Apple hinted in November at its plans to add more features to Siri in the near future with a job listing that sought individuals to translate Siri into a handful of new languages. Today, we came across another interesting job listing posted by Apple. This one looks for a creative writer skilled in character-driven dialog to “help the Siri team evolve Siri as a distinct, recognizable character.” Not only will the person help “refresh and refine” existing Siri content, Apple is also looking for someone to “develop and write original dialog to support new Siri capabilities....

Apple Maps now shows 3D images of the Apple Park campus, with detailed representations of buildings, walkways and other landscape features. The detail extends as far as the sun-shade slats and solar panels on the main building. The app added 3D satellite imagery back in March, though this was rather out of date. At that time, the map view was still rather sparse, something Apple has now fixed, though another issue remains unresolved …...

Apple has added the ability to find bike sharing stations in its Maps app much more easily as it has integrated new data in over 175 cities. The update comes as Apple has struck a deal with data company Ito World. As reported by TechCrunch, Apple was able to seamlessly include information for many bike sharing services by integrating the data from Ito World, instead of doing the work on its own....

Apple is finally rolling out its Apple News Format to all publishers, after an initial announcement at WWDC 2015. The format lets anyone, big or small, create rich multimedia stories within the Apple News app, featuring panoramas, videos, animations and more. Until today, Apple News Format was limited to exclusive launch partners (like Wired) whilst everyone else had to resort to basic RSS import. Publishers interested in using the format should check out the documentation on Apple’s website....

Apple has lost its iPhone game team leader, Graeme Devine, who quit the iPhone Game Technologies division last Friday. Formerly of id Software where he had a hand in development of Quake 3 for Mac, Devine says he quit Apple in order to return to game development — with a focus on titles for the iPhone and iPad. Speaking to Kotaku he explained that his role was to help boost development of better titles for Apple’s iOS platforms, “My job there was basically to make gaming on the iOS devices fantastic,” he says....

At MWC 2019, Google announced Assistant for Messages on Android, expanded availability in Google Maps, and more languages for bilingual support. The next feature for Google Home speakers and Smart Displays appears to be Apple Music integration. This evening (via MacRumors), Apple Music began appearing as a supported service for Google Assistant. The Apple streaming service can be selected as the default audio provider on Google devices. It joins YouTube Music and Play Music, as well as Spotify, Pandora, and Deezer in the U....

Apple today updated its App Store review guidelines regarding some of the features introduced with iOS 13, besides the compatibility of apps with the latest iPhone and iPad models, and more. The company notes that 77% of all Apple devices shipped in the last four years are running iOS 13, the latest version of the operating system. On iPad, the number rises to 79% with iPadOS 13. That means it’s important for developers to update their apps with the latest technologies available....

Just a day after a prominent legal expert described the proposed anti-encryption Burr-Feinstein bill as unconstitutional, unenforceable and harmful, Apple has called the proposal ‘well-intentioned but ultimately unworkable.’ The description is in an open letter from the Reform Government Surveillance coalition, of which Apple is a key member, alongside companies such as Google, Dropbox, Facebook, Microsoft and Twitter. The letter, addressed to the two Senators behind the proposed bill, explains why it would be harmful to the interests of both the U....

A developer who worked at Apple for seven years has accused the Cupertino company of violating its own App Store guidelines. Dave DeLong says that the Apple News+ sign-up screen is in clear violation of three requirements, with The Verge pointing to another major no-no … Dave DeLong tweeted his complaint. The Verge added that Apple has particularly stringent guidelines for making it clear to users how much they will pay if they take out a free trial of a subscription and then don’t cancel....

Apple has announced today that it is now rolling out its all-new Apple Maps design across Canada. The company says that Apple Maps in Canada now features improved road coverage and pedestrian data, detailed land cover, and new ways to explore with Look Around, Guides, and more. Apple says that users in Canada will notice the new Apple Maps “beginning today,” bringing faster and more accurate navigation and a host of other improvements....

