In addition to shipping iOS 8 to iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users today, Apple has released a software update to Apple TV (third-generation) users as well. As we previewed before, the new version of Apple TV’s software brings a refreshed design with thinner text and flatter icons bringing it more in line with iOS’s look and feel. The update also includes a newly added Beats Music channel for the subscription streaming music service Apple purchased earlier this year....

Noninvasive Apple Watch blood sugar measurement probably tops the list on the consumer wish list for the company’s wearable, and a partnership with a UK startup may have brought us one step closer. Apple is listed as the largest client of Rockley Photonics, an electronics company working on a system that uses similar sensors to the existing Apple Watch ones, but with many more capabilities … Gadgets and Wearables reports:...

Apple debuted a brand new Pride face in the middle of the WWDC 2018 keynote last year, pairing a rainbow colored watch face with a matching band. Now Apple’s Pride face is getting a new design on the Apple Watch with an updated style option. There’s also a new Pride Analog version with full screen and circular versions. As of watchOS 5.2.1 which was released for Apple Watch earlier today, the Pride face has two appearance options: 2018 and 2019....

The Apple Watch Series 4 can now take an electrocardiogram (ECG) reading … This is something that normally requires specialist medical equipment, Apple says it is the first time consumers have ever been able to buy an ECG advice without a prescription. The Apple Watch Series 4 has been approved by the FDA for this purpose. AliveCor takes issue with the ‘first time’ claim, noting that its KardiaBand got there first, but the technology is sufficiently different that the FDA considers it a completely new type of use....

MBLM shared its 2020 brand intimacy study findings on its website today. While Apple dropped from 2nd to 3rd overall, it remained the highest-ranked company in the tech industry. Apple was notably the only “technology and telecommunications” brand to grab a slot in the top 10 companies overall. You can play with the filters to see how age, income, and more impact Apple’s intimacy score. For example, if you look at consumers 18-34 years old, they rank Apple lower at 7th overall but still 1st in the tech segment....

Apple Supplier BOE is making OLED screens for the iPhone 12, according to a supply-chain report. Although BOE has long made LCD screens for Apple, and later graduated to making OLED ones for the Apple Watch, it will be the first time the Chinese company has made OLED screens for iPhones. When Apple first switched to OLED for flagship iPhones in the form of the iPhone X, Samsung was the iPhone maker’s exclusive supplier of the screens …...

Apple is apparently preparing to debut its first cellular MacBook models next year, with 5G-enabled MacBooks coming in the second half of 2020 according to Digitimes. Apple will purportedly be using a ceramic antenna component for better 5G performance. At this stage, nobody but Digitimes is making these claims — and it’s always worth treating Digitimes reporting with a healthy dose of skepticism. Apple may well be exploring possible designs for cellular-enabled notebooks, but we wouldn’t put too much stock in the 2020 timeframe just yet....

Bloomberg reports that Apple plans to move its Tokyo, Japan-based headquarters from its current location, the Shinjuku region of Tokyo, to something more magnificant: the 54-story Robbongi Hills complex in central Tokyo. The company plans to make its move as soon as April of this year, according to the report. Also, Apple reportedly told its current office landlord that it would not be renewing its lease after June 2013. The report says that Apple plans to occupy one or two floors of this new building....

Apple doesn’t seem like its slowing it’s original content efforts anytime soon. The company has been aggressively gaining rights to more original content over the past several months and today is no exception. The New York Times reports that Apple has just landed rights to Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change, a novel written by Nathaniel Rich. The report also includes a rather buried mention of when we should expect the new video service to finally go live…...

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has told USA Today that Apple will still be around in 2075 – alongside Google and Facebook. He made the prediction ahead of the Silicon Valley Comic Con, whose theme is ‘The Future of Humanity: Where Will We Be in 2075?’ and said that he and Steve Jobs made that assumption from the start … He told USA Today that when they founded the company, they both assumed it would last forever....

Apple seems to be spending its December adding new products to its online store and today is no exception. The company has added a new LaCie USB-C 6TB hard drive to its lineup. The hard drive is compatible with any modern Mac, including the new MacBook Air, iMac and iMac Pro, MacBook, and MacBook Pro. Starting at $249.95 the external drive comes in a stealthy black/space gray color with its own stand....

