Alongside the new 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display, Apple has announced an upgrade to the 15-inch model with much improved graphics processors, a new Intel Quad-Core processing system, improved battery life (up to 8 hours), and new 802.11ac WiFi. The new 15-inch models also ship today, and they include OS X Mavericks. The new computer starts at $1999. (Full press release below) iWork & iLife Now Free with Every New Mac SAN FRANCISCO—October 22, 2013—Apple® today updated MacBook Pro® with Retina® display with fourth generation Intel Core processors, the latest graphics, longer battery life, faster flash storage and next generation Wi-Fi....

While TomTom continues to top Apple’s list of data providers for the backend of its Maps service, a few new additions have recently joined the list of contributors supplying information to Apple Maps. New sources providing business listing data per Apple’s acknowledgement page include E-WEGO SARL, NavAds BV, and Yellow Pages Turkey. The new data sources are likely noticeable in regions around the world including France and Turkey where the information is sourced....

In an interesting turn of events, Apple now has to pay its users money following the intentional iPhone slowdown controversy. It took a long time to conclude what began as a simple conspiracy theory, but it appears being skeptical in this case is about to pay off – literally. The issue first became a national story a few years ago, when owners of older model iPhones reported noticeably slower speeds at roughly the same point after the phone’s release....

I was expecting to jump ship from Spotify to Apple Music right from the start, and I did indeed do so. The longer I’ve used it, the more enthusiastic I’ve become about the service. Before the launch of Apple Music, I mostly listened to my own music library, viewing Spotify very much as a supplementary music source. It wasn’t very good at introducing me to new music, so mostly I used it to try out artists recommended by friends....

[Update: Partnership is officially announced. Tweet added to bottom of post.] According to a new report from Recode, Apple has agreed to a partnership with popular music video app Musical.ly. The partnership will see Apple Music supply the song clips in the Musical.ly application, which allows users to create their own videos singing along to popular songs. Currently, Musical.ly receives its songs from U.K.-based provider 7digital. The switch to Apple Music, however, will officially occur on Friday....

In the same way people argue about iOS over Android, the debate between Apple Music vs Spotify has also grown since 2015. As the music streaming service war starts to bring podcasts and HiFi to the battlefield, are you planning to stay with your current streaming service, or are you considering switching? I’ve been using Apple Music since it launched. Even when Apple erased a few times all my library, I didn’t care....

Apple officially launched its Today at Apple initiative – combining workshops and creative performances – this weekend. The company says that it held special events at all 495 Apple Stores around the world, and showed off photos from many of them (below). The company first spoke about the initiative just over a year ago, while previewing the San Francisco Union Square store, but it was only last month when we learned that it was to be a major focus....

In what is now an annual tradition, Apple has dedicated its homepage at apple.com to celebrating Martin Luther King Jr Day. Each year, Apple chooses a one-sentence quote, which this year is: It is again taken from King’s famous Letter from a Birmingham Jail in which he addressed criticism from other Christians who considered he was an outsider interfering in matters which didn’t affect him – and breaking the law to do so....

Along with Apple filing a patent for a reconfigurable solid-state MacBook keyboard today, the company has seen a host of other patents approved. One of the most interesting means future iPhones (and any other Apple device) could be made using the Mac Pro’s 3D cheese grater design. Apple was granted a total of 77 new patents today by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. For this interesting iPhone structural patent, here’s how Apple describes it (via Patently Apple):...

[Update: Users in Brazil have confirmed to us that they are also seeing the option for Apple Pay Cash.] Ahead of launching in Brazil, which Tim Cook says is coming sometime this year, Apple Pay Cash appears to be rolling out to users in Ireland and Spain. While not officially confirmed, Apple Pay Cash seems to be launching in Spain. We’ve also heard rumblings of the feature working in the U....

There aren’t too many Apple Pay competitors at present. Over on Android, there is Google Pay and Samsung Pay, but Apple could soon see some competition on iPhone from an unlikely source. The European Union is planning to create a digital wallet that would work in all 27 member countries … The Financial Times reports on the initiative. The project began with an attempt to come up with a single standard for digital versions of ID cards....

