Open source advocates are breathing a sigh of relief this afternoon — and that’s not because the iPhone has reched Verizon, but because a Microsoft-led, Apple-supported consortium has withdrawn from attempts to buy a host of Novell patents. Early in December Microsoft, Apple, EMC and Oracle notified the German regulator that they planned to form CPTN Holdings with a view to purchasing 882 of Novell’s patents. It has now been revealed this filing was withdrawn at the end of that month....

Update: The full Dow Jones article is now available (here). According to the story, which cites communication between Apple’s new Senior Vice President of Retail John Browett and the company’s retail store teams, Apple was testing a new retail formula: With several reports in recent weeks claiming Apple is cutting hours and increasing layoffs of recently hired staff in some of its retail stores, today Dow Jones reported that Apple is claiming the stories are “misleading” and stores continue to hire new employees....

In the wake of a report last month that multiple Apple services remained insecure against hacking attempts, Apple has turned on two-factor authentication for the FaceTime audio/video calling service and iMessage text/picture/voice messaging service, notes The Guardian. Two-factor authentication was previously offered optionally by Apple to secure iCloud accounts against access from previously unknown computers, but other Apple services such as iMessage, FaceTime, the iTunes Store, the App Store, and Apple....

Apple and the University of Illinois are teaming up with Google, Meta, and more tech companies to collaborate on something called the Speech Accessibility Project. The goal of the initiative is to study and improve how artificial intelligence algorithms can be tuned to improve voice recognition for users with diseases that affect speech, including ALS and Down Syndrome. Voice-driven features are only as good at the algorithms that power them, however, and that’s critical for reaching users with Lou Gehrig’s disease, cerebral palsy, and other conditions that affect speech....

Apple has published a new “Shared Values” webpage today as part of its “Jobs at Apple” website. The new page tells the stories of Apple employees across various teams, including Apple Retail, Operations, Machine Learning, and more. Apple explains on the website: On the webpage, Apple includes interviews with various Apple employees: The values we share at Apple inspire the work we share with everyone. At Apple, we’re committed to leaving the world better than we found it....

Reporting to Maestri, Stathakopoulos will take the task of protecting corporate assets, such as confidential software, product, and design information. He will also be helping in protecting data about customers. While Apple has not commented on the hire, Reuters says that when a call was placed to Apple asking to speak to Stathakopoulos, an Apple employee connected them to a person who said “George’s office.” Stathakopoulos has reportedly been at Apple for roughly a week....

John Lewis: Good Trouble, the documentary detailing the life and work of the late civil rights leader and US Congressman has been available since early July. Now Apple has announced that it will be donating its profits from the documentary to the National Civil Rights Museum as well as the National Museum of African American History and Culture to honor Lewis’ legacy. Apple shared the details in a blog post today:...

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-cZ4mdrlWYM] Google unveiled a new feature within its iOS search app in August that reminds us a lot of Siri. Taking features from its Siri competitor Google Now, Google announced the search app would now allow folks to use natural voice commands to make searches. For example, a user can “ask for the weather in a natural way and it will provide results,” Google explained. Google noted during its announcement that the updated app would be available in a few days....

The Morning Show was the flagship series for Apple TV+ when the service debuted back in November 2019. Although its prime real estate attention has since been superseded by the hit comedy Ted Lasso, it remains one of Apple’s most popular shows. Season one premiered on 1st November 2019, and received much critical claim and awards recognition for its portrayal of the MeToo movement in a morning news environment. Following a protracted production timeline due to disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic, season two of the drama premiered in September 2021, although critics were far less enamoured with the second season’s story continuation....

Apple’s gorgeous new Michigan Avenue flagship store looked like the worst example of form over function last week when snow along the Chicago River front meant parts of the store needed to be roped off. Did Apple really design an Apple Store that couldn’t handle a bit of frosty weather in a city like Chicago? The design wasn’t the issue, says Apple, but rather a software malfunction… The problem appeared to be snow building up on the downward sloped MacBook Air-like rooftop....

