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Apple has hired the former head of songwriter and publisher relations at YouTube for a senior role in its Apple Music publishing division … Variety reports. Apple Music’s publishing division was formed last year with the aim of discovering new songwriting talent, signing licensing deals, helping them with their career development and even potentially starting its own music label. Her new position marks Apple Music’s first hire on the Music Publishing Creative Services team, though the position had been green-lit long before Rothschild’s April 29 start date […]...

Apple Music is today promoting a live concert by Shawn Mendes for this Thursday. This is the second time we’ve seen the company’s streaming service recently host a concert. Back in March, we saw Apple Music and Dr. Dre sponsor a free live Anderson .Paak concert in London. This week’s Shawn Mendes performance will be along the same lines, but is a bit different. This time around, Apple will be offering the free concert tickets to members of the #mendesarmy to attend in LA show....

Ahead of Apple’s iOS 7 launch (presumably alongside the new iPhones in September), Apple seems to be asking developers to submit larger app icons. As part of iOS 7’s dramatic interface changes, the Home screen icons have been slightly enlarged compared to the iOS 6 icons. For example, as shown in the image above, the non-iOS 7-optimized Netflix icon has a small white border compared to Apple’s icons. In order to avoid this interface issue, developers will need to include larger icons in their applications....

Apple has lost another legal battle with Swiss watchmaker Swatch. As reported by The Sydney Morning Herald, Apple has failed in its quest to stop Swatch from using the phrase “one more thing” in Australia. Apple had argued with the Australian Trade Marks Office that Swatch should not be allowed to use the “one more thing” phrase as it was synonymous with Steve Jobs. Jobs, of course, used it regularly during Apple Keynotes while Tim Cook has also used it....

The Apple Music festival in London has been always been a staple of the fall pop music scene, but never has it been more integral to Apple’s operations than this year – when Apple Music is locked in a battle for supremacy among streaming services and Tim Cook is pushing services revenue as a replacement for Apple’s sagging hardware unit sales. This year’s event will not only be available on Apple’s product lineup but also PCs, and for the first time through the Apple Music App on Android which launched in November of last year....

After first being announced and previewed at WWDC in June of last year, Apple launched its music streaming platform on Android on November 10th. Now, after almost a year of being available to the public (and only a month since it finally exited beta), the app has garnered more than 10 million downloads on the Google Play Store… Since the app first became available, Apple has slowly been adding features and improving the experience....

Apple Music today launched a new curated playlist on the service, called “New Music Daily”. Unlike most Apple Music human editorial playlists, New Music Daily is refreshed every single day. The debut lead single on the playlist is Taylor Swift’s “The Man,” from her brand-new album, and the cover art also features a photo of the singer. Presumably, Apple will be featuring lead artists in the artwork on a rolling basis....

A drone pilot who has been making regular flights over Apple Park says he believes that the company is tracking all flights over the campus, and thinks it’s only a matter of time before counter-measures are used to block future flights … Duncan Sinfield made the comments in a new video posted today (below), noting that it usually takes Apple security no more than ten minutes to reach him, no matter where his take-off point is....

What’s New in iOS 11.0.2 and Why You Should Upgrade The iOS 11.0.2 update applies to the iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod Touch 6th generation. For a minor update it’s surprisingly large, weighing around 278 MBs. As always, connect to a speedy network and grab it. Here is a list of changes and improvements: Fixes an issue where crackling sounds may occur during calls for a small number of iPhone 8 and 8 Plus devices....

After officially bringing iTunes music and movies to India alongside a huge international rollout in December, Apple appears to have now launched Apple TV in the country. The Apple TV product page on Apple’s India website was first spotted by BGR India, but Apple has yet to issue an official press release announcing the product launch. The product page doesn’t include a “buy” button, and some reports claim stock has not yet made it to Apple resellers in the country....

Apple Music for Android has been updated today with several enhancements. This update first entered beta testing last month and is now available to all users through Google Play Store. The new version of Apple Music for Android brings some of the new features previously available for iPhone and iPad users with iOS 13, including time-synced lyrics, a redesigned Now Playing interface, and Dark Mode. It’s nice to see that Android users don’t have to wait for feature parity with Apple’s updates on their own devices....

Earlier today, the Apple Books app sent out a push notification offering a free Apple Book to users. The notification mentioned read-alongs for kids, cozy mysteries, and audiobooks for the whole family. Most likely aimed at helping folks pass the time when much of the world is social distancing due to COVID-19, Apple is offering a wide-ranging collection of free titles in various genres. In browsing the section, I found several titles that I picked up for my kids and me....

Over the past few days, a notable amount of users have complained about WiFi issues plaguing the new 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air models released during the week of WWDC. Besides less-battery-intensive chipsets, the marquee feature of the new MacBook Air revolves around faster WiFi connectivity thanks to new 802.11ac cards. As with any new product, bugs are plausible. Earlier today, we noted that new reports claim that the MacBook Air WiFi issues are due to networking issues in Apple’s OS X software....

