The Apple online store went down last night for a short while. It appears Apple made some minor tweaks, including the ability to receive text message notifications on orders. Apple is now displaying the following text in several sections of the online store in at least Canada and the United States: “Now get order status updates by text message.” Apple explained on its website that the new feature is an option during the checkout process, and it is available to the following supported carriers: Alltel, AT&T, Boost Mobile, Cricket, Nextel, Sprint, T-Mobile, U....

A new antitrust reform bill put forward by the chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on antitrust matters could see Apple and other tech giants fined up to 15% of their annual revenues. Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar has unveiled the Competition and Antitrust Law Enforcement Reform Act of 2021, which also provides increased funding to the DOJ and FTC to carry out antitrust investigations … Tech politics site Protocol (an offshoot of Politico) believes that the bill has a real shot at becoming law....

Its unfair to call out just Shaw. Looking at the list of Analysts for someone who might have a clue yields very little. Even Gene Munster (Piper Jaffray) whose full time job (and huge budget and crew of at least 4) it is to gather information on what Apple is up to, is not even 33% right. Even worse, most of his “correct” “information” is weeks behind some of the better Apple blogs – like Appleinsider, Ars Technica, and MacRumors....

Reuters reports that Apple, Google, Intel, and Adobe have resumed settlement talks in the ongoing lawsuit with employees over anti-poaching hiring practices. The news comes following a judge in the case rejecting an earlier $324.5 million settlement reached between employees and the companies last month. The lawsuit also brought on a separate case last month filed on behalf of Apple shareholders accusing the company of “breach of fiduciary duty, gross mismanagement, waste of corporate assets, and breach of the duty of honest services” related to the case....

New iPhones As expected, Apple’s 2019 lineup includes three new handsets, all slightly improved from the 2018 models each will replace. This consists of the 6.1-inch iPhone 11, 5.8-inch iPhone 11 Pro, and 6.5-inch iPhone 11 Pro Max. iPhone 11 The colorful iPhone 11 takes the iPhone XR’s spot in the iPhone lineup, even though the latter remains as one of the company’s lower-priced models. The 2019 model is available in new exciting colors, including purple and green, plus yellow, black, white, and (PRODUCT) Red....

Apple is boosting Chinese production of both the Apple Watch Series 6 and one of the new iPads, according to a supply-chain report. It might seem an odd move at a time when the Cupertino company has been trying to reduce its dependence on Chinese manufacturing, but there is a simple explanation for it … The Digitimes report says that the Chinese production will be for devices sold within the country, while manufacturing outside China continues for the export market....

Apple’s barrage of iPhone X ads continues today with yet another focused on Apple Pay on the iPhone X with Face ID. This ad focuses on using Apple’s mobile payment platform to pay for a grocery trip… This fast-paced ad is entitled “Groceries” and comes in at 12 seconds in length. Apple touts that the iPhone X with Face ID allows you to “Apple Pay and done” with incredible ease....

Last night we reported that several Mac and iOS users were finding their devices remotely locked by hackers who had gained access to the users’ Find My iPhone accounts and demanded a ransom to return the devices to a working state. Today Apple issued a statement on the problem, noting that—as suspected—the iCloud service itself was not actually breached, but individual user accounts may have been compromised through password reuse or social engineering:...

Apple today announced an expansion of its coding initiatives in Singapore and Indonesia. In a press release, the company says it has expanded the availability of Swift courses in Singapore, while also growing its Developer Academies in Indonesia. Apple says The Singapore University of Technology and Design and RMIT Online have both launched app development courses based on its App Development with Swift Curriculum. Further, Pathlight School, which is Singapore’s first autism-focused school, will also offer a Swift Accelorator program....

Apple today has updated its Feature Availability webpage to reflect that real-time traffic information is now available in six new countries around the globe. The move marks Apple’s continued expansion of select region-based features… As noted by MacRumors, real-time traffic information is now available in Brunei, Kenya, Mozambique, Philippines, Nigeria, and Vietnam. With these new additions, Traffic information in Apple Maps is now available in over 70 countries around the world....

