[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMUNO8Onoi4] Just like last year, Apple has posted a well-produced video showcasing thousands of Apple employees participating in San Francisco’s annual Pride parade. Apple CEO Tim Cook shared in a tweet over the weekend that more than 8,000 Apple employees plus friends and family participated in the parade. The company also featured App Store and iTunes sections highlighting LGBT apps and media. You can find the music from the video, “Different Colors” by Walk the Moon, on Apple Music....

Apple is among 40 companies voicing opposition to recent bills introduced across the United States that target LGBTQ citizens. The businesses who signed the open letter, which was published today by the Human Rights Campaign, argue that these bills are bad for business. AL.com details one of the bills, which was that was passed by the Alabama Senate last week: Across the United States, more than one dozen bills have been introduced that would “affect the lives of LGBTQ employees....

Apple has removed Google’s Nest smart thermostat from both its online store and physical retail locations following the launch of some of the first HomeKit devices. As reported by Mashable, Google’s smart thermostat is not available from Apple and searching for the product on Apple’s online store now reveals HomeKit-compatible smart devices instead. Specifically, Apple is marketing the Ecobee 3 smart thermostat instead of Nest’s offering. The Ecobee 3 runs $249 and officially went on sale in Apple Stores earlier this month following Apple official documenting HomeKit last month....

The Apple Support app has received an update today with a couple of changes. The latest version brings more information for your device coverage details and also allows you to get reminders about upcoming reservations. There’s also a new “Check Coverage” App Clip. Apple Support version 4.2 for iPhone and iPad is rolling out now with performance improvements and bug fixes. The two main changes that users will notice are the new coverage details section and the ability to get reminders about upcoming appointments by text or phone....

The Promenade at Little Rock’s Chenal mall. Image credit: ArkansasOnline Apple is allegedly planning to open a new retail store in Little Rock, Arkansas, its first store in the state, reports ifoAppleStore. The company is said to be in the process of hiring retail staff, with grand opening planned this coming October. The retail spot will be located in at the Promenade at Little Rock’s Chenal mall, the publication notes:...

Apple has removed five Infowars podcasts from the Apple Podcasts platform. Apple confirmed the decision to Buzzfeed News overnight, and is the first major tech company to blanket ban almost all of Alex Jones’ content. Apple said that it does not tolerate hate speech, and clear guidelines dictate the types of content that are accessible on its platforms. Companies like YouTube and Spotify have pulled select episodes before. Apple is the leading podcast distribution platform and its more drastic approach naturally put pressure on other players to follow suit....

Apple’s special “Spring Loaded” event is already scheduled for Tuesday, April 20. And as the date approaches, the company has been promoting its presentation live on social media. This time, Apple promoted the April event with a short advertisement on TikTok. As noted by The Apple Post, the ad began showing up for some TikTok users on Friday. In a 10-second video, Apple uses the animated version of the event invitation image to ask people to join the live presentation on the 20th....

TechCrunch has published a new piece detailing Apple’s massive effort to rebuild Apple Maps from the ground up — specifically the mapping data — with a combination of iPhones and those Apple Maps vans we’ve seen on the road for years. The results of this effort will show up first in the next iOS 12 beta for new mapping data for San Francisco and the Bay Area before expanding to Northern California later in the year....

In addition to the first public beta of macOS Catalina, Apple is also today releasing the first public beta of iOS 13 and iPadOS 13. The update is available now via Apple’s beta website. Apple originally said iOS 13 would be available to public beta users in July, but it seemingly thinks the update is stable enough right now instead. Nonetheless, you should still be prepared for bugs, performance issues, app compatibility problems, and poor battery life....

Alongside releasing iOS 11.3 beta 1 today, Apple has made Swift Playgrounds 2.0 available with a new subscriptions feature to follow third-party creators, new robots, a fresh content gallery, and more. The release has been in beta for developers by request since last fall. Apple shared an announcement for the updated app on its developer site as well as the App Store. The headline feature of version 2.0 is the ability to follow third-party creators with a new subscription feature....

