivated his intimate style of interviewing while at BBC Radio 1 and continued to hone the process after a move to Apple Music’s Beats 1 in 2015.

The podcast currently features an interview with Selena Gomez recorded in January, a two-part interview with Kanye West recorded in October 2019, a sit-down with Justin Bieber from February and a meeting with Paramore’s Hayley Williams recorded in May. Lowe’s latest episode is a remote with Lady Gaga, who released the hotly anticipated album “Chromatica” today.

Additional episodes from the Beats 1 archive are expected to hit the podcast soon, though release dates are unknown at this time. The streaming service typically airs Lowe’s interviews live or times their delivery to coincide with major releases like “Chromatica.”

According to estimates from IDC, Apple shipped 21.2 million Apple Watch, AirPods and Beats units during the three month period ending in March to capture 29.3% of the market. That figure is up a whopping 59.9% from 13.3 million units shipped in the year-ago quarter.

IDC believes Apple Watch shipments declined during the period, but the slowdown was offset by increased interest in AirPods and Beats headphones. The estimated dip in Apple Watch sales runs contrary to strong numbers seen in a report from Strategy Analytics earlier this month.

“Consumers were clamoring for these sophisticated earpieces not only for the ability to playback audio but also to help them increase productivity, as many of them were forced to work from home and sought ways to reduce surrounding noise while staying connected to their smartphones and smart assistants,” said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for IDC Mobile Device Trackers.

Second place Xiaomi also saw growth with shipments of 10.1 million units for a 14% slice of the market, up 56.4% year-over-year.

Samsung, Huawei and Fitbit followed with a respective 8.6 million, 8.1 million and 2.2 million shipments during the quarter to take 11.9%, 11.1% and 3% of the market.

All top-five companies exhibited increased marketshare save for Fitbit, which dipped 26.1% from the year prior. The firm banks almost exclusively on sales of its wearable health tracking devices.

It should be noted that IDC and other research firms lack clear insight into Apple’s supply chain and have in the past been criticized for publishing largely incorrect estimates. Apple, however, no longer provides unit sales in its quarterly reports, leaving a void filled by third-party companies or independent analysts.

Apple in a quarterly conference call for its second fiscal quarter of 2020 said its wearables division is bringing in revenues equivalent to a Fortune 140 company. The segment earned $6.3 billion during the quarter, up from $5.1 billion in 2019. Wearables, together with Apple’s services arm, helped buoy earnings as other segments suffered due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

A first image shared by “Fudge,” who goes by the Twitter handle “@choco_bit,” depicts the current square iPhone camera “bump,” but with four lenses and an accompanying LiDAR sensor. Notably, the LiDAR module is located below the camera array and is not integrated into the hump area as on iPad Pro.

In a follow-up tweet, Fudge claims “iPhone 13” will feature a 64-megapixel shooter with wide lens and 1x optical zoom (6x digital zoom), 40MP telephoto lenser with 3x to 5x optical zoom (15-20x digital zoom), 40MP ultra-wide with 0.25x “optical reverse zoom” and a 40MP anamorphic lens sporting a 2.1:1 ratio.

Apple has been consistently conservative on megapixel count, often delaying jumps to higher resolutions in favor of in-sensor modifications that result in a better picture without added data overhead. More recently, the company has turned to machine learning to power software-driven photographic enhancement features, like Deep Fusion and Night mode.

Beyond the massive increase in sensor resolution, up from iPhone 11 Pro’s 12MP cameras, the anamorphic option appears to be aimed at filmmaking.

Apple has concentrated on boosting iPhone’s still photography prowess for a decade, but only recently turned its eye toward videography. When unveiling the latest iPhone 11 Pro, for example, Apple showed off a novel feature from FiLMiC Pro that enables users to record “multi-cam” video from the handset’s front and rear cameras, a good solution for documentaries.

The latest iPhone flagship is also capable of shooting 4K video with extended dynamic range and “cinematic video stabilization” at 60 frames per second, and sound capture is enhanced with directional mic algorithms. Together, the new features amount to a capable videography tool that, thanks to COVID-19, has been employed by media professionals in lieu of expensive equipment. “Saturday Night Live,” “American Idol,” “Conan” and “Parks and Recreation” all used iPhone to shoot one or more episodes during the coronavirus lockdown.

