According to a report from Silicon Valley Business Journal, Apple has recently purchased a former chip fab in North San Jose. The deal reportedly went through last week and saw Apple pay $18.2 million for the 70,000 square foot building. Prior to Apple’s purchase, the plant was a manufacturing plant for semiconductor company Maxim Integrated Products. The listing for the property touted that it is well suited for “prototype, pilot, and low-volume manufacturing....

Apple is celebrating the anniversary of the US national parks this week and one of the ways it’s doing that is donating up to $1 million to the National Parks Foundation based on customers using Apple Pay. It’s also offering special content in the Apple TV app and more to experience and learn all about our national parks. Earlier this month we learned that Apple will hold an Apple Watch Activity Challenge on August 30th to celebrate the 104th anniversary of the national parks....

Starting with the iPhone 3GS, every new iPhone has started with 16GB of storage as a base model — a capacity that has come under increasing fire as both videos and apps have grown in size. Despite new capabilities and the presence of 4K video recording in the new iPhones, sources say that the new iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus will retain the same storage tiers as the current iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus: 16GB, 64GB, and 128GB....

Apple has quietly introduced an official solution for users seeking to lock their 2013 Mac Pro to a stationary desk or other item. The $49 adapter attaches to the rear of the Mac Pro without any additional tools or instruction and can connect to a series of different Kensington locking mechanisms (via MacRumors). Here are the accessory’s highlights from Apple: Enables Mac Pro (Late 2013) to be physically secured with a compatible lock (sold separately) Attaches to Mac Pro without tools or enclosure modification With a third-party lock attached, prevents Mac Pro from being opened, protecting internal components Compatible with most standard Kensington or similar lock products Earlier this year, third-party solutions with a more advanced setup process began hitting the Mac Pro accessory marketplace....

Digitimes’ latest report puts some numbers on the low end iPhones coming out of China. The 2.5 year old iPhone 3GS has continued to sell briskly with the volume likely to reach two million units in the fourth quarter of 2011 and 1.4-1.6 million units in the first quarter of 2012, according to “industry sources”. Think about that for a second. In a world where a new, free Android flagship phone comes out every week or so and dying out a few months later, Apple is selling 2 million/quarter of a device that was introduced two and a half years ago....

Apple last week confirmed 2.29 million Mac sales in its second quarter. Mac sales overall climbed 51 per cent, year-on-year, a rate of growth an astonishing 3.5 times that of the overall PC market. Desktop sales climbed 37 per cent, also faster than PC market averages, The company’s portable sales were driven by continued strong demand for Macbook, Macbook Pros and the MacBook Air. This steady demand meant Quanta Computer saw profits climb 18 per cent to book NT$4 billion for the quarter....

There’s been a huge Apple Maps update over the course of the past few weeks, with real-time transit information now available the whole of Canada, the Netherlands, Sweden, and most of the UK (excludes Northern Ireland). It has also been made available in selected cities in Australia and China – as well as many more US cities and states. There are also substantial expansions to Look Around, Nearby, Turn-by-turn Navigation, and Indoor Maps for airports …...

As Apple Music continues to expand with content and features, the service is picking up three new distributors to offer music, music videos, lyrics, and concert footage. As reported by Billboard (via Digital Music News), Apple Music has signed deals with CD Baby, Kontor, and The Orchard to include them in the “Apple Preferred Distribution Program”. There are three distributor tiers for this program, and all three of the new distributors are coming on with the top “Preferred Plus” designation....

The image on the left (above) is the logo of Sichuan China-based food company Sichuan Fangguo Food Co., Ltd. It’s also the logo that Apple claims infringes on trademarks related to it’s own iconic Apple logo, according to a report from go chengdoo. (We cant help but feel that it looks more like an Apple logo merged with elements of LG’s logo) CEO of Fangguo, Zhao Yi’s intial response: The company claims to have received a letter on July 19 from Beijing Zhucheng Law on behalf of Apple that gave the company until August 6th to respond to complaints regarding the resemblance of their logo to Apple’s....

