Apple has sent out a work-from-home recommendation to all of its Cupertino-based employees due to fears of the growing coronavirus outbreak in the United States.

It is unclear if the notice to employees at Apple Park and Infinite Loop was a suggestion and not a requirement and for how long the company is recommending its workers refrain from reporting to their offices.

iPad multitasking, Split Screen and all that stuff, has been getting a bad rap recently, and rightly so. It’s a mess. But amidst this storm of iPad hatred, there’s one great feature that stays great: Slide Over. On the iPad, Slide Over lets you dock a mini, iPhone-size version of an app over on the right side of the screen. You can swipe this away to hide it, and swipe again to bring it back out.

That’s cool, and very handy (as we shall see in a moment). But even better is that you can dock a whole bunch of apps over there, ready to use, and then fan out the stack to help pick the one you want. Let’s take a look. You’re going to love this.

Apple-owned movie The Banker is due to land on Apple TV+ later this month. But if you want to catch it on the big screen, you can do so starting today.

The movie, which is based on a true story, stars Anthony Mackie and Samuel L. Jackson as Bernard Garrett and Joe Morris, two of the first African-American bankers in the United States. To combat systematic racism during the Jim Crow era, they hire a white man (Nicholas Hoult) as the face of their business while posing as a chauffeur and janitor.

There’s an area where Android is much faster than any iPhone: losing value. A gadget trade-in service tracked the depreciation of Apple and Android handsets and found that after a year the iPhone had held on to far more of its resale value.

Traveling without a backup battery can mean losing power at the worst possible moment. The latest portable batteries are slim enough to fit unnoticed in your pocket, with enough power to last for days.

Apple on Friday cancelled its “Today at Apple” sessions across all stores in Italy amid the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak.

Apple Oriocenter, a store in Italy’s Bergamo Province, is also closed temporarily as Apple makes efforts to help contain the spread of the coronavirus. It is currently out of action until March 8.

With plenty of scaremongering about the COVID-19 coronavirus, Apple is doing its part to stop the spread of misinformation related to the outbreak. According to a report published Thursday, Apple is cracking down on non-official apps relating to the novel coronavirus.

Those are apps not made by recognized institutions such as governments or hospitals. Independent apps providing functionality like tracking of the outbreak’s spread are being rejected by Apple, developers claim.

Microsoft Outlook’s newest update is out on iOS with new text formatting options. It’s now possible to use bold, italic, and underlined text — as well as inline links — in your emails.

Episode one of Steven Spielberg’s anthology series Amazing Stories debuted on Apple TV+ Friday.

The first episode of the five-episode season is about a person who discovers a portal back to 1919 in the storm cellar of a house they are restoring. The show promises to “transport the audience to worlds of wonder through the lens of today’s most imaginative filmmakers, directors and writers.”

The pressure on Apple to cancel its yearly developers conference and possibly a planned March product keynote has gotten a little tougher.

The Public Health Department of Santa Clara County, where Apple’s headquarters is located,  recommended Thursday the postponing or canceling of mass gatherings to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus. That calls into question whether Apple will hold its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June, as it traditionally does.

Octavia Spencer’s critically-acclaimed series, Truth Be Told is coming back to Apple TV+ for a second season.

Apple revealed this afternoon that it renewed the crime drama thriller for a second season that will have Spencer reprise her role as Poppy Parnell who will investigate another mysterious murder case. The show was originally billed as a limited-series but Apple apparently thinks Poppy’s story isn’t finished yet.

Call of Duty: Mobile is losing its popular Zombies mode this month because it doesn’t meet the “level of quality” Activision expects.

It’s unclear whether Zombies, which was added last November, will return at a later date. The game’s developers are currently focused on more important aspects of Call of Duty: Mobile, like Multiplayer, Battle Royale, and Ranked Mode.

Apple has a long support page of links and tips, dedicated to keeping your devices clean and shiny. But what about keeping them germ-free? Even if you only ever use your iMac’s keyboard at home, you probably transferred plenty of unwanted organisms onto it before you started washing your hands properly.

