Burberry CEO-turned-Apple Retail SVP Angela Ahrendts returned to posting on her LinkedIn blog after nearly five months over the weekend with a holiday message to her followers: “Let peace begin with me.” In the blog post, Ahrendts wrote about her effort to share a leadership lesson relevant to the holidays, something which she admits she has struggled to do initially, but points to being inspired by B.J. Thomas’ recording of “Let There Be Peace On Earth....

[Update: The issues seem to be resolved around 12:00 PM EST.] [Update 2x: Apple has also acknowledged the outage on its system status page noting that it began last night and may still be ongoing.] No word on Apple’s official iCloud system status page, but the Calendar and Reminders web apps on iCloud.com are currently down as several readers have pointed out. We’ve tested it here and the above error was returned....

Leading up to the unveiling of Apple’s new iTunes Radio service earlier this month at WWDC, we reported on some small details regarding deals Apple had reached with the major labels necessary to get bring its Pandora competitor to market. Earlier reports claimed that Apple was paying Warner around 10% of ad revenue— that’s around twice as much as Pandora reportedly pays. Today, The Wall Street Journal provides us with some in-depth info on what Apple is paying labels and publishers after taking a look at the terms of the deal....

Apple is continuing its barrage of iPhone X advertisements today with three new ones hitting YouTube. The new videos each focus on a specific feature, including Portrait Lighting and Face ID. Head below to check them out… The first ad aims to show how seamless Face ID is when unlocking your device. Apple touts that the iPhone X “opens with a glance” thanks to Face ID. The company also continues to call Face ID “the most unforgettable magical password ever created....

Apple is developing iAds for video, developing a new product that will deliver in-stream ads to videos shown on the iPhone, iPad and (presumably) the Apple TV. These ads will appear both within apps, and on mobile websites. A report tells us Apple’s new ads network is expected to launch in the first half of next year, and it does seem to dovetail nicely with development of ways publishers of popular video on Apple’s networks could make some money for their work....

Just one day before Thanksgiving in the US and a month before Christmas, Apple has shared its annual holiday ad on YouTube. The video spans about a minute and a half, featuring legendary artist Stevie Wonder (a known Apple fan) performing with Andra Day, with various Apple products including MacBooks running GarageBand and Apple Watches in view. At the start of the video, Wonder, who has been blind since shortly after birth, uses OS X’s built-in VoiceOver accessibility features to mix a song in the audio editing software that comes with each Mac....

Apple has unveiled lots of HomePod details this morning including a new guide for how the smart speaker can be controlled with the top surface area. HomePod will be primarily driven by Siri, but tapping the top will support a number of gestures for playback control. The top surface area will respond to taps much like AirPods, but a number of gestures are supported and work similar to clicking playback controls on EarPods....

Apple is continuing to transition its three main retail outlets, its physical retail stores, online store, and main website, into a single experience. Following the deep integration of the Apple Online Store throughout Apple.com, Apple is set to integrate its appointment scheduling services for the Genius Bar and in-store workshops deeply into the main website, according to sources briefed on the plans. The latest indications are that Apple will roll out these significant retail changes as soon as Tuesday, August 25th....

With the COVID pandemic impacting production on pretty much all Hollywood projects, the second season release dates of Apple’s flagship shows (The Morning Show, For All Mankind, See, Servant, etcetera) have been pushed into 2021. To help plug the gap, Apple TV+ has acquired two Israeli series which it will stream exclusively. The first of these co-productions is called ‘Tehran’, a spy thriller from Moshe Zonder, the head writer of popular Netflix series ‘Fauda’....

The new Apple TV packs a lot more power than the previous generation, featuring an A10X Fusion chip to power 4K video playback and rich 3D App Store games. iFixit have got their hands on one of the new pucks and their teardown shows how Apple managed to achieve this substantial increase in performance: a large internal fan and eight vents to disperse heat … The internal fan is almost the same diameter as the width of the puck, stretching to all four edges inside the casing....

