The App Store opened 2017 with a massive bang by shattering sales records. New Year’s Day was its single busiest day ever, with $240 million raised from app purchases.
The record caps an incredibly successful 2016 for iOS developers, who earned a whopping $20 billion last year — up over 40 percent from 2015.
Apple today revealed its refreshed line of iMacs, including a brand new 21.5-inch 4K Retina iMac and 27-inch 5K Retina model.
The smaller iMac now matches the pixel density of the larger 5K iMac, giving it 4.5 times the resolution of Full HD. The 27-inch iMac, meanwhile, boasts Retina 5K displays across the board, whereas previously they were available only for the $2,499 flagship iMac.
The 21.5-inch 4K iMac starts at $1,499, while the 27-inch version starts at $1,799.
Apple has announced that Ellie Goulding will open its upcoming Apple Music Festival, while also confirming performances by Carrie Underwood and Mumford and Sons.
Check below for the now-complete lineup of main artists who will rock the London stage for 10 days between September 19 and September 28.
Apple might be unfairly painted as an aging company run by middle-aged white dudes with “dad dancing” moves, but it’s certainly not shying away from controversial characters.
Cupertino’s roster today includes employees like Dr. Dre — a man who was the epitome of gangsta rap before becoming “hip-hop’s first billionaire” — and Trent Reznor, aka the singer who once made public his desire to, erm, sleep with you in an animalistic fashion.
It’s a safe bet that Apple wants to be down with the kids, but this controversy-seeking behavior comes with a fair share of risk. And it’s only going to be a matter of time before Apple is hit by it.
Apple Music may have come under fire from big-name Apple commentators but you can’t say that the service hasn’t delivered when it comes to artist exclusives.
Over the weekend, Dr. Dre announced on his Beats 1 show The Pharmacy what, for long-time hip-hop fans, may be the most exciting exclusive of all: His first album since 1999’s The Chronic 2001 is debuting on Apple Music and iTunes this Friday.
Hidden in the dense verbiage of Apple’s latest trademark filing for OS X El Capitan is an intriguing detail not previously seen in similar filings for OS X Mavericks or Yosemite — revealing that Apple’s next-gen OS X could possibly be on its way to the iPad.
Apple gave its video editing software Final Cut Pro X a big new update this morning that includes new features like 3D titles and GPU-accelerated RED RAW processing. A number of updates were also added to Final Cut Pro X’s companion apps Compressor and Motion.
The Final Cut Pro 10.2 release is the 15th update since Apple drastically overhauled its video editing software in 2011, bringing more professional features to draw in more video producers. Perhaps the biggest features is the addition of iTunes Store Package to Compressor that makes it easier than ever for movie makers to package and sell an films on iTunes.
“From Hollywood blockbuster directors to first time movie makers, Final Cut Pro X is changing the way we edit movies today,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “The updated Final Cut Pro X, Motion and Compressor make it even easier to edit, title and package everything from short videos to feature-length films.”
Here’s some of the changes coming today:
NFC payments might be easy, but up until now it’s fairly safe to say that they’ve never been cool in the conventional sense. Hoping to change that perspective is a new TV spot by Chase bank, which shows Apple Pay being used by super-cool indie band Bleachers.
The ad shows the indie band travelling around Los Angeles, buying items with their iPhones. In a sense, it’s a bit similar to Eddy Cue’s recent Apple Pay demo, except instead of being a middle-aged man buying Frozen toys, it’s a rockin’ pop band buying custom guitars, cool haircuts and nachos.
Check out the ad after the jump.
As promised, Apple has given third-party developers tools to start making apps for the upcoming Apple Watch. Today the company announced the availability of WatchKit, its new SDK for creating app experiences on the wrist.
With WatchKit, developers will be able to make actionable notifications, Glances “for timely information accessible by an easy, quick look,” and eventually full-fledged apps. Early WatchKit partners like ESPN, Instagram, and American Airlines have already tested the new APIs for future versions of their apps.
iOS has always been more secure than Android, and new information that’s leaked out of one of the world’s leading surveillance companies reiterates that fact.
The Gamma Group has a piece of spyware called FinSpy that can hook into just about any Android, Blackberry, and older Microsoft phone. But it can’t touch an iPhone unless the user has changed its core security through the process of jailbreaking.