Apple’s Fortune 500 ranking has moved back up to third place, after being knocked into fourth place last year by Exxon Mobil. Fortune has this year added an additional ranking, for diversity, equity and inclusion – and there Apple gets a rather low ranking of 188th … The Fortune 500 is a ranking of US companies by revenue. Apple takes third place based on record revenue of $274B, up 5.5% on the previous year....

Apple today issued its Preliminary Proxy Statement via its Investor Relations website. As a publicly traded company, Apple issues this document annually, and it discusses pay packages for both executive team members and board members, company practices, and topics which shareholders will vote on at the upcoming shareholder meeting. Apple says that the next shareholder meeting will take place on February 28, 2014. Some interesting tidbits include that Apple’s board met seven times in 2013 with 75%+ attendance during each meeting....

Apple is emailing customers in nine states that offer sales tax holidays to let them know they have an upcoming opportunity to buy Macs and/or accessories tax-free. Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Mexico, South Carolina and Tennessee all offer dates on which you can buy at least some Apple gear free from sales tax. The email provides a link to a webpage where you can click on your state to find out the dates, qualifying products and the maximum spend....

A week following Apple’s $200 million acquisition of Seattle-Based machine learning and AI company Turi, GeekWire is now reporting that Apple is looking to dramatically expand its presence in the state. Currently, Apple occupies less than two floors of an office tower in downtown Seattle. This expansion, however, could see Apple occupy “several hundred thousand square feet” of space. According to “real estate insiders” and other sources, Apple is looking at properties in downtown Bellevue, one being the 16-story Centre 425 building....

According to CNET, sources familiar with current negotiations between Apple and record labels claim Apple is currently trying to secure international music licenses related to iCloud. The report even suggests an announcement could be made at the iPhone media event on October 4th if a deal is reached before then. If CNET’s source is to be believed, countries slated to benefit from the licenses include Germany, France, and the UK. The licenses will apparently be similar to those in place with U....

The Smart Connector Apple introduced on the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, and used again on the latest 9.7-inch model, may become more capable over time. An Apple patent granted today reveals possible plans to allow multiple devices to be simultaneously connected to the port, using stacked connectors. Interestingly, while the much-loved MagSafe power connector was removed in the 12-inch MacBook, it seems that Apple hasn’t altogether abandoned the idea, as the patent describes using magnetic retention to stack the plugs – with one drawing showing what looks very much like a MagSafe Lightning plug …...

The Antiques Roadshow has been running in the U.K. since 1979 and in the U.S. since 1997. It’s a simple idea: Get together a group of antique experts, put up some tables, set up the cameras and invite the public to come in and have their items valued by the experts. People bring all sorts of things, from paintings to jewelry and silverware. And the valuations? Usually, you are talking hundreds or thousands of dollars....

Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim cited examples where the DOJ has already done so and pointed to three areas where the companies are going to come under scrutiny … Business Insider reports on a speech Delrahim made in Israel. Some politicians and lawyers have suggested that relying on century-old laws isn’t ideal when dealing with modern tech issues, but Delrahim disagrees. Pointing to the US government’s case 20 years ago against Microsoft and the nation’s long history of challenging the power of dominant companies, he added: “Those who say we need new or amended antitrust laws to address monopoly concerns should look to history and take heart....

Apex Legends Season 5 update become live from May 12, 2020, for the Windows, PS4, Xbox platforms. This new season brings a new character called Loba that improves abilities along with Mirage, Bloodhound, Crypto, and others. Additionally, the Kings Canyon map has been improved and a new quests mode has been included for daily/weekly rewards. However, the new update seems buggy as plenty of players is getting issues while downloading it....

Despite a flurry of leaks surrounding next-gen AirPods in the last couple of weeks, Ming-Chi Kuo this morning said that new AirPods will not enter mass production until the third quarter of 2021, which means they won’t be launching imminently. Many leakers have suggested that Apple will hold a product event on March 23rd. However, the date is not yet confirmed by Apple and it remains unclear what product would feature....