Apple Music for Android is getting a small but significant update today, adding a handful of new features for Music Video playback. Today’s update brings the app to version 2.4.0. While support for Music Videos has been available on Android since 2016, Apple is now getting around to adding various new features that bring the Android app more in line with iOS. Alongside support for Music Videos, the update includes stability improvements that will make “music playback more reliable on more devices....

Apple has inked new deals for Apple Music with a handful of major record labels, the Financial Times reports today. While these deals ensure that popular artists like Taylor Swift will remain available through Apple Music, they do not include an agreement to pair Apple Music with other Apple services through a bundle. The report cites four people familiar with the matter and says that Apple has inked multiyear licensing agreements for Apple Music with Universal Music, Sony Music, and Warner Music....

The store button in the Audible app (left) and the new version acknowledging the removal of the button to comply with Apple’s rules (right). UPDATE: [Monday, October 10, 2011 at 12:40am ET]: Well, that sure was quick. A new version of the Audible app has just gone live on the App Store, without the link to Audible’s Mobile Store from the app. The development actually means someone at Apple’s App Store team messed up....

Patently Apple reports that Apple has patented a new glove that works with capacitive touch screens. Several devices on the market use capacitive screens such as all of Apple’s mobile iOS devices: iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This highly advanced touch screen technology senses your inputs based on proximity sensors in the display, in addition to the human body’s natural conductivity. Because of these factors, devices like the iPhone cannot be used if the user is wearing something like a glove....

In the latest edition of the Guide to Greener Electronics (a quarterly assesment of the big tech firms), Apple sites around number five, the middle of the scale. Greenpeace admits these latest figures were put together before Apple’s recent publication of extensive environmental data. “We went to press before Apple’s updated environmental information was published last week,” Greenpeace says, adding, “but the welcome news of their transparency about greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental disclosures will be factored in to the next edition....

This “looks pretty good” element is what kept it on the device even though Apple knew about its repercussions. It is reported that as early as a year ago, Apple engineers knew of the detrimental issues that turned into this PR nightmare. One year seems like enough time for a company like Apple to rethink and redesign something like an antenna. It is also stated that Steve Jobs, made the official decision to keep design over function, by keeping the nice antenna even though it would possibly create the havoc seen today....

Ahead of the new iPhone 8 and iPhone X, Apple has made a small but notable change to its iPhone Upgrade Program. While customers previously had to go into an Apple retail store to trade in their device and pick up their new one, Apple is now allowing trade-in devices to be mailed in… Apple has updated its iPhone Upgrade Program webpage to reflect the change in policy, saying customers can now have a Trade-in Kit mailed to them:...

In another chapter of App Store issues, WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg shared on Twitter today that the reason there haven’t been any updates for the WordPress iOS app is that Apple won’t approve them until the app includes in-app payment options. The strange thing is, the WordPress app doesn’t sell anything. Update: It was the fact that the WordPress iOS app includes references to buying paid plans that was the issue here (even though purchases can’t be made in the app)....

During the AMAs this evening, Apple debuted a new ad for Apple Music starring its long-time advocate, Drake. The ad is essentially a mirror of an ad that starred Taylor Swift and was released earlier this year. Apple has shared its new Drake ad on YouTube with the title “Drake vs. Bench Press.” In the ad, Drake is seen lifting weights and listening Apple Music for his workout entertainment. The rapper uses the “Pop Workout” playlist, which presents him with Taylor Swift’s song “Bad Blood....

As noted by Reuters, Apple has greatly expanded the number of people it has invited to its event on Tuesday, when compared to past Apple announcements. This is probably one motivation for Apple’s change to use Flint Center as a venue, with over double the seating capacity of Yerba Buena, Apple’s usual venue of choice. Reuters say that Apple is making “closer ties to the fashion world” to try and appease fashion critics about its wearable devices....

