Apple today has announced a variety of new environmental initiatives for its China operations. Through a press release, the company announced a new multi-year partnership with World Wildlife Fund to increase responsibly managed forests throughout China. Apple also announced that it intends to expand its renewable energy projects to manufacturing facilities in China. Apple, which launched its first major solar project in China three weeks ago, will parter with Leshan Electric Power Co....

A report earlier this month from Bloomberg claimed that Apple could owe more than $8 billion in back taxes if the European Commission rules that its Ireland setup is illegal. Speaking to the Financial Times today, Apple CFO Luca Maestri commented on the ongoing European investigation and said that he estimates Apple will have to pay $0 in back taxes, assuming the investigation outcome is “fair.” Maestri had the following to say regarding the European Commission’s investigation into Apple’s tax practices:...

It’s well known that Apple is working hard to bring innovation to augmented reality and self-driving cars (in some capacity). However, new hires recently made by the company are making a satellite project seem likely. A new Bloomberg report details that Apple has hired two former Google satellite executives as it starts a new hardware team. Satellite design and operation are highly expensive and the report notes that most projects in this field are focused on collecting images or for communications....

Apple today has announced that it is expanding the tester limits in its TestFlight program. Whereas developers were previously limited to inviting 2,000 users to beta test an application, they can now invite up to 10,000 external testers. Apple says this expansion will allow for developers to receive even more valuable feedback from users before making an app or app update public on the App Store. For those unfamiliar, TestFlight is Apple’s way of managing application betas....

Apple has updated its Developer’s page to again waive the App Store requirement for paid online group services to use App Store in-app purchases for payments. This comes as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause businesses to pivot to digital services rather than in-person. Until December 31, 2021, digital services in place of an in-person group will continue to be exempted on in-app purchases. “Last year, to support apps that adapted services from in-person to digital due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we temporarily deferred the requirement to offer paid online group event services (one-to-few and one-to-many real-time services) through in-app purchase in accordance with App Store Review Guideline 3....

Apple has extended its limited time discount on certain USB-C accessories from the end of December through March. The timing follows the official availability of the LG 5K UltraFine display which works with Apple’s new MacBook Pro. This is the new footnote on discounted accessories: The rare discount on certain accessories was announced back in November after significant pushback from new MacBook Pro customers who were complaining about replacing USB-A, Thunderbolt, and other older I/O because of the USB-C-only MacBook Pro....

. Update: It appears that the ban has been lifted already Apple lost its first significant patent battle today as it was forced to take 3G iPads and iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4’s off its virtual Apple Store shelves in Germany today. The licenses at issue are supposedly “Fair, Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory” (FRAND) patents that are considered industry standards. This follows a previous ruling in Motorola’s favor at the end of last year....

On Monday (April 21), P.A. Semi informed its customers it was being acquired and it could no longer guarantee supplies of its chips. The startup did not identify the acquiring company but said that company may be willing to supply the chip on an end-of-life basis, if it could successfully transfer a third-party license to the technology. That license in question is probably a PowerPC architectural license that P.A. Semi has with IBM Corp....

Apple is offering a promotion for new Apple Card users throughout the month of March. The company says that new cardholders can score 6% Daily Cash on purchases from Apple, which is double the 3% Daily Cash offered traditionally for Apple Card users. The company explains that new Apple Card users can save 6% on Apple products when they pay in full with a new Apple Card through March 31. The promotion is only open to Apple Card users who open an account between March 1, 2021 and March 31, 2021....

Apple Arcade has added three notable titles over the last several weeks: “Game of Thrones: Tale of Crows” from Devolver Digital, “Next Stop Nowhere” from Night School Studio, and “The Last Campfire” from Hello Games. A new deep dive from TechRadar today offers a closer look at the development of the games, and how Apple Arcade was involved. Night School Studio co-founder Sean Frank explained that while he was skeptical of the role of premium games in today’s world, but Apple Arcade was an enticing choice for “Next Stop Nowhere” for several reasons....

