Apple

The FBI has decided it will not divulge the details of how it successfully hacked into the San Bernardino iPhone to Apple, having found a method at the last-minute just hours before going to court in late March. However, in an attempt to appear helpful and cooperative, the FBI gave Apple its first security tipoff under the Vulnerability Equities Process this month.

Reuters reports the FBI informed Apple of a security flaw affecting iOS and Mac software  on April 14th, as part of a process that balances the needs of law enforcement to hack devices and the needs of manufacturers to patch found flaws before criminals can use them …

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Having already released its first iPhone game Miitomo, a bespoke social networking game, Nintendo is now teasing the next round of games headed to the iPhone and iOS devices. Notably, unlike Miitomo, these are going to be versions of existing successful Nintendo franchises: Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem.

Although Animal Crossing is not quite on the same podium as Super Mario, it is still major first-party intellectual property for Nintendo to release on non-Nintendo consoles for the first time. The new smartphone and tablet titles are expected to be released later this year, around October.

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Dropbox is today announcing a new upcoming feature of its platform, codenamed Project Infinite. When Infinite rolls out, you’ll be able to see all your files and folders stored on Dropbox in the Finder, but they won’t take up any space until they are needed. The company is currently targeting the feature at business users.

This means your Dropbox storage can be far larger in total size than your local disk (as is common with modern setups of 1 TB Dropbox tiers and small SSDs) with on-demand instantaneous access to any file at any time over the Internet …

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Later today, at about 4.30 PM ET, Apple will announce its financial earnings results for fiscal Q2, including the latest three-month sales numbers for iPhone, iPad and Mac.

Although Apple is still going to post profits in the billions, still one of the most successful companies the world by all metrics, investor expectations are low as the company guidance indicates it will report its first decline in year-over-year quarterly revenue since 2003. The primary cause? Falling iPhone sales …

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Apple appears to be making some cuts in its recruiting department. According to a new report from VentureBeat, Apple recently has been letting go of all of its contract recruiters, as well as some of its in-house full-time recruiters. In total, these cuts affect more than 100 people and there are no signs of them being replaced.

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Alongside the announcement of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus last year, Apple announced a new program designed at encouraging users to upgrade their device every year, as opposed to the traditional two-year cycle. At launch, the iPhone Upgrade Program was oddly only available to customers shopping in Apple Stores. Today, however, Apple has expanded the program to the online store so all customers can now take advantage of it.

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Ever since the iPad Pro came out, it seemed like an obvious third-party accessory would be a case that could also hold a Pencil. However, six months on, the number of iPad Pro cases with good Apple Pencil compatibility is still pretty small. You are by no means spoilt for choice if you are looking to buy an iPad Pro case with Apple Pencil holder.

The Dux ($59.95) is a solid attempt at such a case, a lightweight 12.9-inch iPad enclosure providing some protection against drops and bangs, with an Apple Pencil holster on the side. Its simplicity is refreshing, but that brings with it some shortcomings. Read on for my review.

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Over the weekend, Bloomberg posted an exclusive report of Pegatron’s iPhone plant in China. Although Foxconn is Apple’s primary assembler, Apple has moved more of its iPhone assembly contracts to Pegatron in recent years to diversify its supply chain.

The Bloomberg report describes how the factory is managing its workforce, tracking hours via automated systems, and tackling labor issues like overtime. This is the first time Pegatron has allowed official press to photograph the insides of the factory, where 50,000 people work on the floor.

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In this week’s top stories, the iPhone rumor mill was in full effect as reports surfaced claiming Apple could introduce an new all glass design for a next-generation device. That news was accompanied by Apple’s 12-inch MacBook refresh, an official announcement for WWDC, and the latest Apple Car news. Head below for the quick links to all of this week’s top stories and much more:

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After reading Zac’s opinion piece on how the iPhone SE could actually tempt him not to upgrade to the iPhone 7, I realized that I hadn’t even begun to think what Apple could do to get me to want to upgrade to an iPhone 7. Overall I’ve been happy with the iPhone since its iPhone 5 iteration. It was the device I felt Apple really hit its stride with the hardware. I only upgraded to an iPhone 6 because I wanted a better camera and needed more storage space, but the larger form factor was a serious drawback for me. So what could possibly make me even want to upgrade from my current iPhone 6 to another phone later this year?

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Apple is continuing its recent hiring spree from the automotive industry for its not-so-secretive car project, this time hinting at the company’s work prototyping car parts.

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Apple has cut the price of its iPhone lineup in Japan including the brand-new iPhone SE, by approximately 10% across the board. The price drop can be seen online on Apple’s Japanese storefront, via Macotakara.

A 16 GB iPhone SE was selling for 52800 yen (483 dollars). The new price from today is 47800 yen (437), representing an approximate $50 saving in dollar terms. Full list of price changes after the jump …

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Last week, users in China mysteriously saw the iTunes Movies Store and iBooks Store shut down. At the time, it was unclear why the services went down, but now, The New York Times reports that the two stores were ordered to shut down by the Chinese State Administration of Press, Publication, Film, and Television.

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Tomorrow is officially Earth Day and while it has already revealed some of its efforts, Apple this evening has uploaded a new video to its YouTube channel highlighting its green initiatives. The ad, entitled “iMessage – Renewable Energy,” highlights the company’s renewable energy efforts and encourages every one to “show some love for the earth.”

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From iPhone 4 and beyond, I’ve never skipped out on buying a flagship iPhone. The white AT&T iPhone 4 in May 2011 was my first model, then iPhone 4s in November a month after its launch. Starting with iPhone 5, I’ve bought every flagship iPhone on day one (even camping out in line overnight at least twice). I pre-ordered the off-cycle release iPhone SE last month and switched from the top-of-the-line iPhone 6s Plus. I fully reserve the right to change my mind between now and September, but my experience with the iPhone SE so far and the current crop of iPhone 7 rumors has me thinking I just might hop off the upgrade train for the first time. Here’s why:

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Apple has just released the latest public builds of its iOS 9.3.2 and OS X 10.11.5 updates out to beta testers. Both platforms saw developer builds released yesterday, with small bug fixes noted in the release notes. Most interesting to note is that Apple once again has allowed a combination of Low Power Mode and Night Shift to be enabled simultaneously on iOS devices.

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Although Apple usually updates its iOS adoption statistics on a fortnightly basis, the company had strangely stopped updating its iOS chart last month. As iOS 9 growth appeared to have stalled, perhaps the numbers simply didn’t change significantly in that time. However, this week Apple has updated the chart with a significant jump, now reporting iOS 9 was seen on 84% of active devices as of April 18th. With iOS 10 set to be announced in June (and internal testing gradually ramping — see below), it appears iOS 9 will end up peaking around the 90% adoption mark in line with previous versions.

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