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2019 is apparently going to be a bold new year for Apple, as the company has already announced that its AirPlay 2 feature will be expanding to Samsung smart TVs . While that was big news all by itself, it didn’t take long before the company then confirmed that AirPlay 2 would be added to the features list for a variety of different smart TVs out there , courtesy of some of the biggest names in the industry. Indeed, it didn’t take long before Vizio officially announced its own adoption plans for the feature, with its SmartCast-enabled TVs getting the feature at some point in the near future. Not to be outdone, LG has now confirmed that it, too, will be supporting AirPlay 2 and HomeKit in its smart TV lineup as well. That means future owners will be able to mirror content from their Mac or iOS device to the TV, as well as ask Siri to play certain content on the TV, or stream music directly to the AirPlay 2-enabled receiver. With the additional support of HomeKit, the LG-brand...

There have been faucets on the market, specifically from Kohler, that allow for hands-free usage. But now things are getting really interesting. Today, during the start of CES 2019, Kohler has introduced a brand new Sensate faucet that actually provides support for voice commands. The faucet will allow owners to tell Siri to turn on the water, thanks to built-in HomeKit support. (The Sensate Faucet also supports Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant as well.) As noted by Engadget , the faucet will not only let you turn the water on or off, but also pour an exact amount. So if you want to pour three cups of water out of the faucet, you can simply ask Siri to do that and the Sensate Faucet will oblige. “The Sensate Touchless kitchen faucet with KOHLER Konnect allows users to turn the water on or off and dispense measured amounts of water through simple voice commands or motion-based interactions. Consumers can fill an eight-ounce cup of water or a large pot with hands-free voice...

Forget modular smartphones, Samsung has unveiled the world’s first consumer modular TV at CES 2019. Dubbed “The Wall,” its the world’s first modular MicroLED TV with Samsung offering the TV in sizes as big as 219 inches and as small as 75-inch.  The modular nature of the TV has been made possible thanks to the MicroLED technology. Unlike LEDs, MicroLED doesn’t need any backlight to work properly. Samsung is shipping the MicroLED TV to consumers in 146-inch and 75-inches, though interested folks can always increase its size further thanks to its modular design. This is not the first time that Samsung has shown a modular TV demo at CES, it has been doing so since the last few years. But this was the first time, it showed the TV with screen size as massive as 219-inches. Samsung claims MicroLED offers all the advantages of OLED in an even thinner package. It produces the same deep blacks, vibrant colors, and the TV is capable of reaching brightness levels of u...

Up until now, if you wanted to buy a USB-C to Lightning cable, your only option would have been to buy it directly from Apple. At $29, the cable is extremely expensive and puts it out of the reach for most people. Belkin has now become the first third-party accessory maker to announce a USB-C to Lightning cable. Belkin will be offering its BoostCharge USB-C to Lightning cables in lengths of 4ft, 6ft, and 10ft. They are made from DuraTek for additional reliability, with Belkin including a leather strap with the cables to prevent them from tangling. The 4ft cable is priced at $24.99, with the 10ft one coming in at $34.99. It will go for sale from this spring. A USB-C to Lightning cable will allow 2016 and newer MacBook Pro and MacBook owners to connect their iPhone or iPad directly without requiring a dongle. The wire will also allow one to make use of USB-PD fast chargers to charge their iPhone 8 or newer to 50 percent in just 30 minutes. Belkin’s USB-C to Lightning cable is not ch...

If you lose a device, companies have options like Apple’s “Find My iPhone”, and Google has the ability to help Android device owners find their phone, too. But it looks like Tile, the company that has made finding things a lot easier for years now thanks to Bluetooth, wants to try something different. Engadget is reporting on Monday that Tile has partnered up with chip makers to build the ability to find gadgets, thanks to Bluetooth Low Energy (LE), right into the chips themselves. Companies like Qualcomm, Toshiba, Cypress, Silicon Labs, and others are already on board: “BLE chip makers involved in the deal include the likes of Qualcomm, Dialog, Silicon Labs, Cypress and Toshiba, all of which will be able to integrate Tile technology onto their chips during production, allowing manufacturers to enable their products with Tile from the get-go. As Tile CEO CJ Prober says, “With over 20 billion BLE devices forecasted to ship in the next four years, ‘Find with Tile’...

mophie is one of the most popular third-party accessory makers out there, based on some phenomenal battery cases released over the years. Now, during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2019, the company has just announced a brand new juice pack battery case for the iPhone XS, XS, and iPhone XR called the Juice Pack Access. The iPhone XS and iPhone XR battery case has an external battery that measures in at 2000mAh, while the iPhone XS Max has an external battery measuring in at 2200mAh. Each of the new Juice Pack Access battery cases can be charged wirelessly on any Qi-certified charger, or they can be charged with the included USB-C cable as well. The cases feature pass-through charging, which means that when connected to a charger the iPhone will charge to capacity first, and then the case will charge after that. There are four LED lights on the back of the case to show the charge level of the battery case. And, for the first time, mophie is allowing full, unimpeded access to the ch...

