Due to a loss in a patent lawsuit that awarded patent holder VirnetX $368.2 million, we reported earlier this month that Apple would be changing the behaviour of its VPN on Demand features for devices running iOS 6.1 and up. The changes would mean a downgrade in functionality for users effectively forcing them to start the VPN client before they run an app, or before they open mobile Safari to access an intranet site....

One of the most interesting things Apple announced at WWDC was a new framework designed to allow developers to embed machine learning capabilities into their apps. One of the things Core ML can be trained to do is identify and caption real-world objects in real-time, which Apple demos via a sample app trained with 1000 objects … Developer Paul Haddad posted an amusing tweet testing the capability. While the screen recording showed the iPhone recognising a screwdriver, keyboard and carton, it didn’t seem to recognise one familiar object: a first-generation Mac Pro....

We’ve been hearing for a while that Apple is working on a new 13-inch Mac laptop with a Retina display, with entry-level prices set to dislodge the 12-inch MacBook and the MacBook Air in the lineup. In a new report today, Digitimes says that Apple has pushed back assembly of the new laptop into the third quarter. The price of the new 13-inch MacBook is expected to be around $899, although any plans for a WWDC release appear no longer to be in the cards....

Apple’s new senior vice president of retail Angela Ahrendts won’t be taking up the newly created position officially until Spring 2014, but in the meantime Ahrendts has already started the process of transitioning to a new CEO at Burberry. In a blog post on LinkedIn, Ahrendts talks in length about the following her intuition when deciding to take a new job at Apple, much like she had when first joining Burberry, and also outlines her plans for transitioning to new leadership....

Apple has found itself embroiled in yet another China-related controversy, as it appears to be sending user browsing data to Tencent, a Chinese company. That data includes the website visited and the IP address of the iOS user. Apple has the best of intentions here – the data sharing is done to help protect users from fraudulent websites – but the fact that the company now uses a Chinese conglomerate to do so is raising eyebrows…...

Apple will finally begin offering iPhone 5s screen replacements in its official U.S. and Canada retail stores in the coming days, according to several sources. Apple Store Genius Bars are said to have begun taking delivery of large quantities of iPhone 5s screens for the repair program. The crucial service’s debut is currently scheduled for Monday, August 4th. This upcoming rollout will mark an official launch as a few stores in the U....

According to a report from Politico, Apple has told Republican leaders that it will not be providing support in any way, including financial, for the party’s upcoming convention. The report says that Apple’s reasoning for this decision is Donald Trump and the comments he has made regarding immigrants, minorities, and women. Citing two sources “familiar with the iPhone maker’s plans,” Apple will not be donating money or technology to the GOP event like it has done in the past....

Apple’s legal department have extended the courtroom battle with Nokia in the US to the UK, launching litigation against Nokia in the UK. Apple is accusing Nokia of infringing nine smartphone patents in an extension of a courtroom drama which began in December last year in reaction to an earlier lawsuit filed by Nokia against Apple. In a statement, Nokia said it wasn’t surprised at Apple’s move, arguing that Apple has infringed ten Nokia patents related to wireless data, speech coding, security and encryption....

For the past few months, there seems several stories related to Apple signing a deal with someone to develop original content. While the details of how all of this content comes together in one package remains to be seen, today’s news is certainly interesting. Variety reports that Apple has teamed up with Sesame Workshop to develop original content. On Twitter, Ben Bajarin made a great point about Apple’s content strategy:...

The first Apple TV shipments have started rolling out to customers in preparation for the device’s launch later this week. As seen in the screenshot above, users are now seeing their shipment statuses updated on Apple’s website. At the same time, Apple has now enabled users with pre-release hardware to search for and find tvOS apps, though the platform’s dedicated App Store has yet to officially launch… As you can see in the tweet below, app search is now fully functional despite the current lack of an actual store from which to install them....

