BioWare reveals that it has plans to abandon the dialogue wheel with its upcoming title Anthem, although the game will still have some dialogue choices. This is a huge departure for the company, whose games have featured dialogue wheels since 2007’s Mass Effect. In most BioWare games, dialogue choice plays an essential part in storytelling. Usually, when a player talks to an NPC, a dialogue wheel comes up allowing players to choose from several different responses....

Apple has announced today that it is revising its App Store guidelines with a handful of notable changes. The latest version of the guidelines offers new details for template applications, cryptocurrency trading clients, VPNs, and more… Perhaps most notably, Apple has clarified its controversial language on template-based applications. It was reported earlier this month that the company was cracking down on apps generated using template services, but that decision ended up having a detrimental effect on many legitimate applications....

Apple and AT&T have been able to identify the man believed responsible for sending seizure-inducing tweets to Newsweek journalist Kurt Eichenwald. Tracing the perpetrator initially looked impossible, reports The Verge. In theory, it was the perfect setup: an anonymous Twitter account on a prepaid SIM card, bought with cash. With no credit card or other identifiable info tied to the account, there should have been no way to trace tweets back to a human …...

According to Jessica Lessin, Apple has acquired chip development firm Passif. The company’s chip technologies are focused on utilizing low-power and work with low-energy Bluetooth technologies. As Apple moves towards smaller devices, the talent and resources of Passif will be critical. Apple reportedly tried to buy the firm a few years earlier, but was only able to strike a deal within recent months. We previously reported that Apple has been poaching several employees from other chip makers to work on the upcoming iWatch....

The ongoing saga of Toshiba’s sale of its memory chip business seems destined never to end. First it was unclear whether it was Apple or Foxconn bidding for it, then it was both, but possibly neither, then Apple without Foxconn – and in the latest twist, the two are now bidding rivals … The WSJ reports that while Toshiba had previously been uneasy about accepting Foxconn’s offer, it is now considering approving the deal as Foxconn’s bid is higher....

Apple today announced at WWDC 2021 that HomePod mini is coming to more countries. Following the announcement of new features for Home with the upcoming major updates to tvOS and HomePod Software, the company confirmed it will bring the HomePod mini to Austria, Italy, and more countries. HomePod mini will be available later this year in Austria, Ireland, New Zealand, and Italy. With HomePod Software 15.0 and iOS 15, users will receive support for Siri in the languages of these respective countries....

We learned back in March that Apple wanted to trademark its concentric rings logo of the Apple Park – and it has now applied for four more trademarks relating to its new campus … Patently Apple spotted the applications, two of which are for the name ‘Apple Park’ itself, with the other two for the figurative representation – that is, the Apple logo followed by the word ‘Park.’ When you apply to register a trademark, you have to list the uses to which it will be put....

A day after announcing the Apple Watch pricing and availability as well as an all-new 12-inch MacBook, Apple has revealed in an interview with Fortune that it will partner with a number of non-profit organizations and donate more than $50 million toward the effort of recruiting women, minorities, and veterans to Apple. The new effort follows the company’s diversity data report released last August. At the time, Tim Cook sharply expressed that he was “not satisfied with the numbers....

Google’s Stadia platform has helped start a new form of gaming, streaming from the cloud. In the past year, Stadia, Microsoft xCloud, and Nvidia’s GeForce Now have made a big splash, but they still aren’t available on iOS. Why? Apple has confirmed it won’t allow services like Google Stadia on its platform. Speaking to Business Insider this week, Apple has directly confirmed that it won’t allow game streaming services on iOS....

Apple has shared a new AirPods ad today on its Korean website and YouTube channel. The most recent ad for its fully wireless earphones shows off a fun look at a bunch of ways AirPods users have creatively approached customization with lively and colorful cases. Spotted by MacRumors, the ad showed up at the top of Apple’s Korean homepage. The nearly 40-second video shows off a bunch of neat ways users have made their AirPods unique in a series of fast-paced cuts synchronized to the song Focus by Charli XCX (Yaeji remix)....

