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Apple Music notifications have never necessarily been a reliable source for new music releases. But Apple is now rolling out a new change that aims to bring notifications in-app. Read on as we explain what that means and how to enable it. As you can see in the above image, the new releases notification will appear at the top of the “Library” tab in the Music app. So when an artist you have in your Apple Music Library releases a new song or album, you’ll see a notification banner at the top of the Library interface....

Apple today released watchOS 7.3.1 for the Apple Watch Series 5 and Apple Watch SE. The release notes indicated that the update includes a fix to prevent a bug that caused those Apple Watch models to get stuck in Power Reserve Mode. Apple has published a new support document to complement watchOS 7.3.1 with additional details on this bug. For those unfamiliar, Power Reserve lets you see the time on your Apple Watch while preserving your battery life....

Beginning later this week, Verizon and Apple are partnering on a new promotion for Apple News+. Any iPad activated through Verizon will qualify for a free six-month subscription to Apple News+. The deal arrives as Apple is trying to juice interest in the News+ service, which includes access to a handful of newspapers and ~300 magazines for $9.99 per month. The six-month free period will be available for any Apple ID that has not used News+ before....

Earlier this week, Apple told developers in its DTK Apple silicon program to be prepared to return the early access prototype Mac mini soon. It said developers would receive a $200 credit towards the purchase of an M1 Mac as a token of appreciation. However, this announcement was not met too kindly by the community. Apple has ‘heard the feedback’ and has increased the credit accordingly … Last year, developers could apply to get early access to Apple silicon hardware, in the form of a Mac mini featuring a A12X chip inside, along with dedicated developer technical resources to help them get their apps compatible with ARM faster....

WWDC 2020 is scheduled to be held in June as a “completely new online experience” due to COVID-19 concerns. But first, Apple is inviting some selected developers to attend a webinar about accessibility ahead of the WWDC. Developers are being invited by email to register for the live event on April 23, 2020, as shown by Steve Troughton-Smith on Twitter. According to Apple, the webinar is about how developers can improve their apps by supporting accessibility features....

In August of last year, Apple launched a trade-in program that allowed iPhone customers to turn in their old iPhones in exchange for a discount on a new device. The program has expanded to several countries since it launched last year. Starting today the company now extends the offer to German customers as well. German users of the Apple Store app have started seeing the program listed within the app, though the update has yet to roll out to Apple’s retail website....

Alongside the new 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display, Apple has announced an upgrade to the 15-inch model with much improved graphics processors, a new Intel Quad-Core processing system, improved battery life (up to 8 hours), and new 802.11ac WiFi. The new 15-inch models also ship today, and they include OS X Mavericks. The new computer starts at $1999. (Full press release below) iWork & iLife Now Free with Every New Mac SAN FRANCISCO—October 22, 2013—Apple® today updated MacBook Pro® with Retina® display with fourth generation Intel Core processors, the latest graphics, longer battery life, faster flash storage and next generation Wi-Fi....

While TomTom continues to top Apple’s list of data providers for the backend of its Maps service, a few new additions have recently joined the list of contributors supplying information to Apple Maps. New sources providing business listing data per Apple’s acknowledgement page include E-WEGO SARL, NavAds BV, and Yellow Pages Turkey. The new data sources are likely noticeable in regions around the world including France and Turkey where the information is sourced....

I was expecting to jump ship from Spotify to Apple Music right from the start, and I did indeed do so. The longer I’ve used it, the more enthusiastic I’ve become about the service. Before the launch of Apple Music, I mostly listened to my own music library, viewing Spotify very much as a supplementary music source. It wasn’t very good at introducing me to new music, so mostly I used it to try out artists recommended by friends....

[Update: Partnership is officially announced. Tweet added to bottom of post.] According to a new report from Recode, Apple has agreed to a partnership with popular music video app Musical.ly. The partnership will see Apple Music supply the song clips in the Musical.ly application, which allows users to create their own videos singing along to popular songs. Currently, Musical.ly receives its songs from U.K.-based provider 7digital. The switch to Apple Music, however, will officially occur on Friday....

