Apple and Google seem set for another bidding war with both companies said to be sniffing around at purchasing mobile payments firm, BOKU. A TechCrunch report explains both Apple and Google are considering acquiring the firm, or at the least an extensive partnership with it. “BOKU President and CEO Mark Britto and co-founder Ron Hirson have held multiple meetings with executives at the helm of Apple’s iPhone business in the course of the past 3 weeks....

As part of the iPhone 7 event, Apple has announced brand new truly wireless AirPods, premium wireless headphones that work in concert with the iPhone 7. The AirPods are independent separate earbuds, that have sensors in the buds to know when they are actually inside your ear. The AirPods automatically switch between output to your iPhone and Apple Watch, so its a seamless experience to listen to music across all your devices....

As it has in the past, Apple held a lottery for WWDC 2016 tickets. The lottery opened on Monday, April 18th, and closed earlier today at 10:00AM PST. The lottery format puts developers on even ground, lending all a chance to win the right to purchase a $1,599 ticket. Though Apple has stated that it plans on notifying winners of the lottery by Monday, April 25th, some winners have already begun to see their credit cards charged....

According to an internal AppleCare document, Apple is actively investigating a series of WiFi-related issues affecting the third-generation iPad. Since the new iPad’s launch, many users have been complaining about third-generation iPad WiFi issues ranging from connection drops, slow download and upload speeds, or the device’s inability to even pickup local WiFi networks. A thread discussing the issue exists on Apple’s online support forums has almost amassed 700 replies from users with similar issues....

Apple has acquired Novauris Technologies, a company with a lot of talent in the automatic speech recognition field, according to a report from TechCrunch. The purchase of Novauris Technologies actually happened sometime last year, and the team is now at Apple working to improve speech recognition features of Siri. A quick look at CEO Yoon Kim’s LinkedIn page shows that the company likely joined Apple in September of last year....

Apple shared a Newsroom briefing today announcing a new contest to find the “best photos shot on iPhone”. Running from January 22 to February 7, Apple says its panel of eleven photography judges from around the world (including Phil Schiller), will select the ten winning photos to be featured on billboards in select cities, and Apple retail locations. The judges come from a wide range of backgrounds, including White House photographer under President Obama Peter Souza, Luísa Dörr from Brazil, Chen Man from China and more....

Apple’s annual lottery for WWDC tickets officially ended this morning at 10AM PST and lucky developers have started receiving confirmation emails this evening. The developers who were lucky enough to win an opportunity to the attend event have received emails in their inbox and their credits have been charged. For developers who did not receive a notification from Apple regarding their WWDC ticket, the company says that some sessions throughout the event will be live streamed, while most will be available to watch on-demand....

Apple CEO Tim Cook is apparently visiting China today for the second time since replacing Steve Jobs as chief executive in 2011. According to a statement on the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology website, Cook met with Head of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology Miao Wei to “exchange views on the development of China’s information and communications industry, global mobile communications, the development of smart devices and trends in innovation....

Apple released iOS 14.7 to the public last month, and iOS 15 is on track to be released sometime in September. Nonetheless, Apple also appears to be planning iOS 14.8 for release soon, though it’s unclear what new features could be included… While it may seem odd that Apple is planning iOS 14.8 for a release so soon before iOS 15, there is precedent. Last year, Apple released iOS 13.7 on September 1, just two weeks before the release of iOS 14 to the public on September 16....

In 2015 we reported on an issue with MacBook Retina displays that were seeing problems with the anti-reflective coating wearing off, which came to be known as ‘Staingate.’ Although some customers experienced the issue as early as 2012, Apple started covering the repair free of charge in 2015. Now, it seems that Apple has extended this coverage even further… According to MacRumors, Apple’s quality program will extend through October of this year or possibly longer depending on the purchase date of eligible machines....

