Apple today has been granted a handful of new patents, some of which are more notable than others. Such patents include one for an iPhone “smart dock” with Siri built-in, a new 911 calling method, and more. Patently Apple points to one notable patent for an iPhone smart dock with Siri support. The patent covers the invention of a “smart dock for communicating with a portable electronic device to activate a voice recognition mode....

We’re not sure how we (and everyone else) missed this one. It appears that Apple is making a new version of the iPhone 4. The new hardware number appeared in iOS device downloads on September 19th but hasn’t shown up yet for developers yet: It is hard to tell what this device is yet. It could be an internal hardware processor update…something like the iPad 2,4 we saw this year that includes a lower-power A5 processor....

Per Apple’s support document, they will now fix the issue with the rubber bottom on the white unibody MacBook coming off due to issues with glue. This applies to any MacBook purchased between October 2009 and April 2011. The program is available free of charge via your local Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Providers. There’s another option, too. A self service is available as well where you order a replacement bottom case kit online....

The Apple Music free trial for students is normally the same three months as anyone else, before you’re offered the option of a half-price subscription with Apple TV+ thrown in as a sweetener. But Apple is currently doubling the free period to six months for higher education students in selected countries. The exact qualifying requirements vary a little by country … The 8-Bit notes eligibility criteria for US, Canada, and Japan....

Apple has already awarded $450 million from Apple’s Advanced Manufacturing Fund, and today it announced an additional $45 million investment. Apple says that its prior funding helped Corning to develop the resilient and durable Ceramic Shield glass, which debuted as the cover glass in the iPhone 12. It remains unclear whether Corning’s supply of Ceramic Shield glass is an exclusive deal, or if its research will be extended to other phone manufacturers in the future....

Apple has launched a new “Careers at Apple” website that serves as a replacement for its original “Jobs at Apple” webpage. The new Careers website features an all-new design with quotes from Apple employees, short films, and more. Apple’s new Careers website includes quotes from employees working on various teams at the company, including engineering, Apple Retail, and more. The site features an all-new scrolling design with videos, images, and banners....

Apple this evening has added a new featured section to the App Store focused on showcasing content that reflects LGBT pride. Apple notes that it is commemorating the 1969 Stonewall riots with the App Store section. The riots occurred during 1969 in New York City and are often seen as a pivotal moment in the fight equality for the LGBT community. In the featured App Store section, which replaces the section from last week that listed popular apps with support for VoiceOver, Apple is highlighting apps, movies, music, TV, podcasts, and books that represent the LGBT community....

Apple has launched the ‘Machine Learning Journal’, a blog for Apple’s software engineers to document their research and innovations in the AI and machine learning space. The first post shares insights into a published research paper about improving picture-based machine learning models without gathering additional training data manually. Apple will update the site throughout the year with new posts and is inviting questions from outside engineers, students and researchers. The first post is lengthy and technically-involved, so it certainly isn’t meant for mainstream eyes....

Apple has added some nice new touches to Apple Maps with animated 3D imagery for iconic landmarks starting with the UK. Apple Maps now shows the correct time on Big Ben and a rotating London Eye when users viewing the landmarks access the app’s 3D Flyover feature. Videos showing off the animated London Eye and Big Ben in Apple Maps are below: These latest additions to Maps follow Apple adding new locations for its Flyover feature that offers high resolution 3D imagery of select locales....

March is upon us, and for Apple, the month is shaping up to be quite busy. Major software updates will likely be released and there’s a services-packed event rumored for the end of the month. There are also a number of new hardware rumors floating around that could materialize at any point. Here’s our preview of Apple’s eventful month ahead: March Apple Event Apple has a history of holding special spring events in recent years, including the original iPhone SE unveiling, 9....

Bloomberg reports that Apple is moving more of its TV advertising in-house. This means the company is loosening ties with Chiat\Day, the ad agency Apple has used for more than 30 years, best known for producing Apple’s 1984 campaign. Apple told Bloomberg that Apple’s ‘Pencil’ iPad ad, pictured above, was developed by Apple’s internal advertising team and are now responsible for all other TV ads airing now. The report goes on to say that Apple built out its internal team using employees from Chiat\Day....

Users in Israel have long been waiting for a launch of Apple Music and today it appears as if it’s happening. Although Apple’s website still lists the service as “coming soon,” a handful of users in the country are reporting that they are now prompted with the service within the Music app. As is always the case, Apple is offering a 3 month free trial of the service to users in Israel....

A day after the Apple Music Lossless Audio announcement, there’s still a great deal of confusion. A few things have become clear in the meantime, but other elements remain murky. Apple spent most of its press release talking about Spatial Audio, and very little talking about Lossless Audio. That wasn’t a surprise: Anyone with the right kit will be able to hear the benefit of the former, while rather few will be able to hear the lossless difference…...

Earlier this year a rumor began floating around that claimed Apple had acquired Faceshift, the company behind the motion capture technology used in Star Wars. Now, TechCrunch reports that the acquisition has become official and Apple has acquired the Zurich-based Faceshift startup. Apple has not directly confirmed the acquisition, but issued its standard statement regarding its purchasing of smaller companies. “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans,” the company said....

Apple has lured away top Nike design director Ben Shaffer, according to a source at Nike with knowledge of the details behind Shaffer’s departure. At Nike, Shaffer was the Studio Director of the Innovation Kitchen. This is Nike’s research and development lab where new product designs are created. Under Shaffer’s lead, Nike was named the most innovative company in 2013 by Fast Company. Nike’s Innovation Kitchen has been connected to wearable products like the popular Nike Fuel Band, and most recently, the Flyknit shoe....

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JH47u8d1M4] Just released: 1. Karateka | $2.99: Jordan Mechner, creator of the popular Prince of Persia franchise, and developer of the original fighter classic “Karateka” for the Apple II, is today bringing an HD remake of the game to iOS. Available on the App Store now for $2.99 for iPhone and iPad, the remake of the original 1984 fighter looks to essentially be a port of work done on the HD remake released on consoles last month....

Should You Upgrade Your iPad or iPhone to iOS 10.2.1? The 10.2.1 update is relatively small, coming in at 72 Mbs. Users can download the latest iOS update by launching Settings > General > Software Update. This took about 15 minutes to download and install on an iPhone 6s. Although this is a recommended update, make sure you perform a backup just in case. I personally like waiting a bit just to see if early adopters come across any show stoppers....

Today we’re taking a look at Apple’s fastest and thinnest tablet to date. The iPad Air 2 is more than just a pretty shell. This tablet packs some decent performance over its predecessor. While we haven’t had enough time with it to put together a full review, there are some main points we wanted to go over. First up, this thing is crazy thin. Apple wasn’t exaggerating when claiming that it was thinner than a pencil....

Apple has launched a new website today that allows business owners to order Apple Pay decal packs for their stores. Each of these packs includes two glass decals in different sizes, two register decals (also in different sizes), and a tool for affixing the ads to the appropriate surfaces. Businesses can order up to five of these packs (for a total of twenty decals) absolutely free of charge, but those who need more than five will need to call Apple to place an order....

Apple has kicked off a new ad campaign for the iPad Pro that targets PC users skeptical of the tablet as a real computer. The new videos are quite different from recent advertisements from Apple and have a similar tone to Apple’s famous ‘I’m a Mac and I’m a PC’ ad era. Each ad features tweets from PC users with a reason they don’t think the iPad Pro is right for them, then a voiceover answers the critique with details about what the iPad can do better than a PC....