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The Economic Times of India reported on Wednesday that Bangalore-based company InfoSys, which provides outsourced tech support and other services for Apple, has fired the CFO of its business process outsourcing unit Abraham Mathews for failing to comply with the company’s code of conduct. The report did not provide specific details about the violations that Mathews committed, although initial reports indicate that the executive was ousted for overbilling Apple. According to Techmeme editor Mahendra Palsule, the news was “only just announced as an insider exclusive by the TV channel of [The Economic Times]....

Following WWDC20, Apple’s Josh Shaffer and Eliza Block have joined John Sundell on the Swift by Sundell podcast to talk in detail about everything that’s new in SwiftUI, the new home screen widgets in iOS 14, Xcode Previews, and more. Josh Shaffer, director of engineering at Apple and Eliza Block, an iOS software engineer offer great insight into what’s new with SwiftUI and also talk with John about what the internal process is like to adopt and improve the platform....

After releasing a humorous new promotional video about how Apple takes privacy seriously earlier this month, the company has shared another privacy ad highlighting how Safari limits cross-site tracking. Apple shared the new video on its YouTube channel today. Featuring the iPhone XR, the ad shows a teenager consider whether it’s time to start shaving and browsing the web for answers. The lighthearted ad is just over thirty seconds, and ends with “Because what you browse should be your business”...

Originally launched to address issues some customers experienced with the refreshed “butterfly” keyboards introduced in models as far back as 2015, Apple continues expanding the program to include additional models that use the troubled design. Apple describes the issues as letters or characters repeating unexpectedly or not appearing, or keys feeling “sticky” or unresponsive. Users experiencing problems can get free repairs at Apple Stores or authorized repair centers including replacement of one or more keys or the entire keyboard....

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-Oq-9enE-k] Google Latitude explanation video – seemingly similar to the planned Find my Friends service You may remember a finding in the iOS 4.3 SDK that pointed to Apple’s work on a new iOS-device based social network called “Find my Friends.” Many have speculated that this means Apple is working on a location-based social network – similar to Google Latitude or Loopt – that would essentially put all your friends on a map....

According to GigaOM, Apple has scooped up the domain name www.iCloud.com from Xcerion, the maker of a cloud-based service. The deal is said to have gone down for somewhere in the range of $4.5m, and we don’t think Apple would pay that much for a domain name unless they would put it to good use. We think iCloud is a potential name for Apple’s upcoming locker service which should keep your music, photos, videos, and other media in the cloud....

Apple reports that there were overnight queues for the grand opening of its latest retail store, its first one in Taipei. Located in the landmark Taipei 101 skyscraper, the store opened on Saturday morning … Taiwan is a modern country with a strong electronics manufacturing sector, including Apple chipmaker TSMC. Apple acknowledged plans for the store last July, with the reported location confirmed last month. Apple had already shared some photos of the store in the run-up to opening, and has now provided some more from the opening day itself....

Apple’s #ShotoniPhone campaign has grown tremendously over the years with everyday users tweeting pictures or videos on Twitter and Instagram. Today, Apple is sharing a compilation of photos and videos shot on iPhone XS using the new Depth Control. This latest compilation comes after Apple touted real images from XS users earlier this month. The update, as we know, will be iOS 12.1 which is slated to be released soon. Regardless, the shots taken from iPhone XS with the current public release are still really good....

Apple’s online store has gone down this evening to prepare for the launch of the Apple Watch and 12-inch MacBook. When the store returns, the Apple Watch will be available for pre-order, while the 12-inch MacBook will be available for purchase. The Apple Watch will launch on April 24th. The Apple Watch will start at $349 for the Sport model, $549 for the Watch, and $10,000 for the Edition. The 12-inch MacBook will start at $1,299 for the entry-level model with a 1....

A complaint in France that Apple’s App Tracking Transparency policy was anti-competitive has seen the Cupertino company win the first round. “We’re grateful to the French Competition Authority for recognizing that App Tracking Transparency in iOS 14 is in the best interest of French iOS users. ATT will provide a powerful user privacy benefit by requiring developers to ask users’ permission before sharing their data with other companies for the purposes of advertising, or with data brokers....

