Apple’s MagSafe Battery Pack is here with a clean design and seamless integration with iPhone 12 and iOS. But is it worth the $99 price tag? Follow along for a detailed comparison of the Apple MagSafe Battery vs. Mophie and Anker’s solid alternatives at half the price. The official Apple MagSafe Battery Pack has arrived nine months after the iPhone 12 lineup debuted with the handy magnetic functionality. And earlier in the year, two of the most compelling MagSafe compatible battery packs to launch have been Mophie’s Snap+ Juice Pack Mini (reviewed) and Anker’s PowerCore Magnetic 5K (reviewed)....

Back in May, Apple was attempting to add Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S4 as an infringing device in its ongoing, second major patent dispute with Samsung in California. It was also claiming that Samsung infringed two Siri related patents with the device’s Google Now voice assistant feature. Now, according to a report from Bloomberg, Apple has been denied its request to add the device with U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul S. Grewal claiming it would be a “a “tax on the court’s resources”:...

Earlier this year, Apple reported that Apple Pay was finally coming to CVS. Oddly enough, CVS’ terminals have supported NFC for years, but they intentionally disabled it. I was actually was able to use it on the day Apple Pay launched right before they disabled it. Apple just sent out an email informing that Apple Pay is now accepted at CVS. I personally get medicines for my entire family from CVS as I pass one right near my house....

Apple is indeed planning to release a new version of its 21.5-inch iMac with a 4K display this fall, according to reliable sources. The current plan is to announce the refreshed version of the smaller iMac by the end of October alongside OS X El Capitan and begin shipping the product by the beginning of November. As indicated by references inside of El Capitan, the new 21.5 inch iMac’s 4K display will come with a resolution of 4096 x 2304, which is up from the current model’s screen resolution of 1920 x 1080....

Following the last updated aerial shot of its under construction “Campus 2” earlier this month, Apple today shared a new shot that shows significant progress being made on the main structure and surrounding campus. As always, Apple shared the shot through the City of Cupertino’s webpage that provides traffic alerts and project updates for locals. Early this month we shared the latest drone flyover video of Campus 2 (in 4K!), but today’s shot shows even more progress made on the site over the last few weeks....

UPDATE [Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at 1:33pm ET]: The team behind the iTether app published a blog post offering their side of the story. We’ve included the entire post after the break because their servers were being battered at the time of this update. It was fun while it lasted, but iTether is gone from the App Store now. Unfortunately, looks like the combined effects of the hype and excitement, possibly coupled with iTether’s workaround of some of the App Store restrictions, may have provoked Apple enough to pull them from the store....

In a big move to improve its weather app, Apple has purchased the highly popular iOS app Dark Sky. Along with the acquisition comes the end of Dark Sky for Android as well as an end to the API that’s used by popular apps like Carrot Weather, and more. Dark Sky announced the news in a blog post today. The news will certainly mean much improved native weather app for iOS but also brings with it some downsides like ending access to the API in 2022 and killing off the Android app....

In addition to making a general claim that the Apple Watch will run for up to 18 hours per charge, Apple has quietly added a new battery test results page to its web site discussing the Apple Watch’s performance across a variety of different tests. According to Apple, the 38mm and 42mm versions of the Watch will have different run times, and the 42mm Apple Watch “typically experiences longer battery life....

Update: Public betas too Apple has released the fifth iOS 10.3.3 beta for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Apple has also released the fifth macOS 10.12.6 beta. The beta version only includes new wallpapers for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro and no other visible changes, although the release may be the last bug fix update for devices not able to run iOS 11. iOS 10.3.3 is currently only available in developer and public beta, although the fifth beta release suggests a release to all users is likely coming soon....

Apple has released a new firmware update for the mid 2012 MacBook Air today that helps to address problems with the device recovering from a crash. Apple release notes said the update addresses “a storage firmware issue that, in rare cases, may cause a system to fail to recover from crash.” The MacBook Air Flash Storage Firmware Update 1.0 is available to download on Apple’s website here and should be hitting Software Update soon....

