After a number of reports and tweets from across the Web announced outages for iCloud mail this morning, Apple updated its system status page confirming the outage lasted from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. PDT and affected approximately 12 percent—or 15 million— of iCloud’s 125 million users. Unfortunately, Apple’s iCloud Support page was not updated until after service was restored, which left most users in the dark as to why they could not access Mail and Notes during the outage....

It’s not hard to find counterfeit Apple products and accessories to buy online, especially when it comes to accessories like AirPods, chargers, and iPhone cases. Apple of course doesn’t like this at all, and the company is taking new measures to crack down on sales of counterfeit products in Latin America along with Mercado Libre. For those unfamiliar, Mercado Libre (also known as Mercado Livre in Brazil) is one of the most popular online marketplaces in Latin America....

Ahead of a meeting with government officials later this month to discuss how Apple could prevent increasing smartphone crimes, Apple today introduced a new feature called ‘Activation Lock’ that it says will be “a really powerful theft deterrent” when released later this fall in iOS 7. We told you earlier this month that government officials in the US were calling Apple, Google and others to a “smartphone summit” later this month on June 13 to discuss the increasing amount of smartphone related crime in New York city and the rest of the country....

Along with several other new APIs for developers, Apple has announced HomeKit which allows all home automation accessories/devices to work together. The new API will allow home automation developers to centralize all home automation in iOS without needing separate apps to access each device’s specific features. These devices include locks, lights, cameras, doors, thermostats, plugs, switches, and more. HomeKit allows for secure pairing with devices and the ability to control individual devices....

Just as it did last year on the first day of spring, Apple has announced a new collection of Apple Watch bands with ‘vibrant colors and unique designs.’ The new bands include Sport, Nylon and classic buckle designs as well as special Nike and Hermès models … There are four new bands aimed at all Apple Watch models. Sport Band in Denim Blue, Lemonade and Red Raspberry Woven Nylon in Black Stripe, Blue Stripe, Gray Stripe and Pink Stripe Sport Loop in Flash Light, Hot Pink, Marine Green and Tahoe Blue Classic Buckle in Spring Yellow, Electric Blue and Soft Pink The Nike Sport Loop will for the first time be sold without the watch, along with two new colors....

Following a report earlier this month that Apple started acknowledging a long-standing complaint over a common iMessage bug, Bloomberg (via BI) reports that a customer has filed a lawsuit against Apple and is seeking class action status with a San Jose court. The problem exists with how Apple’s messaging app handles the switch from its iPhone to iPhone iMessaging platform to traditional SMS text messages when contacts switch to new devices....

Ten years ago today, Apple announced its brand-new personal assistant Siri. At the time, it was able to show you the weather, add an appointment to the calendar, and more. Now, you can celebrate Siri’s birthday by saying “Happy Birthday” to the personal assistant. Many things changed over the last 10 years, but for most users, Siri doesn’t appear to be one of them. Of course, the personal assistant has gotten smarter and can do more than ever before....

Last month, Apple announced a handful of new child safety features that proved to be controversial, including CSAM detection for iCloud Photos. Now, Apple has said they will “take additional time” to refine the features before launching to the public. Apple’s new child safety features were set to launch as part of updates to iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS Monterey later this year. There is now no word on when the company plans to roll out the features....

Earlier this month, Apple’s director of machine learning, Ian Goodfellow, left the company due to his disagreement with the in-person work policy. Now it seems that Goodfellow is returning to Google, the company he worked at before joining Apple. Bloomberg has heard from sources familiar with the matter that Goodfellow has agreed to accept a position at DeepMind, Google’s division focused on artificial intelligence. However, the company is yet to confirm the hiring....

In this case, future iMac and Mac mini owners will bathe themselves in the advantages brought by the Fusion Drive, which has just been introduced tonight. But how exactly Fusion Drive works? What are the differences between SSD, standard hard drives and Fusion Drive? How come Apple has came up with this idea and what consequences will this technology generate on the market? All of this, and plenty more, below....