As for today’s rumor, Fudge tempers expectations with a caveat, saying the camera specifications should be taken with a “[h]uuuuugggeeeee amount of .”

Apple struck a deal with the Jim Henson Company to produce new episodes of the beloved kids’ show that will air on Apple TV+, reports Vulture. Original puppet characters Gobo, Red, Boober, Mokey, Wembley and Uncle Travelling Matt are set to star in the series.

As part of the arrangement, Apple purchased exclusive streaming rights to 96 episodes of the original series that aired from 1983 to 1987. The company’s thinking on the acquisition — its first for previously filmed and aired content — is that viewers will be able to watch all live-action “Fraggle” episodes in one place instead of going through previous owner HBO, according to people familiar with the matter.

While not initially persuaded by a pitch from Henson executives to bundle old with new, Apple ultimately decided it made sense to consolidate the show’s assets under one umbrella, sources said. The move makes Apple TV+ the de facto home of “Fraggle.”

Apple’s “Fraggle” back catalog will be available for streaming on Apple TV+ in 100 countries on Wednesday, May 27.

Vulture sources claim Apple is not eyeing a move into library curation, a strategy that Netflix and others leveraged to kick off the streaming revolution. Originals will continue to be the focus of Apple TV+, though the company is open to purchasing library titles if it plans to work on a new production related to existing property, the report said. A report last week claimed Apple is in talks with studios to fill out its Apple TV+ catalog with a library of older movies and series.

News of the “Fraggle” purchase and series order arrives weeks after Apple debuted the shot on iPhone “Fraggle Rock: Rock On” special, a series of mini-episodes that deal in part with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The show’s finale, which debuted on Tuesday, features notable special guests including Alanis Morissette, Common, Tiffany Haddish, Neil Patrick Harris, Ziggy Marley and Jason Mraz.

If you have one computer, with one user, doing one task, then the storage space you have or can easily add externally is probably sufficient. But as computers, users, or tasks multiply, so does storage. Add in any kind of large file storage need, like accumulation of videos, and it can get out of hand quickly.

Sure, you can keep adding external drives through RAID enclosures like we have, but that can get unwieldy if you have a lot of data and that’s aggravated by multiple users or computers. Cataloging what’s on which drive can be a pain too.

We’ve said it before — we like home servers, and we like the Mac mini for that task. But we also like network attached storage devices (NAS), a device we can sit in the corner, and just let it serve files.

But, it’s all too easy to buy a network attached storage device that doesn’t have enough power for the future, and have to re-buy. This increases cost, and potentially induces a migration nightmare.

Buy what you need from the start of the project. Get something like Synology’s DS-1618+ — which we’ve been using for some time now.

The DS-1618 is plain. It is a black box, specifically designed to sit unobtrusively in a (well ventilated) area of an office. You don’t really want this to be in your office near your workstation or a bedroom with an office space because of noise — but more on that in a bit.

The unit gives the user six bays to add 3.5-inch hard drives, or 2.5-inch SSDs too — but we recommend the former for cost and data density reasons. If this isn’t sufficient, two DX517 expansion chassis can be installed and easily added to the existing RAID through the pair of eSATA ports on the back of the unit.

The DS-1618+ has three USB 3.1 type A connections for expansion, or to back up the entire RAID, assuming you have a large enough external array to hold the contents of the NAS. If you’re so inclined, you can connect a powered USB-A hub to any of these ports for backup or other expansion. And, if you need to, you can connect a USB-only printer to the Synology to turn it into a network printer.

Ports on the rear of a Synology DS-1618+ network attached storage device

Networking is provided by four Gigabit Ethernet ports, with the unit having support link aggregation — in essence, with some routers, you can use all four ports to increase incoming and outgoing bandwidth. But, this can get expensive, as only some routers support it. Besides, in the home office or small business set up with the unit having hard drives, this is overkill.

