From 9to5toys.com (Twitter, Feed, Facebook), today: Apple today started offering a couple new models of its latest generation iMac through its refurbished online store. Previously Apple was offering refurbished units of the new 21.5-inch iMac only, but we hadn’t seen any 27-inch models hit yet, which we assumed was likely due to yield issues and significant delays experienced in the iMac’s first few months of launch. Today Apple has finally started offering both the entry level 27-inch iMac and the higher end iMac, in addition to a couple of BTO models....

Apple is rumored to launch a third-generation iPhone SE in early 2022 with 5G support. According to J.P. Morgan analysts, this phone “has the potential to attract more than a billion non-premium Android users.” In this JP. Morgan’s analysis, according to Reuters, the iPhone SE 3 has the potential to lure “nearly 1.4 billion low-to mid-end Android phone and about 300 million older iPhone model users.” The rumors so far show that the iPhone SE 3 is expected to feature the same form-factor as it currently has, which is exactly like a 2017 iPhone 8....

As the heated legal saga between Apple and Qualcomm only continues to intensify, the California chipmaker is now insisting that after asking Chinese courts to impose an all-out iPhone ban in the region, it won’t rule out imposing Chinese civil procedure to fine or detain legal representatives from Apple for disobeying the sales ban, according to Global Times China. Further, the company is said to be dissatisfied with Apple’s flippancy towards the Chinese injunction as compared to the recent German one, which saw Apple immediately ban sales of iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 in the country....

As it does every year, Apple has today made its WWDC 2018 video transcripts available. This means interested developers can now quickly search through content from WWDC sessions, as opposed to having to watch each video… Apple’s transcripts are linked directly with each video, meaning developers can search in the transcript and then immediately jump to that part of the video. You can also see al instances where a keyword is mentioned and share time stamped links....

Only a few days after “father of the iPod” Tony Fadell agreed to sell thermostat and smoke detector maker Nest to Google for north of three billion dollars, Apple senior vice president (and former Fadell colleague) Phil Schiller has unfollowed the Nest CEO and the Nest company on Twitter. Here’s Schiller’s following list from a recent cache: And here’s Schiller’s following list now: As the protector of Apple’s brand, Schiller’s unfollowing of Fadell and Nest is perhaps unsurprising....

Due to local regulatory rules, FaceTime is blocked on iPhone and iPad devices sold in UAE countries including Abu Dhabi and Dubai. This has been the case for many years. Obviously, the appeal of Apple’s ecosystem is stunted when features like FaceTime are unavailable. There are promising signs that, soon, the ban will be lifted. Apple is in active negotiations with the United Arab Emirates federal government to permit the use of internet video-chat services on its devices, enabling FaceTime to be unlocked for Apple customers....

For Black Friday, Apple has refreshed the frontpage of its online store with a rather-drastic redesign. Each product category now dominates the webpage, with full-bleed images of their main product lines. The new iPad updates get the top spot, but interestingly Apple TV and Beats headphones also get prime placement. In fact, the product images for Beats accessories are so large, it only takes four images to dominate the screen....

Apple Pay is now available from over 20 more banks and credit unions around the United States and Mainland China as part of the latest expansion wave. Apple’s mobile payment service launched just over two years ago with hundreds of additional regional banks and credit unions added every few weeks. You can find the latest banks added below. Agriculture Federal Credit Union Al-Gar Federal Credit Union Alabama Credit Union Andrew Johnson Bank Bay Federal Credit Union Cache Valley Bank City National Bank of Florida Co-op Credit Union of Montevideo Deere Employees Credit Union Farmers Bank (both AR and OH now) First National Bank of Barry Home Bank (both IN and LA now) Liberty National Bank Mid Minnesota Federal Credit Union My Community Federal Credit Union NET Credit Union Northwest Community Credit Union O Bee Credit Union Peoples Bank of Alabama Suffolk Federal Credit Union The Citizens Bank (both AL and KY now) The Old Fort Banking Co....

The full rollout of Apple Pay on the New York metro system has been delayed due to the coronavirus, says the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). The MTA first offered contactless card payment, which supports Apple Pay, for limited lines back in May of last year. Progress since then has been slow, however, and there have been some glitches along the way … More than a year later, only around half of MTA subway stations have contactless payment pads....

