Apple just released iTunes 11.0.3 with several new features including enhancements to the MiniPlayer, an improved Songs View, and multi-disc albums. Apple’s new MiniPlayer, which it first introduced in iTunes 11, today gets a new “beautiful view that showcases your album artwork” as well as a progress bar viewable right from the MiniPlayer. The new view for MiniPlayer can also be expanded to show an entire playlist (as pictured above)....

Apple has just begun rolling out watchOS 3 beta 4 to developers today. Those looking to grab the new release can head over to the Watch app on their iPhones, select General and then Software Update. watchOS 3 beta 4 is available to download as a Configuration Profile from the Apple developer center for newer users looking to test out the upcoming system. Release notes fixes are now at the bottom of the post....

What is all of Apple’s money for? According to some analysts, it might be for a rainy day – perhaps the tech industry will hit a dry spell? Maybe Apple will hit an innovation wall? More likely however, Apple wants to give itself the ability to make a megabuy – like the Microsoft-Yahoo deal. (But one that makes more sense hopefully) The trends have implications for both companies. Cash translates into the ability to consider acquisitions and other potentially business-boosting deals....

Yesterday, Apple blocked Samsung’s Galaxy Tab in the EU as it had in Australia previously. Today, it is blocking Motorola’s XOOM. According to Reuters, this is a high risk strategy for Apple maintaining its market share lead. The cases could take months, if not years to come to court and Apple will have to provide more substantial evidence in subsequent court cases that the design of the Galaxy infringed its patents or copied their designs in order to make any bans permanent....

Apple has announced that its retail stores in Orland Park, Illinois and Irvine, California will relocate to larger and more modern storefronts this upcoming Saturday, August 18th. Apple Orland Square Mall originally opened on July 21, 2007 less than a month after the launch of the original iPhone and has remained relatively unchanged since. The narrow space Apple occupies has become one of the suburban mall’s hotspots, and is easily overcrowded....

Former Facebook privacy and policy employee Sandy Parakilas has been hired by Apple, according to a report by The Financial Times. Parakilas left Facebook six years ago following less than a year and a half with the company after his user privacy concerns fell on deaf ears internally. In March of 2018, Parakilas testified in front of UK Parliament on privacy concerns surrounding Facebook and the data they collect. Following Parakilas’ departure from the social media giant, he later took jobs at Uber and the Center for Humane Technology — an organization devoted to regulation for tech giants....

Apple TV+ is developing a limited series based on the story of WeWork, according to a new report from Variety. The series comes from Lee Eisenberg and Drew Crevello, and is based on the Wondery podcast “WeCrashed: The Rise and Fall of WeWork.” This will be the second Apple TV+ original from Eisenberg, who created the well-reviewed show Little America and inked an overall deal with Apple last month. Eisenberg is also well-known for his work on The Office....

Apple TV+ has scooped its first major awards win tonight. Billy Crudup won the Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Critics Choice Award, for his performance as Cory Ellison in The Morning Show. In this year’s Critics Choice awards, Apple’s streaming service only got one nomination but it converted that into a win today. Crudup edged out competition from the likes of Asante Blackk (This Is Us), Asia Kate Dillon (Billions), Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones) and Tim Blake Nelson (Watchmen)....

Apple has pushed out several new content channels across many countries to the Apple TV, as noted by several readers. Here’s the breakdown of the new channels across the world: Viaplay has been added to the Apple TV in Scandinavia (which is comprised of Denmark, Sweden, Norway) and Finland. Viaplay is comprised of local sports content, films, and TV shows. Stan has been added in Australia, and it contains localized TV shows, films, and content for kids....

In addition to a new MacBook Air, Apple today has also unveiled a new iPad Pro. The new iPad Pro is powered by the A12Z processor and features a new camera setup on the back. Apple has also unveiled a new Magic Keyboard with trackpad for iPad Pro. The new iPad Pro models are available to order today — with double the base storage as the 2018 models — and the Magic Keyboard will be available in May....