Earlier today we reported that Barclays in the UK finally added Apple Pay support after a lengthy delay, and back in the US there are 32 more banks and credit unions that now let you add their issued debit and credit cards to use with Apple’s mobile payment solution. These are the latest additions: Alaska Airlines/Horizon Airlines Employees Federal Credit Union Albany Bank & Trust Company N.A. Astoria Bank Bath Savings Institution Better Banks Coast Central Credit Union Georgia Heritage Federal Credit Union Gibsland Bank & Trust Glasford Bank Island Federal Credit Union Jefferson Bank Lake Sunapee Bank LES Federal Credit Union McKesson Employees’ Federal Credit Union Mercy Health Partners Federal Credit Union Middlesex Saving Bank Miramar Federal Credit Union Newburyport Five Cents Savings Bank Northwest Savings Bank NuVision Federal Credit Union Pacific Premier Bank Polish-American Federal Credit Union Providence Bank & Trust Resurgens Bank Rockland Federal Credit Union SafeAmerica Credit Union State Street Bank Surety Bank URW Community Federal Credit Union Waldo State Bank Whitney/Hancock Bank (Hancock is new addition) WinSouth Credit Union Here’s how to setup Apple Pay if your bank is supported (full list):...

Apple has removed over 30,000 applications from the App Store in China, according to a new report from Bloomberg. The report cites new data from Qimai Research Institute, and it explains that games accounted for 90% of the app removals. Apple removed many of the apps overnight, with the peak occurring around 4:15 a.m. local time when Apple detected over 2,000 applications from the App Store. The majority of the 30,000 deletions occurred between 3 a....

Gizmodo got its hands on Apple’s secretive Genius training manual and just posted an extensive breakdown of what goes on behind the retail scenes. According to Gizmodo: Check out a few workbook pages above, and then go to Gizmodo for all the details. The Genius Training Student Workbook we received is the company’s most up to date, we’re told, and runs a bizarre gamut of Apple Dos and Don’ts, down to specific words you’re not allowed to use, and lessons on how to identify and capitalize on human emotions....

On April Foolsday in 1976 Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ron Wayne signed the founding contract for Apple Computer. Eleven days later, Ron Wayne decided to sell his 10% of the company for $800, which is now worth $3.9 billion. The founding contract that made history was originally expected to sell for $150,000, but today sold for a cool $1.6 million to Eduardo Cisneros, chief executive officer of Cisneros Corp, at a Sotheby’s auction in New York, reports Bloomberg....

Update: Apple confirmed the use of China Telecom servers in a statement to the Wall Street Journal. Apple has begun using Chinese data centers to store iCloud data for local Apple customers, the first time Apple has used mainland China for iCloud account and information storage. On a municipal government website, Fuzhuo City Telecom said that ‘Apple China has completed the iCloud data dump into China Telecom’s cloud services’. The post has since been taken down from the government site, however....

From 9to5Toys.com: Apple quietly released an updated lineup of Retina MacBook Pros earlier this morning and as a result, previous generation (which, let’s be honest, aren’t a big step down) refurbished models have received notable price drops. At the low end, the October 2012 (first generation) 13-inch model has dropped $59, which has made it the first refurbished Retina MacBook Pro with a 1 year Apple warranty to dip below $1,000....

CNBC reports that Apple is suing chip supplier Qualcomm for roughly $1 billion over patent royalties: The latest development follows an FTC complaint alleging Qualcomm engaged in monopolistic practices to prevent Apple from sourcing key components from its competitors. The new report adds that Apple alleges Qualcomm withheld $1 billion in retaliation for working with South Korean authorities where Qualcomm was recently found to be engaging in anti-competitive behavior. Apple relied on Qualcomm modems in iPhones and iPads up until the iPhone 7 which added Intel as a supplier in certain models....

OregonLive notes that government filings from last week show Apple has taken over a hydroelectric project near its Oregon data center. Apple has previously reported that it powers its data centers entirely on renewable energy. The hydroelectric plant in Oregon will help maintain its 100% renewable energy rating. In fact, on Apple’s environmental website, the company notes that the Prineville site will source power from hydroelectric energy in addition to wind and solar....

Following the depositions of former Apple head of software engineering Scott Forstall in the Epic vs. Apple case, we’ve come to learn some interesting details about the early days of the iPhone and the App Store. Now Forstall has revealed that Apple once considered letting Adobe bring Flash to iOS, but the results were “embarrassing.” iPhone and iPod touch never supported Flash, which was a really popular technology at that time....

Apple has announced a new deal with Peanuts Worldwide and Lee Mendelson Film Productions to bring new originals and classic Peanuts specials to Apple TV+. Starting this month, Apple TV+ users will be able to stream iconic Peanuts content throughout the upcoming holiday season. Apple explains that the deal includes a second season of the Apple TV+ original series Snoopy in Space as well as a handful of new original specials including ones for Mother’s Day, Earth Day, New Year’s Eve, and going back to school....