[slideshow] Earlier this month, we told you Apple awarded a $10,000 iTunes Gift Card to Chunli Fu of Qingdao, China for downloading the 25 billionth app from the App Store. As part of her prize, Apple flew Fu to Apple headquarters in Beijing for a visit to the corporate offices and then the Sanlitun retail store to collect her prize at a press event and award ceremony. Several local reports from qdqss....

Apple just started sending out the above explanation for the Developer Center outage that has been going on since Thursday. According to the note, Apple’s security was breached and an intruder might have gotten some personal information (specifically names, mailing addresses, email addresses, etc.). In the spirit of (just a bit late) transparency, Apple is now informing developers who may have been affected. Also, because of the intrusion, Apple has decided to totally overhaul its developer systems, including updating server software and rebuilding databases seemingly from scratch....

The New York International Auto Show is about to kick off this weekend and that means the latest vehicle announcements for CarPlay, Apple’s platform for in-dash entertainment systems that allows app functionality using a connected iPhone. Acura is showing off the first example of CarPlay that uses a dual-display setup with the latest generation of its On Demand Multi-Use Display. And Hyundai, Jeep, Honda, Lincoln and others are introducing new vehicles with support....

Apple’s head of global security, Thomas Moyer, is among four people in San Jose, California, being indicted as part of a concealed weapons permit scandal. The scandal involved $70,000 worth of iPads in exchange for concealed firearms licenses, and Moyer is being charged with bribery. Through the scheme, Santa Clara County undersheriff Rick Sung and sheriff’s Captain James Jensen withheld four gun permits for Apple employees until Moyer agreed to donate 200 iPads, worth $70,000, to the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s office....

Apple is sending out emails to developers today informing them of changes coming to bug reporting. The company says the changes come as part of its “commitment to privacy” and will start rolling out later this fall. In the email, first shared by developer Daniel Farrelly, Apple explains that it will be removing all developer data from inactive bugs. Inactive bugs consist of bugs that have been closed for at least five years, have not been updated for 60 days, and are not a duplicates of another bug....

During its “It’s Show Time” event at the Steve Jobs Theater today, Apple announced that the latest versions of its operating systems will be released later today. The updates will include support for the new services announced during the event, including News+, with the magazines and exclusive content offerings. Update: iOS 12.2 is now available for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Other new features on iOS 12.2 include new Animoji characters: the shark, owl, giraffe, and warthog options — plus a few more changes....

Update: Unicode has actually responded to Apple’s request and detailed all of the changes that will come with Emoji 4.0, including 16 new professional emoji. Following the emoji redesign with iOS 10, Apple has recently asked the Unicode Consortium to add 5 new emoji to the existing catalog of options. Apple’s Peter Edberg, who has been a software engineer at the company for 28 years, reached out to the Unicode Technical Committee recently, sharing mockups of the five new emoji....

Apple CEO Tim Cook has been ordered by U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose to give a deposition related to an ongoing private lawsuit that claims Apple, Google, and others entered “no-poach” agreements, as reported by Bloomberg. Cook isn’t the only executive named in yesterday’s order. Google Chairman Eric Schmidt will also be deposed on Feb. 20, as well as Intel Chief Executive Officer Paul Otellini later this month....

Fonix Speech today introduced its Fonix VoiceIn 5.0 tool-kit for the iPhone 3G. This includes a license and run time engine fee to video game developers. “We expect to leverage our prior successes with video game developers that incorporate Fonix VoiceIn Game tool-kit for an increasingly growing mobile video game market,” says Steven G. Jones, Fonix Director of sales and business development. “A hands free game like Tom Clancy’s ‘EndWar,’ developed by Ubisoft, features Fonix VoiceIn for Games and is a natural fit for the iPhone 3G....

Apple’s Senior Vice President of iOS Software Scott Forstall just unveiled iOS 6 while on stage at the Worldwide Developers Conference. According to Apple, iOS 6 includes 200 new features. Apple started demoing new Siri features this morning, which includes the ability to bring in-depth sports information. Other Siri partnerships—like Rotten Tomato for movie trailers and OpenTable for making dinner reservations—allow the voice-controlled personal assistant to do some cool, new things....

