Posts

Apple is apparently changing its long-standing policy regarding third-party iPhone screen repairs. According to a memo sent to Apple retail employees, a customer having their device’s screen repaired by a third-party source no longer voids their warranty like it once did… There are some conditions to this new policy, however. For one, if the third-party display causes the repair to fail or otherwise causes damage to the iPhone during the repair process, the customer will be required to pay the out-of-warranty cost to resolve the issue....

Apple’s flagship retail store in Sydney’s central business district was evacuated earlier today in what was described only as a ‘police operation.’ While no official explanation was available at the time of writing, it has been reported that the evacuation was in response to a bomb scare, with surrounding streets closed and a police sniffer dog seen entering the store. SBS reported a shopper at the store specifically referencing a bomb scare....

The legal battle between Apple supplier TSMC and chipmaker Global Foundries is heating up. TSMC was first sued by Global Foundries back in August over patent infringement, but now it is fighting back with its own countersuit, as first reported by Reuters. As noted last month, Apple was named a defendant in the patent infringement case against TSMC. The lawsuit aims to ban the import of Apple devices from both the United States and Germany....

Apple is telling employees to work from home this week if their job allows for it. Workers at Apple Park were told not to come to work on Friday, and now this policy has been expanded to cover Apple offices in California, Seattle, South Korea, Japan, Italy, Germany, France, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. This represents most — but not all — of Apple’s corporate locations. The new policy was first reported by Bloomberg, and has now been confirmed by Apple itself....

Apple TV+ is just about to celebrate its one-year anniversary and today it has joined the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), a group whose main goal is to fight media piracy. Reported by Variety, Apple joining the anti-piracy group is a notable move in Apple TV+ more deeply integrating into the media industry. And Apple isn’t just joining as a regular member of the alliance: The move represents a strengthening bond between Apple and the major studios, and draws the company deeply into industry efforts to check the flow of pirated content....

FX NOW is the streaming app for 21st Century Fox’s network cable channels FX, FXX, and FXM – it’s been available on iOS, Xbox One and Windows 8 for a while now. The FX Now app has already been available for iOS devices like iPhone and iPad. The channel offers content from FX, FXX, and FXM networks. FX is known for the popular TV shows Sons of Anarchy, American Horror Story, Fargo, and more, including the Simpsons....

Apple’s “hobby” is less of a hobby these days, with in excess of one million sales the Apple TV is now accounting for more Netflix viewing hours than the iPad, Netflix announced this week. That’s noteworthy because while Apple has sold millions of iPads it has only shifted a million Netflix-happy Apple TVs, and with a substantial slice of those sold outside of the US of A, you can bet your dollar this represents tacit proof that people are making active use of the Apple TV....

Apple has released updates for its entire suite of iWork apps today on both iOS and OS X. The updates include bug fixes for issues with some Microsoft Office documents and stability fixes across both platforms. Other fixes on the Mac side include an issue that affected exporting presentations as images and master slides that included links in Keynote, and a problem that prevented users from being able to look up the definition of words in lists while using Pages....

Apple Watch has proven to be an effective monitor for detecting early signs of atrial fibrillation. A 70-year-old woman from Arizona is the latest customer to make the news for crediting Apple Watch with making a dramatic difference. Yolie De Leon says it was her Apple Watch that first alerted her to a high and irregular heartbeat before heading out for a walk. The Apple Watch used its built-in heart rate monitor and EKG detection feature to give De Leon the critical alert that may have prevented a block clot, stroke, or heart attack....

[Update: Apple has officially announced it is making developer memberships free for qualifying groups, institutions, and government entities.] Apple dropped some new App Store review guidelines yesterday that detailed the latest policies and rules developers must abide by to see their apps approved. For template-generated apps, Apple will require that all apps published to the store must be submitted by the true owner of the app, with their own developer account....

