Apple today has unveiled a new ad for the fourth-generation Apple TV that highlights the plethora of apps and content available on the new tvOS platform. The ad, which runs 1-minute long, follows a series of shorter advertisements all focused on specific apps and games available on the device. Today’s new ad is entitled “The Future of Television,” a phrase Tim Cook has used in the past to describe apps running on the Apple TV....

Apple this morning announced that its venerable App Store has hit fifteen billion downloads, matching the number of song downloads on the iTunes Store as of last month. The company re-iterated that it has paid developers over $2.5 billion cumulatively since the App Store’s inception. This is after Apple’s standard 30 percent cut, meaning total App Store revenue before the break-down is almost $3.6 billion in aggregate. Apple also said it sold over two hundred million iOS devices (iPhones, iPod touches and iPads)....

With iOS 10, Apple is officially bringing support for lyrics to the Music application. Currently, it’s unclear how Apple is aggregating those lyrics, whether it be from other lyric websites or from record labels and artists directly. Nevertheless, a new job listing discovered by MBW suggests that Apple is looking to expand its team of “lyrics curators” with a new manager. According to the job listing, the manager would work out of Apple’s main campus, working with a team to improve Apple’s lyric offerings....

A new job listing posted by Apple in the last week shows the company is looking to hire a “senior systems neuroscientist” capable of “building transformative neurotechnology.” The specific application for such a position is unclear, though Siri seems like a good candidate. The job listing first noticed by Ryota Kanai on Twitter. Apple requires any applicants for the position to have 5 to 10 years “designing experiments to investigate the neural correlates of perception, action, or cognition using human or animal models....

Apple Music appears to be in the process of renaming the Get Up mix to the Workout Mix. Some of us are already seeing the new name, while others continue to see the old one … MacStories managing editor John Voorhees spotted it, noting that he’s seeing the new name on his Mac and both names on his iPhone. The mix was first introduced in March. Apple Music offers some “Mix” playlists that are updated weekly with new songs, including Friends Mix, Favorites Mix, and Chill Mix....

A report that Apple would pay music labels a reduced royalty rate during the three-month free trial of Apple Music has been confirmed by labels who spoke to the NY Times. Apple had originally planned to pay them nothing before an open letter from Taylor Swift and complaints from others led to a swift change of plan. Spotify bases its royalty payment for free users on a 35% share, half of the 70% it pays for tracks streamed by paid subscribers … For each song that is streamed free, Apple will pay 0....

Looking for alternatives? Buy Belkin Thunderbolt 3 Cable for your Apple devices. Apple is finally offering its own brand of Thunderbolt 3 cables. More than a year after the Thunderbolt 3-equipped MacBook Pro debuted, you can now get a 0.8m Apple Thunderbolt Cable for $40 from the Apple Store. Prior to today, Apple stocked a third party Thunderbolt 3 cable from Belkin as it didn’t have one of its own....

Now that we’ve just seen the release of Octane as Season 1 of Apex Legends gets underway, it looks like there’s still even more to come. The game’s Reddit community has been a hive of activity as of late, and users have now compiled a list of rumored Apex Legends upcoming content based on footage from promotional footage and photos. With plenty of time left in Season 1, these rumors about what to come next appear to suggest at a variety of ways to spice up the current Apex Legends experience and to take it to new explosive heights....

In iOS 7, Apple has made it easier for parents to find great age-appropriate, kid-friendly educational apps by gathering them all in one location. It’s currently being featured on the Featured page. Also you can find it by pressing on the blue word Categories in the upper left hand corner of the screen and then scroll down until you see Kids or click here. (ages 5 & under, ages 6-8 and ages 9-11)....

Apple: Spokeswoman Natalie Kerris said Apple welcomed the the announcement. “We are very happy that AT&T is now supporting VOIP applications. We will be amending our developer agreements to get VOIP apps on the App Store and in customers’ hands as soon as possible.” Skype President Josh Silverman said: “Since launching our iPhone application six months ago, people have downloaded and installed Skype on 10% of all iPhone and iPod touch devices sold – making it clear that people are extremely interested in taking Skype conversations with them on the go....

