In an update posted to the program’s website this week, Apple and Stanford University announced that they are no longer accepting new participants to its Heart Study. Apple first announced and launched its Apple Heart Study in November of 2017… While Apple and Stanford have closed the Heart Study to new participants, that doesn’t mean the actual program is closed. Those participants already in the program will continue to participate until the end, which is currently slated as January 31st, 2019....

Earlier this year, it was reported that Apple had dismissed over 200 staff members from its Project Titan self-driving vehicle department. Now, in a new filing with the California Employment Development Department, Apple has offered more detail on those layoffs. As reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, Apple’s filings indicate that the majority of affected positions are engineering roles. The layoffs include 38 engineering program managers, 33 hardware engineers, 31 product design engineers, and 22 software engineers....

As we reported last night, Apple this afternoon confirmed that the SIM-free iPhones the company is selling via its stores in the UK, France and Canada are being sold truly unlocked and can be used with your choice of provider, including providers outside of the country in which your iPhone is purchased. Does iPhone work with any SIM card or carrier worldwide? iPhone 3GS works with SIM cards and iPhone 4 works with micro-SIM cards from compatible carriers, including prepaid cards....

Following an overwhelming launch day for the iPhone 4S in China plagued by massive crowds of scalpers, Apple suspended in-store sales of the device to walk-in customers and employed a lottery system for reservations that did not operate on a first-come-first-serve basis. Customers also had to bring government-issued ID when picking up their device. Apple confirmed on its website it will be doing the same for the new iPad launch with reservations beginning the morning of March 15 and pick ups available March 16 at the IFC Mall store in Hong Kong....

Ahead of its grand opening on June 29th, new details about Apple’s Cotai Central retail store paint the picture of a striking design never before seen in an Apple store. Apple Cotai Central is the second Apple store in the Chinese district of Macau, and the first with a prominent view of the Cotai Strip, a bustling stretch of the city lined with luxury hotels, casinos, and other retailers. The store headlines “phase four” of the Sands Cotai Central resort....

Apple’s Vice President of Human Interface Design Alan Dye is no stranger to giving interviews about the Apple Watch and what goes into what shapes the software experience. Dye’s latest Apple Watch conversation can be heard on the Hodinkee Radio podcast where he discusses how Apple Watch faces are designed and much more. From Hodinkee’s episode description: Read More: Apple actually set things on fire to create those gorgeous new Watch faces [Video] Apple’s human interface chief on the obsessive details you’ll never notice in your Apple Watch New interview with Kevin Lynch reveals more Watch details, early prototypes used timeline UI

Apple today has shared a new advertisement on its YouTube channel. This one focuses on support for sticker packs in iMessage. While the ad is part of Apple’s iPhone 7 “Practically Magic” series, support for stickers in iMessage is an iOS 10 feature, thus meaning they’re supported on most recent devices, not just the iPhone 7. The ad depicts the idea of bringing sticker packs to the real world… The fast-paced ad comes in at 1 minute long and is cleverly called “Sticker Fight....

Apple’s iPhone 5 media event just kicked off with CEO Tim Cook hitting the stage and providing some updates on numbers for various products. Among them: Mountain Lion downloads are up to 7 million since Apple announced 3 million copies in July, 17 million iPads were sold between April and June this year, and a total of 400 million iOS devices have been sold through June: 400 million iOS devices sold through June 83 million visitors to retail stores 380 stores 7 million copies of mountain lion 17 million iPads last quarter 84 million iPads sold through June 250,000 iPad apps 200 million iTunes in the Cloud users iTunes is in 63 countries 26 million songs on iTunes/ 20 billion songs purchased 435 million iTunes accounts with credit cards 350 million iPods sold Related articles:...

CFO Oppenheimer confirmed Apple wants to introduce the iPhone into China, but offered no time scale, ad he reiterated company management’s regret Apple didn’t delay the launch of MobileMe. “I don’t have any announcements today regarding China,” Oppenheimer said, “but for those who haven’t seen it, we’ve had three in Russia in the last 24 hours. Couldn’t be happier with where we are with iPhone distribution. Oppenheimer’s most critical statements – particularly as economists continue to warn of recession – stress the company’s move to lower product prices…“We plan to keep offering products at a reasonable margin, but not so high to benefit our competitors,” he said, advising that Apple has outgrown maret averages for the last 14-15 quarters, and confirming Apple’s 80% market share of consumer notebooks priced above $1,000....

As it has done for other causes in the past, Apple today launched a Red Cross donation program to benefit those facing the death and destruction of Hurricane Matthew. Via iTunes and the App Store, Apple is collecting donations in the denominations of $5, $10, $25, $50, $100, and $200. “Help people affected by Hurricane Matthew by donating to the American Red Cross,” Apple writes in iTunes. The company also says that 100 percent of all money pledged will be sent to the Red Cross, with Apple itself not taking any sort of cut....