After moving to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) to produce chips for its latest mobile devices and reduce reliance on competitor Samsung, Recode reports that Apple is tapping Samsung for its next-gen A9 chips. While Apple had hoped to rely more heavily on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to fabricate the Ax family of processors used in its iOS devices, the company has turned to Samsung for its next-generation A9 chip, according to people with knowledge of the situation…....

You’ll find the first notable discount on Apple AirPods plus highlights from Best Buy’s new 48-hour sale and more in today’s 9to5Toys Lunch Break. Hit the jump for all of the best offers from 9to5Toys. Latest Apple AirPods on sale from $140 at Costco Take up to $399 off Apple’s latest MacBook Pros Jump into mesh Wi-Fi with 25% off Linksys Velop Is your Wi-Fi currently under duress? All of those devices have your connection grinding to a halt?...

Apple has silently updated the Apple AirPods firmware to version 3.5.1, from 3.3.1, earlier today. The AirPods automatically update to the latest software when the earbuds are charging in the AirPods Case and close to a paired device. The new firmware does not appear to contain any new front-facing features. There is no onscreen alert or notification that an update has taken place. You can however verify if your AirPods are up-to-date by checking the AirPods firmware version number in Settings on an iPhone …...

Apple and Cloudflare have jointly developed a new Internet protocol designed to protect your privacy, by preventing your internet service provider (ISP) from seeing which websites you visit. Currently, when you enter a web address into your browser, that address is passed to a Domain Name Server (DNS) which looks up the domain name in order to convert it to the numerical IP address needed to connect to it …...

Tim Cook has just announced a new major commitment from Apple to support the fight for racial equality and justice that will see the company donate $100 million to make real change happen. Tim Cook announced Apple’s Racial Equity and Justice Initiative on Twitter along with a video detailing the effort. He opens with the statement: “The unfinished work of racial justice and equality call us all to account, now and always....

Apple app privacy labels have been described as unfair by Facebook-owned secure messaging service WhatsApp. Apple has told developers they must add the privacy labels to their apps, which disclose the data they capture, and how that data is used … Apple first notified developers of the new policy at the virtual WWCD 2020 back in June, before publishing detailed guidelines in September. But WhatsApp told Axios that the rules are unfair for two reasons....

Following the release of iOS 12.0.1 to the public today, Apple has stopped signing iOS 11.4.1. With this change, users can no longer downgrade from iOS 12 to iOS 11. Though, downgrading from iOS 12.0.1 to iOS 12.0 is still possible. iOS 12.0.1, released earlier today, focused on bug fixes and performance improvements. The update includes fixes for iPhone XS charging issue, changes to the iPad keyboard layout, and more....

Analytics company Localytics said that of all the gadgets purchased across the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend, the iPad Air enjoyed by far the largest boost in sales. Comparing activations with those for the previous weekend, 51 percent more iPad Airs were sold, with Apple also taking second and third places with the original iPad Mini and iPhone 5c. In all, Apple products took six of the top nine places. Localytics analysed figures for over a million devices to reach its conclusions....

The Apple community has had a hard time being content with the Mac lately. First it was the feeling that the Mac line including MacBook Pros weren’t being updated as often as, say, iPhones. A redesigned MacBook Pro helps resolve that with at least one member of the Mac family. But the new MacBook Pro goes all in on USB-C and drops legacy ports like standard USB-A, and many Mac users believe this move is too aggressive considering the cost attached to this transition....

Today’s report also notes that the hiring of Twerdahl will free Pete Distad, who had occupied the role, to work on content deal efforts with Eddy Cue. The hiring comes following Tim Cook speaking highly of the Apple TV during Apple’s most recent earnings call. The Apple CEO teased that the company has more features and updates in store for Apple TV, though he failed to offer specifics. Cook explained that the cable industry is one that’s in the midst of a major shakeup, due in large part to the “breakdown of the cable bundle....

Apple has now responded to a Department of Justice filing that we reported earlier today was attempting to force the company to comply with an FBI request for access to a locked iPhone belonging to a suspect in the San Bernardino attacks. In one statement to Reuters, an Apple spokesperson said the DOJ is “disregarding civil liberties in iPhone unlocking case,” while in another it attempts to explain more of the back story regarding past events with the iPhone in question....