Apple is fighting ‘right to repair’ legislation which would give consumers and third-party repair shops the legal right to purchase spare parts and access service manuals. The state of Nebraska is holding a hearing on the proposed legislation next month, and Motherboard reports that Apple will be formally opposing the bill. According to the source, an Apple representative, staffer, or lobbyist will testify against the bill at a hearing in Lincoln on March 9....

Apple has already honored Eilish this year with an Apple Music award and a concert at Steve Jobs Theater, and it is set to continue the trend. According to Billboard, Apple paid $25 million for rights to a documentary which follows the singer as she releases her debut album. What is particularly interesting in this case is that Billboard says the documentary will be released on Apple TV+, rather than Apple Music....

More from Apple CEO Tim Cook’s talk at the Goldman and Sachs conference this morning: When asked about the iPhone’s screen size, Cook noted size isn’t always everything and the company is more focused on delivering the best experience. Cook also said that consumers should think twice before shopping online with a device using an OLED display due to poor color saturation and lack of brightness. However, he didn’t rule out the possibility of a larger screen iPhone....

This past week, Chinese State TV called the iPhone a “national security concern” because of its location tracking capabilities. The iPhone’s operating system utilizes location for several applications, including Maps and Weather. iOS 7 also introduced a new feature that utilizes a customer’s location in order to provide improved traffic and route information. Now, Apple has quickly responded via a concrete and comprehensive message on its website for China. The message is advertised on the homepage, and is a direct response to the allegations from China State TV....

Research firm IDC is out today with its latest report on the smart-connected device market, and it includes worldwide shipments of desktop PCs, notebook PCs, smartphones, and tablets. IDC predicted the market in total grew 29.1-percent year over year in 2012, crossing 1 billion units shipped and hitting a total value of $576.9 billion. According to the report, Apple significantly closed the gap on Samsung during the last quarter of the year....

Apple’s SVP of Retail + People Deirdre O’Brien published a letter today detailing the company’s approach to reopening its 510 retail stores in a safe and careful way. All Apple Stores outside of Greater China closed on March 13 to slow the spread of COVID-19. O’Brien stresses at the outset of her letter that care has driven Apple’s decision-making throughout the pandemic, noting that Apple was one of the first major companies to close its retail stores....

Apple has today extended its AppleCare+ for Mac program, previously only available in the United States and Japan, to New Zealand and Australia AppleCare+ extends a Mac’s warranty period to three years from its original purchase date. The insurance also includes up to two accidental damage for the screen or external casing, costing AU$149 or NZ$169, or AU$429 or NZ$499 for any other damage. The insurance replaces the existing Apple Care for Mac plan which is essentially the same sans accidental damage....

Apple is closing in on finishing up work on OS X Mavericks ahead of its public launch, according to a source familiar with the new operating system’s development. This source says that the operating system will reach Golden Master status internally by the end of this week or early next week, and it will be labeled as a build number in the high 13A590s or low 13A600s. This will be a slight increase over the current developer build that is version 13A584....

The Next Web reported on the eve of the October 4 unveiling that iPhone 4S would have “more definitive GPS features”, leaving many watchers scratching their head. The cryptic hint has now been deciphered by Russian-language iPhones.ru which first spotted a mention of GLONASS on Apple’s iPhone 4S specs page, apparently added recently (see the screenshot below). Another report by iGuides.ru went on to speculate that the quiet addition of GLONASS could be related to the fact that the Russian government threatened to ban the importation of cell phones that do not support this technology....

The redesigned Apple Maps interface came to the United Kingdom earlier this month, offering Look Around, improved cartography, and much more. Now, Apple appears to be in the early stages of rolling out this redesigned Apple Maps experience to users in Canada. Once the new Apple Maps interface has fully rolled out in Canada, it will be the “largest yet” expansion of the new Apple Maps data. In January of this year, Apple officially completed the rollout of the rebuilt Apple Maps in the United States....