Extra expansion possibilities are opened up by a PCI-E x4 expansion slot. You can’t just jam any old PCI-E card in there, but Synology does have a list of compatible cards that give the unit things like 10-gig Ethernet, fiberoptic networking cards, SSD caching for faster random access to things like databases, and the like.

Most users won’t need to use this slot for anything. But, it is a good inclusion for the future. The Mac mini has a 10-gig Ethernet option, and the iMac Pro and Mac Pro have it by default. Routers and network switches capable of the speed are coming down in price, and in the next few years, they will become more ubiquitous.

The whole package is powered by an Intel Atom C3538 CPU, with 4GB DDR4 RAM standard. RAM is expandable to 32GB with two SO-DIMM RAM slots on the underneath of the machine. More on this, and why and when you’d want more RAM in a network peripheral in a bit, though.

Loading a hard drive into a Synology DS-1618+ network attached storage device

The chassis is metal and well-engineered. Drive trays are tool-less, beyond the key that’s included in the system to pop the tray out.

Two plastic rails hold a drive firmly in place in the mostly-metal tray. The tray then slides in, and with the level lock on the tray, there is no doubt that you’ve made a good mechanical connection to the SATA drive connector in the NAS itself.

Drive tray assembled and ready to get installed

But, in operation and under load, we’d like it to be a little quieter. Under full I/O and CPU load, the unit doesn’t vibrate, but between fan noise and drive noise, it hits 61 dBa at three feet from the enclosure.

It is replete with LEDs and incredibly blinky when in use. This is expected, given that it has up to six hard drives, and is important to be able to see at a glance if everything is functioning okay. But again, you probably don’t want it physically near your workstation.

Setup is about the easiest we’ve ever seen for a network attached storage device. The first step is to load up the device with drives. Synology makes it easy to see in advance how much storage you’re going to get from the unit with a tool where you can virtually load it up and see what you get — and we highly recommend fiddling with this before you buy drives.

Drive slots interior to the Synology DS-1618+

Synology has a list of recommended drives for the unit, and as a general rule, we do recommend adhering to those. That said, in the courses of our testing, we’ve used an assortment of drive sizes and manufacturers, and found that heat and data transfer consistency changes little.

Synology also has an online tool so you can see what you’re getting into for DSM software setup before you really get going. After you’ve taken a look at that, and following the drive installation, plug it into power, and use Safari or other browsers to go to find.synology.com.

Synology DS-1618+ loaded with drives

This loads up the configuration page for the device, lets you set up an administrative user, and format the drives in the unit. Synology and AppleInsider recommends Synology Hybrid RAID for flexibility. It also supports RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 6, RAID 10, RAID 50, RAID 60 in hardware — but the drive requirements for each are left as an exercise for the reader.

After formatting, the interface has you configure the basics of file sharing. Using a URL that Synology provides that the NAS itself keeps up to date with your internet-facing IP address, you can also access your files and some of your services outside of your home network, all secured by encryption and password.

We have seen some probing from the Internet, looking for a Synology. The basic security is robust, assuming you’re using best practices for user and password selection. And, this is enhanced by notifications — the DSM will block IP addresses that hammer on the NAS looking for access automatically, and it will email you that it has done so, if you’ve configured it appropriately.

Under the basic configuration of DSM, file sharing is basic SMB — but this can be tailored to a ridiculous extent. Not only can you add additional services like SFTP, BitTorrent, and the like, times of file availability can be selected, you can lock down specific folders with a password, and you can prevent certain folders from being seen by a user at all.

Synology’s DSM also allows for full-drive AES 256-bit encryption without a large amount of performance loss. But if you do this, don’t then use the machine for anything that needs any notable processing horsepower. You can upgrade the RAM, but you can’t upgrade the processor.

The use of the device goes so much deeper than this, though.

Beyond just serving files, a network attached storage device like the Synology DS-1618+ has an expandable ecosystem, very similar to Apple’s App Store. Software can be added to extend the usability of the device — and you can even install Windows on it.

Synology settings page in Safari — your gateway to installing packages and configuring the unit

For most Apple Mac and iPad users, the most usability beyond SMB file sharing will come from an integrated iTunes sharing package, which is easily configured through the web-based interface. Additionally, it can be set up as network Time Machine targets, even for Macs running macOS El Capitan and older with AFP services.