When Steve Jobs said something was going to happen, it generally did. One notable exception, though, has been Apple’s mobile advertising platform, iAd. Jobs said back in 2010 that it would grab 50% of the mobile ad market; right now, it’s sitting at just 2.6%. That may be about to change after advertising middleman Rubicon announced that automated purchasing of iAds will soon be supported … The ad business has long criticized Apple for its “slow, cocky and downright stingy” approach to selling advertising, forcing companies to buy ad slots direct from Apple....

A piece on how to land a job with the most desirable tech company in the world provides some interesting examples of Apple interview questions. It outlines the soft skills the company looks for, warns what not to do on your resume, walks you through the interview stages, explains the STAR method for discussing your accomplishments, and provides examples of the sorts of questions you may be asked … ZDNet says that of course Apple wants to hire people with top-notch technical abilities, but also looks for a number of soft skills:...

Update: Bloomberg tech reporter Sohee Kim tweeted that the vote has been postponed due to extra time needed for a separate bill designed to tackle ‘fake news.’ Apple’s App Store commission is under threat from a new antitrust law in Korea that is “almost certain” to get the necessary votes today. It would allow developers to choose their own payment platforms, and avoid the 15% or 30% cut they currently have to pay to Apple for app sales and in-app purchases....

Google confirmed in May that it applied for domains, such as .google, .youtube, and .lol, as part of ICANN’s program to increase the amount of generic top-level domains. Today, ICANN officially published its list of the 1,409 applied-for domains. Among the other companies requesting domains, AssociatedPress reported Apple is after the “.apple” domain name: While several companies—such as Google— have applied for various domains that cover different products and more common words like ....

The long-running push for the launch of the new smart home standard Matter is taking a big step forward. The Connectivity Standards Alliance announced today that it, along with members of the alliance, are formally releasing the Matter 1.0 standard and certification program. This opens the door to official product certification for the first Matter accessories, and it comes as the latest iOS 16.1 betas add support for the technology....

An aerial view of the new Apple datacenter in Maiden, North Carolina, which doubled in size. More super datacenters are due across the US and Europe, an analyst says. More and more analysts are calling for an Apple-branded television set that should wow us with a big, beautiful display (Retina, anyone?), built-in Apple TV and DVR capabilities, live programming and television channels via iTunes, 1080p iOS gaming via the App Store and what not....

Earlier today, Apple provided developers with the first beta for the upcoming release of OS X Mavericks version 10.9.3. Apple did not disclose any new features coming in 10.9.3, but we have discovered that the update includes notable enhancements for users with Macs connected to 4K-resolution monitors. With 10.9.3, Mac users can now natively set their 4K monitors to run the Mac operating system at a pixel-doubled “Retina” resolution. The new settings, which appear nearly identical to the settings on a standard Retina MacBook Pro display, can be seen here on a 10....

Analysts so far appear mostly unfazed by the Apple coronavirus impact. The prevailing view is that the effect will be temporary, and that Apple’s core strengths mean the medium- and long-term outlook remains good. Investors appear to be taking the same view. The stock did take a bit of a dip yesterday, at one point 3.2% down after a bigger fall in pre-market trading, but ended the day just 1.83% down …...

Last month Apple hired Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, the law firm that has represented it in various patent cases against Samsung, to serve as the company’s lobbyists in Washington on matters regarding intellectual property and tech industry competition, PC World reports. This year alone Apple has reportedly spent somewhere around $3 million on lobbying efforts, especially in the areas of consumer health legislation and international tax policy. Apple has a diverse group of lobbyists on its payroll, including five firms (now six with WilmerHale) and several in-house lawyers....

After closing the Heart Study to new participants last month, Apple today has started sending notifications to participants informing them that their participation is nearly completed. When Heart Study participants launch the program’s application, they’ll see a new “Complete Survey” button along the top. Clicking through this link, users are taken to the Stanford Medicine website where they are informed their participation is “very close to completion.” The survey was first spotted by Nate Gorby on Twitter....