Italy

Play ’80s synths, surf with a solid VPN, test hard drive for video and find great Italian food [Awesome Apps]

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iPhone ad in the style of vintage Works Progress Administration artwork
This week's awesome apps include a retro synthesizer, a solid VPN, a quick test for hard drives and a guide to Italian eateries.
Image: Midjourney/Cult of Mac
Awesome Apps

In this week’s Awesome Apps roundup, we have a synthesizer app that brings back the sound of the ’80s, a solid VPN for safely surfing the Web, an app for testing external drives for recording high-res video, and a guide to the best eateries in Italy.

Italy fines Apple $12 million over misleading iPhone water-resistance claims

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washing iPhone with soap and water
Not as water-resistant as claimed?
Photo: Leander Kahney / Cult of Mac

Italy’s competition authority has fined Apple 10 million euros ($12 million) for allegedly misleading customers about just how water-resistant iPhones are.

Apple claims that several of its iPhone models can withstand being submerged for up to 30 minutes. However, the competition body says that this is only with pure water in a lab. Such tests supposedly yield different results from real-world scenarios in which a phone may be dropped into water.

Italy’s antitrust authorities will scrutinize Apple’s cloud services

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Apple ditched plans for secure iCloud backups after FBI concern
iCloud is one of the cloud services being scrutinized.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Italy has opened the latest investigation into potential Apple antitrust violations. Announced by the Italian antitrust authority Monday, this investigation will look into Apple’s iCloud cloud computing services.

Similar investigations will be carried out investigating Google parent company Alphabet and Dropbox.

Italy is the latest country to open an antitrust investigation into Apple

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iPhone with gavel.
Italy is investigating Apple over a possible sales violation involving Amazon.
Photo: Tingey Injury Law Firm/Cult of Mac

Italy has opened another antitrust investigation into Apple, adding to the number of current antitrust investigations the company faces.

This time the investigation will explore Apple’s relationship with Amazon and whether they reached what Reuters calls an “anti-competitive agreement” over the sale of Apple devices and Beats headphones.

Apple Stores in Italy reportedly to commence reopening May 19 [Update]

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"Benvenuto" will soon be heard at some Apple Stores in Italy.
Photo: Apple

[Update 9:30 am, 05/14/2020: Since our original story ran, the one Apple Store in Italy reportedly planning to reopen next week has changed its hours back to fully closed. We will monitor the situation and report any more details, if warranted.]

Apple reportedly will reopen 10 of its 17 retail store locations in Italy beginning May 19.

As in other locations around the world that have reopened, security measures will be in place to protect customers and employees.

Disney+ racks up 5 million downloads on launch day in Europe

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Disney+ has finally landed in the UK.
Photo: Apple

The Disney+ mobile app is off to a roaring start in Europe and the UK just days after it launched earlier this week.

Third-party app analytics firm App Annie revealed that the Disney+ app has been downloaded over 5 million times on launch day, possibly thanks to millions of residents having to shelter-in-place due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Apple closes all 17 stores in Italy [Updated]

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milan
Apple is closed for business in Italy.
Photo: Apple

Apple is set to shutter all of its stores in Italy beginning Thursday until further notice as the country goes into total lockdown due to concerns over the coronavirus outbreak.

All 17 stores in Italy have updated their webpages showing that doors will close early Wednesday and the company isn’t saying when they will be reopened.

Apple cancels ‘Today at Apple’ sessions in Italy amid COVID-19 outbreak

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Apple Oriocenter 2
Apple Oriocenter is closed for now.
Photo: Apple

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.

Apple reopens all but 4 retail stores in China as coronavirus infections fall

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This store in Chengdu returns to normal hours on March 7.
Photo: Apple

Apple retail stores in China are slowly getting back to business as 38 of the company’s 42 retail stores are now open in an attempt to normalize business despite coronavirus concerns.

A review of the company’s retail web pages by Cult of Mac reveals Apple will expand business hours at 19 locations over the next couple of days and at least 6 stores will return to normal hours of operation.

Apple temporarily closing one store in Italy amidst coronavirus outbreak

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Apple Oriocenter 2
Apple Oriocenter won't be open this weekend.
Photo: Apple

As Italy fights to halt the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, Apple is temporarily closing a single store location in Italy on orders of the Italian government.

The mall-based Apple Oriocenter store, located in the province of Bergamo, will be closed on March 7 and 8. This is the result of a decision by the President of the Council of Ministers that medium and large retail stores, as well as commercial outlets in shopping centers, must close this weekend.

Apple bans most employees from traveling to Italy and South Korea

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rome
Seeing the Coliseum is a no-go for Apple employees.
Photo: Sean MacEntee/Flickr

Apple has added more travel restrictions for employees this week due to concerns of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

Italy and South Korea have been added to Apple’s list of banned destinations, according to a report from Bloomberg. The company instituted a similar restriction on travel to China earlier this month to protect employees’ health.

