Tim Cook is scheduled to make an appearance in Birmingham, Alabama, tomorrow, according to local media reports. TechAlabama and the city’s mayor Randall Woodfin will hold a news conference with the Apple CEO. While each party has been tight-lipped about exactly what will be announced in education tomorrow, we suspect Birmingham public schools may be adopting Apple’s Everyone Can Code curriculum. TechAlabama is a group focused on increasing the “number of people in Alabama with an interest in STEM based careers and the skills to pursue those careers....

Up until now, Apple has never sold refurbished iPhones on its online store. You could get a refurbished Mac, iPad, or even a niche device like an AirPort Extreme, but never an iPhone. Apple typically used its refurbished iPhone inventory as repair/replacements for or offloaded them to 3rd party resellers. That has seemingly changed today, as Apple is offering the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus in its refurb store....

Apple has been given the green light by the Saudi Arabian government to fully operate in the region, according to tips from readers and local news reports. SAGIA (Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority) provided the license to Apple under the subsidiary name of “Apple, Saudi Arabia.” This license gives Apple the ability to market, maintain, and develop products in the region… Up until now, Apple has relied on third-party resellers across the region to market and maintain iPhones, iPads, Macs, and other Apple products....

As part of its spring product releases today, Apple has debuted a new color palette for its accessories like Apple Watch bands, silicone and leather iPhone cases, and iPad cases. Apple Watch Band updates For Apple Watch, the Sport Band’s new colors are Cactus, Grapefruit, and Surf Blue. Meanwhile, the Sport Loop sees even more new options with Sunshine, Vitamin C, Surf Blue, Neon Lime, and Neon Pink. The Nike Apple Watch band updates include the World Indigo/Lime Blast for the Sport Loop and the Midnight Turquoise/Aurora Green and the Black/Lime Blast for the Nike Sport Band....

Apple announced today that it is making a donation to help support flooding relief efforts in the Indian state of Kerala. As reported by Gulf News, in addition to its own donation, Apple is opening up donations to users via Apple.com and iTunes. In a statement, Apple said it is “heartbroken” by the flooding in Kerala and that it wants to support “survivors and help those who have been displaced.” Apple itself is making a Rs7 crore [Rs70 million] – roughly $1 million – donation to Mercy Corps India and the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund to support such efforts....

Live on stage, Apple has just kicked things off during its event by officially announcing the new iPhone lineup: the much rumored 4.7-inch device is called iPhone 6, while the larger 5.5-inch model is dubbed “iPhone 6 Plus”. Here’s what we know so far: Both of the new iPhone models include new “Retina HD” displays with cover glass that Apple says is ion-strengthened. Apple says the displays feature a full sRGB wide color gamut and that “dual-domain pixels on the photo-aligned IPS display give you a wider angle of view....

Earlier this year Apple launched a new program called the Security Research Device Program to help researchers find vulnerabilities in iOS and also in its devices. Researchers can apply to get the special hardware since June, and now the company is finally shipping these “rooted” iPhones to those who have been accepted. Citing its own sources, MacRumors says that the first researchers who applied the program were notified today regarding the modified iPhone....

Although slowing iPhone growth began to impact Apple’s bottom line numbers in the last quarter of the year, the company dominated Silicon Valley in 2015 as far as finances are concerned. In a survey of public tech companies in the Valley, total profit was $133 billion. Apple, alone, recorded profit of $53.7 billion dollars, responsible for 40% of the entire profit pool. The data was collected by SiliconValley.com. Apple also ranked no....

Apple has announced the iPad Air, the successor to the full-sized iPad. It has a 43% thinner bezel and a 9.7-inch Retina display… It is 7.5mm thin, 20% thinner across the entire device. iPad Air weighs 1 pound. It has an A7 64-bit processor. Much improved performance overall and graphics. It has 2x rendering. New WiFi technology with new antennas. Twice as fast. Also, expanded LTE coverage with more carriers across the globe....

Apple has officially started the Apple Card rollout. Apple will send out invites to a select group of customers today who showed interest in Apple Card by filling out the “Notify Me” form on the Apple website (via TechCrunch). Invited users to the Apple Card Preview will be able to sign up for the card in the Wallet app, and also apply for the physical titanium card to be delivered. Apple will be launching Apple Card for everyone later in the month....

