iCloud

Fox films now available for re-download via iTunes in the Cloud

Earlier today, Apple rolled out iTunes Match, and movies for iTunes in the Cloud, to a number of new countries. And it looks like it's still not finished with the updates.

Tonight, reports are coming in that Fox movies are finally showing up in the Purchased tab of iTunes, meaning that users can now re-download them via iCloud...

Apple building mysterious new tactical data center in North Carolina

Apple is moving forward with plans to build a new, smaller data center next to the existing $1 billion iCloud facility in Maiden, North Carolina. The company has just filed for building permits, a story today revealed.

The upcoming 20,000 square feet facility will have tight security measures, such as "man trap" security doors and chain-link security fence, and will be t-boned to the existing iCloud facility. Official documents refer to it as the 'tactical' data center, whatever that's supposed to mean...

Apple rolls out Movies in The Cloud to more than 30 new countries

Apple sure has been busy today. Hot on the heels of this morning's iTunes Match expansion, it appears that the company has added movies to its iTunes in the Cloud feature for users in 30+ new countries.

Folks from the UK, Ireland, Brazil and other areas are reporting that they are now able to stream previously-purchased films to their iOS devices, using iCloud. Keep reading to see if your country made the list...

icloud.com email addresses now available for iCloud mail users

As pointed out by MacRumors, Apple today began a long-expected transition from old @me.com email addresses hosted at the discontinued MobileMe service over to new iCloud addresses. People who are signing up for new Apple IDs will automatically get an @icloud.com email address. Those with a @me.com email address will also get a matching iCloud email, provided their devices run the just-released iOS 6 Beta 3...

Greenpeace: Apple’s clean energy policies have significantly improved

Apple has been taking a lot of heat regarding its environmental policies over the past week. This due to the news that the company has recently pulled its products from the EPEAT registry.

But despite the fact that its products will no longer be EPEAT-certified, environmental groups say that Apple's 'green' polices are improving. Greenpeace, in fact, just upped the company's CEI score...

How Apple’s $1 billion iCloud data center almost didn’t get built

An interesting feature by Katie Fehrenbacher of GigaOM has an insightful look at how Apple's $1 billion data center in North Carolina came to be and how it almost didn’t get built. Luckily, officials were able to work out the deal and boy did it pay off. Because Apple is a powerful company, the iCloud data center gave Catawba County a much needed bargaining chip in convincing others to build their data centers there, too...

Apple updates iCloud Beta website with Notes, Reminders and more

Apple rolled out a significant update to its iCloud Beta website last night. The page, which only appears to be accessible by registered developers, now features web versions of Reminders and Notes.

As you may recall, these two new web apps were leaked back in May, as Apple was caught testing the iCloud Beta website a month ahead of WWDC. But now it's live, and available for all developers...

MobileMe lives on another day

Following numerous warnings that it would discontinue its paid online services suite dubbed MobileMe, Apple issued the final warning a month ago. Cupertino said it would shutter the service July 1 and advised users to download all their files and image galleries and transfer their MobileMe accounts to iCloud, a replacement and free of charge service.

So we were a little surprised that Apple didn't take down MobileMe on July 1. Instead, the company gave abandoned MobileMe users an extension. A new disclaimer on the website now informs users they have "a limited time" to transfer all their stuff to their computers or iCloud accounts...

Bloomberg says iTunes will receive major makeover by year’s end

Late last year, we reported that Apple was preparing to give iTunes its first major overhaul in 10 years. The update would come in the form of iTunes 11, and feature a revamped UI and deeper iCloud integration.

Since then, the report has been independently confirmed by both TechCrunch and 9to5Mac, who are also hearing that such a change is on the way. And tonight, a major news outlet adds its weight to the story...

Apple looking to build another $1B data center in Reno, Nevada

A new report is out this afternoon claiming that Apple is looking to spend in upwards of $1 billion over the next 10 years to build a new data center and other facilities in Reno, Nevada.

Codenamed "Project Jonathan," this would be Apple's third data farm, as the company already has a digital hive in Maiden, North Carolina, and one in northern California...

Users experiencing significant iCloud and iMessage outages [updated]

In line with several reports, readers are telling us that they are experiencing difficulties accessing iCloud and sending iMessages this afternoon. We are noticing similar problems on our own devices.

Judging by recent Twitter chatter, the outage appears to be world-wide, affecting a number of users. Apple has acknowledged the problem on its iCloud status page, but there's no ETA for a fix...

Amazon could soon match iCloud music features

According to "numerous industry sources", online retailer Amazon is negotiating deals that will soon enable it to match most of the music features offered by Apple's iCloud.

Amazon shocked the industry by launching its Cloud Drive and Cloud Player last year without necessary licenses from the top labels.

They are now reportedly close to striking license deals that will let them offer a scan-and-match service akin to iTunes Match...