Month: May 2022

Introduced in 2014, iCloud Documents and Data was a system that automatically synchronized data from different apps and made them available across a wide array of devices. Now, Apple has announced that this service was discontinued and it’s now part of iCloud Drive.

On a support page (via MacRumors), the company explains that iCloud Documents and Data no longer exists:

iCloud Documents and Data, our legacy document syncing service, has been discontinued and replaced by iCloud Drive. If you used iCloud Documents and Data, your account has been migrated to iCloud Drive.

Apple previously stated that the service would be discontinued. Now, iCloud drive is your go-to location for all of your data and documents.

According to the company, “iCloud Drive” allows users to share, store and access files easily with their family and friends. Documents stored in iCloud Drive are available on all devices. You can also access them via your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch .

This change comes just a month before Apple kicks off WWDC 2022. While the company announced a handful of new features during the iOS 15 cycle, Apple could be readying even more iCloud news.

One thing users wouldn’t mind if Apple announces is a slightly better free plan since the company only offers 5GB of cloud storage without cost. In addition, there’s a giant gap between the 50GB, 200GB, and 1TB plans. It is possible that Apple will make the product cheaper or provide more options.

Whether you just bought the new M1 iPad Air, iPhone SE, or other Apple product with a screen, you probably got an Apple Arcade three months free trial. If you’re just thinking about experiencing this gaming service or planning to come back to it, here are some of the best games you can enjoy right now.

Apple Arcade features more than 200 original games. Last year, Apple added a bunch of “iOS classic” games, bringing Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, and many others back to a new life thanks to its subscription service. Being a fan of Apple Arcade, here are the games I can’t stop playing.

Mini Motorways

This is an Apple Arcade game all about drawing the roads that support a growing city. As the game developer says “build a road network, one road at a time, to create a bustling metropolis. You can design your city in order to maintain traffic flow, as well as manage the upgrades that are required .”

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But what impresses me the most is that the app is always being updated by the developers. The app now has a Challenge Mode and more maps, as well as new colorblind options. You can download the game here.

Alto’s Adventure: The Spirit of the Mountain

For those who love Alto’s adventures, the developer Snowman recently released a remastered version of the first game for Apple Arcades. As you join Alto and his friends on this endless snowboarding odyssey, existing and new players will have the opportunity to rescue runaway llamas, grind rooftops, and leap over terrifying chasms, all while braving the ever-changing elements and seeking out secrets long hidden within the mountain.

This game offers 20 brand new goals apart from the original ones, new series of never before seen set pieces, and all the beauty of the gameplay combined with the fully dynamic lighting and weather effects. You can download the game here.

Grindstone

Grindstone feels like my Candy Crush-like Apple Arcade game. I can’t get enough of the addicting phases, the increase of difficulty between levels, and never-ending updates with more content to explore.

Grindstone is a game of sword-slashing puzzle battles. Users can choose their weapons, potions, and more on this Apple Arcade title:

It’ll take sharp puzzle skills and an even sharper blade to cleave your way through the swarms of bloodthirsty Creeps dwelling within Grindstone’s dungeons. You will need to defeat bosses and loot for resources. Now with more than 200 levels of intense puzzle-battling madness!

You can download it here.

Badland Party

If you love the Badland franchise, you’ll certainly love this online multiplayer experience – which you can also take advantage of by yourself, if you want. In this Apple Arcade game, you’ll need to survive through multiple new worlds, take down giant machines in boss fights, co-operate to solve multiplayer puzzles, roll, fly, swim, and dive through the lush world of Badland and help save the Clones.

I have just begun to play it and I am so happy that I got to experience Badland again. With easy-to-get controls and frequent checkpoints, all users can have a good time with this title. You can download the game here.

Monument Valley 2+

Another franchise I always loved was Monument Valley. It’s amazing to have the chance to revisit one the greatest iOS titles. Embark on this mother and her child’s journey through magical architecture, discovering illusionary pathways, and exploring the stunning environments while manipulating the architecture to guide them on their way.

Whether you have been playing this title for a while or are just starting to get into it, you should give it a shot. You can download it here.

Apple Arcade wrap up

There are more than 200 games available on Apple Arcade, these are only five of the titles I’ve been enjoying recently.

What’s been your Apple Arcade experience so far? Which titles are you most fond of? Share your thoughts down in the comment section.

Related:

• Goat Simulator and Warped Kart Racers feat. Family Guy and King of the Hill coming to Apple Arcade

WWDC 2022 will take place in a month. The event will mark the launch of macOS 13, the next major release of Apple’s software platform for the Mac, as also the first new operating system after the complete transition from Intel to its own silicon. Head below as we recap all of the latest rumors and expectations for macOS 13 this year, including new features, release info, and more.

When will macOS 13 be announced?

As precedent indicates, macOS 13 will be announced at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference. This year, WWDC will take place as a virtual event running from June 6 through June 10. Apple will hold a keynote address on June 6 to kick off the event, and it’s during this keynote that we expect to receive our first look at macOS 13, alongside iOS 16, iPadOS 16, watchOS 9, and tvOS 16.

Following the announcement, Apple will test the operating system for a few months until it’s released for all users around the fall, as the company has done over the past years. Different from iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and tvOS, Apple usually takes a little longer to release macOS updates to all users.

Expect all of these upcoming software to be released in September, while macOS 13 will likely be available by October or November.

What macOS 13 will be called?

