When Apple Music launched earlier this year in June, one of the major features of the package that differed from other streaming services was a real streaming radio station called Beats 1 hosted by actual DJs including Zane Lowe. The Beats 1 station is free and doesn’t actually require an Apple Music subscription, but Apple has used celebrity-hosted radio shows by Dr. Dre, Pharrell, Jaden Smith and others on the streaming station to attract people to the subscription service....

The UK contact tracing app won’t be ready in mid-May as promised, admits the UK government – and it may not even be ready on June 1, the target date for children to start returning to school. The app does not currently use the Apple/Google API. The delay has been revealed as analysis of the source code found ‘serious’ security problems … The Guardian cites ‘NHS insiders’ in reporting the delay....

Apple announced today that the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 will be coming to China “starting this week.” One single model will support all of China’s iPad carriers. The tablets are already available on Apple’s Chinese web store and are expected to ship within about a day. The pricing for the iPad 2 WLAN models comes in at 3,588 RMB for 16GB, 4,288 RMB for 64GB, or 4,988 RMB for 128 GB, while the cellular versions will run for 4,488 RMB for 16GB, 5,188 RMB for 64GB, or 5,888 RMB for 128GB....

In addition to announcing new integration between iOS and Mac OS X with AirDrop support and its new Handoff feature, Apple announced today that it’s bringing SMS and phone calls to the Mac. That means that you can now have your SMS text messages and phone calls from your iPhone arrive as notifications on your Mac. Users will be able to respond to messages and even use the Mac as a speaker phone in order to complete a phone call....

Good ol’ Apple is charging a buck for the final version of FaceTime on the Mac. The reason? Probably to get people into the Mac App Store, get a purchase under their belt and of course get their credit card entered into the system. Oh and it does 720P on supported Intel Macs. Update: Apple says this was a Accounting requirement. More screenies and description below: Description FaceTime for Mac makes it easy to talk, smile and laugh with friends and family on their iPhone 4, iPod touch or Mac....

We’ve independently heard that Apple has plans to begin selling the next-generation iPhone on Friday, October 7th; the date first reported by TiPB. According to our sources, Apple has been weighing between launching the new iPhone on October 7th or October 14th, but with the product’s latest stages of pre-mass-production currently moving along nicely, Apple is presently shooting towards a launch on the 7th. On top of this, unlike with the iPad 2, Apple plans to offer pre-orders for the new iPhone....

After Apple officially discontinued the iMac Pro, the 21.5-inch iMac with Retina 4K display appears to be the next in line to say goodbye. This comes as rumors of an upgrade continue to loom. As first spotted by MacRumors, the 21.5-inch iMac is now only available with 256GB SSD and 1TB Fusion Drive options. Before that, it was possible to choose 512GB and 1TB SSD options as well. Early this month, a person familiar with Apple’s supply chain claimed that the company had stopped producing the 512GB and 1TB SSD configurations of the iMac 4K altogether, and now it’s no longer available on Apple’s website....

In the ongoing controversy over Apple’s refusal of the FBI’s request to assist in unlocking the iPhone of the San Bernardino gunman, The New York Times reports Apple engineers could refuse the work necessary even if Apple as a company decides to cooperate with authorities. Citing “more than a half-dozen current and former Apple employees,” the report claims there is already an internal discussion over engineers possibly refusing to do the necessary work or even quitting:...

Despite some minor concerns, Apple Arcade is perhaps the iPhone maker’s most value-packed product to date and I expect it to grow significantly in the coming months and years. Priced at just $4.99 per month, or $49.99 per year, the video game subscription service costs about as much as one console game per year. For this, you receive a library of exclusive content with new gaming titles added each week....

Apple retired its One to One customer training program several years ago, and replaced it with its free workshops and Today at Apple program. Now, the company is offering free one-on-one sessions over the phone for training on its Photos app. Spotted by MacRumors, Apple describes the new offering in a support document. While over the phone support for help with photos may sound counter-intuitive, this could be a good option for customers who don’t live near an Apple Store and can’t make it to a Today at Apple session....

