Apple has updated its homepage today in commemoration of Martin Luther King, which Apple CEO Tim Cook has often noted as an inspiration for his work. Cook says he has pictures of Martin Luther King on his desk. However, this is the first time Apple has recognised Martin Luther King day (which happens on the third Monday of every January) so openly on its website. Many American tech companies give employees the day off, but Apple has elected not to do this....

Apple today has officially announced its highly anticipated iPhone 12 event for October 13 at 10 a.m. PT. Much like WWDC 2020 and the September “Time Flies” event, the iPhone 12 announcement event will be completely virtual and streamed directly from Apple Park. Apple is teasing the event with the “Hi, Speed” tagline. Apple October event details This event will mark the second Apple event within the last month. On September 15, Apple held a virtual event to announce its latest Apple Watch SE and Apple Watch Series 6 hardware, alongside a new iPad Air and the 8th generation iPad, Apple Fitness+, and the Apple One services bundle....

Apple Vice President for Education John Couch and other company executives met with Turkish President Abdullah Gül on Friday, according to the country’s presidential website that also posted a photo and video of the meeting. MacRumors claimed—via Turkish website Elma Dergisi [translation]—the meeting concerned Turkey’s $4.5 billon tablet program and the incorrect layout of the Turkish F-keyboard: However, WorldBulletin.net, another Turkish website, specifically claimed the meeting involved Apple’s “second-class treatment” of Turkey:...

Apple is taking new measures within iOS to prevent aftermarket battery swaps for the iPhone. As detailed by iFixit, Apple has activated a “dormant software lock” in iOS that blocks features like Battery Health in Settings when an iPhone uses a battery that was not installed by Apple itself. Essentially, if your iPhone needs a new battery and you take it upon yourself to replace the battery, the Settings app will display a “Service” message that reads as follows:...

Following the announcement of the first M1-powered Macs earlier this week, a trio of Apple executives spoke with The Independent to talk about Apple Silicon. In the interview, marketing chief Greg Joswiak, software VP Craig Federighi, and hardware engineering VP John Ternus went in-depth on the new M1 chip, the future of the Mac, and more. Regarding the new M1 processor in the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini, Joswiak said that he “couldn’t believe it” when he saw its performance capabilities....

Apple’s Fortune 500 ranking is back at number three this year, after it overtook Warren Buffet’s conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway. Apple does take the number one slot in two categories … Apple is the most profitable company in the listing, well ahead of second-ranked JPMorgan Chase and third-placed Google parent Alphabet. Similarly, in the tech sector Apple is almost twice the size of second-placed Alphabet, with Microsoft, Dell and IBM completing the top five tech giants....

According to people familiar with its development and confirmed in screenshots shared by MacRumors, there will be a new “Items” tab in the Find My app which shows a user’s items, just like there are tabs for people and devices. Users can put their tags in lost mode. When a tag is in lost mode and the system detects it being carried by another person who owns an Apple product, their device will alert the person about the item, optionally showing a message from the owner and directing the person to contact them....

This comes following the surfacing of actual working units of Apple’s new flagship in China and Vietnam earlier today, just days short of the device’s official US release date (via Dan Tri). Supposedly, a reporter for the Associated Press spotted the devices and managed to confirm that they are indeed working by giving Messages and Siri a try. The photos are very similar to those we’ve seen of physical mock ups prior to the device actually being announced and it appears that Apple still isn’t having much success in keeping the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus under wraps....

A new report from Axios today highlights how major tech companies are “scrambling to craft digital options” for summer internships this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For its part, Apple has committed to hiring over 1,000 people for internships this summer. Many companies have shifted their summer internships to be online, including Google, Twitter, IBM, Microsoft, Lyft, and Salesforce. Other companies, including Apple, say they plan to host interns on-site for at least part of the summer so long as it’s safe to do so....

Netflix is currently one of the highest-grossing iOS apps, thanks to a significant number of users paying their subscription through iTunes billing. But that could be set to change as the streaming video service seeks to bypass iTunes for future subscription payments … TechCrunch says that it has confirmed with Netflix that the company is currently running a test in a large number of countries. Apple currently receives 30% of first-year Netflix subscriptions through the app, and 15% from the second year on....

