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Back in July, Apple had internally decided to return to the office in October of this year, a decision that followed a first request for employees to return to in-person work in September. Now the company is once again delaying its plans to return to the office, and this time Apple does not expect to return to regular activities until early 2022. A new Bloomberg report claims that the company sent a new memo to its employees on Thursday confirming that the return to office has been pushed back to January 2022....

Apple is investigating ways to enhance its Siri voice assistant for users with atypical speech patterns, the company confirms to the Wall Street Journal. According to the report, Apple is leveraging its podcast library for speech samples that could train Siri to adapt to users who speak with a stutter. Here’s the news from the Wall Street Journal report: For now, Apple relies on its Hold to Talk feature as a method for interacting with Siri without the voice assistant cutting off users with slower speech patterns than its tuned for, but physically interacting with a device isn’t always convenient....

The latest Apple TV+ original series Little America has been one of the best-received shows on the platform so far, holding steady at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. In a new interview this week, the team behind the anthology series has offered new details on why they picked Apple for the show, and what’s coming next. Kumail Nanjiani, one of the creators and producers of Little America, explained that he pitched the show to a “bunch of different places....

Apple unveiled all new new versions of its iWork productivity apps: Pages, Keynote, and Numbers. Today’s software updates are most notable as iWork previously hasn’t received an update since 2009, save for iCloud support and bug fixes. Starting with the icons, Apple redesigned its iWork applications to be more familiar across devices and supports better file compatibility. Both versions on iOS and OS X previously featured heavy elements of linen, leather, and wood, all of which are now absent....

A report claims that Apple used NDAs against workers, and then lied about it to both investors and the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC). Apple claims that it does not use non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), also known as “concealment clauses,” when workers report concerns about unlawful acts by the company. However, there are multiple reports that it does, in fact, do so … Background Apple employees have been working together to identify alleged discrimination and harassment in Apple’s employment practices under the “Apple Too” banner....

In our report last week, we reported that internal models of the Apple Watch included 8 GB of storage. We have now confirmed with the company that the shipping units do indeed ship with an 8 GB storage capacity. However, there are some important limitations. As a user, you are only allowed to use a subsection of that total space for certain types of data. As confirmed with Apple, users are only allowed to store up to 2 GB of music on the Watch and up to 75 MB of photos for the Photos app....

Following its teardown of the iPhone XS and XS Max, iFixit has now taken its blades and tri-point screwdrivers to the Apple Watch Series 4 – and was impressed by what it found. The company said that the internals reveal a major design leap, living up to Steve Jobs’ oft-told story about painting the back of the fence even though no-one will ever see it … There was more good news when it came to repairability....

Sonos wireless speakers have touted Apple Music compatibility in beta since last year and officially since this year, and now Apple is selling Sonos speakers for the first time. Apple’s online store will begin selling the Play:1 ($199) and Play:5 ($499, reviewed) later today, and Apple’s physical stores will carry the two speakers starting October 5. We’re very excited to announce today that we’re making it easier than ever by expanding our collaboration with Apple and bringing Sonos into Apple’s physical and online retail stores....

Bloomberg reports that Apple is to go head-to-head with Snapchat and Instagram by developing its own video-sharing app as part of a push to target younger users. The company is said to said to be motivated by the fact that social apps generate the greatest level of engagement on the iPhone, Facebook users averaging 50 minutes a day, Snapchat users 30 minutes. The focus will be on short, fun videos that are super-quick to create …...

We reported yesterday on a Mac application memory error that I first saw with the Mail app on my new M1 Max 16-inch MacBook Pro. Searching Twitter revealed other apps were also exhibiting the same behavior, which appeared to be mostly Apple’s own apps. However, it’s now clear from the growing number of reports that a very wide range of apps are affected, and that it happens on both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs …...

