After releasing a humorous new promotional video about how Apple takes privacy seriously earlier this month, the company has shared another privacy ad highlighting how Safari limits cross-site tracking. Apple shared the new video on its YouTube channel today. Featuring the iPhone XR, the ad shows a teenager consider whether it’s time to start shaving and browsing the web for answers. The lighthearted ad is just over thirty seconds, and ends with “Because what you browse should be your business”...

Originally launched to address issues some customers experienced with the refreshed “butterfly” keyboards introduced in models as far back as 2015, Apple continues expanding the program to include additional models that use the troubled design. Apple describes the issues as letters or characters repeating unexpectedly or not appearing, or keys feeling “sticky” or unresponsive. Users experiencing problems can get free repairs at Apple Stores or authorized repair centers including replacement of one or more keys or the entire keyboard....

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-Oq-9enE-k] Google Latitude explanation video – seemingly similar to the planned Find my Friends service You may remember a finding in the iOS 4.3 SDK that pointed to Apple’s work on a new iOS-device based social network called “Find my Friends.” Many have speculated that this means Apple is working on a location-based social network – similar to Google Latitude or Loopt – that would essentially put all your friends on a map....

According to GigaOM, Apple has scooped up the domain name www.iCloud.com from Xcerion, the maker of a cloud-based service. The deal is said to have gone down for somewhere in the range of $4.5m, and we don’t think Apple would pay that much for a domain name unless they would put it to good use. We think iCloud is a potential name for Apple’s upcoming locker service which should keep your music, photos, videos, and other media in the cloud....

Apple reports that there were overnight queues for the grand opening of its latest retail store, its first one in Taipei. Located in the landmark Taipei 101 skyscraper, the store opened on Saturday morning … Taiwan is a modern country with a strong electronics manufacturing sector, including Apple chipmaker TSMC. Apple acknowledged plans for the store last July, with the reported location confirmed last month. Apple had already shared some photos of the store in the run-up to opening, and has now provided some more from the opening day itself....

Apple’s #ShotoniPhone campaign has grown tremendously over the years with everyday users tweeting pictures or videos on Twitter and Instagram. Today, Apple is sharing a compilation of photos and videos shot on iPhone XS using the new Depth Control. This latest compilation comes after Apple touted real images from XS users earlier this month. The update, as we know, will be iOS 12.1 which is slated to be released soon. Regardless, the shots taken from iPhone XS with the current public release are still really good....

Apple’s online store has gone down this evening to prepare for the launch of the Apple Watch and 12-inch MacBook. When the store returns, the Apple Watch will be available for pre-order, while the 12-inch MacBook will be available for purchase. The Apple Watch will launch on April 24th. The Apple Watch will start at $349 for the Sport model, $549 for the Watch, and $10,000 for the Edition. The 12-inch MacBook will start at $1,299 for the entry-level model with a 1....

New chip analysis of the A8X powering the iPad Air 2 has revealed that it is even more powerful than it initially appeared. Further analysis by AnandTech showed that initial guesses as to the GPU specification of the Apple A8X chip, exclusively available in the iPad Air 2, were wrong. In fact, the chip uses a unique 8 cluster design. AnandTech describes the discovery as “even better than I thought”. Although the customizations are limited, this represents a big step for the company as it is now dabbling in both custom CPU and GPU engineering, even if the leap over generally-available components in this instance is small....

Siri on iPad mockup based on descriptions from sources Come this fall, people will start talking to their iPads. Apple’s breakthrough Siri Assistant, based on an incredible artificial-intelligence system, will no longer be exclusive to users of the popular iPhone 4S. According to trusted sources, one of the tentpole iOS 6 features is Siri support on the iPad. Not just the Voice Dictation brought to the iPad with the third-generation models and iOS 5....

Earlier today, Apple announced that it will be holding its fall event on October 22nd. The event will take place at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, California. However, like in some past years, Apple will hold a simultaneous event to cater to media not located in the United States. For its September 10 iPhone event, Apple held simultaneous satellite streams in Berlin, Tokyo, and Beijing. For the upcoming event, the stream will be held in London, according to members of international media invited to the stream....