Other software available for the unit include a Plex server, built-in DLNA video streaming, and integration with Dropbox and other cloud-based storage services.

Regarding that video streaming, though — if you use the iTunes server, all of your videos and music need to be encoded properly for iTunes. Basically, you’re front-loading all the processor work that needs to be done for a video, and keeping that work off the NAS itself.

Services like Plex will transcode just about any media format on the NAS prior to streaming, but this takes some effort from the hardware. This is commonly where lesser NAS devices fall down.

In our testing, we consistently can stream three 1080P videos simultaneously with no dropped frames. But, it will only realistically manage one 4K stream, and the enclosure’s fans are very, very loud during the process.

The DS-1618+ also comes with a two-user license for IP-based cameras, to use the unit as the core of a network-based surveillance system. Up to 40 cameras are supported, at additional cost.

As you add services and load, that 4GB of RAM in the unit is consumed very rapidly. It uses virtual memory like every other modern computer does, but as that footprint increases, performance drops. We didn’t run into this when running a Time Machine backup, an iTunes server, and regular file service. When we added a Plex server, we started seeing some performance hits even before we started streaming anything.

So, if you’re going basic, 4GB is probably enough. But, if you plan on running a lot of services, get more RAM. We put 16GB in our unit and didn’t hit any more performance issues induced by low RAM.

The Synology 1618+ will saturate your home network, if you let it. With six 7200 RPM drives installed in the NAS, when copying 20GB of large files, we saw 110.1 megabytes per second read, and 109.1 megabytes per second write speeds. The impact of smaller files varies, but when copying 20GB of MP3 files across the network, we saw that same 110 megabytes per second read, but 81 megabytes per second write.

This changes when using 10-gig Ethernet through a Netgear XS505M switch, and to a Mac mini with that 10-gig option. Using that setup, we got about 400 megabytes per second read on big and small files, and 390 megabytes per second write of large files, and 220 megabytes per second write on the MP3 folder.

The DS-1618+ is not inexpensive. It is Mac mini-priced, if you’re looking to stay inside the Apple ecosystem for your server needs.

From a price perspective, you’re looking at $799 for either the DS-1618+ or the Mac mini on the low-end, assuming you’re using the 2018 Mac mini. Drive prices vary, depending on what you pick up, but $100 per 4TB isn’t an unrealistic estimation. On top of that, for the Mac mini, you’re looking at $200-ish for a USB 3.2 type C enclosure with the limited macOS software RAID options, and much more if you want hardware RAID support — unless you just want four drives in individual enclosures laying about.

From a performance standpoint, that Mac mini home server is more flexible overall, and more powerful. However, it is also more expensive when you consider those additional expenses, and in some respects, not as easy to set up for network services. And, that PCI-E slot for expansion of the NAS is nice.

In a home with low network storage needs or an office that sees a basic need but isn’t sure where to jump in, the Synology DS-1618+ is overkill. But, as you start adding things like media serving and the like, plus the inevitable creep of what you offload onto a NAS once you get started, the unit is a cost-effective way to get a powerful storage solution not just for now, but for the future as well.

Importantly, though, don’t get complacent with backup. It is far too easy to get a NAS in your office and consider yourself safe. A single-facility failure, say, an office fire, will still wipe out all of your data, if you don’t have some sort of off-site backup.

There are certainly cheaper network attached storage units, but they are easy to outgrow. The 1618+ is an excellent, and expandable, starting point.

• Power to price ratio is excellent
• Excellent expandability
• Software configuration more than just about anybody needs

• Loud and bright
• Expansion chassis for more drives are expensive
• Similar in price to a Mac mini

Score 4 out of 5

The Synology DS-1618+ sells for $749 at your choice of retailers, including Amazon, B&H and Adorama.

Multi-device wireless chargers are prevalent these days. Nearly every company that creates a solo wireless charging pad has its own multi-device alternative.

Most of these follow a similar formula. They look like an extra-large charging pad that also has some sort of Apple Watch charging puck integrated into it, whether hovering above the phone or inline with the two other wireless charging sites.

