Reuter’s reports today that Apple will expand its current five-store presence in China to the industrial cities of Chengdu and Shenzhen. Interestingly, both of those cities are where Foxconn produces iPhones and iPads (or have in the past). The Chengdu plant is where Want China Times (via MCV) reports a riot broke out late last night with male workers “taking advantage of a minor disturbance to address prior grievances.” The pessimist would say: Now those hundreds of thousands of factory workers can save a few months wage and head across town to buy something they make hundreds of every day....

Apple today announced it has ordered a new thriller series for Apple TV+ called ‘Shining Girls’. The show will star Elisabeth Moss, who you might recognize as the actress who plays the lead role in popular drama series The Handmaids Tale. The series is based off a best-selling novel of the same name. The drama follows Moss’s character as a Chicago reporter, who was badly assaulted in the past. She tries to trace down her attacker....

Update: Apple Pay is also on tap to launch in Portugal and Greece on Wednesday, reports suggest. Apple is rumored to be continuing its Apple Pay expansion in Europe next week. Following a launch in the Netherlands earlier this month, Apple Pay will reportedly launch in Slovakia this coming Wednesday. According to a local report from Zive, Apple Pay will launch in Slovakia on Wednesday, June 26th. The report cites anonymous bank officials and says Apple Pay in Slovakia will support four banks at launch: Slovenská sporiteľňa, Tatra banka, mBank, and J&T Banka....

With the latest changes to iTunes Connect, Apple has clearly changed its approach to mobile advertising. For the last three years, Apple has targeted large brands with minimum buy-ins ranging in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. However, uptake of iAd does not seem to have been at the level Apple expected, which has had a negative impact on developers, who have commonly observed low fill rates for their ads....

Following the release of iOS 5.0.1 this afternoon to developers, Apple has released iTunes 10.5.1 Beta 2 to developers this evening. Along with being posted to the Developer Center, Apple has sent out the following email to developers. In the email Apple now reveals that iTunes Match has been made available for Apple TV. This update also includes a number of bug fixes. Sadly, iTunes Match still isn’t available to the public....

Apple may have only just launched its first iPhone with an OLED screen, but technology never stands still. The company is reportedly pressing ahead with work on the microLED display technology which is expected to supersede OLED within the next few years. microLED screens take some of the key benefits of OLED over LCD yet further, offering even greater brightness, color saturation and power efficiency … A Digitimes piece initially sounds pessimistic, reporting that Apple has downsized its microLED R&D team in Taiwan, and that the company is struggling with some of the practical manufacturing aspects of the technology....

Apple has released an update to its Podcasts app on the App Store today that introduces a few new features and fixes. The update brings a pull to refresh function for subscriptions in the My Podcasts section, improvements to overall stability, and a few fixes for bugs related to playback and subscriptions: • You can now pull to refresh subscriptions in My Podcasts • Resolved an issue that may cause playback to stop unexpectedly • Fixed a problem where subscriptions may stop updating with new episodes • Includes additional improvements to overall stability...

Apple has dramatically increased the number of self driving vehicles it is testing, Bloomberg reports. The company first received approval from state officials last spring to test three self driving cars on the road, but new inquiries to the California DMW show Apple has since expanded its test fleet to 27 vehicles total. Like other companies testing self-driving car technology, Apple specifically deploys Lexus RX450h model SUVs equipped with loads of data collecting sensors....

Each publisher had different counterproposals, Apple said in a filing that described tough negotiations in detail. “Early — and constant — points of negotiation and contention were over Apple’s price caps and 30 percent commission. After Apple sent draft agency agreements to each publisher CEO on January 11, each immediately opposed Apple’s price tiers and caps,” Apple said in its 81-page proposed findings of fact. Apple is now the only defendant in the case filed in April 2012 as the 4 other publishers originally accused in the lawsuit, including Pearson, Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, and HarperCollins, have already reached settlements and agreed to return to their old pricing scheme for a certain period of time....