A new report out today from global brand consultancy BrandZ places Apple as the second most valuable brand in the world, with Google holding the lead. The rankings are based on a combination of customer sentiment and financial performance… BrandZ uses a combination of data from Kantar Millward Brown and Bloomberg to assign “brand equity” to each company. Coming in at the top is Google with a brand valuation of $302....

After releasing the Release Candidate version last week, iOS 14.2 is now available to all iPhone users. Apple has also released iPadOS 14.2 as well as iOS 12.4.9 for older devices. iOS 14.2 includes a variety of changes and new features, including over 100 new emoji as well as new wallpapers. There is also support for the iPhone 12 Leather Sleeve with MagSafe, although we still don’t have a release date for that accessory....

Two new reports today provide some intel on Apple’s future retail store plans. First, a report from SocketSite (via sfist.com), citing a “plugged-in tipster,” claimed Apple is eyeing an old Bank of America building at 400 Castro Street and the corner of Market for a new San Francisco retail store: Apple also plans to open its first retail store in Berlin in the capital’s upscale shopping district known as Ku’Damm, according to a report from Bloomberg that cited “a person with knowledge of the plan....

Apple’s Clips app for iPhone and iPad has been updated with new creative assets including content from Pixar’s Incredibles 2 movie. The latest update includes six more Selfie Scenes that use the TrueDepth camera on the latest iPhones and iPad Pros, and the new version powers them with the Neutral Engine on the new A12 Bionic Chip. Apple first teased today’s release with a quick mention back in September at the iPhone XS event....

As we head into the holiday season, Apple is continuing to push its latest iPhone 7 lineup. This evening, the company shared a new advertisement highlighting the dual-camera capabilities of the iPhone 7 Plus and its real-world applications. The ad starts by showing a professionally shot clip of kids reenacting Romeo and Juliet. The video then cuts away to show that what we’re actually seeing is a school production of the play with a parent proudly video taping their child in the play....

Apple’s record-breaking holiday quarter catapulted the stock north of $500 a share for the first time, and now the company’s market size is skewing some pretty important market indices, including the S&P 500 index. Already Apple of California passed 10 percent of all of NASDAQ value and now the company won an “ex-” designation on the S&P 500 index. Beginning in 1957, S&P has published prices of 500 large-cap common stocks actively traded in the United States through the New York Stock Exchange or the NASDAQ....

We learned last week that a second Apple employee has been accused of stealing trade secrets from the company’s Project Titan research into self-driving car technology. The FBI was called in, and the criminal complaint now filed by the FBI reveal some of the steps Apple takes to protect product development secrets … We already knew that Apple has monitoring systems in place to prevent or detect certain approaches to data theft, likely including disabling or logging screen captures....

Apple has just posted the latest iPhone 7 ad on their YouTube channel today, entitled ‘Balloons’ for obvious reasons. The video follows a balloon throughout various scenes as it eventually finds it way to other balloons, and into someone’s window. It’s only clear at the end that the ad spot is for the iPhone 7 with the balloon tie-in promoting the new Messages features on iOS 10. At first glance the ad looks like a potential showcase for the iPhone 7’s wide color gamut display, something that has been lauded as being record-breaking and one of the best performing displays ever tested....

Apple has recently updated its online support portal on Apple.com with a more modern look and feel. The new design puts easier access to support for each of Apple’s products, with large images and clean lines. The older design (screenshotted below) was much more boxy and cluttered. In the old layout, customers would have to click through to ‘All Products’ to get help about more obscure products. With the new design, the infinitely scrolling carousel puts everything on the portal homepage....

The iPhone-Dev team dashed avid jailbreakers’ hopes with a morning post (via Ars) explaining that with iOS 5 Apple upped the ante in its cat-and-mouse game with the jailbreak community. According to the team, starting at iOS 5 and onward you will no longer be able to use iTunes to restore to previous firmware versions using saved SHSH blobs (created with tools such as Cydia or TinyUmbrella). Previously, jailbreakers always had peace of mind knowing they could revert back to a previous firmware should anything go wrong....