Posts

Apple officially unveiled its entrance into textbooks with the new “iBooks 2” app and “iBooks Author” e-book authoring tool. If you are wondering just how much the textbooks are going to cost you, Apple announced that initially high school textbooks through partners Pearson, McGraw Hill, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt will be available through the new iBookstore textbooks category for $14.99 or less. Compare that figure to textbooks from publishers like McGraw Hill that can sell for as high as $75....

Apple is planning on discussing various aspects of iOS 10 security in “unprecedented detail” at the upcoming BlackHat USA 2016 security conference. Ivan Krstic, head of Apple Security Engineering and Architecture, will give a 50-minute briefing to discuss cryptographic design, the Secure Enclave found in Touch ID-enabled devices, and a new JIT hardening mechanism in iOS 10. This won’t be the first time that an Apple employee has graced the stage in Las Vegas during a BlackHat event....

Amid growing scrutiny of the App Store and the prevalence of scam and rip-off applications, Apple has published a new press release today highlighting the measures it takes to protect users. In the press release, Apple claims that the App Store stopped more than $1.5 billion in “potentially fraudulent transactions in 2020. Apple also says it recently deployed new tools to combat fake reviews on the App Store. The new press release comes as scrutiny of the App Store has increased over the last several months....

What Changed? The Macs revealed in November feature an Apple M1 SoC, which integrates several components, including the CPU, GPU, RAM, Neural Engine, and more. With these components now using a unified memory architecture, all of the technologies in the SoC can access the same data without copying it between multiple pools of memory. Thanks to this, there are immediate performance and power efficiency improvements. The Apple M1 features 16 billion transistors, which is more than Apple ever put on a chip....

Update: QNX confirmed to us the validity of their statement to N4BB. Though you presumably won’t see the handset maker’s logo anywhere on your dashboard or in the CarPlay interface, BlackBerry-owned QNX’s software for smartphone and display compatibility is apparently present in Apple’s new automotive technology. Tech site N4BB speculated and later updated (via iDownloadblog) with a statement from QNX that Apple’s existing partnership with the firm extends to implementing compatibility support for Apple CarPlay....

Apple has released its latest annual supplier responsibility report. The document details Apple’s rigorous and comprehensive safety policies that were implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, several publications found alleged incidents of forced labor in Apple’s supply chain. In the company’s report today, Apple says it found no evidence of forced labor or underage child labor. This is down from one case of child labor identified in the previous year’s report....

Apple officially announced its acquisition of the music recognition and tagging company, Shazam, last December. While this deal may not sound like one to experience antitrust hurdles, the EU is launching a probe to review the acquisition’s effect on competition. The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple registered the deal with regulators in Austria as it worked on acquiring the British software company. Now, however, Austria, France, Italy, Sweden, and other countries have asked Brussels to take over the probe to investigate potential harm to competition....

When Apple bought AuthenTec back in 2012, it did more than grab the best fingerprint technology available for itself – it also stopped Google including a fingerprint sensor in the Nexus 6, revealed former Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside. Speaking to the Telegraph, Woodside said that the dimple on the back of the handset was originally intended to be a fingerprint reader. A fingerprint scanner had been widely rumored prior to the launch of the Android smartphone originally code-named Shamu, and it’s believed one was included in internal prototypes, before it was abandoned....

Apple has added a notable new curation section to the Apple TV app today. Variety reports that the American Film Institute’s AFI Movie Club selections can now be found directly in Apple’s TV app. This means that under the “Browse by Collection” section in the Apple TV app on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and other platforms, you’ll now see a new film pick every day, as well as options to buy or rent it, or watch it on a streaming service if possible....

Apple has confirmed that hackers attacked and infected a “small numbers” of Mac users, according to reports from Reuters. The company told the publication that the same unidentified group thought to be behind an attack on Facebook targeted it and breached and a small number of employees’ Macs. Apple said it is working with authorities to investigate the attacks but “there was no evidence that any data left Apple.” EXCLUSIVE: Apple said it was attacked by hackers who infected “small number” of its Mac computers....