STM Goods is one of the first to buck that trend and take that three-in-one idea and go vertical rather than horizontal.

ChargeTree is powered over USB-C

ChargeTree is all about fitting the most into a small space. It has an angled wireless charging stand to the front, a small wireless charging pad for a set of headphones around back, and an Apple Watch charger hovering in the air.

The front charger is capable of outputting up to 10 watts of power, even though iPhones are limited to only 7.5W. It has a small lip covered in silicone for the device to rest on, which helps ensure that it is always correctly aligned with the Qi charger inside, and you can position your phone vertically or horizontally as well.

The phone’s perch hides three status LEDs

Hidden within the phone’s perch are three status lights, one of which will illuminate for each of the three wireless chargers found on the ChargeTree.

When used horizontally, it’s a perfect stand for kicking back and watching a few episodes on Quibi, or maybe taking a FaceTime call while still charging your device.

Side view of the ChargeTree

We’ve frequently been fans of charging stands with the latest generation of iPhones. With Face ID, it is more difficult to unlock the phone while it is flat and parallel with the table or charger, without resorting to entering the code or craning your neck.

Using a charging stand, it is easy to see what is happening on your phone as well as to unlock it when necessary.

AirPods charging pad

Then there is the small wireless charger around back that’s limited to 5W of power. This makes it just right for a set of AirPods, which the stand makes clear by showing an outline of set of the personal audio accessories.

It is just the right size to hold a set of AirPods or AirPods Pro without them sticking out the sides. This too has a silicone pad to prevent lateral movement.

We’ve seen elevated AirPods chargers from companies such as Zens. While it does free up space, they are often right above your iPhone, and has the potential for the Apple Watch to cause damage to your iPhone should it fall or use a larger metal band.

Here, it is only above your AirPods, not your iPhone, and it has enough height that we wouldn’t worry about dangling bands.

The built-in Apple Watch charging puck

We do want to be clear that this Apple Watch charger, for the time being, is not Apple certified, though we’ve not experienced any negative effects in our extensive time testing the device. One perk of not being MFI-certified is that STM can alter the appearance slightly, with the sides of the puck blending down into the body of the ChargeTree for a very sleek appearance.

If you are put off by the lack of official MFi certification on the Apple Watch charger, then hold off on this version of ChargeTree.

If that doesn’t give you an uneasy feeling, we’d wholely recommend STM Goods’ ChargeTree multi-device charger. It is finally something different and takes space into consideration on our increasingly sought after desk space.

As we get more devices to charge, space becomes a premium and it is nice to have something this small to easily fit on our nightstand or desk.

STM Goods thought through the important aspects such as horizontal charging, easily detectable status lights up front, and utilizing USB-C.

If you have an Apple Watch, a set of AirPods or AirPods Pro, and an iPhone, there is little reason to not consider ChargeTree.

• Sleek, minimalist design
• Three-in-one charger
• Doesn’t slow down under max load
• Phone works in both orientations
• iPhone fast charge
• USB-C support
• Apple Watch puck blends in

• Charging puck isn’t Apple certified
• Only one phone at a time

Snag your own STM ChargeTree for your iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods off Amazon for $79.95.

A key element of the HomePod is its adaptive audio, which is able to create an optimal audio experience for the user, regardless of its position and nearby obstacles. While impressive to most listeners of the HomePod, one team believes it can create a far better product.

The startup Syng is using a combination of design and sound quality to create a new type of speaker, according to the Financial Times. Its first product, the “Cell” speaker, will use “immersive rendering” and a novel audio format to create a “revolutionary” sound “indistinguishable from reality.”

In its pitches to investors, Syng plans to launch a range of speakers, with the initial launch scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2020. Along with expanding the speaker range, Syng also hopes to bolster revenues by licensing out its rendering technology to other speaker producers, as well as setting up its own subscription service.

So far, the startup has raised in the region of $15 million in Series A funding, and is aiming to raise more ahead of the launch.

