Apple has released a notable supplemental update to macOS Catalina 10.15.4 today. The update brings a FaceTime bug fix, MacBook Air 2020 improvements, and more. Apple released macOS Catalina 10.15.4 to the public last week, brining support for iCloud Drive Folder Sharing, Apple Music, time-synced lyrics, and more. Since then, there have been some complaints from users about the stability of the update; and that’s what today’s supplement release aims to address....

If you’ve been wondering what’s different with Apple’s ads lately, you are probably not alone. Scott Trattner had been working with Apple’s exclusive ad agency, TBWA’s Media Arts Lab, since 2004, but left the firm in the summer of 2012 to join 72andSunny. Trattner worked on multiple campaigns for Apple, including the famous Get a Mac series. He served as the Executive Creative Director during his initial run with Apple’s ad firm....

Wired has an interesting profile today on Lisa Jackson, former head of the Environmental Protection Agency who joined Apple in June last year to oversee environmental issues. The publication joined Jackson as she traveled to Apple’s new data center outside of Reno, Nevada, and through the interview offers some interesting insight into what Jackson is trying to accomplish at Apple. The interview with Jackson is landing just as Apple is set to celebrate Earth Day tomorrow and make some new environmental related announcements:...

Apple subsidiary FileMaker announced today that it has reached over 1,000,000 downloads on the App Store of its FileMaker Go database management app. The news follows the release of FileMaker 13 in December, which came alongside a streamlined iOS companion app for iPhone and iPad with new features including barcode scanning, native iOS behaviors, gesture-based navigation and much more. The FileMaker Go for iPad and iPhone App is part of FileMaker’s comprehensive lineup of desktop, server and iOS software for creating custom business solutions that run on iPad, iPhone, Windows, Mac, and web browsers....

Announced at Apple Retail’s store quarterly meetings today, Apple will begin providing its employees free iBooks titles next week. The initiative is called “iBooks Discovery” internally. The move comes ahead of the launch of both OS X Mavericks and iOS 7. Mavericks will be the first Mac operating system to feature the iBooks app and iBookstore, so Apple is providing their employees paid titles for free as a way for the employees to further familiarize themselves with iBooks....

Interbrand has named Apple as the world’s most valuable brand for the third year running, estimating that it increased its total value by 43% in the past year to hit $170B. The company bases its estimates on a mix of the financial performance of the company, its ability to influence purchase decisions and the degree of brand loyalty it enjoys. Google again took second place, seeing its value climb by 12% to $120B....

Apple announced at WWDC in June that Apple Pay would be coming to Spain at some point this year, and Spanish site Applesfera is reporting that the service will launch tomorrow for Banco Santander customers. The mobile payment system Apple Pay will definitely come to Spain this Thursday, December 1, for Banco Santander customers. Several sources have confirmed to Applesfera that – barring any last-minute changes – the rollout date will be tomorrow … The site implies that its sources are within the bank, rather than Apple....

Apple has debuted a new marketing tool for podcasters today. Through the Apple Podcasts Marketing Tools website, podcasters can now create new embeddable web players for their shows as well as individual episodes. Through the marketing website, podcasters can create a custom embeddable player that includes the most recent episodes of their podcast. The player is fully interactive, so people can click or tap on an episode to list to it without going to another webpage or app....

Apple is releasing iOS 13.4.1 and iPadOS 13.4.1 to the public today. These updates follow the public release of iOS 13.4 last month and focus on bug fixes, performance improvements, and security enhancements. Apple started beta testing iOS 13.4.5 last week, leaving many to wonder where iOS 13.4.1 was. The update is rolling out now to iPhone and iPad users. Here are the release notes: Fixes an issue where devices running iOS 13....

A little under a week after releasing its second beta, Apple has released the third developer beta of iOS 9.3.2 for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. iOS 9.3.2 appears to be a smaller update compared to the past significant iOS 9.3 update that brought about features such as Night Shift and Touch ID notes. iOS 9.3.2 Beta 3 release notes are not yet available through Apple’s Developer Center, but the update is propagating to iOS devices now....

