Apple is dramatically improving the benefits it offers both part-time and full-time retail employees in the United States. According to a new report from Bloomberg, Apple is implementing more generous policies for sick time and vacation time, while also offering parental leave for part-time employees for the first time. The latest round of changes will go into effect on April 4 for workers in the United States. Apple confirmed the updates via a spokesman and said they were “were in development for several months....

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImlmVqH_5HM] As is tradition, Apple is airing a new holiday commercial this evening, this time highlighting the iPhone 5s, its movie making capabilities, and AirPlay with the Apple TV. The ad is set to the tune of “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”. As you may recall, last year Apple highlighted the iPad and FaceTime, with an ad set to “I’ll Be Home For Christmas”. In 2011, Apple featured Siri and the then-new iPhone 4S....

Apple today has officially shown off its upgraded TV application. The TV app now integrates with third-party subscriptions, allowing users to sign up for services directly through Apple. Peter Stern, Apple’s VP of Services, showed off the app on-stage. The Apple TV Channels feature is being touted as perfect for those who don’t want a full bundle of channels. Apple is partnering with the likes of Showtime, HBO, Epix, CBS All Access, and more....

Apple has announced its Best of 2017 apps and games, this year utilizing the Today cards in the iOS 11 App Store to feature the winners. Apple says its app of the year for iPhone is Calm, a meditation and sleep app, and Splitter Critters is 2017’s iPhone game of the year. Apple says the title “radiates imagination and originality”. For iPad, Apple has chosen Affinity Photo, the desktop-class photo editor, and the game The Witness....

Alongside iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and more today, Apple has announced tvOS 15 with new features and improvements, including SharePlay, a new “Shared with You” section on the TV app, and more. This continues work that started last year with tvOS 14, which introduced the “Home view” to control smart home accessories, audio sharing, support for multiple users, game controllers, and more. Here are the new features announced for tvOS:...

We’ve been patiently waiting for Apple hardware upgrades since October and heard tale of an iPad 5 launch as early as April but obviously that didn’t happen. So, last night, Tim Cook might have left some hope for iOS hardware at WWDC alongside iOS 7 in less than 2 weeks when he told Walt and Kara: There is some room for interpretation in there that there could be an iOS device launched at WWDC....

– Full access to iPod library – Multi-tasking: you can run djay in Automix mode and listen to a continuous, seamless mix running in the background while you surf the web, play games, etc. – AirPlay: you can wirelessly stream your mix to your Apple TV or AirPort Express station in real-time. – Fully leverages accelerated CPU extensions (SSE-like) for high-quality audio processing and analysis – Very low latency (< 3 msec) – Background audio playback (multi-tasking support) – Pre-Cueing (via mono/stereo adapter)...

App Store scams have recently resurfaced as a developer exposed several scam apps in the App Store making millions of dollars per year. Most of these apps exploit fake ratings and reviews to show up in search results and look legit, but trick users into getting subscriptions at irrationally high prices. It looks like Apple has started to crack down on scam attempts by rejecting apps that look like they have subscriptions or other in-app purchases with prices that don’t seem reasonable to the App Review team....

Called before the European Parliament’s tax committee yesterday to explain its tax arrangements, Apple’s VP of European operations denied that the company received illegal state aid, reports Bloomberg. Kearney also denied suggestions that the special tax deal with the Irish company was the reason it had chosen the country as its European HQ … “We feel that we’ve paid every cent of tax that is due in Ireland,” Cathy Kearney said at the European Parliament in Brussels....

As one of the last of Apple’s own iOS apps to get updated for iOS 7, Apple has just updated its Remote app for iPhone and iPad with a redesign to match its new operating system. Version 4.0 of Remote adds a completely revamped UI that matches Apple’s other updated iOS apps and UI elements standard in iOS 7. The update also adds support for iTunes 11. Other Apple iOS apps yet to get the iOS 7 update treatment include iTunes U, iBooks, and Find my Friends....

From 9to5Toys.com: Apogee, one of the leading audio interface companies in the business, has just released its most affordable option for Mac yet. The new ONE for Mac is very much based on the company’s small-footprint ONE interfaces, but this time with a more focused approach just for Mac users. While you wont get the dual functionality of the previous generation iOS/Mac options, the new interface also won’t reach into your pocket quite as deep....

At WWDC back in June, Apple CEO Tim Cook teased that the company was approaching the $50 billion milestone in money it had paid out to App Store developers. Today, Cook announced on Twitter that Apple has now paid over $50 billion to App Store developers, while also noting that July was a huge month for the platform. On Twitter, Cook proclaimed that July was a record-breaking month for the App Store....

Apple has been revealed as a sponsor of the BSides security conference currently taking place in San Francisco. Apple is listed as a “contributing” sponsor of the conference, joining companies such as Netflix, Google, and Dropbox. Specifics as to Apple’s extent of involvement as a “contributing” sponsor are unclear, but the event organizers tweeted that one of the company’s donations was food for the day. That may seem nominal, but Apple’s acknowledgement at all of the event is notable....

February update: We have followed up with Apple numerous times since this original post for more clarification and have finally received a firm answer to explain the situation. The whole of the iAd network is going away — developers will not be able to include any ad banners in their apps after June 30. Developers will have to find a new ad company to continue monetizing their apps using ads, as iAd will no longer function....

Apple has officially broken its silence on the net neutrality debate. In with a new comment, Apple has asked the FCC (via Recode) to “retain strong, enforceable open internet protections” that advance consumer choice, no paid fast lanes, transparency, competition, and investment and innovation. In the full comment, Apple specifically says broadband providers should not be allowed to throttle or block a “lawful website” or create paid fast lanes for services....

Apple has started enforcing a long-ignored rule in its App Store guidelines regarding what kinds of content can appear in app metadata. According to rule 3.6 in the guidelines document: This rule has been mostly unenforced since the App Store launched, but according to a new report from Pocket Gamer, some app developers are starting to see their apps rejected for depictions of violence in their screenshots. The first app affected by the change was Tempo, an action game that features heavy combat and is currently featured on the front page of the App Store....

Earlier today we reported that Apple was partnering with one screen protector company, likely Belkin, to offer professional installations of screen protectors done by machines. Now, a report from MacOtakara says that Apple has started rolling out its screen protector installation service in Japan and that it has in fact partnered with Belkin to do so, just as we reported this morning. Apple Stores in Japan have implemented the Belkin TrueClear Pro system in order to perform the screen protector application process....

Apple has today updated its list of iOS 9 feature availability to note the addition of its Maps ‘Nearby’ feature for more countries. The Nearby feature for Apple’s Maps app is now available in Austria, Denmark, Japan, and Switzerland. These new countries come in addition to Australia, Canada, China, France, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, UK, and USA where the feature had previously launched, bringing the total up to 13 supported countries....

In addition to the comprehensive redesign, OS X Yosemite could have made a significant change to how the Mac operating system functioned since it originally shipped just over thirty years ago. The above image from a source shows a March build of OS X Yosemite that featured a Control Center panel. The panel did not end up shipping in the first beta of Yosemite and was not announced on the WWDC stage last week, but Apple definitely considered including it....

From 9to5Toys.com: Apple this morning dropped prices across the board on iPads in its refurbished section of the online Apple Store as noted by MacRumors. We’ve recently seen quite a bit of iPad price reductions at 9to5Toys, some even steeper than this. For instance, Walmart has a new iPad mini for $80 off and refurb iPad Mini 16GB for $250. The new Apple Store prices: Good news for those interested in displays too: Thunderbolt and Cinema Displays are down to $799 (a $30 drop)....