Apple has just announced its latest promo for Apple Pay users, and it offers four months of unlimited coffee at Panera Bread. The offer is valid when you check out with Apple Pay in the Panera Bread app. According to an email sent by Apple to users this Wednesday, consumers can subscribe to MyPanera+ Coffee and get four months for free by checking out with Apple Pay. The offer is valid from today until January 27, 2021, for new subscribers only....

Apple has released the first iOS 10.3 beta for developer testing on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. We’ll update to the newly released iOS 10.3 beta and detail changes below: Back in December, iOS 10.3 was first rumored to be released this week and include a new Theater Mode toggle accessible in part via Control Center. Apple similarly released a feature-packed software beta this time last year with iOS 9.3 which included Night Shift, new CarPlay features, and upgraded stock apps....

Apple has released the fourth iOS 10.1 beta which includes the Portrait camera for iPhone 7 Plus that applies a DSLR-like blur effect over photos using the dual lens system. iOS 10.1 beta 4 is available to registered developers. The fourth beta is also available to public beta testers on iOS 10.1 today. Portrait mode is a feature that was demonstrated at Apple’s keynote earlier this month, but the major new feature wasn’t ready for primetime when the iPhone 7 Plus initially launched....

Apple has released the seventh developer and public beta version of iOS 10.2 for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch — the second developer and public beta this week. iOS 10.2 includes several upcoming features like new Unicode 9.0 emoji, three new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus wallpapers, a new TV app, additional camera features, new Messages screen effects, and more. iOS 10.2 will be released to everyone likely sometime next week, and a free public beta program is available for non-developers....

Apple is updating its affiliate program today for the rebranded Apple Books. And with that, Apple is making some changes for authors and publishers that will make it easier to distribute on the platform. Firstly, and the more obvious change is Apple is updating all of its badges, switching from “Get it on iBooks” to “Get it on Apple Books”. This applies to all labels such as downloading or pre-ordering books, in all languages....

Apple today announced that it has revamped its Affiliate Program with a handful of changes. The Affiliate Program now features a redesigned interface with a new navigation system, more powerful reporting, and more. Apple touts that with navigation design has been “updated and simplified.” There’s also a new dashboard with performance metrics and other data visualizers. As for payments, Apple says that the new design makes it easier to see what you’ve earned....

After several years of quiet development, Apple is readying a major new iOS initiative codenamed “Proactive,” which will leverage Siri, Contacts, Calendar, Passbook, and third-party apps to create a viable competitor to Google Now for Android devices. Like Google Now, Proactive will automatically provide timely information based on the user’s data and device usage patterns, but will respect the user’s privacy preferences, according to sources familiar with Apple’s plans. As an evolution of iOS’s Spotlight search feature, Proactive is the fruit of a long-term initiative that involved the acquisition of small app developers, and integration of core iOS apps....

We obviously had to white out numbers above – From Apple’s Retail inventory system. A source inside Apple Retail has shared with us the numbers for Apple’s Black Friday sales event. Black Friday is always huge shopping day and Apple forecasted at least 4X sales for the day. However, because Apple did have the lowest prices on big ticket items like the iPad, it blew away forecasts by 7PM and unsurprisingly had its biggest sales day of all time....

The stakes are high: Apple holds 70 per cent of the US MP3 player market with its iPod range. We believe Cupertino plans to upgrade its digital music players within weeks. One band that may not appear at the new iPod launch this time around may be U2. The only band to have had an official iPod model made in its honour has now dropped the DRM from its music catalogue – but only through Real’s Rhapsody service – a snub to iTunes....

While Apple may spend less than half that of Microsoft and a quarter that of Google on Washington D.C. lobbying, the company under Tim Cook is investing an increasing amount of its cash in its influence around the United States capital. As Bloomberg reports, data from OpenSecrets.org puts Apple’s spending on Washington lobbyists from January through September last year at $2.9 million (a number which doesn’t include the last quarter of 2014) and almost $3....

