After firing its Korea head in 2012 amid slowing iPhone sales, Apple has hired a new leader for its business in that area. According to a new report from Bloomberg, Apple recently hired Brandon Yoon to head its South Korea business… In the past, Yoon has held posts as Microsoft and Samsung executives. Most recently, he served as a corporate vice president at Samsung, overseeing digital strategy and other areas. Yoon was at Samsung for just under three years and at Microsoft, across several positions, for four years....

iPhone tracks and records the places that you visit more often so as to provide better location-based data and suggestions. These ideas may be very helpful to any person, but you may not like the idea of tracking your locations very frequent. There may be few apps that may not work unless you turn on the Location Services. While an app accesses your location for the first time, you will be receiving a notification asking for permission....

VCommunicator Mobile is a translation engine that uses an iPod in order to offer soldiers a fast and accurate way to access an extensive library of phrases. The software displays graphics, showing either the phrase in Arabic, or a video of a soldier making the appropriate hand gesture. There are collections of phrases for specific situations, like checkpoint, raid or patrol. Over 700 soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan have been testing 260 iPods enabled with the technology for the last year, reports military magazine, Strategy World – and at a cost of $800,000 initial reports are positive....

A project called How is the world feeling? is aiming to use an iOS and Android app to conduct the world’s largest study of mental health over a one-week period starting on October 10. The aim is to gather data from ordinary people to identify patterns in emotions, then to open-source anonymized data to mental health professionals in a bid to devise approaches to reducing suicide rates … The app is designed to take seconds to use, asking people to select an emotion, select how strongly it is felt, and to enter a couple of other data points – what you are doing and whether you are alone or with others....

A 3D model of Las Vegas Strip created by Apple purchased C3 Since the original iPhone’s debut in 2007, Apple’s iOS devices have made use of an Apple-built Google Maps application to provide users with a quick glance at driving directions, traffic, route guidance, current location information, and details about destinations. Like with most sections of Apple’s business, the company is continually innovating, looking to take products to the next level....

Apple announced today that the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 will be coming to China “starting this week.” One single model will support all of China’s iPad carriers. The tablets are already available on Apple’s Chinese web store and are expected to ship within about a day. The pricing for the iPad 2 WLAN models comes in at 3,588 RMB for 16GB, 4,288 RMB for 64GB, or 4,988 RMB for 128 GB, while the cellular versions will run for 4,488 RMB for 16GB, 5,188 RMB for 64GB, or 5,888 RMB for 128GB....

In addition to announcing new integration between iOS and Mac OS X with AirDrop support and its new Handoff feature, Apple announced today that it’s bringing SMS and phone calls to the Mac. That means that you can now have your SMS text messages and phone calls from your iPhone arrive as notifications on your Mac. Users will be able to respond to messages and even use the Mac as a speaker phone in order to complete a phone call....

Good ol’ Apple is charging a buck for the final version of FaceTime on the Mac. The reason? Probably to get people into the Mac App Store, get a purchase under their belt and of course get their credit card entered into the system. Oh and it does 720P on supported Intel Macs. Update: Apple says this was a Accounting requirement. More screenies and description below: Description FaceTime for Mac makes it easy to talk, smile and laugh with friends and family on their iPhone 4, iPod touch or Mac....

We’ve independently heard that Apple has plans to begin selling the next-generation iPhone on Friday, October 7th; the date first reported by TiPB. According to our sources, Apple has been weighing between launching the new iPhone on October 7th or October 14th, but with the product’s latest stages of pre-mass-production currently moving along nicely, Apple is presently shooting towards a launch on the 7th. On top of this, unlike with the iPad 2, Apple plans to offer pre-orders for the new iPhone....

After Apple officially discontinued the iMac Pro, the 21.5-inch iMac with Retina 4K display appears to be the next in line to say goodbye. This comes as rumors of an upgrade continue to loom. As first spotted by MacRumors, the 21.5-inch iMac is now only available with 256GB SSD and 1TB Fusion Drive options. Before that, it was possible to choose 512GB and 1TB SSD options as well. Early this month, a person familiar with Apple’s supply chain claimed that the company had stopped producing the 512GB and 1TB SSD configurations of the iMac 4K altogether, and now it’s no longer available on Apple’s website....

