Apple appears to be putting its ducks in a row ahead of major Apple TV changes. Alongside last night’s changes to the Apple Online Store to promote Valentine’s Day specials, Apple added an entire Apple TV section. The Apple TV is now promoted as a full product line alongside Macs, iPads, iPods, and iPhones. Previously, the Apple TV did not have its own section, and it was simply tucked away as an accessory in the dwindling iPod department....

Apple Pay, which was unveiled to the world at the launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, has officially launched in the U.S. today alongside iOS 8.1. Experiences with the service on its first day have been mixed, and notably, Eddy Cue this morning to acknowledged that in saying that Apple still has “a lot of work to do.” Some banks are requiring verification processes which are taking time, and some widespread credit card companies, like Discover, aren’t yet supported at all....

Ahead of the House Judiciary Committee holding another hearing on antitrust legislation later this morning, Apple has published its full letter explaining how the proposed legislation would undermine the security of the iPhone and App Store. The letter is addressed to Chairmen Nadler and Cicilline, and Ranking Members Jordan and Buck and is signed by Timothy Powderly, Apple’s senior director of government affairs. In the letter, Apple says that the five pieces of proposed antitrust legislation would “undermine consumers’ ability to choose products that offer state-of-the-art Privacy and Security....

Apple has reportedly poached multiple engineers and research staff from Intel for a new facility in Washington County, close to the chipmaker’s home base. The hiring appears to have begun back in November, and is likely to further fuel speculation about Apple replacing Intel chips with its own ARM-based Mac CPUs within the next few years … The news was reported by local site Oregon Live (via Patently Apple). The roles call for ‘design verification expertise,’ aka the ability to compare a finished product with the original design specification to ensure that it fully meets requirements....

Apple has launched a new campaign to highlight both the new Apple TV and the many games and entertainment services on its App Store with a new series of short video clips. Each 15 second video starts with the same Apple TV graphic, then promotes a popular game or video service app on the new Apple TV with some gameplay or a popular show available on the service, and ends with the same multicolor graphic....

Apple has released iOS 10.2 beta 5 for developers — the second iOS 10.2 beta released this week. iOS 10.2 includes several upcoming features like new Unicode 9.0 emoji, three new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus wallpapers, a new TV app, additional camera features, new Messages screen effects, and more. iOS 10.2 will be released to everyone in the future, and a free public beta program is available for non-developers....

After releasing iOS 13 and watchOS 6 to the public today, Apple has also launched its new augmented reality prototyping app, Reality Composer on the App Store for iPhone and iPad. Apple announced both of these at WWDC in June and now Reality Composer is available as a free download from the App Store. The app does require iOS 13. Here’s how Apple describes Reality Composer: Features: Built-in AR Library Import your own USDZ files or take advantage of the hundreds of ready-to-use virtual objects in the built-in AR library....

Apple today changed the name of one of its Scottish retail stores from Apple Buchanan Street to Apple Glasgow. The quiet change comes at a moment when the world is reflecting on issues of deep-rooted inequality, and Apple has recommitted to challenging systemic barriers to opportunity and dignity. Apple renames stores from time to time, but typically only when a store moves, or the location’s surrounding mall changes names. Glasgow’s Buchanan Street store hasn’t moved and is a standalone location....

Update: Now at over 30,000 1-star reviews: Apple launched its ‘Move to iOS’ Android app yesterday as part of the iOS 9 launch, which streamlines the process of migrating data and apps from an Android phone to an iPhone. Just hours after launch however, Android users are not taking well to Apple’s first Android app (if you discount Beats Music, which existed before Apple acquired them). The app has accrued over 2700 1-star ratings in the few hours it has been available, with a less-than-spectacular 1....

Apple isn’t just beating the computer industry in terms of growth and profitability (anyone mention that to Michael Dell last night?), but also seems set to kick against the prevailing economic climate, at least for now – and has grabbed now nearly half of the lucrative US student market. A recent survey by Student Monitor found that 13% of all undergraduates expect to buy a new notebook this fall. “Of those, 43% say they plan to get a MacBook or MacBook Pro, nearly double those who said they expected to get a Dell notebook, and seven times as many as those who plan to buy from HP,” Business Week reports....