Earlier this month, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said that Goldman employees were testing Apple Card ahead of its summer launch. Now, Bloomberg reports that Apple has expanded the testing of Apple Card to all of its retail employees. Apple retail employees were reportedly notified on the expanded Apple Card test via an internal message. The employees can apply for Apple Card via their personal devices and are being quoted the same APR range that Apple advertised in March: 13....

Despite the recent change of president in the United States, Apple is maintaining its environmental pledge made to the previous administration, Bloomberg reports. Apple joined other companies including Google and Microsoft in signing a statement backing renewable energy efforts. The joint statement follows an order signed by President Trump that reverses Environmental Protection Agency climate rules put in place by the Obama administration that Apple and other companies backed. Apple’s commitment to renewable energy efforts made when signing the 2015 pledge may line up with other tech companies, but Bloomberg notes that other companies welcome the change:...

Apple has issued a statement to The Register confirming reports and rumors stating that iOS web apps and embedded web views in iOS applications are throttled and run twice as slow as Safari. iOS 4.3 includes a new “nitro” web processing engine, which promises to run java script twice as fast as earlier versions of iOS Safari. According to Apple’s iOS feature page: The only affected users would be users of third-party web browsers that utilize the web engine that Apple provides to developers in Xcode....

Following the discontinuation of the iMac Pro earlier this year, Apple is now winding down sales of the accompanying space gray Magic Keyboard, Magic Trackpad, and Magic Mouse. These accessories were first introduced exclusively for the iMac Pro when it was released in 2017, and Apple started selling them separately in March of 2018. On the Apple Online Store, Apple now says the space gray Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse, and Magic Trackpad will only be available “while supplies last....

As reported in new filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission today, a handful of top Apple executives today received large stock awards due to the company’s continued strong performance. The executives receiving the payout include Craig Federighi, Phil Schiller, Eddy Cue, Craig Federighi, Angela Ahrendts, and Luca Maestri. Schiller, Cue, Riccio, and Williams all vested 130,117 shares, which were worth right around $22 million based on the price of Apple’s stock....

A month after launching the promotion in the United States, Apple today has launched its Back to School promotion in Europe. The deal is the same there as it is in the U.S., offering free Beats headphones with select Mac and iPad Pro purchases…. Specifically, customers can get a free pair of Beats Solo3 headphones when buying a MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iMac, or Mac Pro. Meanwhile, you can get a free pair of BeatsX with the purchase of a 10....

Apple and Spotify are engaged in a bitter antitrust battle in Europe, with Spotify claiming that Apple’s App Store rules give it an unfair advantage over competitors. Apple has now responded to Spotify’s claims in a new filing with the European Commission. The filling was first reported by German newspaper Der Spiegel. In the document, Apple accuses Spotify of knowingly presenting false information regarding the fees it pays to Apple through the App Store....

Apple is getting closer to taking its retail stores to a new market: Belgium. According to sources within Apple retail, Apple today sent out a memo announcing the new market. The note also was sent to gauge interest from employees who may be inclined to relocate to Belgium to assist with opening up the new location… When Apple enters new markets, the company frequently seeks employees from the United States and other established markets to temporarily assist with new store launches....

Apple has completely removed all product promotion from its www.apple.com homepage this evening and replaced it with a touching tribute to the life of Nelson Mandela, who passed away earlier this week. The New York Times has an interactive timeline of Mandela’s life. Apple has previously replaced its homepage to mark the passing of only a few other individuals: Gregory Hines, George Harrison, Rosa Parks, board member Jerry York, and Steve Jobs....

Following a petition with thousands of signatures related to GPU complaints, Apple has been named a defendant in a new class-action lawsuit filed against the Cupertino-based company in the United States District Court for Northern California over system failures and graphical issues affecting 2011 MacBook Pros. The class-action lawsuit was filed by Kentucky-based law firm Whitfield Bryson & Mason on behalf of plaintiffs Zachary Book, Donald Cowart, and John Manners, a trio of individuals that accuse Apple of failing to rectify the graphical issues that have affected both 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pro models released in 2011....