Posts

Screenshot showing new iTunes U “Student Discussions” feature Apple today announced an update to its iTunes U educational app that includes a number of new features for iPad including course creation tools, a Student Discussions feature and improved management tools for teachers. The new features will begin rolling out July 8 with the ability for teachers to create and manage previously uploaded lessons directly from the iPad. Apple says the course creation features will let teachers grab content from iWork, iBooks Author or “any of the over 75,000 educational apps available for iPad....

Apple has just announced the pricing and availability for the new 12-inch Retina MacBook. This is the thinnest MacBook to date and offers “all day” battery life. This is the same MacBook we exclusively uncovered back in January and now it has been unveiled along with its pricing… Apple’s new 12-inch Retina MacBook will start shipping on April 10 starting at $1,299 for the base model. This model includes 256GB of internal storage with a 1....

Along with officially announcing WWDC 2021 today, Apple has announced and opened its annual Swift Student Challenge. Prizes this year will include exclusive WWDC outerwear, customized pin set, and membership to the Apple Developer Program. WWDC 2021 will be all virtual and is set for June 7-11. One of the great benefits of that is that like last year, anyone from around the world can fully participate in the developer conference....

Earlier this morning, Reuters reported that the popular Didi Chuxing Chinese ride service was eying a US initial public offering with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley leading the effort. Now it’s come to light that the company has allegedly already confidentially filed for the IPO. Notably, Apple invested $1 billion in Didi back in 2016 which also gave it a seat on the ride service’s board. Earlier this morning, Reuters reported that Didi was expected to file privately for its IPO sometime this month....

In iOS 7, Apple introduced nearby networking features called Multipeer Connectivity to allow iOS devices in proximity to talk to one another over WiFi or Bluetooth even without a traditional Internet connection. Developers have used the tech for everything from exchanging files and other data between devices, to remote control functionality, and multi-device experiences like the iTranslate Voice app that sends real-time speech translated from one device to the other. It’s also the tech behind the local anonymous messaging service FireChat that got some attention earlier this year....

Update: Apple has confirmed to Axios that it has acquired Drive.ai. In the process, it has hired dozens of self-driving engineers, most of which will work on engineering and product design. According to a new report from the San Francisco Chronicle, Apple has hired a “handful” of hardware and software engineers from self-driving car startup Drive.ai – which is planning to close its doors later this week. So far, Apple is said to have hired five engineers from the startup....

Earlier today Apple reinforced its partnership with the PRODUCT(RED) campaign by announcing that 100% of the eligible proceeds from its (RED) devices and accessories will be redirected to the Global Fund’s COVID‑19 relief efforts. Now the company has also announced that it will donate $1 for every purchase made in its store with Apple Pay. Apple is emailing users in eligible countries that all purchases made with Apple Pay on Apple’s website, the Apple Store app, or even at an Apple Retail Store will result in $1 donated to (RED) Global Fund....

After Apple’s original contract securing the rights to use Liquidmetal’s unique metal alloy in consumer electronic products was extended through February 2015, today proof comes that Apple has once again secured rights for another year, hinting at its continued interest in the material. On June 17, 2015, Liquidmetal Technologies, Inc. (the “Company”) and Apple Inc. (“Apple”) entered into a third amendment (the “Third Amendment”) to the Master Transaction Agreement that was originally entered into on August 5, 2010 and amended on June 15, 2012 and May 17, 2014 (the “MTA”)....

Apple gamers, today is your lucky day. id Software got 100,000 likes on their Facebook page so they’re releasing the iOS version of their upcoming next gen shooter, Rage, free for a week. (Rage HD, Rage) Also, if Duke Nukem is your cup of tea, MacUpdate offers the just released Rated-M “epic ass-kicking, massive weapons, giant explosions and pure unadulterated fun” title $5 off today only with free Jets’n’Gold ($20 value) thrown in....

A new ad for Apple Card has landed on the company’s YouTube channel today. It’s similar to the “Introducing Apple Card” video and focuses on three key benefits of the new credit card being purchase tracking, Daily Cash, and security and privacy. The latest ad “Apple Card is here” features the same background song “Jeans” by Rubi and is more or less a condensed version of the “Introducing Apple Card” video....

