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As the big four banks complete their rollouts of Apple Pay in Australia, the Apple service is driving an increase in contactless payments. New data from the Roy Morgan Digital Payments Report indicates a “sharp increase” in use of non-bank contactless services in Australia. The report details that 10.8% of Australians now use non-bank contactless services, and Appel Pay accounts for 6.5% of that: This increase comes amid the COVID-19 pandemic, when users are looking for alternatives to cash:...

Now that Apple has completed the rollout of its redesigned Apple Maps in the United States, it might be planning new recommendations features for the app as well. A job listing posted and quickly deleted this week suggests that Apple is looking to “build a brand-new content category” for Apple Maps. First spotted by The Verge, the job listing — which was deleted shortly after the article went live — is for a position titled “Product Manager – Maps, Writer/Editor....

Nearly one month following the start of Apple Watch and Apple Watch band pre orders, Apple has begun preparing to ship the first orders of standalone Link Bracelets, according to multiple 9to5 readers. These $449 Link Bracelets are separate from orders of the Apple Watch with Link Bracelet, in both the standard silver and Space Black combinations, which do not appear to have begun preparing to ship as of yet. Apple explains the Link Bracelet’s design on its website:...

Apple today has released iOS 13.2.3 to the public. This release follows iOS 13.2.2, which made improvements to background app performance and more. iOS 13.2.3 and iPadOS 13.2.3 are both rolling out to users everywhere now. iOS 13.2.3 continues to improve performance and fix bugs in iOS 13. Apple has been releasing new versions of iOS 13 at a quick pace recently, as you can see in the list of updates below....

Apple has released the first seed of iOS 7.1 beta (build number 11D5099e) to registered developers today. Check below for a comprehensive overview of changes and iOS 7.1 Release Notes below: iOS 7.1 beta 1 includes a number of bug fixes and (seriously needed) performance enhancements. iPad includes a tweaked closing animation in the pinch-to-close gesture. A few other changes include a new toggle for ‘dark keyboard’ in the accessibility settings and an option to upload ‘burst mode photos’ to Photo Stream for iPhone 5s users (Thanks Skylor and Dan!...

According to a report from Digitimes, Apple, among other companies like Samsung, is currently evaluating the use of solar panels for future products. Even more exciting is that Apple is reportedly considering the “inclusion of Taiwan-based solar firms in [its] supply chain.” This means that Apple is not only “evaluating” if they will make products with solar panels, but is already thinking about who will make the panels. The catch is, though, according to Digitimes, that miniature solar panels need more development before they can actually be deployed in products....

Coldplay at the 2014 iTunes Festival Apple is reportedly ending its long-running Apple Music Festival initiative. According to a report from Music Business Worldwide, the company is ending the Apple Music Festival (formerly known as the iTunes Festival) as it looks to rebrand its live concert efforts… Apple’s iTunes Festival was first held in 2007 and regularly attracted major musical acts. The event started as a 1-month long concert series with different acts every night....

Apple is set to further build upon its data center in Reno, Nevada according to a report out of the Reno Gazette-Journal. Apple has been building upon its Reno data center for a while now, but the company has recently filed a permit with the county requesting permission to construct a new data center adjacent to the existing one. The report claims that Apple will build the second data center under the codename “Project Huckleberry....

A new report French website iGen indicates that France could be seeing an Apple Pay announcement in as early as the first half of this year. While Apple announced the UnionPay partnership for China two months ago, there has yet to be any signs that other additional countries outside the US and UK (aside from Australia and Canada’s American Express arrangement) would be seeing Apple Pay any time soon. Other reports believe that China could be seeing Apple Pay, which is promised to go live in early 2016, activated as soon as this Thursday at 5 AM (Beijing time)....

Apple has poached one of Google’s top artificial intelligence engineers as it continues to build up its AI team. Apple recently hired Google’s Ian Goodfellow to join its “Special Projects Group” as a director of machine learning, according to his LinkedIn profile. CNBC was first to report on Goodfellow joining Apple’s machine learning team. Goodfellow is referred to as “the father of general adversarial networks, or GANs.” This technology can be used generate fake media content, as CNBC explains:...