Apple has today confirmed its latest acquisition, the purchase of UK-based visual effects company, iKinema. The company’s motion capture tech has been used by customers such as Disney, Fox, and Tencent. Now, Apple may leverage the acquisition to improve its AR offerings, expand on Animoji/Memoji, and more. Reported by The Financial Times, Apple gave its standard, generic response. Recent films that have used iKinema’s motion capture tech include Thor: Ragnarok and Blade Runner: 2049....

Apple has today confirmed that the WWDC keynote will be held at 10 AM PST on June 8th as usual, from the WWDC schedule in the newly-updated app. Apple will announce the next-generation versions of its operating systems, iOS 9 and OS X 10.11 with the potential for some new hardware and some surprises. Apple is expected to unveil its new streaming music service, based off Beats. It has also sent out WWDC keynote invites to select members of the press....

Apple has launched yet another iPhone 6s advert, this time featuring a special celebrity guest: the Cookie Monster. In the ad, named Timer, the blue monster uses hands-free Siri on his iPhone 6s to time (you guessed it) the baking of his cookies. Although hands-free Siri exists on all iPhones, the ability to say ‘Hey Siri’ out loud without having the phone being plugged in to power is exclusive to Apple’s latest handsets: the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus....

Apple today has debuted three new video ads for Apple Music on its YouTube channel. The ads focus on the music available via the streaming service, the service’s Connect social network, and the effect music can have on those who “live and breathe” it. The ads all tout that Apple Music has “All the artists you love and are about to love, all in one place.” The first ad features Kygo, who is a popular Norwegian DJ and record producer....

Apple currently offers two frameworks – ResearchKit and CareKit – that allow developers to create apps for medical research. ResearchKit enables apps to create consent forms, tasks, and surveys with customizable modules, while CareKit is focused on enabling developers to build apps that help users manage their medical conditions. Engineers have been working on a new framework to join Apple’s family of research-related frameworks. According to people familiar with its development, this new framework will be called SensorKit, and allow developers to integrate with the various sensors included in Apple’s devices such as the iPhone and Apple Watch....

This makes sense, after all, we can’t imagine every Apple TV owner is necessarily going to want to spend the cash required to pick up an iPhone or an iPod touch to use as a remote control for the media-focused device. There’s going to have to be some form or remote control, if only so you too can lose an Apple product down the back of the sofa… So, Boy Genius Report cites this information as emanating from a source which the site rates as pretty hot, having correctly previously predicted iPhone homescreens in iTunes along with integrated social networking elements....

In the excerpt and article written for L2, Galloway starts by reminding us that no tech company has figured out how to stay relevant as it ages…yet. Whether you want to compete with them, do business with them, or simply live in the world they dominate, you need to understand the Four. While Apple certainly didn’t start out as a luxury brand, Galloway connects some dots in how the company’s vision has come full circle from iPod to Apple Watch....

Apple’s car plans have long been kept under wrap by the company itself, but a new regulatory filing shows it publicly address the industry for the time. In a letter to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) uncovered by VentureBeat, Apple urges the government not to restrict testing of self-driving vehicles… In the letter, written by Apple’s director of product integrity Steve Kenner, the company comments on the recently announced plan from the U....

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJahlKPCL9g] Apple’s celebrations of the 30th anniversary of the Mac are continuing with a 90-second video added to the Apple.com homepage today. The video was filmed on the anniversary itself. It had been thought that Apple might run a celebration at at the Superbowl, with Lee Clow, chairman of Apple’s ad agency TBWA\Worldwide strongly hinting at this, but the company apparently decided that it didn’t need to spend the money: the video can be relied on to go viral....

Regardless of who you think is right in the Apple/Epic battle, it’s hard not to admire the planning that went into the Fortnite maker’s surprise attack on Apple. The company clearly knew exactly what it was doing. For the game company, there was really very little to lose … How the Apple/Epic battle unfolded Let’s start with a brief recap of what happened … Fortnite is a massively popular freemium game....