Apple has today announced the winners of the second annual Apple Music Awards. Hip-hop artist Lil Baby took top billing, named Artist of the Year. Other categories were Songwriter of the Year, Breakthrough Artist of the Year, Song of the Year and Top Album of the Year. Apple has also promised a week of special performances, fan events, interviews, and more in early December … Apple said that it used human judges to pick the artists, while streaming data was used for the song and album of the year....

My first impressions of Apple Music weren’t great. I loved the first ‘For you’ recommendation it made, but the service then seemed to be completely ignoring what it should already know about my taste in music and offering me a lot of what I already owned. I also had a number of complaints about the user interface. One week in, I was still unhappy with it continuing to offer to ‘introduce me’ to artists whose music I already owned, and was pretty unimpressed with the radio stations, but I was enjoying its hit-rate in recommending artists new to me....

Apple is introducing a new education bundle for its professional creative apps that significantly discounts the entire collection. Final Cut Pro X, Logic Pro X, and their companion apps can be purchased together through the bundle for $199… The Pro Apps Bundle for Education is available on Apple’s education store starting today and includes Final Cut Pro X, Logic Pro X, Motion 5, Compressor 4, and MainStage 3. Apple’s education store is available to select customers:...

Apple made some changes to how AirPods integrate with the Settings app with iOS 16. Now, with iOS 16 now available to the general public, Apple is building on these updates with a new support document that finally provides release notes for AirPods firmware updates… With iOS 16 beta 5, Apple added more details to the AirPods information available in the Settings app. Specifically, the company added a dedicated area to view AirPods firmware version details....

We’ve known since last summer that HomePod will play Apple Music and Apple Podcasts directly, and audio from other sources can be played over Apple’s AirPlay. With just over a week before HomePod hits stores, Apple has officially detailed what audio can be played on the smart speaker. From HomePod’s tech specs page (via 512 Pixels) detailing compatible audio sources: Apple Music iTunes Music Purchases iCloud Music Library with an Apple Music or iTunes Match subscription Beats 1 Live Radio Podcasts AirPlay other content to HomePod from iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV, and Mac HomePod has been heavily marketed as an Apple Music player since last June, but we’ve slowly been learning which audio sources that are also from the Apple ecosystem can be played directly....

Apple is once again celebrating the LGBT Pride parade in San Francisco with employees (including Apple CEO Tim Cook) joining the march earlier today, showing support of human equality and diversity across ethnicities and sexual orientation. For the first time, Apple is gifting limited edition Pride Apple Watch bands to employees who take part, with rainbow colored nylon strap and red lugs. More pics after the break … Reddit user ‘Sakusuhon‘ posted the top image of the watch band, which includes a pamphlet that reads: “This limited-edition band is a symbol of our commitment to equality and we hope you’ll wear it with pride”....

The Apple online store was updated with some pretty minor tweaks this morning, but welcomed nonetheless. After hitting the “Buy Now” button on the iPad product page you’re now taken to a new and improved interface for selecting your color, model, and carrier preferences. As of right now, only the iPad ordering page for the US and UK stores seem to have received the update. It also appears that the usual “Ships in 24 hours” is now displayed as “In Stock”....

Reader Beau Giles reports, “Apple Pay works anywhere there’s existing PayPass or payWave terminals – and in Australia we’ve got plenty of them…While Apple restricts cards to US issued cards, they do work with Apple Pay just fine elsewhere.” Beau notes that Apple Pay appears to be based on the region set on a user’s device and is not necessarily tied to an iTunes account (although it does offer the option to use a card on file through an Apple ID)....

Apple is releasing the macOS 10.12.2 software update for Mac today. The new version includes Unicode 9 emoji like iOS 10.2 plus four new wallpapers and plenty of bug fix improvements. macOS 10.12.2 is available as an update from the Mac App Store including for developers and public beta testers. Release notes below: Unicode 9.0 emoji support matches compatibility with both iOS 10.2 and watchOS 3.1.1. These are the changes discovered during the beta period:...

Apple today will release the first public beta of iOS 13.3.1. This comes after yesterday’s release of the first developer beta. iOS 13.3.1 focuses on bug fixes and performance improvements. Update: iOS 13.3.1 public beta is now available. Apple has also released the first public beta of macOS Catalina 10.15.3 and tvOS 13.3.1. Although Apple has not mentioned anything, it is very likely that this update has fixed some issues related to Screen Time....