As part of its media event, Apple has announced a new 9.7 inch version of the iPad Pro from $599. It features much of the same internals as its 12.9 inch cousin, with A9X chip, Apple Pencil support and Smart Connector. Although in most respects, the iPad Pro is the same as its big brother it features significant upgrades in the camera department. The 9.7 inch iPad Pro has a 12 megapixel rear camera, 4K video recording and a 5 megapixel front camera....

The feature is accompanied by a new app switcher that allows users to quickly swipe an app into place running at the width of an iPhone app alongside an iPad-sized app. Users can also switch to a view that shows to iPad-sized apps next to each other, but only on the iPad Air 2. Users will also be able to shrink videos down and watch them while working in other apps by tapping incoming notifications....

J.D. Power and Associates has just announced the results of their annual 2011 U.S. Wireless Handset Customer Satisfaction Study. Apple has earned the top-spot on the list for the sixth consecutive time. Apple scored a 838 on a 1,000-point scale with the iPhone, while the runner-up HTC scored a relatively close score of 801. 6,898 smartphone owners took part in the study. As if we already didn’t know, customers are pretty satisfied with Apple’s iPhone, and its 5-star rating for “Ease of Operation”....

Apple Books has published six exclusive audiobooks this week, showcasing six great first listen titles read by celebrity narrators. The books themselves are all public domain works from Pride and Prejudice to Winnie the Pooh, recorded by Apple and released in the Book Store for free. Only available on Apple Books, Apple has partnered with celebrities including actresses Kate Beckinsale and Karen Gillan, and comedian Tituss Burgess. The titles range from four to twelve hours in length, and there’s even a retelling of Winnie the Pooh recorded by Disney....

As part of its unveiling and demo of iOS 6 today, Apple shared some of the newest updates and features of Siri. The first new feature demoed by Senior Vice President of iOS Software Scott Forstall was access to sports scores for queries such as “What is Buster Posey’s batting average?” or “Who is taller, LeBron or Kobe?” Apple also noted that it partnered with Yelp and integrated OpenTable functionality for better restaurant related results, as well as Rotten Tomatoes for movie reviews and show times-related content....

From 9to5toys.com: The Apple Store dropped its price on the factory-refurbished, 1st-generation Apple iPad 16GB Wi-Fi (pictured), model no. MB292LL/A, to $299 with free shipping. That’s $30 under our June mention and is $184 under the lowest total price we could find for a new one. (It’s also the lowest we’ve ever seen for any iPad.) This 0.5″-thick tablet weighs 1.5 lbs. and features an Apple A4 1GHz processor, 9.7″ 1024×768 LCD touchscreen display, 802....

In a new interview shared today by Yahoo, Deidre Caldbeck, director of Apple Watch product marketing, and Kevin Lynch, Apple’s VP of technology, spoke about the new features on watchOS 8 and how Apple Watch can become people’s new wallet. During WWDC21, Apple previewed watchOS 8. The new operating system for the Apple Watch, as well as iOS 15, will bring a revamped Wallet app. Apart from the ability to add a credit card, movie, and flight tickets, Apple wants users to add ID cards and keys for their everyday life with the app....

The US Patent & Trademark Office today published a patent application from Apple relating to its smart ring project, which could be used with AR, VR, and MR applications. This is the latest evidence of Apple’s continued work in AR and VR. As reported by Patently Apple, this is not the first time the company has applied for a smart ring patent. It all started in 2015, and last March, Apple won a patent for a ring accessory that is specifically designed to work with VR glasses and/or a headset that is more accurate than wearing VR gloves....

Apple shared a series of lighthearted animated videos for Earth Day back in April and today the company has released another new video in the same style. This one highlights the company’s efforts with sustainable packaging… Curious enough, the video published today to Apple’s YouTube channel is titled “Earth Day 2017 – Can an apple grow a forest?” even though we’re months past Earth Day. Like the previous videos, this new one is narrated by Apple executive Lisa Jackson (along with others) and gives more insight into the lengths Apple goes to protect the environment....

Apple has made yet another key hire from the fashion industry: Chester Chipperfield, the Vice President of Digital and Interactive Design at Burberry. Chipperfield was “responsible for User Experience and Digital Design for all channels” and was “highly involved in digital retail initiatives” at Burberry, according to his LinkedIn profile. He confirmed the move to Apple on his profile as well as on Twitter… With experience in digital initiatives for a fashion powerhouse, Chipperfield will likely be critical in the rollout of the Apple Watch over the next few months....