Apple today has three of its Beats headphone models on sale between 20%-30% off the standard retail prices. The discounts apply to Apple’s BeatsX, Powerbeats3 Wireless, and Beats Solo3 Wireless in most colors. It’s rare for Apple to offer special pricing on its products through its online or retail stores, but today we’re seeing BeatsX $50 off for $99, Powerbeats3 Wireless $40 off for $160, and Beats Solo3 Wireless at $60 off for $240....

Update, Sept. 19: Vogue originally posted the wrong photos. They’ve now been updated with the correct images shot on iPhone 6s Plus. Apple’s new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus won’t officially arrive for customers until September 25th, but Apple is giving the upgraded camera on the devices a real world test drive at New York Fashion Week. It appears Apple handed over a few of the unreleased phones to Vogue and they enlisted photographer Kevin Lu to shoot the show entirely with the new iPhone....

A Federal Trade Commission (FTC) report on “anti-competitive repair restrictions” specifically calls out Apple for a number of practices that hamper repairs by independent workshops. The FTC says that repair restrictions hurt both consumers and small businesses, and argues for a combination of new right-to-repair laws and better enforcement of existing ones … The FTC began collecting evidence from both consumers and businesses almost two years ago after Congress asked it to do so....

Apex Legends fans have discovered images that suggest the next character in the game could be the long rumored Revenant. Every new season Apex Legends tries to introduce new characters and features to shake up the game. In the past these characters have all had new abilities and backstories that added something interesting to the game. Yesterday Respawn Entertainment announced that there would be a brand new character coming in Apex Legends season four....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK4MYERlCS0&feature=youtu.be Continuing today’s celebration of Beats officially becoming an Apple subsidiary, Beats’ official Twitter account has posted a fun video advertisement that uses Siri and the Beats Pill to promote the deal. The video pokes fun at a private Dr. Dre party, and perhaps this is some joke tied to Dre spilling the beans about the Apple deal in the weeks before the official announcement in May. The end of the video also appears to poke fun at Siri not always working properly....

Apple has deployed an interesting new App Store feature called ‘unlisted app distribution’. This means a developer can now publish an app to the App Store that can only be installed via a direct link – the app is unlisted and cannot be found through normal App Store search and discovery means. The idea for this kind of hidden-but-not-private visibility is that not all apps necessarily want to be public....

Apple today announced on its Developer Portal that its making two new lower price tiers available for developers in Canada and New Zealand. Developers in those countries can now offer paid apps and in-app purchases at $0.99 CAD and $0.99 NZD. These new options will allow for developers to offer more affordable apps and in-app purchases to users in these countries. Apple wrote the following on its Developer Portal regarding the changes:...

Apple Books has launched a new initiative to expand the number of audiobooks available on its store. It is inviting independent writers and larger publishers to opt-in to have their written books converted into audio form using AI voice synthesis models. Apple announced the scheme towards the end of last year, and — as noted by The Guardian — the first AI-narrated books are now available to download in the Apple Books Store....

All the signs point to Bloomberg having gotten things badly wrong with its story claiming that Apple discovered Chinese spy chips in its servers. But despite everyone backing Apple’s denials, the story does have the potential to do a lot of PR damage – including to Apple’s relationship with China. Which may explain why CEO Tim Cook is currently visiting Shanghai … Tim Cook has posted some photos on his Weibo account....

Apple on Monday released its new Apple Configurator app for iPhone, which is used to deploy iOS and Mac devices in schools and business. With the new iPhone app, it is now possible to set up a Mac not purchased by an organization into Apple Business Manager or Apple School Manager. Apple Configurator is not exactly a new app, as it already exists in macOS. However, Apple is now bringing it to the iPhone to enable even more new possibilities for businesses and schools....

Update: Apple is also giving $20 off for Beats Studio Buds (now $129.99) and $50 off for Powerbeats Pro (now $199.95), although you can find them at better prices here and here. About a month ago, Apple raised the price of Beats Flex earphones to $69, possibly because it had difficulties maintaining a supply and demand balance. Now, mysteriously, the price is back as it always has been. While this could be a special deal for the holidays, it’s weird that only a few weeks after raising the price Apple is now giving a discount, placing Beats Flex at $49....