Aquaman just swam into theaters in his first solo movie, but over a decade ago, he could have been the main character in his own television series. In 2006, the DC comic book character was the potential face of a series for the now-defunct WB network. Writing and producing partners Alfred Gough and Miles Millar had several films under their belts when they brought Smallville to the WB in 2001. Right in the middle of the successful Superman prequel series, they began working on a concept for another superhero series, where the duo wanted to bring Aquaman to the small screen....

Right around this time, March or April, Apple usually updates the Apple Store with a bunch of new iPhone cases and Apple Watch bands. On a fairly regular basis, the company updates its accessory collections in spring and fall with new color choices. Update: more pics below … Via DuanRui, Apple is apparently readying new blue, purple, green and burnt orange cases for the iPhone 12 MagSafe leather case range....

As expected, Apple today shared a special ‘Shot on iPhone’ video in celebration of the Chinese New Year. After being teased earlier this week, the video is now live on Apple’s YouTube channel. Watch it below. The moving 6-minute video is directed by Jia Zhangke and tells a story about family and home visits during the Chinese New Year holiday. Entitled “The Bucket,” the short film was shot with an iPhone XS:...

[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZDaIUN4p7Y&feature=youtu.be”] We are all familiar with Apple’s well-produced product ads, but Apple released a new ad today that is not exactly aimed to the masses. First spotted by TechCrunch, Apple posted a video showing how it has benefited auto manufacturer Land Rover through its iAd campaign. The video is an attempt to hook potential advertisers to its iAd network that is currently deployed throughout many iOS apps as a way for developers (and Apple) to earn some cash from apps....

This weekend, Apple seems to have updated the OS X Mavericks Golden Master (GM) version to a new build. The new build is 13A603 while the original GM seed was 13A598. It’s not common for Apple to change the GM build for a Mac OS, but it is not without precedent. Apple has altered GM iOS seeds before they shipped to customers on a few occasions in the past. Users of the new build have not reported any noticeable user-facing alterations…...

An internal Apple sales document clarifies the possible uses of the Apple SIM, which is included in cellular versions of the iPad mini 3 and Apple iPad Air 2. The Apple SIM launched with several supported carriers: T-Mobile, AT&T and Sprint in the US and EE in the UK. Given that EE is the only available carrier in the UK, the purpose of its existence in the region was unclear. However, this document confirms that customers travelling between the US and the UK can benefit from the deal....

According to a new tag discovered on iOS App Store pages by iFun, it would appear that Apple is testing a new label for applications that work with the upcoming Family Sharing feature in iOS 8. The feature, which was announced at WWDC, allows a family to share a single list of purchased music, movies, and iOS apps, all charged to a single credit card. It also includes parental controls so that purchases require permission from the card holder....

Near the end of each year Apple thanks its employees for their hard work with a nice souvenir. This year some employees are being given a black Incase backpack featuring a bright white Apple logo. At least one employee has already put the gift up on eBay with a starting bid of $49.99 and a Buy It Now of $99.99. From the images we’ve received, it appears that the bag is a customized version of the Incase Staple Backpack....

Following the release of macOS Big Sur, Apple has just released updates for all iWork apps on the Mac App Store. New versions of Numbers, Pages, and Keynote are now available with new icons and a refreshed interface ready for macOS Big Sur. Today’s updates don’t bring any significant new features to iWork apps, but they do improve compatibility with macOS Big Sur and also refresh the apps’ interfaces following the new macOS guidelines with more vibrant color and transparency....

Following updates to a number of its other iOS apps for iOS 8 earlier today, Apple has just released an update for its Numbers app. The update includes iOS 8 support and iCloud Drive compatibility and comes ahead of what we expect will be similar updates for Apple’s other iWork apps, Pages and Keynote, later today. (Update: Pages and Keynote 2.4.2 are now available with these changes.) Earlier today we noted that developers are warning users upgrading to iOS 8 to not opt into iCloud Drive until the release of OS X Yosemite....