MacRumors

Apple Pay support has been extended to 14 additional retailers in the United States, including Bashas', Coca-Cola Vending, Dan's Fresh Market, Dick's Fresh Market, Fuddruckers, Jamba Juice, Jersey Mike's Subs, JetBlue, Lin's Fresh Market, Maceys, Office Max, Pep Boys, Regal Cinemas and Walt Disney World, as spotted by AppleInsider.

Apple CEO Tim Cook announced on Monday during the company's "Spring Forward" media event that Apple Pay support will be rolling out at some 40,000 Coca-Cola vending machines across the United States, with the mobile payments service now accepted at over 700,000 locations nationwide. Apple Pay remains limited to the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in the United States, although Apple has expressed plans to launch the service in other countries.

GameStop and Marriott International also announced Apple Pay support this week.

A number of Apple services are experiencing an extended period of downtime, including the App Store and iTunes Connect. The iOS and Mac App Stores are displaying various error messages to users about being unable to connect or certain items being unavailable, as spotted by The Next Web, and iTunes Connect and TestFlight are also down for developers.

The outage is affecting a significant number of users in the United States, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, India and many other countries worldwide. The downtime appears to have been ongoing for several hours this morning, although Apple has yet to update its System Status page to reflect the downtime for the iOS App Store, Mac App Store, iTunes Connect, TestFlight or any other affected Apple services.

Update 6:55 AM PT: Apple has updated its System Status page after the fact to reflect the downtime. Apple lists that iCloud sign in and mail was down for all users between roughly 2:00 AM to 5:45 AM Pacific Time, although it is clear that other services were affected as well. While the App Store and iTunes have returned online in some regions, a number of Apple services still appear to be experiencing intermittent downtime in several countries.

Update 7:05 AM PT: Apple has updated its System Status page again to reflect the widespread iTunes Store outage ongoing since 2 AM Pacific Time.

Update 10:34 AM PT: In a statement given to CNBC, an Apple spokesperson said the downtime is due to an internal DNS error at Apple and that the company is working on a fix.

"We apologize to our customers experiencing problems with iTunes and other services this morning. The cause was an internal DNS error at Apple. We're working to make all of the services available to customers as soon as possible, and we thank everyone for their patience," Apple said in a statement to CNBC.

Update 1:39 PM PT According to Apple's System Status page, the iTunes and App Store outage has been resolved.

Apple will add pressure-sensing Force Touch technology to its next-generation iPhones, reports The Wall Street Journal in an article that covers a range of new details on the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. Currently built into the upcoming Apple Watch and 12-inch Retina MacBook, Force Touch lets devices distinguish between a light tap and a hard press, enabling new gestures.

According to the report, which is sourced from Apple suppliers, Apple's next-generation iPhones will continue to be available in 4.7 and 5.5-inch screen sizes, with plans to "keep the resolution similar." New colors are a possibility though, and Apple is said to be considering adding a pink option to its existing space gray, silver, and gold iPhone lineup.

Production may begin on components for the next-generation iPhones as early as May, but The Wall Street Journal notes that Apple often tests technologies and designs with various suppliers that may not make it into finalized products.

Today's report echoes several other reports that have also pointed towards Force Touch for the next-generation iPhone. Supply chain sources first hinted at Force Touch technology back in January, and those rumors seem more plausible now that the feature has been incorporated into both the Apple Watch and Apple's recently announced MacBook.

Beyond the Force Touch rumors, little is known about the next-generation iPhones, which will likely be called the "iPhone 6s" and the "iPhone 6s Plus." The devices are expected to receive upgraded A9 processors and have been rumored to include features like camera upgrades, more RAM, and improved Touch ID. Apple will presumably release the new iPhones in September.

Apple's newest MacBook is one of the first computers to take advantage of the USB Type-C specification, which was finalized in August of 2014. USB-C uses a small reversible connector that's similar in size to a Lightning connector, but slightly larger.

