We have just learned that Apple retail stores are having an “overnight” tonight to setup new Express Lanes. Apple has used these express lanes in the past to provide holiday shoppers a fast track to purchase Apple products and accessories. The zone are typically staffed with several Apple Specialists and stock popular laptop models, every iPad and iPod model. The fact that Apple is using the express lane again this year is a bit interesting because the new Apple Store app was released today, which adds self-checkout and in store pickup....

Apple is rolling out a new firmware version for AirPods 2, AirPods 3, AirPods Pro, and AirPods Max today. The update pushes Apple’s truly wireless earbuds to version 4C165 as well as its premium headphone. Head below for details on how to update and how to check your firmware version. After three weeks, Apple is releasing a new firmware update for its truly wireless earbuds and wireless headphones. Unfortunately, the company does not provide release notes for AirPods firmware updates....

As we reported last month, Apple’s stock price has continued to climb repeatedly reaching all-time highs since its 7-1 stock split earlier this year. The company’s stock has been on the rise today as well putting Apple’s market capitalization on track to close at its highest point ever. Previously, Apple’s highest market cap at close was $658.15 billion at the end of September 19th, 2012, and today Apple’s market cap has climbed to nearly two-thirds of a trillion dollars at $663....

Apple will today defend itself in a Manhattan court against a Department of Justice case accusing it of leading a cartel designed to force up prices of ebooks, Tim Cook having recently told the AllThingsD D11 conference that the case against it was “bizarre.” We tend to agree with AllThingsD that it’s tough to see how Apple can win the case when all five of its alleged ‘fellow cartel members’ have already held up their hands and settled with the DOJ, and where there is a clear paper-trail showing that Steve Jobs was instrumental in leading the changes that led to the price-fixing allegations … It’s alleged that Jobs wrote to five major publishers – HarperCollins, Penguin, Simon & Schuster, and Macmillan – and invited them to switch to the new model, and the DOJ seems to have some pretty compelling evidence of this, including an email from Steve Jobs to James Murdoch, a senior exec at the parent company of HarperCollins:...

During the WWDC keynote today Apple officially announced watchOS 6. The next operating system for Apple Watch will come with new features including new apps, watch faces and complications, a dedicated App Store, and more. A range of new watch faces are arriving with watchOS 6. These include a new Solar Dial, California,Modular Compact, Gradient, and Numerals watch faces. New Complications are also arriving including noise and wind. Apple is bringing an Audiobook app to Apple Watch, along with Calculator, and Voice Memos....

If you keep your iPhone in a case, as most people do, you’ll know that volume and power buttons can lose their nice definitive clicking sensation, and instead feel rather squishy. That’s a problem Apple thinks it can solve … The patent (spotted by Patently Apple) is for a pretty simple magnet-based solution. The background section describes the problem. Apple’s proposed solution is, of course, written in patent-eze. This paper describes various embodiments related to devices, systems and methods that retain the original tactile feeling of a button after an electronic device is coupled to an accessory that might change the tactile feeling of the button....

Clothing retailer Kohl’s has become the first business to offer support for using store credit cards with Apple Pay. Kohl’s, which is the second largest U.S. department store behind Macy’s, has long been a participating store for accepting the mobile payment service, and now Kohl’s Charge card users can add the store credit card to the Wallet app in iOS 9 on iPhone and iPad and watchOS 2 on Apple Watch....

Update: Apple has posted an official press release detailing the new organ donor options in iOS 10 Health. Apple will allow users to sign up for organ, eye and tissue donor registry via Donate Life America. The registrations are sent to the National Donate Life Registry — the interface will surface as part of Health’s Medical ID feature. Apple will promote organ donation with its newest mobile operating system, iOS 10, when it ships in the fall....

As expected, Apple today has released iOS 13.3, iPadOS 13.3, tvOS 13.3, and watchOS 6.1.1 to the public. These updates include bug fixes and performance improvements, as well as some notable new features and customization options. iOS 13.3 and iPadOS 13.3 For the iPhone and iPad, iOS 13.3 and iPadOS 13.3 include support for Communication Limits in Screen Time. This allows you to set specific limitations on who and when you can communicate with....

