Apple on Thursday announced that it has teamed up with payment service PayAnywhere on a new mobile NFC card reader. It will attach to iOS devices, and support both traditional credit cards and those stored within Apple Pay.
The reader, which will be available exclusively in Apple Stores in September, will open the door for smaller businesses to begin supporting Apple Pay. PayAnywhere is easy to setup and there are no monthly fees to worry about.
Developer and noted iOS beta hacker Hamza Sood has discovered code relating to Force Touch in iOS 9. Sood tweeted out a screenshot of the code this evening, saying it appears Apple has been "testing keyboard trackpad gestures on the iPhone 6s, activated via Force Touch."
Given that the 6s is expected to be unveiled within the next few weeks, and believed to already be in mass production, it would seem the code all-but-confirms that the new iPhone will include Force Touch technology—a feature that already exists in MacBooks and Apple Watch.
Apple has rented out the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco for its all-but-confirmed September iPhone event, reports Hoodline. The publication says it has seen documentation from event logistics indicating the company has the building through September 12th.
Today's news follows speculation from earlier this week that Apple is behind a mysterious "trade show" booking at the Civic Auditorium for the first two weeks in September. On Monday, SFPD officers and private security guards began patrolling the grounds at the building.
Apple's chief of design Jony Ive and Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine are set to speak at an upcoming Vanity Fair event. The publication just announced that the pair will join a cornucopia of tech and entertainment luminaries at its New Establishment Summit in October.
Ive spoke at last year's VF New Establishment Summit, touching on a number of interesting topics such as his design process, relationship with Steve Jobs and thoughts on copycats. So we're anxious to see what he has to say when this year's event kicks off on October 5th.
Folks in the market for third-party Apple Watch accessories may want to keep an eye on their local Apple Stores. MacRumors has confirmed that the Cupertino company has begun carrying third-party Watch add-ons in at least some of its retail locations.
The first such accessory spotted in an Apple Store is ElevationLab's NightStand for Apple Watch. It's a simple, elegant stand, that costs $29.95 and it appears the company has partnered with Apple on product packaging and Sport band-matching colorways.
Facebook on Wednesday began testing a new digital assistant feature called 'M.' As explained by Facebook Messenger lead David Marcus, the feature, which lives inside Messenger, is powered by artificial intelligence that can complete tasks and find information on a user's behalf.
The artificial intelligence is both trained and supervised by real live humans, and unlike other AI-based services available today, it can do things like purchase items and deliver gifts. Of course it can handle normal chores too, such as booking restaurants and logging appointments.
Apple on Friday launched the iSight Camera Replacement Program for iPhone 6 Plus. In a support document, first spotted by MacRumors, the company says it has discovered that, in some devices, the iSight camera has a component that may fail, causing your photos to look blurry.
The program only applies to the iPhone 6 Plus, and Apple says that a very small percentage of devices has been affected. But if your 6 Plus is producing blurry photos, and has an eligible serial number, the company is offering to replace your handset's rear-facing camera free of charge.
Apple has hired a senior engineer from electric car maker Tesla Motors, according to a new report from Reuters. The outlet points to the LinkedIn profile of former Tesla Autopilot Firmware Manager Jamie Carlson, who now works at Apple on "Special Projects."
Carlson's profile doesn't go into details regarding his previous position, but the fact that he worked in the autonomous firmware division of one of the industry's most technologically advanced companies, is fueling speculation that Apple is building an electric car.
Apple and Beats co-founder Dr. Dre released statements on Friday regarding the rapper's contentious past. With the recent opening of the film "Straight Outta Compton," which tells the origin story of Dre's hip-hop group N.W.A., several questions have arisen regarding abuse allegations from the 1990's.
During the decade, Dr. Dre was accused of assaulting several women, including his girlfriend at the time and former television host Denise "Dee" Barnes. Since its debut, members of the media have been questioning why the events were missing from the Compton film, and today, Dre commented on the matter.
Apple is working on new bands for its Apple Watch that will add considerable functionality to the device, reports Czech site Letem Svetem Applem. Citing a source familiar with the project, the outlet says, among other things, the bands will feature new health sensors.
These "smart" bands will plug into the Apple Watch's hidden diagnostic port, which means they could be compatible with current-gen models. And its sensors will be able to read and share data on blood oxygen level, blood pressure, body temperature and much more.
Apple on Thursday posted a new ad to its YouTube channel labeled "iPhone - Apple Pay." The spot is the latest in the company's ongoing "if it's not an iPhone, it's not an iPhone" campaign, and of course highlights its new mobile payment service.
The commercial is very similar to previous ads in the campaign. It begins with a voiceover saying "this is an iPhone," and then the video proceeds to show how Apple Pay works. The shot closes with the tagline "if it's not an iPhone, it's not an iPhone."
The Apple TV fell to the spot of the fourth most popular streaming media device in the US last year, according to a newly-released study by Parks Associates. The research firm says that sales for Apple's set-top box were eclipsed by those from Roku, Google and Amazon.
"Roku continues to lead streaming media device sales in the U.S.," said Barbara Kraus, the director of research at Parks Associates. Their data shows that Roku accounted for 34% of units sold in 2014, with Google in second at 23%, and Amazon overtaking Apple for third.