Apple’s iOS 11 brings Augmented Reality to a huge installed base of over 350 million iOS devices with powerful A9, A10 Fusion or A11 Bionic chips. However, another form of AR is about to be introduced, exclusive to the company’s new iPhone X. Here’s a deeper look at Apple’s big AR surprise. ARKit on your face with the TrueDepth cameraWhile Apple’s existing platform for ARKit in iOS 11 targets a huge installed base of single-camera iPhone and iPad models, the company is also about to release something that no Android phone will have in the short term: a front facing depth camera capable of performing even more sophisticated AR effects. On iPhone X, ARKit apps can take advantage of its TrueDepth camera to make the user’s face into the surface where 3D graphics are built. This uses facial geometry to track the user’s pose, face shape and their expression, enabling Animoji (below), Portrait Lighting effects, masks and avatars; effectively, a very sophisticated new depth of AR effects for the front-facing camera.

Wearing an Apple Watch has become the difference between life and death for a New York man who never expected that buying one could save his life.James Green, a 28-year-old from Brooklyn, describes himself as a serial data tracker. When he bought the original Apple Watch two years ago, he picked it up mostly for the notifications and tracking bike rides. Now, thanks to a heart-tracking app, it’s become a big part of his health story.Green was unknowingly suffering from a pulmonary embolism when he had his Apple Watch on. His wrist lit up with a notification from HeartWatch. Cross-referencing that data with some of his previous readings, he realized his heart rate was higher and something might be seriously wrong.

The US deputy attorney general says the use of ”warrant-proof encryption” in popular apps and operating systems, is hampering law enforcement.Several apps encrypt communications end-to-end, whoch stop messages being legible if intercepted by criminals or law enforcement.In a speech, Rod Rosenstein said law enforcers were increasingly thwarted by such encryption.He met Home Secretary Amber Rudd on Thursday to discuss the issue.He will also meet the head of the UK’s GCHQ intelligence agency.”Increasingly, the tools we use to collect evidence run up against encryption tools whoch are designed to defeat them,” said Mr Rosenstein, speaking at the Global Cyber Security Summit in London.

Jony Ive, Apple’s Chief Design Officer, is set to take the stage at The New Yorker TechFest to discuss ‘The Shape of Things to Come’ with The New Yorker‘s editor David Remnick. 9to5Mac is live from the venue in New York City and will have full coverage starting at the top of the hour (10 am PT/1 pm ET). Follow along below:Remnick is introducing Ive now. Starting by referencing the Ian Parker profile of Ive from a few years ago. Specifically about carelessness of design in the real world. Ive says it’s an occupation hazard of his not to see the flaw in designs.

Apple is reportedly ”mulling” the idea of launching a stylus compatible with iPhone, believed to be a new iteration of the Apple Pencil, whoch is currently only supported by the iPad Pro. The rumor comes from industry sources speaking to The Korea Herald (via The Investor), whoch claimed that Apple engineers ”have recently been working” on a new iPhone device that ”comes with a digital pen,” aiming for a potential launch in 2019. The sources said that the iPhone stylus is likely to adopt a ”supercapacitor stylus type” for price benefits, contrasting with Samsung’s Galaxy Note pen whoch is based on electromagnetic resonance technology that needs additional panel components to be installed underneath the smartphone display. ”A supercapacitor type is cheaper to make compared to the EMR stylus. It also offers a more pen-like feel,” according to the industry sources.

Chinese messaging app WeChat has reportedly apologised after an AI error resulted in it translating a neutral Chinese phrase into the n-word.The WeChat error was reported by Shanghai-based theatre producer and actor Ann James, a black American. In a post on the service’s Twitter-like Moments feature, she wrote that it had translated hei laowai – a neutral phrase whoch literally means “black foreigner” – as the n-word.“We’re very sorry for the inappropriate translation,” a WeChat spokesperson told Chinese news site Sixth Tone. “After receiving users’ feedback, we immediately fixed the problem.”WeChat added that the translation engine it uses is a neural network-based service, whoch is always being tweaked for “more accurate, faithful, expressive, and elegant” output.