According to a report from the Silicon Valley BizBlog, Apple picked up more real estate in and around Cupertino, Calif., after scooping up over 315,000 sq. ft. of office space in Sunnyvale in January. Apple signed leases for two new buildings: a 57,479-square-foot building at 5425 Stevens Creek Blvd. in Santa Clara, and a 11,552 square-foot building in Cupertino. Like its other recent leases, it is possible Apple might only use these buildings temporarily until its new Spaceship campus is ready....

Apple today published a new iTunes section that recommends apps, books, iTunes U courses and other Apple educational content for educators and classrooms using iOS devices. The new online resource includes suggestions for teachers on apps from the App Store, books from iBooks, and courses from Apple’s iTunes U service. In addition to organizing Apple’s content aimed specifically at educators in one place, it also provides other resources and editor’s picks for lesson ideas, courses, and links to content based on subject and curriculum level....

Apple has announced that it’s opening a new store in Melbourne on Saturday, based in the Highpoint Shopping Centre in the western suburbs. While the company already has five stores in the State of Victoria, this is the first in Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city … Highpoint is a major shopping centre, with 500 stores serving over 15 million shoppers a year. Deliberately or not, the store is said to be located directly above a Samsung Experience store, modelled heavily on Apple Store designs....

While Apple Pay works with nearly all of the major banks across the United States, there are still regional banks and credit unions with customers waiting for Apple Pay to work with their institution. The latest expansion includes several of those banks across the US. Advancial Federal Credit Union Anahuac National Bank ASI Federal Credit Union Auburn State Bank BankSouth Burbank City Federal Credit Union CentralAlliance Credit Union Columbine Federal Credit Union Connections Bank DCH Credit Union Hastings Federal Credit Union Iowa-Nebraska State Bank Lea County State Bank LegacyTexas McCook National Bank Minnesota Valley Federal Credit Union Peoples Bank (Oklahoma added) St....

While it was announced briefly during the President’s State of the Union address last week, Associated Press reports today that Apple along with other tech companies are pledging around $750 million in an initiative to bring high-speed internet to schools. Called ConnectED, the program was officially announced by the White House today with the goal of connecting “99 percent of America’s students to the internet through high-speed broadband and high-speed wireless within 5 years....

Interested in some professional learning this summer? Do you own an iPad? Apple is hosting a series of free, virtual, hands-on professional learning experiences on iPad starting this week. Events cover topics like photography, art, music, video, Augmented Reality, science, math, coding, and more. On the event web page, you’ll find all the details you need like time and which devices and/or apps you will need. Majority of Apple’s professional learning classes will utilize the iPad, and will help you make the most out of your device....

As the new seventh-generation iPod nano lands on the shelves of Apple stores this week, the folks in Cupertino have released an update for the personal music player this afternoon. Version 1.0.1 is a minor update, as first noted by iLounge, only adding “support for iPod nano (7th generation).” As always, you can grab the update by plugging your device into iTunes. Apple’s new iPods: Various new iPod touches, new iPod nano, tweaked iPod shuffle (9to5mac....

Apple today silently removed its “Apple TV Remote” app from the App Store, which lets users control the Apple TV from an iPhone or iPad simulating a real Remote. The app is no longer available for download from the App Store and Apple has likely discontinued it, which means that it will no longer get any updates. That doesn’t come as a surprise since Apple has added the Remote feature built into the Control Center in iOS 12, so Apple TV users can have access to all the controls on Siri Remote without having to download any app....

Earlier this month, four US senators formally questioned Apple in a letter over its COVID-19 screening app and website even though the company has been transparent about how it works and the privacy and security it’s built on. Now Apple has officially responded to the government request. After the US senators asked more questions about the COVID-19 app and website we tested out Apple’s privacy claims and found them to be true....

