After releasing a new beta of iOS 13.5 last week, Apple today has provided new information on its Exposure Notification API for COVID-19. The company continues to underscore the privacy-first design of this API and is releasing new resources to public health authority developers. Apple and Google say that the new resources are designed to help public health authority developers build their exposure notification applications. This includes design concepts of onboarding in Exposure Notification API applications, as well as concepts of positive test results consent interfaces and exposure notifications themselves....

Apple today has acquired the rights to the insanely popular Carpool Karaoke series that started out as a part of The Late Late Show with James Corden on CBS. While it’s unclear how much Apple has paid for the series, it will release new episodes of it via the Apple Music, reports THR. For those unfamiliar, Carpool Karaoke is an idea thought up by Corden that sees him drive around in a car with a celebrity or musician and sing along to popular songs....

When you get a new electronic device, and you are new to that gadget. Then some sort of problems start from the initial setup and follow you in your every step. In the case of smartphones, if you are an Android user and switch to an Apple device, for example, iPhone 8 then you might not know how to set it up properly and can face several issues while using the device....

Apple’s growth in the enterprise for the past few years caught many IT experts off guard. Windows had been the dominant platform for decades while Apple products were usually only for people using design software. As the iPhone and iPad became popular, the Mac benefited from a halo effect. A common question I am asked by other IT professionals is if AppleCare is a worthy investment for bulk enterprise purchases....

Apple has just unveiled its new premium News service featuring premium newspaper and magazines for $9.99 a month. The service is branded as News+ and is available today with the release of the new iOS and macOS software updates. $9.99 includes family sharing, so you can share with up to six Family members at no extra cost. The service is integrated directly into the News app and features magazines from National Geographic, Popular Science, New Yorker, Vogue, Rolling Stone and more....

After over a week of back and forth, Apple and Qualcomm presented closing arguments today as part of their patent infringement suit in San Diego. Qualcomm zeroed in on a certain patent, while Apple argued Qualcomm is mad it switched to Intel for iPhone modems. As a quick refresher, the trial centers on three patents, which Qualcomm alleges Apple infringed upon on certain versions of the iPhone. One patent relates to how quickly a device reconnects to the internet after booting up....

Apple is moving forward with a larger version of its iPad tablet and it is working with Quanta Computer for manufacturing, according to United Daily News (via Macotakara). UDN does not have a substantial record in Apple reporting, but it is one of Taiwan’s most prominent newspapers. Today’s report refers to the larger iPad design as featuring a 12-inch display, though recent rumors have pegged the screen-size as closer to 13-inches…...

After many complaints from the developer community about poor networking performance on Yosemite, the latest beta of OS X 10.10.4 has dropped discoveryd in favor of the old process used by previous versions of the Mac operating system. This should address many of the network stability issues introduced with Yosemite and its new networking stack. The discoveryd process has been subject to much criticism in recent months as it causes users to regularly drop WiFi access and causes network shares to list many times over, due to bugs....

Marking the 30th anniversary since Apple gave us the Mac, Macworld spoke with Apple’s Phil Schiller, Craig Federighi, and Bud Tribble to discuss the Mac in an era dominated by the iPhone and iPad. The execs looked back at the Mac’s impact on the PC market and its historical significance for the company, and while they acknowledged the success of iOS, insisted the Mac has a permanent place in the hardware lineup....

Apple has filed a lawsuit today against virtualization company Corellium. For those unfamiliar, Corellium allows users to virtualize iOS, pitching it as a research tool for security experts. Apple, however, says Corellium’s “true goal is profiting off its blatant infringement.” Essentially, Corellium allows researchers to run software only virtualizations of iOS. This opens up a new set of capabilities for security researchers, as they can do things like pause the operating system completely (via Bloomberg)....