In addition to delivering power to the Apple MacBook (it's capable of delivering up to 100 watts at 20 volts), USB-C has a DisplayPort alternate mode for connecting monitors, cables, docking stations, and more, plus it supports USB 3.1 data transfers up to 5GBps (Apple is using Gen 1 USB 3.1) and it also has support for VGA and HDMI connections. It's able to deliver bi-directional power, meaning it lets the MacBook be charged and through the same port, it lets the MacBook charge other devices.

USB-C is an upgrade from USB-A, the standard USB ports that many of us are used to on our computers, and USB-B. USB-B is used by many of us in portable devices that take advantage of micro-USB, but it is also commonly found in peripherals like printers. In addition to its impressive data and power transfer rates, USB-C has the benefit of being easy to plug into devices, like the Lightning cable.

Apple's adoption of USB-C might seem like something of an annoyance because it requires users to buy expensive adapters and adjust to an all new connection, but it's actually a huge step forward for the company that opens up the possibility of a whole range of new Apple-compatible accessories and devices.

USB-C is the first non-proprietary charging system that Apple has introduced. MacBooks use MagSafe and iOS devices use Lightning connectors, both of which were designed by Apple, giving Apple strict control over how they're used.

Apple lets product developers incorporate Lightning connectors and ports through its MFi (Made for iPhone) certification program, but the company does not have a MagSafe licensing program and has not allowed hardware manufacturers to create products that use the MagSafe connection in MacBooks.

This forces manufacturers who create items like MacBook backup batteries to use the actual connectors from Apple's AC adapters, grafted onto their products. Apple has not looked kindly on this practice in the past, and has levied a lawsuit against at least one company using this method to create hardware for the MacBook.

With the USB-C port in the MacBook, Apple will not have control over the products that are developed for it, paving the way for a whole range of accessories that were not possible before, like backup batteries.

The future of USB-C is bright, but for early adopters, the USB-C experience might be somewhat frustrating because the notebook has a single USB-C port. Apple sells adapters, but the adapters only include one USB-C port, meaning it's not going to be possible for MacBook buyers to charge their devices and use a product like LaCie's new USB-C Porsche Design Mobile Drive at the same time using a USB-C port.

Presumably manufacturers are already at work creating hubs that will include multiple USB-C ports for use with the myriad products that are going to use the new specification, but currently, someone wanting to use a USB-C storage drive would have to decide between charging and accessing data or using the older USB-A port for data transfers.

USB-C is a brand new technology, but with Apple embracing it, it won't be long before we see tons of companies racing to produce USB-C compatible products. Apple will also undoubtedly spur its competitors to adopt the standard as well. It may not be long before we're able to charge a whole range of our devices with a single cable, ending the days of having to carry around MagSafe chargers, USB cables, Micro-USB cables, Lightning cables, and more.

United States Central Intelligence Agency researchers have been working for years to crack the security of Apple's iPhone and iPad, and may have done so through the creation of a modified version of Xcode, Apple's software development tool designed for developers.

According to secret documents obtained by The Intercept, at a 2012 "Jamboree" that focused on security flaws found in various electronics, CIA researchers outlined both a hacked version of Xcode and a modified OS X updater that could be used to install malicious software like keyloggers.

The modified version of Xcode, the researchers claimed, could enable spies to steal passwords and grab messages on infected devices. Researchers also claimed the modified Xcode could "force all iOS applications to send embedded data to a listening post." It remains unclear how intelligence agencies would get developers to use the poisoned version of Xcode.

The malicious version of Xcode could potentially be used to extract private data from devices that installed apps built by the hacked Xcode. Some of the things researchers said could be done with Xcode included installing "remote backdoors" in Mac apps, embedding an app developer's private key into iOS applications (letting the government masquerade as the targeted developer), forcing iOS apps to send data from an iPhone or iPad to a "listening post," and disabling core security features on iOS devices.

None of the documents detail how the Xcode and OS X installer exploits have been used by the CIA, and they also don't state whether the efforts have been successful, but as noted by The Intercept, they suggest that the government's efforts to crack the security technology companies employ is a continually ongoing effort.

Apple and the U.S. government have been at odds over privacy and security issues in recent years. A 2013 document leak suggested that Apple and other tech companies were working with the government on a secret project called PRISM, which allegedly provided the government with direct access to customer data on company servers.