As part of its Martin Luther King Day celebrations, Apple has shared a newsroom article highlighting the charitable giving and volunteering efforts of its employees. The company announced that Apple’s Giving program has raised more than $365 million for nonprofits around the world since it began eight years ago. It also shines light on some of its volunteering initiatives, including a coding class in Ireland run by volunteers from Apple’s Cork campus....

Apple announced Snow Leopard at WWDC last week, equipped with the technology – Open Computing Language (OpenCL) – that will allow the OS to use the processing power of graphics processors for non-graphics apps. OpenCL is based on the C programming language and has been proposed as an open standard. As part of the standard-setting process, Apple has joined a consortium of companies (the Khronos Group) to develop OpenCL as a standard....

Apple services work best with Apple’s apps on Apple devices, but the company also offers web versions for some services on iCloud.com. Now the website has received a partial overhaul. Apple has rolled out a new design for the iCloud.com homepage, which you see immediately after logging in. The old layout was just a grid of icons for each service, such as Mail, Calendar, Contacts, Photos, iCloud Drive, and so on, but the new version has more data visible without opening a specific web app....

Apple Music exec Bozoma Saint John was in attendance Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit this evening. Saint John, who joined Apple through the Beats Music acquisition, has become one of the more vocal members of the Apple Music team and earlier this year, a “power lunch” with her was auctioned off for $10,500. At the Most Powerful Women’s Summit, Saint John sat down for a one-on-one interview with Fortune technology reporter Leena K....

Last week, Apple officially pulled the plug on Beats Music after initially announcing the shut down a few weeks prior. Apple is offering a seamless way to transition from Beats Music to Apple Music, but if you’ve waited until the very last minute to do so and are worried that your content is now gone, fear not as Apple is offering a grace period to get your content out of Beats Music and into Apple Music…...

An Apple patent published today describes using iMessages instead of voice to interact with Siri in environments when speaking wouldn’t be practical. This could span both ends of the spectrum, from very noisy environments like construction sites, where your voice cannot be heard, to very quiet ones like libraries, where you would disturb people by speaking. It would also be useful for people who don’t feel comfortable talking to their phone in public …...

Looks like patent day for Apple news this day, and the latest application to come to light may have a little more impact on many than some – as it appears to describe a system by which mobile carriers may be able to limit, or indeed, switch off apps and app features held on your iPhone. The patent, Systems and Methods for Provisioning Computing Devices, allows carriers to “specify access limitations to certain device resources which may otherwise be available to users of the device”, according to the description....

Apple has updated its dedicated Privacy website today, something it typically does each year following the release of new iPhones and a new version of iOS. The new Apple Privacy website offers a detailed look at the steps the company takes to protect user privacy and data through its latest hardware and software updates. Apple first launched its Privacy tool to users back in May, but limited the primary download functionality to the European Union in order to comply with GDPR....

At some point today, Apple quietly introduced a new app on the tvOS App Store that brings iBooks to the platform, but in a form appropriate for children. Dubbed iBooks StoryTime, the app is designed to aid children in improving their reading skills through feature like interactive audio, a feature called Read-Aloud, and more. Read-Aloud is a feature that displays on-screen subtitles of sort synced to narration audio. The feature is similar to that of karaoke, teaching the children how to decipher the word and correctly read it....

Apple has released a new software update for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. iOS 11.3.1 is likely a bug fix update to the iOS 11.3 software update released last month. Apple has also released a security update to the recent macOS 10.13.4 update to macOS High Sierra. Apple currently shows the iOS 11.3.1 release on its developer portal with build version 15E302, and the release will likely be released over-the-air shortly for all customers....

Apple has just released the second Release Candidate of macOS Big Sur 11.0.1 to developers following today’s special event. This comes ahead of the macOS Big Sur official release on November 12. macOS Big Sur brings a redesigned user interface to the Mac, as well as a new Messages app with screen effects, Control Center, new widgets, and much more. Developers can update to macOS Big Sur 11.0.1 RC 2 by heading to the System Preferences application, then looking for the Software Update option....