Earlier this month we noted that Apple was asking courts to add the Galaxy S4 as an infringing device in its ongoing patent dispute with Samsung in California. Now, Apple has officially filed a motion (via FossPatents) outlining five patents infringed by the Galaxy S4 and another two Siri related patents infringed by the device’s Google Now voice controlled search feature. Apple had previously claimed that the Android Google search box feature on Samsung devices infringed the same patents, but is now moving to have Google Now included alongside the S4....

Apple has launched a featured page on its website this week to commemorate and celebrate JFK’s centennial year. The new webpage features JFK history on a variety of topics and values, along with an app and resources for teachers to help students explore and learn more. Here’s how Apple describes the influence JFK has had on the company and its commemoration: Apple shares how JFK exemplified service, courage, innovation, and inclusion and then gives educational project ideas for each....

Apple has announced an international expansion for the Apple Independent Repair Provider program. This program first launched in the United States in August 2019, and it’s now expanding to over 200 new countries. The Independent Repair Provider program gives small repair businesses access to the same Apple-genuine parts, training, and resources as Apple authorized service providers. The program is designed to focus on the most common out-of-warranty repairs, such as screen replacements and cracked backs....

Reported by Reuters, Apple is facing an antitrust lawsuit from AliveCor yet again. The Silicon Valley company claims it is monopolizing the market in the US for heart rate monitoring apps. The company says Apple has “complete control” over the market for these health apps. According to US District Judge Jeffrey White, AliveCor could prove that Apple violated federal antitrust law. AliveCor Inc. runs the SmartRhythm app that alerts users to irregular heartbeats....

Apple showed off Safari 7 today at WWDC, which includes a cleaner design and performance improvements. Safari 7.0 also features better integration with Reading List and a sidebar for bookmarks. There’s also a “shared links” tab for browsing links posted to social networks like Twitter and LinkedIn. Finally, Safari 7 uses much less processor power and memory than its predecessor and competitors. Also included in Safari 7 is a new iCloud Keychain feature that generates and stores secure passwords across all of your devices, much like 1Password....

Apple has invited a number of non-developer users to participate in what it’s calling an “AirDrop Test Fest” to help fix bugs in the over-the-air file sharing system, according to users who have gotten the invite. Users who have been invited will find a notice inside the Feedback Assistant application included with the public beta of the upcoming OS X Yosemite. Users who have been invited to participate are provided with a set of guidelines for testing the feature....

Apple isn’t an official Olympics sponsor, but it’s managed to still take advantage of the event for its own marketing purposes with limited-edition Apple Watch bands themed with country flag designs. Not only is it selling those watch bands for 14 different country flags to coincide with the Olympics this month, it’s also reportedly giving them away for free to athletes at its Apple Store in Rio (via iphone-ticker.de). Citing a firsthand account from a team manager for Germany, iphone-ticker notes the Apple Store is giving away two free bands to accredited Olympic athletes, effectively allowing it to market its product during the games without an official sponsorship of athletes or the games itself....

Through its MobileFirst for iOS initiative, Apple and IBM have added 8 new enterprise apps for designed exclusively for iPhone and iPad. The latest apps developed as part of the partnership between the two companies include two new industries: healthcare and industrial products. The 8 new apps brings the total of MobileFirst for iOS apps to 22, while the two new industries now totals 10 including banks, law enforcement, travel, and retail....

The DOJ did what it does and told Apple and others (Adobe Systems Inc., Google Inc., Intel Corp., Intuit Inc. and Pixar) to stop entering into anti-competitive agreements with other high tech companies. The agreements between the companies limited recruiters from each company from cold calling employees at the other companies, amongst other things. Google posted a Public Policy Blog statement on the matter: I think Apple and Google long ago gave up on refraining from hiring each other’s employees....

“The two companies have a strong position in the digital offering of audiobooks in Germany. Therefore, we feel compelled to examine the agreement between these two competitors in the audiobooks in more detail,” cartel office chief Andreas Mundt said in a statement. Apple lost a separate U.S. case in which it was found guilty of anti-competitive behaviour in its ebook sales. The U.S. Justice Department recently agreed that Apple had now properly addressed the issues, though this may not be the end of the battle: Apple is appealing that case to the U....