Apple and multiple other technology companies like Google vehemently denied their participation in such a program and have since gone to great lengths to ensure the public that they're not involved in the government's spying attempts. Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and other companies banded together to ask for greater surveillance transparency and the ability to share more info on government data requests with consumers, which was ultimately successful.

Apple launched a privacy site in September of 2014 outlining the privacy features of its products and services and offering detailed information on government information requests. Across 2014, Apple CEO Tim Cook began putting a heavy emphasis on the importance of privacy, and with iOS 8, Apple significantly increased the encryption protection on iOS devices. Prior to iOS 8, Apple had the ability to access data on iOS devices with a company-held encryption key, and now, that no longer exists. Google has made similar changes.

The FBI has strongly opposed Apple's efforts to increase the security of its iOS devices, with FBI Director James Comey insisting that government access to electronic devices is necessary in some cases. Apple has reportedly been in talks with FBI officials over its security changes, but Apple CEO Tim Cook has maintained Apple's commitment to privacy and security.

At the White House Cyber Security Summit in February, Cook said customer trust means everything to Apple. "When it comes to the rights of customers and citizens, we're all talking about the same people," he said. "People have entrusted us with their most personal and precious information and we owe them nothing less than the best protections we can possibly provide by harnessing the technology at our disposal."

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.

During yesterday's Apple Watch event, Apple CEO Tim Cook suggested the high-end Apple Watch Edition will be available in limited quantities at a select number of stores. He was likely referring to some of the pop up shops we've seen under construction, in upscale department stores Galeries Lafayette in Paris and Selfridges in London.

Women's Wear Daily has shared some more information on the locations where we will see the $10,000+ Apple Watch Edition and other versions of the Apple Watch shown off around the world. Described as "shop-in-shops" in high-visibility locations, each of Apple's pop up stores will ensure customers looking to make major purchases will get the best service possible.

At Selfridges, the Apple Watch will be displayed in the aptly named Wonder Room, which houses high-end jewelry and watches in a brightly lit room decked out with treasure-filled glass cases. At Galeries Lafayette, the Apple Watch will be displayed among European brands on the first floor of the facility, and at the Isetan Department Store in Shinjuku, Tokyo, the Apple Watch will be displayed on the ground floor.

Other speciality fashion stores will also sell select Apple Watch models, including Colette in Paris, where the Apple Watch had its fashion world debut, Dover Street Market in London and Tokyo, Maxfield in Los Angeles, The Corner in Berlin, and Lane Crawford in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, and Chengdu. All of these are fashion-oriented upscale stores.

Unlike with the iPhone and the iPad, Apple will likely be keeping a tight rein over which of its resellers are able to offer the Apple Watch. As it is positioned as a fashion accessory, it makes more sense for customers to be able to walk into a high-end store to make an Apple Watch purchase rather than a Best Buy or an AT&T store.

For the Apple Watch Edition especially, Apple wants to create a special, one-on-one buying experience that's not exactly possible with today's crowded retail Apple Stores. There have been hints that Apple is planning to redesign many of its retail locations to facilitate Apple Watch sales, and some of those changes may be implemented ahead of the Apple Watch's April 10 debut date.

Apple vice president of special projects Paul Deneve commented on Apple's plan to sell the Apple Watch in speciality stores, saying that shopping for a watch is a "deeply personal" experience.

"The experience of shopping for an Apple Watch is a deeply personal one. The department stores and specialty stores that we're working with are some of the best in the world at offering such experiences, so it was natural for us to see our product there," said Paul Deneve, Apple's vice president of special projects who joined the tech company after years helming fashion houses including Yves Saint Laurent, Lanvin and Nina Ricci. "Given the very focused distribution that we've pursued for this launch, every door that sells Apple Watch will provide a unique experience for every customer that walks in."

Apple will begin accepting pre-orders for the Apple Watch on Friday, April 10. At that time, the company will also be displaying the Apple Watch in its retail stores for customers to try on, and it's likely many of the pop up shops may open their doors at that time. The Apple Watch's official launch date is April 24.

