Apple announced earlier this month that it would be discontinuing its photo printing service by September 30, 2018. This means that users will need to look at other third-party solutions. However, today VentureBeat revealed that RR Donnelley was a partner for Apple’s first-party photo printing service. And with that, the company is also releasing its own app called Motif that lets macOS Photos users continue to purchase calendars and books similar to the ones Apple was offering....

Apple released a major update to the Apple Store app today with a redesigned Shop tab that completely overhauls the online shopping experience. Products are now presented with richer visuals, featured recommendations, and more. The latest update merges the Discover and Shop tabs into one unified interface with a series of cards and sections that highlight new products, devices you already own, and shopping categories. The design is similar to App Store stories, with fullscreen visuals and purchase buttons at the bottom of the display....

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MAsPtCNMTI] Update: Apple has posted a version of the video with English subtitles on YouTube (embedded above). Apple is certainly not thinking small when it comes to China, with 25 new retail stores promised within a two-year period, and its latest soon-to-open store in Hangzhou features a massive mural covering the entire front of the store. The store is due to open on Saturday, January 24th, the second of five new stores Angela Ahrendts said would be opening by the Chinese New Year on February 19th....

Apple today announced plans to build a new campus in North Austin, representing a $1 billion investment. It will also add thousands of new jobs across the United States by 2023, with new offices set up in Seattle, San Diego, and Culver City. Apple also announced plans to expand its presence in Pittsburgh, New York, and Colorado. Apple says it added 6,000 US jobs in 2018 alone and employs 90,000 across all 50 states (most are retail employees)....

Update: AllThingsD got its hands on some better images (above) and a statement from Apple on the new store (below): San Francisco Chronicle reports today that Apple has now submitted plans to open a new store in San Francisco’s Union Square. The new location would apparently replace Apple’s old retail location just a few streets away at Stockton and Ellis. The new building is said to give Apple around 45% more space than its old San Fran retail location and will apparently occupy a building formerly home to Levi’s in Union Square at Stockton and Post Streets....

Last week, we reported that Apple, will soon kickoff a trade-in-program for third-party or counterfeit USB power adapters in its retail stores and select authorized resellers. The program will allow anyone with an unofficial USB power adapter for iOS Devices to exchange that adapter for an Apple-built unit at a discounted price of $10 dollars. The program comes in response to a couple of controversial situations in which people in China reportedly passed away or became injured due to faulty, counterfeit charging adapters…...

Earlier this week Apple stated that Apple Pay is off to a “great start” following its launch nearly a year ago, seeing double-digit growth in transactions every month. Now, it looks as if Apple has inked a deal that will greatly expand the presence of its mobile payments solution. Speaking at Re/code’s Code/Mobile conference today, Apple Pay head Jennifer Bailey announced that Starbucks will soon begin accepting the payment method in its 7,500 locations....

The world renowned iPhone maker Apple Inc is receiving criticism from a China consumer group over reports of a data security break that has affected a big number of Chinese Apple consumers who have had to suffer financial loss due to their Apple Id being hacked. Apple excepted earlier this month of a security break that affected a “small amount of consumers”. They also confirmed an internal investigation is taking place to know how this phishing scam was not detected in time, at the same time telling the consumers affected were the ones who didn’t have their two-factor authentication enabled....

Apple has released the third iOS 10.1 beta which includes the Portrait camera for iPhone 7 Plus that applies a DSLR-like blur effect over photos using the dual lens system. iOS 10.1 beta 3 is available to registered developers. A public beta of iOS 10.1 for non-developers is also currently active. tvOS 10.0.1 beta 3 for Apple TV is also available for developers. Portrait mode is a feature that was demonstrated at Apple’s keynote earlier this month, but the major new feature wasn’t ready for primetime when the iPhone 7 Plus initially launched....

The never-ending saga over Apple’s European data center in Ireland appeared to be over when ‘final’ planning approval was granted back in August, but no: three residents have filed a new appeal that will now go all the way to the High Court. One resident, however, wants to demonstrate that these objections represent a minority view, with most locals glad of the jobs and money the center will bring to the area....