It’s been officially announced that Apple Pay is coming to Israel through leading payment card company Isracard. It is hoped to be available by the end of the year. Rival card companies Max and ICC are also reported to be ready for launch. The Isracard Group has been operating for more than 40 years, and locally issues American Express, MasterCard and Visa cards, alongside its own-branded Isracard … Over 4 million cards are in current use by Isracard customers in Israel, and over 100,000 businesses accept them....

Apple today released iOS 9.2 for iPhones and iPads after several versions of testing. The point update so far has included improvements to Safari including an improved Safari View Controller for viewing websites within apps and easily dismissing them afterwards, the addition of Arabic language support with the Siri voice assistant for the first time, and more. Previous betas of iOS 9.2 also included AT&T’s new NumberSync feature for iPhone subscribers on their network....

Following the release of iOS 14.3 RC on Tuesday, Apple has just released another build of iOS 14.3 RC to developers and beta testers. Named iOS 14.3 RC 2, the update is now available for users running the previous RC build. Apple has moved away from the previously-used golden master naming for near-final beta releases. Instead, going forward the company will use the term “Release Candidate,” or RC to reference a near-final beta release....

As we inch closer to the release of the iPhone 8 later this year, Apple is starting to solidify its plans for the device. According to a report from Nikkei, Apple has placed an order for 70 million “bendable” OLED displays from Samsung for use in the iPhone 8… The report cites a supply chain source and explains that while Apple at this point has ordered 70 million panels, Samsung is planning to produce as many as 95 million by the end of the year....

Apple is rolling out a new firmware update for AirPods Max users. The company does not provide many details on new AirPods Max firmware updates, but this new version brings the over-ear headphones to 3E756. This is the second firmware update to come to AirPods Max users since March. In March, Apple released version 3C39 for AirPods Max users to address concerns related to battery life and battery drain. As we reported at the time, this update made a change to how long it takes AirPods Max to enter the “ultra-low power mode” when in the Smart Case....

Apple has just released a new open source project on Github. FoundationDB is described as “a distributed database designed to handle large volumes of structured data across clusters of commodity servers”. The database system is focused on performance, scalability and fault-tolerance. Meaning projects that use the database for their backend are faster and less expensive to maintain. FoundationDB was originally founded in 2009 by Dave Rosenthal, Dave Scherer and Nick Lavezzo with the goal of making a NoSQL database that was ACID compliant, a set of properties for databases that are designed to guarantee the integrity of data even when errors occur....

Following Apple’s CEO Tim Cook selling off approximately 20,000 shares of company stock in March, new filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange commission discovered by Fortune’s Philip Elmer-Dewitt show iOS chief Scott Forstall recently sold 64,151 shares worth roughly $38.7 million: Many reported the over 64k shares sold by Forstall represent 95 percent of his current holdings in Apple Inc. However, that is not entirely true, because two new retention bonuses are coming his way in in the years ahead....

Just last week, Apple Worldwide Marketing SVP Phil Schiller was tweeting a warning out to Android users to be safe in light of a recent F-Secure report which said the overwhelming amount of mobile malware floating around was on Android. Today, the WSJ reports that Schiller has more tough words for the Android platform (which today saw a change in leadership). Beyond the 4X switching rate to iPhone vs to Android, he also said that Android users are often running old operating systems and that the fragmentation in the Android world was “plain and simple....

Just as it did with the iPhone XS, Apple today has shared some of its favorite images shot with the iPhone XR. Apple shared the iPhone XR pictures in a press release, which includes samples from a variety of users on Instagram. Apple touts that the iPhone XR features a “state-of-the-art camera system” with features such as Portrait Mode. Users around the world are using this camera to capture “stunning images,” Apple says:...

As part of Apple’s earnings releases, Apple has announced an extension to its buyback plans. The company will now buyback an additional $30 billion of Apple stock, totalling $90 billion, significantly accelerating its original plans. The board has also announced a seven-for-one stock split beginning June 2nd 2014. Apple last split its stock in 2005, nine years ago. Apple will also increase the dividend by about 8 percent to $3....