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_HByVsugQY] Apple’s former retail chief Ron Johnson— the man in charge of retail when Apple first launched its brick and mortar stores back in 2001— recently sat down for a talk at Stanford where he gave some insight into the work that went into Apple’s original retail efforts. After a brief intro on his work before Apple, RoJo eventually gets into Apple retail stores, working with Steve Jobs, and the decision to redesign the Apple retail store experience at the last minute....

Apple will be closing its official Company Store at its 1 Infinite Loop campus later this month and plans to relaunch a modernized version of it this fall, according to sources familiar with the plans. Notices on Apple’s campus (pictured below) confirming the upcoming renovations read: “Architectural and Site Approval to allow facade improvements of approximately 102 linear feet of an existing office building.” But Apple has much more planned than just a fresh coat of paint, according to sources....

Update 2: It looks like Apple prematurely rolled out the feature to many countries and quickly removed it. The only officially supported countries listed on Apple’s website include “U.S., UK, Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand.” Update: Mexico, Germany Netherlands, Russia, Austria, Brazil, Belgium, Portugal, Italy & Poland too. Let us know in the comments if the feature is now available in your country. Apple appears to have recently started rolling out its new two-step verification feature for Apple IDs to users in additional countries....

Windows usage could fall beneath 90 per cent by the end of 2008, while Apple’s Mac OS X claims double-digit market share, Net Application’s latest internet figures suggest. Aggregating data collected from approximately 160 million website visitors every month, the company charts things like browser usage online, as well as operating system statistics. June’s figures reveal Mac OS X use to have climbed 0.11 points last month, ending with 7....

Apple’s Holiday Gift Guide just went live as part of the online Apple Store. The new page breaks down gifts by product line, catalogs the best of the Apple Store, and Apple notes it offers free shipping on all products. Santa, if you are listening… We’re also hoping to get a preview of Apple’s Black Friday savings brochure as we did last year, so look out for that, and stay tuned to 9to5Toys....

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZ-xC3g0duA] We’ve spent a lot of time talking about Apple’s new Assistant which is expected to be one of the headlining technologies shown off at the October 4th event. The video above is the work of artist Jan-Michael Cart who was contacted by MacRumors to put together this concept video of Apple’s new iOS 5 feature that we detailed just a few weeks ago. Below is another artist rendition showing off what the Assistant interface might look like based on sources with “knowledge of the feature”....

Update: The promo is also now live in Brazil. Apple today is launching its annual Back to School promotion on Macs and iPads in New Zealand and Australia. The promotion, which is localized to ‘Back to Uni’, is similar to the Back to School promo in the United States… In New Zealand, Apple shoppers can get up to NZ$340 off a qualifying Mac with Apple education pricing. Further, customers will receive a free pair of Beats Solo3 headphones – including the latest “Pop” color collection....

As the market just begins to open today, Apple’s market cap crossed the $600 billion threshold. Today’s accomplishment comes just a month after the company hit the $500 billion threshold. The market overall is down. To compare, Microsoft holds the record for the highest market cap ever of $619 billion in 2000 (over $800 billion in today’s dollars). At the time of this writing, Microsoft is sitting at a $250 billion market cap....

Apple didn’t just set a new record for the company when it beat every forecast in the Q1 results announced yesterday, it set a new world record for the most profitable quarter of any company in history, says credit ratings giant Standard & Poor’s. Its net profit of $18B far exceeded the previous record of $15.9B, set by oil company ExxonMobil back in 2012. With such huge numbers difficult to grasp, there have been various attempts around the net to put the numbers into perspective....

Apple has released macOS 11.3 beta 3 today for developers. The build arrives two weeks after we got 11.3 beta 2. macOS 11.3 includes a variety of changes and new features like sorting in the Reminders app, Safari customizations, improved support for stereo HomePods, Autoplay in the Apple Music app, and more. Update 3/3: The public beta 3 for macOS 11.3 is now available. macOS 11.3 beta 3 is available and the OTA should be showing up in System Preferences > Software Update if you’re enrolled in the developer or public beta program (keep checking back if you don’t see it yet)....