From 9to5Toys.com: Samsung today has announced that it will be adding a 2TB option to its 850 EVO and PRO 2.5-inch internal solid-state drive offerings. Previously, the largest sized capacity was 1TB for both models, which have been on the market since last year. These new models will ship with a hefty price tag to match the larger storage capacity. While these won’t fit in any recent MacBook/Pro/Airs, the new SSDs will allow you to upgrade older non-Retina SATA III MacBook Pros or Mac Minis/iMacs to 2TB drives....

Federico Ciccarese has done many iPhone and Apple product design mockups in the past, and today he gave us his take on Apple’s rumored wearable, curved-glass iOS device. In August 2011, we made the case for a wearable, Bluetooth 4.0-powered iPod nano. In December, The New York Times reported a small group of people at Apple had been “conceptualizing and even prototyping some wearable devices.” One concept described in the report was a “curved-glass iPod that would wrap around the wrist....

Ahead of the official release of tvOS 11 tomorrow, Apple’s first-party TV app has started rolling out to new countries. Apple touted at its iPhone X event earlier this month that the TV app would be coming to seven new countries starting this month… Starting tonight, the TV app is rolling out to Apple TV users in Australia and Canada. While the app is not fully functional just yet, that should change over the coming hours and with the full release of tvOS 11 tomorrow....

For the first time, Apple is endorsing an add-on accessory for AirPods: a new set of protective AirPods cases from Catalyst. The cases are waterproof rated up to 1 meter and offer protection against drops. They also feature a carabiner to clip the AirPods case onto your clothing. It’s a weird proposition for the first AirPods accessory to be stocked in Apple retail, given that the Catalyst case is only useful when you are not using the earbuds themselves....

Apple today has informed employees of significant changes to how iPhones are sold via AT&T and Verizon Wireless, according to sources. As we reported last month, Apple has indicated that iPhones sold via AT&T at both physical Apple Retail Stores and on the Apple Online Store will move exclusively to Next financing plans this month, in June. This means that a customer who wants to buy a new iPhone on AT&T will no longer be able to do so on a subsidy…...

Apple announced today on its Investor News page that CEO Tim Cook, like in previous years, is scheduled once again to speak at the upcoming Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference. Apple will make a live webcast available for anyone who wants to listen to live-streaming audio from the conference call. Cook’s talk is scheduled for 7:15 a.m. PST on Feb. 12 and will be available to stream from Apple’s website....

The latest film that Apple TV+ has picked up is Ridley Scott’s “KitBag.” The movie centers around Napoleon’s origin story and his “swift, ruthless climb to emperor.” Joaquin Phoenix is slated to play the French ruler. Reported by Deadline, “Kitbag” is a passion project from Ridley Scott that will leverage his company Scott Free Productions. Apple has agreed to both finance and help produce the movie with work starting in the UK in early 2022....

Apple’s flagship original series The Morning Show is stopping production for two weeks as a precaution against possible coronavirus spread, reports Deadline. This is just one more part of the Apple ecosystem that is now on pause as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The Morning Show is easily Apple’s most popular original series to date, and is currently scheduled for its second season to air sometime near the end of the year....

Tim Cook has sent out an internal email to Apple employees informing them of a celebration of Steve Jobs’ life planned for October 19th in the outdoor amphitheater of Apple’s Infinite Loop campus in Cupertino. Team, Like many of you, I have experienced the saddest days of my lifetime and shed many tears during the past week. But I’ve found some comfort in the extraordinary number of tributes and condolences from people all over the world who were touched by Steve and his genius....

Apple today has pushed an update to iCloud for Windows, bringing the app to version 7.8.1. The update comes after users reported major compatibility issues between iCloud for Windows and the latest Windows 10 October 2018 update, affecting things such as Photos syncing and many other features. As we reported last weekend, Microsoft and Apple were working together to resolve the compatibility issues. Essentially, users trying to install iCloud for Windows on the latest Windows 10 build would see an error message, while those who already had the app installed experienced numerous issues with Photos syncing and more....