MacRumors

Apple is beginning to decorate the inside of the Moscone Center ahead of WWDC, adding banners for OS X 10.10 and iOS 8. A photo of the iOS 8 banner has been supplied by BusinessInsider's Jay Yarow, depicting a simple "8" on what appears to be a watery background.

Apple's iOS 8 is expected to retain the same general look as iOS 7, offering polish along with several new features including a health-aggregating "Healthbook" app, new TextEdit and Preview apps, and possible improvements to both Siri and Maps.

We will get our first glimpse of iOS 8 on Monday during Apple's WWDC keynote, which kicks off at 10 AM Pacific Time. Apple will be live streaming the event and MacRumors will also provide a live blog, live tweets via the MacRumorsLive Twitter account, and a spoiler free page for those who want to watch the full keynote at a later time.

Update 11:38 AM PT: MacStories has provided another image of the banner, which can be seen below:

Apple has plans to add both targeted local advertisements and broadcast radio stations to its iTunes Radio music service in the coming months, according to a report from The Information. The move will boost its advertising efforts and introduce new content on iTunes Radio, better positioning it to compete with market leader Pandora. Apple is also expected to begin advertising its own iTunes content through the iAd network.

In a move that strikes at the heart of Pandora's advertising business, iTunes Radio is expected to enable locally targeted advertising later this year, according to ad buyers who have spoken to Apple. Apple may begin promoting iTunes with "house ads" on its iAd mobile advertising network, an unusual move for the company.

Apple has reportedly contacted broadcasters like Cumulus Media, the second largest operator of radio stations in America. Cumulus serves approximately 150 million listeners in 110 metropolitan areas and could potentially bring multiple local stations to iTunes Radio. Apple made its first moves towards introducing local content on iTunes Radio earlier this year with the launch of the National Public Radio (NPR) channel, which will eventually include local stations offering a mix of live and taped news.

Since the launch of iTunes Radio, Apple has had a renewed focus on advertising, redirecting its iAd team to monetize iTunes Radio through advertising sales. While the company has signed deals on a national level with several high profile companies like McDonald's, Nissan, Pepsi, and Procter & Gamble, local ads are new territory.

The addition of local ads could significantly boost the revenue iTunes Radio pulls in, which is a major threat to Pandora. Pandora currently focuses heavily on local ads with sales teams located in more than 35 markets around the United States.

In April, Apple moved towards expanding into Pandora's local advertising territory by making it easier to create and buy iAds on its network. While a developer account was previously required to create an ad campaign, that restriction has now been removed, making it simpler for advertisers large and small to create ads for the platform.

Apple's efforts to bolster its iTunes Radio revenue through local content come as the company works to acquire Beats Music, a paid streaming music service that delivers content on demand. With both iTunes Radio and Beats Music, Apple is hoping to boost its overall music sales, which have waned in recent years.

iPhone rumors this year have included a steady stream of mockups, case designs and alleged schematics for the iPhone 6 emerging from China and other Asian countries. Sonny Dickson, well-known source of Apple hardware rumors, claims this wellspring of leaked information may be drying up due to increased security efforts by Apple and Chinese authorities.

Dickson claims Apple is working with Chinese officials to stifle leaks about the iPhone 6, hiring approximately 200 security officers to catch merchants who are selling accessories allegedly for the iPhone 6.

Apple is known for being a secretive company, with Tim Cook promising shortly after he took over as CEO that he was going to "double down" on secrecy when it came to future product information. Cook may be able to adequately control the flow of information from Apple's employees by reminding them to "do the right thing," but his power does not extend to Asian suppliers.

These overseas suppliers often are the weak link as they are privy to Apple's unreleased products, but lack the strict oversight that discourages employees from intentionally leaking sensitive product details.

One of the more popular feature requests from iOS users has been live widgets for the home screen, similar to Live Tiles on Windows Phone and Widgets on Android. While there have been no specific rumors of widgets actually coming to iOS 8, a new concept from Jay Machalani (via The Verge) offers an excellent vision of how this could be implemented on iOS with the "iOS Block".