On the heels of releasing iOS 11 today, Apple has published a few new how-to videos to its YouTube channel promoting what’s now possible with its latest mobile OS and iPad. About a month ago, Apple released 6 videos showcasing iPad + iOS 11 features and new ways to make the tablet more capable than ever. Today’s videos include 3 new one-minute long how-to shorts as part of the same series released last month and one video that has been updated....

Apple Stores in Germany will be among the next to reopen after extended closures in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Following reopenings across South Korea, Austria, and Australia in recent weeks, Germany’s 15 Apple Stores will all reopen on May 11 at 11:00 A.M. Germany hasn’t mitigated coronavirus infections to the extent of other regions where Apple Stores have reopened, but the country has seen a steady decline in daily new cases for over a month....

Apple is reclosing all of its stores in the greater Melbourne area of Australia as portions of the state of Victoria prepare to enforce new lockdown measures. Australia has reported a growing number of COVID-19 infections over the past several weeks and is reimposing travel and business restrictions as a preventative measure. Apple Highpoint in the Melbourne suburb of Maribyrnong was the first store in Australia to reclose on July 2 as the public health situation began to deteriorate....

Apple has yet another court case on their hands with Bloomberg reporting that Seattle-based Cequint Inc. is seeking unspecified damages related to claims Apple products infringe on caller ID related patents. The company also wants the court in Wilmington, Delaware, where the complaint was filed yesterday, to issue a court order preventing Apple from using the technology in dispute. While we don’t have many more details regarding the case and Cequint’s claims, it’s important to note the company has close ties with major U....

Apple’s television advertisements have earned three places on Adweek’s 25 Best Ads of 2018 annual list, which highlights the best media ads ranging from print to film. Apple’s highest spot ranking on the list, #2, was for its Spike Jonze directed-critically acclaimed ‘Welcome Home’ ad. This isn’t the first time the company has seen massive celebration over the HomePod advert, with Adweek previously conducting a highly featured behind-the-scenes video. The company took 19th place for its ‘Unlock’ advertisement, which featured a high school girl yielding special ‘unlock’ powers with just a glance....

Researchers at three universities have accused Apple of taking an ‘immense risk’ with the security of user data thanks to what they say is a poor implementation of differential privacy. Differential privacy is a method of allowing Apple and other companies to analyse user data in a way intended to be completely anonymous. Enough noise is injected into the data that it is supposed to be impossible to match any of that data to a specific individual....

We have kept you updated on Apple’s warranty situation in Italy with the company forced to pay a $1.2 million fine imposed by Italian antitrust authorities after losing an appeal to the fine in March. Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato claimed Apple mislead consumers by selling its one-year AppleCare warranties without properly informing its customers of a two-year warranty mandatory by European Union law. Today, Reuters reported Apple is facing further fines and “temporary closure of its operations in Italy” if it doe not make changes to its warranty policies:...

On Android, Apple’s streaming service is currently only available on Sony televisions. That’s changing next year when an Apple TV app comes to Chromecast with Google TV. This app for Google TV will allow users to watch original content available from Apple TV+, as well as their existing library of movie and TV show purchases from iTunes. It will also surface third-party streaming subscriptions through Apple TV Channels, and allow for personalized and curated recommendations....

The new Apple TV comes in 32 GB and 64 GB flavours, but Apple doesn’t want you using all that space up too quickly. Developers have to comply to strict rules about how their apps can use local storage. For starters, the app binaries themselves cannot exceed 200 megabytes of static resources: any resources required over that cap must be available to download on-demand and are only cached for a limited time....

One of the big changes arriving with the second-gen Apple TV 4K is the all-new Siri Remote. Along with the new design comes a dedicated power button to control not just the set-top box but also your TV and receiver. Let’s look at how to control power and volume with your Apple TV Siri Remote, including troubleshooting tips and more. HDMI-CEC support is the feature that allows the new Siri Remote to power your TV and receiver on/off, control volume, and select the right input....

Apple Pay has been slow to gain traction in Australia as Apple fights with the large banks for adoption. Now, however, Apple has signed a deal with payments group Cuscal that will see the mobile payments service come to more than 30 credit unions and small banks in the country. Apple also today added Orange Cash in France to its list of banks that support the service. According to a report from news....