Apple has revamped its plans for a new flagship San Francisco store in Union Square after concerns that a popular bronze fountain and sculpture would be removed, and that the building design wouldn’t offer sufficient visual interest from the exterior, reports SFGate. The building design, designed to provide 45 percent more space than its existing Stockton store, also faced accusations that the steel and glass cube would be too boring for passers-by....

In addition to a failed attempt to hire the stars of the BBC series Top Gear for its reported plans to develop in-house content, Re/code reports that media head Eddy Cue also approached sports commentator Bill Simmons. Simmons ended up signing with HBO, the deal including a new podcast from October – which is likely to be available on iTunes. Apple showed interest in signing up former ESPN star Bill Simmons to an exclusive audio podcast deal....

Apple Music Connect appears to slowly be going the way of iTunes Ping. Apple has started notifying Apple Music artists that it is removing the ability for artists to post content to Apple Music Connect, and previously posted Apple Music Connect content is being removed from the For You section and Artist Pages in Apple Music. Connect content will still be viewable through search results on Apple Music, but Apple is removing artist-submitted Connect posts from search in May…...

[December 13, 2021: iOS 15.2 is now available, bringing the more affordable version of Apple Music to potential subscribers. Apple Music Voice Plan works on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and HomePod. Support was first spotted on December 7.] Apple announced its new Voice Plan for Apple Music in October with a release date of later this year. Now ‘later this year’ has arrived, and the new tier for Apple Music memberships is making its first public appearance....

A new report from Bloomberg today says that Apple is planning to open the iPhone up to third-party app stores for the first time. The report, however, also says that Apple hasn’t made a decision on “how it may open iMessage and its Messages app to third-party services.” Like the App Store changes, this is something that would be required under the new Digital Markets Act in the European Union....

Apple just unveiled its much rumored wearable product live on stage during its press event this morning giving us a first look at its entrance into the smartwatch market. The device is officially called Apple Watch, pairs with iPhone, and sports an all-new user interface that is quite a departure from anything we’ve seen on other iOS devices. Perhaps the biggest surprise on the Apple Watch is that Apple is using a traditional watch dial on the side of the device as an input mechanism for navigating the device....

First and foremast, Dediu says that the iPhone will have sold at least 1.2 billion units in its first 10 years, making it the “most successful product of all-time” and spawning other categories like iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV, and Apple Watch. Dediu explains that, if current predictions hold true, revenue from iOS product sales will hit $980 billion around the middle of this year. Hardware, however, isn’t the only revenue stream to hit Apple’s bank account from iOS....

By now you’ve probably heard about Apple’s ambitious new “spaceship” campus, which will serve as the company’s new headquarters once completed. While some details of the facility haven’t been revealed to the public, a new building permit uncovered by BuildZoom has given us an idea of how much money Apple will be spending on its new in-house auditorium. The 1,000-seat theater is going to cost Apple somewhere around $161 million. It will be worth the money though, as it’s expected to be used for most product unveilings, and will give Apple even greater control over the keynote experience....

Apple has recently picked up one of Tesla’s senior designers, Andrew Kim. After spending two years at the automaker working on design for many Tesla vehicles, even unreleased models, Kim is now continuing his design work on undisclosed projects at Apple. After spending three years in design at Microsoft, most recently working on the company’s HoloLens, Andrew Kim left for Tesla in 2016. He worked on about all of the company’s vehicles, including the upcoming Model Y, next-gen Roadster, and Tesla Semi....

Earlier this month, Apple announced a series of Today at Apple sessions that focus on creating posters inspired by Apple TV+ shows. That Today at Apple series began yesterday, and Apple has shared new YouTube videos highlighting the creativity. On YouTube this afternoon, Apple has shared two videos showcasing using iPad Pro and Apple Pencil to make posters inspired by For All Mankind and Dickinson. In the For All Mankind video, illustrators Justin Erickson and Paige Reynolds from Phantom City Creative showcase how they made their posting using an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil....

