Following yesterday’s release to developers, Apple has released macOS Big Sur 11.3 beta 2 to public beta testers today. The update includes several notable changes and new features. Head below for the details. Here’s a roundup of our previous coverage of what’s new in macOS Big Sur 11.3: macOS Big Sur 11.3 brings two small changes to improve using iPad apps on M1 Macs Apple adding support for stereo-paired HomePods as default sound output with macOS 11....

Apple’s site confirms that its new store in Dusseldorf – its 13th German store – will open at 10am on Saturday. The first 1000 visitors to the store will reportedly receive an Apple t-shirt. German site Macerkopf first spotted job listings for the store back in February following rumors dating back to May 2011. The store is located in Dusseldorf Köbogen, a brand-new upmarket shopping center with stores featuring a number of luxury brands, at Königsallee 2....

As 2018 winds down, Apple plans to fulfill its promise of three retail store openings in Japan by the end of the year. After 11 months of renovation work, Apple Shibuya is set to reopen October 26th. When Shibuya’s store closed for remodeling last November, Apple reassured customers that it wouldn’t leave the city. Traffic to the Tokyo location was instead diverted to Apple Omotesando during construction. The modest, multi-level store has been in progress for an unusual amount of time for its size, so changes are likely to be significant and more in-depth than simply a Today at Apple Video Wall and new fixtures....

The latest episode of John Sundell’s podcast “Swift by Sundell” is out today, featuring the first-ever interview with Apple software engineers Holly Borla and Grace Kendall. The interview focuses on Swift, Mac Catalyst, and much more. Borla and Kendall both serve as software engineers at Apple, so they are able to provide a wide range of commentary on Apple’s software platforms. For instance, they go in-depth on the Swift Playgrounds application — which was just released for the Mac last month....

During its September iPhone event today, Apple has announced the successor to its 2018 9.7-inch iPad, the new 10.2-inch iPad. The new entry-level iPad arrives roughly a year and a half after Apple launched the 9.7-inch iPad back in March last year. The new iPad includes a larger display coming in at 10.2 inches. That’s just shy of the 10.5-inch screen that Apple included in the revived iPad Air 3 that landed six months ago....

It was an update day yesterday for Apple. Having released an updated version of MobileMe Control Panel for Windows that added compatibility with the new MobileMe Calendar backend in Outlook for Windows, Apple also unleashed Snow Leopard Font Update and iPhoto 9.1.2. The former, available as a standalone installer here, contains fixes for Snow Leopard 10.6.7 that “address issues displaying and printing certain OpenType fonts”, per Apple’s release notes. iPhoto 9....

Apple today has released watchOS 4.0.1 to Apple Watch Series 3 with cellular users. The update comes two weeks following the release of watchOS 4. The update is available now to Apple Watch users and specifically contains a fix for cellular Series 3 models… The update fixes an issue that plagued some cellular Apple Watch Series 3 users when Apple Watch would attempt to join unauthenticated public WiFi networks. Apple is also currently in the process of beta testing watchOS 4....

The United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) on Tuesday granted a new Apple patent related to advanced text-to-speech features that may or may not be fully realized in future mobile devices and computers or brought to the company’s existing lineup via a software update. Apple first filed for this patent back in February of 2006, almost a year before the original iPhone announcement. This suggests the company sought to improve the quality of machine-generated speech on its devices well ahead of this month’s introduction of Siri, whose text-to-speech and speech-to-text interfaces are outlined in Apple’s patent applications from 2009 and 2011....

Following redesigns of many of its other applications, Apple has completely redesigned its iBooks application for iOS 7. The new iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch app follows the design aesthetic of the bundled Newsstand application, and also includes a completely redesigned iBookstore. The free update is available via the App Store now. For fans of the page curl effect in iBooks, you will be happy to know that it has not been removed....

With an update for the BACtrack Mobile and BACtrack Vio smartphone-connected breathalyzers, iPhone users are now able to share blood alcohol content results with Apple’s new Health app in iOS 8. An update to the companion app for the breathalyzers, which we previously reviewed alongside the BACtrack Vio, allows users to sync data with the Health app on iOS 8 and tap into data from other health-related apps. So why would you want the Health app to know how drunk you are?...