As for your iPhone, it’s probably dirtier than a music-festival toilet. And your AirPods, which you keep touching with your dirty hands all day long? I feel nauseated just thinking about it.

So, how do you keep all this stuff sanitary? It’s easy, even if your local store has run out of disinfectant wipes due to panic buying induced by fears about the COVID-19 virus.

Apple Pay could make its official debut in Mexico any day now after local iPhone users on Thursday discovered they could start adding debit and credit cards to the Wallet app.

Only regional bank Banregio appears to be supported for now, which suggests Apple Pay support may be an exclusive initially.

Reviews for Apple’s The Banker are generally positive, but some critics had some harsher comments about this portrayal of black entrepreneurs tricking racist white businessmen during the Jim Crow era.

This movie will hit the Apple TV+ service later this month.

The first wave of Apple-funded affordable housing projects is about to get underway in Silicon Valley.

Housing Trust Silicon Valley revealed this week that Apple has given it a $150 million grant to help projects in the Bay Area. The non-profit organization is using money from Apple’s $2.5 billion commitment to help the affordable housing crisis in Silicon Valley and they’re ready to hand out some big checks.

This week, serial rumor-tweeter CoinX predicted the imminent release of a new iMac and a new Mac mini. But what does that mean exactly? A giant, 30-inch iMac that looks like the Pro Display XDR? Apple’s first ARM-based Mac? Probably not. So what changes can we expect?

Apple became a trillion-dollar tech giant thanks to its deep and intricate ties to China for manufacturing and component supplies.

But a coronavirus that began in China has left that giant a little shaky on its feet and dizzy from renewed questions over why Apple hasn’t developed a more diverse strategy for building the world’s most popular personal computing devices.

It’s definitely not from a lack of trying as pointed out Thursday in an article by The Information, which took a deep-dive into Apple’s arduous path through India.

Apple’s next AirPods go into production very soon, according to an unconfirmed report coming out of Asia. These are the wireless headphones that are typically referred to as AirPods Pro Lite, though they are unlikely to have that name when released.

A brand-new Facebook Messenger app has finally landed on Mac. It gives users the ability to more easily keep on top of their conversations across different devices, and it supports a whole host of useful Messenger features — including group video chat.

You might not be able to download it where you live just yet, however.

With COVID-19 spreading in the San Francisco Bay Area, and at least one upcoming event at a critical planning stage for the high-tech giant, Apple must make some tough decisions about how to proceed, according to conference experts contacted by Cult of Mac.

Apple faces mounting pressure to decide whether to cancel, delay or change the format of its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, typically held in June. The same holds true, although to a lesser extent, for Apple’s rumored March product keynote.

“There’s a lot to consider for Apple and it won’t be easy,” said Ian McGonnigal, marketing executive with Experiential Executive, who has consulted on conference and convention planning with more than a dozen Fortune 500 companies. “Reputation is a huge challenge here and that’s part of it. Companies don’t want to appear tone-deaf to what’s going on out there.”

Apple’s biggest contract manufacturer, Foxconn, endured a rough February as the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak worsened in China.

The company, which is also the world’s biggest electronics manufacturer, suffered its biggest monthly drop in revenue in around seven years. Its earnings, announced Thursday, show an 18.1% decline in revenue versus the same period last year. This marks the company’s third straight month of decline.

When it comes to Apple computers, the best accessories are also made by Cupertino. But that means they carry Apple prices, so if you want to get the awesome Magic Mouse or Magic Keyboard — but don’t want to make a mortgage payment to do it — refurbs are the way to go. These certified Apple accessories work just like new; they just cost less.

Google Stadia just got a nice little update that gives it an edge over rival streaming services like Nvidia GeForce Now. It can now stream games to your Mac in glorious 4K (or Ultra HD).

Upgrading your video quality requires a simple settings change. You will also need a 4K display, and an internet connection that’s fast enough to handle 4K video.

Apple’s iPhone SE 2 could be pushed back beyond the March release some were expecting as a result of the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak causing disruption in Apple’s supply chain.

A report published Thursday claims that Apple has deferred orders for the flexible printed circuit boards (PCBs) for the low-cost handset. Orders initially scheduled for the first quarter have been delayed until the second.