Apple today announced that it is holding a live HomePod question and answer session next week. The event will be held on its support forums, with specialists available during a four-hour window to answer Homepod-related questions. As first noticed by MacRumors, Apple specialists will be available via this live Q&A event between 11AM and 3PM PT next week on July 25th, 2018. The specialists will be offering tips on how to use AirPlay 2, create stereo pairs, and much more....

The release… SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — LG Display Co. has reached a long-term deal with Apple Inc. to supply flat panels to the iconic maker of computers, music players and smart phones. The contract between the two companies is for five years and calls for LG to receive an advance payment of $500 million sometime this month, the South Korean company said in a regulatory filing Monday. Seoul-based LG Display and Apple, headquartered in Cupertino, California, planned to decide later on details such as the number of panels LG will provide, LG said....

IFOAppleStore got its hands on a photo of a new Genius Bar that ditches the traditional desk in the back and moves to a 10-foot long table perpendicular to the back wall with more seats. The design does not look to be rolled out to many stores, but rather looks like the Apple retail staff is testing it. For those unfamiliar, the Genius Bar is the section of the Apple store where “Geniuses” assist customers with new purchases, training, and broken items....

As Apple continues its efforts to break into the fashion scene, it was today announced that the company will sponsor the 2016 Met Gala. For those unfamiliar, the Met Gala is an event held every year in New York to benefit the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute. Each year has a different theme and the 2016 theme will be “Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology,” with Apple sponsoring the event and Jony Ive serving a co-chair alongside Taylor Swift....

When Apple updated its iLife suite on iOS and OS X today during its iPad event, it announced a new feature for iMovie called “iMovie Theater” designed to allow users to share content to iCloud and then watch the clips, movies or trailers easily on any Apple device. Apple mentioned that would also include the Apple TV and has now added a new “iMovie Theater” channel in a quiet update to Apple TV....

Apple had published its latest Transparency Report on Government Information Requests, covering the second half of last year. It revealed that it received over 30,000 requests last year, and complied with up to 82% of them. It is not allowed to specify the exact number of National Security Requests, but says they fell into the 1250-1499 band. Apple breaks down the numbers by country, region and type of request. It says that most fall into what it terms device requests....

Apple has released the third tvOS 11.4 developer beta for testing on Apple TV 4 and Apple TV 4K. tvOS 11.4 turns Apple TV into an AirPlay 2 speaker which supports multi-room AirPlay from iOS. The latest developer beta of tvOS follows the official release of tvOS 11.3 to all customers last month. The new version added support for frame rate matching to older Apple TVs and Apple Music highlighted new music video playlists....

Update: iOS 13.2 beta 3, iPadOS 13.2 beta 3, watchOS 6.1 beta 4, and tvOS 13.2 beta 3 are now available. iOS 13.2 and iPadOS 13.2 public beta 3 also now available Apple today is releasing the third developer beta of iOS 13.2 and iPadOS 13.2. Today’s release comes just under a week after the release of the second iOS 13.2 beta with Deep Fusion camera technology, Siri changes, and more....

Qualcomm, which makes baseband communications chips for Apple and licenses 3G and 4G patents to other smartphone manufacturers, has been fined almost a billion dollars by the Chinese government in an anti-trust case. The company was found to have abused its dominant position in wireless chip technology by charging “unfairly high” licensing fees to manufacturers of smartphones and tablets. The 6B Yuan ($960M) fine is the largest fine ever imposed on a foreign company, reports the Guardian....

Apple is making it official: the company will hold a major product unveiling on October 27 where new Macs are expected to debut. The event will take place on Apple’s campus, likely marking the last one before Apple Campus 2 is open for business. The event is somewhat of a surprise as Apple opted not to hold two fall events last year and all signs pointed to the iPhone 7 event last month being the last before Apple moves into its new campus next year....