Earlier this month Apple seeded the first beta versions of Safari 7.1 (for Mavericks) and 6.2 (for Mountain Lion) to developers. Tonight a second beta has been published. Interestingly, aside from the focus areas outlined with the previous beta, Apple is also requesting that developers taking this beta for a spin try out the password and credit card auto-fill feature. The 7.1 and 6.2 updates are expected to be the last big updates to those specific versions of Apple’s browser before the release of OS X Yosemite, which ships with Safari 8....

It’s hard to imagine just how much cash Apple brings in each second through its online store. So it can only mean one thing when Apple throws up the maintenance page…. New Apple Toys are being added to the site! A new iPhone will likely be hitting the site today along with a few other devices as leaked by a few blogs (gotta love those search results). If the data is correct, it looks like a few new iPods....

A new report from The Telegraph this weekend claims that Apple Store suppliers have been “forced” by the company to accept more stringent terms to sell their products in Apple Stores and on the Apple Online Store. Suppliers cited in the report describe being “squeezed” by Apple through these new terms. Through its retail and online stores, Apple sells accessories and products made by third-party companies. This includes things like iPhone cases, smart home accessories, Mac peripherals, and more....

Former Inquirer writer Charlie Demerjian at SemiAccurate (via MacRumors) today posts that Apple’s laptop transition from Intel to ARM is a “Done deal” Scholars of recent history would point to Apple’s two earlier architecture transitions as examples of Apple’s hardware flexibility. That being said, two-three years from now iOS might be more of a laptop-capable OS from which Apple could build some, if not all of its laptops on. Interestingly, nowhere in the post is any mention of the words ‘Mac’ or ‘Macintosh’....

This seems like a good idea. Apple’s opening a Retail Store next year in Chicago near a run-down subway station at North and Clybourn. Apple would like to spruce up the place in exchange for 4 million dollars in advertising money (which if Chicago is anything like NYC, is gonna happen anyway). A CTA spokeswoman confirmed that the transit authority is in talks with the computer and iPhone behemoth about a deal that could net the cash-strapped CTA as much as $4 million in funding from Apple to pay for an upgrade of the run-down subway station at North and Clybourn, which is adjacent to an Apple retail store now under construction and expected to open next year....

Trademark attorney Brian Conroy today published evidence of new trademarks that Apple possibly plans to use for upcoming products. Most notably, the trademark filings reference an “Iris Engine” and “AirPods case,” leading to speculation that Apple could use the branding for new products and features to be unveiled at its event tomorrow. The discoveries follow previous reports of filings for the “AirPods” trademark thought to be a name in consideration for new wireless headphones Apple has in the works....

You didn’t think Apple was going to bring iTunes music and movie stores to EU countries without also giving them the new Apple TV to watch all that new content, did you? MacRumors claims to have got word seven new EU countries will be getting their hands on Apple’s set top box come October 4th, the same day as the new iPhone event. All-new Apple TV Now Available for Order in Seven New Countries...

We’re now more than a year and a half out from the launch of Apple Pay — Apple’s iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch-based mobile payment system — in the US, and we’re still seeing additional banks across the country regularly join the roster of participating partners. More than 20 new banks have added Apple Pay support in this round, and a new prepaid card launching in the UK today has also made the list....

Two weeks after unveiling iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 to the public at WWDC 2021, Apple is rolling out the second developer betas. iOS 15 beta 2 and iPadOS 15 beta 2 are now available to registered developers ahead of a public beta release in July and a release to everyone in the fall. iOS 15 beta 2 details iOS 15 beta 2 and iPadOS 15 beta 2 are available to developers via an over-the-air update in the Settings app....

Alongside the iOS 8 kerfuffle, Apple has posted some new downloads for developers too. OS X Server 4.0 Developer Preview is the latest seed of Yosemite Server and Xcode 6.0.1 is the latest version of the Apple IDE. Xcode 6.0.1 is the version of Apple’s development environment that Apple wants all developers to use going forward for iOS 8 apps. Interestingly, it is different to the Xcode 6 GM that Apple published last week, although the nature of the changes are unclear....