Apple tends to patent every one of its inventions that could possibly be used in a future product, so it can be difficult to read the tea leaves on which ones will eventually translate to product features. A new patent from Apple highlighted by PatentlyApple today, though, describes a technology that would be a very welcome remedy to battery life issues. The patent covers applying solar cells to a touch display surface like a trackpad or iPhone to store power for the device:...

Apple is giving its social media department a significant shot in the arm this week. The Cupertino-based company has hired Musa Tariq, the former social media chief for both Nike and Burberry. At Nike, Tariq ran general social media marketing as well as social media partnerships with athletes across all Nike product platforms, and at Burberry he led “strategy and innovation” for social media… Apple currently utilizes several forms for marketing, but the company’s social media presence has not been up to par with some of the viral marketing campaigns led by its competitors in recent years....

According to a new report from Silicon Valley Business Journal, Apple has inked a deal to lease over 300,000-square-feet of industrial manufacturing space in Santa Clara County, California. Apple’s leasing deal comes as industrial warehouse vacancy continues to shrink in the area. Citing real estate records, the report says that Apple has leased 313,978-square-feet of space at 407 N. McCarthy Blvd in Milpitas, a city in Santa Clara County. Apple is said to have signed a 10-year lease for the building, paying roughly $0....

Apple’s latest iOS 12.2 is almost ready for release as the developers give it final touches by adding four new Animoji options to choose for their iPhone X, XS and XR Max users. The new animoji are an owl, giraffe, shark and boar. Now, both iPad Pro and iPhone users can choose from these four, apart from the animoji already available, and add them to their FaceTime calls or use them I’m the iMessenger effect options as well....

Ohio State University today announced a partnership with Apple that will see the two establish a Digital Flagship University. The initiative will focus on education innovation for students and economic development opportunities for the community, featuring an iOS design laboratory and much more… In a press release, Ohio State explained that through its collaboration with Apple, the university will establish: a student-success initiative to integrate learning technology throughout the university experience an iOS design laboratory on the Columbus campus serving faculty, staff, students and members of the broader community university-wide opportunities for students to learn coding skills to enhance their career-readiness in the app economy The iOS design laboratory will offer students the training and certification for students interested in developing in Swift....

One of the complaints many of us have about HomePod in particular is that it only supports a single user. So if anyone in the home asks HomePod to read their text messages, for example, Siri will always read those for the Apple ID used during set up … AppleInsider suggests that a new Apple patent granted today may hold good news. The patent also describes how other clues can assist Siri to identify the speaker, including their phrasing and the type of actions they ask to be performed....

Apple this morning announced that its venerable App Store has hit fifteen billion downloads, matching the number of song downloads on the iTunes Store as of last month. The company re-iterated that it has paid developers over $2.5 billion cumulatively since the App Store’s inception. This is after Apple’s standard 30 percent cut, meaning total App Store revenue before the break-down is almost $3.6 billion in aggregate. Apple also said it sold over two hundred million iOS devices (iPhones, iPod touches and iPads)....

With iOS 10, Apple is officially bringing support for lyrics to the Music application. Currently, it’s unclear how Apple is aggregating those lyrics, whether it be from other lyric websites or from record labels and artists directly. Nevertheless, a new job listing discovered by MBW suggests that Apple is looking to expand its team of “lyrics curators” with a new manager. According to the job listing, the manager would work out of Apple’s main campus, working with a team to improve Apple’s lyric offerings....

A new job listing posted by Apple in the last week shows the company is looking to hire a “senior systems neuroscientist” capable of “building transformative neurotechnology.” The specific application for such a position is unclear, though Siri seems like a good candidate. The job listing first noticed by Ryota Kanai on Twitter. Apple requires any applicants for the position to have 5 to 10 years “designing experiments to investigate the neural correlates of perception, action, or cognition using human or animal models....

Apple Music appears to be in the process of renaming the Get Up mix to the Workout Mix. Some of us are already seeing the new name, while others continue to see the old one … MacStories managing editor John Voorhees spotted it, noting that he’s seeing the new name on his Mac and both names on his iPhone. The mix was first introduced in March. Apple Music offers some “Mix” playlists that are updated weekly with new songs, including Friends Mix, Favorites Mix, and Chill Mix....