Apple

The QR code system was originally invented back in the year 1994, pre-dating the smartphone by a decade and a half. The QR code (Quick Response code) that was once mainly aimed at identifying products for stores in a way that was more versatile than the more popular barcode system - UPC barcodes. It doesn't take much more than a camera and a bit of software support to allow a smartphone to use a QR code - so why isn't it a more popular system of communication?

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Apple has released watchOS version 7.6.1, an update the company says is important as it addresses a potential security problem. The update is available for the Apple Watch 3 and later models, with the patch arriving only days after the big 7.6 update was released to the public. Users should update their watches as soon as possible.

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Apple's privacy-respecting item tracker is like a ping-pong of good news, bad news revelations. Apple has made its AirTags so easy to use that there have been concerns about the security of the Find My network. The small discs are small enough to place anywhere but require a separate accessor to hook into objects unless you take the ill-advised route of drilling a hole. Now Apple is finding itself in a sticky situation where the AirTag's battery is being labeled as a safety hazard for kids, while replacement batteries are required to be the child-unsafe kind.

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Supposing you wanted Snapchat to do a better job of telling you where you've been and tracking where you're going, you're in luck! There's a feature coming to iOS first (and probably Android second) called Places. You'll find it appearing in Snapchat with the name "My Places", ready to roll with the map system already appearing inside the app: Snap Map.

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A significant update to Google Voice this week added features like "Missed Call Reason" and "Call Drop Reason and Redial." For users that've been working with Google Voice on phones for years, these features could change the game. Imagine being able to see how that call you missed wasn't because you had your earbuds in and couldn't hear, but because "this device wasn't set to receive incoming calls," along with a simple fix - imagine how that might've changed how you handled odd situations in the past!

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It would appear that the data usage increase bug is back in Pokemon GO in the latest update to the app for BOTH iOS and Android. This wouldn't be a good thing if it were just one of the two platforms. Both platforms at once means Niantic needs to act on a fix as soon as possible.

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Only a couple of significant upgrades are planned for Apple's various iPad devices in the next season or two, according to sources associated with Chinese part suppliers. It's suggested that the next iPad Air could be the best place to look for a major change in size and/or power - that or the iPad mini 6, which could have a new 8.4-inch display panel and a new A14 Bionic chip. The rest of the iPad models do not appear to be set to have particularly important changes in the wings.

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Generally an Apple earnings announcement focuses on how the company reached new heights, broke records, took the world of one device or another by storm. Normally we're talking about how the iPhone sold more units than any other device, how the iPad refuses to stop being the monstrous devourer of all other tablets, and so forth. This quarter, though, it's clear that Apple's focused on what'll be their future, now that they've saturated the earth in their hardware products. Now, the key is: "Services revenue reaches new all-time high."

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Apple naturally wants its fans and customers to buy Macs running on its own M1 Silicon, but it also knows it can't really push them to do so. "Planned obsolescence" is already a dirty word in the consumer electronics market, and it has been thrown at Apple a number of times already. It is, however, unavoidable that some software features might be exclusive to its M1 Macs because of this or that hardware requirement, so it's reassuring to hear that it won't be the case for at least one of those.

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A set of updates were sent by Apple to their various machines out in the wild over the past week that you should be aware of. For the iPhone, we're talking about iOS 14.7.1 and the security content therein. If you've already updated your iPhone to iOS 14.7.1 and do not own any other Apple products, you're good! You can rest easy in the knowledge that you will not have your device's previously vulnerable bits exploited.

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Apple's mobile ecosystem has been marked by two main pillars in the past few years. While it has been singing praises about its work on protecting users' privacy, it has also been designing its iPhones and Apple Watches to record and store health-related data, from activity tracking to biometrics monitoring. Not all activities, however, can be tracked through phones and wearables, and Facebook is reportedly looking into syncing activity data from its Oculus headsets with Apple Health for a more holistic overview of a person's fitness goals and state.

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The iPad mini's design has remained virtually unchanged ever since it first launched in 2012. There have been a few tweaks here and there and very slight changes to its dimensions, but, overall, Apple's smallest tablet is like a blast from the past. The next iPad mini, dubbed the iPad mini 6, might very well change all that, and a new leak gives a more specific screen size for what could be the more revolutionary iPad mini yet.

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