Apple could be dropping leather from iPhone cases and Watch bands, reports claim
Apple is planning to stop selling some of its leather products, and offer alternatives instead, according to multiple reports. In recent weeks, numerous reports have suggested that Apple is planning on swapping its leather cases for new woven materials, with the upcoming release of the iPhone 15. Various leaks from within the supply chain have suggested that it has developed a new material that will take its place. Now one of those examples appears to have leaked on Twitter. It is impossible to know whether the case is a legitimate Apple one – and, even it is, whether it will go on sale – but it appears to show one of the cases with an iPhone inside. Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman, who has a strong track record of leaks from within Apple, appeared to suggest the case was legitimate. On Twitter, he said it was a “sample/replica of the new leather-free iPhone 15 case”. He then went on to suggest that Apple would also start “moving away from leather on its Apple Watch bands as well”. Apple offers a range of different leather Watch bands. It says they are made from “Roux Granada leather made in France”. It also sells leather straps as part of a collaboration with Hermès that has been ongoing for years. Mr Gurman initially suggested that partnership would be likely to continue, even if Apple stopped selling bands of its own – but then he suggested that could come to an end, too. Apple employees have been offered steep discounts on the Hermès accessories, he said, with staff being offered up to 90 per cent off. That suggests the company could be getting rid of stock it intends to stop selling, and so the Hermès leather Watch straps could come to an end too. Apple will hold a live streamed event on September 12, where it is expected to unveil a new line-up of four versions of the iPhone 15, updated Apple Watches, and more. It also usually refreshes its accessories line, adding new colours to both the iPhone cases and Watch straps, even when it does not make significant changes like the introduction or removal of certain materials. Read More Apple is about to make a huge change to the iPhone that it never wanted to do Here’s when you will actually be able to get the new iPhone Apple is about to reveal the new iPhone – and a lot more
2023-09-06 00:50
Huawei's new chip breakthrough likely to trigger closer US scrutiny -analysts
By David Kirton and Max A. Cherney SHENZHEN, China/SAN FRANCISCO, California Huawei Technologies' breakthrough in making an advanced
2023-09-05 23:49
Germany's Scholz praises auto industry amid protests, announces EV expansion law
By Victoria Waldersee and Andreas Rinke MUNICH, Germany (Reuters) -German Chancellor Olaf Scholz lauded the German car industry's efforts at
2023-09-05 23:27
Mysterious 'golden egg' discovered at the bottom of the ocean leaves scientists baffled
A mysterious golden object has been found at the bottom of the ocean by scientists exploring the Pacific Ocean and it has left them baffled. The discovery was made on 30 August when a team of experts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) were taking a closer look at an underwater volcano 250 miles off the coast of Alaska. Experts, and members of the public viewing the live stream, caught a glimpse of the unusual gold orb two miles beneath the surface lodged into the side of the volcano and were left puzzled over what it could be. It was found thanks to the NOAA’s Seascape Alaska 5 expedition that is currently mapping the seafloor of the Gulf of Alaska. Those who made the discovery at the foot of the volcano also noted there was a mysterious hole in the side of the orb, with one researcher suggesting on the live stream that “Something tried to get in...or to get out”. Scientists bantered back and forth about what the egg-like object could be and ultimately decided to take a sample that could be analysed. The texture of the orb was not as they had expected and was more of a silky, delicate consistency. An arm from the robotic vehicle was used to suction the orb in order for scientists to determine its origins with laboratory testing. The NOAA Seascape Alaska 5 expedition is due to end in mid-September and aims to fill the gaps that experts have about the sea beds off the USA’s west coast. It began on 24 August in Kodiak, Alaska and will come to an end in Seward, Alaska on 16 September. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-09-05 22:52
Meta to drop 'Facebook News' tab in some European countries
Meta Platforms said on Tuesday it will discontinue a "Facebook News" tab in its social media app in
2023-09-05 21:22
Widespread Vodafone/EE outage is now fixed, networks say
An hours-long outage that left people in the UK unable to call each other has now been resolved, according to the networks involved. Around lunchtime on Monday, many people found they were unable to make phone calls. Attempting to ring certain numbers just showed the call as failing. It was initially unclear what the problem was, and who was responsible. Tracking website Down Detector showed issues at a range of UK networks, and indicated that customers across the country were experiencing them. It soon became clear that the problem affected Vodafone numbers when they tried to call EE numbers. But it also affected people with Vodafone who attempted to call people who ported their number from EE – since the number remains the same, and so EE is still involved in the process, routing those calls to people’s new network. Vodafone indicated that the problem was with EE. It said that the problem was “an issue with the EE network”, and that the network was seeking to fix it. EE then said that it was aware of the problem and working to fix it. Now EE has said that the issue has been resolved, though it gave little information on what happened or whether it might be able to happen again. It also stressed that the issue only affected calls from Vodafone customers, and that mobile data and text messages had stayed functional throughout the outage. “The issue impacting some customers’ calls to and from a Vodafone number has been resolved,” a spokesperson said. “We’re very sorry for any inconvenience caused. Calls to other networks, mobile data and text messages were not affected.” Customers at some other networks reported problems, including those on O2, which said that users might experience issues when connecting with customers on EE. Those problems were presumably the result of those ported numbers. Read More Vodafone users say they can’t call people SpaceX abandons YouTube for live streams of launches in favour of X/Twitter Spy attire: US investing $22m in surveillance socks and other wearable tech
2023-09-05 20:54
Elon Musk threatens to sue the ADL for lost X ad sales
X owner Elon Musk is threatening to sue the Anti-Defamation League for defamation, claiming that the nonprofit organization's statements about rising hate speech on the social media platform have torpedoed X's advertising revenue.
