MacRumors

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.

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 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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Apple today released iOS 8.4.1 to the public, roughly six weeks after releasing iOS 8.4 with the new Apple Music service and one month after first seeding the first iOS 8.4.1 beta to registered developers for testing purposes.

Today's iOS 8.4.1 update is Build 12H321 and can be downloaded over-the-air through the using the Software Update tool in the Settings app on iOS devices.

iOS 8.4.1 is a minor update that includes under-the-hood performance improvements, bug fixes, and security updates. Throughout the testing period, no outward-facing changes were discovered in the beta, and Apple's release notes specifically mention only Apple Music improvements and fixes.

This release includes improvements and fixes to Apple Music.

- Resolves issues that could prevent turning on iCloud Music Library
- Resolves an issue that hides added music because Apple Music was set to show offline music only
- Provides a way to add songs to a new playlist if there aren't any playlists to choose from
- Resolves an issue that may show different artwork for an album on other devices
- Resolves several issues for artists while posting to Connect
- Fixes an issue where tapping Love doesn't work as expected while listening to Beats 1

It's likely iOS 8.4.1 will be one of the last updates to the iOS 8 operating system. iOS 9, iOS 8's successor, has been in testing since June and is on track to be released in the fall alongside new iPhones. iOS 9 builds on the features introduced in iOS 8 and adds both new content and underlying performance improvements.

Apple today released OS X Yosemite 10.10.5, an under-the-hood update that introduces bug fixes, security enhancements, and performance improvements. OS X 10.10.5 is being released to the public after two developer betas and one month of testing.

The OS X 10.10.5 update can be downloaded through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store.

Today's update notably includes a fix for the DYLD_PRINT_TO_FILE privilege escalation vulnerability that could allow malware to gain root access to a Mac. Earlier this month, a DYLD_PRINT_TO_FILE exploit was found to be in use in the wild, so this is an update that all Mac users running Yosemite will want to install as soon as possible.

This update:

- Improves compatibility with certain email servers when using Mail
- Fixes an issue in Photos that prevents importing videos from GoPro cameras
- Fixes an issue in QuickTime Player that prevented playback of Windows Media files.

OS X 10.10.5 is likely to be one of the last updates to OS X Yosemite, which will soon be retired in favor of its successor, OS X 10.11 El Capitan. Currently in testing, OS X El Capitan builds on the features introduced with Yosemite, focusing on improving performance and user experience.

Once OS X El Capitan is available for download, OS X Yosemite will see only minor maintenance updates designed to fix security flaws and other major bugs. OS X El Capitan is expected to be released to the public in the fall.

Update 10:33 AM: Fixes and improvements for Apple Music are available in a separate iTunes 12.2.2 update also available through Software Update in the Mac App Store.

Update 11:20 AM: Apple has also released Security Update 2015-006 for Mavericks and Mountain Lion users, as well as Safari 8.0.8 for Yosemite, 7.1.8 for Mavericks, and 6.2.8 for Mountain Lion.

The Wall Street Journal has published an in-depth profile of industrial designer Marc Newson, a longtime friend of Apple design chief Jonathan Ive who joined the Cupertino-based company in September 2014. The interview touches upon a number of topics, ranging from Newson's creative process and design philosophies to his favorite artists and fashion designers.

My design pet-peeve is: the automotive industry. There were moments when cars somehow encapsulated everything that was good about progress. But right now we’re at the bottom of a trough.

Newson's comments certainly do not imply that Apple is working on a vehicle, but it is clear that multiple executives at the Cupertino-based company are car enthusiasts. Apple's SVP of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue joined Ferrari's Board of Directors in November 2012, while Ive has owned several luxury vehicles ranging from Aston Martins and Fiats to Bentleys and Land Rovers.

He and Newson are car guys, and they feel disappointed with most modern cars; each summer, they attend the Goodwood Festival of Speed, where vintage sports cars are exhibited and raced in the South of England. “There are some shocking cars on the road,” Ive said. “One person’s car is another person’s scenery.” To his right was a silver sedan with a jutting lower lip. Ive said, quietly, “For example.” As the disgraced car fell behind, I asked Ive to critique its design: “It is baffling, isn’t it? It’s just nothing, isn’t it? It’s just insipid.” He declined to name the model, muttering, “I don’t know, I don’t want to offend.” (Toyota Echo.)

It was reported in February that Apple has hundreds of employees, including former Tesla, Ford and GM engineers, working on an electric vehicle at a top-secret research lab possibly located in the Sunnyvale area. The much-rumored initiative, known internally as "Project Titan," likely remains in the early stages of research and development, with Bloomberg reporting that Apple hopes to begin production in 2020.

German carrier Deutsche Telekom has once again launched an online reservation service for customers interested in purchasing the next-generation iPhone, as spotted by Apfelpage.de.

The new early bird system promises preferred delivery of future smartphone models to customers that sign up with a valid email address and mobile phone number.

Deutsche Telekom does not specifically mention the much-rumored "iPhone 6s" or "iPhone 6s Plus" by name, but the reservation service launching just weeks before Apple is expected to launch new iPhones is unlikely a mere coincidence. In September 2011, the carrier rolled out a similar ticket-based reservation service nearly one month before the iPhone 4s was introduced.

The reservation service is essentially a pre-order system that functions on a first-come, first-served basis, allowing new and existing customers to provide their contact information, redeem a reservation ticket via SMS or email and receive preferred delivery of Apple's next-generation iPhone to their door without needing to wait in line at an Apple Store or Deutsche Telekom store.

Google Translate:

By registering the reservation service you have bookmarked for a preferred delivery of pending smartphone innovations. The sooner you reserve and redeem your reservation, the sooner you can expect a delivery […] You get your device conveniently delivered to your door.

(Thanks, Marco!)

Apple today released an update to Boot Camp with support for Microsoft Windows 10, according to a new support document. The update, Boot Camp 6, is still propagating and is not yet available for OS X. However, several MacRumors forum members have noted the update is available within Windows partitions in Boot Camp, Apple's tool to allow Intel Mac owners to dual boot OS X and Windows.

Boot Camp 6 also includes support for several Mac features within Windows 10, including USB 3, USB-C, Thunderbolt, built-in SD and SDXC card slots, built-in or external Apple SuperDrives, and the Apple keyboard, mouse and trackpad.

Windows 10 support is only available on select Macs with OS X Yosemite and the latest version of Boot Camp, which will automatically download the support software (drivers) needed to use Windows 10 on a Mac.

Boot Camp requires an authentic copy of Windows 10 for a new installation, which can be purchased from Microsoft in an ISO file or USB stick for $119. Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 users can upgrade to Windows 10 for free from within their Windows partition as long as the user's software is completely up to date.