Apple’s $3B acquisition of Beats was never going to be completed overnight, and it’s only today that Apple actually completed its purchase of the 13 percent of the company that was owned by Vivendi/Universal Music Group, the world’s largest record label. In a one-sentence press release, Vivendi announced that the sale of its shares had been completed for a total of $404M. It was expected that Apple would have acquired all of the Beats shares by the end of September, but based on the formal welcome message, it appears this may complete the sale....

Apple has hired Stella Low, a former Cisco executive, as the company’s new vice president of worldwide corporate communications. Low joins Apple to lead its communications team, which is responsible for the company’s public relations operations. Low’s hiring was confirmed by Apple on Friday to BuzzFeed News. The company said that the executive has “remarkable experience and leadership” and expects she will help Apple tell the stories about the “positive impacts” the company has on the world....

As it continues to expand its health efforts, Apple has hired Stanford’s digital health leader, Dr. Sumbul Desai. As noted by Internet Health Management, Desai was the head of Stanford’s Center for Digital Health and will join Apple’s ever-growing health team… The Stanford Center for Digital Health was only opened in January of this year, though Desai has worked at the university since 2008. She began as a resident physician of internal medicine and later held the roles of medical director, strategic innovations; assistant chief, strategy; clinical associate professor; associate chief medical officer, strategy and innovation; and vice chair, strategy and innovation....

Apple today has released its latest transparency report, showing the number of government demands for user data it received. In the past, Apple has released this data in the form of a PDF, and while that still remains an option this time, the company has also launched a new interactive website to view the information. As reported by TechCrunch, Apple’s latest transparency report covers January through June of 2018. During that time period, Apple received a total of 32,342 demands for user data from governments, which is up 9 percent compared to the last reporting period....

In the past, Apple was able to sneak Liquidmetal into production by building the SIM ejector tool using the material. Now, it looks like Apple and Liquidmetal Technologies’ joint venture company, Crucible Intellectual Property, is preparing for mass volume production through manufacturing techniques found in a new patent called “Bulk amorphous alloy sheet forming processes”. Since the metal is expensive, liquidmetal won’t be replacing the aluminum shells of iOS or OS X devices anytime soon....

Apple, after reportedly being involved in early negotiations for the film, has put Sony’s “The Interview” up for streaming on iTunes. Apple is offering the film at the same price as Google, YouTube, and Xbox video – $6 to rent and $15 to own. Sony announced last week, that due to a lack of support from theaters and threats made by cyber hackers, it would not be releasing “The Interview” in theaters or online....

Apple has announced that it is officially launching the ability for developers to sell Mac and iOS apps as a single purchase. Apple first detailed these plans back in February, teasing that the functionality would roll out to developers in March. Apple made the announcement in a post on its developer website this evening: As we explained last month, the developer simply must change their Mac app to use the same bundle identifier as their iOS app....

The apps will be accessible via a public-viewable URL, Apple said in a support note first noticed by MacRumors, which means anyone that has it could visit and install an app. Apple therefore is recommending developers ensure unauthorised use is prevented in their code. “Unlisted apps don’t appear in any App Store categories, recommendations, charts, search results, or other listings. They can also be accessed through Apple Business Manager and Apple School Manager,” the note states....

Following an announcement from Apple today that it would decrease prices of USB-C accessories to help ease the transition to the all USB-C ports on the new MacBook Pro models, it’s also offering discounted pricing on the new LG UltraFine 5K and 4K displays that it introduced to go alongside the new Thunderbolt 3-equipped Macs. The deals get you around 25% off the newly announced displays made for the new MacBook and MacBook Pro models....

. More fun stuff surfaced today from the Apple vs. Samsung trial. Pictured above are Samsung’s sales numbers for its smartphones in the U.S. Perhaps most surprisingly is that Samsung’s best selling phone by unit number is Boost Mobile’s Samsung Prevail, which sold 2.255 million units. Finishing in second and third were the Samsung Epic 4G and the Galaxy S2 Epic Touch both on Sprint. That means Samsung’s top three devices were on Sprint’s network....