Apple has fallen to fifth place in a Laptop Mag survey of the best and worst current laptop brands after previously taking the top spot for several years. Factors like premium price points and limited port options contribute to Apple’s overall drop in the results, although Apple’s quality tech support is a redeeming factor, the survey says. Apple has taken the top spot since the survey started in 2010, so which brands outrank the MacBook in 2017?...

Taking advantage of the spike in cryptocurrency interest we’ve seen this year, NFL star quarterback Tom Brady is planning to launch an NFT platform. And while Apple’s not directly involved, Eddy Cue is jumping board as an advisor for the new venture. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are cryptocurrency-based assets that have hit the mainstream this year. NFTs can be tied to digital or physical items with examples ranging from artwork, images and videos, sports memorabilia, and pretty much anything creators can think up....

Apple and IBM announced a new partnership today that will see the companies collaborate to bring over 100 enterprise apps & cloud services to the iPhone and iPad and launch a new AppleCare service specifically for enterprise customers. The products will be branded “IBM MobileFirst for iOS Solutions” and IBM will also soon sell iPhones and iPads to enterprise customers along with the new services: “iPhone and iPad are the best mobile devices in the world and have transformed the way people work with over 98 percent of the Fortune 500 and over 92 percent of the Global 500 using iOS devices in their business today,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO....

Tim Cook really wants people to know that he’s deeply interested in AR. The Apple CEO hypes augmented reality every chance he gets, and he’s doing it in the same way he teased the wrist as an interesting space before the Apple Watch and the living room as stuck in the 70s before tvOS. During his week-long trip across Europe, Cook went as far as saying he regards AR “as a big idea like the smartphone” in an interview with The Independent....

Streamed music is great for having access to almost everything, but it isn’t always ideal when you’re on the move thanks to patchy data coverage and carrier data caps. While Apple didn’t mention it yesterday, it has now confirmed to Re/code that Apple Music supports offline listening. The feature is also listed in a feature checklist on Apple’s website. Apple didn’t give any details, but offline listening is likely to work in the same way as Spotify Premium … As an Apple Music member you can add anything from the Apple Music library — a song, an album or a video — to your collection....

Apple just released its major macOS update with Big Sur. While downloads are often slow with the large file and many users trying to get the software at the same time, it looks like download times are particularly slow this year and are failing in many cases. Meanwhile, it seems that Apple’s Developer website is down as is iMessage and we’re even seeing macOS Catalina performance impacted. 11/15: We’ve learned the technical details behind why macOS Catalina and earlier users saw performance problems during Apple’s server issues, check it all out here....

Data reported by Bloomberg indicates that Apple is estimated to make around $218 more profit per phone on the 512 GB models of the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max, than the 64 GB base models. Apple charges a $350 premium for the 512 GB model, but the report claims that the jump in storage only costs Apple $132 in memory component costs. Higher-storage options are easy ways for Apple to push the profitability of its devices and it’s a tactic the company has exploited for many years....

Update – delayed until March 6th We’ve gotten reports as well as TUAW that there will be an Apple event tentatively scheduled for February 26th. The event will likely be the launch pad for the iPhone/iPod touch SDK and applications including Exchange support and Lotus Notes support. The date was likely finalized recently as Apple, who usually announces some new products at NAB, pulled out of the early April event for the first time in recent memory....

Apple has just sent out press invites for its latest event, via The Loop, where the company is expected to announce the iPhone 6. The event is scheduled for 10 AM Pacific Time on September 9th. Atypically, Apple is holding the event at a new venue, the Flint Center for the Performing Arts in Cupertino. This is the same venue that Apple introduced the original Mac, over 30 years ago. Apple has constructed a ‘three-story structure’ at the site, which may be used as the hands-on area after the presentation is over....

Apple has announced it is holding WWDC 2017 from June 5th to June 9th, with a big change from previous years: the conference will be held in San Jose, at the McEnery Convention Center. At WWDC, Apple unveils the next major versions of its software operating systems. This year, expect the announcement of including iOS 11, macOS 10.13 as well as updates to tvOS and watchOS. The 2017 conference marks a big shift in location — Apple typically holds WWDC in San Francisco — but it seems the logistics of the conference will otherwise be the same....

