Tech Talk

Hardware prototyping consultant Ken Pillonel has sought to address some of the AirPods Pro 's repairability issues with a 3D-printed replacement casing and switching the Lightning charging port for a USB-C port. In his latest video, Pillonel highlighted that the ‌AirPods Pro‌ are not designed to be serviced or repaired since their charging case is not openable without damage to the device, effectively making them a disposable item. Repair specialists at iFixit gave Apple's first- and second-generation AirPods, as well the ‌AirPods Pro‌, a repairability score of zero out of 10 because of this. Pillonel found that the ‌AirPods Pro‌'s charging case is easier to open than that of the standard AirPods, even if this is still not guaranteed without damage. After developing a similar solution for the first- and second-generation AirPods, Pillonel sought to create a solution to give new life to unopenable ‌AirPods Pro‌ charging cases, which currently face inevitable obsolescen

Apple in its upcoming iOS 16.4 update will re-introduce the revamped HomeKit architecture it originally pulled in December due to widespread issues, MacRumors can confirm. Backend code indicates that Apple is ready to re-introduce the updated Home architecture that was released with the iOS 16.2 update , only to be pulled a week after launch because of bugs and installation issues. At the time, Apple said the removal was temporary and that the upgrade option would " return soon, " but newly discovered code references indicate that the architecture will indeed return with the release of iOS 16.4, beginning with the first beta that could arrive as soon as this week. Apple says that the update improves the reliability and efficiency of communication between smart home accessories and Apple devices, and it is something that Apple has been working on since iOS 16 was announced at WWDC in June 2022. When the Home architecture was first released, it caused some ‌‌HomeKi

Samsung's newly announced Galaxy S23 Ultra hasn't quite hit the market yet, but unearthed benchmarks for the device suggest Apple still has the world's fastest mobile processor by a considerable margin. According to Geekbench scores for single-core performance discovered by CompareDial , the Galaxy S23 Ultra scored 1480, while its closest rival, the iPhone 14 Pro , achieved 1874. That suggests the ‌iPhone 14 Pro‌ is 21.02% faster than the Galaxy S23 Ultra in single-core tests. When it came to multi-core performance, the difference was smaller, but still considerable. The S23 Ultra recorded a score of 4584, compared to a score of 5384 for the ‌iPhone 14 Pro‌, indicating that Apple's flagship device is 14.86% faster in multi-core tests than Samsung's latest premium offering. Samsung has traditionally struggled to keep up with Apple's mobile processor technology and the gap has widened in recent years. For example, last year's iPhone 13 beat the Galax

In recognition of Safer Internet Day today, Apple has highlighted the company's software features and tools designed to protect children online, such as Screen Time and Communication Safety . The press release was shared in Europe only. Communication Safety is an opt-in feature in the Messages app on the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch that is designed to warn children when receiving or sending photos that contain nudity. In its press release today, Apple indicated that it is expanding the feature to more regions around the world in partnership with local experts. In recent months, Communication Safety became available in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, after launching earlier in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia, and New Zealand. When the feature is enabled, photos containing nudity are blurred and the child will be warned, presented with helpful resources, and given the option to message someone they trust for help if they choose, according to Apple. On its Child S

Apple has reportedly considered releasing a new top-of-the-line iPhone alongside future Pro and Pro Max models, tentatively referred to as "iPhone Ultra," and one designer has taken it upon himself to envision what such a device could potentially look like. German industrial designer Jonas Daehnert came up with this impressive-looking concept (pictured) by marrying design elements of the Apple Watch Ultra with a smaller imagined iPhone Pro model, which he describes as "12mm+ thick – the Ultra concept." Like Apple's more rugged Apple Watch, Daehnert's titanium iPhone chassis features rounded edges with a flat upper rim that sits flush with the display. Elsewhere, there are protruding Side and Volume Up/Down buttons reminiscent of the watch's crown guard. The extra thickness of the chassis presumes a larger internal battery. Other aspects of the Ultra design language that have been adopted for Daehnert's concept include a ruggedized Ring/Silent

Mozilla is working on a non-WebKit version of Firefox for iOS in anticipation of changes to Apple's platform rules, The Register reports. Mozilla's GitHub repository contains code for the iOS version of Firefox with references to GeckoView, a wrapper for Firefox's Gecko rendering engine. Apple's ‌ App Store ‌ rules insist that browser apps on iOS and iPadOS must use its own WebKit browser engine , meaning that any version of Firefox based on Gecko could not be released under Apple's current policies. The app, which contains a settings page for toggling GeckoView, could be for internal testing, but postings from Mozilla software developers on GitHub suggest that it is for a "secondary project," with open discussion of "proper Gecko Firefox on iOS." Last week, it emerged that Google's Chromium team is working on a new browser for iOS based on Blink , seemingly in expectation of changes to Apple's platform rules. In the face of growi