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According to a new report from Hickory Daily Record, Apple is expanding its data center operations in North Carolina with the purchase of $3 million worth of land in Conover, Catawba County. The purchase would include 218.885 acres and another 0.251 acres for a new solar farm. HDR cited “deeds and a plat book at the Catawba County Register of Deeds”: According to the report, the land is located on the East side of Lai Ber Drive Extension in Conover, with a portion located on the West side of the road....

Apple has announced a new version of the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display. It is thinner and lighter than the previous generation, coming in at 3.46 pounds and 0.71-inches thin. It also has new Intel Haswell processors for better battery life. The new battery comes in at 9 hours on a single charge. The new laptop also has new graphics and faster PCIe-based flash (60% faster). Faster, 802.11ac WiFi and Thunderbolt 2 are also in the mix....

Apple today has stopped signing iOS 13.2. This comes after iOS 13.2.2 was released to the public last week with bug fixes and performance improvements, including a fix for background app performance and RAM management. When Apple stops signing an iOS build, it means users are no longer able to downgrade to that version via iTunes/Finder. Reverting to older iOS builds is common for those in the jailbreak community and can sometimes also be useful for users who experience significant bugs after updating to the latest version of iOS....

Tile has made an accusation of Apple breaking promises to work toward resolving the dispute between the two companies, and says that indeed things are even worse than they were. The dispute centers around Apple’s apparent intention to launch AirTags, which will directly compete with Tile trackers — small devices attached to gadgets and other valuables to track their location … Background In January, Tile appeared before a congressional antitrust hearing, accusing Apple of making two changes in order to place Tile at a competitive disadvantage with the anticipated AirTags product....

Joining a wider industry shift, Apple announced that it is working to replace exclusionary language in its developer documentation and APIs with alternative terminology. Renaming things takes time and effort as large parts of infrastructure have to migrate in response. For third-party developers in the App Store, Apple will be changing the names of APIs used in their code where appropriate, which will also necessitate engineering work to migrate. Examples of exclusionary terminology include using a noun like ‘master’ to describe the primary code repository....

Apple is experiencing some issues with its developer services this afternoon including App Store Connect and TestFlight. Update: Apple has fixed the issues. Apple confirmed the outages that are affecting some developers on its System Status dashboard. The problems popped up around 11 am PT/ 2 pm ET today and are impacting App Store Connect, the App Store Connect API, and TestFlight. For all three services, Apple notes that “Users are experiencing a problem with this service....

A Quartz report citing banking sources says that Apple is considering the use of iMessage to handle its expected person-to-person service to complement Apple Pay. Apple is reported to be in talks with banks to agree terms for the service. It’s believed that Apple wants banks to act as the payment processors so that it can steer clear of the murky world of financial regulation, leaving it to do what it does best: the front-end....

Last month, we documented code within iOS 5 which contained references to some new panoramic camera functionality for iOS devices. The latest build of iOS shows that Apple continues to do work on this functionality. They’ve added a few more strings which weren’t in the earlier Beta: Here’s what happens when you jailbreak and enable panoramic [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqAJa2GzYvg&start=32] More than a few third party apps already do panoramic camera capturing on Apple’s iOS....

Apple has said many times that it sees medical and health initiatives as a big area for expansion in the future. Some of these plans are now actively being developed, according to Bloomberg. Firstly, Apple is working on new sleep tracking and fitness apps for Apple Watch that take advantage of the heart rate sensor for insight. Apple is yet to offer sleep analysis of any kind in its wearable and its current Heart Rate app in watchOS 3 is very limited....

Apple’s latest MacBook Pro and the upcoming MacBook will not support running Windows 7 through Boot Camp according to a support document for the software. Starting on the newest machines, users will need to upgrade to Windows 8 or later in order to take advantage of the Mac’s dual-boot capabilities. Of course, for users who still rely on Windows 7, there are solutions that allow you to run the operating system on your Mac....

Apple has extended its rights to the metal alloy material that it originally licensed from Liquidmetal Technologies in 2010 for exclusive use in consumer electronics products. The proof comes from a recent filing with the SEC: Up until now Apple has tested the material in its SIM card ejector tool that came with previous generation iPhones, but several rumors in recent years have claimed it could take advantage of Liquidmetal for batteries, screws or other components of its products....

Apple is no stranger to lawsuits from companies claiming that the iPhone maker has infringed their patents. The latest of these is from a Korean company alleging that it holds a patent to one key aspect of Touch ID … The Korea Herald reports that Firstface has announced its intention to file the lawsuit. Shim said that he had suggested that Apple license the patent from Firstface, but the Cupertino company had declined to do so....

Apple today announced that over 110 of its manufacturing partners are now committed to 100% renewable energy production. Apple’s own operations and facilities have been carbon neutral since 2018, and last year it said it would extend that to its entire supply chain by 2030. Today’s announcement brings that goal closer to reality. Apple says the commitments are equivalent to about 8 gigawatts of clean energy, and will avoid generating 15 million metric tons of CO2e annually....

For the longest time, Apple’s Footers have read: Apple ignited the personal computer revolution with the Apple II, then reinvented the personal computer with the Macintosh. Apple continues to lead the industry with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system, and iLife, iWork and professional applications. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store, has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices....

One of the most interesting announcements from Apple’s event on Monday was the Apple Card. While a number of details about the card were revealed on Monday, TechCrunch is out today with a closer look at Apple Card and how it works. TechCrunch’s Matthew Panzarino explains that the version of Apple Card shown on Monday is Apple’s “version 1.” This means that, much like other Apple products, the company will be “iterating on the contest with new features and benefits....

Apple has started a new big project in its web services division, according to The Information. The report claims Apple has decided to rewrite its cloud services to all fall under one single technology stack using open-source technologies. This will combine Apple’s services like iCloud, Siri, iTunes and more into a unified backend platform. Apple has seemingly settled on Mesos, the backend infrastructure for Siri, as the core of its new platform which will take years to finish....

A court found today that Apple did not infringe wireless technology patents held by Wi-Lan. The Canadian firm accused several companies, including Apple, HTC, and HP of using proprietary wireless networking tech without a proper license. Apple was the only party who did not settle out of the suit, opting instead to fight back. Apple claimed that Qualcomm, the manufacturer who supplied the wireless components in question, was responsible for the license but that Wi-Lan was seeking a claim against Apple, not Qualcomm, due to the chance at a bigger payday—in this case a royalty from every iPhone sold with the allegedly-infringing wireless hardware....

Though not yet shared on the company’s YouTube channel, Apple this evening updated the HomeKit page on its website with a new 45-second ad showcasing what the Home app in iOS 10 is capable of. Apple has also made some general updates to that Home-focused website. In the video, which is accessible from the header of the Home webpage, Apple showcases a variety of different features that the Home app offers....

Apple has refreshed its third-generation iPad line today, as expected, with a semi-minor upgrade that includes a new Lightning connector, but the company also included some upgraded internals in what it is calling the “fourth-generation iPad.” “It is a power house,” said Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Philip Schiller while on stage at the event. The fourth-generation iPad features faster performance with dual-core A6X and quad-core graphics. It also has a 5-megapixel iSight camera, expanded LTE chipset, front-facing camera with FaceTime and 720p video capture, ultrafast two-times Wi-Fi, and Lightening connector....

Apple’s famously secretive approach to new product development involves a wide range of precautions. For contractors at a so-called Apple Black Site, this can include not being allowed to book an Uber ride home from the facility … Bloomberg reports on one of these low-key satellite offices. One of the challenges, say workers, is that employment conditions don’t match those offered at an official Apple campus, with some trivial but still irritating complaints....