Kicking off CES 2019, Withings has announced a new analog smartwatch with ECG capability dubbed the Move ECG. The analog wearable promises a staggering 12 months of battery life and comes with an EKG sensor just like the Apple Watch Series 4. Similar to the Apple Watch Series 4, one can take an ECG reading on the Move ECG by keeping their fingers on both sides of the bezels. The company has included two electrodes inside the rear of the device, while the third electrode is in the bezel. Apart from ECG, the Move ECG can also track steps and one’s activity and sleep level. All the data is stored and synced with the Withings Health Mate app. There’s one catch with the Move ECG though — it lacks a heart rate scanner. That’s an odd omission but one that Withings likely had to make to keep the size of the analog wristwatch in check. Withings is yet to receive FDA clearance for the EG feature of the Move ECG. However, this will not stop the company from selling the devi...

Samsung is not the only one to offer AirPlay 2 integration with its latest Smart TVs . Apple’s updated AirPlay 2 page points to all leading TV manufacturers offering AirPlay 2 integration in their TVs.  With AirPlay 2 integration, iOS and Mac users will be able to directly play content on their Smart TV without requiring an Apple TV. So, you can easily stream Netflix on your AirPlay 2 compatible Smart TV without the need for an Apple TV. Even better, users can stream music on their AirPlay 2 compatible TV and then sync it with compatible AirPlay speakers in their home. The page only says that more AirPlay 2-enabled TVs are “coming soon.” We are likely going to see such TVs launch throughout the year across varying price points. AirPlay 2 integration will mean these TVs will show up in the Home app on iOS as a HomeKit-compatible device. Plus, one can also use Siri to playback content on these TVs. Users will also be able to control the volume and content playback right ...

Samsung and Apple are competing companies, and it wasn’t too long ago that the companies were going at it in lengthy legal battles. But sometimes things change, at least a little bit. Samsung made a bit of waves over the weekend when the company officially announced that, starting in 2019, Samsung’s smart TVs will officially add support for not only Apple’s AirPlay 2 wireless technology, but also support for movies and TV shows from iTunes. With the latter bit, there will be a dedicated application on the smart TVs that will give access to the digital content from iTunes, similar to how Netflix works. Samsung smart TV owners that have support for the new feature will be able to buy content from iTunes, with resolution up to 4K on supported titles. What’s more, that content can be found through Samsung’s universal search function, and even Samsung’s own Bixby digital assistant. The smart TVs will become AirPlay 2 receivers, which marks the first third-...

Standard text messages aren’t great, but thankfully there’s technology out there that has improved the experience for the companies who actually support it. That technology is called Rich Communications Services or RCS. This is a significant upgrade to the standard text message, or SMS, and it has been in place for quite some time already. However, it’s still not a universal presence just yet. Google is rolling out plans to support it in a bigger way in the future, and the carriers out there, like Verizon and AT&T, have been pushing for support from smartphone manufacturers for awhile now. However, Apple hasn’t been one of the companies to adopt RCS. Why? iMessage. Basically, all of the cool stuff that RCS supports iMessage supports, so Apple hasn’t felt all that compelled to support it. iMessage is a huge boon for Apple and its ecosystem, basically as one of the reasons to jump on board. Carriers have been trying to get Apple to support RCS, just like...

Despite the fact that we’re in 2019 already, the rumor mill has been pretty quiet on the iPhone XS successor up to this point. But it was inevitable that the rumor mill would come up with something fairly early into the year. And here we are just six days in and we’ve got the first render of what’s being called the “iPhone XI”. @OnLeaks, along with Digit.in teamed up to put together a new render of what the new iPhone will apparently look like, and . . . it’s interesting. That feels like the nicest thing to say about it. As you can see, Apple will apparently adopt a three camera system on the back of the 2019 iPhone, and it will have a rounded square segment in the top-left corner. There are three separate cameras, the flash setup in the corner, and a microphone there in the bottom corner. The render itself is perfectly adequate, mind you, and does a nice, clear job of showing off the handset in question. According to the report, the renders were put...

