Apple Maps has been updated to show COVID-19 airport travel guidance in partnership with the Airports Council International. The feature is rolling out now with Apple Maps surfacing a paragraph of important details along with a link to an airport’s COVID travel guidance page. Two weeks ago, Apple Maps added COVID vaccine locations in the US and now the platform is gaining useful global airport travel guidance. The Airports Council International (ACI) shared the news in a press release today:...

Apple Maps public transit navigation continues its leisurely global rollout, with the ability to plan journeys using trains now available in parts of Austria. A next-step is also anticipated in Germany … iPhone Ticker reports that the public transit feature is now working in the capital of Vienna, as well as the popular ski resort of Innsbruck, alongside other unspecified cities. The site notes that Apple hasn’t yet added Austria to its official list of supported countries....

Apple Music is the latest streaming service to partner with Waze. With that, users can seamlessly integrate both services, so they can keep their eyes on the road while enjoying the ride. Here’s how Waze describes this partnership: With a direct connection between the apps, you can now access Apple Music content directly from the Waze Audio Player. Enjoy more than 90 million songs, tens of thousands of curated playlists, Apple Music Radio and more while you navigate....

Apple News+ hasn’t even been available for a month yet, and some publishers are already growing frustrated with it. A new report from Digiday details how some publishers are experiencing headaches with formatting, communicating with Apple, and more. In its original pitches to publishers, Apple promised that it would provide design resources and article templates. According to today’s report, which cites communication with five publishers, Apple’s promise has proven to be “half true....

Apple has today launched Apple News+ in the United Kingdom with access to around 150 publications. For £9.99 per month, Apple users can access current and past issues from UK-centric magazines and newspapers including The Times, Esquire, Empire, Hello!, Cyclist and Grazia. UK subscribers can also access US publications including the Wall Street Journal. UK users can start using the Apple News+ service now. Just visit the News+ tab in the Apple News app on your iPhone, iPad or Mac....

The prevailing view of Apple News+ among newspaper publishers has been that the deal doesn’t make sense for the big boys. It would cannibalise their own digital subscriptions, and also means that Apple owns the relationship with their readers. The New York Times, for example, not only refused to sign up itself, but also went on record explaining why it believes other newspapers should follow its lead … CEO Mark Thompson made the case against....

More restaurants will soon be offering the option to pay table side with Apple Pay as EMV terminal maker E la Carte announces its newest product that introduces the functionality. You might have noticed the company’s pay-at-table Presto touchscreen terminals at some restaurants already— its two big customers are Outback Steakhouse and Applebee’s— but its new Presto Prime terminal announced today offers a number of enhancements with Apple Pay among them:...

As it does every year, Apple today has put together its end-of-the-year “Best of” sections on the iTunes Store, App Store, and iBooks Store. The sections are meant to highlight the best content of the year across various categories. For instance, Apple has named photo editing app “Prisma” as the iPhone App of the Year. Moving down the list, Apple has named “Clash Royale” iPhone Game of the Year, while “Severed” has been named iPad Game of the Year....

After launching the first macOS Monterey 12.3 beta to developers and public testers with the exciting Universal Control feature enabled at the end of January, the second beta has arrived today with several bug fixes including one for a Bluetooth-related battery drain fix. Update 2/9: The second macOS 12.3 beta is now available for public testers too. The second macOS Monterey 12.3 beta is now available via OTA for developers and public testers already enrolled in the beta as well as being available to download from Apple’s Developer website or public beta site....

Apple’s latest Mac OS X 10.7.3 release is a pain for some users due to its bugs surrounding CUI issues and the crashing of applications. Apple has already been investigating the issues with test groups, and it has apparently decided that the best thing to do at this point is remove the standard 10.7.3 update from its servers and provide users with the ability to only download the combined installation. This combo installer is not riddled with the CUI and app crashing errors as explained in our report from yesterday....