Apple forced to tell Italian shoppers about iPhone throttling controversy

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iPhone batteries
Apple's iPhone throttling controversy dominated the news last year.
Photo: iFixIt

As part of the fallout from a decision in Italy, Apple has added a statement to its homepage in the country, describing how it did not provide adequate information to customers.

The statement concerns the “iPhone throttling” controversy, in which Apple slowed down iPhones with aging batteries, via an iOS update.

Italy investigates Apple and Samsung for slowing down phones

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iPhone
This is the first time Samsung has been called into question for slowing down its handsets.
Photo: Apple

Italy is the latest country to throw its hat into the ring when it comes to investigating Apple for its purposeful slowing down of older iPhone devices.

In doing so, it joins countries including BrazilSouth Korea, China and France, which have all questioned Apple about its iPhone-throttling software update. In a new twist, however, Italy is also investigating Apple rival Samsung.

Apple Pay officially opens for business in Italy

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You could say Apple Pay has a pizza the Italian market. You probably shouldn't, though.
Photo: Apple

Apple Pay is officially open for business in Italy, with Visa and MasterCards issued by Boon, Carrefour, and UniCredit all able to used by customers. Additional banks are set to be added later on in 2017.

Underground Milan store could be Apple’s most striking yet

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You'll have to walk through a waterfall to reach Apple's new store.
Photo: Apple

Apple is adding a spectacular new retail store to its collection — but you’ll have to visit Milan to see it.

Located in the city’s Piazza Liberty, the store will take a note out of Apple’s iconic Fifth Avenue Apple store in New York by being located underground, with access via a special elevator. Or, in this case, a spectacular staircase entrance located between two waterfalls.

Check out a couple more pictures below.

Apple Pay looks set to arrive in Germany and Italy soon

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Apple in talks to bring Apple Pay to Israel
Apple could be on its way to two new markets.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple Pay may be set to arrive in two new markets, as Apple has updated the local support document pages for both Germany and Italy.

The pages now include translations of the “About Apple Pay” document which can be found in other markets where Apple Pay is already active. The pages were both updated last week.

Apple exec cuts deal to avoid jail in European tax probe

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money
Apple previously shelled out 318 million euros over its lack of corporate tax payments in Italy.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

An Apple executive has avoided jail as part of an Italian investigation into Apple’s failure to pay corporate tax in the country.

The executive in question, the head of Apple’s Irish-based Apple Sales International, was being investigated as part of the case. Apple agreed to pay 318 million euros last year to close the investigation, but the exec could still have been forced to spend six months in prison for his part in it.

Apple to open first iOS academy in Italy this October

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iPhone SE
App makers in Italy will get hands-on learning from Apple.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The first-ever iOS development center in Europe created by Apple is set to open later this year, providing aspiring developers with the practical skills and training necessary to make killer apps.

Apple revealed today that the center will officially be named iOS Developer Academy to be located at Università di Napoli Federico II.

For world’s biggest Apple museum, book a flight to Italy

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The All About Apple Museum in Savona, Italy.
The All About Apple Museum in Savona, Italy.
Photo: All About Apple Museum

Cult of Mac 2.0 bugFor years, Apple has been under pressure to open an Apple museum. The company’s rich and storied past has its fans clamoring for a central repository of that history.

Word from the company: No. Apple’s leaders say they are more interested in the future than the past.

In fact, the most complete historical collection of all things Apple is nowhere near Cupertino. The serious Apple fan must travel to, of all places, Savona, Italy.

Tim Cook meets with Pope Francis during whirlwind tour of Europe

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No, my Friday schedule doesn't look so exciting either.
Photo: Carol Glatz

Tim Cook met with Pope Francis today. The 15-minute appointment reportedly took place from 11:30 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. local time, as can be seen from viewing the pope’s daily schedule, which describes a meeting between the Holy Father and “Signor Timothy Donald Cook, Amministratore Delegato di Apple.”

Apple will open Europe’s first iOS App Development Center in Italy

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Apple has lost its third appeal for ownership of the term App Store in Oz. Photo: Apple
Apple is using Italy to test drive its new concept.
Photo: Apple

Apple constantly talks about how many jobs its created through the App Store, and it’s putting its money where its mouth is by creating Europe’s first iOS App Development Center in Italy — designed to give students the practical skills and training necessary to help them develop apps for the iPhone and iPad.

Kahney’s Korner: Treat yourself to an iPhone-free vacation

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Kahney's Korner iPhone vacation
If you want to take a real vacation, turn off your iPhone.
Photo: Cult of Mac

My family and I just got back from a too-short vacation in Italy, and we learned something important while we were there: Real vacations don’t have e-mail.

See, my wife was worried about us racking up unspeakably high bills while we were abroad, so we ended up almost completely disabling our iPhones for the entire trip. How we fared without them is the subject of this week’s Kahney’s Korner.