We had a feeling it would not be long before Apple stepped in and shut down Chinese manufacturer In Icon’s plans to create an extremely realistic Steve Jobs figurine, and today The Telegraph reports the 12-inch doll originally slated for release in February is now facing legal threats from Apple if the company doesn’t cease production plans. According to the report, Apple claimed it owns the rights to Steve Jobs’ likeness and in a letter to the company claims toys using the Apple logo, a person’s name, or likeness of Jobs is considered a criminal offense....

Apple has always provided 70% of application download revenues to developers, but has only provided 60% of the revenue for iAd clicks. Now, Apple has boosted the iAd revenue share to 70%. In this long run, this may mean a major boost in income for developers who rely on the iAd platform for their income. (While today is April 1/Fools day, this comes direct from Apple’s developer iTunes Connect website.) Apple notes the change in an updated developer agreement:...

Back in the days before mobile and countertop card terminals, sketchy store clerks and restaurant serving staff had a few different ways to steal your card details… One approach was to simply read the details from the card and write them down. Another was to photograph them. Most efficient of all was to make an extra impression on the old roller machines. None of these methods are practical now that we generally don’t let cards out of our sight, but CNET reports that one Japanese store clerk had a secret weapon: a photographic memory....

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLgQ22naQhE] In October we broke the news that anyone with an iPad 2 Smart Cover (or a magnet) could essentially break into any passcode protected iPad 2. This is how we described it then: Now, with the release of iOS 5.0.1 beta, we’ve discovered that one of the new security fixes is a fix for this Smart Cover bug. It appears that Apple has fixed the issue by not allowing the iPad 2 to go to sleep by way of the Smart Cover closing while on the power off menu....

Apple just announced 3 million new iPads sold in just three days, doubling its previous first weekend record of 1.5 million Wi-Fi-only units sold for the iPad 3 launch. Apple is of course not including cellular iPad models in its numbers, but it confirmed those models “will ship in a few weeks in the US and in many more countries later this year.” CEO Tim Cook confirmed the company is “practically sold out of iPad minis,” and he noted it is “working hard to build more quickly to meet the incredible demand....

Apple announces iPadOS 14, building on the already announced iOS 14 features like home screen widgets. Apple is expanding stock apps with unique iPad design elements like sidebars in Photos and Music. Interfaces like Siri and incoming phone calls are now modal experiences rather than full screen overlays. There is also a new search experience, system-wide handwriting recognition, and other changes designed to make the iPad experience work better with Apple Pencil and the Magic Keyboard....

Last year, Apple invested $1 billion in the Chinese Uber competitor Didi Chuxing, receiving a seat on the company’s board as well. According to a report from Recode, Didi Chuxing is today opening a new artificial intelligence lab right in Apple’s backyard… The report states that Didi is opening the new self-driving operation in Mountain View, California, putting it in the heart of the ever-growing self-driving industry. Within a small radius of Didi’s new lab, you have Apple, Google, and Tesla, all of which are believed to have a vested interest in self-driving technology....

Two weeks following the initial launch of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, Apple has added a new purchasing option for the devices to its online store. Starting today, customers can buy an iPhone 6s or 6s Plus SIM-free, unlocked, and without a carrier… Apple explains on its online store that purchasing a SIM-free iPhone means customers do not have to sign a contract commitment with a carrier, nor do they have to deal with carrier financing....

During Apple CEO Tim Cook’s scheduled presentation at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference this morning, the executive was asked about the company’s strategy acquisition. While noting that Apple continues to acquire a company approximately every other month, Cook also said that Apple has looked at acquiring larger companies. We can only guess what companies Cook is referring to, but he did say Apple would continue to look at acquiring larger companies....

Apple Pay Cash was announced back at WWDC over the summer, but the feature wasn’t included when iOS 11 launched to the public last month. Apple has been relatively vague on when the new person-to-person payment platform will launch, but the company is seemingly ramping up internal testing… MacRumors, citing one of its readers, reports that Apple is currently testing Apple Pay Cash internally using iOS 11.1 and an accompanying device certificate....