Another day, another Apple patent, this time seemingly bound for a future incarnation of the Apple TV. The patent describes a, “Remote Control System that can Distinguish Stray Light Sources” – think a Wii remote with built-in understanding of ambient light conditions.The focus of the patent centres on a new transmitter component that sits under a display or television in communications with the Apple TV console. The entire system could also be incorporated into a television itself, states the patent....

It’s officially 2017 and we’re already looking forward to what Apple has in store over the next twelve months. This year will mark the 10th anniversary of the iPhone, and the grand opening of Apple’s ‘Spaceship’ Campus 2 headquarters in Cupertino where it will host events at a new 1000 seat auditorium, and that’s before we even get to actual products. Head below for our look at what’s next for Apple as we ring in the New Year....

I completely understand the company’s attitude. They have a new iPad and iPhone, so the last thing it needs is bad press. A press release by the company says that the Fair Labor Association will be conducting special audits at the company’s suppliers. To its credit, Apple has requested this. No matter what targeted the decision, it is a good step in a normal direction. Factories checked will also include Foxconn facilities in Shenzhen and Chengdu, China....

Apple helped Walmart build a store-within-a-store oasis for Apple products in the home state of the chain’s founder Sam Walton. We broke the news earlier this year that Sams’s Club is exploring Apple Store-within-a-store concepts. This weekend, Apple retail news website ifoAppleStore posted numerous pictures from a Walmart in Lowell, Ark., which owns and operates Sam’s Club, that depict Apple displays within its walls akin to Best Buy’s lavish store-within-a-store creations....

Siri, Apple’s artificial intelligence-driven digital secretary exclusive to iPhone 4S, is being worked on, improved and is about to get smarter, a pair of job openings indicate. This doesn’t come as such a big surprise because Siri – uncharacteristically for Apple – launched as a beta product because it had to (and thus its lack of fit and finish). Apple’s Siri user interface manager Dan Keen pointed at two job openings for experienced iOS software engineers to join the team that implements the user interface for Siri and help “make the next big thing even bigger”....

The billboards feature mostly black and white backgrounds akin to the imagery on Apple’s website, and the artwork features different and unique fonts. The billboards are custom sized to their location, meaning they have been specifically designed for individual placement. We have embedded a gallery below of various Apple Music billboards placed around the globe. While these are the first Apple Music billboards tailored direct to the steaming music component of the service, Apple has touted the Beats 1 Radio station by way of a digital ad in New York City’s Times Square....

Apple has now activated in-store pickup on its website as another way to buy Apple AirPods from retail stores. If you are lucky, your local store might just have some units in stock and you can go and collect them today. If you are desperate to buy AirPods before Christmas, it’s worth refreshing your local pickup options as retail stores are getting new shipments all the time. AirPods are also now being sold on Verizon’s website, which is another place where you might be able to buy some before the end of 2016....

While macOS Catalina includes many new features and enhancements, at least one iconic Mac feature has bit the dust. With macOS 10.15, Apple has killed its famous Dashboard feature completely. This comes after Apple made it increasingly hard to access with last year’s Mojave release. In macOS Catalina, Dashboard is nowhere to be found at all. Appleosophy even went as far as to try and enable the feature via Terminal, but without any luck....

As noted this morning on Reddit, workers on the Apple Park campus site are posting photos and video snaps to Snapchat for the world to see. Whilst this openness surely isn’t endorsed by Apple, it seems to have been going on for a long time unnoticed with snaps going back weeks. There is enough for it to appear on the ‘Snap Map’ as a heat spot at least. The images don’t reveal too much, although the interior videos of the work-in-progress pods definitely give off a dystopian vibe....

We’ve recently seen a prescription-only PTSD Apple Watch app get FDA approval. The same has now happened for an iPhone-based anti-insomnia app – but it costs a cool $899! The coronavirus crisis has accelerated work on app-based treatments for mental health conditions which have previously required prescription medications and/or in-person therapy sessions … Business Insider reports. COVID has increased the prevalence of mental illness symptoms, and driven demand for treatments which were struggling to keep pace even before the lockdowns....