What you need to know

Apple is updating maps to compete with Google.
New York City is the latest to come online.
Others will follow in time.
The new maps are way, way better.

Google has long been the top dog when it comes to map data, but Apple is closing the gap. At least if you happen to live in the right place. New York City is the latest to join the list of areas with updated map data, and it’s pretty spectacular.

The NYC map update started rolling out to Apple Maps today, although it’s being done in phases. If you’re lucky enough to live in NYC you can now take advantage of Apple’s Look Around feature as part of this update. And it’s stunning – even by the high standard set by Google Maps Street View.

General fidelity is improved, too. As the New York Post notes, you can even see specific areas within Central Park.

Users looking at Central Park, for example, can now see individual baseball diamonds and more detailed footpaths. Buildings also are more accurately ren…

What you need to know

Apple Pencils aren’t safe anymore.
People swap iPhones for bars of soap.
iPhone 11 proves popular.
Some people are just bad.

For as long as there have been Apple Stores they have been targets for thieves. And for as long as there have been iPhones, people have sought to steal them from anyone and anywhere they can. None of that is a surprise to anyone, but the sheer number of crimes involving Apple stuff did shock us after we read a piece by Apple Insider this morning.

The post covers a number of Apple-related crimes around the world including some that we can’t quite believe happened. But alas, it seems they did.

Some of those include:

A couple received two bars of soap when they thought they were buying an iPhone in a park.
Someone stole 11 Apple Pencils from an Apple Store.
Someone else had his iPad stolen while he handed free phones out.
More than 100,000 worth of iPhones went missing from a Palo Alto Apple Store
Three cases of iPhone 11s were stolen fr…

A mini Switch for anyone who loves handheld gaming.

When the Nintendo Switch Lite released on Friday, September 20, 2019 I eagerly awaited the arrival of my mail man. The minute the package was delivered I excitedly ripped it open, pulled out my dainty little gaming system, and held it in my hands. I was surprised by how different it felt from my original Switch. It just felt right and the beautiful colors urged me to play.

Over the weekend, I spent over 20 hours testing the Nintendo Switch Lite to see both how it compared to the larger Switch and how good of a gaming system it was on its own. As with any product, it has some things that could be better, but it’s a great device overall. I highly recommend you pick up this smaller Switch if you prefer to play on the go or if you’re looking for gaming on a budget.

Mini gaming system

Nintendo Switch Lite

…

You know what’s better than having an Apple Watch Series 4 in 44mm? Having a ton of awesome bands that you can use to mix and match your style every single day! Here are the best Apple Watch Series 4 bands for 44mm available right now.

Mighty, metal, and marvelous

Oittm Stainless Steel Metal Watch Band

Sleek, stylish, and super-sharp: these are three words you can use to describe the Oittm Stainless Steel Metal Watch Band easily. This band is made from an incredibly high-quality stainless steel and can easily be installed with your Apple Watch in a few seconds. The band is water-resistant, although we don’t recommend running a triathlon with this bad boy.

$28 – $34 at Amazon

On the run? Grab some silicone!

UMAXGET Soft Silicone Breathable Sport Band

Whether you’re someone who’s always on the run or someone who is always running (you know, like a workout?) then having a soft silicone band that’s super comfortable like the UMAXGET Soft Silicone Breathable Sport Band is worth…

What you need to know

UK man’s Apple Watch alerted him of an irregular heartbeat.
Doctors said it was ”unlikely” to be the case.
He was diagnosed with two faulty heart valves.
Saving lives, one Apple Watch at a time.

We’ve heard plenty of stories where an Apple Watch has saved lives and Apple even made a big deal of the fact during its recent Apple Watch Series 5 announcement. And now another life has potentially been saved, this time in the UK.

Tabloid newspaper The Sun reports that fitness fan Chris Mint, 30, was wearing his Apple Watch when it reported that he potentially had atrial fibrillation. That’s a feature that’s available on Apple Watch Series 1 and later, but Mint apparently had no idea it existed. So he did what the watch suggested and sought the opinion of medical professional.

When he did, they said that it was ”unlikely” that the watch was correct, but thankfully they conducted a full examination and confirmed the diagnosis. After seeing a specialist Mint was …

What you need to know

Apple Watch continues to save lives.
But Apple didn’t always intend for it to focus on health.
Health benefits came as a surprise.
Spoiler: It was by accident.

The very first Apple Watch launched in 2015 and while it could measure your heart rate, health wasn’t a major focus. Fast forward to the Apple Watch Series 5 announcement earlier this month and things were very different. Health is absolutely an Apple Watch focus in 2019. So much so that you might think that was the plan all along.

And you’d be wrong.

Speaking with The Independent, Apple execs Jeff Williams, Sumbul Desai, and Kevin Lynch lifted the lid on Apple Watch, its goals, and how it became such a force to be reckoned with in the health world.

The most interesting tidbit is the fact that Apple didn’t intend for health to be the Apple Watch’s focus, Instead, chief operating officer Jeff Williams noted that the whole thing was almost accidental.

It was very organic. Most people think we had …

What you need to know

Analyst Kuo previously said mini-LED is on the way.
High-end iPad and MacBooks are expected.
Products should arrive by mid 2020.
Panels will have a huge number of LEDs.

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has previously said he expects Apple to move some devices to mini-LED and now a new research note expands on that. In a note picked up by MacRumors the analyst says that he expects high-end iPad and MacBook products to ship between late 2020 and mid 2021.

The use of mini-LED in products has multiple benefits for Apple. As Kuo notes, it will allow the company to move display manufacturing away from Samsung, instead turning to LG Display. A number of mini-LED component suppliers will also be used, says Kuo, including Epistar, Zhen Ding, Radiant Opto-Electronics, Nichia, Avary Holding, and TSMT.

Apple will also be able to make displays thinner and lighter by moving to mini-LED without impacting color and brightness capabilities. That’s important for Apple as it continues to …

What you need to know

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo thinks an iPhone 4-like redesign is coming.
Ben Geskin has shared a render of what that might look like.
It’s gold. It looks gorgeous. We want three.
Spoiler: It looks stunning!

We’ve been chewing on rumors of a new iPhone 4-like redesign of the 2020 iPhone since analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggested it’s in the cards. And now leaker and concept creator Ben Geskin has shared his take on what that might look like.

Oh, and the concept might be for the most gorgeous gold iPhone we’ve ever seen.

Here’s how Apple’s 2020 iPhones with the new 5.4-inch and 6.7-inch display sizes could look like pic.twitter.com/doGiGwSkAk— Ben Geskin (@BenGeskin) September 29, 2019

There are a couple of things of note about these renders, apart from the fact that we’d start lining up for one now if Apple told us this was the 2020 iPhone ahead of time.

First – and perhaps most notable – is the lack of a notch. We haven’t seen any rumors to sugg…