MacRumors

Apple is in talks with programmers including CBS, 21st Century Fox and Walt Disney to launch a subscription-based streaming TV service this fall, according to The Wall Street Journal. The report, citing sources familiar with the matter, claims that the service would have about 25 channels, cost between $30 to $40 per month and be available on iPad, iPhone and Apple TV. The service is said to debut at Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference in June ahead of a September launch in the United States.

Apple's web-based TV service will reportedly deliver a lightweight package anchored by popular networks such as ABC, CBS, ESPN and FX, but will not include smaller channels typically included in a standard cable TV package. The report adds that NBCUniversal content could be notably absent due to a falling-out between Apple and NBC parent company Comcast. The two sides were allegedly in negotiations as recently as last year, although Apple believed that Comcast was too focused on its own X1 set-top box for web-based streaming.

Rumors surrounding Apple's much-rumored TV service gained momentum again last month when Re/code reported that Apple was in talks with television programmers over deals that would see the company offer a web-based TV service. Such a service would potentially allow Apple to deliver customized television packages that would be streamed over the Internet across iOS devices, providing access to a bundle of channels from participating content providers. The recent announcement of HBO Now also supports rumors that Apple is interested in streaming TV content.

Apple today notified its employees about a new volunteer program that it's launching, which is designed to encourage Apple employees in select locations to volunteer in their local communities.

Under the new Apple Global Volunteer Program, Apple is offering employees a way to receive training and tools to help them create and publicize local volunteer events to better their communities. The program, currently available in the United States, Sydney, and Cork, also aims to help employees find activities to volunteer for.

Since its launch in 2011, the Apple Matching Gifts Program has been an astounding success, with a combined total of over $78 million donated to charities and non-profits around the world. Now employees in the U.S. have a new way to make an even bigger impact on the causes they care about where they live: the Apple Global Volunteer Program. The program empowers employees to become Volunteer Champions and receive training and tools to help organize and publicize volunteer events in their communities. It also makes it easy for employees to find activities where they can volunteer their time and qualify for Matching Gifts. Right now we're piloting the program in the U.S., Sydney, and Cork with the goal of expanding it worldwide in the future.

The launch of the Apple Global Volunteer Program comes just months after Apple made efforts to expand employee benefit packages under the direction Denise Young Smith, who took over as head of human resources at Apple early last year. Improved benefits included more maternity/paternity leave for parents, educational reimbursements, and an expansion of Apple's long-running donation matching program.

Apple's Matching Gifts Program [PDF] has existed since 2011, seeing the company match the money its employees contribute to charities (up to $10,000 per employee per year), but with the expansion, Apple also began matching time volunteered. As of October 2014, Apple donates $25 per hour to any non-profit where an employee volunteers.

As stated in the memo sent to employees, Apple's charitable efforts have thus far raised a combined total of $78 million for charities and non-profit organizations around the world.

Apple plans to lure Android switchers to the iPhone by offering them Apple gift cards in exchange for their Android devices, reports 9to5Mac. The gift cards will be available under a new recycling and trade-in program that will provide in-store credit for users who trade in old smartphones, including those that come from rival smartphone manufacturers.

The new program will work similarly to Apple's existing trade-in program, which provides users with gift cards for older Apple devices that can be used towards a new purchase. Value of the gift cards provided to Android switchers will vary based on the individual device, its age, and its condition.

Apple has been making efforts in recent months to attract users switching from Android devices. In addition to this new trade-in program, the company has also created a detailed guide that walks Android users through moving data from their Android devices to the iPhone.

Following the launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the devices had brought the highest Android switcher rate Apple had seen in three years. At the time, Cook also said he expects to see more customers switching over to iPhone.

Apple retail employees will begin receiving training on the new trade-in program this week and it will launch in the near future.

Following the premiere of Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine this weekend at SXSW in Austin, Texas, reviews of the film have begun circulating in the media. The Guardian notes that the documentary portrays Jobs as "a man with dazzling talent and monomaniacal focus, but utterly lacking in empathy," with director Alex Gibney showing several examples of the late Apple co-founder's less-desirable behaviour that are typically overshadowed by his successes.

"Yet this man, whose belief in his own righteousness was unshakeable, also terminated Apple’s philanthropic programmes, presided over huge corporate tax evasion, paid Chinese workers making iPhones a pittance, and only stumped up maintenance for his first daughter after dragging his ex-girlfriend through the courts, claiming that she was promiscuous and he was infertile, until a DNA test proved otherwise. Finally, he agreed to pay $500 a month – he was worth $200m at the time."

Apple senior executive Eddy Cue was quick to express his disappointment in the documentary, describing the film on Twitter as "an inaccurate and mean-spirited view of my friend" and "not a reflection of the Steve I knew." Cue added that the best portrayal of Jobs is in the upcoming book "Becoming Steve Jobs," which he describes as "well done and first to get it right."

Other publications that reviewed the documentary include Variety, TechnologyTell and Indiewire. The film is expected to debut in theaters later this year.

