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Apple is releasing the first public betas of its next round of software updates today. This includes iOS 14.5 and iPadOS 14.5 which launched to developer beta testers earlier this week. Head below for details on what’s new. So what’s new in iOS 14.5? As it turns out, quite a bit. The update includes the groundwork for Apple’s new App Tracking Transparency privacy feature, which requires apps to request permission from users before tracking them across other apps and websites....

CNN is reporting that recent Wikileaks cables have revealed that Apple assembled an anti-counterfeit team in 2008 to combat counterfeited iPhones and iPod touches. Apple’s early plans to attack Chinese counterfeits were to go after retailers and street vendors, work with police to raid manufacturing facilities, and to go after online retailers. Counterfeiting Apple products has been a huge issue in recent years. Most recently, fake Apple stores have opened up selling almost identical products to Chinese consumers....

Who knew, Apple has deep pockets? The company is reportedly spending billions of dollars a year on Apple TV+ original content, will pay about $480 million for the Texture acquisition which ultimately became News+, and is reportedly also spending several million dollars per game in Apple Arcade. The Financial Times says the company is spending ‘several million dollars each’ on more than 100 games, putting Apple Arcade’s budget in excess of $500 million dollars....

The Apple patent – which is available in its entirety here – describes ways to manipulate objects on a touch screen, including numerous user interface applications, detailed with accompanying diagrams. For DJ’s the patent describes the following implementation, which basically explains a virtual pair of twin turntables which appear on the screen, touch-sensitive, these would let DJs mix and shift various kinds of digital media. “Like a pair of physical turntables, stylus 844 and stylus 855 can be graphical icon indications of a playback queue, the position of which can be varied by touching the queue on a touch sensitive display screen and dragging the icon to the desired position on the graphical record....

Bloomberg provides some detail on our report that Apple is working to dramatically upgrade its cloud infrastructure as it prepares to launch its Apple Music streaming service. The company is said to be working on designing its own storage and network equipment, rather than relying exclusively on third-party companies, and to build its own private fiber optic links between its key data centers in California, Nevada, North Carolina and Oregon....

Ahead of the Apple Watch launch next month, Apple has removed language from its website signaling it has received all necessary final approvals from the US Federal Communications Commission. Up until today, Apple’s website included the following footnote noting that the device had not yet been authorized by the FCC for sale: This device has not been authorized as required by the rules of the Federal Communications Commission. This device is not, and may not be, offered for sale or lease, or sold or leased, until authorization is obtained....

In addition to iOS 11.3 beta 1, Apple has released the first tvOS 11.3 developer beta for Apple TV (fourth gen) and Apple TV 4K. The new beta follows one day after the release of tvOS 11.2.5 for all customers. When used with iOS 11.2.5 on iPhone and iPad, content playing on tvOS 11.2.5 appears as a Now Playing option in Control Center. In the future, tvOS will support AirPlay 2 and turn connected speakers into AirPlay 2 speakers....

As expected, Apple released Mac OS 10.6.5 today. The 10.6.5 Update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Snow Leopard and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac, including fixes that: improve reliability with Microsoft Exchange servers address performance of some image-processing operations in iPhoto and Aperture address stability and performance of graphics applications and games resolve a delay between print jobs address a printing issue for some HP printers connected to an AirPort Extreme resolve an issue when dragging contacts from Address Book to iCal address an issue where dragging an item from a stack causes the Dock to not automatically hide resolve an issue with Wikipedia information not displaying correctly in Dictionary improve performance of MainStage on certain Mac systems resolve spacing issues with OpenType fonts improve reliability with some Bluetooth braille displays resolve a VoiceOver issue when browsing some web sites with Safari 5...

Apple has officially made macOS 11.4 available to the public. The latest software enables support for several AMD GPUs as well as support for paid subscriptions in the Podcasts app, some serious security fixes, as well as smaller bug fixes for Safari, Preview, and more. macOS 11.4 is available now for all users and should be showing up in System Preferences > Software Update soon if it’s not already. Apple’s also made the latest software available for iPhone, Apple Watch, and Apple TV....

We’re just over a week away from the debut of the new Carpool Karaoke series on Apple Music, and Apple is ramping up promotion with a new celebrity-packed trailer. Apple officially announced the new series back in May after adopting the popular segment from The Late Late Show with James Corden on CBS into a full series. New episodes will feature both musicians and celebrities and be released weekly each Tuesday on the Apple Music subscription service....

