MacRumors

Apple today released a series of three Apple Music ads focused on how the service helps users discover artists. The first ad is a 60-second spot highlighting a number of artists and sharing Apple's motivation for creating Apple Music, ending with the tagline "All the artists you love and are about to love. All in one place."

Music has never had a bigger place in our lives. To have access nearly all the music in world at our fingertips is remarkable. And yet, there needs to be a place where artists and fans can discover one another. Where the entire experience, from playlists to radio to new releases, is powered by people who live and breathe music. A place that brings you the artists you love, as well as the artists you're about to love. That kind of place would be pretty great. And that's what we set out to do with Apple Music.

Two other ads are artist-focused 30-second spots, with one featuring James Bay and the second featuring Kygo.

As with the longer general "Discovery" spot, the artist ads are shot in black and white and end with the new tagline, but the artist ads include no spoken content, focusing only on the artists' work and then briefly overlaying a representation of their Apple Music pages with the Connect feature highlighted.

The new ads come two weeks after Apple began an Apple Music ad campaign in a number of public spaces around the world, including billboards, signage at bus shelters and subway stations, and more.

A group of filings posted to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission website yesterday (via SlashGear) reveal impending upgrades for Apple's Magic Mouse and wireless keyboard accessories. Images accompanying the filings point to the Magic Mouse's successor to simply be titled "Magic Mouse 2," but no specific name for the new wireless keyboard has been revealed.

The internals of both devices will see a notable overhaul in their Bluetooth capabilities, with each device getting a bump from Bluetooth 2.1 to Bluetooth 4.2. The upgrade will bring about Apple accessories that should see a noticeable increase in battery life and more robust communication between the input devices and the main computer.

Also of note is the inclusion of integrated lithium battery packs, which users will have to charge instead of the swapping in traditional AA batteries as seen in the current generation of the Magic Mouse and Apple wireless keyboard. The change is noticeable on the wireless keyboard in particular, with Apple able to do away with the barrel shaped feature on the bottom of the existing keyboard where the replaceable AA batteries are housed.

Both the Magic Mouse 2 and wireless keyboard have undergone testing with "pre-production" builds of each device, so the possibility of a release sometime before or on Apple's upcoming September iPhone media event may be likely.

Apple's work on its much-rumored Apple Car is progressing, and the company is said to be scouting for secure locations in the Bay Area where the vehicle can be tested, reports The Guardian. Engineers working on the car project are said to have met with officials at GoMentum Station in May to explore the site as a possible testing facility, suggesting work on the car may be further along than previously thought if there are already prototypes ready for testing.

GoMentum Station is a 2,100-acre former naval base run by the Contra Costa Transportation Authority that's located in the East Bay, approximately an hour and a half from Apple's Cupertino headquarters. The site, advertised as "the largest secure test facility in the world," is used to test both Connected Vehicles and Autonomous Vehicles and is poised to become "the center of CV/AV research."

In correspondence obtained by the Guardian under a public records act request, Apple engineer Frank Fearon wrote: "We would... like to get an understanding of timing and availability for the space, and how we would need to coordinate around other parties who would be using [it]." [...]

In late May, Jack Hall, program manager for autonomous vehicles at GoMentum Station, wrote to Fearon to postpone a tour of the facility but noted: "We would still like to meet in order to keep everything moving and to meet your testing schedule."

What's most notable about today's rumor from The Guardian, aside from the fact that the project is nearly to the prototype phase, is the site's supposition that the vehicle is autonomous. Previous reports about the car, being developed under the code name "Project Titan," have disagreed about whether the car is self-driving.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the car is electric but not autonomous, while Reuters has sources that say the project does indeed include self-driving cars. It's possible that Apple is exploring both autonomous and non-autonomous electric vehicles under the car project, but Apple's interactions with GoMentum Station don't offer insight into the company's plans as the site is for both autonomous and connected vehicles.

Over the last several months, details on Apple's work on an electric car have been trickling out. Apple is said to have hundreds of employees working on the project, and has been recruiting many automotive experts. Apple has also reportedly met with several automobile manufacturers, and even went so far as to explore using the electric BMW i3 as the base for the Apple Car, though talks did not progress to the partnership stage.