Apple today seeded the fourth beta of OS X Yosemite to developers and public beta testers, almost a month after seeding the first OS X 10.10.3 beta and just days after releasing the third beta to developers.

Today's beta appears to be nearly identical to the third 10.10.3 beta released last week, but it appears to solve a problem that prevented beta 3 from working with the new 2015 Retina MacBook Pro and MacBook Air.

The new beta, build 14D105g, is available for registered developers through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store and through the Mac Dev Center.

Earlier betas of OS X 10.10.3 have brought several new features to Yosemite, including the new Photos for OS X app. Designed to integrate with iCloud Photo Library, Photos for OS X is a replacement for both iPhoto and Aperture and is on track to see an early 2015 public launch. Reviews have suggested that while Photos is a suitable replacement for iPhoto, with more advanced tools and performance optimizations, it may leave professional users disappointed.

Along with the new Photos for OS X app, the first three OS X 10.10.3 betas introduced a redesigned emoji picker that consolidates emoji into a single page with clear labels, new diversified emoji and emoji skin tone modifiers, new flag emoji and updated emoji for the iPhone, iMac, and Apple Watch. There's also support for Google 2-step verification when setting up accounts in System Preferences, Force Touch APIs for developers, and new data sources for the "Look Up" feature.

A growing number of users have turned to the Apple Support Communities, MacRumors discussion forums and Facebook in recent weeks to voice their complaints about the anti-reflective coating on Retina MacBook Pros becoming scratched or wearing off. The long-standing display issue appears to affect several MacBook Pros, including mid-2012 to mid-2014 models sold between June 2012 and present.

The anti-reflective coating appears to be wearing off under a variety of circumstances, including the pressure of the keys and trackpad on the display when closed, and the use of third-party cleaning solutions and microfiber cloths. While the issue is typically isolated to small areas of the screen, some users have shared pictures showing the anti-reflective coating wearing off across virtually the entire display.

"I had the exact same problem, and I followed the cleaning instructions on the Apple website: a lint free cloth and a small amount of water," writes MacRumors forum member wj2. "Was trying to remove a mark in the corner of my screen and a shiny scratch appeared on the bezel. It grew in size and it looked like the coating on the bezel was coming off like everyone is saying. Started happening at the top of my display by the camera also. I looked it up and stumbled across this same forum and realized that it was a problem that I should take up with Apple."

Affected users have received mixed responses from Apple. While some Retina MacBook Pro owners covered under a one-year limited warranty or AppleCare Protection Plan have been able to get their notebook repaired through the Genius Bar for no charge, others have been told that cosmetic damage is not covered under warranty and offered to have their notebooks repaired for a service charge costing hundreds of dollars.

While the anti-reflective coating issues are not new, with complaints dating back to at least August 2013, the problem has been gaining momentum in recent weeks. The issue has received over 100,000 views and 600 responses between the Apple Support Communities and MacRumors discussion forums, and dozens of users have submitted pictures of their damaged Retina MacBook Pros throughout March in a Facebook group set up to discuss the problem.

Update Mar 17: An unofficial website called "Staingate" has launched where affected users can join a database and submit photos of the display coating wearing off on their MacBook Pro.

During its Spring Forward Apple media event, Apple announced that the new 12-inch MacBook would adopt the new USB standard USB Type C, which is a multifaceted port that can do multiple things like video and charging. In the newest episode of his podcast The Talk Show, John Gruber mentioned that Apple may have invented the new standard. The mention was first spotted by The Tech Block.

I have heard, can't say who, but let's call them "informed little birdies", that USB-C is an Apple invention and that they gave it to the standard bodies. And that the politics of such is that they can't really say that. They're not going to come out in public and say it, but they did. It is an Apple invention and they do want it to become a standard.

Gruber's comment comes at the 54 minute mark of the podcast, with TechCrunch's Matthew Panzarino saying that Apple inventing USB-C and giving it to the standard bodies wouldn't surprise him. Gruber goes on to note that there are some contexts in which Apple wants users to have a standard port, but that there are other contexts in which they want users to have proprietary ports.

However, Gruber says he does not know whether Apple will adopt USB-C in other devices like iPhones and iPads. Currently, the new USB standard will be only be available for the new 12-inch MacBook. Recently, Google announced that its new Chromebook Pixel would also adopt the standard.

Earlier this week, we shared some Geekbench benchmarks for the Broadwell processors in the new 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro and the new 13-inch MacBook Air, which pointed towards speeds that were comparable to mid-2014 models.

At the time, we noted the results might shift once more data came in and the machines got past their initial housekeeping tasks, and Primate Labs' John Poole has now shared additional benchmarks for all stock versions of the new machines. The new data indicate that performance improvements may indeed be somewhat better than initially thought, though still relatively moderate.

On the new MacBook Air, both the default 1.6 GHz Core i5 chip and the 2.2 GHz Core i7 chip available as an upgrade performed somewhat better than their predecessors on the 32-bit single-core test, but there were more significant gains in the multi-core test for the higher-end processors.

