Author: Andrew Cunningham

If you’re still waiting for your Apple Watch order to arrive, the Wall Street Journal has someone for you to blame: Taptic Engine components manufactured by AAC Technologies Holdings Inc. “started to break down over time,” a manufacturing defect that “people familiar with the matter” say caused Apple to throw out some watches that had already been built.

Components from another supplier, Nidec Corp., haven’t been faulty, but it will apparently take time for Nidec to ramp up production and catch up with demand. Neither AAC nor Nidec provided a comment for the Journal‘s story.

The Taptic Engine is a key part of the Apple Watch—it’s what makes it vibrate when the watch wants your attention. Though many phones and tablets from other companies have used similar haptic feedback for a while now, Apple has only started to deploy it in the Watch and in some new MacBook models, where it’s used in trackpads to simulate physical clicks.

Apple is beginning to open up its first-ever public beta program for iOS. Like the OS X beta program that launched last year, the program should offer pre-release access for minor and major upgrades to the operating system—it will begin with iOS 8.3 and will presumably move on to later versions as they become available.

Not all users are apparently able to access the iOS-related parts of the beta site just yet (we haven’t been able to), but 9to5Mac has a good rundown of the sign-up and installation process. Once you’ve signed up with your Apple ID, you have to install a profile from appleseed.apple.com/profile, which points your iPhone or iPad at the beta software update channel instead of the standard channel. You then download and install the newest iOS 8.3 beta as you would any over-the-air update.

Apple recommends that you use iTunes to make a full backup of your phone before upgrading to beta software. The only way to downgrade to the current shipping version of iOS (8.2, at this writing) is to completely wipe the phone and restore that backup. Otherwise your phone or tablet will continue to install beta builds and, eventually, the final release of iOS 8.3.

DNS problems at Apple have knocked the iTunes Store and the iOS and OS X App Stores offline today, preventing users from downloading new apps, app updates, or media from iTunes. Apple confirmed the source of the issue in a statement to CNBC.

“We apologize to our customers experiencing problems with iTunes and other services this morning,” the statement reads. “The cause was an internal DNS error at Apple. We’re working to make all of the services available to customers as soon as possible, and we thank everyone for their patience.”

Trying to sign in on a Mac results in the angry red STATUS_CODE_ERROR message seen in the screenshot above. On iOS, you’ll just be prompted to input your password over and over again, the same behavior you’d see if you were entering an incorrect password for your Apple ID.

Update (2/23/2015): New beta releases of OS X 10.10.3 and iOS 8.3 have filled in previously empty placeholder icons with new emoji, as seen above. Faces and body parts that were previously light-skinned are now a Simpsons-esque shade of yellow by default, but if you keep your finger on the screen the emoji picker will offer up five different skin tones for you to choose from.

Original story: Photos for OS X is the biggest change introduced in the first beta build of OS X 10.10.3, but the folks at MacRumors have discovered another: preliminary support for better diversity in emoji.

The implementation looks like the one laid out in a Unicode Consortium draft proposal published in November. That proposal calls for a selection of five color swatches, which, when combined with a “base” emoji like a man or woman’s face, can change that emoji to display different skin and hair colors. Apple’s early implementation is full of blank and placeholder images, but it looks like certain emoji are getting a dropdown menu that will allow users to choose from among several versions of the same basic emoji.

Crapware is a fact of life for Windows PC buyers. Most of the time, it’s relatively harmless: limited anti-virus subscriptions you don’t want, WildTangent games, and demoware you don’t need, and Microsoft Office demos you can’t use without spending more money. Sometimes, as we’ve seen with today’s “Superfish” news, it can be actively harmful, putting users’ security at risk.

With some effort, this unwanted and unsafe software can usually be uninstalled. If you have an affected Lenovo PC, we’ve outlined the multi-step process for removing the software and the root certificate here.

If you want to be sure that everything is completely removed (and if you’re willing to do the work), the more comprehensive solution is to completely reinstall Windows yourself. It’s not for everyone, but there are benefits to doing it this way—you get a totally clean PC that you’re in full control over.