Apple is rumored to be aiming to launch its Apple Car in 2020, giving it five years of development time. Of course, the car is still in the early testing stages, and Apple often tests products that never see the light of day. There's a possibility that the Apple Car may never make it to market, even after years of testing, should Apple's plans for the vehicle not pan out.

Apple today began selling the 38mm Modern Buckle band on a standalone basis, marking the first time the Modern Buckle band has been available for purchase since the Apple Watch launched on April 24.

Over the course of the last several months, all other bands have become readily available, but the Modern Buckle bands in all sizes and colors has continued to say "Currently unavailable," with no prospective ship date given. The only way to get a Modern Buckle band prior to this morning was to purchase it alongside an Apple Watch.

The Modern Buckle is made from Granada leather sourced from a single small tannery in France, which may explain why it has been available in such limited quantities. The Modern Buckle also includes a unique magnetic buckle closure and the leather of the band is reinforced with Vectran weave to keep it from stretching.

All sizes and colors of the Modern Buckle band -- including Brown, Black, Soft Pink, and Midnight Blue -- are in stock. Orders placed today will deliver between August 24 and September 1, with in-store pickup being unavailable at this time.

Apple today introduced a new Link Bracelet Kit, which is equipped with six additional stainless steel links to make the 42mm Link Bracelet able to fit wrists that exceed 205mm. The six links expand the band by up to 40mm, for a maximum size of 245mm.

The Link Bracelet is Apple's only modular band, with size that can be adjusted by adding or removing links. That makes it the only band that can be expanded in this way, and with six additional links, it'll be the band best suited for wrists larger than 215mm, which is where the Classic Buckle maxes out.

Apple has also introduced new sizing options for the Apple Watch Sport Band, introducing an L/XL sizing option for 42mm Apple Watches. Apple Watch Sport Bands are now sold in two configurations: S/M & M/L, and M/L & L/XL. The new L/XL size option is available in black or white and expands the size range of the Sport Band to 245mm.

While Apple Watch bands were initially designed to fit a range of wrist sizes from 135mm to 215mm, there have been complaints that the Apple Watch bands are not large enough for bigger wrists. Quite a few people on Apple's support forums have requested XL-sized bands, and Apple's effort to introduce a kit for the Link Bracelet and new sizing options for the Sport Band is its first move towards offering an wider range of sizes.

Apple's Link Bracelet Kit is priced at $49 and available for purchase immediately through the company's online site. It ships out in 5 to 7 business days

Apple is expected to announce new iPhones and iPads over the next month or so in preparation for the holiday shopping season, but it remains unclear which iPad models in particular will be unveiled.

It is widely believed that a new iPad mini 4 will be announced, but rumors about the iPad Air 3 and so-called "iPad Pro" and their respective release dates have been inconsistent thus far.

A new report from Taiwanese blog DigiTimes offers some further details, corroborating a previous rumor that Apple is not planning an iPad Air 3 right now and focusing its efforts on the iPad mini 4.

The report claims that Apple's upstream supply chain is readying components for the fourth-generation tablet, noting that it will only have minor upgrades over the current iPad mini. Recent reports suggest the upcoming 7.9-inch tablet will likely be a slimmed down version of the iPad Air 2 and support split-view multitasking.

DigiTimes has a mixed track record at reporting on Apple's upcoming product plans, so its latest report should be treated with a proverbial grain of salt. Moreover, the more reliable Japanese blog Mac Otakara reported in July that an A9-based iPad Air 3 is still possible for 2015, so Apple's roadmap remains unclear and could change between now and the forthcoming iPhone and iPad event.

Apple has faced six consecutive quarters of declining iPad sales year-over-year as the broader tablet market continues to decline.

The U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals today rejected Samsung's latest appeal in its patent infringement case with Apple without comment, according to the San Jose Mercury News. The appeal was Samsung's effort to get the court to reconsider a central part of the ruling, which would account for $400 million of the $548 million in damages owed to Apple.

Samsung had urged the Federal Circuit to rehear the case with its full 12-judge roster, arguing that a three-judge panel erred earlier this year when it left intact a jury's verdict that the South Korean tech giant's smartphones and tablets infringed on Apple's design patents.