Apple is today pushing out an update for its brand new MacBook Pros released earlier this month to address a bug that resulted in performance issues related to the machines’ thermal management system under certain conditions. Specifically, the bug affects the new MacBook Pro’s thermal management system and drives clock speeds down lower than necessary under heavy workloads. Apple provided us with the following statement: The update follows several reports including one from our own Jeff Benjamin detailing what appeared to be perfromance issues related to CPU throttling....

Alongside public releases for iOS 10.3, macOS 10.12.4, watchOS 3.2, and tvOS 10.2 today, Apple has officially released version 2.0 of its Classroom app for iPad previously in beta. Version 2 of the app brings a number of new features including the ability to create classes within the app and invite nearby students. That means that it will no longer require a Mobile Device Management setup to configure classes, making it easier for smaller organizations without IT assistance to use the app:...

Apple today has released the fifth beta of macOS 10.13.1 to developers. The release comes shortly after the company made the fifth beta of iOS 11.1, and fourth betas of tvOS 11.1 and macOS 10.13.1 available to developers and public beta users earlier this week. macOS 10.13.1 High Sierra focuses on bug fixes and performance improvements and has yet to showcase any major user-facing features. There is, however, support for hundreds of new emoji just like Apple promised....

Apple has released iOS 11.2.2 for iPhone and iPad. The software update highlights security improvements and Apple “recommends for all users.” Apple hasn’t disclosed exactly what security issues are addressed by iOS 11.2.2, but we can expect to see details on Apple’s security page shortly. We’ll update when we learn more about the new version. For now, non-beta users can find iOS 11.2.2 for iPhone and iPad as a software update over-the-air through the Software Update section of the Settings app....

[Update: iOS 11 public beta 7 is now available as well.] iOS 11 will likely be ready for everyone sometime next month, and today Apple has released the eighth developer beta preview. iOS 11 brings new features like drag-and-drop and a redesigned multitasking interface for iPad, a new customizable Control Center, and much more. iOS 11 beta 8 is currently only available to registered developers for now. Apple typically holds new public beta versions for a few days for major updates, although recent versions have launched on the same day....

Apple has released Java for OS X 2013-005, which “delivers improved security, reliability, and compatibility for Java SE 6”. The update is available in the Mac App Store. Of note, the updates “uninstalls the Apple-provided Java applet plug-in from all web browsers.” New Macs do not come with Java installed and newer versions of Java are released and maintained by Oracle. Apple’s decision to cut off internal support and development stems from the decreased necessity for the platform and the fact that Mac malware usually comes from Java security holes....

Readers report Apple has started rolling out a new public beta release of its 10.10.2 OS X Yosemite beta (build 14C81h). Developers received the third build of 10.10.2 earlier this month (build 14C81f). Today’s beta release follows beta 3, which was released earlier this month. Not much seems to have changed between the two builds, but Apple says users on the new 10.10.2 build for developers should focus on fixes for WiFi, Mail, and VoiceOver, among other changes....

A new set of job listings noticed by LightReading continue to show Apple’s focus on implementing VoLTE, or voice-over-LTE, support for including high quality call quality on new iPhones. Specifically, the job listings seek both a Cellular Systems Protocol Engineer with hands-on experience in wireless technologies including VoLTE and an iOS Wireless Communication Software Engineer with “SIP, RTP, and VoIP related protocols”, showing the company is continuing to beef up its expertise around the technology....

[slideshow] Update: More images from MacRumors forums. First posted by MacStories, we now have some images of Apple’s preparations at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco where the company will hold its next-generation iPad event and possibly the introduction of a refreshed Apple TV. You can see Apple has started hanging its large banners that will more than likely display images of whatever is announced. The event is slated to kick off on March 7 at 10 a....

We’re waiting for Apple Q2 2020 earnings to be announced on Thursday, and with both supply-chain disruption and reduced demand due to the coronavirus crisis, it’s obvious that the company’s financials are going to take a hit. But while analysts do expect both revenue and earnings per share to be down, they are not expecting a bloodbath… Reuters reports that the Wall Street consensus is for a 6% drop in revenue and 11% fall in net income for the company’s fiscal Q2/calendar Q1....