2023-09-05 20:49
Scientists find that vitamins might be having an adverse impact on your health
Growing up, people are generally taught that taking vitamins is good for you, with many people taking supplements to boost their intake. However, results of a new study suggest that taking vitamins could actually have a negative impact on health as they may help tumours to grow. New research suggests that taking additional vitamins and minerals, including common antioxidants such as vitamins A and C, and selenium and zinc, could help the blood vessels in tumours to grow. The study was conducted by scientists at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden who published their findings in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. The results were somewhat of a surprise to experts, who believed anti-oxidants to be protective of the body. In their research, they found that vitamin C and other antioxidants actually stimulated the formation of new blood vessels in lung cancer tumours. Martin Bergö, who is a professor at the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, said: “We’ve found that antioxidants activate a mechanism that causes cancer tumours to form new blood vessels, which is surprising since it was previously thought that antioxidants have a protective effect. “The new blood vessels nourish the tumours and can help them grow and spread.” Antioxidants, in normal amounts, neutralise free oxygen radicals that damage the body, so are beneficial. But, scientists found that high doses of antioxidants can activate a protein called BACH1 which begins the formation of new blood vessels, allowing harmful tumours to grow. Bergö explained: “There’s no need to fear antioxidants in normal food but most people don’t need additional amounts of them. “In fact, it can be harmful for cancer patients and people with an elevated cancer risk.” Ting Wang, the study’s lead author, said: “Many clinical trials have evaluated the efficacy of angiogenesis inhibitors, but the results have not been as successful as anticipated. “Our study opens the door to more effective ways of preventing angiogenesis in tumours; for example, patients whose tumours exhibit high levels of BACH1 might benefit more from anti-angiogenesis therapy than patients with low BACH1 levels.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-09-05 20:22
Fintech Nubank to launch personal loans for Mexican market
By Valentine Hilaire MEXICO CITY Nubank, one of Latin America's biggest fintech companies, announced on Tuesday the launch
2023-09-05 19:24
SpaceX abandons YouTube for live streams of launches in favour of X/Twitter
Elon Musk’s SpaceX appears to have ditched YouTube for hosting live streams of its rocket launches in favour of the tech billionaire’s own digital media platform X. The latest SpaceX launch, which saw the private space firm break the record for the most number of launches in a single year, was not broadcast on YouTube over the weekend, despite the two previous launches receiving more than 100,000 views on the Google-owned platform. Instead it appeared exclusively on X, formerly known as Twitter, where it received just over 200,000 views. A clip of the liftoff that appeared shortly after garnered more than 4.3 million views. Coverage of SpaceX’s recent Crew-6 splashdown appeared on YouTube, though only through Nasa’s official channel due to the US space agency’s involvement in the mission. It had initially been scheduled to also stream on SpaceX’s official YouTube page, however the page was quietly removed in the build up to the event. SpaceX has around 6.5 million subscribers on YouTube but more than 31 million followers on X. It is not clear whether this is a permanent transition to host SpaceX videos exclusively on platforms owned by Mr Musk, or if content will return to YouTube in the future. The Independent has reached out to SpaceX for comment. Mr Musk has previously abandoned other social media platforms, deleting the official Facebook pages of both SpaceX and Tesla in 2018 during the #deletefacebook movement that arose in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. “Literally never seen it even once,” he wrote on Twitter at the time. “Will be gone soon.” Both pages had more than 2.5 million followers before they were taken down. The Musk-led companies continue to have a presence on Instagram, which is also owned by Meta and run by Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg. Read More SpaceX smashes rocket launch record as Musk eyes historic Starship mission
2023-09-05 19:20
This hidden iPhone emergency setting could potentially save your life
A podcast host is going viral after revealing a little-known iPhone hack that could potentially save your life. Morgan Absher, from Two Hot Takes, demonstrated by how heading into your settings and altering the 'Emergency SOS' buttons, you can easily dial 999 should you need to. "I’m constantly scared about getting kidnapped. Getting kidnapped is my biggest fear", she explains of how she learnt the hack. By turning it on, users can choose to either press and hold their volume and power buttons simultaneously to call the emergency services, or press the power button five times for the same result. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter
2023-09-05 18:45
Exclusive-China to launch new $40 billion state fund to boost chip industry, sources say
By Julie Zhu, Kevin Huang, Yelin Mo and Roxanne Liu HONG KONG/BEIJING China is set to launch a
2023-09-05 16:28