Apple today is releasing the GM seed of iOS 13.4, iPadOS 13.4, and watchOS 6.2 to developers. These updates come after a long period of beta testing. iOS 13.4 includes new features like iCloud Drive folder sharing, new Memoji stickers, advanced mouse support for iPad, and much more. Apple is also releasing macOS Catalina 10.15.4 beta 6 and tvOS 13.4 GM to developers. One of the major changes of iOS 13....

Apple has released the third public beta version of macOS 10.12.4 which includes Night Shift for Mac. macOS 10.12.4 public beta 3 follows the third developer version of the upcoming software update. These are the new features included in macOS 10.12.4 beta: Night Shift now available on the Mac. Dictation support for Shanghainese. Ask Siri about cricket scores, schedules and player rosters. Siri knows about statistics and data from the Indian Premier League and International Cricket Council....

It’s been an interesting journey for Apple as it has figured out its manufacturing plans for the new Mac Pro. While the US factory that produced the 2013 Mac Pro in Austin, Texas is indeed handling the 2019 Mac Pro after all, that’s not the case for international customers. Back in June, not too long after the Mac Pro was first unveiled, we heard that Apple was reportedly going to use its vendor Quanta to manufacture the pro desktop in China, marking a shift from the previous generation Mac Pro that was made in the US....

Refreshed 2015 MacBook Air and Pro models are now available at major US retailers following their announcement at Apple’s Spring Forward event on March 9th. B&H offers $5 off and no tax at the time of purchase outside of New York on the new MacBook Airs and MacBook Pros as well as a free copy of Parallels. 2014 versions are discounted. MacMall also offers $5 off the new MacBook Airs and Pros and tax only in a few states....

With Samsung having argued in its opening statement that the $2B sum being claimed by Apple for five alleged patent violations was “a gross, gross exaggeration,” Apple called two expert witnesses to explain why it believes the sum is reasonable. Re/code reports that first MIT professor John Hauser carried out a form of trade-off analysis to determine the value of individual features to customers. Apple used a similar analysis from Hauser in the first Apple-Samsung trial in which he found customers might pay as much as $100 more for a Samsung phone that included patented features …...

With Microsoft’s Windows 10 major operating system update launching today, Apple has issued a new driver update for Windows users with 2015 MacBooks, MacBook Airs, and MacBook Pros. Specifically, the FaceTime Camera Driver Update is meant to improve FaceTime camera compatibility with Windows when using OS X’s built-in Boot Camp functionality. The 1.4 MB software update doesn’t appear to be available through the Mac App Store, but 2015 MacBook owners can download and install it from the Apple’s support site here....

In January, we reported that Apple is preparing a new 4-inch iPhone that is essentially 2013’s iPhone 5s with upgraded internals. At the time, we heard that Apple would call the device the “iPhone 5se” based on it being both an enhanced and “special edition” version of the iPhone 5s. Now, we are hearing that Apple appears to be going all in on the special edition factor: sources say that Apple has decided to drop the “5” from the device’s name and simply call it the “iPhone SE....

Apple has finally addressed an Seagate hard drive issue dating back to 2006-2007 Black or White MacBooks which would fail with a question mark icon on startup. Apple will repair these drives until August 15th of 2010 or three years beyond purchase – whichever is longer. Problems with the Seagate drives were first reported in 2007. We’re not sure what took so long for the acknowledgment. Apple/Seagate also offered to reimburse users who may have taken the drives to be repaired themselves previously....

After several months of speculation, it appears that Apple Pay is now rolling out to users in Taiwan. According to a report from The China Post, Apple’s mobile payment platform has started rolling out to users in the country… To coincide with the launch of Apple Pay, Apple has launched the Apple Pay information page on its Taiwan website. The website offers a variety of details on Apple Pay in the country, including banks, retailers, and more....

Every week, Apple reveals a new exclusive offer for Apple Pay users in the US, and this week’s offer is for customers of the popular grocery delivery service Instacart. The company is offering up to $30 off orders placed at Instacart for those who pay with Apple Pay. According to an email sent by Apple to users on Thursday, customers who have never ordered from Instacart can get $30 off their first order of $50 or more....