Since beginning its efforts in 2015, Apple’s work on a mixed reality headset has been hit with a range of challenges that have pushed back the potential launch date by years. Now a new report from The Information shares what the major roadblocks have been from inside sources. The Information was able to talk with 10 people close to Apple’s mixed reality headset project, most of whom worked on the team....

Update: Apple appears to have removed the job listing, but we grabbed a screenshot above and below. We know that Apple has been investigating various methods of incorporating flexible displays in its mobile devices thanks to a handful of patents and patent applications published over the last year. Flexible display rumors have picked up steam even more since rumors of an iWatch from Apple, and just today we came across two new Apple patent applications detailing flexible devices that could change states as a user bends or twists the device....

All of today’s best deals are headlined by Apple’s Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro at up to $100 off. That’s alongside up to $150 off previous-generation iPad Pros and this highly-rated leather Apple Watch band at $9. Hit the jump for all that and more in the latest 9to5Toys Lunch Break. Apple’s Magic Keyboards for prev-gen. iPad Pro up to $100 off Apple’s Magic Keyboard brings an improved typing experience to your iPad centered around a unique floating hinge design that allows for an adjustable viewing angle....

Apple is now on its third-generation system for handling Siri queries, moving to the open source Mesos platform, according to the Mesosphere blog. Apple reportedly made the announcement at the Bay Area Mesos meetup last week. During a presentation, Apple engineers said that the switch to Mesos would reduce latency, assist scalability, and made it easier to deploy new services as Siri’s capabilities are expanded … The engineers said that Siri comprises around 100 services on a Mesos cluster spanning many thousands of nodes....

Apple News local news coverage is rolling out to Canada, starting with Toronto and Montreal. It follows a recent expansion of the service in the US. Local news was first launched in the US in 2020, and now covers 11 areas: the Bay Area, Charlotte, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Sacramento, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, and Washington DC … Rene Ritchie tweeted the news about this latest expansion....

It’s undeniable that one of the best characteristics of every Apple product is its display. Apple ships computers – from iPads to iMacs – with great quality, well calibrated displays that can be used for professional work which requires a great level of fidelity. Now, it appears Apple is working a new Mac and iPad display feature to launch with macOS 10.15. Previously, Astro HQ came up with a solution, Luna Display, that allows Mac users to use their iPad as an external display....

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vslQm7IYME4] Apple has just published a new YouTube video that goes behind-the-scenes of the ad released earlier today. Video teams in 10 countries across the world were given an iPhone 5s (or several) and lead by the U.S.-based director Jake Scott via FaceTime to film the entire globe-spanning video in just one day. The video was created to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Mac, though it does have some focus on iOS devices....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu1jHtf_oUc Apple just uploaded a new television ad to their YouTube channel and website titled “FaceTime Every Day,” following their popular “Photos Every Day” and “Music Every Day” ads. Like previous ads, Apple’s newest offering demonstrates the many ways iPhone users enjoy FaceTime on their devices. The minute-longs spot, which is reminiscent of Apple’s original FaceTime ads, details people communicating with sign language, showing a new house to their family, watching the fireworks, and more....

Following the release of two new iPhone ads earlier this week, Apple has put out yet another commercial for the iPhone 6. Like the others, “Voice Text” features Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon and pop star Justin Timberlake discussing the newest features on Apple’s smartphone. In this ad, Fallon and Timberlake demonstrate the many uses for the new voice messaging feature included in iOS 8, such as including sarcasm or difficult-to-spell words in a reply....

Just a few days later after Apple CEO Tim Cook expressed his thoughts about the NSA and data collection transparency, Apple has posted an update to its website with new information regarding account data requests. The company’s press release comes as US Department of Justice comes to a settlement with technology companies over how they are allowed to disclose information about government data requests. A statement from the DOJ explains the agreement will allow “detailed disclosures about the number of national security orders and requests issued to communications providers, and the number of customer accounts targeted under those orders and requests including the underlying legal authorities....