MacRumors

Apple's iconic Fifth Avenue store in New York City will soon close for renovations and temporarily relocate to the soon-to-be-vacated FAO Schwarz toy store in the General Motors Building, according to the Associated Press. The report does not offer a timeline for the renovation plans.

Apple reportedly plans to renovate about 20 existing retail stores in the United States to accommodate for increased foot traffic, with many stores set to double in size. Apple's flagship Regent Street store in United Kingdom is among the stores that will be renovated, while San Francisco's Union Square store will be relocated.

Apple's iconic Fifth Avenue retail store was last renovated in 2011 when larger, seamless panes of glass were installed. The renovation was completed in November 2011, with before and after pictures and a YouTube video providing a good look at the transition to a more seamless design.

As of this afternoon, many developers and public beta testers running the latest iOS 8.4 beta are seeing popups for Apple's upcoming Apple Music service within the Music app.

When opening the app, there's a popup for Apple Music that prompts users to start a three month free trial. Tapping on that option leads to another screen that lets users choose either an individual plan for $9.99 for a family plan for $14.99, but there's no way to actually sign up for a plan. Choosing a plan simply grays out the option and does not allow users to progress further in the signup process.

These options have been showing up for some users since the latest iOS 8.4 beta was seeded yesterday morning, but many more users are now seeing signs of the Apple Music service as Apple begins to implement backend tools to support subscription signups at launch.

Apple Music will launch on June 30 as part of iOS 8.4, and it will be built into the Music app. The full Apple Music experience includes an on-demand streaming music service, the Beats 1 radio station, and Apple Connect, a social networking service connecting fans and artists.

With iOS 8, Apple introduced Continuity, a set of features that allow iOS devices and Macs to interface in new ways. One of the Continuity features allows the iPad and the Mac to receive both text messages and phone calls, so long as your devices, including your iPhone, are all on the same Wi-Fi network.

In iOS 9, accepting phone calls or text messages on your iPad or Mac routed from your iPhone is getting even better, with the addition of cellular support. With iOS 9, your iPhone no longer needs to be on the same network as your iPad or Mac for call forwarding to work.

That means an iPhone can continue to forward calls to a Mac or an iPad even when it's in an entirely different physical location. So, for example, if you forget your iPhone at home, you can continue to receive incoming calls on your Mac while at work, so long as your Mac is connected to a Wi-Fi network.

The feature is tied to Wi-Fi calling, and as noted by The Verge, T-Mobile is the first U.S. carrier to support cellular Continuity. In iOS 9, T-Mobile devices have Phone settings that can be toggled on to allow calls on other devices.

"Wi-Fi calling for other devices allows other devices signed into your iCloud account to make and receive calls using your carrier account even when your iPhone is not nearby," reads the description of the feature.

On phones from other carriers, this setting reads differently: "Use your iPhone cellular connection to make and receive calls on devices signed into your iCloud account when they are nearby and on Wi-Fi."

Developers running iOS 9 who use T-Mobile can access this feature immediately, and beta testers will receive access in July, when iOS 9 is provided to public beta testers. It is not known if other carriers will implement support for cellular Continuity before iOS 9 launches in the fall.

Apple earlier this week announced a new consolidated Apple Developer Program for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Safari, combining the previously separate iOS, OS X and Safari Dev Programs into one for a single $99 annual fee. The change should place more emphasis on and increase the security of Safari extensions, but some developers have voiced their frustrations about the new fee.

In particular, developers will now be required to pay $99 per year to distribute Safari extensions through the new Safari Extensions Gallery. Comparatively, the old standalone Safari Dev Program was free and did not charge developers a fee to distribute Safari extensions within or outside of the Safari Extensions Gallery. Chrome and other browsers also do not charge a fee to distribute extensions.

Reddit user honestbleeps shared the email Apple sent to Safari developers:

"Dear Developer,

As a creator of Safari Extensions, you’ve helped enrich the browsing experience for Safari users by taking advantage of development resources through the Safari Developer Program. This program is now part of the new Apple Developer Program, which combines everything you need to develop, distribute, and manage your apps on all Apple platforms.

Your existing Safari Developer Program membership will remain active until July 8, 2015 and your Safari extensions will continue to work for existing users.

You can continue building Safari extensions and bring your creativity to other Apple platforms by joining the Apple Developer Program. Join today to provide updates to your current extensions, build new extensions, and submit your extensions to the new Safari Extensions Gallery for OS X El Capitan. You can also learn how to extend your coding skills to create innovative new apps for Apple customers around the world."

Apple aims to improve the security of Safari on OS X El Capitan by implementing Secure Extension Distribution, meaning that all extensions in the Safari Extensions Gallery will now be hosted and signed by Apple. Safari extensions installed from the Safari Extensions Gallery will be updated automatically, while those distributed outside of the Gallery are ineligible for automatic updating.

