Apple has released a new security update for OS X Yosemite, and a separate version of the update for Macs released in early 2015, including the new 13″ MacBook Pro with Force Touch trackpads and the upcoming MacBook. The update is available for users running OS X 10.10.2 in the Updates tab of the Mac App Store, or as a standalone installer at the links above. Users on the public beta of OS X 10....

Apple will release the second developer beta of iOS 13.4 today. This update comes two weeks after the first release of iOS 13.4 for developers. iOS 13.4 includes new features like iCloud Drive folder sharing and much more. Update: The second developer betas of iOS 13.4, macOS Catalina 10.15.4, iPadOS 13.4, watchOS 6.2, and tvOS 13.4 are now available. What’s new in iOS 13.4? One of the most important changes is that developers can now sell macOS and iOS versions of their apps as a single purchase....

Apple is rumored to be planning smaller and lighter versions of its USB-C wall chargers. The report comes from Digitimes, which says that Navitas Semiconductor is expected to obtain orders for gallium nitride, or GaN, chargers from Apple in 2021. Apple charger rumors The report also adds that Apple supplier TSMC will be included in the process and supply the GaN chips themselves to Navitas: Details here are somewhat sparse, but the need for Apple to adopt GaN technology is increasing as third-party accessory makers enter the market....

After being offline for more than a week, Apple’s Developer Center is back. Access to the portal was removed by Apple after it was discovered that a breach into the system granted individuals access to the names, mailing addresses, and email addresses of registered developers. Apple confirmed that sensitive personal data such as credit card information and developer passwords were encrypted and secure. The Developer Center looks the same as it was prior to its removal, but we assume Apple has followed through with its promise to overhaul the entire system by updating its server software and rebuilding its databases from scratch so as to prevent another intrusion....

Update: The Orchard page has now been removed from Apple’s site and redirects back to Apple’s homepage. Apple has quietly created a new program called Orchard with the goal of seeking out the next best marketing talent. Job listings have been appearing gradually over the past few weeks for the program, but Apple this evening has launched a new Orchard page on its website that talks about the program. Apple explains on its jobs webpage the goal of Orchard is to “bring together talented and diverse group of up-and-coming creatives to learn and grow with professionals at Apple....

With Apple’s Q3 earnings call this week revealing iPad sales of 13.3 million units for the quarter and Tim Cook making a point of defending the category, today we get a look at how Apple is doing overall with IDC’s latest numbers for worldwide tablet shipments. While noting that tablet shipments worldwide grew 11% year-over-year, IDC’s numbers show that Apple was able to maintain its lead over Samsung with 26.9% of the market (down from 33% last year) compared to Samsung at 17....

BuzzFeed News reports today that Apple will hold a special spring event on March 25th at Steve Jobs Theater. The event is said to focus on Apple’s upcoming news subscription service, with hardware announcements unlikely. According to the report, new AirPods, a new iPad mini, and other hardware announcements are unlikely at the March event. Whether or not Apple’s streaming video service will make an appearance is unclear. Just earlier today, a report from The Wall Street Journal detailed the revenue split Apple is planning for its news subscription service....

https://twitter.com/dmaul53854/status/312270255152046080 Apple today introduced discounts for its new iMac lineup for its Employees Purchase Program, signaling it could be further caught up with demand and moving past the significant constraints it experienced in the months following launch. On top of 25 percent off, which brings the top of the line iMac model down from $1,999 to $1,599, Apple’s employees get $500 toward Macs every three years. Up until today, Apple wasn’t offering EPP discounts on the new iMac lineup (something it has done for new backordered products before), but this could be because the product has experienced significant constraints in the last few months of production....

Apple Pay today added support for two more banks as Apple continues to slowly roll out support for the more than 500 US banks it said would support the new payments services. The new banks include Fremont Bank and the National Institutes of Health Federal Credit Union. Fremont Bank, based in Fremont, CA, adds support for Personal debit cards and small business debit cards, according to Apple’s newly updated list of participating Apple Pay banks and card issuers....

Apple has redesigned the human interface guidelines page on their developer website, making it easier to find the right templates and fonts you want to work with. In addition to the new site, Apple has also added all-new templates and libraries for iOS 15 and iPadOS 15. The new templates include refreshed colors, an iOS 15-specific Home Screen, new widgets, and many other user interface elements introduced in this year’s release....

