Apple Music for Android is getting a small but significant update today, adding a handful of new features for Music Video playback. Today’s update brings the app to version 2.4.0. While support for Music Videos has been available on Android since 2016, Apple is now getting around to adding various new features that bring the Android app more in line with iOS. Alongside support for Music Videos, the update includes stability improvements that will make “music playback more reliable on more devices....

Apple has inked new deals for Apple Music with a handful of major record labels, the Financial Times reports today. While these deals ensure that popular artists like Taylor Swift will remain available through Apple Music, they do not include an agreement to pair Apple Music with other Apple services through a bundle. The report cites four people familiar with the matter and says that Apple has inked multiyear licensing agreements for Apple Music with Universal Music, Sony Music, and Warner Music....

The store button in the Audible app (left) and the new version acknowledging the removal of the button to comply with Apple’s rules (right). UPDATE: [Monday, October 10, 2011 at 12:40am ET]: Well, that sure was quick. A new version of the Audible app has just gone live on the App Store, without the link to Audible’s Mobile Store from the app. The development actually means someone at Apple’s App Store team messed up....

It’s officially 2017 and we’re already looking forward to what Apple has in store over the next twelve months. This year will mark the 10th anniversary of the iPhone, and the grand opening of Apple’s ‘Spaceship’ Campus 2 headquarters in Cupertino where it will host events at a new 1000 seat auditorium, and that’s before we even get to actual products. Head below for our look at what’s next for Apple as we ring in the New Year....

I completely understand the company’s attitude. They have a new iPad and iPhone, so the last thing it needs is bad press. A press release by the company says that the Fair Labor Association will be conducting special audits at the company’s suppliers. To its credit, Apple has requested this. No matter what targeted the decision, it is a good step in a normal direction. Factories checked will also include Foxconn facilities in Shenzhen and Chengdu, China....

Apple helped Walmart build a store-within-a-store oasis for Apple products in the home state of the chain’s founder Sam Walton. We broke the news earlier this year that Sams’s Club is exploring Apple Store-within-a-store concepts. This weekend, Apple retail news website ifoAppleStore posted numerous pictures from a Walmart in Lowell, Ark., which owns and operates Sam’s Club, that depict Apple displays within its walls akin to Best Buy’s lavish store-within-a-store creations....

Siri, Apple’s artificial intelligence-driven digital secretary exclusive to iPhone 4S, is being worked on, improved and is about to get smarter, a pair of job openings indicate. This doesn’t come as such a big surprise because Siri – uncharacteristically for Apple – launched as a beta product because it had to (and thus its lack of fit and finish). Apple’s Siri user interface manager Dan Keen pointed at two job openings for experienced iOS software engineers to join the team that implements the user interface for Siri and help “make the next big thing even bigger”....

The billboards feature mostly black and white backgrounds akin to the imagery on Apple’s website, and the artwork features different and unique fonts. The billboards are custom sized to their location, meaning they have been specifically designed for individual placement. We have embedded a gallery below of various Apple Music billboards placed around the globe. While these are the first Apple Music billboards tailored direct to the steaming music component of the service, Apple has touted the Beats 1 Radio station by way of a digital ad in New York City’s Times Square....

Apple has now activated in-store pickup on its website as another way to buy Apple AirPods from retail stores. If you are lucky, your local store might just have some units in stock and you can go and collect them today. If you are desperate to buy AirPods before Christmas, it’s worth refreshing your local pickup options as retail stores are getting new shipments all the time. AirPods are also now being sold on Verizon’s website, which is another place where you might be able to buy some before the end of 2016....

While macOS Catalina includes many new features and enhancements, at least one iconic Mac feature has bit the dust. With macOS 10.15, Apple has killed its famous Dashboard feature completely. This comes after Apple made it increasingly hard to access with last year’s Mojave release. In macOS Catalina, Dashboard is nowhere to be found at all. Appleosophy even went as far as to try and enable the feature via Terminal, but without any luck....