Crossy Road is a popular mobile game that was launched in 2014 for iOS and Android devices. The game was even featured at an Apple special event in 2015 as part of Apple TV demos. Hipster Whale, the company behind the game, today announced a new franchise title, Crossy Road Castle, which will be available exclusively at Apple Arcade. The announcement was made through a video posted on YouTube. Crossy Road Castle brings all the visual style of the first game, but with new ways to play....

If you’ve been keeping up with the progress on Apple’s upcoming campus since our last check-in, you’ll definitely want to see the latest drone flyover video from Myithz, which boasts an impressive 4K look at the construction. If you’ve picked up a 4K monitor (or 5K iMac!), you can check out the three-minute video in all of its high-res glory below. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj8cI4G5_PQ&channel=myithz] While the video above shows off some of the construction progress made since last checking in, Apple’s general project schedule remains the same for the project with street utilities and demolition work expected to finish this year, earthwork continuing into early 2015, and building construction into late 2016:...

Starting with iOS 5 in 2011, Apple has released a major new iOS version each fall and a notable follow-up update early in the following year. For example, iOS 6 launched in September 2012 and was updated to iOS 6.1 in January, and iOS 7, which was launched in September 2013, was updated to iOS 7.1 with CarPlay and interface improvements in March 2014. But starting with the recently released iOS 8, it appears that Apple has a different development schedule for 2015 and perhaps beyond....

Lisa Jackson was one of the speakers during the Austrian World Summit 2021, which was organized by the Schwarzenegger Climate Initiative. The vice president of environment, policy, and social initiatives at Apple spoke about various environmental topics and called out business leaders to take action on climate change. With former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lisa Jackson spoke about environmental protection, according to the German website Macerkopf: It’s not the first time Jackson has spoken about Apple’s goals to be 100% carbon-free, including the industries that work with the company....

While Apple didn’t make any claims about water-resistance when it launched the iPhone 6s/Plus, submersion tests showed that the company has clearly been working hard in this area – with the new phones still working after a full hour underwater. But water will always get in through ports like the Lightning and headphone sockets, and a new patent application by Apple suggests that it may have a way to fix this …...

Apple Arcade launches on September 19, 2019, for just a $4.99 monthly fee, support for Apple’s Family Sharing feature, and a global release that will span over 150 countries. Apple Arcade is the company’s answer to gaming subscription services that have started to become more lucrative, or at least appealing, and will actually launch ahead of competitors like Google Stadia. Apple Arcade’s biggest selling point might be the fact that the company has lured in a huge roster of big-name mobile game developers....

Ahead of its October 22nd event where the company is expected to unveil new iPads alongside other product announcements, Apple today asked developers to begin submitting apps optimized for OS X Mavericks. Apple seeded the final Golden Master release of OS X Mavericks to developers along with the Xcode 5.0.1 GM seed earlier this month and today urged developers to download the latest builds to test and submit OS X Mavericks apps to the Mac App Store....

Apple’s marketing for the Pro Display XDR recently went under review by the Advertising Standards Authority in the UK. After looking into several complaints, the authority asked Apple to drop the term “Far beyond HDR,” clarify its P3 wide color range, and also questioned the display’s 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio. Now Apple has updated its website in the UK. However, we learned the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) was reviewing complaints that it received over how Apple is marketing the display in the UK and later told Apple to stop the use of the phrase “Far beyond HDR....

Overnight, Apple has extended its iPhone trade-in offer in Japan. Similar to the offer available in the US, international Apple customers can trade in their old iPhone at an Apple Store and get iPhone XS or iPhone XR at a discount. These deals are marketed on the Apple homepage as ‘limited time’. In some countries, the fine print actually states an end date. When the boosted trade-ins launched in Japan in late December, it said it would end January 31....

Apple was today granted a design patent on the beautiful Istanbul store that opened back in 2014. The store in Turkey’s largest city is known as the ‘Glass Lantern.’ The store has a glass rectangle atop the larger store beneath, each side of the rectangle comprising a single pane of glass, with a water feature covering the rest of the store’s roof. A second patent was granted for the Apple Store in Zhongjie Joy City, China....