Apple puts a big emphasis on the accessibility of its products, ranging from iPhone and Apple Watch to AirPods and more. In a new interview, Sarah Herrlinger, Apple’s global head of accessibility, offers more details about Apple’s focus on accessibility. Speaking to the Evening Standard, Herrlinger explained that Apple’s central goal is to level the playing field and give everyone the ability to be productive members of society. When it comes to developing new accessibility features, Herrlinger said that one of key resources for Apple is emails from customers....

After launching a new Pro Apps Bundle earlier this month that includes Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro X, and Apple’s other pro apps at a discounted price for education customers, the offer is now available in additional countries outside of the US. Apple confirmed on Twitter that the Pro Apps Bundle is now available in 35 countries after initially launching in the US late last week. The bundle, which offers 5 apps in total for quite a significant discount, appears to be available in most markets where Apple runs an education discount program with some of the notable larger markets including Canada, Australia, China, Japan, the UK, and South Korea....

[UPDATE: Two more ads rolled out on Friday.] Earlier this month Apple kicked off a new whimsical iPad Pro advertising campaign based on real tweets complaining about PC problems that iPads can solve. Now Apple is out with the latest addition highlighting Apple Pencil. The new ad spot highlights how users can rely on the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil to easily sign and send off PDF files with handwritten signatures to avoid printing completely....

Apple has issued the first macOS 10.12.1 developer beta in addition to the first Xcode 8.1 developer beta. The updates come just one day after Apple officially released the major macOS Sierra update for all users. The new macOS 10.12.1 developer beta features build version 16B2327e while the first Xcode 8.1 beta has build version 8T29o. We’ll dig in to the first update to macOS Sierra and update with any notable changes....

A new job listing posted by Apple shows that the company is working to bring its in-house Maps app, currently only available as native apps for iOS and Mac OS X, to the web. The position for a “Maps Web Developer” is seeking an individual experienced in “creating beautiful and responsive user interfaces” with JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. The developer will work with Apple’s teams on web implementations of its mapping technology....

Apple has today launched one of the few outstanding iOS 15 features first demoed at WWDC. In partnership with Hyatt Hotels, Apple users will be able to use their iPhone, or Apple Watch, as their room key in the initial rollout of six hotels. You add your key to Wallet in much the same way as you might add a cinema ticket or DisneyWorld pass, using the hotelier’s app. As soon as you book your reservation, you can add your key to the Wallet app ready for when you arrive....

Apple is in the process of winding down Beats Electronics’ outsourced phone support ties and moving technical support completely in-house via AppleCare, according to sources. Beats Electronics phone support is currently split between Apple and Sitel, a customer support outsourcing firm, and Apple is aiming to completely end that relationship as soon as March. Apple cut several Beats jobs in July following the acquisition. Sitel employees have confirmed that they will be moved to new technical support positions for other companies, and AppleCare employees similarly confirmed that Beats support will soon be handled completely internally....

Just as we thought Apple’s u-turn would put an end to the controversy over its original intention to pay artists nothing during the free trial of Apple Music, a statement to the WSJ suggests that there is still time for the saga to turn into a PR nightmare. While everyone assumed Apple would now be paying artists and publishers the 71.5% royalty rate from day one, it appears the actual amount paid during the free trial will be lower....

Apple today announced a new partnership with Warner Music to launch “Saylists,” which are special playlists available on Apple Music that are focused on helping young people with speech-sound disorders. As reported by BBC News, the project uses algorithms to identify songs which repeat sounds that are difficult for those with speech disorders to pronounce. “One in 12 children in the UK is believed to experience some form of speech-sound disorder (SSD),” says the report....

Update: Here’s the full letter, which we received following the original report and confirmed is legit. It appears to be an email sent out to Apple’s education partners: In iPad one-to-one environments, schools are seeing more engaged students, better attendance, and higher test results. You can see this happening in districts and schools like Prince George’s County, and Essa Academy. We understand that some schools are not able to give every student an iPad and are sharing devices across classes and students....