Do you keep getting the annoying popup asking you to verify every time you try to download something from the App Store ? It shows up even when you’re trying to download a free app! The popup usually says something like “ Before you can make purchases, you must tap Continue to verify your payment info ” or “ Tap Continue and sign in to view billing information ”. It’s not a bug! All you need to do is enter some sort of payment information in the App Store and it will stop bugging you. Don’t worry, if you don’t have a credit card, you can select the “None” payment option to stop these popups. How to Add Payment Information To Disable Verification Required Popups Step 1 : On your iPhone or iPad running iOS 12 , open the Settings app. Step 2 : Select iTunes & App Store option. Step 3 : Tap on your Apple ID and select the View Apple ID option. Step 4 : Once you get to the Account page, tap on Payment Information . Step 5 : Here, if you have a credit card, choose the appropriate op...

When reports of the 2018 iPad Pro bending started getting media attention , Apple was quick to dismiss the matter saying that certain units can ship with a slight bend. It said that a bend of up to 400 microns is fine, with the design tolerances for the tablet being tighter than for previous iPads. Apple has now provided more details in a support document on the new manufacturing method it is using on the iPad Pro which can be blamed for the bend. The Cupertino company is using a new “co-molding” manufacturing method for the new iPad Pro in which plastic is injected into milled channels in the aluminum enclosure. After the plastic cools down, the enclosure is finished with a precision CNC machining operation. iPad Pro cellular models now feature Gigabit-class LTE, with support for more cellular bands than any other tablet. To provide optimal cellular performance, small vertical bands or “splits” in the sides of the iPad allow parts of the enclosure to function as cellular a...

Apple has never traditionally taken part in Consumer Electronics Show (CES) which happens at the beginning of every year in Las Vegas. However, for this year’s CES, while Apple has not taken part in the trade show, it is going to make its presence felt with its “What happens on your iPhone, stays on your iPhone” billboard that it has put up near the Las Vegas Convention Center. The area is also adorned with many high profile hotels. With thousands of media journalists, tech press, and folks from the media industry visiting CES over the next week, Apple could not have selected a better spot for this billboard. With this billboard, it would make its presence feel at CES despite not being there on the show floor. Apple’s chief competitors Google and Amazon will be at the CES trade show floor showing off their voice assistants and perhaps announce some new features for it. Apple never shows up at CES, so I can’t say I saw this coming. pic.twitter.com/8jjiBSEu7z ...

Amazon’s Alexa might have started off as a pipe dream, hoping to compete with Apple’s Siri and Google’s own efforts (which is now known as Assistant). But the digital personal assistant from Amazon has turned into one of the most popular options out there. As was reported on Friday by The Verge , Amazon has confirmed that the company has sold 100 million Alexa-enabled devices out there in the wild. That doesn’t just mean Echo-branded smart speakers, but rather includes all the devices out there that are Alexa-enabled. Still, even if that does broaden the available devices, it’s still an impressive milestone for Amazon. The holiday seasons have helped in the past, especially with deals all over the place to reduce the cost for the devices where Alexa can be found. Indeed, Echo devices like the Echo Dot were apparently flying off the shelves, and Amazon saw a huge boost from the holiday sales according to Amazon’s Senior Vice President of Devices and Se...

The hardware vulnerabilities Spectre and Meltdown were big deals leading into 2018, but it looks like Apple will avoid major legal action in regard to a class action lawsuit filed against the company. If you’ll recall, a class action lawsuit was filed against Apple in January of 2018 , with the complaint at the time saying, “Apple knew about the Spectre and Meltdown security defects as early as June of last year, and, as such, did not inform its customer base in a meaningful timeframe. In addition to that, the complaint states that Apple cannot implement a fix for Spectre and/or Meltdown without heavily impacting the performance of those processors”. Apple, for its part, did patch the issue for both iOS devices and macOS machines out in the wild, but that did little to assuage folks affected by the issue in the first place. Which led to that lawsuit. However, AppleInsider is reporting on Friday that the litigation against Apple has been dismissed due to a “lac...

Unfortunately, phishing scams aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. And, worse, some of them are pretty effective in their game to misguide potential victims. The newest scam was briefly profiled by TechCrunch on Friday, and it’s alarming at how sneaky it is at face value. As detailed in the original report, this new phishing scam is a voice call, and it’s disguised behind the guise of an actual Apple Support call. You can see it in action in the photo below. Apparently, Jody Westby got a call from what appeared to be Apple Support. The information that came along with the incoming number even said as much. The person told Westby to give Apple Support a call back, which was actually tied to an 866 number. Westby called back and things were immediately off: “KrebsOnSecurity called the number that the scam message asked Westby to contact (866-277-7794). An automated system answered and said I’d reached Apple Support, and that my expected wait time was about one minu...