Hot on the heels of the news that Apex Legends is now growing at four times the rate of its more mature competitor, Fortnite, it looks like there’s even more in EA’s Battle Royale pocket: dataminers have now leaked that there may be Apex Legends NPCs to come, along with some new in-game effects. There were recent announcements that Apex Legends was going to release a Battle Pass soon alongside the new hero, Octane....

In the most unexpected alliance anyone would expect, Valve is said to be working with Apple to co-develop a new Augmented Reality device. Valve has proven in the past that they have no problem working with other companies for a common goal. Apple, however, is likely one of the last names anyone would expect to see next to the word “collaboration.” The two companies have never had close relationships - although they did work together on the release of SteamVR on Mac - and, at first glance, they both seem diametrically opposed....

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Apple’s Senior Vice President of iOS Software Scott Forstall just unveiled iOS 6 while on stage at the Worldwide Developers Conference. According to Apple, iOS 6 includes 200 new features. Apple started demoing new Siri features this morning, which includes the ability to bring in-depth sports information. Other Siri partnerships—like Rotten Tomato for movie trailers and OpenTable for making dinner reservations—allow the voice-controlled personal assistant to do some cool, new things....

Apple has just announced during its “California Streaming” event a brand new generation of the iPad mini. The smallest iPad in the lineup now comes with a design language that’s similar to that of last year’s iPad Air, with slimmer bezels and no Home Button. Just as with last year’s iPad Air, the iPad mini doesn’t feature Face ID, but a Touch ID sensor in the sleep/wake button, allowing the user to unlock the device, as well as authenticate within apps and authorize purchases with their fingerprint....

Apple is out with a new press release and report today in which it again touts the success of third-party apps on the App Store. The study, which was conducted by the Analysis Group and funded by Apple, concludes that “third-party apps experience broad regional and global success on the App Store.” Interestingly, however, Apple is taking the strategy of downplaying the success of its own, first-party apps… Apple highlights a few conclusions from the report:...

Apple is fighting ‘right to repair’ legislation which would give consumers and third-party repair shops the legal right to purchase spare parts and access service manuals. The state of Nebraska is holding a hearing on the proposed legislation next month, and Motherboard reports that Apple will be formally opposing the bill. According to the source, an Apple representative, staffer, or lobbyist will testify against the bill at a hearing in Lincoln on March 9....

Apple is reportedly investing in SoftBank’s latest venture capital fund, Vision Fund II. The Cupertino company invested in the original $100B Vision Fund, which was the largest of its kind when launched in 2017 — and the latest fund aims to be even bigger. Apple’s investment in the first round was $1B — a huge sum of money, if somewhat modest in this context … Bloomberg reports that SoftBank’s founder Masayoshi Son is this time targeting a total fund of $108B....

Anthem’s been faced with many issues since the game launched in mid-February, but a new report suggests that one of the root causes of its poor reception is EA’s Frosbite game engine. The Frostbite engine is a suite of technology used to make EA titles, primarily as a method to both unify the technology each studio uses under the EA umbrella and to save on licensing fees. The Frostbite engine was originally created by DICE in order to create the Battlefield games, and has since been adopted by EA over the past decade....

Forget what you know about the latest Apex Legends Battle Pass. It’s clear that fans of EA’s latest Battle Royale are thinking solely of just one thing, and it’s definitely not the upcoming content. According to members of the community, what they really want is for Apex Legends ankle biting to be a thing. This activity has taken on a life of its own over the past day, as a throwaway comment in the Apex Legends Reddit spiraled out of control and into a popular thread spanning almost a thousand comments from players and EA fans expressing their wish for Apex Legends ankle biting....

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In this episode of the Apple @ Work podcast, Bradley is joined by Tom Bridge from JumpCloud and the Mac Admins podcast to talk about the new report about The State of the IT Admin. Sponsored by DEVONthink 3: Manage documents the smart way on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Apple @ Work listeners get 10% off with this link. Links Download the report Subscribe to the Mac Admins podcast on Apple Podcasts Connect with Bradley Twitter LinkedIn Listen and subscribe Apple Podcasts Overcast Spotify Pocket Casts Castro RSS

All of Thursday’s best deals are now up for the taking, with a $589 refurbished Apple 11-inch iPad Pro discount leading the way. That’s alongside Apple’s official Silicone iPhone 13 MagSafe case at $26 and VOCOlinc’s HomeKit air purifier. Hit the jump for all that and more in the latest 9to5Toys Lunch Break. Save up to $589 on Apple’s refurb prev-gen. 11-inch iPad Pro Woot is now discounting a selection of previous-generation iPads in certified refurbished condition....

Sleep tracking product Beddit — which was acquired by Apple last year — is officially killing off its cloud service on November 15, 2018. Starting today, new users will not be able to sign up for Beddit Cloud. As noted in the latest App Store update for the app, users will no longer be able to sign up or use the cloud service, and existing users have until November 15, 2018 to use it before the cloud service will completely stop functioning....

Apple has already honored Eilish this year with an Apple Music award and a concert at Steve Jobs Theater, and it is set to continue the trend. According to Billboard, Apple paid $25 million for rights to a documentary which follows the singer as she releases her debut album. What is particularly interesting in this case is that Billboard says the documentary will be released on Apple TV+, rather than Apple Music....

More from Apple CEO Tim Cook’s talk at the Goldman and Sachs conference this morning: When asked about the iPhone’s screen size, Cook noted size isn’t always everything and the company is more focused on delivering the best experience. Cook also said that consumers should think twice before shopping online with a device using an OLED display due to poor color saturation and lack of brightness. However, he didn’t rule out the possibility of a larger screen iPhone....

This past week, Chinese State TV called the iPhone a “national security concern” because of its location tracking capabilities. The iPhone’s operating system utilizes location for several applications, including Maps and Weather. iOS 7 also introduced a new feature that utilizes a customer’s location in order to provide improved traffic and route information. Now, Apple has quickly responded via a concrete and comprehensive message on its website for China. The message is advertised on the homepage, and is a direct response to the allegations from China State TV....

Research firm IDC is out today with its latest report on the smart-connected device market, and it includes worldwide shipments of desktop PCs, notebook PCs, smartphones, and tablets. IDC predicted the market in total grew 29.1-percent year over year in 2012, crossing 1 billion units shipped and hitting a total value of $576.9 billion. According to the report, Apple significantly closed the gap on Samsung during the last quarter of the year....

Apple’s SVP of Retail + People Deirdre O’Brien published a letter today detailing the company’s approach to reopening its 510 retail stores in a safe and careful way. All Apple Stores outside of Greater China closed on March 13 to slow the spread of COVID-19. O’Brien stresses at the outset of her letter that care has driven Apple’s decision-making throughout the pandemic, noting that Apple was one of the first major companies to close its retail stores....

Apple has today extended its AppleCare+ for Mac program, previously only available in the United States and Japan, to New Zealand and Australia AppleCare+ extends a Mac’s warranty period to three years from its original purchase date. The insurance also includes up to two accidental damage for the screen or external casing, costing AU$149 or NZ$169, or AU$429 or NZ$499 for any other damage. The insurance replaces the existing Apple Care for Mac plan which is essentially the same sans accidental damage....