Remember, Bill Keller, Executive Editor for the New York Times, let slip (At 8:33 in the following clip) that: “I’m hoping we can get the newsroom more actively involved in the challenge of delivering our best journalism in the form of Times Reader, iPhone apps, WAP, or the impending Apple slate…” http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=7166514&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=ffffff&fullscreen=1 Techcrunch does some more investigation on ‘iSlate’ domains and finds out that Apple likely registered these all over Europe in 2006....

Apple has released sixth iOS 9.3 pre-release beta for developers and public beta testers to use ahead of its release. The software update is expected to be released later this month. Features include a new Night Shift mode which changes the color temperature of displays, Touch ID- and password-protected items in the Notes app, new CarPlay features, expanded 3D Touch options, and much more. Apple previously toyed around with changing how the Apple Pencil worked on iPad Pros — removing scrolling and panning navigation — but eventually decided to leave full functionality intact starting with beta 5....

In addition to releasing the second beta versions of iOS 8.4 with the all-new Music app, Apple today issued a new pre-release build of OS X Yosemite 10.10.4 for testers. The latest build comes in at 14E11f. The update is available for both developers and public beta testers. Apple released the first preview version of OS X 10.10.4 earlier this month to registered developers and AppleSeed testers with today’s build adding public beta testers as well....

Supply-chain reports suggest that Apple is scaling back its expectations for sales of its two flagship iPhones this year, the successor to the iPhone X and a larger ‘iPhone X Plus.’ It reportedly now expects the cheaper LCD model to sell as many as the two OLED models combined … The WSJ reports supply-chain sources saying that Apple is rebalancing production plans for this year’s iPhones. With Apple expected to retain older models in the line-up also, that would mean that the majority of iPhone sales will be LCD models....

What does it take to pack a mall with 10,000+ people in the age of digital retail? $50 iPhones will certainly do the trick. That’s what happened in Malaysia over the weekend when an Apple reseller advertised fire sale prices on old inventory — and the insane influx of customers ultimately caused the retailer to call off the spring cleaning promotion. The Verge reports that Malaysian retailer Switch advertised a special promotion to sell off mostly display inventory for near giveaway prices, but the response from customers forced the retailer to shut down the sale for security reasons....

Keeping with its recent annual update cycle, Apple showed off the next version of the Mac desktop operating system at WWDC today. OS X 10.11, the latest system version, carries the name El Capitan following Apple’s pattern of using names of prominent locations across California including Yosemite and Mavericks in years prior. Full details below: – 55% of active Mac users running OS X 10.10 Yosemite – Fastest adoption rate for any PC operating system...

A new report from Motherboard today delves into some details regarding Apple’s bug bounty program, an intitative the company launched last year in hopes of encouraging security researching to submit “high-value” bugs in exchange for money. Today’s report, however, explains that the program isn’t taking off as fast as Apple had hoped… At the time of announcement, Apple broke down the max payments as part of its bounty program: Secure boot firmware: $200,000 Extraction of confidential material protected by the Secure Enclave Processor: $100,000 Execution of arbitrary code w/kernel privs: $50,000 Unauthorized access to iCloud account data on Apple Servers: $50,000 Access from a sandboxed process to user data outside of that sandbox: $25,000 Motherboard’s report, however, explains that Apple isn’t paying researching nearly enough, as they can get considerably more for bugs from third-parties....

Apple prides itself on being environmentally focused and is continuously working to reduce its environmental footprint. According to Apple’s 2018 Environment Responsibility Report released today, the company is focusing on climate change, resources, and safer materials. The biggest stride from over the past year is that Apple now runs all of its operations on 100 percent renewable energy. The company says that it uses a combination of renewable resources including solar and wind to reduce its footprint....

Apple’s Irish campus in Cork is celebrating its 40th birthday, after first opening in 1980 as a single manufacturing facility with just 60 employees. Since then, the campus has grown in size, role, and controversy … Some employees have been there for more than 30 of the facility’s 40 years. Fast-forward to today, and Ireland is home to more than 6,000 Apple employees and a sprawling campus in the city of Cork....

Apple has joined the Alliance for Open Media, a technology consortium that is working on a new industry standard, high-efficiency video codec called AV1. Other goals of the group include navigating the complicated nature of royalties with HEVC Advance, the industry group behind H.265 (commonly known as HEVC) which Apple has adopted with High Sierra and iOS 11. It’s possible with Apple joining the Alliance for Open Media that the AV1 codec could become the efficient video compression that unifies the industry moving forward....