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A patent application published by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office earlier today reveals Apple is flirting with the idea of a universal touchscreen controller capable of controlling multiple devices including a “television, a video tape player, a video disk player, a stereo, a home control system, or a computer system.” The patent application is titled “Apparatus and Method to Facilitate Universal Remote Control” and was filed Sept. 30, 2011....

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerbeg has said that Apple’s App Store ‘deserves scrutiny’ when asked whether he considered it a monopoly which deserves to face antitrust action by governments. He declined to answer the question directly, but did strongly hint that he agrees … Zuckerberg made the comments in an Axios interview. As Business Insider notes, the Facebook founder contrasted the App Store with Google’s Play store. Well I certainly think that they have the unilateral control of what gets on the phones in terms of apps,” he replied....

Apple updated its iTunes Connect Mobile app today that allows developers to keep an eye on their app sales stats and related data from iTunes Connect. Among the new features are “enhanced product detail views for your entire catalog,” the ability to view app ratings and reviews from customers, a new advanced search feature, and user-interface refinements on the iPad. Developers will also now be able to reject apps submitted for review and release approved updates from within the app....

Apple’s apparent trend of expanding its R&D efforts beyond Cupertino continues with the announcement of a “large research and development facility” in Japan. While few details were given in local media reports (via Reuters), the source of the information appears rather reliable – a statement by Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo … Abe Shinzo said that the facility “will be on par with Apple’s biggest R&D centres in Asia.” After many years of restricting almost all R&D work to Cupertino, Apple has in the past couple of years opened development offices elsewhere, both within the US and globally....

Business Insider highlighted Cook’s celebration of Apple’s success in the enterprise market in the analyst call following its quarterly earnings report. Cook noted a recent IDC report on market share in smartphone and tablet in the U.S. enterprise market, putting the iPhone at 59 percent and iPad at 78 percent. Apple is believed to have made significant gains in iPhone adoption as a result of the implosion of Blackberry, once the default choice of corporate smartphone, and has been actively pushing the iPad as a business tool....

So, if you’re planning to attend this year’s edition, you should know that it will take place between 8 and 12 June, as Apple informs on its official website. Just like it happens every year, Apple is expected to showcase its next big updates for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac software. Apple informs that this year’s WWDC edition will feature more than 100 technical sessions, over 1,000 Apple engineers, hands-on labs, and the Apple Design Awards....

Apple today has shared a new ad for the recently released iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. The ad focuses on arguably the standout new feature of the device: 3D Touch. In the ad, Apple highlights a variety of the use cases of 3D Touch and offers a brief explanation as to how it works. Apple describes the new “Peek and Pop” method of using iOS that the devices feature. The ad showcases using 3D Touch to quickly access navigation directions, music playlists, messages, Instagram profiles, and more....

Last week, Apple released iOS 13.5.1 to the public, patching the vulnerability used by the unc0ver jailbreak. Following that release, Apple has now stopped signing iOS 13.5. This means users can no longer downgrade from iOS 13.5.1 to iOS 13.5. Shortly after the release of iOS 13.5.1, Apple’s official security page was updated to say that the update fixed a vulnerability that allowed applications “to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges....

Following the release of iOS 14.0.1 to the public last week, Apple has just stopped signing the first iOS 14 release build. That means users who have updated their devices to iOS 14.0.1 can no longer downgrade to iOS 14.0. iOS 14.0 was released on September 16 after almost a three-month beta period. The update brings a major redesign to the home screen with widgets, App Library, and other new features....

Apple has formally announced the relocation of their Beverly Center retail store to a larger and more modern location inside the Los Angeles shopping mall. The new store is located on the same floor as Apple’s existing location. “An inspired move,” reads a message posted to Apple’s retail website. “Come see us at our new location on June 9th at 10:00 a.m.” The new store follows several months of low-key construction work inside the mall, hidden from view by a large, black temporary wall....