Three weeks after the release of Xcode 7.1 to developers, Apple today has released Xcode 7.1.1 to the Mac App Store. The update brings about a handful of under-the-hood fixes relating to the new features added with the more significant 7.1 update last month. Apple says that Xcode 7.1.1 improves the overall stability of the app, making for an improved developer experience. Apple also says the update fixes “critical issues” in the Interface Builder, debugging, and UI testing....

. What does that symbol mean? It is the “Protologo”. [tweet https://twitter.com/protologo/status/237262624142786560] More pictures and a video below: Note: This phone does not have screws at the bottom like the eventual iPhone 4 and 4S had, but most everything else looks familiar. More images and description on eBay. Update: Contributor Sonny Dickson spent some time with the unit and made this video: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y2skSyNaPA&feature=player_embedded#!] Update 2: The listing has been removed off Ebay....

Update: Apple has also released the sixth public beta of macOS Catalina. Apple today has released the first public beta of iOS 13.1 to testers. This comes after the surprise release of the first developer beta yesterday afternoon. iOS 13.1 adds back many of the features removed in the iOS 13 beta, including things like Share ETA in Maps, Shortcuts Automations, and audio sharing. Watch our full hands-on video below for a closer look at all of the changes....

Apple is rolling out the third watchOS 3.2 beta for developer testing on Apple Watch. watchOS 3.2 beta includes Theater Mode which disables raise-to-wake and mutes alerts. Apple is also introducing SiriKit to Apple Watch with watchOS 3.2 beta. SiriKit lets developers integrate their apps with Siri for select uses. Prior to watchOS 3.2 beta, SiriKit was limited to iOS apps. As for Theater Mode, this is how Apple describes the new feature:...

Apple will release the second public betas of iOS 13.4 and iPadOS 13.4 today. This comes after the update was released to developers yesterday, bringing even more changes to the Mail app. Update: The second public betas of iOS 13.4, iPadOS 13.4, and tvOS 13.4. The first beta of iOS 13.4 included a handful of notable changes, such as a CarKey framework for NFC access to your car, iCloud Drive folder sharing, and support for single purchase apps between iPhone, iPad, and Mac....

Apple Pay is facing scrutiny in the European Union, as a report earlier this month first detailed. Now, a new report from Reuters dives deeper into the antitrust concerns regulators in the EU have about Apple’s contactless payments platform. Today’s report explains that EU antitrust regulators have been asking online sales companies “whether they have been told” to use Apple Pay instead of rival payment platforms. The questionnaire was first sent to companies in August, with the European Commission explaining that it had “information Apple may have restricted online payments for the purchase of goods and services made via merchant apps or websites....

Yesterday we learned about Apple Pay expanding in France to HSBC France and BNP Paribas while Monese expanded its card support to seven more countries. Now Apple has updated its comprehensive list of banks and credit unions that work with the mobile payment service. These are the newest entries in the United States and around the world: Alliance Bank (MO) Bank of Deerfield Community Resource Bank First National Bank of Creston KH Network Credit Union La Salle State Bank North Salem State Bank Northwest Bank (IA) Pearl Hawaii Federal Credit Union Rushville State Bank The Citizens National Bank of Somerset Ticonderoga Federal Credit Union Tyndall Federal Credit Union Wheelhouse Credit Union Windsor Federal Savings & Loan The U....

Alongside new iPads themselves, Apple today has announced a new accessory case that integrates the Apple Pencil. The new accessory offers a slot for holding your Apple Pencil when not in use, a common problem since the iPad Pro’s inception. As you can see in the image above, the new case allows users to store the Apple Pencil along the top in a sort-of pocket. In addition to the new case, Apple Pencil has improved 20ms latency with the new iPad Pro models....

As its efforts to switch to renewable continue, Apple today announced that it is joining the global renewable energy initiative RE100. In joining the program, Apple will continue to work on its commitment of powering its worldwide operations with 100 percent renewable. As part of the process, Apple will work with its manufacturing supply chain to push clean energy usage in that area, as well. Apple’s vice president for environment, policy, and social initiatives Lisa Jackson made the announcement today while speaking at Climate Week in New York City....

Apple will release fourth public betas of iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 to testers today. This comes after Tuesday’s release of iOS 14 beta 4 to developers, bringing changes such as new widgets for the TV app, COVID-19 Exposure Notification API support, and more. Today’s release of iOS 14 beta 4 to public beta users will likely include the same changes that were introduced to developer beta testers earlier this week....