Apple was just granted a patent by the US Patent and Trademark Office (via Patently Apple) detailing 3D display & imaging technologies that could potentially lead to advanced Kinect-like navigation through performing gestures or manipulating holographic images within a virtual 3D space. Essentially, this would allow you to perform hand gestures within a virtual space while your hands are displayed on a screen, allowing for precise manipulation of on-screen elements....

Apple this morning confirmed it intends opening its Mac App Store on Thursday, January 6. The store will be available in 90 countries at launch and will feature both paid and free apps in various categories. “The App Store revolutionized mobile apps,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We hope to do the same for PC apps with the Mac App Store by making finding and buying PC apps easy and fun....

Apple today announced that it is relaxing some notarization requirements for Mac apps. For apps outside of the Mac App Store, macOS Catalina will only run notarized software. However, developers have found it difficult to adopt notarization. To ease the transition, Apple is temporarily relaxing some of the things that the company previously mandated for an app to be notarized. In a developer update, the company said developers can now notarize software that do not use the hardened runtime features, contain components that are not signed with a Developer ID, lack a secure time stamp, or include the get-task-allow entitlement....

Apple TV includes a nice variety of gorgeous screensavers but what about if you want to display more traditional artwork on your TV or another display? Today, Enplug is launching a free new service that brings the work of thousands of artists to your home or business. Using a TV as a digital canvas for artwork when not in use has become popular over the past years. Samsung has even created a successful product line out of the feature with The Frame TV series....

In the aftermath of Apple’s cancellation of the big HomePod, there’s been a lot of speculation about Apple TV’s future. After releasing the tvOS version of the Apple TV in 2015 and the 4K version in 2017, Apple has largely been silent on the platform’s future. Despite tvOS receiving continual software updates, the hardware has remained stagnant. Even without modern hardware, the Apple TV is nearly the perfect digital signage device, thanks to Apple’s mobile device management integration....

Apple closed the majority of its 510 retail stores on March 13th following deteriorating public health due to the coronavirus outbreak. The company originally planned to begin reopening stores by March 27th, but rapidly changing conditions necessitated extended closures. O’Brien’s message to store teams notes that Apple now anticipates some stores may be able to reopen in the first half of April. Local conditions will be assessed on a store-by-store basis to ensure the safety of team members and customers....

It seems scarcely a week goes by without Apple and Qualcomm facing off in court, and the latest trial kicks off today in San Diego. Qualcomm alleges that iPhones with Intel radio chips violate three of its patents, and it is seeking damages amounting to $1.41 per iPhone … Reuters reports that the trial is scheduled to last for eight days. Last month’s developments Last month alone saw multiple developments in the long-running legal disputes between the two companies....

Apple has released OS X Yosemite GM Candidate 1.0 for developers via the Mac App Store today. Candidate 1.0 of OS X Yosemite GM follows the release of the first iOS 8.1 beta to developers yesterday and Yosemite Developer Preview 8 two weeks ago. Apple is expected to debut to the new version of the Mac operating system to the public next month. We’ll update with changes found in the new version, and feel free to share any discoveries in the comments or via tips@9to5mac....

In addition to the release of iOS 14 beta 2, Apple today has also released watchOS 7 beta 2 to developers. watchOS 7 includes new features such as sleep tracking, new watch face features, fitness improvements, and more. Today’s release brings additional refinement to these features. watchOS 7 beta 2 can be installed by developers through the companion Apple Watch app on iPhone, or by heading to the Settings app on the Apple Watch itself....

According to Israeli publication Calcalist.co.il, Apple has purchased PrimeSense, the company behind the original Microsoft Kinect’s technology somewhere near a valuation in the $345M range. According to the report, a delegation of PrimeSense senior executives visited Apple’s engineering offices in recent days. The purchase would bolster Apple’s living room TV interface offerings and allow Apple to add controls with body movements and hand gestures to its products. Calcalist reported in July that Apple was mulling a purchase for somewhere in the neighborhood of $280M....