In the same way people argue about iOS over Android, the debate between Apple Music vs Spotify has also grown since 2015. As the music streaming service war starts to bring podcasts and HiFi to the battlefield, are you planning to stay with your current streaming service, or are you considering switching? I’ve been using Apple Music since it launched. Even when Apple erased a few times all my library, I didn’t care....

Apple officially launched its Today at Apple initiative – combining workshops and creative performances – this weekend. The company says that it held special events at all 495 Apple Stores around the world, and showed off photos from many of them (below). The company first spoke about the initiative just over a year ago, while previewing the San Francisco Union Square store, but it was only last month when we learned that it was to be a major focus....

In what is now an annual tradition, Apple has dedicated its homepage at apple.com to celebrating Martin Luther King Jr Day. Each year, Apple chooses a one-sentence quote, which this year is: It is again taken from King’s famous Letter from a Birmingham Jail in which he addressed criticism from other Christians who considered he was an outsider interfering in matters which didn’t affect him – and breaking the law to do so....

Along with Apple filing a patent for a reconfigurable solid-state MacBook keyboard today, the company has seen a host of other patents approved. One of the most interesting means future iPhones (and any other Apple device) could be made using the Mac Pro’s 3D cheese grater design. Apple was granted a total of 77 new patents today by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. For this interesting iPhone structural patent, here’s how Apple describes it (via Patently Apple):...

Korea Times (via Fortune) is reporting that Apple and Samsung are in talks designed to settle all future patent disputes out of court. FOSS Patents’ Florian Mueller believes that a settlement will be reached “very soon.” Mueller believes that a one-time payment from Samsung to Apple for all past infringements will allow both companies to move on, establishing a cease-fire agreement which would commit both parties to staying out of court for a set timeframe....

Of course Apple has a succession plan in place for when Steve Jobs steps down as CEO. But revealing that is probably not a great idea. Plus, isn’t it pretty obvious by now? AAPL investors agree. As a result, the company is under no obligation to disclose its plans about how the company would be run if CEO Steve Jobs had to step down. Investors have expressed concern regarding the future of Apple leadership after, Jobs, who will turn 56 Thursday, announced a medical leave from the company last month....

Apple Music for Android has received its second app update of the month — an uncommon occurrence for the rarely updated Apple Music client. Apple Music 2.4.1 for Android includes a fix for crashing and improved reliability for music playback: The reliability update comes after Apple Music for Android gained new music video features including background audio playback, PIP playback within the app, and music video playlist support. Apple Music is available on Apple’s macOS, iOS, tvOS, and watchOS platforms, with playback supported on Android and Sonos as well....

Apple Music and Spotify are the dominant players in the streaming music industry. Spotify just announced they have 75 million paid subscribers with 170 million total active users. Apple recently hit 40 million subscribers. It’s clear that both companies are a hit with consumers. In fact, the streaming music industry has revitalized the music business. I often get asked, how do I choose between Apple Music vs Spotify I’ve gone back and forth on that....

Apple kicked off its Today at Apple program in retail stores last year and continues to expand it. In addition to its normal classes, Apple recently announced that it will be holding a “Music Lab” session in at its Union Square location in San Francisco with Wu-Tang Clan frontman RZA… AppleInsider explains that RZA himself will be at a “Developing Your Sound” session on January 27th at the Apple Union Square store in San Francisco, which is now full....

Update: macOS Sierra GM is also now available for public beta testers. Like yesterday’s developer release, it requires a new promo code for the App Store to redeem. macOS Sierra will be released to everyone on September 20. Following yesterday’s release of iOS 10 GM for developers, Apple has released iOS 10 GM to public beta testers as well. iOS 10 is scheduled to be released to anyone not testing the beta version next week on Tuesday, September 13....