During this past week, we were able to look into the future—specifically, the future of iOS and macOS, as Apple released betas of updates to those operating systems. Apple also made news in other venues; check out the important ones in this slideshow. Just click on the link to get more information.
The big selling point of iOS 10.3 is a great new feature for AirPods owners, letting them locate a misplaced AirPod by firing up the Find My iPhone app and having the AirPods play a sound. The sound plays if the AirPods are anywhere in Bluetooth range of any of your Apple devices signed into the same iCloud account.
Apple was just granted a patent for “modular functional band links” for a wearable device by the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office. The wearable device at the heart of the patent is obviously the Apple Watch, and those modular functional band links will build more functionality into the Apple Watch band.
Also:
The Apple Watch will soon get new Siri powers and Theater Mode (Macworld)
Night Shift, the feature that’s made iOS devices easier on your eyes, is coming to the Mac—but will it actually help you get a better night’s sleep?
The release notes for iOS 10.3 state that developers will be able to respond to a user review, and the response will be available for others to see. The notes also say that this feature will be available in the Mac App Store.
Apple hasn’t commented on Foxconn’s statements, although this isn’t the first time reports that Apple may move some of its manufacturing to the U. S. have popped up. This report, however, comes from a more direct source with deeper insight into Apple’s manufacturing processes.
While Apple uses its homegrown processors to power the iPhone, it relies on modem chips from Qualcomm, especially in the U. S., where rivals don’t support technologies used by Sprint and Verizon.
Also:
Apple takes patent battle with Qualcomm to China (IDG News Service)
Qualcomm CEO slams Apple for ‘without merit’ lawsuits (IDG News Service)
Duffy started Dropcam with Aamir Virani in 2009 and sold it to Google for $555 million in 2014. He drew headlines last year when he lashed out at Nest boss Tony Fadell and expressed regrets at selling his company.
Jerome Lawson…is now suing over the iPhone ad, but quite notably, he is not asserting an infringement of the sound recording…Instead, he’s contending that Apple and its ad firm, Media Arts Lab, have violated his right of publicity under California law.
[Jerome] Lawson claims his voice “was recognized by fans of his who saw the commercial, and those fans were deceived into falsely believing that Lawson endorsed Apple and the IPhone and/or that Lawson consented to the use of his voice to advertise Apple’s products,” according to the complaint.
[PwC managing partner Feargal O’Rourke] said he believed the [Irish] Government was right to challenge the [European Commission’s] ruling and that nobody familiar with the particulars of the case believed the money belonged to Ireland.
India is now one of Apple’s fastest growing markets, with iPhone sales up over 50 percent in fiscal 2016 compared to the previous year. The high growth comes largely from a small user base of its products in the country, but with recent rollouts of 4G networks, the company expects more demand for its devices.
Also:
Apple ships 2.5M iPhones in India during 2016, boosted by iPhone 7 release (AppleInsider)

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In 1993, President Bill Clinton was in the first year of his presidency, Windows NT 3.1 and Jurassic Park were both released, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was signed, and Phil Hogan, an IT application architect, booted up a brand-new Stratus Technologies fault tolerant server.
A lot has changed in 24 years, but one thing hasn’t: The Stratus server is still in operation and Hogan — who works at steel products maker Great Lakes Works EGL in Dearborn Mich. — continues to keep it that way.
This is a fault tolerant server, which means that hardware components are redundant. Over the years, disk drives, power supplies and some other components have been replaced but Hogan estimates that close to 80% of the system is original.
«It never shut down on its own because of a fault it couldn’t handle,» said Hogan. «I can’t even think of an instance where we had an unplanned shutdown,» he said.
This is a famous server. In 2010 Stratus held a contest to identify one of its servers that had been running the longest. Hogan’s then 17-year-old server was the winner. (At the time of the 2010 contest, the firm was known as Double Eagle Steel Coating Co.)
This system runs an older version Stratus proprietary VOS operating system, which Hogan believes hasn’t been updated since the early 2000s. «It’s been extremely stable,’ he said.
His company doesn’t have a maintenance contract with Stratus, and Hogan has been able to buy parts from a third-party vendor. Still, Stratus says it probably still has parts for it in stock.
This server had been eyed for an upgrade over the years but ownership or business cycle changes interrupted or derailed plans. It also helped that the users weren’t complaining.
Even though the system has a character-driven interface, similar to an old green screen system, the users «like the reliability of it, and the screens are actually pretty simple,» said Hogan.
Jason Andersen, the vice president of business line management at Stratus, said the systems they produce «are totally redundant in every way shape or form. «
Since the 2010 server longevity contest, Andersen said Stratus has learned of other 20-year-old-plus systems but it’s possible that the server at Great Lakes Works may still be the oldest.
Stratus fault tolerant systems are used in payment processing, telecommunications, and credit card processing, as well as in manufacturing, energy and natural resources among other industry verticals, said Andersen. Stratus builds systems that support Windows, Linux, VMware and VOS.
But the end is nearing for Hogan’s server. Great Lakes Works is now part of United States Steel Corp., in a deal completed in 2015. There is now a plan to upgrade the system in April. At that point the Stratus will be retired.
When the hardware is finally turned off, it might deliver a moment for Hogan. Maybe it will be akin to the feeling of getting rid of an old and faithful car. But the only person who will really know what the server has accomplished in its long life is the person who kept it running.

© Source: http://www.itnews.com/article/3162416/data-center/booted-up-in-1993-this-server-still-runs-but-not-for-much-longer.html
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