Aquaman’s Jason Momoa isn’t at all offended by body shaming trolls. The DCEU star has been the subject of so much exposure over the past few years that it’s easy to forget how relatively new of a face in Hollywood he is. That being said, Momoa’s physique has been a major point of focus since he arrived on the scene, especially after roles in HBO’s Game of Thrones and his somewhat recent appointment as Aquaman....

Apple’s latest court battle with Qualcomm kicked off yesterday, with Qualcomm arguing during opening statements that its chip technology is instrumental in the smartphone industry. Today, Apple argued that for one of the patents in question, one of its engineers should be credited. Qualcomm is suing Apple over three patents, upon which it alleges the iPhone infringed. As reported by CNET, Apple today argued that a former Apple engineer should be credited on one of those patents....

While this could turn out to be nothing at all, there’s an interesting detail on Apple’s system status page: the Apple Online Store is scheduled to go down tomorrow from 12:00 am to 5:30 am PT. Apple’s online store typically goes offline for several hours ahead of product refreshes. Apple cites scheduled maintenance for the offline period, as MacRumors first pointed out, but the page specifies that the Apple Online Store “will be updated” which could mean either backend components or new product pages....

In its ongoing second major patent trial against Samsung, Apple yesterday filed a statement with the US District Court in California claiming that after examining the recently released Galaxy S4 it has “concluded that it is an infringing device and accordingly intends to move for leave to add the Galaxy S4” to its long list of 22 infringing products. Apple is hoping Judge Lucy Koh allows the S4 to be added, but in line with the court’s request to reduce the number of infringing devices ahead of a trial scheduled for spring 2014, Apple has also agreed to remove without prejudice one of the other 22 infringing devices from Samsung it currently has listed....

Apple has had some interesting retail storefront displays for the iPhone, iPad and Mac in the past, but its latest effort all but tops the cake. At the iconic Apple Store on Regent Street in London, the Cupertino-based company now has a row of iPads on display with colorful Smart Covers that automatically open and close. This video (from Vid.Me) does not explain how the Smart Covers are able to move on their own, although magnets underneath the shelf are almost certainly involved....

Following the release of iOS 15.4 last week, Apple on Wednesday stopped signing iOS 15.3.1 for all iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad models. This means that users can no longer downgrade their devices to iOS 15.3.1. iOS 15.4 was released on March 14 with significant new features such as Face ID unlock while wearing a mask, Universal Control for iPads, new emojis, enhancements to iCloud Keychain, and more. The update also adds a new Siri voice for US users and Tap to Pay, which turns the iPhone into a payment terminal for contactless credit and debit cards....

Jonny Ive, the design mastermind behind all of Apple’s decade plus of hit products, often gives some credit for being inspired by Dieter Rams. Now, it appears that Ive has ventured into the writing world by penning the foreword to Rams’ latest book called As Little Design As Possible: The Work of Dieter Rams Rams conversely has stated that he has profound respect for the work Ive has done at Apple....

The Washington Post reports that Apple is one of several tech companies planning change the way it handles government requests for customer information in the near future. According to the Post, Apple will begin notifying any customer whose information is requested by law enforcement later this month. Microsoft, Facebook, and Google are also adjusting their own policies accordingly. The companies say that users have a right to know when their data is being turned over to officials....

Apple’s original content efforts have been ramping up for quite some time, with more and more news breaking that the company is adding more to its catalog every week. Today, Variety has confirmed that Apple is adding yet another series to its unreleased catalog. The report says Apple has gained rights to develop a series based on Min Jin Lee’s novel, Pachinko. Soo Hugh will serve as showrunner, and will write and be executive producer for the series, with Lee also serving as an executive producer....

Today’s rendition of 9to5Toys Lunch Break includes deals on Apple Watch Series 4, SanDisk and Western Digital storage, Apple’s latest MacBook Pro, and iTunes gift cards. Head below for more. Apple’s 2018 15-inch MacBook Pro drops $399 iTunes gift cards finally re-appear Whew, it sure seems like it’s been a minute since a solid iTunes gift card deal. Luckily, Sam’s Club and Costco both delivered yesterday with 15% off various denominations....