Apple continues its crackdown on the App Store in China this week. Citing local reports, The Telegraph today highlights that Apple has removed over 700 apps from the Chinese App Store this week – some those apps coming from large developers. The apps in question have been removed for skirting Apple’s requirement that apps be updated through the App Store. In such cases, developers were pushing software updates to their applications without going through proper App Store mechanism....

Apple has announced that it will hold a conference call tomorrow morning to discuss the company’s plans for its approximately $100 billion in cash reserves. The announcement will occur at 6AM Pacific / 9 AM Eastern time, and the discussions will be led by Apple CEO Tim Cook and Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer. Apple specifically notes that the call will be focused on Apple’s decision, not on the current quarter or topics besides the company’s cash reserves....

Apple had been confusing many Apple Watch app developers due to some confusing wording in the developer documentation for iTunes Connect, pictured above. The wording indicated that app submissions, including a Watch app, would require at least one screenshot of their app taken on an Apple Watch itself. However, this was confusing as it was therefore impossible for developers to submit Watch extensions without owning an Apple Watch themselves. This caused some concern that there would be very few third-party apps on day one of the Watch launch (April 24th) as most developers would not get access to hardware aside from the select partners Apple worked with in Cupertino....

We’ve already run down most of what we’re expecting from the new iPad Pro, iPad mini 4, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, Apple Watch bands, and the new gold Apple Watch Sport colors expected to be announced at Apple’s September 9th event. On the eve of the event, we’ve received some additional details from several sources, which we roundup below. According to sources, the iPad Pro will actually start out at a 32GB capacity (which is still double the current 16GB base configuration of the iPad Air and iPad Mini lines) for $799....

Among the hoopla surrounding the 30th anniversary of the Mac last week, Macworld‘s Jason Snell had an excellent interview with Apple’s Phil Schiller, Craig Federighi, and Bud Tribble about both the past and the future for the Mac. While the entire interview is well worth a read, the talk from Apple executives about iOS and OS X convergence being a “waste of energy” stood out to me the most. Of course, it appears that the Apple executives are taking shots at Microsoft, Windows 8, the Surface line of products, and Google’s new Touch-enabled Chromebooks....

Apple will have to continue battling a class-action lawsuit in California over its butterfly keyboard design. Reuters reports today that a federal judge has rejected Apple’s request to dismiss the proposed class-action lawsuit over the keyboard’s failure and reliability issues. The lawsuit was first filed in May of 2018, with the Apple users arguing that reliability issues make Apple’s butterfly keyboard “inoperable and unsuitable for its ordinary and intended use.” Furthermore, the lawsuit alleges that Apple knew of the butterfly keyboard issues, but did nothing to remedy them....

Apple talks about augmented reality at any opportunity it gets, but so far its fierce ambition has only materialized to consumers as ARKit apps on the iPhone and iPad. It has been widely reported that Apple is developing an AR glasses / headset product. Today, Ming-Chi Kuo reports that Apple’s first augmented reality product will go into mass production as soon as the fourth quarter of this year, but hedges the timeframe slightly and says it will be mass-produced by the second quarter of 2020 at the latest....

Apple announced last month the transition from Intel processors to its own ARM chips, which the company calls “Apple Silicon.” Today Apple has confirmed another important aspect of this transition regarding the future of the Thunderbolt connection, which will continue to be present in Apple Silicon Macs. With the big change to the Mac lineup coming later this year, users were concerned whether these new Mac models will be compatible with Thunderbolt devices — which is a hardware interface developed by Intel in collaboration with Apple....

Alongside the highly anticipated iPad Pro, Apple also revealed a variety of new accessories designed to be used with the new tablet. First up is the Smart Keyboard, a physical keyboard that works worth iPad Pro. Keyboard case made for the larger iPad Connects with new 3-port Smart Connector for landscape typing Features fabric-covered keys Next up is Apple Pencil, a special digital stylus exclusively for iPad Pro. Recharges using Lightning port that connects into iPad Pro Pressure sensitive stylus App support from Procreate, YouMake, iOS 9 apps Unique stylus tip can be used with your finger as well The Smart Keyboard will cost $169 while the Apple Pencil goes for $99....

Just two weeks after unveiling an initial six new Apple Watch advertisements, Apple this evening has shared seven more, all being part of the same campaign. The ads all highlight certain capabilities of Apple Watch and are short, 15 second TV spots. The first ad, entitled “Dance,” stars R&B singer Leon Bridges asking Siri on Apple Watch to “play some 80’s music,” and proceeding to dance to then INXS song that begins to play....