Apple

In a press release, Apple has announced it is opening a new development office in Hyderabad, India. The team located here will apparently focus on improving Apple Maps, which is deeply integrated across Apple’s hardware and software as dedicated apps and embedded in other services, like Siri. The new center will create up to 4000 new jobs in the local economy. It is currently unclear as to the nature of the workforce, as Apple has preferred to keep its core software engineering team in California with most working solely in Cupertino.

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According to a new report from the New York Post, Apple is looking to expand on its iconic Fifth Avenue retail location. While the company renovates the historic cube designed building, it will open in “some or all” of the 61,000-square foot FAO Schwarz space in the GM building. The report notes, however, that the temporary expansion could turn in to a permanent one seeing as how cramped the Fifth Avenue store has become.

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Last week, we drew attention to a blog post from James Pinkstone in which he described how iTunes Match deleted 122GB of his personal music collection went viral. Apple confirmed the issue on Friday and rolled out a potential fix with iTunes 12.4 yesterday, but Pinkstone today has shared a new blog post detailing the extreme lengths to which Apple went in order to track down what exactly caused the problem in the first place.

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Leaks regarding the iPhone 7 have been plentiful so far this year. We’ve seen a handful of schematic drawings, component pictures, and a few purported photos of the device itself. Now, another set of images has appeared on Chinese social media site Weibo claiming to show the upcoming 4.7-inch iPhone 7 variant. As has been reported in the past, the design is largely similar to that of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s, but with a few tweaks. (via LettemSvetemApplem).

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Economic Daily News is reporting that Apple suppliers have begun hiring en-masse this month as they prepare for assembly of Apple’s upcoming flagship iPhone, the iPhone 7. The new iPhones (coming in 4.7 inch and 5.5 inch sizes) are expected to debut in the fall, following tradition. The report comes via CNBC.

Interestingly, the report notes that the surge in hiring at Foxconn and Pegatron is happening earlier than usual (‘at least a month earlier’). Apparently, the new Apple iPhone includes a ‘more complex design’ than previous models meaning suppliers need more time to train staff about the assembly process. This somewhat contradicts previous leaks in the rumor mill which indicated the iPhone 7 would look very similar to the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus …

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A new report from CBC News details the progress being made to unlock the FM radio chip that many smartphones feature. Many smartphones have an untapped FM chip inside them that users are unable to take advantage of and while many Android devices are confirmed to have the chip, the iPhone also has despite Apple not officially recognizing it.

A petition has been running in the United States to urge carriers and manufacturers to unlock the hidden FM chip in smartphones. The campaign has gained significant steam since its inception, so much so that carriers are starting to agree to unlock the chip…but Apple has yet to comment.

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Apple today has updated GarageBand for Mac and iOS to “celebrate the rich history of Chinese music.” The update for both platforms includes a variety of new sounds and instruments that cater towards the Chinese music industry. The update brings GarageBand for iOS to version 2.1.1 and GarageBand for OS X to version 10.1.2.

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Last month, Apple saw its iBooks and Movies services go offline in China amid review by government regulators and now it looks as if the company’s struggles in the country may not end there. According to a new report from The New York Times, Apple is among a handful of foreign tech companies that the Chinese government is scrutinizing in fear of security threats.

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In addition to releasing software updates across iOS, Mac, and watchOS, Apple today has released an update to iTunes. The update brings iTunes to version 12.4 and includes the design tweaks that were initially rumored earlier this month.

iTunes 12.4 introduces a variety of interface tweaks that Apple says make it easier to navigate the app and switch between different kinds of content. First off, there’s a new media picker that allows users to quickly switch between Music, Movies, TV shows, and more.

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It looks like drivers in the UK could soon be able to store their driver’s license within Apple’s Wallet app on iPhones as CEO of the country’s Driver Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) today shared the image of the work in progress feature above.

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Google parent company Alphabet has once again surpassed Apple in terms of value based on market capitalization. CNBC points out that Alphabet (GOOG) saw its market cap around $498.56 billion during trading today, while Apple (AAPL) saw its market cap down around $496.69 billion.

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Even though the FBI’s battle with Apple over the San Bernardino iPhone is essentially over, FBI director James Comey today explained that the case is just the beginning of litigation over accessing smartphones and other devices. As reported by Reuters, Comey explained that there will be more litigation between the FBI and manufacturers over accessing locked devices, noting that encryption is “essential tradecraft” of terrorist groups.

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According to a new report from LA Business Journal, Apple is in the process of securing real estate space for a new store in Los Angeles. The store will reportedly be located at the historic Tower Theatre in downtown Los Angeles, which could help revitalize the area’s retail business as a whole.

The Apple Store would be located at 800 S. Broadway, although specific details regarding the size of the store are still unclear. Additionally, it’s unknown how much Apple is paying for this retail space. Currently, there is over 250,000-square-feet of vacant retail space on Broadway between First Street and Olympic Boulevard, so Apple likely isn’t paying an extraordinary amount of money for the space.

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Contrary to a previous report, KGI’s Ming-Chi Kuo now believes Apple’s next-generation 5.5-inch iPhone, likely to be called the iPhone 7 Plus, will have a dual back camera across the whole line. Previously, KGI is quoted as saying only the high end configurations of the iPhone would adopt the new camera technology:

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According to a new report from The Economic Times of India, Apple supplier Foxconn is close to signing a deal with the Indian government to open an iPhone manufacturing plant in the country. The report claims that Apple and Foxconn have narrowed the location for the factory down to Maharashtra.

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According to a new report from The New York Times, Apple recently held a closed-door meeting with seven of the top iTunes podcasters to discuss the company’s support for the community. The meeting took place last month at Apple’s Cupertino headquarters and offered a place for the podcasters to express complaints in “frank terms” to Apple employees.

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A Tesla-style concept of the Apple Car from CarWow

One of the largest property companies in the San Francisco Bay Area has said during an investor call that Apple is seeking around 800,000 square feet of space in the area to expand its car project. The WSJ quotes Hudson Pacific Properties CEO Victor Coleman talking about rising demand for space for car R&D in the area.

We’re seeing the Toyotas of the world, the Teslas of the world, BMWs, Mercedes. Ford now is out in the marketplace looking for space. I haven’t even mentioned the 400,000 square feet that Google’s looking to take down and the 800,000 square feet that Apple’s looking to take down for their autonomous cars as well.

That would be almost a third the size of the spaceship campus Apple is currently building, which is around 2.8M square feet …

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