Some of the more significant changes will come later this year. Apple plans to alert users more quickly when an unwanted device may be traveling with them and also plans to make it easier to find those devices with louder tones and precision finding. With precision finding, iPhone 11, iPhone 12, and iPhone 13 users will be able to see the distance and direction to an unknown AirTag when it is in range....

The beta testing process for macOS 11 Big Sur continues today with the release of the third developer beta. macOS 11 Big Sur beta 3 comes two weeks after the release of the second developer two weeks ago and the original debut of the operating system at WWDC 2020 last week. macOS Big Sur Beta 3 Details Developers can update to the third beta of macOS Big Sur by heading to the System Preferences application, then looking for the Software Update option....

Apple has released a supplemental update to macOS Catalina 10.15.6 this afternoon, bringing important bug fixes and improvements to Mac users. This update comes one month after the original release of macOS Catalina 10.15.6 and it focuses on resolving a bug related to virtualization apps. Apple says that the supplemental update released to Mac users today resolves an issue that could occur when using virtualization apps. There’s also a fix for the 2020 iMac, with Apple saying that some users were experiencing a washed out display after waking their machine from sleep....

Earlier today, the United States Supreme Court ruled that a major lawsuit against Apple and the App Store will be allowed to move forward. Now, Apple has responded to that Supreme Court decision, saying that it is confident it will prevail in court. SCOTUSblog explains that the question the Supreme Court had to answer was whether or not a consumer can sue anyone who delivers a product for antitrust damages, even if prices are set by third-parties who would be the victim of the offense....

With well over 3,000 confirmed deaths in Saturday’s devastating earthquake in Nepal, Apple is inviting iTunes users to donate to the American Red Cross. The appeal allows donations from $5 to $200, with 100% of the funds donated being passed anonymously to the Red Cross … As the time of writing, the confirmed death toll in the disaster was 3,617, many other having seen their homes destroyed. As most iTunes users already have a credit card linked to their account, it’s a particularly quick and easy way to donate....

Up until now, Apple has used simple white vans to handle its mapping efforts, using a similar camera setup to what we saw all the way back in 2015. After announcing an effort to rebuild the service from the ground up, new Apple Maps vehicles have been spotted in Los Angeles. As reported by Business Insider, Apple has outfitted the new Subaru Impreza hatchback as its latest vehicle to capture mapping data....

Apple has officially announced that its first retail store in Thailand will open next month at Bangkok’s upcoming Iconsiam mall. The store will overlook the Chao Phraya River in a centrally located space with excellent visibility on the face of the massive new structure. A new webpage on Apple’s retail site offers more detail about the upcoming store, which will open on November 10th at 10:00 A.M. local time (translated):...

Just in time for some weekend motivation, Apple has added a new page to their website promoting Apple Watch’s activity tracking features. The page, titled “Close Your Rings,” details realistic and effective ways that Watch wearers can live a healthier and more active lifestyle by completing one simple goal each day. After the original Apple Watch went on sale in 2015, one of its standout features quickly became health tracking with the Activity and Exercise apps....

I gave my first impressions of Apple Music on day two, and my main disappointment remains: despite putting both owned and streamed music into a single app, there is absolutely no real integration between the two. All the evidence suggests that Apple Music has no awareness of my owned music. I’ll get past that in a moment, but bear with me first for a couple of paragraphs. Because this is, in my view, more than just a missed opportunity: it’s almost criminally negligent....

iPhone is presently only available in the UK, France and Germany; now the company is nearing deals to offer it in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Ireland (done), Italy and Spain – even the Nordics might get some love. Lithuania and Denmark? sure! Fresh reports claim the iPhone will launch in Switzerland on April 4. The Apple device will be made available exclusively from Swisscom. Keep in mind, Hardmac had a very similar (actually much better) fake last time....

After first announcing its new iWork for iCloud productivity suite back in June at WWDC, Apple has been slowly rolling out access to more people ahead of a public beta release scheduled for this fall. It first extended the privilege to developers, then Apple employees, and in July started sending out invites to select non-developers. Today, several tips note that Apple now appears to be letting in anyone with an Apple ID despite not sending out invites or officially announcing a public beta....