In addition to reaching Brazil for the first time this week, Apple Pay has also expanded to more banks and credit unions across the United States. Check out the latest new partners below: Canada Island Savings, a division of First West Credit Union Valley First – Enderby, a division of First West Credit Union United States Alliant Bank Century Bank of the Ozarks First Federal Savings Bank of Rochester First Westroads Bank Florida West Coast Credit Union Landmark Community Bank Legacy Bank and Trust Lincoln Savings Bank Michigan Schools & Government Credit Union Noble Credit Union Park Sterling Bank Progressive National Bank Sebasticook Valley Federal Credit Union ServisFirst Bank Springfield State Bank State Bank & Trust Co (Iowa and Georgia now) Stewart’s Federal Credit Union The Bank of Beaver City United Heritage Credit Union Unity One Credit Union Wayne Bank and Trust Company Wells Bank France...

Update: ANZ has an amusing TV ad promoting the launch, embedded below. After expanding to Singapore earlier this year and to a handful of new United States banks and credit unions earlier this month, Apple Pay is now available to ANZ customers in Australia. First reported by EFTM, this rollout makes ANZ the first bank in Australia to add support for Apple Pay following the American Express exclusive launch last year....

Another Apple Pay promotion is being shared with customers via email today. The latest deal looks to entice last minute holiday shopping with a $20 discount on a future Nike purchase after making a purchase of at least $100 with Apple Pay. The requirements to get the $20 coupon code for a future purchase include using Apple Pay to make a purchase in the Nike app of $100 or more....

Apple has quietly introduced an international warranty on iPhones sold within India. Previously, you could only get warranty repairs on phones bought within the country, but you’re now covered wherever it was bought. There are, however, a couple of catches … As Hindustan Times notes, to be eligible, the phones need to be factory unlocked. This means you can’t buy a locked phone in another country and get it unofficially unlocked, a ploy used by quite a few people....

As promised by Eddy Cue earlier in the year, Apple has now raised the limits on iTunes Match and Apple Music library for matched songs from 25,000 to 100,000 songs. Cue had previously announced on Twitter that Apple was aiming for 100k for iOS 9 and just in time for the holidays, that promise has been fulfilled. This means users with larger music libraries can now enjoy the benefits of matching songs in the iTunes Cloud to make them available on all their devices....

Apple today updated Final Cut Pro X to version 10.2.1 with bug fixes and improvements. Apple’s release notes say that this update fixes a bug that would cause Final Cut Pro to quit at launch on some Macs. Support for Panasonic AVCAAM video at 25P and 30P rates has been restored, while Apple also says that dragging through the Timeline view is now more accurate. This 10.2.1 update follows up on the significant 10....

Now that Apple’s third iOS 10 developer beta has had some time to settle, Apple has released the second iOS 10 public beta for non-developers testing the pre-release software. The latest build includes over a dozen changes from the previous release. iOS 10 includes loads of new features in the Messages app, a redesigned Apple Music experience, and much more. Apple’s public beta program is free to participate in unlike its paid developer program....

Apple has released the second developer betas of iOS 14.7 and iPadOS 14.7 today. The company is also rolling out watchOS 7.6 developer beta 2, as well as tv OS 14.7 developer beta 2. Today’s new release of the iOS 14.7 beta 2 is available to developers via an over-the-air update in the Settings app. As usual, if the update does not immediately appear for download, keep checking, as it sometimes takes a few minutes to roll out to all registered developers....

iOS Firmware shows some new firmware in the queue for you folks with relatively new iOS devices. As stated earlier this week, the update fixes iPad 3G connectivity issues as well as iPad Facetime issues as well. We’ll see how it does with battery life. Apple states: This update contains improvements and other bug fixes including: Fixes an issue that occasionally caused blank or frozen video during a FaceTime call Fixes an issue that prevented some international users from connecting to 3G networks on iPad Wi-Fi + 3G Contains the latest security updates Direct links are below....