According to the new averages, single-core performance increased 6 percent from Haswell to Broadwell. Multi-core performance on the i5 chip increased 7 percent, while multi-core performance for the i7 model increased 14 percent.

Due to the more meaningful jump in multi-core performance between the 2.2GHz Core i7 chip and the 1.6GHz Core i5 chip, Poole recommends that MacBook Air buyers go for the processor upgrade.

If you're thinking of buying the new MacBook Air I would strongly recommend the i7 processor. It has 20% faster single-core performance and 25% faster multi-core performance for only a 15% increase in price.

Benchmarks of the new 13-inch MacBook Pro showed slight gains over previous-generation models, but the differences were not quite as pronounced as on the MacBook Air. Single-core performance increased between 3 percent and 7 percent from Haswell to Broadwell, depending on the model, while multi-core performance increased 3 percent to 6 percent.

I have no recommendations regarding the processor for the new MacBook Pro. The performance differences and the price differences between the processors are roughly equivalent.

Intel operates on a "Tick-Tock" chip manufacturing model. Tock upgrades represent a new microarchitecture, while tick upgrades like Broadwell are generally an improvement on tock architecture, leading to improvements in efficiency. As a tick upgrade, the minor speed improvements Broadwell brings are no surprise. Intel's last tock upgrade was Haswell, and its next tock upgrade will be Skylake, coming later this year.

Apple's new 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro and new MacBook Air models are available immediately from the online Apple Store and from Apple's retail stores.

iOS developer Hamza Sood has shared further screenshots of the official Apple Watch app on iOS 8.2, providing a closer look at what the companion software looks like after pairing an Apple Watch. In particular, the screenshots reveal an Apple Watch setting menu for configuring the app layout, notifications, glances, brightness and text size, sounds and haptics, individual apps, internal options, and more.

Apple Watch settings are similar to those found on iPhone, with About, Software Update and Automatic Downloads menus under General alongside options to adjust the watch orientation, accessibility, language and region, and Apple ID settings. Two toggle switches allow for Handoff and wrist detection to be enabled, the latter of which locks your Apple Watch when you're not using it to keep your information secure.

Apple Watch will be available April 24, with pre-orders starting April 10 in the first wave of launch countries: United States, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan and United Kingdom. The wrist-worn device starts at $349 for the Apple Watch Sport, while the stainless steel models will retail for between $549 to $1,099 and the 18-karat gold Apple Watch Edition will cost up to $17,000.

Apple's "Project Titan", its secretive and much-rumored electric car project, may involve a campus leased by Apple last year that is located in Sunnyvale, California, just a few minutes from the company's main 1 Infinite Loop campus in Cupertino, reports AppleInsider.

According to "two people with knowledge of the project", the company has been receiving shipments that may be related to the project's development at the Sunnyvale address, though it remains unclear if that location is indeed the headquarters of the car project.

According to one AppleInsider source familiar with "Titan," many of Apple's new auto-related hires, including recruits from Tesla, have been working out of the Sunnyvale campus. This person claims that some of the projects underway there have been kept "very secret" within the company.

It is said that the "Titan" development building itself is codenamed "SG5."

Apple's presence at the campus is not a secret, but AppleInsider believes Apple is linked to another company quietly operating at the site, likely as a front for Apple's more secretive efforts. That company, SixtyEight Research, claims to be a market research firm, but there is little public evidence of any actual operations in that field. Instead, the building where SixtyEight Research is listed as a tenant has seen city permits issued for construction of an "auto work area" and a "repair garage".

SixtyEight's affiliation with Apple could not be confirmed, but Apple does have a long history of using shell corporations and deceptive methods to hide its secret projects. Aside from a barren website, there is scant other information about SixtyEight — lending more credence to its use as a front.

It wouldn't be a stretch to surmise that SixtyEight could play a role in allowing Apple to purchase and import automotive equipment and tools without drawing any suspicion. Apple, after all, is the biggest company in the world, and has been known to force engineers to use false names in the past when visiting suppliers to avoid unwelcome attention.

A visit to SixtyEight's offices by AppleInsider was met with frosted opaque glass and security cameras, with a note pointing those looking for the company offices to a three-story building in the complex leased to Apple.

Much of the evidence is circumstantial, but there definitely appear to be some curious circumstances at Apple's Sunnyvale campus. Apple's car project is reportedly still in the early stages, but the company is said to have committed to building a team of up to 1000 employees with a goal of launching a car around 2020 if the project proves promising.

iOS developer Hamza Sood has tweeted a series of screenshots from iOS 8.2 that provide a closer look at the upcoming "Activity" companion app for Apple Watch previewed on the Apple Watch microsite. Activity does not show up on iPhone until an Apple Watch is paired with the device, at which point the app provides a comprehensive overview of your daily activity and workout history.

Apple is pushing the health and fitness capabilities of Apple Watch as one of three main selling points for the wrist-worn device, the others being communication and timekeeping. The upcoming Activity app is an important feature in that regard, and looks polished in time for the Apple Watch's release next month. Apple will begin taking pre-orders for the Apple Watch on April 10 ahead of an April 24 launch.