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Apple announced today it has bought the rights to the documentary “Fathom,” which follows Dr. Ellen Garland and Dr. Michelle Fournet, two scientists focused on the study of humpback whale songs and social communication. Directed and photographed by Drew Xanthopoulos, “Fathom” is produced by Sandbox Films, Impact Partners, Walking Upstream Pictures, Back Allie Entertainment, and Hidden Candy. The film is produced by Megan Gilbride (“Tower”) and executive produced by Andrea Meditch (“Grizzly Man”), Jessica Harrop (“Follow This”), Greg Boustead (“Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds”), and Josh Braun (“Wild Wild Country”)....

Following the release of iOS 14.5 with App Tracking Transparency, Apple today released a new video advertisement promoting privacy on the iPhone. The humorous ad aims to visualize what it means when you allow an app to track you across other apps and services. Regarding the new “Tracked” advertisement, Apple says: The person in the video kicks off their day by buying a cup of coffee. Gradually throughout the day, other people begin following — or “tracking” — the person....

In the latest edition of the Guide to Greener Electronics (a quarterly assesment of the big tech firms), Apple sites around number five, the middle of the scale. Greenpeace admits these latest figures were put together before Apple’s recent publication of extensive environmental data. “We went to press before Apple’s updated environmental information was published last week,” Greenpeace says, adding, “but the welcome news of their transparency about greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental disclosures will be factored in to the next edition....

In another chapter of App Store issues, WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg shared on Twitter today that the reason there haven’t been any updates for the WordPress iOS app is that Apple won’t approve them until the app includes in-app payment options. The strange thing is, the WordPress app doesn’t sell anything. Update: It was the fact that the WordPress iOS app includes references to buying paid plans that was the issue here (even though purchases can’t be made in the app)....

During the AMAs this evening, Apple debuted a new ad for Apple Music starring its long-time advocate, Drake. The ad is essentially a mirror of an ad that starred Taylor Swift and was released earlier this year. Apple has shared its new Drake ad on YouTube with the title “Drake vs. Bench Press.” In the ad, Drake is seen lifting weights and listening Apple Music for his workout entertainment. The rapper uses the “Pop Workout” playlist, which presents him with Taylor Swift’s song “Bad Blood....

As noted by Reuters, Apple has greatly expanded the number of people it has invited to its event on Tuesday, when compared to past Apple announcements. This is probably one motivation for Apple’s change to use Flint Center as a venue, with over double the seating capacity of Yerba Buena, Apple’s usual venue of choice. Reuters say that Apple is making “closer ties to the fashion world” to try and appease fashion critics about its wearable devices....

Another day, another Apple patent, this time seemingly bound for a future incarnation of the Apple TV. The patent describes a, “Remote Control System that can Distinguish Stray Light Sources” – think a Wii remote with built-in understanding of ambient light conditions.The focus of the patent centres on a new transmitter component that sits under a display or television in communications with the Apple TV console. The entire system could also be incorporated into a television itself, states the patent....

Broadcom is a major Apple supplier, providing both WiFi+Bluetooth and GPS chips for iPhone 4, pictured above. Image courtesy of iFixit DigiTimes reported yesterday that TSMC’s expected third-quarter revenues will exceed July guidance, thanks to some “rush” orders from their customers which count such fabless chip makers as Qualcomm, Broadcom, MediaTek and MStar Semiconductor. Bloomberg’s supply chain analyst Richard Davenport is convinced TSMC’s revenue boost is linked to Broadcom: How can he tell Apple is behind this supposed Broadcom order?...

Apple says its iCloud Mail is seeing some downtime this morning. It doesn’t look like the service is fully unavailable but some users are seeing “intermittent issues.” Update 8:40 am PT: Apple is still working on a fix for iCloud Mail and has noted that iCloud web apps are also unavailable for some. Update 9:30 am PT: Apple says it has fixed both the iCloud Mail and iCloud web apps outage....

If Tim Cook’s strongly-worded response to the court order instructing it to assist the FBI in breaking into an iPhone left any room for doubt about Apple’s determination to fight the matter all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, that doubt appears to be removed by further background emerging today. The NY Times reports that Apple plans to press ahead with plans to increase its use of strong encryption....

