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Apple has pushed out the third preview of the upcoming OS X 10.11, marketed under the name “El Capitan,” to developers today. The previous build was released on June 23rd, putting this release at just over the standard of two weeks between seeds. Previously it was reported that Apple would make El Capitan available to its retail employees to test. As new features and changes are discovered in this beta build, we’ll keep this post updated with a running list of additions....

A new report from BuzzFeed News highlights how the “Siri Suggested Websites” feature in Safari can surface “debunked conspiracies, shock videos, and false information.” Essentially, when users would type things such as “QAnon” or “Pizzagate” into the Safari search bar, the browser would suggest related “low-quality information.” The Siri Suggested Websites feature in Safari surfaces content from websites such as YouTube and Wikipedia based on the search term being typed into the search bar....

Adoption of Apple’s ‘Everyone Can Code’ curriculum, offered free of charge to schools and colleges, continues. The company today announced that 70 colleges and universities in Europe have opted to offer the program to their students … Apple first launched the curriculum in May of last year, when it was taken up by community colleges and high schools. The program was developed from an earlier ebook course offered by Apple....

With Apple’s App Tracking Transparency having been available for several months now, advertisers have begun shifting their spending patterns. A new report indicates that the prices for mobile ads targeting iOS users have dropped, while prices targeting Android users have increased. When Apple released iOS 14.5 with the new App Tracking Transparency feature, a report by the Post-IDFA Alliance showed that two weeks after that, advertisers have started spending more on the Android platform....

Like it does every year, Apple has just kicked off its Back to School sale in both Australia and New Zealand ahead of the new school year. On top of the usual education pricing on Macs, iOS devices and more, Apple is offering a $100 App Store Gift card ($125 in NZ) on qualifying Macs and a $50 card ($65 in NZ) on qualifying iPhones and iPads. Apple notes that in order to qualify for the Back to School sale “you must be a uni student, a student accepted to a uni, a parent buying for a uni student, or a faculty or staff member from any grade level....

Roughly one year after spending $3 billion to acquire Beats, a speaker and headphone company cofounded by music industry veterans Dr Dre and Jimmy Iovine, Apple has officially revealed its all-new streaming music service built on that massive acquisition. Apple Music, as we first reported the subscription music service would be called, is the company’s answer to on-demand music services like Spotify. As part of the 2014 acquisition, Apple gained its own subscription music competitor in Beats Music, although the new Apple Music service is the company’s first to be built by the Cupertino company....

As announced earlier this year, Apple this week opened its newest Developer Academy in Detroit, the first in the United States. The program, which is already available in countries such as Brazil and Italy, comes to the US in a partnership with Michigan State University. The Apple Developer Academy is a program that trains programming and design students to create apps for iOS, macOS, and other Apple platforms. There are classes on Swift language, interface prototyping, and more....

The latest Apple patent filing tells us all about an ambidextrous mouse capable of recognising whether you are holding the thing with your right or your left hand. The mouse is able to work in either mode, and may even include “right handed buttons on the front side of the mouse and left handed buttons on the back side of the mouse. The user may change the handedness of the mouse by rotating the mouse about a vertical axis of the mouse such that the left hand can use the left hand buttons and the right hand can use the right hand buttons,” the patent abstract explains....

Earlier today we reported that Apple was preparing to introduce new enhancements to AppleCare, Apple IDs, and a redesign to its online support sites in addition to a number of other support related improvements. Now, Apple appears to have just flipped the switch on its redesign for at least the Apple Support Communities forums where users can go to discuss problems and troubleshoot products through Apple’s website. The updated Apple Support Communities design has a much cleaner and more streamlined look and feel and extends through the entire Support Communities site including individual forum pages....

Update: iOS 15.1 with SharePlay is now available to public beta testers as well. Just one day after the release of iOS 15 to the public, Apple is launching the beta train yet again. The company is now rolling out the first developer beta of iOS 15.1 and iPadOS 15.1, and developers can update today via the Settings app on their devices. Today’s new release of the iOS 15.1 beta 1 is available to developers via an over-the-air update in the Settings app....