Apple wants to replace yet another daily tool with your iPhone: your wallet. Executives from the Cupertino-based technology company have begun discussions with directors from retail store chains about a mobile payments service, according to a source with direct knowledge of the talks. Previous reports indicated that Apple is exploring new payments services through discussions with executives from existing payments companies. These latest mobile payments-related discussions, which have occurred with retail store brands such as those that sell luxury clothing and premium goods, have taken place over the past couple of months, according to the source....

Apple crossed the 100% renewable energy goal for its own operations (headquarters, data centers, retail stores) this time last year. However, the company is also convincing supply chain partners to go green too. Today, Apple announced that it has doubled the number of suppliers who have agreed to run Apple manufacturing on 100% renewable energy too. The supply chain will add 5 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2020, exceeding Apple’s original 4 gigawatt goal....

Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference starts tomorrow and today the company kicked things off by greeting developers with customized embroidered Levi’s jean jackets, a selection of pins, and Apple TV developer kits. In addition to the jackets, the pins include Apple themed designs including the icon for Apple’s Swift programming language, a selection of vintage Apple logos, and more (as pictured below). Developers also received personalized flag pins to signify their home country....

Update: This appears to be a mistake Discovered by This is my next, an internal Best Buy document points to an ‘Apple Fixture Installation’ Friday, October 21st. Interestingly, this date lines up with the mid-October range that’s being tossed around for the iPhone 5 release. This is my next’s source says that a manager being at the store at 6 A.M. to open the doors is out of the ordinary, seeing as they usually get there at 7 A....

Apple and German software company SAP are extending their partnership focused on increasing iPhone, iPad, and Mac use in enterprise. According to a new report from Reuters, the two are teaming up to help businesses develop applications using Apple’s machine learning technology. The report explains that this partnership will focus on increasing augmented reality adoption among businesses. For instance, SAP and Apple will leverage augmented reality for things like stocking store shelves and repairing machinery....

Apple is continuing to promote upgrades to the iPhone XR today with an item in the Today view of the App Store. The editorial describes key features of the iPhone XR and then highlights apps that take advantage of the new hardware like the Face ID sensor or the speed of the A12 chip. The approach is pretty heavy-handed and continues a recent run of marketing like using the Apple Store app push notification system, ‘limited time’ trade-in offers and ever-growing appeals on its homepage....

In the wake of Apple’s Maps controversy, CEO Tim Cook noted in an apology to customers that the company is “doing everything we can to make Maps better.” Today, reports from both ifoAppleStore and MacRumors claim Apple is testing a new program that will see retail employees test the maps and submit corrections to Apple on company time: According to MacRumors: Apple is piloting a program to tap into its vast number of retail store employees to help improve the company’s new Maps app for iOS 6....

Nearly two months after macOS Big Sur’s public release, the Apple human interface team has finally released an updated Sketch library optimized for its top to bottom redesign. User interface designers and developers have been anxiously awaiting this new design kit for quite awhile. Like previous Sketch libraries offered by Apple, the new macOS 11 library includes all of the core system colors, interface materials and fonts. You can also find elements such as buttons, labels, windows, menus, modals and more....

Last week, Apple launched a USB-C cable replacement program, saying that some cables shipped with the 12-inch Retina MacBook were faulty. Thea faulty adapters would result in the MacBook not charging or charging unreliably. Now, the first MacBook customers have started receiving their replacement cables, according to a post on Reddit and Twitter. The user did not request the cable from Apple. The user says that his USB-C replacement cable was sent via FedEx and included a note from Apple explaining the situation....

Apple has given up waiting for the go-ahead on its plans for a data center in Ireland, which the company first applied for in 2015. The project hit multiple setbacks over disputes with local groups on environmental concerns. A ‘final decision’ was ruled in Apple’s favor at the end of 2017, so the fate of the project was looking positive. However, a fresh appeal overrode the judgement and sent the parties back to court....