Apple is making iOS 13.6 available to all users today. The update brings new features like improved support for downloading and installing system updates, the all-new Apple News+ Audio content, as well as the exciting Car Key feature. Update: Now available We’ve seen a number of new features/changes over the last few months with iOS 13. Apple launched support for Exposure Notifications (contact tracing) in iOS 13.5 while 13.5.1 brought a patch for the vulnerability that the unc0ver jailbreak took advantage of....

If you missed purchasing an iPhone 5 this weekend, we might have some good news for you. We are hearing Apple expects to launch its in-store product reservation system, Personal Pickup, for iPhone 5 tonight at 10 p.m. Eastern. Customers can use the Apple Store app or website between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. nightly to pre-purchase available iPhone 5 inventory for the next day. Because customers are actually purchasing the iPhone, they will have upwards of two weeks to pick up the phone (when it becomes available)....

Apple has announced in a statement that it is suspending the program which entailed human Apple contractors listening and grading a sample of Siri responses for quality control. The company is conducting a thorough internal review of its Siri policies, and it will reinstate (a presumably different form of) Siri grading when it is finished. When Siri grading returns, users will be able to choose to opt-out of grading. The decision from the company follows a Guardian report that shined light on the kind of conversations Apple contractors were hearing on a daily basis, as a result of the Siri grading program....

Apple Watch goes up for preorder on April 10 and becomes available April 24 through retail stores and online, but some of Apple’s online stores are listing ship dates ranging from April 24th to sometime in May depending on the model. Earlier today some of Apple’s online stores, including its German and UK stores, listed various shipping dates for the device for those willing to do a little digging on the site....

While some are pointing to Apple’s long-awaited streaming video service as a key element in replacing lost iPhone income with Services revenue, at least one major analyst is skeptical. Predicting that Apple will charge $15/month for the service, Jefferies analyst Tim O’Shea says the company faces two big challenges – and even the best-case forecast doesn’t help the company that much … In an investor’s note seen by Business Insider, O’Shea says that the there are two keys to success in streaming video....

Earlier today, Apple published a new white paper offering detailed information about the newest Mac Pro. Hidden in this document is the news that the Mac Pro wheels will, at some point, be available as a standalone purchase. As it stands right now, you can add wheels to your Mac Pro at the time of purchase for $400. Apple has said that if you “already have your Mac Pro and want to add wheels,” you must contact Apple or an Authorized Service Provider....

Apple’s website detailing Continuity features arriving with iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite in the coming weeks has been updated to announce SMS support won’t arrive until October. The feature, which allows users to send and receive SMS and MMS text messages from an iPad or Mac, could be held up by the upcoming release of OS X Yosemite this fall. Unfortunately, an October release for the feature means it won’t be available to iPad users when iOS 8 launches on September 17....

As it generally does following new iOS releases, Apple today stopped signing iOS 10.2. The move comes following the release of iOS 10.2.1 earlier this month, which included bug fixes and security patches. Apple is also currently beta testing iOS 10.3, which will likely be released to the public sometime this Spring. This means that users will no longer be able to downgrade to iOS 10.2 and instead will be forced to remain on iOS 10....

The Apple Store is now showing the iconic ‘Be right back’ message. This follows the usual tradition ahead of Apple product media events. Apple’s Spring Loaded event starts at 10 AM PT today. We are expecting updates to the iPad Pro and iMac lines. Other rumors included the launch of long-anticipated AirTags trackers, updates to the cheaper iPad and iPad mini, as well as a new ‘Podcasts+’ subscription service. For this April event, we are expecting significant updates to the iPad Pro line....

Apple has released a new version of the Apple Support app today with useful new integration with the Wallet app. With today’s update, users can now add a pass from the Apple Support app to the Apple Wallet for “easy check-in” at Genius Bar locations. Interestingly, the release notes indicate that today’s update brings this feature to “more Genius Bar locations,” meaning that it was already available at certain Apple Stores....