After first unveiling the completely redesigned Mac Pro at WWDC earlier this year, Apple today gave the new machine a bit of stage time at its iPad event to announce pricing and availability details. The base model of the new Mac Pro (pictured above) will start at $2999 and ship by the end of the year. While Apple will presumably have several configurations and built to order options available for the next-gen Mac Pro– including Quad 6, 8, or 12-core designs– it only announced base pricing for the configuration above....

All current signs point to an iMac refresh sometime next week. The rumors started a few weeks ago when an unsourced report claimed that refreshed iMacs are en route to the United States for a late April or early May launch. Then, just last week, our sources across the globe backed up these claims, saying that iMac shipments and components are very constrained. Yesterday, our colleague Mr. X told us to expect new iMacs the week of May 2nd as Apple will officially stop shipping iMacs to resellers this week (week of April 25th)....

Apple is working with AT&T and Google parent-company Alphabet to enable emergency LTE in Puerto Rico after the island was devastated by Hurricane Maria last month. TechCrunch reports that Apple is issuing a carrier update this week using the service enable LTE Band 8 support. As 9to5Google reported earlier today, this emergency LTE is enabled by Alphabet’s X division using Project Loon. Project Loon deploys balloons from Nevada to Puerto Rico where cell towers have been destroyed to restore cellular service to areas without coverage....

Last year, it was reported that Apple was working to open an Apple Store in Washington D.C.’s famous Carnegie Library. While some details were known about the store, Apple was still in the process of obtaining permission from the appropriate parties. Today, however, Apple has been given the final go ahead for its Carnegie Library retail location… In a press release this afternoon, Events D.C., the “official convention and sports authority for the District of Columbia,” announced that its board of directors has come to an agreement with Apple for the Carnegie Library retail location and will execute the lease....

During his current tour to various locales abroad to accompany the launch of iPad Pro this week, Apple CEO Tim Cook stopped by Università Bocconi in Italy to deliver an inspiring speech to students. The majority of Cook’s speech focused on his time as a student, but he also took time to talk about the importance of his mission to not just make money at Apple but to “leave the world better than we found it....

TSMC, Apple’s sole A-series chip supplier for the iPhone 6 and 7 (and rumored exclusive supplier for the iPhone 8 also), is considering building a foundry in the USA, reports Reuters. While the company had previously said that it hadn’t ruled out the idea, it now says that it will make a definite decision one way or the other in 2018 … While TSMC currently sells the majority of its chips to American companies, it says there would be significant drawbacks to a U....

Another week, another problem. Following an Apple Music and iTunes outage last week, Apple confirmed on Tuesday that some of its services are now partially offline. This includes Find My, iCloud Mail, iCloud Contacts, and iCloud settings. Update (9:19 PM ET): Apple says the outage is now fixed across all its services. According to Apple, the issues started around 2 p.m. ET. However, the company didn’t provide a timeframe to fix the outage in iCloud services....

According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple has cut component orders for its iPhone 5 due to “weaker-than-expected-demand.” The report provides the notable example of iPhone 5 display components being cut “roughly” in half for the January through March quarter. Apple reportedly notified its iPhone 5 parts suppliers of the change last month. Several analysts previously reported that Apple has cut orders for iPhone 5 components. Like the WSJ is reporting, many analysts and industry watchers naturally expected the order cuts to be due to weak iPhone 5 demand....

Apple’s latest iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro lineup is its most expansive yet, with four different models from which to choose and a new MagSafe accessory ecosystem. In a new interview with Wallpaper, a handful of Apple designers offered additional details on the design thought process behind the iPhone 12, MagSafe, and HomePod mini. The report points out that the iPhone 12 “suite of products revealed in October were still at prototype stage back in 2018,” before Jony Ive departed Apple to form his own independent design company....

According to a new Apple patent application published today by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (via AppleInsider), Apple is looking into new mapping features that would integrate real-time, crowd-sourced traffic and navigation data through ratings and user reporting. At first glance the features appear to be similar to those included in the community-based mapping app ‘Waze’, which is one of the reasons that Google just acquired the company last month....