Apple has shared its annual holiday advertisement today, this year touting the “the magic of mini.” The ad features the rapper Tierra Whack and includes a focus primarily on Apple’s new $99 HomePod mini and the $299 full-sized HomePod. The ad highlights the new HomePod mini and sticks to one of Apple’s long-running trends: how music can help improve your mood. The two songs featured in the video are: “feel good” by Tierra Whack “Peppers and Onions” by Tierra Whack “Turn up the holidays with HomePod mini....

Apple has made the Lightning to Micro USB adapter available on its online store this afternoon for $19 in the United States. The adapter allows you to charge or connect your iPhone with any Micro USB cable, and considering how cheap the cables are, buying this adapter may not be such a bad idea. You can buy a 6-foot Micro USB cable for less than $2 giving you three more feet than Apple’s standard connector....

Siri will no longer default to using Apple messaging and phone apps after an iOS update later in the year, revealed the company. Instead, Siri will intelligently choose the appropriate text or voice messaging app based on your past communication with each contact… Bloomberg reports on the upcoming change. Apple appears to be taking the action in response to antitrust claims, one strand of which is that the company abuses its dominant position in order to promote its own apps over third-party ones....

Continuing their showcase of new and upcoming artists, Apple Music has announced Daniel Caesar as this month’s Up Next artist. As with previous artists, Caesar’s showcase includes a documentary, an Up Next Session, and an interview with Beats 1’s Ebro Darden. About Daniel Caesar: Get to know Daniel Caesar on Apple Music’s Up Next at apple.co/upnext. Stay up to date with the exclusives coming to Apple Music and Beats 1 in over at our What’s Coming page....

The latest bug to plague an already glitch-laden Anthem is one that renders its weapon damage number output completely meaningless. The game’s weapons have come under scrutiny before in the form of punishing loot drops, but gunplay had been one of the more consistent elements of BioWare’s newest title up until this point. Anthem’s release has been a disaster for EA and BioWare, with the latter scrambling to put out fires as the game world threatens to buckle under a number of different issues....

Here in this guide, we will share the AOSP Android 10 Custom GSI build for ZTE Blade V10. Thanks to the XDA Recognized Developer phhusson for making this possible. Now, you may ask what is GSI? A GSI (generic system image) is a system image with minimal configurations for Android devices. It works as a pure Android implementation without any modifications or changes to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) code....

The discussion around macOS vs. iOS comes up every time Apple releases a new iPad Pro with hardware that the software seemingly cannot push. In my post WWDC reflections, an interesting idea came to mind on making the iPad more useful: What if Apple allowed Parallels and VMware to offer virtualization on iPadOS? About Apple @ Work: Bradley Chambers has been managing an enterprise IT network since 2009. Through his experience deploying and managing firewalls, switches, a mobile device management system, enterprise-grade Wi-Fi, 100s of Macs, and 100s of iPads, Bradley will highlight ways in which Apple IT managers deploy Apple devices, build networks to support them, train users, stories from the trenches of IT management, and ways Apple could improve its products for IT departments....

Apple has announced its augmented reality platform today, ARKit for iPhone and iPad… Apple’s new ARKit for iOS 11 is looking to take advantage of the camera, CPU/GPU, and motion sensors in iPhones and iPads. Because of the large installed iOS user base, Apple is touting ARKit will be the largest AR platform in the world. ARKit will feature support for Unity, Unreal, and SceneKit. Apple also shared these details:...

Apple today announced a new fitness service, set to rival the likes of Peloton. Apple Fitness+ will integrate with the Apple Watch and the Fitness app on the iPhone. Fitness+ costs $9.99 per month, or $79.99 per year. Users can watch fitness classes hosted by Apple, with health workout metrics shown over the top of the video. The data can then be automatically saved to the Health app. Apple Fitness+ will include workout classes spanning many categories, including cardio and yoga....

Back in July, Apple teased that HomePod would launch in Japan sometime this summer. In a new press release, Apple details that the Siri-powered smart speaker will officially be available in Japan starting on August 23rd. Pre-orders for the HomePod in Japan start today, with the price set at 32,800 yen. That places it in line with the $299 price tag offered in the United States. The speaker will be available in white and space gray, much like it is in other countries....