Following the release of the first betas of iOS 16 and macOS 13 earlier this week, Apple has now released a new AirPods beta firmware to developers. While this is not the first time Apple has released beta software for AirPods, it has only happened once in the past. Apple has provided instructions for installing the new firmware through its Developer Portal. Basically, what developers have to do is pair AirPods to the iPhone and then use Xcode 14 beta on a Mac to enable the “Pre-Release Beta Firmware” option under the “AirPods Testing” section....

Apple is releasing today tvOS 14.6 and HomePod 14.6 for all users. After a few weeks in beta, the software is now available through the set-top-box and the Home app. Different from tvOS 14.5 which brought Adjust Color Balance feature to all available Apple TVs and support for the latest PlayStation 5 DualSense and Xbox Series X controllers, which can be used to play games, tvOS 14.6 and HomePod 14.6 don’t bring anything more than bug fixes....

Apple has released the watchOS 7.1 Release Candidate build to Apple Watch developer and public beta testers today. The update brings new headphone level features and more. Apple is moving away from the previously-used golden master naming for near-final beta releases. Instead, going forward the company will use the term “Release Candidate,” or RC to reference a near-final beta release. We first saw this with last week’s release of the iOS 14....

Update: A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed the situation to The Verge: According to a report from The Next Web that cited sources close to Microsoft, Apple is currently preventing Microsoft from updating its SkyDrive iOS app due to a disagreement over whether Apple should collect its usual 30 percent cut of additional storage purchased through the service. TNW explained: The difficulty began when Microsoft rolled out the ability for SkyDrive users to purchase more storage space on the service....

Morgan Stanley’s Katy Huberty says that an analysis of Apple’s recent SEC filing strongly suggests that the company has not only made a big bet on the success of the iPhone 6, with large advance orders, but also that it is likely to launch the long-awaited iWatch this quarter. The graph, obtained by Business Insider, shows the historical correlation between off-balance sheet commitments – the technical financial term for money invested in things like tooling, component purchases and manufacturing contracts – and quarterly revenue....

Apple has today announced Apple Music Sessions, comprising exclusive live releases recorded in Spatial Audio. The first two artists featured are Carrie Underwood and Tenille Townes. Each performance includes companion live videos … Apple Music Sessions Apple says that the performances include new versions of existing songs, as well as new covers. Ronnie Dunn and Ingrid Andress are next up, and although this already covers both types of music – country and western (© H....

Apple has added a clause in its App Store guidelines for developers noting that apps doing health-related human subject research are required to obtain approvals from an independent ethics review board. Apple previously recommended that developers utilizing its new open-source ResearchKit framework for medical research in apps consult with an “institutional review board or ethics committee” to ensure safety requirements are met, but the new guidelines make approvals from a review board and proof of the approval a requirement for all apps conducting human subject medical research....

After a premature appearance last month, Apple’s new “Spoken Editions” section in iTunes is now live. Spoken Editions, for those unfamiliar, are narrated pieces of content from a variety of online publishers. Spoken Editions are available in iTunes on the Mac and PC as well as Apple’s first-party Podcasting app for iOS. As noted by TechCrunch, Apple is launching Spoken Edition in partnership with a variety of publications, including Huffington Post, Reuters, Slate....

Apple is launching a new Apple Pay promo that will run beginning today (July 19) through August 1. Users will be able to get discounts through select stores and retailers when using Apple Pay in apps or on the web. Users will be able to get discounts such as $5 off 2 or more movie tickets with Fandango or free shipping with Houzz. The full list can be found below....

In honor of World Emoji Day tomorrow, Apple has previewed the new emojis coming to iPhones, iPads, and Macs later this year. As detailed by Emojipedia, new emoji coming this fall include a ninja, a boomerang, a coin, and more. These emoji were approved earlier this year as part of the Emoji 13.0 release by the Unicode Consortium. Today marks the first time that Apple has actually previewed the new emoji designs that will come to iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac later this year....