Apple's annual shareholders meeting is currently underway at the company's headquarters in Cupertino, California, and one big item on the agenda, according to Apple’s human resources chief Denise Young Smith, is a plan to partner with a few non-profit organizations on an effort to bring more women, minorities, and veterans into the tech industry (via Fortune).

The deal is said to be a multi-year effort worth $50 million, and to start off, Apple is partnering with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, a non-profit which focuses on supporting students enrolled in "historically black colleges and universities."

The two will work together in expanding the role of minorities in the field, with Apple planning to donate over $40 million to the organization.

“Historically, other organizations have provided scholarship dollars or focused on whatever area matters most to them,” says Johnny Taylor, president and CEO of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. “What differentiates this partnership with Apple is that it hits on everything that we do—it is the most comprehensive program ever offered to an HBCU organization.”

The company will partner with a separate, female-focused non-profit, the National Center for Women and Information Technology, to help with increasing the presence of women in the field. Apple will donate $10 million to the fund, with a four year plan to double recipients of the organization's scholarships and internship programs.

Tim Cook will allow Rev. Jesse Jackson a few moments to speak during the shareholder meeting taking place today, and USA Today met with Jackson beforehand. He noted that the start of a more diverse presence in the tech field, most notably in Silicon Valley, is just beginning.

"President Obama said in Selma (Ala.) this weekend 'the march is not yet over,'" Jackson is scheduled to say in a statement. "In Silicon Valley, the march for diversity and inclusion is just beginning. Several companies are implementing new diversity and inclusion strategies, most notably Intel's landmark $300 million diversity Initiative.

"Apple and this thriving Silicon Valley are solving the world's most challenging and complex problems. Diversity and Inclusion is a complex problem — if we put our collective minds to it, we can solve it, too. (Apple CEO) Tim (Cook), with Apple and your creative leadership, sensitivity and commitment, we know it can be done."

Jackson has worked with Apple in these regards for over a year now, and has attended the shareholder meetings of other companies like Google, Hewlett-Packard, Facebook, Verizon and eBay, in a similar capacity to what he has planned today during Apple's meeting.

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.

The newly refreshed 13" Retina MacBook Pro announced on Monday is seeing comparable performance to the mid-2014 model, according to the latest Geekbench benchmark. The early 2015 model with an Intel Core i5 processor clocked at 2.7GHz achieved a single-core score of 3043 and a multi-core score of 6448, a minor variance from last year's low-end 13" Retina MacBook Pro single-core score of 3056 and multi-core score of 6554.

The latest 11" MacBook Air, with an Intel Core i5 processor clocked at 1.6GHz, also performed comparably to its predecessor in Geekbench benchmarks, with its single-core score of 2753 and multi-core score of 5486 marginally higher than the mid-2014 model's scores of 2430 and 5291 respectively. Meanwhile, the new 13" MacBook Air had modestly lower scores, although more benchmarks will need to be averaged before results are conclusive.

John Poole of Primate Labs, the makers of Geekbench, claims that the latest MacBook Pro and Air may see slight performance improvements after OS X Yosemite gets through first-boot housekeeping, so further benchmarks results will be needed for those models as well to determine accurate performance. Nevertheless, it is clear that this year's refreshed MacBooks deliver only negligible improvements over the year-ago models.

The results are largely unsurprising given Intel's focus on improving battery life versus performance with its latest Broadwell processors. The new MacBook Air and Pro lineups also have faster graphics and flash storage, two areas where improvements should be more noticeable over last year's models. The refreshed 13" Retina MacBook Pro in particular is up to 40% faster than the previous model with Intel Iris graphics.

Apple refreshed the MacBook Air lineup yesterday with Intel Broadwell processors, Thunderbolt 2 and Intel HD Graphics 6000. It also refreshed the 13" MacBook Pro with similar improvements, including Intel Broadwell processors, Intel HD Graphics 6100 and all-day battery life. The latest MacBook Pros also gained a trackpad with built-in Force Touch technology that detects a small tap versus a deep press and performs a different action accordingly.

More news continues to circulate following yesterday's Apple Watch-centered media event, with today bringing confirmation that two big new companies, GameStop and Marriott, are partnering with Apple to support Apple Pay.

