Apple Maps has been updated to show COVID-19 airport travel guidance in partnership with the Airports Council International. The feature is rolling out now with Apple Maps surfacing a paragraph of important details along with a link to an airport’s COVID travel guidance page. Two weeks ago, Apple Maps added COVID vaccine locations in the US and now the platform is gaining useful global airport travel guidance. The Airports Council International (ACI) shared the news in a press release today:...

Apple Maps public transit navigation continues its leisurely global rollout, with the ability to plan journeys using trains now available in parts of Austria. A next-step is also anticipated in Germany … iPhone Ticker reports that the public transit feature is now working in the capital of Vienna, as well as the popular ski resort of Innsbruck, alongside other unspecified cities. The site notes that Apple hasn’t yet added Austria to its official list of supported countries....

Apple News+ hasn’t even been available for a month yet, and some publishers are already growing frustrated with it. A new report from Digiday details how some publishers are experiencing headaches with formatting, communicating with Apple, and more. In its original pitches to publishers, Apple promised that it would provide design resources and article templates. According to today’s report, which cites communication with five publishers, Apple’s promise has proven to be “half true....

Apple has today launched Apple News+ in the United Kingdom with access to around 150 publications. For £9.99 per month, Apple users can access current and past issues from UK-centric magazines and newspapers including The Times, Esquire, Empire, Hello!, Cyclist and Grazia. UK subscribers can also access US publications including the Wall Street Journal. UK users can start using the Apple News+ service now. Just visit the News+ tab in the Apple News app on your iPhone, iPad or Mac....

The prevailing view of Apple News+ among newspaper publishers has been that the deal doesn’t make sense for the big boys. It would cannibalise their own digital subscriptions, and also means that Apple owns the relationship with their readers. The New York Times, for example, not only refused to sign up itself, but also went on record explaining why it believes other newspapers should follow its lead … CEO Mark Thompson made the case against....

Warning! Spoilers For Ant-Man #1 Scott Lang is looking to be a new Hero for Hire in the new Ant-Man #1. Unfortunately, it’s hard to pay the bills as Ant-Man, and Scott’s pretty low on cash at the moment, forcing him to look for heroic jobs that also come with a paycheck. While he does get to work with his daughter Cassie every now and then, Scott has to get creative about where he lives in the meantime, even if that means settling for a space that’s smaller than a studio apartment....

Tim Cook on the earnings conference call today told listeners that the earthquake in Japan isn’t going to affect the supply chain for Apple’s products over the next quarter. He did mention that the economic impact of the earthquake with consumers would drive revenue expectations down $200M and that has been factored into the guidance. Caution the the situation remains unstable with the nuclear plant and other factors. Apple now taking Red Cross donations through iTunes for Japan relief fund (9to5mac....

Reuters reports that the CEOs of both Samsung and Apple have agreed to sit down with their lawyers and hash out a settlement in the latest of the never-ending patent suits between the two companies. Legal teams from both companies decided on this course of action earlier this week. The meeting will take place some time next month, ahead of the actual court proceedings scheduled for March. If the two companies managed to reach a settlement, they could bypass the entire court process, saving both sides of the fight from financial and legal headaches....

Following reports in February that Apple purchased roughly 160-acres of land in Prineville, Ore., for $5.6 million, The Oregonian reported today Apple has now started the first $68 million phase of construction. The new land will apparently consist of two 338,000 square-foot buildings behind a 10,000 square-foot modular data center it has already built on the property. The $68 million figure for the first phase of construction covers one of those two buildings, according to plans filed with Crook County and dug up by The Oregonian:...

Following a win for the Toronto Raptors last night in Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Championship, Apple is joining in on the celebration with a tribute via its Canadian website. Users visiting Apple.ca (the tribute only appears on the local Canadian version of its site) this morning are greeted with a short animation of floating basketballs, dinosaurs (T-Rex, close enough), and Canadian flag emojis, as pictured above. The win last night for the Raptors against the Golden State Warriors made for Canada’s first ever NBA Championship....

