Friday, June 21, 2019

Netflix Tests Pop-Out Picture-in-Picture Player on Desktop

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Netflix is testing a new pop-out picture-in-picture feature that's designed to let Netflix users watch videos in a small floating box that hovers above other applications, reports Engadget.

The pop-out player allows users to click a small icon at the bottom of the screen. Once the pop-out window appears, it can be resized and positioned anywhere on a computer's display.

Image via Engadget

The pop-out player is designed to stay on top of whatever else you're doing on your computer, and it can be closed by clicking the X in the player, choosing Back to Browse, or closing the Netflix tab. Subtitles are not currently supported in the pop-out browser.

Netflix appears to be testing the feature with a limited number of users at the current time, and Netflix has yet to announce the feature. Netflix did confirm to Engadget that the pop-out player is "only a test" in an image, so it's not clear when and if the player will roll out to additional users.

Tag: Netflix

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Third-Party Devs Will Be Able to Access iPadOS Apple Pencil Latency Improvements for Art Apps

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Apple in iPadOS introduced some performance improvements between the iPad Pro and the Apple Pencil, cutting latency from 20ms to 9ms with the new software.

Third-party developers who make apps that use the Apple Pencil will also be able to take advantage of some of these latency improvements, Apple software development chief Craig Federighi confirmed last week.


Federighi shared the information in a response to an email sent by developer Claudio Juliano, who tweeted what Federighi had to say last week. The info was highlighted today in a tweet by developer Steve Troughton-Smith.

In the email, Federighi explains that third-party developers have had access to predicted touches via UIKit since iOS 9, and with iOS 13, developers will receive the "latest and greatest" touch prediction advancements in minimizing PencilKit drawing latency.

Federighi explains just how Apple introduced the latency improvements, and he points out that there's a small gap of 4ms that developers won't have access to at the current time because Apple didn't have a way to safely expose the capability to developers. From Federighi's email:
Note that we achieve low latency through a combination of several techniques: Metal rendering optimizations, touch prediction, and mid-frame event processing. Third-party developers can achieve similar low-latency drawing experiences by taking advantage of Metal rendering and touch prediction best practices covered in the WWDC Sessions I've referenced below.

With these you can achieve nearly all of the improvements you've seen in PencilKit drawing with your own renderer. (There does remain a small gap: 4 ms of our improvement comes from a technique called mid-frame event processing; we are looking for ways to expose this capability to third party engines in the future, but for this year this one was only safely achievable through tight integration within our frameworks).
For developers, the WWDC sessions Federighi suggests include PencilKit, Adopting Predicted Touches, and Metal Performance Optimization.

In a nutshell, the information shared by Federighi confirms that third-party apps that take advantage of the Apple Pencil will be getting some of the same latency improvements that we'll be seeing when using the Apple Pencil within native functions like Markup.

The Apple Pencil latency improvements are built into iPadOS, the version of iOS 13 that is designed to run on the iPad. All of Apple's current iPads support the Apple Pencil. iPad Pro models work with the Apple Pencil 2, while the 6th-generation iPad, iPad mini, and iPad Air work with the original Apple Pencil.

Related Roundups: iOS 13, iPadOS

This article, "Third-Party Devs Will Be Able to Access iPadOS Apple Pencil Latency Improvements for Art Apps" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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How to delete all old messages from iPhone

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Messages take up a lot of your iPhone's storage space. Here's how to delete them all quickly and free up some gigabytes

from Latest iPhone Articles from Macworld UK http://bit.ly/2Y5SOFk

Mozilla Patches Two Zero-Day Vulnerabilities in Firefox Used to Install Backdoors on Macs, Update Now

http://bit.ly/2WZjBGU

Mozilla has patched two zero-day security vulnerabilities in Firefox that allowed backdoors to be installed on Macs, bypassing Apple's usual XProtect and Gatekeeper protections. Firefox users should update the browser immediately.