Apple is continuing its PR blitz for Apple TV+ with Jason Momoa and Alfre Woodard hitting the covers of the latest issue of Emmy Magazine, promoting the sci-fi thriller See. Apple’s production budget for See is believed to be in excess of $15 million per episode. In the interview, Apple vice presidents Jamie Erlicht and Zack van Amburg (who run Apple’s TV+ efforts after being hired from Sony in 2017) compare the scope of See’s world-building directly to Game of Thrones: “can it be as epic as, say, a Game of Thrones?...

Apple said during recent earnings calls that the number of active Apple Pay users had doubled year-on-year, with transactions more than tripling – but didn’t reveal any numbers. Loup Ventures has today published new estimates, suggesting that there are now 127M active Apple Pay users globally, up from 62M a year ago. However, says the firm, that still represents a relatively small percentage of active iPhones … The firm estimates that only 5% of US iPhones have Apple Pay activated, contrasting with 11% of international iPhones....

Apple’s flagship retail store on 5th Avenue in New York City has been undergoing renovations since January, and now Apple appears to be planning to replace the iconic glass cube entrance at the site. A building permit discovered by BuildZoom has been granted for the “full removal” of the gigantic glass structure at the Apple Store’s entrance. In February it was reported that Apple plans to ‘more than double’ the size of its flagship 5th Ave Apple Store with these renovations....

Apple has released the fourth iOS 10.2.1 beta for developer testing on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. iOS 10.2.1 is likely a bug fix and performance improvement release. The initial beta was released on December 14 with a second beta issued before the holiday break. A third beta version was released at the start of this week. We’ll update to the latest version and highlight any changes discovered below. iOS 10....

Just ahead of its expected release later this month, Apple has released the sixth OS X 10.11.4 developer beta for Mac users to test. The update to OS X El Capitan so far has included improvements to Messages, Notes, and other system apps. Similar to iOS 9.3, OS X 10.11.4 enables Notes users to optionally protect entries behind a single, secure password. Protected notes are only visible on Macs running OS X 10....

A complaint in France that Apple’s App Tracking Transparency policy was anti-competitive has seen the Cupertino company win the first round. “We’re grateful to the French Competition Authority for recognizing that App Tracking Transparency in iOS 14 is in the best interest of French iOS users. ATT will provide a powerful user privacy benefit by requiring developers to ask users’ permission before sharing their data with other companies for the purposes of advertising, or with data brokers....

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_HByVsugQY] Apple’s former retail chief Ron Johnson— the man in charge of retail when Apple first launched its brick and mortar stores back in 2001— recently sat down for a talk at Stanford where he gave some insight into the work that went into Apple’s original retail efforts. After a brief intro on his work before Apple, RoJo eventually gets into Apple retail stores, working with Steve Jobs, and the decision to redesign the Apple retail store experience at the last minute....

Apple will be closing its official Company Store at its 1 Infinite Loop campus later this month and plans to relaunch a modernized version of it this fall, according to sources familiar with the plans. Notices on Apple’s campus (pictured below) confirming the upcoming renovations read: “Architectural and Site Approval to allow facade improvements of approximately 102 linear feet of an existing office building.” But Apple has much more planned than just a fresh coat of paint, according to sources....

Update 2: It looks like Apple prematurely rolled out the feature to many countries and quickly removed it. The only officially supported countries listed on Apple’s website include “U.S., UK, Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand.” Update: Mexico, Germany Netherlands, Russia, Austria, Brazil, Belgium, Portugal, Italy & Poland too. Let us know in the comments if the feature is now available in your country. Apple appears to have recently started rolling out its new two-step verification feature for Apple IDs to users in additional countries....

Apple earlier this year acquired popular sleep tracking platform Beddit for an undisclosed amount. While the company has remained independent in its product offerings, it today updated its website to direct customer service requests through Apple… The change was first noted by Bloomberg. If you head to Beddit’s customer support webpage, you’ll see that it now asks users to contact Apple for help: The change isn’t incredibly notable, but it does signal that Apple is seemingly keeping the Beddit platform alive and operational for users....