Apple has sent out a second update to the third developer preview of OS X Mountain Lion. Changes are currently unknown, but the update is available via software update in the Mac App Store. Let us know if you find anything new! Apple sent the following email regarding the new build: Update: Apple has seeded update 4 of Safari 5.2 as well. Important: MacBook Pro 3,1 is not supported in this build of Mountain Lion....

Update: Live in Australia. As part of the American Black Friday sales tradition, Apple typically offers minimal discounts on its own products and third-party accessories via its online and physical retail stores. However, this year will be significantly different. According to multiple sources, Apple’s sales event this Friday will be based around gift cards, not discounts on products. If a customer buys a product from Apple on Black Friday, instead of receiving a discount, they will be given an Apple Store gift card....

Update: Two new Portrait Mode ads + a tweet from Tim Cook below. Hot on the heels of a report claiming that Apple was shifting its ad focus to more regional campaigns, the company has shared four new videos on its YouTube channel, each focused on a specific city. All of the new videos are apart of the “One Night” series that the company had previously unveiled. All of the videos share images shot exclusively with the iPhone 7, with the ads carrying the “Shot on iPhone 7” slogan, as well....

Apple today is releasing the iOS 13.5 and iPadOS 13.5 GM to developers. This follows an evolving beta testing period, with updates to Face ID and the first version of Apple’s COVID-19 Exposure Notification API. A release to the public is expected soon, perhaps as soon as later this week. What’s new in iOS 13.5? The update includes the basis of Apple and Google’s new Exposure Notification API for COVID-19 contact tracing....

Apple has released iOS 7.1 beta 4 to developers via the Software Update function in Settings of the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The previous betas brought various interface enhancements to the phone app, shut down slider, and the calendar application. Only hours ago, a rumor said that iOS 7.1 beta 4 would be released tomorrow. We’ll update this post as new changes are discovered in beta 4: – Subtle text change for slide to unlock and slide to power off....

A little over a week after iOS 7 beta 4, Apple has seeded iOS 7 beta 5 to developers. It is available over-the-air via Software Update. The previous beta brought several minor interface and performance tweaks to the operating system and beta 5 will likely continue doing that. A new Apple TV seed is also available: We will continuously update this post with discovered changes. If you find anything new, you can let us know at tips@9to5mac....

Apple updated its Activity Challenge servers today in preparation for its next Apple Watch challenge (via Kyle Seth Gray). Apple Watch owners will be able to earn the 2019 Veterans Day badge by doing a workout of 11 minutes or more on Veterans Day: Monday, November 11th. Unfortunately, the reward looks to be the same as last year with the medal mapping the American flag and gold star onto the badge shape....

Apple today has shared a collection of Apple TV Tech Talks in which Apple experts demonstrate to developers how to design and develop apps and games for the company’s fourth-generation Apple TV. Apple announced the availability of these talks on its Developer Portal. Previously, developers had been learning how to make apps for the Apple TV during various demos around the world, but Apple hopes that the Apple TV Tech Talk collection will make it easier for everyone to learn the process....

You see them worn by people desperately wanting to ignore you and live in their own blissful bubble. It seems as if you’re not of the modern world unless you have the unfinished earrings known as AirPods inserted into your very being. At first, they seemed a little strange. But Apple types swiftly committed themselves to constant AirPod wearing. So much so that, in one infamously informative survey, 17% of AirPod owners insisted they kept them on during coital conflagration....

Apple’s claim that mobile chipmaker Qualcomm has for years been engaged in monopolistic behaviour got a boost today from a Taiwanese ruling. An investigation by Taiwan’s Fair Trade Commission ruled that Qualcomm has been violating antitrust rules for at least seven years … Bloomberg reports that the commission levied a $773M fine on the company. Qualcomm owns the rights to a number of radio technologies that are an essential element of any modern mobile phone....