Update: The Apple Store is back. Apple released a new $329 iPad, a PRODUCT(RED) iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus and a new range of Watch bands. As scheduled on its system status page, the Apple Store is now down for maintenance. Whilst it is still unclear if the downtime is merely for backend server upgrades, many people are expecting Apple to launch at least one new product when the website is available again — as usually happens when the store goes down....

A well-known Apple supplier, Largan Precision, has announced that it is shipping 3D depth-sensing lenses in the second half of 2017 (via Nikkei). Although it didn’t identify brands by name, industry experts believe that these camera components are for the iPhone 8. The special sensors will enable face recognition functionality, allowing users of the high-end iPhone to unlock their device just by looking at the screen. Largan already supplies most of the rear camera lenses used in the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus....

Apple has just announced a significant campaign to support World AIDS Day 2014 as part of its long-running (RED) program. The company will donate to the Global Fund to fight AIDS based on proceeds from its new Apps for (RED) section on the App Store, as well as a portion of online and retail sales made on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Apps for (RED) runs from November 24 through December 7 and consists of 25 apps with exclusive new content, in which all proceeds will go directly to the Global Fund to fight AIDS around the world....

According to iLounge, Apple will be the exclusive distributor for adapters for Apple’s new smaller dock connector. These new adapters would open up support for 30-pin Apple device dock connectors for devices with the new, smaller connector. These new adapters are said to come in both one and three packs: $10 for a one pack, and $29 for a three pack. Additionally, Apple’s new USB cables are said to cost $19....

Apple has refreshed its channel lineup on the Apple TV to include NBC Sports Live Extra. The channel provides “thousands of live sporting events that air on NBC, NBCSN and Golf Channel” for free. Aside from live content, the channel includes loads of highlights and replays of sporting events to view at no charge; NBC Sports Live Extra users can activate the full channel (including content from CNBC, USA, and NBC) by verifying a cable subscription....

A new Apple TV display calibration feature introduced as part of tvOS 14.5 can actually make your TV’s picture quality worse, found tests conducted by a professional television calibrator. Apple demonstrated the feature as part of its presentation on the 6th-gen Apple TV, but also made it available to older models too … Apple said last month that some TVs have poor color calibration out of the box, but the new feature can fix this....

A new report French website iGen indicates that France could be seeing an Apple Pay announcement in as early as the first half of this year. While Apple announced the UnionPay partnership for China two months ago, there has yet to be any signs that other additional countries outside the US and UK (aside from Australia and Canada’s American Express arrangement) would be seeing Apple Pay any time soon. Other reports believe that China could be seeing Apple Pay, which is promised to go live in early 2016, activated as soon as this Thursday at 5 AM (Beijing time)....

Apple has poached one of Google’s top artificial intelligence engineers as it continues to build up its AI team. Apple recently hired Google’s Ian Goodfellow to join its “Special Projects Group” as a director of machine learning, according to his LinkedIn profile. CNBC was first to report on Goodfellow joining Apple’s machine learning team. Goodfellow is referred to as “the father of general adversarial networks, or GANs.” This technology can be used generate fake media content, as CNBC explains:...

Apple is today pushing out an update for its brand new MacBook Pros released earlier this month to address a bug that resulted in performance issues related to the machines’ thermal management system under certain conditions. Specifically, the bug affects the new MacBook Pro’s thermal management system and drives clock speeds down lower than necessary under heavy workloads. Apple provided us with the following statement: The update follows several reports including one from our own Jeff Benjamin detailing what appeared to be perfromance issues related to CPU throttling....

Alongside public releases for iOS 10.3, macOS 10.12.4, watchOS 3.2, and tvOS 10.2 today, Apple has officially released version 2.0 of its Classroom app for iPad previously in beta. Version 2 of the app brings a number of new features including the ability to create classes within the app and invite nearby students. That means that it will no longer require a Mobile Device Management setup to configure classes, making it easier for smaller organizations without IT assistance to use the app:...