A jury today in Madison, Wisconsin has found Apple guilty of using technology owned by the University of Wisconsin without permission. According to a report from Reuters, Apple used chip technology owned by the university in its A7, A8, and A8X processors, which are found in the iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, and several iPad variants. The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation originally sued Apple over the issue in January of 2014, saying that Apple infringed on its 1998 patent that handed improving chip efficiency....

Despite day one of the trial not having wrapped up yet, Qualcomm and Apple have reached a settlement in their royalty dispute. CNBC first cited sources in saying that the two companies have reached an agreement. Apple has now published a press release detailing the agreement. Apple says it has reached a deal with Qualcomm that will see it make a settlement payment to the chipmaker. Further, the two have reached a six-year license agreement effective as of April 1, 2019....

Apple has reportedly banned single station radio apps — even as digital radio manufacturer, PURE, introduces its well-regarded digital radio-cum-portal service as an app made available via the App Store. Radio apps have been around on the store for some time, but Apple appears to have changed its policy on these. This emerged after Jim Barcus, president of DJ Radio Apps, approached the company to ask why ten of his single station radio apps had been rejected....

While many have complained about the prices of Apple’s new MacBook Pro lineup, the company has quietly reduced upgrade prices for its older models following last week’s keynote. The price cuts affect the build-to-order upgrade options for last year’s MacBook Pro, the MacBook Air, Mac Pro, iMac, and Mac mini. Prior to last week’s event, a 512GB storage upgrade was priced between $300 and $400 for entry-level machines. That storage upgrade is now priced at between $200 and $300 depending on the machine....

After removing five Infowars podcasts earlier this week, Apple announced in a statement today that the Infowars application itself will remain available on the App Store for the time being. The statement, obtained by BuzzFeed News, explains that Apple supports “all points of view” being represented on the App Store… Earlier this week, Apple removed five Infowars podcasts from the iTunes and Podcasts applications, saying the content violated its hate speech guidelines....

Alan Dye, Apple’s vice president of human interface design, has once again sat down with the Hodinkee Radio podcast to discuss the continued evolution of the Apple Watch. This year, Dye offers an in-depth look at the Apple Watch Series 6, watchOS 7, and details on how Apple’s design team has adapted to COVID-19. Here is the description of the episode courtesy of Hodinkee: One of the topics discussed during the show is the new hand washing feature in watchOS 7....

The Apple Glasses displays are expected to be micro OLED ones, says a new report today. Not to be confused with microLED, micro OLED is an advanced form of display tech that is built directly onto chip wafers, and is ideal for the very small displays likely to be used in Apple’s augmented reality glasses. The Cupertino company has reportedly been working on the project with A-series chipmaker TSMC under secrecy conditions that are extreme even by Apple standards …...

Today we get one of the best looks yet at Apple’s under construction “Campus 2” in Cupertino with a drone flyover video courtesy of Emory Peterson and aerial photography company Above Reno. The video, shot in 4K over Labor Day weekend earlier this month, gets us up close with Apple’s rapidly progressing Campus 2 project scheduled for completion in late 2016. Above Reno notes the video was “filmed at or below 400 feet above ground level with clearance from the local FAA office....

Apple could potentially be facing a fine upwards of one million rubles in Russia (which is only about $15,000 USD) over its inclusion of same-sex couple emoji characters on the built-in iOS keyboard. The Independent reports that police in Russia have began an investigation into Apple to determine whether the company has violated a highly controversial national ban on activity its government considers homosexual propaganda. While Apple does include the emoji keyboard as a built-in alternative keyboard on iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches and has a say in what characters it presents, which emoji that become candidates for inclusion starts with the Unicode Consortium....

Update 2/11: After passing $700 billion in market capitalization yesterday, Apple has been trading up as high as $124.43 a share raising market cap over $720 billion. Apple’s stock price closed up 2.3 points today to close at 122.02 giving the Cupertino company that was on the verge of bankruptcy less than 2 decades ago, the highest market cap of all time. The closing market cap of $710B reflects significant growth since it hit a recent low of a split-adjusted 56 in mid-2013....