Bob Dylan, David Bowie, and Justin Timberlake are just a few of the artists over the past year to offer full-length, high quality streams of their newest albums on iTunes in the days before release. The latest to follow in the trend is award winning electronic music duo Daft Punk with a full length stream of the group’s 74-minute “Random Access Memories” album hitting iTunes earlier this week. While it’s often suggested the streams help to fight piracy of the albums before their release, we’ve discovered Apple is ironically making it easier than ever to grab a high quality version of the stream right from its website....

Apple has long been working with the Indian government to set up retail locations in the country, a task that’s rather challenging due to stringent regulation in the country. Now, The Economic Times reports that one concession Apple is fighting for in India is related labeling laws so it doesn’t have to print product info on devices. Currently, Indian law requires that certain product details be printed on the device itself, but Apple has asked that it be allowed to print the information on the iPhone’s packaging or somewhere in iOS....

Invitations to select members of the media and special guests indicate that the event will begin at 10 AM Pacific time/1 PM Eastern Time. As for the specs and features of the upcoming iPad Air 2, we’ve recently shared with you a story compiling pretty much all there is to know about it. At the launch event, Apple is expected to debut updates to its iPad and Mac lines. As always, the new versions of the iPad Air and the iPad mini will be slightly thinner, will featre a more efficient and faster A8 processor, a new M8 chip from the iPhone 6, Touch ID, enhanced camera features, an improved screen design, and gold color option....

. Patently Apple did what it does and dug up a patent related to building 3D avatars: This could be for GameCenter or a number of other areas where you would want to create an online personality. Interestingly, sole inventor Thomas Goossens of Apple Paris originally filed Apple’s patent application in Q3 2010. Before anyone says anything, those thin bezels around the iPad are likely because it is the simulator....

As part of Apple’s push for a greener environment, the company has changed up its physical signage outside Apple Stores around the world to celebrate Earth Day. The updated logos are mostly the same but the leaf section is tinted green. The celebration can be seen at Apple Stores worldwide. Apple has also put the Apple logo with the green adornments in some places online, such as on its YouTube account....

Apple TV+ officially debuted to the public yesterday, but Apple has been teasing and promoting the launch since March. New data from iSpot.TV, first reported by The New York Times, sheds light on how much Apple is spending on marketing for TV+. The report explains that Apple is taking a ‘slow-roll’ approach to advertising the service. According to the data, Apple spent $19.9 million television commercials for TV+ during the month of October....

Apple confirmed the acquisition of Turi earlier this month with its usual statement that it “buys smaller technology companies from time to time,” but it didn’t offer any details on what it had planned for the company. We’ve learned Apple has now started growing the team that it acquired from Turi by hiring application developers and data scientists for the new machine learning division that will remain in Seattle where Turi was originally based....

Rough mockup of fourth Apple TV vs. third Apple TV by Michael Steeber With the official debut of the next-generation Apple TV less than two weeks away, sources have provided additional details on Apple’s pricing, availability, and product lineup plans for its set-top devices. According to sources, the fourth-generation Apple TV will be priced below $200, and is on track to become available in October. Apple executives are apparently still finalizing the price of the revamped living room device, but the latest options call for a starting price point of either $149 or $199, both higher than the third-generation Apple TV…...

Rare Apple TV 4K deals, ecobee’s new SmartThermostat, and early Prime Day deals highlight today’s 9to5Toys Lunch Break. Head below for more. Apple TV 4K deals deliver markdowns to $139 Rare is an understatement when it comes to Apple TV 4K deals in 2019. If you’ve been holding out for Apple’s streaming media player, consider jumping on this deal at $139. That’s good for $40 off the regular going rate and the best we’ve seen this year....

USA Technologies announced today that Apple Pay is getting support for its MORE loyalty card and payroll deduct program that is accepted at more than 300,000 vending machines across the US. The company is demoing the new integration this week at CES 2017. The company has also redesigned the UX for its machines to better promote Apple Pay and make the experience easier for iPhone and Apple Watch users: Following the integration, unattended operators will be able to offer an enhanced experience to their customers using Apple Pay, which is transforming mobile payments with an easy, secure and private way to pay that’s fast and convenient....