The latest macOS beta release is now available for developers with a number of bug fixes and performance improvements. Fixes have arrived for VoiceOver, AppKit, full-screen issues, and more while there are several new boot options included in this build. Apple released the second developer beta of macOS 11.1 today and it comes with a number of fixes and improvements. Resolved issues included in this release are for VoiceOver, App Kit, Mac Catalyst, a full-screen mode problem with iOS apps, and zoom-to-fit....

Update: Apple removed the job listings, but we have screenshots below. Following our discovery that Apple was looking to hire app engineers to build virtual reality experiences, new job listings give us more insight into its interest in building VR gaming experiences and “cinematic user interfaces” for future Apple products. Play a part in the next revolution in user experience by delivering cinematic user interfaces and simplifying human interface in fundamental ways....

Apple recently started its traditional Back to School campaign in which the company not only offers a discount on its products to students, but also provides a gift card of up to $150 when purchasing selected products. Now the company has also made a special offer to new subscribers of the Apple Music plan for students who can get free Beats Flex earphones. The offer, which is only available in the United States and the United Kingdom, allows students to order a free pair of Beats Flex earphones after subscribing to the Apple Music student plan for the first time....

While it has been said that it’s “common knowledge” Apple is working on building an electric car, there’s still much we don’t know about the company’s plans. According to a new report from Silicon Valley Business Journal, though, Apple has been quietly purchasing and leasing a variety of buildings in Sunnyvale, California. The company is naming most buildings after Greek mythological figures, as well. One of the largest buildings is said to be codenamed “Rhea,” which lends credibility to earlier reports that have claimed the internal name for Apple’s electric car initiative is Project Titan....

Continuing with its new push to offer free content to users through its Apple Store app, Apple today started offering users a selection of free songs under a new banner promoting the upcoming iTunes Festival. The new section promoting the iTunes Festival is currently offering six free songs with the offer set to expire on October 31. You can access the free content by navigating to a specific store location within the app, but the free content is currently only available to those in the US....

The vibrant George Floyd mural surrounding Apple Pioneer Place in Portland, Oregon will live on under the care of nonprofit Don’t Shoot PDX. Apple donated the community artwork in hopes of preserving the sprit of 2020’s social and racial justice protests. Plywood barricades at Apple’s downtown Portland store gave a voice to the community this past summer, when muralist Emma Berger painted a portrait of George Floyd and the words “I can’t breathe....

During its September quarter earnings call, Apple’s CFO Luca Maestri shared the company’s expectations for how supply chain issues could impact the December quarter. Even though shortages are expected to become worse, Apple believes it will set a new holiday quarter record. Apple had a record September quarter with $83.4 billion in revenue, up 29% year over year and profit of $20.5 billion. However, it was shy on expectations, missing on revenue by almost $1....

According to a new report from TechCrunch, Apple recently acquired the domain name iCloud.net, one of the last remaining pieces related to iCloud that the company itself did not own. While it’s unclear when Apple made the purchase, the social network previously linked to that domain will shut down by the end of this month. This isn’t a super notable move on Apple’s part, but it marks the competition of the company’s quest to obtain all of the major web addresses associated with iCloud....

Apple has begun pushing the Beats Music streaming service via email to iTunes customers. The emails promote the free-to-download Beats Music app’s “Just For You” and “Tune Your Taste” features and note that Beats is now “part of the Apple family.” Apple finalized its acquisition of both Beats Music and Beats Electronics at the beginning of this month, and Apple has already begun promoting Beats Electronics via a new section on the online store and notable discounts....

After a short hiatus due to the holidays, Apple is restarting its beta testing process yet again. iOS 15.3 beta 2 is now rolling out to registered developers, just over three weeks after the release of the first beta. Apple is also rolling out new betas of watchOS 8.4, tvOS 15.3, and more. Update: The latest betas of iOS 15.3, watchOS 8.4, tvOS 15.3, and iPadOS 15.3 are now rolling out to public beta testers as well....