One week since the #AppleToo movement started, it received nearly 500 reports from people across the company that mostly feels ignored by the human resources team. In a new interview, Apple engineer Cher Scarlett, who is the voice of the movement, has addressed the movement and the internal response from other Apple employees. In an interview with Protocol, Scarlett says that she believes the secrecy and loyalty culture within Apple is very important, and sharing concerns about harassment, discrimination, or bullying is very different from leaking confidential information from the company....

In the ongoing controversy over Apple’s refusal of the FBI’s request to assist in unlocking the iPhone of the San Bernardino gunman, The New York Times reports Apple engineers could refuse the work necessary even if Apple as a company decides to cooperate with authorities. Citing “more than a half-dozen current and former Apple employees,” the report claims there is already an internal discussion over engineers possibly refusing to do the necessary work or even quitting:...

Apple held an event at its Apple Park headquarters today with Will Smith, Jaden Smith, and Jada Pinkett Smith. The conversation was moderated by Apple’s VP of environment, policy, and social initiatives. Tim Cook shared an image of the event on Twitter, saying that “everyone deserves access to quality water.” Jaden Smith founded JUST WATER, an organization focused on bringing clean water to areas in need, such as Flint, Michigan. JUST WATER is touted as being ethically sourced and comes in a 100 percent paper-based bottle....

The C by GE light bulbs are already available and use Bluetooth connectivity to allow for control by the user from the companion C by GE app for iOS and Android. But with Apple HomeKit support, the lights will now be controllable using Siri voice commands and through Apple’s Home app on iOS, in addition to support for Alexa voice commands starting this summer. The support will require a new “C-Reach smart bridge” product to allow the Bluetooth bulbs to connect to Wi-Fi and then HomeKit....

From the Toys section: Today only until 4 pm ET or sold out, MacMall.com via eBay Daily Deal offers the Apple iMac Intel Core i3 3.06GHz 21.5″ Desktop, model no. MC508LL/A, for$1,049. With free shipping, that’s the lowest total price we could find by $89 and the best deal we’ve ever seen for this system without rebate hassles. This iMac features an Intel Core i3 3.06GHz dual-core processor, 21.5″ 1920×1080 widescreen LCD, 4GB RAM, 500GB 7200 rpm hard drive, ATI Radeon HD 4670 256MB video card, SuperDrive, Bluetooth 2....

Despite some minor concerns, Apple Arcade is perhaps the iPhone maker’s most value-packed product to date and I expect it to grow significantly in the coming months and years. Priced at just $4.99 per month, or $49.99 per year, the video game subscription service costs about as much as one console game per year. For this, you receive a library of exclusive content with new gaming titles added each week....

Apple retired its One to One customer training program several years ago, and replaced it with its free workshops and Today at Apple program. Now, the company is offering free one-on-one sessions over the phone for training on its Photos app. Spotted by MacRumors, Apple describes the new offering in a support document. While over the phone support for help with photos may sound counter-intuitive, this could be a good option for customers who don’t live near an Apple Store and can’t make it to a Today at Apple session....

A new piece today argues that Apple chipmaker TSMC is at ever-growing risk from China, and questions the wisdom of the Cupertino company allowing itself to become wholly dependent on a single company. With the US now actively seeking to hamper China’s own chip fabrication industry by imposing export controls on chipmaking equipment, there are fears that this greatly increases the chances of either TSMC or Taiwan as a whole suffering retaliatory measures …...

Apple has officially released iOS 15.2.1 and iPadOS 15.2.1, bringing bug fixes for CarPlay and Messages. In addition to those bug fixes, the update also includes a notable security update to patch a HomeKit vulnerability that could cause your iPhone or iPad to repeatedly crash. This bug was first reported by security researcher Trevor Spiniolas, who detailed in a blog post that the name of a HomeKit device being changed to something around 500,000 characters long is what causes the issues....

Apple has today confirmed its latest acquisition, the purchase of UK-based visual effects company, iKinema. The company’s motion capture tech has been used by customers such as Disney, Fox, and Tencent. Now, Apple may leverage the acquisition to improve its AR offerings, expand on Animoji/Memoji, and more. Reported by The Financial Times, Apple gave its standard, generic response. Recent films that have used iKinema’s motion capture tech include Thor: Ragnarok and Blade Runner: 2049....