As of now, internally, macOS 13 is called Rome, but it doesn’t mean much for us outsiders. Over these past years, Apple has been naming its Mac operating systems with California parks. In December, Parker Ortolani wrote about why the company is likely to call macOS 13 Mammoth:

We previously reported in June [2021] on Apple owning the trademark for “Mammoth.” In that same report, we speculated that Apple was planning to use the name “Monterey” for this year’s version of its Mac operating system and that turned out to be true. So with Mammoth being the seemingly last remaining trademark of a location in California, it’s highly likely that it is in the running for macOS 13.

macOS 13 supported devices

As Apple finished its two year-transition from Intel to its own chips, it’s likely that more Intel Macs will lose support for macOS 13.

Most likely, Macs from 2013, 2014, and 2015 could be ripped off. As of now, here are the Macs that currently support macOS 12 Monterey:

• 2015 and later MacBook
• Early 2015 and later MacBook Air
• Early 2015 and later MacBook Pro
• Late 2014 and later Mac mini
• Late 2015 and later iMac
• 2017 and later iMac Pro
• Late 2013 and later Mac Pro
• 2022 Mac Studio

New features

macOS 13 will likely focus more than ever on Apple Silicon Macs. With deeper integration between hardware and software, macOS 13 could see notifications revamped, widgets anywhere on the home screen, and improvements for Universal Control.

9to5Mac’s Take

Although rumors regarding macOS 13 are almost non-existent, Apple is certainly preparing a big announcement for this operating system. After years of neglect, the company has never been on such good terms with its Mac lineup.

But more than releasing new features, I hope Apple will be able to launch them as soon as possible since macOS 12 Monterey had a lot of delayed features. Universal Control, for example, launched a few weeks ago, but it’s still currently in beta.

What do you hope to see in the new version of macOS? What’s on the top of your wishlist? Let us know down in the comments!

Related:

• iOS 16: Here’s what we know so far about new features, supported devices, and more
• iPadOS 16: Here’s what we know so far about new features, supported devices, and more
• watchOS 9: Here’s what we know so far about new features, supported devices, and more

MusicKit allows developers to create third-party apps with Apple Music access. For some unknown reason, the company had removed the ability to let these apps control playback speed – but now this feature will be back with iOS 15.5.

Since this API was removed in iOS 15. 4, multiple developers have complained about it to Apple. At the time, an Apple engineer revealed that the company had been “tracking this issue internally,” but no further details were given. Developers can now access this API again, it appears.

As noted by iGeneration, the same Apple engineer confirmed in the Apple Developer forum that the Apple Music team “re-evaluated our previous decision” to disable the feature. As a result, the API to let Apple Music apps change playback speed is now back in the fourth beta of iOS 15. 5, currently available for developers.

We have re-evaluated our previous decision to disable changing the playback rate for subscription content from Apple Music in third-party applications, and we came to the conclusion that we could safely enable that functionality again, just like before the release of iOS 15.4. As such, this issue is fixed in iOS 15. 5 beta 4.

It’s unclear what led Apple to remove this feature, but since the company’s engineer used the word “safely” to describe the issue, perhaps the feature was disabled due to a bug. Of course, developers will now have to update their apps to ensure that the feature works after the official release of iOS 15.5.

Read more about Apple Music:

• Best iPhone apps to enhance your experience with Apple Music
• Apple Music is kicking apps out of the dock on iOS 15 in weird bug
• Why doesn’t Apple Music on iOS have crossfade, but the Android app does?
• Cider is an alternative Apple Music desktop client with features missing in iTunes

Call of Duty XP 2011 was the first official Call of Duty convention. Activision was gearing up for the release of Modern Warfare 3, the final chapter of the trilogy that propelled the already successful war shooter into mainstream ubiquity.

So, they were feeling spendy. They rented out one of Howard Hughes’ old flight hangars in Playa Vista and converted it into a surreal weekend retreat. Kanye West and Dropkick Murphys played sets on the main stage. Organizers packed the hangar with hundreds of consoles for a massive LAN party. Guests lined up for lunch at a recreation of Burger Town, a fast food joint where Modern Warfare 2 players skirmished with Russian invaders.

Photo: John Shearer/Getty Images for Activision

Active-duty troops and pro athletes mingled in special exhibition matches. Activision’s then-CEO, Eric Hirschberg, handed an oversized $400,000 check and a trophy made out of rifles to the winners of the company’s inaugural esports tournament. They had zip-lines, paintball, and sumo suits. Armored vehicles parked in the lot for photo ops. A wall was constructed with several guns. If something didn’t have innate Call of Duty flavor, it was draped in camo webbing.

It was a carnival of war.

Photo: Michael Buckner/Getty Images for Activision

I wasn’t there. My first exposure to the event was the Mountain Dew video.

It was uploaded to Mountain Dew’s official YouTube page on September 22, 2011. While electronic music thumps, the video zooms through Call of Duty XP’s grounds. It is an Eric and Tim-esque fever dream with lots of silly transitions and flourishes. Another YouTube user uploaded the video the next month. Perhaps out of concern that Mountain Dew might delete it to save itself from embarrassment. However, it didn’t. It is up.

I’ve watched this video a lot over the last 10 years because it’s really funny. But I think the thing that keeps bringing me back is the palpable unease it makes me feel — the nagging feeling that this whole scene is sort of sick. The stark contrast between Mountain Dew’s frivolity and World War III, the subject of the game.

Photo: John Shearer/Getty Images for Activision

I wanted to really understand that unease, so I looked harder, and I learned a lot.

I learned more about the close relationship between the Pentagon and the entertainment industry. I learned about a Marine who spent his youth accumulating medals and his final years trying to dismantle the war machine. The most ridiculous advertisement Jeep ever ran, I found it.

This is the story of how Call of Duty turned war into a circus — how it got too weird to be described, and too big to be stopped.