Apple is upgrading the song matching features for Apple Music subscribers to truly mirror the capabilities offered by iTunes Match; the new smarter more accurate song detection is rolling out to Apple Music subscribers for free, over the next few weeks (via The Loop). Although Apple Music has always included music matching, it used an inferior version than the algorithm used by the standalone $30/year iTunes Match subscription. Apple Music is being updated server-side to offer the same functionality …...

Apple today released a firmware update for the Mac mini to address a USB keyboard-related issue. Labeled Mac mini EFI Firmware Update 1.8, the update is intended for Apple’s previous Mac mini generation (late 2012) released before the most recent hardware refresh. Specifically, Apple says the update “addresses an issue that may prevent a USB keyboard from being recognized after the system wakes from sleep.” Owners of the late 2012 Mac mini desktop computer can find the firmware update available in the Updates tab of the Mac App Store....

Wow. As of January 31st, the Xserve will be no more. After almost a decade (it was introduced in 2002), Apple will no longer have a rack mounable server product unless you consider things like MacMini Colo a rack mountable solution. The Enterprise business really never took off for Apple and besides some brief notoriety for their G5 Supercomputers in the middle part of the decade, Apple’s Xserves never really stood out in the greater enterprise community....

Apple is introducing a new “Repair Vintage Apple Products Pilot” program that will extend the period of time customers can receive repairs for older devices, according to sources familiar with the initiative. The new program at first will include the iPhone 5 and other Apple products that are about to become obsolete, and in the coming weeks will add more products to the list for devices that previously lost repair support....

Apple had added yet another show to its growing list of to be produced original content. This latest addition will be Apple’s first animated show with an order from the creator of Bob’s Burgers. As reported by Variety, Apple has ordered two, 13 episode seasons of Central Park which is a musical comedy by Loren Bouchard and 20th Century Fox. The show is written by Bouchard, Josh Gad, and Nora Smith....

We exclusively revealed last month that Apple is developing its own mapping database, complete with 3D Street View imagery – and the company has now officially confirmed this on a new webpage. We first speculated back in February that this was the likely reason for the camera-equipped minivans leased by Apple, at a time when many were suggesting they were test beds for self-driving cars. Apple is driving vehicles around the world to collect data which will be used to improve Apple Maps....

Update: Apple says an OS X fix is coming soon. Yesterday Apple released iOS update 7.0.6 alongside new builds for iOS 6 and Apple TV that it said provided “a fix for SSL connection verification.” While Apple didn’t provide much specific information on the bug, it wasn’t long before the answer was at the top of Hacker News. It turns out that minor security fix was actually a major flaw that could in theory allow attackers to intercept communications between affected browsers and just about any SSL-protected site....

Apple continues to promote the customization of Apple Watch this evening with a new video on YouTube. This time, Apple is focusing on the ability to seamlessly switch between bands with your Apple Watch. In a new video shared to YouTube today, Apple touts that the Apple Watch Series 4 is “more powerful and more colorful.” The video comes in at 15 seconds long and quickly runs through various Apple Watch bands and casing options....

According to a report from Business Insider, Apple is telling employees at its Cupertino campuses, Apple Park and Infinite Loop, that it recommends working from home today as an “additional precaution” (via Mark Gurman). Further details on the policy are not clear at this time. Many divisions of Apple may struggle to do their jobs remotely effectively, which is perhaps why this is a recommendation rather than a requirement at this stage....

Two weeks following the 2015 Worldwide Developers Conference and release of the first iOS 9 beta, Apple has seeded iOS 9 beta 2 for compatible iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches to developers. The update is available over-the-air via Software Update in Settings, and it will also become available via Apple’s developer portal on the web. iOS 9, due to be released to all in the fall following a public beta in July, brings several under-the-hood enhancements to iOS as well as new features....