Apple’s latest cunning move in its Holy Crusade against Android involves getting a court order to force Google, the maker of Android software, to produce documents detailing the Android roadmap and its proposed $12.5 billion acquisition of handset maker Motorola Mobility. It was not immediately clear what data Apple was exactly seeking to uncover. This is notable, because Apple is actually going after Google with this request. It is the first direct in the ongoing legal war considering Apple fought Google by proxy in the past....

Apple has hired a former Warner Music executive to lead part of its Apple Music team. As first reported by Reuters, Jeff Bronikowski is joining Apple as the company’s global head of strategic music initiatives. Bronikowski made the announcement on LinkedIn last night, saying that he’ll be working with the Apple Music team. He’ll be based in New York City, but also spending time in Culver City and Cupertino: Prior to joining Apple Music this month, Bronikowski served as a senior vice president at Warner Music Group....

Developer BioWare promised ongoing engagement and communication with players when it came to Anthem. In reality, this hasn’t quite been the case. Instead, the official Twitter page for Anthem has not seen an update in nearly a month. The release of Anthem has been nothing short of a disaster for BioWare and publisher EA. BioWare jumped into the world of the loot shooter with its latest release, forgoing its usual forte of the single player RPG in favor of something more action-oriented with a multiplayer focus....

Respawn Entertainment and Electronic Arts have done a great job by releasing the Apex Legends Mobile video game after the success of the PC version. It’s a free-to-play multiplayer online battle royale shooter video game that becomes one of the most downloaded titles across 60 countries in a short period of time. However, it seems that some players are facing Apex Legends Mobile FPS drops quite often. If you too, you can check the steps to Boost Performance....

Apple @ Work is brought to you by Kandji, a modern, cloud-based platform to manage and secure your Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV devices. Kandji saves IT teams hours of manual work with features like one-click compliance templates and 150+ pre-built automations, apps, and workflows. Request access. With macOS Monterey on the horizon soon, businesses will quickly begin looking at their rollout strategy. I know many IT professionals miss the old 18-month macOS upgrade window, but Apple has done a fantastic job of making a macOS upgrade break less over time....

A viral tweet over the last week has led to a lot of confusion about whether or not Apple can delete movies you’ve purchased through iTunes from your library. In a statement to CNET this weekend, however, Apple addressed the controversy and offered a bit more detail on the situation. In his original tweet, Anders Gonçalves da Silva said that he had three movies disappear from his iTunes library. After reaching out to Apple support, he was told that the “content provider” had removed the movies from the Canadian iTunes Store....

Nortel decided to extend the deadline for the start of the auction for its patents until June 27 citing “significant interest” from third parties. Today we learn that two Silicon Valley giants are significantly interested in Nortel’s war chest of more than five thousand wireless patents said to be worth well over a billion dollars. They are Apple and Intel, reports The Wall Street Journal. Other bidders include Ericsson AB and a company called RPX Corp which “defensively buys up patents on behalf of other companies to stop them from being used against them by investors”....

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXKqIr4cjyo] Globes reports that Apple has completed its purchase of PrimeSense, the Israel-based firm behind the technology in Microsoft’s Kinect sensor, and Apple confirmed the acquisition to AllThingsD. As noted earlier this year, the deal will cost Apple somewhere between $300-350 million. PrimeSense previously denied any talks with Apple. The sensor firm is no longer working with Microsoft, as the Xbox manufacturer has moved to all in-house work for its latest Kinect-based technology....

Last week, Google’s Project Zero security research team detailed what it described as “one of the largest attacks against iPhone users ever.” Now, Apple has responded to Google’s findings – taking issue with many of the claims. Google’s findings last week detailed a series of hacked websites, which were randomly distributing malware to iPhone users. Once a user visited one of the malicious websites and the malware was deployed, the implant “primarily focused on stealing files and uploading live location data,” as often as every 60 seconds....

Earlier this week, Tim Cook communicated Apple’s plans for a hybrid working environment beginning in September. This plan, which would require that most Apple employees work in person three days a week, is now facing pushback internally from employees who feel the company is not being flexible enough for those who want to work remotely on a more regular basis. The Verge obtained an internal letter circulating within Apple in which employees write that they have felt “not just unheard, but at times actively ignored” over the last year when it comes to communication about in-person versus remote work....