The company is headed up by Christopher Stringer, a prominent industrial designer who left Apple after 21 years of employment. Stringer had worked on a number of Apple products, including the original iPhone and iPad, and was involved in Apple’s famous legal battle against Samsung over iPhone patents.

Stringer is named on more than 1,400 patents in the United States, and is credited for innovations pertaining to the iPhone, Apple Watch, and the HomePod. The patents list includes filings for HomePod’s spatial audio system, which is likely to have been improved upon by Stringer for the new speaker.

According to the report, Stringer moved from Silicon Valley in 2017 to set up the startup in Venice Beach, Los Angeles. The company also counts other Apple employees in its ranks, including co-founder Afrooz Family who worked for Apple for six years as an audio engineer and contributed to the HomePod.

Other employees for the firm formerly worked for Nest, Ring, Nike, Facebook, and major audio companies including Harman International and Bowers & Wilkins.

While offering a better audio experience is hoped to make Syng stand out, its fortunes remain uncertain. It is entering an already crowded market, and has to deal with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, which can impact both attracting investment and the scheduling of production.

In May, an amendment to the USA Freedom Reauthorization Act that would require the Justice Department to obtain a warrant before searching someone’s browsing and search histories failed in the U.S. Senate by one vote. Now, as the U.S. House of Representatives considers the act, tech companies are asking House leaders to add those protections to the bill.

On Friday, Mozilla, Reddit and Twitter penned a letter to House leaders urging them to explicitly prohibit warrantless collection of internet search and browsing data.

In addition to the entities named above, advocacy group Reform Government Surveillance signed on to the letter. The group represents major tech companies like Apple, Google, Microsoft and Facebook.

A group of more than 50 civil liberties organizations also signed a letter on May 18 to House leaders to adopt warrantless search protections.

The USA Freedom Reauthorization Act would reauthorize key surveillance laws in the U.S., including some that date back to the USA Patriot Act in 2001.

Apple revealed a “first look” at the upcoming show in a press release Thursday, calling the series a “fresh, intensely romantic tale” of a talented but struggling performer in New York.

Little Voice follows Bess King (O’Grady) as she navigates the music scene and copes with life issues like love and family. Also starring are Sean Teale, Colton Ryan, Shalini Bathina, Kevin Valdez, Phillip Johnson Richardson and Chuck Cooper.

The series is produced by Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television. Abrams, Bareilles, Ben Stephenson (“Westworld”) and Jessie Nelson (“I Am Sam,” “Stepmom,”) are listed as executive producers, with the latter writing and directing the first episode.

Nelson previously partnered with Bareilles on the musical “Waitress,” which made its Broadway debut in 2016.

Little Voice streams on July 10 and joins an eclectic collection of Apple TV+ originals including Golden Globe-nominated and Critics Choice and SAG award-winning series The Morning Show, sitcom Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet, Beastie Boys Story, The Banker and sci-fi epic See.

While the streaming service has yet to find a breakout hit, Apple is forging ahead with plans to build out its catalog beyond original series, movies and specials. Most recently, the company this week reached a $70 million deal for exclusive streaming rights to Tom Hanks vehicle “Greyhound.”

While Verizon was among the first to roll out a functional 5G network in the U.S., the speedy protocol was restricted to data downloads with uploads handled by 4G LTE. That changed on Wednesday when the carrier enabled 5G uploads, saying customers will see an average 30% speed increase over LTE.

It’s worth noting that a Verizon footnote points out that “5G upload coverage area differs from 5G download coverage area.” The carrier didn’t elaborate on what, exactly, that means.

Since it’s still early in 5G’s rollout, there are still some major caveats for most consumers. Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband is only available in select parts of certain cities and requires a 5G-compatible smartphone. Apple is expected to release its first 5G-enabled iPhone sometime in 2020.

Verizon also announced that San Diego will become the 35th market to receive 5G Ultra Wideband service on May 28.

“Our customers’ need for 5G is accelerating. We’re building our 5G Ultra Wideband network to develop and enable the 5G innovations that will support the changing behavior of consumers, businesses and entire industries,” said Verizon CTO Kyle Malady.

Verizon’s low-band 5G networks, which will make up the second part of its 5G deployment, are due to launch later in 2020.