Apple has created a page for developers to submit Safari extensions for OS X El Capitan in the fall, and developers can read both the Safari Extensions Review Guidelines and Safari Extensions Development Guide to prepare. Safari extensions available now will continue working for current users, and existing Safari Developer Program memberships will remain active until July 8, 2015.

Safari 9.0 will also feature content blocking extensions for both iOS and OS X, providing users with a fast and efficient way to block cookies, images, resources, pop-ups and other content. Xcode includes a Content Blocker App Extension template that contains code for developers to send their JSON files to Safari that specifies which content should be blocked. A full Safari 9.0 changelog is in the Safari Developer Library.

Code hidden within iOS 9 files hints at upcoming iPhone improvements, suggesting Apple could potentially be planning to introduce a front-facing camera with flash support, the ability to capture 1080p video, and several rear-facing camera capabilities, like Panorama and Slo-Mo modes.

"CAMCaptureCapabilities" files in iOS 9 discovered by developer Hamza Sood have file names like "[CAMCaptureCapabilities isFront1080p120Supported]," which seems to refer to the front-facing camera on the iPhone. At the current time, the front-facing "FaceTime" camera is able to capture 1.2-megapixel photos and record 720p HD video.

There's no indication that these particular file names reflect Apple's upcoming plans for the front-facing camera, but it's possible that these are improvements we may see in the future. The front-facing camera has always lagged behind the rear-facing camera in order to save space, but with the increasing popularity of "selfies," Apple may choose to introduce some major upgrades to the front-facing camera in the future.

Rumors have suggested that the rear-facing camera will be gaining some major improvements with the iPhone 6s and the iPhone 6s Plus, so it's a reasonable assumption that the front-facing camera may also see improvements at the same time. There have been hints suggesting the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus could see the biggest camera jump Apple's ever introduced, adopting near-DSLR image quality.

Apple did recently acquire a company that specializes in dual-sensor cameras that produce better images and are capable of capturing 3D imagery, but it is not known if that technology will make it into the new iPhones. Apple is expected to introduce the two new devices in the fall, perhaps in mid-September, based on past release timelines.

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 banner notifications process Unicode.

Sending the string of characters to an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch results in an immediate respring, causing the device to crash and quickly reboot. From there, if the Messages app was opened at a list view, the Messages app crashes automatically when you try to open it. If it was opened to the conversation where you received the message, the app will open, but attempting to go to another conversation causes Messages to crash.

Apple recently published a support document on its website with a temporary workaround for the problem, and ensured that a permanent fix would be issued in a future software update. That fix has arrived in the form of iOS 8.4, which will be released ahead of Apple Music's launch on June 30. In the meantime, affected users can ask Siri to "read unread messages" and use Siri to reply to the malicious message in order to regain access to the Messages app and delete the message.

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 artists, songwriters and rights holders, including more than $300 million in the first three months of 2015 alone.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Spotify has also raised $526 million in a funding round that values the company at $8.53 billion, giving it significantly more financial backing to take on Apple Music and other rivals in the increasingly competitive streaming music market. Spotify will reportedly invest the capital raised from investors in expansion and new forms of content to further differentiate itself.

Apple Music was announced earlier this week as a streaming music service, live global radio station and social platform for artists to connect with fans. The subscription-based service costs $9.99 per month with a three-month free trial for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac and PC. Apple TV and Android versions of the service will be available in the fall. Apple Music launches June 30 on iOS 8.4 and iTunes.

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 driving vehicles around the world to collect data which will be used to improve Apple Maps. Some of this data will be published in future Apple Maps updates. We are committed to protecting your privacy while collecting this data. For example, we will blur faces and license plates on collected images prior to publication."

Apple has been driving around fifth-generation Dodge Caravans equipped with LiDAR camera equipment on the roof to collect street-level imagery in the United States, starting with major cities and metropolitan areas in the south, northeast and midwest regions of the country. The mapping vehicles have been spotted in at least a dozen states to date as they continue moving further inland.

• Anaheim, California
• Atlanta, Georgia
• Chicago, Illinois
• Dallas, Texas
• Las Vegas, Nevada
• Los Angeles, California
• Maui, Hawaii
• Miami, Florida
• New York City, New York
• Orlando, Florida
• Palo Alto, California
• Phoenix, Arizona
• Salt Lake City, Utah
• San Diego, California
• San Francisco, California
• Sunnyvale, California

Apple confirms many of these locations in the support document, while adding Oahu, Boston, Detroit, St. Louis, Seattle, Tucson and surrounding counties as additional U.S. regions it will be surveying in the second half of June. Apple Maps vehicles will also head overseas to collect street-level imagery in Birmingham, Dublin, Essex, Kent, London and several other cities and counties in England and Ireland.