Apple is sending a new round of invitations to developers for online sessions focused on bringing iPad apps to the Mac. The email invites developers to sign up for the “Bring Your iPad App to Mac” online workshops throughout the rest of February and the first half of March. Apple explains in the email: The company says that developers will be able to ask questions during the presentations, as well as book one-on-one consultations with Apple experts on optimizing iPad apps and bringing them to Mac....

Apple has issued the first macOS 10.12.1 developer beta in addition to the first Xcode 8.1 developer beta. The updates come just one day after Apple officially released the major macOS Sierra update for all users. The new macOS 10.12.1 developer beta features build version 16B2327e while the first Xcode 8.1 beta has build version 8T29o. We’ll dig in to the first update to macOS Sierra and update with any notable changes....

A new job listing posted by Apple shows that the company is working to bring its in-house Maps app, currently only available as native apps for iOS and Mac OS X, to the web. The position for a “Maps Web Developer” is seeking an individual experienced in “creating beautiful and responsive user interfaces” with JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. The developer will work with Apple’s teams on web implementations of its mapping technology....

Apple is in the process of winding down Beats Electronics’ outsourced phone support ties and moving technical support completely in-house via AppleCare, according to sources. Beats Electronics phone support is currently split between Apple and Sitel, a customer support outsourcing firm, and Apple is aiming to completely end that relationship as soon as March. Apple cut several Beats jobs in July following the acquisition. Sitel employees have confirmed that they will be moved to new technical support positions for other companies, and AppleCare employees similarly confirmed that Beats support will soon be handled completely internally....

Just as we thought Apple’s u-turn would put an end to the controversy over its original intention to pay artists nothing during the free trial of Apple Music, a statement to the WSJ suggests that there is still time for the saga to turn into a PR nightmare. While everyone assumed Apple would now be paying artists and publishers the 71.5% royalty rate from day one, it appears the actual amount paid during the free trial will be lower....

Apple today announced a new partnership with Warner Music to launch “Saylists,” which are special playlists available on Apple Music that are focused on helping young people with speech-sound disorders. As reported by BBC News, the project uses algorithms to identify songs which repeat sounds that are difficult for those with speech disorders to pronounce. “One in 12 children in the UK is believed to experience some form of speech-sound disorder (SSD),” says the report....

Apple has published an update for Aperture that fixes a few issues with the app. Version 3.5.1 includes fixes for issues with Temperature & Tint White Balance, face-detection overlays, and the metadata field when switching between photos with the arrow keys. The update also fixes stability issues. Aperture 3.5.1 is available now on the Mac App Store. What’s New in Version 3.5.1 • Temperature & Tint White Balance now works correctly • Fixes an issue related to face detection overlays • Addresses an issue with metadata field entry when arrowing between photos • Includes stability improvements

Apple has added a couple of new channels to the Apple TV for UK users. The addition of Sky Sports (provide through Now TV) makes live sports available to UK owners of Apple TV for the first time without the need for a cable subscription. Users can buy £9.99 day passes and get unlimited access to all six Sky Sports channels encompassing the Barclays Premier League football matches, cricket, F1 racing and more....

Apple is set to pay $113 million to settle a multi-state investigation into the iPhone’s “batterygate” controversy. As The Washington Post reports, 34 states and the District of Columbia had been investigating Apple’s decision to throttle older iPhones as their battery health declined. The multi-state investigation was led by Arizona, Arkansas, and Indiana, with the probe accusing Apple of providing “misleading information” about iOS updates. Today’s report says that the states have “secured a financial penalty and legal commitment” from Apple in response to the batterygate probe....

Apple’s Black Friday deals have gone live in the US and sure enough they match what we saw in the Australian market. You can get an Apple Store gift card up to $280 value with the purchase of Mac, or $70 when buying an iPhone 8 or iPhone 7. Check out the 9to5Toys deals hub for the best Black Friday promotions spanning all retailers, which will easily beat Apple’s first-hand sales with real discounts and savings on the latest iPhones, Macs, iPads and more....