As noted this morning on Reddit, workers on the Apple Park campus site are posting photos and video snaps to Snapchat for the world to see. Whilst this openness surely isn’t endorsed by Apple, it seems to have been going on for a long time unnoticed with snaps going back weeks. There is enough for it to appear on the ‘Snap Map’ as a heat spot at least. The images don’t reveal too much, although the interior videos of the work-in-progress pods definitely give off a dystopian vibe....

Apple has hired two top Sony Television executives Jamie Ehrlicht and Zack Van Amburg, to take up new positions as co-heads of video programming worldwide for Apple. The company announced the hirings in a press release. The execs oversaw blockbuster TV shows including Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul and The Crown. It seems like Apple is now taking original content production seriously. Ehrlicht and Amburg will report directly to Apple SVP Eddy Cue, when they join the company later in the summer....

It looks like Apple might be stepping up its presence in Washington as Politico reports that Apple has hired a new firm to represent them. With all of the money Apple’s competitors like Adobe, Microsoft, Google and others have been spending, it only makes sense that Apple keeps up with the Joneses. Among the lobbyists handling Apple’s work is firm president Mark Isakowitz, who previously headed up federal relations for the National Federation of Independent Business....

Apple quietly launched a new option to protect AirPods and some of its Beats headphones and earphones today with AppleCare+. Accidental coverage for two years comes with the super-affordable price of $29. And it’s possible to add the coverage to AirPods and other eligible headphones if you’ve purchased them within the last 60 days. Apple detailed the new AppleCare+ for Headphones plan on its website today. Apple highlights that the AppleCare+ for Headphones includes repair or replacement for the earphones/headphones, battery, and included charging cable....

According to Digitimes, due to some last minute device changes and supply shortages at manufacturing plants, Apple has reduced their mass production target volume for the iPad 2 from “400,000-600,000 units originally to only 300,000-400,000 units.” Apple is still mass-producing the next-generation tablet right now and it still tracking a late March release date. The new iPad is expected to have a lighter, thinner design with faster and more powerful internals, in addition to FaceTime video conferencing....

Apple is reportedly in “advanced talks” to acquire Intel’s smartphone modem business. According to The Wall Street Journal, Apple would pay at least $1 billion for Intel’s patents and staff. The deal could be reached within the next week, according according to the report. It’s possible, however, that talks could still fall apart. The report details that Apple and Intel were in talks prior to Apple’s settlement with Qualcomm, but that negotiations broke down following that deal....

After Apple’s confirmation that all Mac and iOS devices are affected by the Spectre & Meltdown vulnerabilities, it was only a matter of time before the company was hit by a class action lawsuit … Apple was quick to respond by issuing patches for Macs, iPhones and Safari, but that hasn’t stopped a firm of lawyers in Israel seeking permission to include the company in a lawsuit. The full basis of the action isn’t revealed in the brief report in Hamodia, but appears to focus on the risk to privacy raised by the bugs....

Did you just purchase the new iPhone 11 pro max? Or have you been using your iPhone 11 for a while and you are looking for a way to safely store your files? Well, you’ve come to the right place. First, let’s take a moment to understand what backup and restore is all about. When we damage or lose our phones, almost everyone is more hurt by the loss of their personal data stored in their phones than the loss of the mobile phone itself....

As it has done in other instances in the past, Apple today announced that it is updating App Store prices in South Africa and New Zealand. It’s good news for users in Africa, however, as prices will go down, while prices will increase in New Zealand. In South Africa, Apple explains that prices will go down in order to account for foreign exchange rates. This change will occur over the next 72 hours, Apple says....

Digitimes cites Chinese publication Liberty Times in reporting that Apple manufacturing partners Foxconn and TSMC are planning to bid for shares of Toshiba’s flash storage business. The move could bolster Toshiba against Samsung which leads in the memory space. Foxconn company chairman Terry Guo points to the adoption of 8K resolution technology as reason for demand for more storage in the future. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) have reportedly joined forces in a bid for Toshiba Memory’s shares, according to a Chinese-language Liberty Times report....