As expected, at 1:20pm EST Apple officially pushed iOS 5 to download-ready status via iTunes. Before you upgrade you’ll need to upgrade iTunes to version 10.5 first. For instructions, read our guide on preparing iTunes for iOS5. Below are the update notes directly from Apple. Stay tuned! As the day goes on we’ll be covering these in-depth on every device; the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. This update contains over 200 new features, including the following: • Notifications ◦ Swipe from the top of any screen to view notifications in one place with Notification Center ◦ New notifications appear briefly at the top of the screen ◦ View notifications from lock screen ◦ Slide the notification app icon to the right on the lock screen to go directly to the app • iMessage ◦ Send and receive unlimited text, photo, and video messages with other iOS 5 users ◦ Track messages with delivery and read receipts ◦ Group messaging and secure encryption ◦ Works over cellular network and Wi-Fi* • Newsstand ◦ Automatically organizes magazine and newspaper subscriptions on Home Screen ◦ Displays the cover of the latest issue ◦ Background downloads of new issues • Reminders for managing to do lists ◦ Syncs with iCloud, iCal and Outlook ◦ Location-based reminders when you leave or arrive at a location for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 • Built-in support for Twitter ◦ Sign-in once in Settings and tweet directly from Camera, Photos, Maps, Safari and YouTube ◦ Add location to any tweet ◦ View twitter profile pictures and usernames in Contacts • Camera improvements for devices with cameras ◦ Double click the home button when device is asleep to bring up a camera shortcut on iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPod touch (4th generation) ◦ Volume Up button to take a picture ◦ Optional grid lines to line up shots ◦ Pinch to zoom in the preview screen ◦ Swipe to camera roll from preview screen ◦ Tap and hold to lock focus and exposure, iPad 2 and iPod touch (4th generation) only support exposure lock • Photo improvements for devices with cameras ◦ Crop and rotate ◦ Red eye removal ◦ One tap enhance ◦ Organize photos into albums • Mail improvements ◦ Format text using bold, italic, or underlined fonts ◦ Indentation control ◦ Drag to rearrange names in address fields ◦ Flag messages ◦ Mass mark messages as flagged, read or unread ◦ Customize mail alert sounds ◦ S/MIME • Calendar improvements ◦ Year view on iPad and new Week view for iPhone and iPod touch ◦ Tap to create an event ◦ View and add event attachments • Game Center improvements ◦ Use personal photos for your Game Center account ◦ Compare your overall achievement scores with your friends ◦ Find new Game Center friends with friend recommendations and friends of friends ◦ Discover new games with custom game recommendations • AirPlay Mirroring for iPad 2 and iPhone 4S • Multitasking Gestures for iPad ◦ Use four or five fingers to pinch to the Home Screen ◦ Swipe up to reveal the multitasking bar ◦ Swipe left or right to switch between apps • On-device setup, activation and configuration with Setup Assistant • Software updates available over the air without tethering • iCloud support ◦ iTunes in the Cloud ◦ Photo Stream ◦ Documents in the Cloud ◦ Apps and Books automatic download and purchase history ◦ Backup ◦ Contacts, Calendar, and Mail ◦ Find My iPhone • Redesigned Music app for iPad • Hourly weather forecast • Real-time stock quotes • Wireless sync to iTunes • Keyboard improvements ◦ Split keyboard for iPad ◦ Improved autocorrection accuracy ◦ Improved Chinese and Japanese input ◦ New Emoji keyboard ◦ Personal dictionary for autocorrection ◦ Optionally create keyboard short cuts for frequently used words • Accessibility improvements ◦ Option to light LED flash on incoming calls and alerts for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 ◦ Custom vibration patterns for incoming calls on iPhone ◦ New interface for using iOS with mobility-impairment input devices ◦ Option to speak a selection of text ◦ Custom element labeling for VoiceOver • Exchange ActiveSync improvements ◦ Wirelessly sync tasks ◦ Mark messages as flagged, read or unread ◦ Improved offline support ◦ Save a new contact from a GAL service • More than 1,500 new developer APIs • Bug fixes Products compatible with this software update: • iPhone 4S • iPhone 4 • iPhone 3GS • iPad 2 • iPad • iPod touch (4th generation) • iPod touch (3rd generation)...

Apple today announced a new repair program for iPhone 11. According to the company, some iPhone 11 users may be experiencing problems in which the display stops responding to touch. As reported by Apple, a small percentage of iPhone 11 models manufactured between November 2019 and May 2020 were affected by this problem. The company says the issue is related to a failure in the display module, which needs to be replaced in order to get the phone working properly again....

Even though September was a busy month for Apple, the year isn’t over just yet. Now that we’re officially in October, expect a new round of hardware and software releases from Apple. Ranging from the oft-rumored Apple Tag to the release of macOS Catalina, there’s a lot to look forward to — and it could all culminate in an October Apple event. Apple October event While Apple has not officially announced that it will hold an October event this year, there’s plenty of precedent....

Users with charging problems have explained that the Apple Watch will physically connect to its charger and say that it’s charging properly, “but in reality the power diminishes as if no charger was plugged in.” In some cases, the issue appears to be in software, where one of two several-step tricks may enable the Watch to recharge: Turn off and reset the Watch, first holding the side button, swiping to power off, then holding the Digital Crown and side button at the same time until the Apple logo appears....

An Apple patent filed back in May and published today describes how an iDevice backlight could serve as a strobe light. Apple gives a couple of examples of how this might be used … The first is to effectively act as personal disco lighting, though it is written in the usual dense patent language. A second use, backed by an illustration, would be to act as a safety strobe for joggers....

At this point, it seems like Apple is adding more content for its upcoming video streaming service every other day. While the company has yet to announce its official plans, Apple’s deals with various movie studios, celebrities, and TV show concepts have been leaking for quite some time. Today, Deadline is reporting that Apple has greenlit a 10-episode season for an upcoming science fiction series created and co-written by Simon Kinberg and David Weil....

Back in October, Instagram removed the ability to see other users’ likes and comments within the Activity tab. However, third-party apps such as Like Patrol continued to offer a way to stalk what others are doing on the social media service. Now Apple has pulled Like Patrol from the App Store. Instagram first sent a cease-and-desist letter to the developers of Like Patrol back in October, informing them that the app was violating its terms and conditions based on how it uses scraping to collect public data....