Apple is set to make its return to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in less than a month. CES 2020 officially begins on January 7, and Apple will make a formal appearance at the conference for the first time since 1992 — this time to talk about privacy. As first spotted by Bloomberg, Apple’s senior director of privacy Jane Horvath will speak at CES during a “Chief Privacy Officer Roundtable.” The CES schedule indicates that this discussion will focus on things like regulation, consumer privacy at scale, and more....

Apple introduced with iOS 14 last year a new ratings and photo system for points of interest in Apple Maps that was built entirely by the company without relying on third-party services. Now these features are being rolled out to US users. Apple Maps has always relied on third-party platforms like Foursquare, Yelp, and TripAdvisor to show reviews of a place on the map. While this came with the benefit of having thousands of reviews from these partners’ databases, users had to download other apps to submit their own reviews....

Apple Music has a strong foundation of handpicked playlists and curated music collections, and changes to the music service’s ‘For You’ section is dramatically improving Apple Music’s recommendation features. Apple Music’s upgraded ‘For You section is now organized around music themes that are more personalized for each member, and updates to ‘For You’ are now much more frequent. The changes to Apple Music and ‘For You’ are already starting to appear today on select platforms including iOS 12....

Last weekend, Apple sent a wave of Apple Music notifications to previous subscribers offering them an additional 3-month free trial. Now, Apple is continuing its Apple Music focus with push notifications allowing current subscribers to gift a friend a free month of the streaming music service. The notification is actionable, allowing you to tap it and be taken to a page where they can send a referral to non-Apple Music subscribers....

Apple hopes that its Apple Pay mobile payment platform can help ease the process of buying drinks at concert festivals everywhere. According to a new report from TechCrunch, Apple Pay powered an “order ahead” feature at last week’s BottleRock music festival near San Francisco… The feature allowed Apple Pay users to skip the lines when it came time to order a drink. Instead of having to wait in a long and slow-moving line, and miss the show, users could use the BottleRock festival application to place their drink order from their iPhone and checkout with Apple Pay....

Apple Pay could be readying its launch in Central America as bank BAC Credomatic is testing support for this feature in Costa Rica. As of now, Central America is the only part of the Americas that doesn’t have a country supporting Apple Pay. With this feature available in more than 60 regions all over the world, there is still plenty of space to expand. One of the aspects that shows whether a bank will start to support Apple Pay is when its app shows that it supports the Apple Wallet on its page....

Back in 2016, it was reported that Apple planned to create a new UK campus in the iconic Battersea Power Station along the Thames. Now, The Times reports that Apple has started to make contingency plans out of fear its new British headquarters could be delayed. Currently, Apple houses roughly 1,400 employees across eight different sites across London. With its new Battersea Power Station headquarters, however, the company will be able to put everyone at the same location....

As we covered in-depth yesterday, the Dark Sky weather app that Apple acquired in 2020 is set to officially shut down in less than two weeks. While there are a number of popular alternatives out there, Apple has published a new support document detailing why it thinks Dark Sky users should make the jump to the stock Weather app on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Dark Sky shutdown looms In the support document, Apple touts that many of Dark Sky’s features “have been integrated into Apple Weather....

Apple has reached a deal to lease a new office in the South of Ireland, more specifically in Cork city. With over 36,000 square feet, the building will have enough space for another 350 to 400 additional employees in the country. As reported by the Irish Examiner, the high-spec, energy-efficient building is ready for occupation and overlooks the River Lee: If Apple wants, the company has options for further space if and when required, as the building will have 300,000 square feet of offices in all....

Apple and Epic Games have been fighting in court after the popular game Fortnite was removed from the App Store in August 2020, but there’s still a lot to come. Both companies are expected to face each other in a trial expected to begin on May 3, and Apple continues to strengthen its arguments to defend the App Store business model. Following the findings of fact and conclusions of law filed by Apple with the court last month, the company once again takes issue with Epic’s accusations that Apple uses monopolistic practices to prevent competition on its platforms....

iOS 16 was released to all users on Monday. However, as reported this week, iPhone 14 models are shipping with a version of iOS 16.0 that predates the official build (20A362). Now the company has made iOS 16.0.1 available exclusively for the new iPhones as the update comes with even more bug fixes for the 14 and 14 Pro models. Previously, iPhone 14 owners would get the same iOS 16.0 build released to the public earlier this week available as an update once they set up the device for the first time....