Update: The Apple Store Black Friday Event is now live in the USA, with the expected US dollar card values. In time for Black Friday, Apple has announced a four-day ‘shopping event.’ So far, it has gone live in Australia, where it is already Friday. This offers gift cards ranging in value from A$35 ($25) to A$280 ($200) when you purchase a wide range of products – but don’t expect any deals on the latest models....

Apple has announced that iAd is now available in nine additional countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and Sweden. This means iAd is now available in a total of twenty-five countries spanning North America, Europe and Asia. Apple says that it continues to support iAd to help developers make more money. It’s not a stretch to say that the initiative has not met expectations and now primarily serves commercials for iTunes Radio....

Every summer, Apple invites kids and parents to explore new creative skills with Apple Camp. The hands-on sessions typically take place at Apple Retail Stores and are hosted by Creative Pros. This year, Apple is moving Apple Camp online with Apple Camp at Home. Apple Camp at Home is a new series of digital programs and virtual sessions for kids ages 8-12. Apple has created an easy-to-follow Activity Book featuring new ways to create in video, art & design, and coding....

The Apple credit card was announced in March with the promise of a “summer” release timeframe. With support for Apple Card in the current iOS version, we are now waiting on Apple to flick the switch server-side to make the card available. Bloomberg today says Apple and Goldman Sachs are targeting a launch for Apple Card in the first half of August, which means only a couple of weeks away....

We’re saddened by the loss of life and devastation in the California wildfires. Apple will be donating to relief efforts to help those in need. We thank the brave firefighters working so hard and risking their lives to contain the flames. — Tim Cook (@tim_cook) August 4, 2018 Apple has started accepting American Red Cross donations as part of the California wildfire relief effort. Donations can easily be made on the web from Apple’s homepage or from the App Store or iTunes Store using the payment method associated with your Apple ID....

A variety of Apple’s iCloud services are experiencing outages this morning, including Calendar, Contacts, iCloud Drive, and more. Apple has confirmed the outages on its System status webpage. According to Apple, the issues are affecting the following services and that the outages started at approximately 9 am ET this morning: Find My iCloud Account & Sign In iCloud Backup iCloud Bookmarks & Tabs iCloud Calendar iCloud Contacts iCloud Drive iCloud Keychain iCloud Mail iCloud Storage Upgrades Photos Screen Time For each one, Apple says that “some users are affected and may be experiencing a problem with this service....

UPDATE [Monday, September 26, 2011 at 5:27pm ET]: Note that J.P. Morgan appears to be backpedalling on the original report filed by their Asia team. Per Business Insider, “J.P. Morgan’s U.S. Apple analyst said ‘Apple is fine’, and the U.S. team does not agree with the Asian analyst team which made the report that Apple was cutting back its iPad orders”. Apple has reportedly cut orders of iPad components for the holiday quarter by 25 percent, JPMorgan Chase & Co....

Apple has responded to this week’s hackings of celebrity iCloud accounts, which resulted in postings of private photographs. Here’s Apple’s statement in full: Apple says that it conducted an investigation for more than 40 hours, and denies that iCloud or Find my iPhone was actually breached. Apple is presenting this as a very targeted username, password, and security questions hack on “certain celebrity accounts.” Apple recommends that users utilize the 2-step verification service for Apple IDs/iCloud....

After officially announcing WWDC 2021, Apple has also rolled out a major update to the Apple Developer application. The new update includes a redesigned Discover tab, sidebar support on iPad, and much more. The Apple Developer app features five tabs along the bottom: Discover, Browse, WWDC, Account, and Search. In the Discover tab, Apple highlights the latest news and updates for developers. The WWDC tab includes details about WWDC 2021, and is where Apple will put more information once it becomes available....

The letter indicates this plan for expansion by Apple as well as an “aggressive go-live timeline of August 2014.” This indicates that Apple planned to have begun production of sapphire crystal components for new iOS devices this month, and many reports have indicated that new iPhones and other Apple gear have gone into production this month. In January, Apple filings indicated an “aggressive go-live timeline of February,” but it is not confirmed if these same go-live plans were delayed by several months or if this new go-live timeline is for a separate product or components....