According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Apple has hired a seasoned veteran from the automotive industry for its rumored car initiative. The report claims that Apple has hired Doug Betts, who previously led global quality control at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Betts worked at Fiat Chrysler until last year and started at Apple earlier this month. While details of Betts’ role at Apple are sparse at this point, he has updated his LinkedIn page to reflect his new position....

Apple stock ($AAPL) has once again crossed the $1 trillion market cap level as its shares rose 6% in early trading following its Q2 earnings call. AAPL stock is currently priced at $212.68, with a market cap of approximately $1,003,000,000,000. The company stock closed at around $200 yesterday but rocketed upwards in the wake of Apple reporting its financial results for the financial quarter just gone. Although iPhone revenue declined 17% year over year, the sharp downturn in iPhone sales seen in the holiday quarter is steadily recovering with Tim Cook describing November and December as ‘the trough’....

October 23 marks 10 years since the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the iPod in 2001. It wasn’t the first MP3 player, but it was the first to take the world by storm. Even if it did cost $399 and only work with Macs at first. Read the original Apple press release here. “What is iPod? The biggest thing about iPod is it holds a thousand songs! Your entire music library fits in your pocket — this was never before possible,” Jobs told media in a low key event on Oct....

BioWare’s Anthem may have been pushed in 2019, but developers assure fans that the game will still keep the amazing graphics it first showcased at E3 2017. In Anthem, players are tasked with leaving the safety of their civilization to explore an unknown landscape, suited up inside impressive exoskeleton suits known as Javelins. Anthem’s first footage apparently only just scratched the surface of the game’s potential. To say that gamers were impressed with Anthem’s six minutes of footage from last year’s E3 would be an understatement....

Anthem just can’t catch a break with its patches. The latest patch, Anthem update 1.03, introduced several changes that weren’t detailed in the patch notes, including new components and several nerfs made to weapons. As it turns out, though, the nerfs were just bugs that were unintentionally coded in during the patch, and will have to be addressed in a newer patch later. Anthem’s update 1.03 was supposed to usher in the beginning of significant change for EA and BioWare’s much-maligned looter shooter....

A former IOS software engineer at Tumblr has described Apple’s App Store review process as perplexing, random, discordant, and asinine. He claims that his view is shared by the “vast, vast majority” of iOS developers. He focuses on the Tumbler experience, describing the random rejections the company would get for app updates, but says the problem is a much bigger one … Sreegs wrote a Tumblr blog post, starting by describing Tumblr’s problems with Apple’s porn ban....

One of the most exciting weeks of the year for us in the Apple ecosystem is almost here. Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference kicks off next week. Although it’s virtual once again, we’re all looking forward to an exciting week of announcements as we get a look at what’s coming in iOS 15, iPadOS 15, macOS 13, and hopefully some announcements for tvOS. On the enterprise side, I am looking forward to the “What’s new with Apple device management” session that usually happens in the middle of the week....

Apple today announced that it is adding PayPal as a new payment method to the App Store, iTunes Store, iBookstore and Apple Music services. This means Apple users will be able to add PayPal to their Apple ID in order to buy apps, musics, movies, TV shows and more. PayPal is a nice alternative to gift cards for users who don’t want to (or can’t) attach credit cards to their account....

As its battle with Qualcomm continues to escalate, Apple is again said to be considering modems from MediaTek for the 2018 iPhones. DigiTimes reports that Apple is looking for additional capacity after ‘transferring half of its orders to Intel from Qualcomm’… The report cites unnamed sources and explains that MediaTek has the capacity, technology, and pricing advantages to supply Apple with modems for the iPhone. MediaTek would join Intel in supplying modems to Apple for the iPhone....

Apple is launching a new ad campaign for its streaming service, Apple TV+, which is set to debut as a commercial during the NFL playoff games this weekend. It features Jon Hamm comedically complaining that all of Apple’s shows feature big name celebrities .. but not him. Watch the ad after the break … In the ad, we see Hamm relaxing in a very plush private home theater scrolling through the carousel on the Apple TV+ tab in the TV app....