First announced yesterday, Marriott confirmed that it will be the first hospitality company to offer Apple Pay to its customers. The roll-out will begin sometime this summer and launch in eleven total Marriott-owned locations like The Ritz-Carlton, EDITION Miami, Renaissance Hotels, and Marriott Hotels.

“Approximately 75 percent of our guests travel with one or more mobile devices, and it is even higher among 25-35 year olds – a group that will make up a much larger proportion of our guests over the next three years,” said George Corbin, senior vice president, Marriott Digital. “Millions of customers already use Marriott Mobile to quickly book a hotel, check-in, or check out. Now, Apple Pay can make it virtually effortless.”

Guests can expect the usual ease-of-use in placing their iPhone 6, 6 Plus, or following its April 24 launch, Apple Watch, near a contactless reader at the front desk to pay for their room. The company also announced an app for the Apple Watch that will allow Marriott Rewards members advanced check-in, notifications for when their room is ready, and an easier check out process upon leaving a hotel.

Following in Marriott's footsteps, popular video game and technology retailer GameStop confirmed that it will launch nationwide support for Apple Pay, meaning "more than 4,200 U.S. stores", beginning this month. The company hopes the Apple Pay support will grant customers a more secure and hassle-free purchasing experience in its shops.

“We are excited to make it easier and more convenient for our customers to shop at GameStop,” said Jason Cochran, senior vice president of U.S. stores at GameStop. “Providing a positive, memorable customer experience is our top priority. Incorporating the latest in mobile technology, like Apple Pay, into our stores is another way we are offering customers options to help simplify their purchases.”

A few competitors have recently entered the contactless payments market, but Apple's still fairly new Apple Pay service has continued to grow since its initial launch last fall. At yesterday's media event, Tim Cook noted that since its October launch, the service has expanded to 2,500 banks with nearly 700,000 merchants supporting Apple Pay across the U.S.

Apple confirmed that all three editions of the Apple Watch will ship with 8GB of internal storage, according to 9to5Mac. Apple Watch users will be limited to up to 2GB of songs and up to 75MB of photos that are locally stored on the device and can be listened to or viewed without a paired iPhone. Songs can be synced using the Apple Watch companion app on compatible iPhones running iOS 8.2 or later.

2GB of music works out to anywhere from 200 to 500 songs depending on the audio quality, while the report claims that 75MB of photos will equal to over 100 photos that are automatically compressed for reduced file size on the Apple Watch. A portion of the remaining storage capacity is likely allocated to the Apple Watch's operating system, and will store application binaries and resources when a native SDK is released.

While Apple discounted the Apple TV to $69 in the United States this afternoon, it also raised the prices on several products across many countries due to the strength of the U.S. dollar. A wide selection of Apple products, including the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and Thunderbolt Display, are now more expensive in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Portugal and multiple other countries to reflect currency adjustments.

A spot check of the Apple Online Store in Canada, for example, reveals that Apple has increased the price of the unlocked iPhone 6 from between $749-$969 to $839-$1,099, Thunderbolt Displays from $999 to $1,199, and 15-inch Retina MacBook Pros from between $2,099-$2,699 to $2,449-$3,049. Apple also hiked the price on the 15-inch MacBook Pro in France, with the base model now starting at €2,249 up from €1,999, and the higher-spec model up to €2,799 from €2,499.

Apple has made similar price adjustments in countries around the world today in order to ensure parity with United States pricing, following a period in which several Apple products were actually priced at a bargain compared to American prices. For instance, prior to the pricing adjustment, the Thunderbolt Display retailed for $999 in Canada, the same price as in the United States, which converts to around $799 in U.S. dollars based on the average conversion rate over the past month.

The updated prices went into effect following the return of the Apple Online Store at the conclusion of Apple's "Spring Forward" media event in San Francisco this afternoon. Should the U.S. dollar weaken, as happened in July 2011, Apple will continue to make the necessary adjustments in order to ensure that its products and services are as consistently priced as possible throughout the world. In some cases, international prices will remain higher than U.S. prices due to taxes, import duties and to create a buffer against currency fluctuations.