Joe Rossignol

Apple seeded the fourth beta of iOS 8.4 to developers yesterday with a fix for a messaging bug that causes an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch to crash after receiving a specific string of Unicode characters via iMessage or SMS (via HDBlog.it). The bug also affects the Mac and Apple Watch and extends to third-party messaging apps such as Snapchat, Twitter and WhatsApp, as the issue is tied to the way...

Spotify today announced that it now has more than 75 million active users and 20 million paid subscribers worldwide as the Sweden-based streaming music service prepares to compete with Apple Music, available June 30 on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac and PC. Spotify doubled the 10 million paid subscribers it had through May 2014 in just one year, and has now paid over $3 billion in royalties to...

Apple has published a support document on its website confirming that it has been using a fleet of vehicles to collect street-level imagery for Apple Maps. Apple outlines that it will blur faces and license plates on images, as Google Maps does for Street View, and lists where Apple Maps vehicles will be driving in the United States, England and Ireland between June 15 and June 30."Apple is...

eBay today released its long-anticipated Apple Watch app for the online marketplace, just over one month after Apple quietly removed the app from its list of featured Apple Watch apps after failing to launch in April. TechCrunch reports that the eBay for Apple Watch app enables buyers and sellers to receive updates and alerts for items they are tracking on the eBay storefront. eBay for Apple ...

GM today announced that its luxury car brand Cadillac will add CarPlay and Android Auto support to its 2016 model year vehicles, which will begin rolling out this summer. CarPlay will be available in all 2016 vehicles equipped with a CUE 8-inch multi-touch screen, excluding the SRX Crossover, while Android Auto will be phased in at a later date."Cadillac CUE provides owners a smart and simple ...

Apple today announced Apple Music, an all-in-one app for discovering, listening to and sharing music. Apple Music is both a streaming music service and 24-hour live radio station, in addition to a platform for artists to share lyrics, backstage photos, videos or latest songs for fans to comment on and share through social media. Apple Music's streaming music service enables users to search...

Apple today announced Swift 2, the latest version of its programming language for iOS, OS X and watchOS with all-new Whole Module Optimization technology. Apple executive Craig Federighi also announced that Swift will be open source and made available for Linux later this year. Swift 2 has new features that will enable developers to write even better code, including advanced error handling,...

Apple today announced OS X 10.11 El Capitan, the latest version of its Mac operating system. OS X El Capitan features new versions of multiple stock apps, including Safari, Mail and Notes, improved Spotlight search with natural language enhancements and contextually aware results, Metal for Mac and other features and refinements that Apple introduced during its WWDC keynote in San Francisco. ...

Apple is expected to announce that Apple Pay will support retail store credit cards at its annual WWDC keynote today in San Francisco, according to The Wall Street Journal. The private label cards, which typically offer customers special offers and rewards, so far have not been compatible with the mobile payments service since its U.S. launch last October. Many retailers in the United States,...

Apple is building a high-speed content delivery network and plans to upgrade its data centers with more of its own equipment in an effort to better compete with Amazon, Google, Microsoft and other cloud service providers, according to Bloomberg. The improved infrastructure will enable Apple to provide faster delivery of cloud-based content and services such as iCloud, iTunes and Siri. The...

Apple has an ambitious goal to sign up 100 million subscribers for its upcoming streaming music service known as Apple Music, according to The Associated Press. A subscriber base that large would trump competing services such as Spotify, Pandora, Deezer and others, which had a collective 41 million paid U.S. subscribers in 2014 per the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry....

iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are the two most popular smartphones Apple has ever released thanks to their larger 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch screen sizes. Given that nearly nine months have passed since the devices were launched in September, there are now a variety of cases and accessories available for both. As such, we have rounded up some of the best iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus cases based on pricing, ...

Apple overnight removed the option to purchase a new iPhone on a two-year contract with AT&T on the Apple Online Store, eliminating the ability for customers to purchase an iPhone for a subsidized price of $199 or $299 through the carrier. Apple now sells iPhones on AT&T exclusively through the AT&T Next carrier financing program, while two-year contracts remain available through Verizon and...

Following several months of development, Tapbots today released Tweetbot 2 for Mac with a major visual overhaul inspired by the flat design of OS X Yosemite and more consistent with the iPhone version of the Twitter client. Tweetbot 2 for Mac is available as a free update through the Mac App Store for existing Tweetbot users and has been discounted to $12.99 from its regular $19.99 price for the...

Fortune has released its annual Fortune 500 list of the top U.S. corporations based on gross revenue, which together accounted for $12.5 trillion in revenues, $945 billion in profits and $17 trillion in market value. Apple maintained the 5th spot in the rankings for the second consecutive year after steadily rising from 6th place in 2013, 17th place in 2012, 35th place in 2011 and 56th place in...

Apple today announced that the Apple Watch will be available for purchase in Italy, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland and Taiwan on Friday, June 26. The wrist-worn device will be sold through the Apple Store, Apple Online Store and select authorized resellers. Apple also announced that it will begin selling select Apple Watch models through the Apple Store in two weeks,...

Apple has set a principal amount of ¥250 billion ($2.01 billion) for its bond sale in Japan per a final pricing term sheet published by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday. The yen-denominated bonds have an interest rate of 0.350% and are set to mature on June 10, 2020. Interest is to be paid semi-annually on June 10 and December 10, commencing December 10, 2015. The global ...

Typo Innovations today announced that it will begin selling its iPad Air keyboard case at Apple Stores and through its website, according to Re/code. The announcement comes just two days after Typo reached a settlement with BlackBerry that will prevent it from selling Typo for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus due to its similar look and functionality as the physical keyboard found on most BlackBerry...

Apple today announced a voluntary recall of all Beats Pill XL speakers due to the rare possibility that the battery in the speakers may overheat and pose a fire safety risk. Apple advises all customers to stop using the Beats Pill XL speakers and will issue a $325 refund or Apple Store credit to affected customers. The recall does not extend to other Apple or Beats products. The U.S....

Apple has added a new support document on its website (via iFun.de) that confirms the third-generation Apple TV or later can be used to control HomeKit-enabled accessories when you are away from home using an iOS device. After signing in with the same Apple ID on an iOS device and Apple TV, users can use Siri commands to remotely control lights, locks, thermostats, smart plugs and other...