The collection of street-level imagery is part of Apple's larger shift towards in-house mapping data, in order to reduce its reliance on third-party companies such as TomTom, which has provided data for Apple Maps since it launched. Apple is also allegedly taking photos of businesses, storefronts and other points of interest to replace photos currently provided by Yelp and other third parties.

Send your photos of Apple Maps vans to tips@macrumors.com.

A day after the WWDC keynote address, Apple SVP of Marketing Phil Schiller joined Daring Fireball's John Gruber on Gruber's podcast, The Talk Show. The episode has not yet been posted, but The Verge was on hand to document the interview. Schiller addressed concerns about 16 GB iPhones, the decision between thin devices and battery life and the single USB port on the MacBook.

Gruber suggested to Schiller that the Cupertino company's iOS devices should come with larger storage capacities on the low end, as the 16 GB of storage provided in the base iPhone 6 or 6 Plus is harder to live with with the current size of apps. Schiller countered that services like iCloud could make up the difference.

"The belief is more and more as we use iCloud services for documents and our photos and videos and music," he said, "that perhaps the most price-conscious customers are able to live in an environment where they don't need gobs of local storage because these services are lightening the load."

Schiller also said that using 16 GB storage for lower-end models allows Apple to save money for use on higher-end components in other parts of the device, like the camera.

When asked about the relationship between the thickness of a phone and battery life, and whether maintaining the thickness of its devices could lead to more power-efficient internals and bigger batteries, Schiller said that Apple has the right balance with its devices. He points out that a device with a larger battery and thickness becomes heavier and takes longer to charge. Schiller notes that Apple tries to figure out the tradeoffs with every device it makes, and he thinks the company has made "great choices" in those tradeoffs.

The Apple SVP also acknowledged that the new MacBook, with its one USB-C port and new keyboard, isn't for everyone. However, he said he believes that Apple is a company that needs to release forward-thinking products like the new MacBook, which is an effort to push the world into a place where users don't plug things into their laptops. Schiller said he wants an Apple that's "bold and taking risks and being aggressive."

Apple has faced criticism for its "bold decisions" in the past, with users unsure of whether a 16 GB device is enough for a daily driver, concern about whether new devices will have improved battery life with thinner designs and products with new technology that come with heavy initial limitations.

While the episode has not yet debuted online yet, it should be available on Daring Fireball in due time.

Update: Full video of the interview is now available. There is some profanity, primarily during the introductory section before Gruber and Schiller take the stage.

Following yesterday's debut of Apple Music, Jimmy Iovine and iTunes Chief Eddy Cue sat down with Billboard to discuss the new service and app, which combine on-demand streaming music with 24/7 radio and a social networking platform where artists can interact with fans.

According to Cue, the $9.99 individual price point for Apple Music wasn't a sticking point for the company as some earlier reports suggested, but the company was invested in negotiating a reasonable family subscription price. Apple Music lets up to 6 family members share an account for $14.99, a price point that Cue says will get entire families on board with the service.

I think the cost of an album for a month of subscription is fair. Could you argue, $7.99 or $8.99? Who cares. I think where subscription is missing the boat is on the family -- you have a spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend kids ... the concept of signing up for these individual subscription plans multiple times is just not going to happen so we spent a lot of time with the labels to convince them that the real opportunity here is to get the whole family. With that, all boats rise.

On the subject of streaming music cannibalizing iTunes downloads, Cue says he expects some of the customer base to subscribe instead of buying music, but he believes downloads will "go on for a long, long time." "There are lots of people who are very happy downloading," he said. "And I think they'll continue to."

Explaining the reasoning behind a 24-hour human-curated radio station, Iovine explained that over the past 15 years, radio's become manufactured, something he'd like to change. "It's either genre-based or beat-driven or research-driven," he said. "So I said, let's build something that's got none of that that just plays music because it's great."

Cue and Iovine also did interviews with The Wall Street Journal and The Guardian, sharing much of the same information, but in the latter interview, the duo also spoke on Apple Connect, the social networking component of Apple Music. The point of Apple Connect and Apple Music in general, said Cue, was to give artists and labels control over content sharing.

"Our viewpoint was very simple: let the artist and label control it. They can put it up on Connect for free if they want to, or they can put it up behind the [subscription] paywall, or they can make it available on the iTunes Store for sale. They're in control of their music and how they want to distribute it," says Cue.

Iovine added commentary suggesting a music service needs to be "a win for everybody." "We wanted to give artists a place where there's a rhyme and a reason," he said. "Where there's a payoff! And not just a financial payoff, but an emotional payoff. A creative payoff."

Apple Music, with its on-demand streaming service, Beats 1 radio station, and Apple Connect platform, will officially launch on June 30, as part of the iOS 8.4 update. As previously mentioned, it will be priced at $9.99 for individuals and $14.99 for families. Existing Beats subscribers will be able to transition their subscriptions to Apple Music.