Samsung's only legal option to overturn the latest verdict is to turn to the U.S. Supreme Court. The decision comes weeks after Facebook, Google and other Silicon Valley companies sided with Samsung in the case, arguing that forcing Samsung to turn over profits from devices that infringed Apple patents would stifle innovation.

This decision is the latest turn in the ongoing patent war between Samsung and Apple. In 2012, a jury ruled that Samsung willfully infringed Apple patents and awarded the Cupertino company $1 billion in damages. The award was slightly reduced after it was determined the jury erred in its judgment. Earlier this year, a U.S. appeals court reversed a significant part of the decision, cutting the award down to $548 million. In mid-June, Samsung asked the court to reconsider its latest appeal, targeting $400 million of the $548 million it owed to Apple.

Bloomberg reports that Apple will be unable to deliver their rumored live TV-over-internet streaming service for the Apple TV until 2016. Content negotiations are reportedly stalling the launch of the service, which Apple had hoped to be ready for their rumored September 9th media event.

The company wanted to introduce this year a live TV service delivered via the Internet, but is now aiming for 2016, said people familiar with Apple’s plans.

Apparently, pricing of the new TV service is one of the main hurdles in the negotiations. Bloomberg reports that Apple wants to offer "a package of popular channels" for $40/month, a significant discount from the average cable bill.

A new Apple TV set top box, however, is still said to be ready for release. The new Apple TV is rumored to have a touch-based remote control and full app store. Apple is expected to announce the new Apple TV on September 9th.

Apple has released updated diversity numbers that provide a breakdown of the company's workforce based on gender, race and ethnicity in 2015. The new data reveals that Apple hired over 11,000 women globally over the past year, a 65% increase over the previous year, in addition to 2,200 Black employees, a 50% year-over-year increase, and 2,700 Hispanic employees, a 66% increase over the previous year.

Apple says that is has hired more diverse candidates in 2015 than any year to date, with the percentage of new hires in the past year broken down as follows: 35% Women (Global), 19% Asian (U.S.), 13% Hispanic (U.S.), 11% Black (U.S.). Apple's global gender split is now 69% male and 31% female, a marginal change from last year's 70% male-30% female split.

Apple CEO Tim Cook:

Diversity is critical to innovation and it is essential to Apple’s future. We aspire to do more than just make our company as diverse as the talent available to hire. We must address the broad underlying challenges, offer new opportunities, and create a future generation of employees as diverse as the world around us. We also aspire to make a difference beyond Apple. [...]

We are proud of the progress we’ve made, and our commitment to diversity is unwavering. But we know there is a lot more work to be done.

Some people will read this page and see our progress. Others will recognize how much farther we have to go. We see both. And more important than these statistics, we see tens of thousands of Apple employees all over the world, speaking dozens of languages, working together. We celebrate their differences and the many benefits we and our customers enjoy as a result.

Apple's overall race and ethnicity breakdown in the United States is now 54% White, 18% Asian, 11% Hispanic, 8% Black, 2% Multiple, 1% Other and 6% Undeclared. The data reflects the past year through June 27, 2015 and varies when broken down into individual categories including tech, non-tech, leadership, retail and retail leadership.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

At Samsung's big press conference today in New York, the company announced two new flagship smartphones: the Samsung Galaxy Note5 and the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+, both of which include large "phablet" sized screens that poise them to be direct competitors to the iPhone 6 Plus. They each include the same 5.7-inch display with 4GB of RAM, 16-megapixel rear cameras, and 5-megapixel front cameras, and even the ability to record 4K video.

The Galaxy S6 Edge+ keeps its predecessor's curved screen design, but increases its screen size from 5.1-inches to 5.7-inches, which is even larger than the iPhone 6 Plus' 5.5-inch screen. Otherwise, the phone's internals are only slight bumps from the last generation, with the same rear and front cameras and only a slight RAM increase from the S6 Edge's 3GB.

The other phone announced today, the Galaxy Note5, is being aimed at a more enterprise-friendly market, with Samsung describing the smartphone as having an "unmatched set of productivity tools" with the traditional stylus removable from the bottom of the device. Samsung notes that today's upgrades confirm its commitment to the emerging larger-screened smartphone market, "which Samsung boldly pioneered in 2011 with the original Galaxy Note."

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