CNET looked at some of the recent talks between Apple and the record labels recording Apple’s plans for a streaming, radio-like service. According to the report, Apple is working to strike deals with both the Warner and Universal Music groups within the week. Sony would still be one of the major holdouts. While recent reports have pinned the service’s launch for late 2013, CNET said Apple still wants to have a summer launch take place....

CNET reports that authorized resellers will be limited to those ‘who handle millions of dollars in Apple products,’ which will eliminate small businesses and individual sellers. “It was really a great thing for our family,” the 35-year-old consulting engineer from Colorado said, adding that the side business helped him pay off the medical bills, nursing school and existing student loans. “I feel our business is not being treated fairly and there’s nothing we can do about it,” Weil said, “and that’s what’s really frustrating” […] after selling $500,000 in merchandise through the site in the past two years, paying the company $80,000 in fees over the past three years and maintaining a superb seller performance record throughout....

Wednesday’s best deals are now up for the taking, headlined by a new all-time low on the MagSafe Duo at $97. That’s alongside Apple’s white Magic Keyboards for M1 iPad Pros from $257 and these elago Nintendo-inspired Apple TV cases from $14. Hit the jump for all that and more in the latest 9to5Toys Lunch Break. New all-time low arrives on MagSafe Duo Verizon Wireless is now offering the Apple MagSafe Duo Charger for $97....

Apple has today announced that its music streaming service will be sponsoring a free Anderson .Paak concert on March 13 in London. The one-night only concert is being presented by Dr. Dre and seems to be the first major public concert put on by Apple since the company shut down its Apple Music Festival. Apple shared the news via its Apple Music Twitter account today. “Just announced! @DrDre presents: @AndersonPaak One Night Only in London....

Mind the Store, a coalition which focuses on tracking toxic chemicals in consumer products, is out today with its third annual ranking of North American retailers. This year, Apple locked in the top position on the list with an A+ grade, an improvement from the A it received last year. This year, Apple scored 106.25 points of 135 possible points, which equates to an A+ on the Mind the Store grading scale....

A new week is now under way, and with it has come a batch of enticing new deals headlined by the second-best price of the year on Apple Pencil 2 at $104. That’s alongside up to $589 in savings on iPhone 11/Pro/Max models and the latest batch of Anker iPhone accessories from $9. Hit the jump for all that and more in the latest 9to5Toys Lunch Break. Pair your iPad Pro with this Apple Pencil 2 deal Redesigned for some of the latest iPads, the second-generation Apple Pencil improves on the original model with wireless charging, magnetic attachment, and a refreshed form factor....

We’ve all read stories about safety nets being placed under manufacturing plant windows so employees can’t commit suicide, as well as incredibly long shifts. Also, there were articles about n-hexane, a chemical used to clean up screens, causing serious damage to the health of workers. It can cause nerve damage and paralysis. Also, in May last year, an explosion happened at a factory manufacturing Apple products, killing and injuring employees, as described in this New York Times report....

Following the release of the sixth developer seed yesterday, Apple has pushed out an update for users who are part of the OS X beta testing program. This fourth beta introduces the same changes that were added to the developer branch yesterday. Among the changes users will find a new General icon in the System Preferences app and a new blue wallpaper. The update comes with the build number 15A243d, compared to 15A244d for yesterday’s developer version....

Adele has been turned down by Apple as the company is refusing to sell her new album in its stores. Whilst that may sound surprising, it turns out Apple actually declined from stocking physical CD album copies of her album in Apple retail stores as per Adele’s representative’s request (according to The Daily Mail). Apple declining to stock physical media … shocking right? For the company that revolutionized digital music and released a streaming music service with much fanfare earlier in the year, it’s quite hilarious that a top artist’s team even tried such a request....