Ars Technica's Dan Goodin:
Mozilla released an update on Tuesday that fixed a code-execution vulnerability in a JavaScript programming method known as Array.pop. On Thursday, Mozilla issued a second patch fixing a privilege-escalation flaw that allowed code to break out of a security sandbox that Firefox uses to prevent untrusted content from interacting with sensitive parts of a computer operating system.
The zero-days were exploited by unnamed hackers this week, but so far, attacks are known only to have targeted Mac users involved in cryptocurrency.


As noted by Mac security expert Patrick Wardle, XProtect and Gatekeeper provided no protection in this case, as they only scan applications that have a quarantine flag set. Fortunately, this may change in macOS Catalina.

Firefox users on Mac should update the web browser to version 67.0.4 as soon as possible to keep themselves protected.

More details can be read at Ars Technica.


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Apple Reportedly in Talks With Samsung About OLED Displays for Future iPads and MacBooks

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Samsung is the exclusive supplier of OLED displays for the iPhone X and newer, as part of a supply agreement with Apple. Due to fewer iPhone sales than anticipated in recent quarters, however, Apple has reportedly ordered fewer OLED displays from Samsung than both companies initially expected.


Due to the shortfall, Korea's ETNews reports that Apple now owes Samsung a penalty in the amount of hundreds of millions of dollars. Instead of paying cash, however, the report claims Apple has offered multiple options, including committing to OLED display orders for future products like "tablets and notebooks."

This aligns with a recent report from Korean site The Elec that claimed Samsung is in talks with Apple about supplying OLED displays for an all-new 16-inch MacBook Pro and future iPad Pro models.

MacRumors mockup of 16-inch MacBook Pro

We first heard about a potential 16-inch to 16.5-inch MacBook Pro from well-known analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who said the notebook will launch at some point in 2019 with an "all-new design," but he did not comment on which display technology the notebook will use or share any other details.

Kuo has also previously claimed that two new iPad Pro models will enter mass production between the fourth quarter of 2019 and the first quarter of 2020, but again, he did not say which display technology the tablets will use.


Beyond that, Kuo expects Apple to launch several new products with Mini-LED backlights over the next two years, including a 10-inch to 12-inch iPad in late 2020 or early 2021 and a 15-inch to 17-inch MacBook in the first half of 2021, so it's unclear exactly how far away we are from the first OLED-based iPads and Macs.

Apple's transition to OLED started with the Apple Watch, followed by the iPhone X, so the iPad Pro and MacBook Pro would continue that natural progression of the technology from smaller to larger displays.

OLED displays could have several benefits for future iPad Pro and MacBook Pro models, including lower power consumption, increased brightness, sharper colors, and faster response times compared to LCDs. OLED panels are often thinner, too, which could lead to slimmer and lighter product designs.

Related Roundups: iPad Pro, MacBook Pro

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from MacRumors: Mac News and Rumors - All Stories http://bit.ly/31RnEnJ

Apple Launches New Yoga Day Activity Challenge

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Apple today kicked off a new Activity Challenge, this one celebrating the International Day of Yoga. To earn the award, you'll have to complete a yoga workout that lasts 15 minutes or more at any time today. Apple holds these challenges for many different holidays and events throughout the year, but this is the first time it has marked the International Day of Yoga.


In order to be sure that your workout is counted towards the Activity Challenge, you'll need to use any app that adds yoga workouts to Apple's Health app. The first-party Workout app for Apple Watch offers Yoga tracking as well. Once completed, you'll gain the award in the Activity app, under the Limited Edition awards section, as well as a set of stickers that can be used in Messages.

Apple has hosted a few Activity Challenges so far in 2019, including one for Earth Day, one for Heart Month, and one that was exclusive to Apple employees. Each challenge always tasks the user with completing an exercise of some sort in a given time frame, and the rewards typically offer stickers for Messages and a new badge in the Activity app.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch, watchOS 5, watchOS 6
Buyer's Guide: Apple Watch (Caution)

This article, "Apple Launches New Yoga Day Activity Challenge" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Samsung Galaxy A10s Passes Through FCC, Reveals Dual Rear Camera & Fingerprint Reader


via News – MySmartPrice http://bit.ly/2Fpa2X1