When Apple TV+ first debuted on November 1, few series were as welcome a surprise, or as critically acclaimed, as Dickinson, starring Hailee Steinfeld. A super modern sitcom, with darkly comedic and often inappropriate flair, the series is a loose but still accurate adaptation of the life of a young Emily Dickinson, the famous 19th-century poet from Amherst, Massachusetts. The series is framed as a coming of age story and finds Emily experiencing love and loss over the course of her artistic journey as she struggles to make her name known as a poet....

Apple Watch Series 4 sees price drops on various models Woot’s one-day refurb iPhone 7 sale is great for kids Today only, Woot is offering refurbished iPhone 7 models in unlocked condition priced from $190. As a comparison, Apple is currently charging $379 for a 32 GB model in certified refurbished condition. This is a match of our previous mention. Apple is continuing to offer the latest version of its software on these phones, and likely will for the next few years....

The Apple Watch Sport’s Ion X glass has been put through a torture scratch test and we’ve seen it survive 15 minutes under water but now that Apple Watches are being shipped en masse, we’re going to see many full-on torture tests. The first such test is from Cnet which takes it through some (admittedly unlikely) kitchen destruction scenarios. The Apple Watch and its white band survived admirably through the gauntlet but you could tell this video was going to end with a broken watch and it finally broke when smashed with a iron skillet....

comScore collected the data in December of last year. The company notes that despite the growing use of video on demand services, live TV still dominates, accounting for 84% of all viewing against 14.9% time-shifted TV and just 1.1% video on demand. However, this is very much driven by demographics: Millennials and Gen X spend more time watching digital media than live TV. It was reported over the weekend that Apple hasn’t entirely abandoned its plans to sell a streaming TV bundle, but is currently focusing on a ‘premium TV bundle‘ comprising HBO, Showtime, and Starz....

One concern many users have about Apple Watch 2 likely adding an embedded GPS is what impact precise location tracking could have on battery life. The GPS radio would likely only be tapped during outdoor workouts and when using Maps, but a purported parts leak also claims Apple Watch 2 will gain 35% more battery capacity which would help. The latest Apple Watch 2 leak comes from a post on Chinese social media site Weibo, which claims to show a significantly higher capacity battery purportedly being used in the Apple Watch 2....

Apple appears to have just provided a first glimpse at the retail packaging for Apple Watch or the device’s straps via the photo above posted to a newly updated jobs page on its website. The white box lines up with the little information Apple has provided about the packaging for the entry-level Sport Edition and the stainless steel Watch Edition models. We know Apple is planning a more traditional watch box that doubles as a place to store and charge the device, but that will only come with the more expensive 18k gold models....

Wednesday’s best deals include the Apple Watch Series 4 Cellular models, as well as an Anker New Year sale, and Wemo’s HomeKit Smart Plug. Hit the jump for all that and more in today’s 9to5Toys Lunch Break. Refurb Apple Watch Series 4 Cellular models at $250 Today only, Woot offers certified refurbished Apple Watch Series 4 44mm GPS + Cellular models in various styles for $250. Having originally retailed for $429, today’s offer is $109 under what you’d pay for a refurbished model direct from Apple and marks one of the best prices to date....

The move follows the release of iTunes 8 this month, which contains significant accessibility improvements – but these are to be extended under the new deal Apple’s reached with The National Federation of the Blind and Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley. Apple will now make iTunes fully accessible by December 31, 2008, and will ensure the full accessibility of the iTunes software and the rest of the iTunes Store to blind people using both Mac and Windows operating systems by June 30, 2009....

New figures from CIRP reported in Fortune show that Apple wins three times as many smartphone customers from Samsung as Samsung does from Apple: 20 percent switched from a Samsung handset to an iPhone, while only 7 percent switched in the opposite direction. Unsurprisingly, the biggest chunk of iPhone buyers – 42 percent – were upgrading from a previous iPhone, while the rest were split between those switching from other brands (around 30 percent) and those upgrading from a featurephone (26 percent) – with a handful of first-time cellphone buyers making up the rest....