Today’s best deals include Apple’s Intel Mac mini at $550, Apple Watch Series 4 from $220, and you can score two Wyze Cams for $40. Head below for all that and more in today’s 9to5Toys Lunch Break. Apple’s Intel Mac mini hits best price ever The 2018 Mac mini sports an eighth-generation quad-core Intel Core i3 processor, along with speedy SSD storage and a wide range of I/O including four Thunderbolt 3 ports....

Apple announced last month that it will open a new retail store in Melbourne, Australia at Federation Square. While both Apple and the Victorian Labor Government are confident in the economic boom this new store will bring, some locals are anything but happy at the idea of Apple taking over the Yarra Building at Federation Square… Apple’s store in Federation Square would take over the Yarra Building, which has been home to several different organizations, including the Melbourne Festival Headquarters and more....

The New York Times reports that Apple has knocked off Coca-Cola (Sugar water!) to become the ‘World’s Most Valuable Brand’ according to the annual Interbrand Best Global Brands Report. Apple’s rivals Google and Samsung also moved up in the list with Mountain View also hopping over Coca-Cola to #2 at a $93.3B (up 34%) valuation while Samsung entered the top 10 with a new brand strategy called the Brand Ideal, which includes “a greater focus on social purpose”....

Apple is introducing a new business offering called Apple Business Essentials that combines device management, 24/7 phone support for IT and end-users, business iCloud storage, and an option for onsite repairs for businesses of up to 500 employees. The free beta period launches today with the full service coming in the spring of 2022. Apple Business Essentials enable IT departments to configure settings and apps for individual users, groups, or stand-alone devices....

Voice control on Sonos speakers with Alexa integration has worked with skipping songs and play/pause, controlling volume, and nearly everything other Alexa skill, but Apple Music control through Alexa required further integration. That future is today. Simply update the Sonos app, enable the Apple Music skill in the Alexa app if you haven’t already, then link your account. Sonos One and Sonos Beam also support AirPlay 2, Apple’s wireless audio streaming protocol, which works with multi-room audio with other AirPlay 2 speakers including HomePod....

Apple has officially announced dates for its annual developer conference where it is expected to unveil iOS 12, macOS 10.14, watchOS 5, and tvOS 12. WWDC 2018 will run from June 4 through June 8 and take place in San Jose, California for the second year in a row. Specifically, the conference will be held at the McEnery Convention Center once again. As with previous years, Apple is relying on a lottery system to address demand for tickets....

Update May 12: TomTom confirmed to Reuters today that “its global agreement with Apple covers maps and related information” but declined to comment further on the specifics of the deal. Engadget just posted the screenshots above by an anonymous tipster who claimed to be running an iOS 6 developer beta on the iPhone 4S. It appears Apple is at least getting some data for its new Maps app through a partnership with TomTom....

The launch of Apple Pay, Apple’s NFC and Touch ID-based mobile payment solution, is upon us. Apple has begun preparing for the launch by kicking off Apple Pay training programs for its own group of retail store employees and by working with retailers to prepare for the debut later this month. The training materials, shared by a reliable source, for the Apple Pay launch at Apple retail stores have also detailed some new specifics regarding the Apple Pay setup and transaction processes both on customer iPhones and in Apple retail stores…...

In an unlisted video, Apple is promoting the new iPad Pro with the series “Your next computer is not a computer.” This time, the company creates a parody of The Little Mermaid’s “Part of Your World” song. The ad was found by a Twitter user early this morning. Apparently, it was uploaded on June 3, before WWDC21 and the iPadOS 15 announcement. The video shows lots of different situations where people have to deal with cable management, boring office days, while others are using the brand new iPad Pro with the Magic Keyboard in the sun and in a cafeteria freely....

When Apple began reopening some of its US retail stores in May, the company promised it wouldn’t hesitate to close locations again if necessary. Following new COVID-19 spikes across the country, Apple plans to follow through and temporarily close 11 of its US stores. The US has struggled to keep COVID-19 case numbers down as states allow businesses to reopen and people attempt a return to normal life. Apple pays attention to local health data and has identified locations in Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Arizona to temporarily re-close out of an abundance of caution....

Apple has just released iOS 9.3.3 for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The new software update is by no means as interesting or as feature-rich as iOS 10, due to be released publicly in the fall, but it includes some important bug fixes and performance improvements for iOS users. The minor 9.3.3 software update went through a lengthy beta process, spanning five betas. As always, we’ll let you know about any surprises associated with the iOS 9....

Just a few days after releasing the 10th beta of macOS Catalina, Apple has released the macOS Catalina Golden Master. That’s just ahead of the expected public release tomorrow, October 4th. The macOS Catalina Golden Master is available now for those on the beta and is a good sign that Apple is indeed on track to release the latest macOS update to the public tomorrow, October 4th. As we previously covered, macOS Catalina brings a number of changes and new features:...

In addition to iOS 8.4, Apple has now publicly released OS X 10.10.4 to all users. The point update focuses on security and stability improvements with a fix for notable networking issues with OS X Yosemite as well as fixes for Mail, improvements to Photos migration from iPhoto and Aperture, and more. Apple first began testing the update to the Mac with developers in late April. The new OS X version is available through the Mac App Store....

Apple today released OS X 10.11 Public Beta 3 to non-developer testers trying El Capitan ahead of its public release later this fall. The latest public beta version follows the off-cycle release of OS X 10.11 developer beta 5 seeded out on Monday. Prior to these off-cycle releases, Apple typically stuck to releasing updates roughly two weeks apart. Apple last updated public beta users a week ago. OS X El Capitan includes several performance and security improvements including better window management and a new Rootless security layer....

Apple is rolling out the third iOS 10.3 beta for developer testing on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The upcoming software update includes Find My AirPods support, CarPlay improvements, Apple’s new filesystem, and more. We’ll update and highlight any changes discovered below. iOS 10.3 is currently only available in beta for registered developers and public beta testers. The public beta version of each update usually follows a few days after the developer version if not the same day....

RIM CEO Jim Balsillie used a speech at Web 2.0 to issue one of his company’s attacks on Apple, saying, “You don’t need an app for the Web’. Some may recall Apple CEO Steve Jobs in 2007 who said the future for app development on the iPhone rested with the Web. He faced a hail of criticism, Apple changed tack and launched the App Store, and the rest is history....

A Brief Refresher on Apple Silicon The M-series of Apple Silicon system-on-a-chip processors represent Apple’s move to distance itself from Intel architecture CPUs in its Macintosh computers, moving into ARM-based chips used with its iPhone and iPad lines. Along the way, Apple has also brought the M1 to certain iPad models as well. Apple first released Apple Silicon chips for the Mac in November 2020 with the M1. In 2021, Apple introduced the faster M1 Pro and M1 Max chips....

iPhone manufacturer Foxconn has posted a $5.3 billion bid to buy Sharp, the Japanese display manufacturer who has faced financial difficulties in recent years. iPhone displays are currently manufactured by Sharp, Samsung and LG and assembled at Foxconn’s plant. A successful Sharp purchase puts Foxconn in the position to make iPhone display components, going beyond assembly. Another possibility is that Foxconn will start producing its own branded electronics products, although competition with Apple is unlikely given their relationship....