In the latest post on its machine learning blog, the Apple audio software engineering team explains the challenges of speech detection for smart speakers, and how it uses machine learning models running on the HomePod’s A8 chip to help improve far-field accuracy. The HomePod must be able to maintain recognition accuracy when loud music is being played on it, when the person talking is far away, and correctly isolate the sound of someone speaking a command from other sounds in the room like a TV or noisy appliance....

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2008/01/22results.html Oppenheimer reads this: Some Notes: Apple shipped 2,319,000 Macintosh® computers, representing 44 percent unit growth and 47 percent revenue growth over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 22,121,000 iPods during the quarter, representing five percent unit growth and 17 percent revenue growth over the year-ago quarter. Quarterly iPhone™ sales were 2,315,000. “We’re thrilled to report our best quarter ever, with the highest revenue and earnings in Apple’s history,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO....

Part of Apple’s $100 million Racial Justice and Equity Initiative is supporting educational opportunities for Black students and people of color. And that extends beyond the typical classroom and age-range you might imagine. Applications are now open for Apple’s Entrepreneur Camp for Black founders and developers. Apple shared the news on its Developer website today with the Entrepreneur Camp applications open from October 19 to November 20 for those in the Black community:...

In what’s beginning to feel like the world’s longest-running takeover battle, Foxconn has been pressing the case for its own bid for Toshiba’s chip division. It faces competition from two rival bids, from KKR and Bain Capital … Apple now appears to be hedging its bets, participating in two of the three bids – one of which seems likely to win out over KKR. While none of those involved have disclosed the exact amount of any of the bids, it’s reported that the KKR consortium is in third place, with a bid or around 2 trillion yen ($19B) while Bain has offered a little more, and Foxconn more still....

In this episode of the Apple @ Work podcast, Bradley is joined by Lindsey Koshansky of Locus Health to discuss at-home patient monitoring with iPad, improving patient satisfaction, and the future of healthcare. Sponsored by iMazing: The popular iOS device manager which gives you unparalleled control over iOS and iPadOS data. Request your free trial now. https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/9to5mac.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2020/05/AppleatWorkLocus.mp3 Links mentioned in this episode Locus Health is transforming in-home patient care with iPad Jamf Pro and Locus Health Connect with Bradley Twitter LinkedIn Listen and Subscribe Apple Podcasts Overcast Spotify Pocket Casts Castro RSS

It’s an interesting evening for Maps on iOS. First up, Google released a rudimentary iOS Google Maps video that feels circa 2007 and includes all the gestures that made Steve Jobs go thermonuclear on Android. We’re not sure who the intended audience is, but this was just released. Maybe it is for the people who’ve never used a smartphone before? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpTqpjT6ZM0&feature=player_embedded Rounding things out, Jim Darlymple from the Loop posts what appears to be a roundup of new Apple data on improvements in mapping (supporting the stance that it’s rapidly improving):...

Apple is today announcing a trio of new efforts it’s undertaking to bring new protection for children to iPhone, iPad, and Mac. This includes new communications safety features in Messages, enhanced detection of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) content in iCloud, and updated knowledge information for Siri and Search. One thing Apple is emphasizing is that its new program is ambitious, but that “protecting children is an important responsibility.” With that in mind, Apple says that its efforts will “evolve and expand over time....

It appears plans for future Apple wireless accessories have (again) been spoiled by the FCC. According to a pair of filings that hit the organization’s website yesterday, Apple is preparing to soon debut new versions of its Bluetooth Magic Mouse and Wireless Keyboard. According to images indicating the FCC label location on the accessories, the new mouse will be called the “Magic Mouse 2.” As for the new wireless keyboard, there are no indications of a name change as of yet....

During this morning’s Senate hearing regarding Apple’s tax strategies, Apple CEO Tim Cook provided opening statements regarding Apple’s perspective on the issues. Notably, during a time in which Cook was discussing Apple’s United States-based operations and strategies, the Apple CEO said that Apple’s upcoming Made-in-the-USA Mac line will be assembled in Texas… Apple has not previously disclosed where the already announced US-built Mac will be assembled. Foxconn, Apple’s main assembly partner in China, has factories in Texas....