Update May 25: Following yesterday’s story, The Verge reported today that Apple has confirmed it removed the Airfoil Speakers Touch app after its recent 3.0 update introduced the ability to stream over AirPlay from other iOS devices. Apple said it is against Review Guideline 2.5: Apps that use non-public APIs will be rejected. Verge explained: We have seen Apple both reject and remove apps for many reasons in the past. It is often due to an icon or name that is too close to one of Apple’s own apps....

iPhoneclub (translation) says that Apple’s rumored plan to build a new data center in Netherlands are now focusing on the town of Eemshaven. Eemshaven is an ideal location due to the high-speed transatlantic fiber optic cable link to the USA. Google already has a 10,000 square meter data center in the town, and it is believed that Apple has already been granted outline planning permission for its own center … Although the cost of the center has not been revealed, a comparable sized data center being built by Microsoft in the same area is known to be costing €2B ($2....

An Apple brand ranking in China shows that the company fell from 11th place in 2018 to 24th place this year, likely as a result of consumer unhappiness with recent actions by the US government. The rankings are compiled annually by brand consultancy Prophet… Prophet says that the index asks consumers to rank brands by their relevance to their lives. Seven of the top 10 brands this year were Chinese ones....

Apple has announced a variety of changes to the App Store Review Guidelines today after multiple major App Store controversies over the last several months. The new guidelines and updates relate to areas like in-app purchases, streaming game services, and personal lending applications. Apple says the goal of the new 3.1.2 and 3.1.3 guidelines are to add additional transparency around the types of applications required to use Apple’s in-app purchase system....

Apple on Thursday announced a major update to Apple Maps for users in Australia. The company is now officially expanding its detailed coverage with better navigation, Look Around, and other features to the country. A few users were already able to access the updated Apple Maps in Australia a few weeks ago, but it seems Apple was just testing everything before the official release. Now the update is available to all users with the latest versions of iOS, macOS, and watchOS....

Update: So far, we’re aware of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and Taiwan. iOS 14 saw the introduction of Apple Maps speed camera alerts, but this was initially limited to the US, UK, and Ireland. We’re now seeing it rolling out to a number of additional countries. Apple bills the feature as a warning to anticipate slowing traffic … Dutch site iCulture reported the feature appearing in the Netherlands and Belgium....

However, the company recently added the “Free on iTunes” iTunes Section iOS and the desktop versions of iTunes. This new section offers free music singles as well as HD episodes of TV shows. Free on iTunes This new curated section, won’t just force content on you, but rather let you choose what you want yourself. It only contains a handful of songs (16 at the time of this writing), but provides more than the “Free Single of the Week” section it previously offered....

A report earlier this week suggested that Apple Pay will launch in the Czech Republic next week. It now looks like Apple Pay might also come to Saudi Arabia on the same day. According to local advertisements from Al-Rajhi Bank in Saudi Arabia, Apple Pay will launch in the country on February 19th, 2019. That’s the same date that has been rumored for a Czech Republic launch of Apple Pay, as well....

It looks like Apple may actually use Reno Nevada for something more than a Tax haven. According to several local reports, Apple is currently considering building a new data center in Nevada. KRNV & MyNews4.com reported today that Apple representatives attended a Washoe County Commission meeting to discuss plans to invest $1 billion over 10 years and build a new data center at the Reno Technology Park: The report claimed Apple said it plans to begin construction in August and hopes to finish by the end of 2012....

macOS Catalina launched earlier this month, bringing the new Mac Catalyst platform to the masses. Mac Catalyst makes it easier for developers to bring their iPad apps to the Mac, but some developers have faced challenges doing so. In a new statement to CNET, however, Apple says that it is learning a lot as more developers adopt Catalyst. Todd Benjamin, Apple’s macOS product marketing director, says that the goal of Catalyst is to give iPad app developers “a huge head start” when coming to the Mac ecosystem....

iOS 10.3 introduces new capabilities like Find My AirPods, but one change that went somewhat under the radar is a new feature aiming to improve Siri and artificial intelligence as a whole. As detailed by ZDNet, a new iCloud Analytics feature aims to collect data from users and use it do improve Siri and other smart features. We’ve noted several times that Apple desperately needs to improve Siri, especially if a standalone Siri Speaker is in the pipeline....