After releasing 12D74 late last month, Apple released OS X 10.8.3 build 12D76 to developers today with no major changes. Apple isn’t listing any known issues, and the company once again asked developers to focus on AirPlay, AirPort, Game Center, Graphics Drivers, and Safari. We’ll let you know if developers report any changes in today’s build. Full release notes below: Thanks, Anonymous! Update: As noted by MacRumors, build 12D76 appears to include support for NVIDIA’s Quadro K5000 graphics card that the company announced for the Mac Pro in September but is yet to ship....

Today, Apple seeded a new beta build of OS X 10.7.5 to developers, as noted by MacRumors. The new build number is 11G36 and it comes in both delta and combo-update configurations. Apple’s previous 10.7.5 beta came in at build 11G30 in late July. The small increase in builds from the last seed to today’s seed means that Apple is close to reaching the end of the development cycle. Apple says that no known issues are present in the build, and developers should focus on graphics and media....

Apple this evening has uploaded four new iPhone how-to videos on its YouTube channel. These videos cover choosing a Key Photo in Live Photos, Depth Control, searching in the Photos app, and more. Update 2/22: Apple has today shared four more iPhone photography tutorial videos including: How to shoot a Time-Lapse video on iPhone, How to shoot using the rule of thirds on iPhone, How to trim video on iPhone, and How to shoot with light and shadow on iPhone....

Some Mac users, specifically those with Macs that don’t support Bluetooth LE, weren’t too happy to find out that meant they would likely not get to use Apple’s new Handoff feature to seamlessly switch between apps across Macs and iOS devices. To be clear, Apple has not yet confirmed details of device compatibility for most Yosemite features, but some users have reported that only Mid 2011 MacBook Airs, Mid 2012 MacBook Pros, late 2012 iMacs, and 2013 Mac Pro or newer models– the Macs that include Bluetooth LE– appear to support the feature....

In the note, Apple says that the change will occur on April 15th, but adds that if stores still have plastic bags in stock, they should use those first before switching exclusively to the new paper bags. Apple also tells employees to first ask if the customer would like a bag before giving them one, again looking to limit the number bags that it uses to begin with. The new bags are said to come in medium and large sizes....

About eight hours ago, a strange support document was posted by Apple. It listed the HomePod’s available audio sources (copy and pasted verbatim from the tech specs page) and not much else. Interestingly, though, clicking the Supported Languages link reveals the following message: ‘English, 日本語,Français,Deutsch,English’. This suggests that HomePod is launching soon in France, Germany and Japan. However, we have dug into this story and it’s not quite as clear-cut....

Apple is taking Swatch to court after the Swiss watchmaker used the slogan ‘Tick different’ to promote its NFC-enabled watch. Apple is arguing that the slogan unfairly trades on its own ‘Think different‘ campaign, while Swatch claims that the reference is purely coincidental. ‘Think different’ is arguably one of the most famous ad slogans in history, used by Apple from 1997 to 2002. It emerged from the one-minute ‘Crazy Ones’ commercial which featured a total of 17 people who changed the world by challenging the status quo …...

Apple’s Shot on iPhone campaign has exploded over the past several years. Today, the company is putting up more billboards using the tagline but rather than taking photos shot by normal people, the company is highlighting shots taken by NHL stars. As reported by Muse by Clio, Apple has already had a relationship with the NHL in the past, and this new campaign is simply strengthening it. Apple is partnering with eight NHL teams to highlight their work: the Tampa Bay Lightning, Washington Capitals, St....

As noted by Apple’s product marketing VP, Greg Joswiak, in an interview with CNET yesterday, Apple is gearing up to support World AIDS day next month. Now, Apple has shared an in-depth post on those who are working to end AIDS first-hand along with some more details about how it has helped with PRODUCT(RED). Shared by Tim Cook in a tweet, Apple published a Newsroom piece today highlighting stories of caregivers that are helping people who are HIV-positive....

We’re getting closer to iOS 11 being ready to ship, and Apple has just released the fifth developer beta preview. iOS 11 brings new features like drag-and-drop and a redesigned multitasking interface for iPad, a new customizable Control Center, and much more. iOS 11 beta 5 is currently only available to registered developers for now. Apple typically holds new public beta versions for a few days for major updates. Apple’s previous iOS 11 beta introduced refinements to Notification Center, changes to multitasking on iPad, new TV Provider placeholder listings, and other minor tweaks....