Ron Johnson, the mastermind behind Apple’s successful retail store strategy, has left Apple to become the CEO of JCPenney according to Bloomberg (terminal) via Business Insider. Johnson’s bio remains active at Apple.com and we’re waiting for confirmation. Meanwhile Apple Orchard is also reporting the same info. Johnson’s bio: Update: The WSJ has now verified the appointment which should be announced later today. Before joining Apple, Johnson held various management positions at the Target Corporation, most recently as Vice President of Merchandising for Target Stores....

After the WWDC21 keynote, Apple held the Platforms State of the Union where engineers previewed some of the new features, APIs, and SDKs available to developers with iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and more. Early last week, we talked about the ability to seamlessly record game sessions with a controller in iOS 15. The new ReplayKit lets users video-capture a rolling buffer when playing a game. With this feature, it’s possible to immediately grab the last 15 seconds as a clip....

Apple has teamed up with some of the sports world’s most notable professional athletes in order to test the upcoming “iWatch’s” fitness capabilities in intense training environments, according to a source with knowledge of the testing. This source says that Apple has invited athletes from the MLB, NHL, and NBA to its Cupertino-based campus on multiple occasions over the past several weeks to brief the players on the upcoming wearable device and provide an opportunity for testing to be conducted in professional conditioning environments....

Following Greenlight’s win in court earlier today against Apple, both Greenlight and Apple have issued statements on the matter. CNBC (1, 2, 3) has tweeted bits of these statements: Apple is obviously disappointed in the ruling, but seems to accept that shareholders will not be able to vote on Proposal #2. This proposal is for Apple shareholders to have to vote for Apple to issue preferred stock shares. -Apple says due to today’s court decision, shareholders will not be able to vote on Proposal #2....

Apple seems to have updated its sitemap a bit ahead of schedule, as spotted by AllThingsHow. The URLs include references to the upcoming Apple Watch models. The new Apple Series 4 models will come in new sizes: 40 mm and 44 mm. We have already got a glimpse of the new Watch thanks to our earlier leak. Apple will officially announce the new models later today. More below: Apple measures watches by the height of the case....

Update: The store is back and you can order your iPhone SE now. The Apple Store has gone offline, in preparation for iPhone SE preorders in about two hours time. The preorders for the phone open at 5 AM Pacific Time. The iPhone SE is Apple’s latest addition to the iPhone family. Apple is reinvigorating a classic design with upgraded internals, to offer a capable phone at a much cheaper price point than its flagships....

Tech companies in South Korea are dismissing Apple’s claim that it has created 325,000 Korean jobs, stating that the real number is just 500… Apple made the claim yesterday, admitting that it was talking about both direct and indirect jobs. Some 200,000 of the jobs are in independent app developers, while the other 125,000 are via various partners. This will include Samsung employees working on components for the iPhone and other Apple products....

Qualcomm has officially showcased benchmarks for its new flagship Snapdragon 888 processor, which is expected to power top-of-the-line Android devices in 2021. The benchmarks, while respectable, show that the Snapdragon 888 lags behind Apple’s A13 and A14 processors. As first detailed by AnandTech, the Snapdragon 888 chip earned a single-core score of 1,135 and a multi-core score of 3,794 in Geekbench 5 testing. The iPhone 12 Pro, which is powered by Apple’s A14 chip, scored 1,603 in single-core testing and 4,187 in multi-core testing....

Even with mostly positive conclusions about AirPods there are of course many reasons why buying them might not be right for you. We’ve reported on the need for improved controls and an offline mode for Siri, as well as the hassle of syncing and accessing content on your Apple Watch that AirPods highlight. We’ve discussed the potential poor fit depending on your ears and how to keep them from falling out, the Jet Black AirPods concept that hasn’t come to fruition, and long shipping times (although you can use this tool to get notified when a local store has them)....

This newly discovered FCC ID compares to the GSM iPhone 4’s “BCG-E2380A” identifier and the CDMA iPhone 4’s “BCG-E2422A” ID. MacRumors notes that Apple products typically don’t show up in the data FCC’s database until the same day the products are unveiled. This follows our report that we found references to the “N94″ in the iOS 5.0 SDK earlier this year, and leaked images of the mystery device’s back cover discovered by MacPost....