Apple’s decision to cancel the 2020 Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose, California, and move to an online-only format was not only a good idea but a no-brainer, according to an international survey of more than 2,200 independent software programmers.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said Wednesday the company has “sourced [and] procured” 10 million N95 ventilator masks for the U.S. and “millions more” for the hardest-hit regions in Europe, that would be distributed to the medical community fighting the coronavirus pandemic. He also urged his followers to “stay at home whenever possible” to help curb the spread of the disease.
Cook’s comments came in a Twitter video posted Wednesday morning.
Following Saturday and Tuesdays’ announcements of Apple donating more than nine million N95 ventilator masks to help combat the coronavirus pandemic, the obvious question arises, why did Apple have so many masks? It now appears the answer was a simple one…A state mandate, instituted last year, to protect employees following the recent California wildfires.
Transitioning out of a closed beta, Adobe is now inviting users to beta test an upcoming iOS release of Illustrator for iPad, according to reports from various customers who have received an invitation in the past few days.
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence announced Tuesday that Apple has donated nine million N95 respirator masks to help hospitals and medical workers deal with the growing coronavirus pandemic.
Disney+, the streaming service from the Walt Disney Company, launched in the early hours of Tuesday morning across the United Kingdom and six European countries, but at reduced bandwidth and video quality after a government request to ease the strain on broadband networks.
Cult of Mac confirmed that the Disney+ app and service are available on the Apple TV App Store in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria and Switzerland.
In tvOS 14, Apple reportedly plans to give parents new controls over what their children watch on Apple TV devices. The tvOS update also will give parents the ability to control the amount of time their kids spend watching Apple TV content, according to a report published Monday.
Israeli website The Verifier also renewed speculation that Cupertino will announce a new 128GB Apple TV streaming device later this year. And it could come with a new Apple TV remote design.
The Apple digital distribution App Store is expanding to 20 more countries this year, Apple informed developers Monday. Apple has yet to reveal which countries are included in the expansion nor when the first additional nations will go live.
There are strong indications that the 467 Apple Stores outside mainland China closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic will not reopen until mid-April at the earliest, according to multiple location managers and employees worldwide.
Many Apple Store staff members are being quietly told that the situation remains on a “wait-and-see” status. Meanwhile, Cupertino executives continue to assess which locations might reopen and when on a case-by-case, state-by-state and country-by-country basis.
“I’ve been told not to expect stores in my area to be open anytime soon, and when I asked for a guess, two people ventured to say mid-April, but they said it with no certainty,” said the manager of an Apple Store in the southern United States. The Apple employee asked not to be named because the discussions were meant to be private.
Apple TV+ has launched a surprise interview series with former talk show Oprah Winfrey talking about the global coronavirus pandemic. In its first episode, Winfrey spoke to actor Idris Eba, one of several celebrities to test positive for COVID-19.
The series – entitled “Oprah Talks COVID-19“- debuted Saturday, with little production value for a quick-to-air show. Winfrey’s first installment features FaceTime interviews with Elba and his wife, Sabrina Dhowre.
As COVID-19 continues to impact businesses big and small across America, Best Buy announced Saturday it is closing all of its 997 North America locations temporarily except for curbside pickup services. Best Buy is one of the nation’s largest independent retailers of Apple products.
The Fortune 100 company with 125,000 employees has not offered a timeline for how long the new policy will last.
Apple enhanced its Siri voice assistant Saturday with a step-by-step query instructing users on determining if they have been exposed to COVID-19, the worldwide coronavirus pandemic.
The instructions are based on specific instructions from the U.S. Public Health Service, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services, as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
With U.S. cinema chains like AMC, Cinemark, Landmark, Alamo Drafthouse and Cineplex Odeon closed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, The Walt Disney Company moved up the online release of Pixar animated film Onward two weeks.
Repaired devices that customers couldn’t pick up before Apple Stores closed will remain piled up for some time due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
Many Mac and iPhone owners now find themselves between a rock and a hard place, according to various reports and social media posts.
Following a request to streaming services to switch from high definition to standard in an effort to reduce the strain on the internet, indications were Friday that Apple has followed suit of other major services and slowed down its Apple TV+ streaming service.
Cult of Mac has confirmed through two Apple TV users – one in Great Britain and one in southern France – that the quality of content on Apple TV+ has been lowered. Subscribers described the differences as primarily fast-moving content that is slower to refresh, heavily compressed and more pixelated.
Slack, the workplace chat and productivity platform used by more than 12 million people worldwide, is getting a major upgrade soon with a simpler and more organized layout, the company said in a Wednesday blog post.
The announcement comes as more people are working from home in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Apple is now allowing users to separately purchase the Afterburner accelerator card for the Mac Pro as of Wednesday with a $2,000 price tag to boot.
The card can now be ordered from Apple’s online store. Currently, there is a five to seven business day shipping period.
Apple updated its MacBook Air lineup Wednesday, adding a redesigned scissor-switch Magic Keyboard, twice the storage, a reported two times faster CPU and a lower price tag starting at $999.
Apple said the new MacBook Air comes with twice the storage capacity of the previous model. The new base model starts at 256GB, with up to 80% faster graphics performance. It also supports the Apple 6K Pro Display XDR.
Carphone Warehouse, Great Britain’s largest independent iPhone retailer, said Tuesday it will shut all of its 531 stores as competition intensifies and mobile phone sales move online.
The decision will impact almost 3,000 employees, according to the retailers parent company, Dixons Carphone. It hopes to relocate 1,800 of those positions to take new roles in the business.
Many Apple Stores across the United States are closed to consumers, but a select number are being staffed to handle pre-existing orders and already-scheduled repair pickups, according to social media posts, calls to selected stores and physical visits.
Cult of Mac was able to confirm 22 stores across the U.S. were manning their locations Saturday with a skeleton staff to finish fulfilling existing orders and repair jobs. Some stores and online agents said locations will be staffed into Sunday and as far out as March 16.
Apple has shuttered its 11 retail stores in Spain in an abundance of caution as the coronavirus continues to spread through Europe.
Cult of Mac has confirmed the closings will take effect Saturday after all the stores were open for business Friday. Social media reports indicate a small number of stores closed early on Friday.
Apple has suspended all filming of Apple TV+ projects currently in production, according to a published report Friday.
The shows include the science fiction series For All Mankind, the Stephen King miniseries Lisey’s Story, the science fiction drama See, the TV drama The Morning Show, the psychological horror television series Servant, and the Isaac Asimov sci-fi series Foundation.
Apple reopened all 42 of its retail locations in China on Friday after it was forced to close them last month due to the coronavirus outbreak, that according to Apple’s website.
Apple played a part in a historical and brutal day on Wall Street Thursday as fears and concerns over the coronavirus accelerate. The Dow 30 plummeted 10% in value as Apple stock lost almost the same.
Apple has told its retail store employees worldwide not to recommend customers physically try on an Apple Watch or in-ear AirPods, in an effort to cut down on the spread of coronavirus.
Customers can still ask to try on the products, but employees have been told not to offer the opportunity, according to a published report Wednesday.