Apple today has released the fifth beta of macOS 10.13.1 to developers. The release comes shortly after the company made the fifth beta of iOS 11.1, and fourth betas of tvOS 11.1 and macOS 10.13.1 available to developers and public beta users earlier this week. macOS 10.13.1 High Sierra focuses on bug fixes and performance improvements and has yet to showcase any major user-facing features. There is, however, support for hundreds of new emoji just like Apple promised....

Apple has released iOS 11.2.2 for iPhone and iPad. The software update highlights security improvements and Apple “recommends for all users.” Apple hasn’t disclosed exactly what security issues are addressed by iOS 11.2.2, but we can expect to see details on Apple’s security page shortly. We’ll update when we learn more about the new version. For now, non-beta users can find iOS 11.2.2 for iPhone and iPad as a software update over-the-air through the Software Update section of the Settings app....

[Update: iOS 11 public beta 7 is now available as well.] iOS 11 will likely be ready for everyone sometime next month, and today Apple has released the eighth developer beta preview. iOS 11 brings new features like drag-and-drop and a redesigned multitasking interface for iPad, a new customizable Control Center, and much more. iOS 11 beta 8 is currently only available to registered developers for now. Apple typically holds new public beta versions for a few days for major updates, although recent versions have launched on the same day....

Apple has released Java for OS X 2013-005, which “delivers improved security, reliability, and compatibility for Java SE 6”. The update is available in the Mac App Store. Of note, the updates “uninstalls the Apple-provided Java applet plug-in from all web browsers.” New Macs do not come with Java installed and newer versions of Java are released and maintained by Oracle. Apple’s decision to cut off internal support and development stems from the decreased necessity for the platform and the fact that Mac malware usually comes from Java security holes....

Readers report Apple has started rolling out a new public beta release of its 10.10.2 OS X Yosemite beta (build 14C81h). Developers received the third build of 10.10.2 earlier this month (build 14C81f). Today’s beta release follows beta 3, which was released earlier this month. Not much seems to have changed between the two builds, but Apple says users on the new 10.10.2 build for developers should focus on fixes for WiFi, Mail, and VoiceOver, among other changes....

Update: The bad DNS entries appear to almost completely be purged and it appears that Apple services are working correctly. [tweet https://twitter.com/RaceJohnson/status/443882675011469312 align=’center’] Apple’s website and online stores are experiencing issues for many users, according to various tips and reports we’ve received across Twitter. Apple.com, iTunes, the App Store, and some other web services (but not all) are all reporting that they are unavailable. Some services (like iMessage and Game Center) seem to be unaffected at the moment....

Shortly after releasing iOS 6.0.2 to the masses this afternoon, Apple seeded build 12D43 of OS X 10.8.3 to developers. The folks in Cupertino have not listed any new features or known issues, but they asked developers to focus on AirPlay, AirPort, Game Center, Graphics Drivers, and Safari. The last pre-release build was released on Dec. 5. You can check today’s release out on the developer center, while the full release note is below:...

A week following the previous build, Apple has released build 12E52 of the OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.4 beta to developers. Apple, once again, asks developers to focus on WiFi, Graphics Drivers, and Safari. We previously noted that 10.8.4 includes support for Mac computers with 802.11ac WiFi chips. While 10.8.4 is a minor update to OS X Mountain Lion, Apple also has a major release launching in the next couple of months....

Update: Apple has confirmed the promo, and according to the T&C online orders are also eligible. According to our sources, Apple retail employees were informed this morning that beginning today, anyone who purchases an Apple TV from Apple will receive a free $25 iTunes gift card. As of right now this promotion seems to only be available at brick and mortar locations, but we will update this post if it pops up at the Apple online store....

Apple does have a bit of cash laying around ($16 Billion) and Steve Jobs did pay the Yahoo! VPs a visit last year. According to Kara Swisher, it was quite the motivational speech. Steve Jobs also knows how to bring a company back from the brink of collapse (see Apple 1997). After Microsoft’s chief executive Steve Ballmer made the offer in a letter on Thursday, it emerged that Yahoo had rejected a similar takeover attempt by Ballmer’s organization a year before....