Here’s how it works. On your iOS device you have your list of icons like you know and love. They work and look the same way as before. But, if you want more information about an app, you can simply pinch the app icon bigger and it will now become an iOS Block. There’s no menu, no hidden options and no weird gestures to do. You literally make the icon bigger with your finger if you want more; it can’t be simpler and more intuitive than that.

When you pinch the icon, you will see the transformation/transition into a Block and at that point you have two choices: Either you pinch it back to an icon since you got the information you need or you release your fingers and the icon will remain a Block on your iOS screen.

Malachani imagines three possible sizes for Blocks, designed to take up the space of a 2x2 grid of icons on the home screen for iPhone, iPad portrait, and iPad landscape.

Malachani goes on to outline more details on how the Blocks would be constructed with a relative uniform layout consisting of an app icon in the lower left, a tap zone along the remainder of the bottom edge where buttons could be placed, and a content zone taking up the remainder of the Block. As examples, Malachani walks through how the stock Weather, Music, Calendar, Messages, and Photos apps might look as Blocks.

As Malachani notes, the concept is still a work in progress, as he is unsure exactly how iOS would handle moving other home screen icons to accommodate a new Block on a full home screen, as the normal method of pushing icons to the next page could be disruptive depending on how frequently Blocks are opened and closed.

Despite a variety of iPhone 6 mockups and case leaks, there haven't been as many part leaks for the iPhone 6 outside of what could be the front panel of the device, the backlight panel and the possible batteries. Now, Macfixit Australia has obtained what looks to be the back cover for the 4.7-inch silver iPhone 6.

Like many of the mockups, this photo also includes the antenna breaks near the top and bottom portions of the back. It also appears to have a green film on top of it, with silver poking through near the camera and flash holes near the top, indicating that this could be the white / silver iPhone 6. The cover also appears to be made out of a thin metal and includes clear cutouts for the camera and flash, unlike a lot of mockups, which also adds some weight to its possible authenticity.

The cover also appears to have the much-rumored round corners, which are similar to the design of the iPod Touch. This also keeps the iPhone in line with both the iPad Mini and iPad Air, which have more rounded back corners.

Aside from larger 4.7 and 5.5-inch displays, the iPhone 6 is rumored to have an improved A8 processor, an improved camera with optical image stabilization, new backlighting technology and 802.11ac Wi-Fi.

Apple is in talks with several high-profile retail store chains about a mobile payment service, reports 9to5Mac. Citing a source with knowledge of the discussions, the site suggests Apple is speaking with retail store brands that sell luxury clothing and premium goods to gauge interest in such a service.

An Apple-branded mobile payment solution would likely be integrated directly into iOS devices, allowing people to use their iPhones or other devices to make purchases for physical goods both on the web as well as in retail stores. Currently, iTunes customers can use their accounts to make purchases in iTunes and in brick and mortar Apple Stores, a feature Apple hopes to expand to third-party retailers.

Discussions with retailers have reportedly focused on the difficulties behind building a unified payment service to be used with multiple retail outlets, with Apple also encouraging retailers to adopt the company's Bluetooth-based iBeacons, which could potentially be used as part of a payments service in the future.

Every retail outlet has unique payment and transaction practices, so building a single mobile payments solution will require extensive research from Apple, and the company appears to be in that research and development phase.

Apple has also been asking retailers to survey customers regarding potential interest in paying for items with their smartphones and other mobile devices. Apple also has been seeking general insight from retail store chains to see if the companies would be interested in utilizing an Apple payments service.

Apple's interest in a possible mobile payment solution has been rumored for years, but gained renewed attention in early 2014, after The Wall Street Journal reported Apple was looking to develop a mobile payment service to leverage its store of more than 800 million iTunes accounts, many of which have credit cards attached.

In April, the company was said to be in talks with several senior payments industry executives about possible roles at the company and Apple has also spoken with Paypal about a possible partnership.

According to Apple CEO Tim Cook, a mobile payment solution was "one of the thoughts" behind Touch ID. He has also said that Apple is "intrigued" with mobile payments, noting that there's a "big opportunity on the platform."

Apple has promised new hardware, software, and services in 2014, and it is possible that a mobile payment service could come later this year, though a set date is unclear as the company is still in the developmental stages.

Apple yesterday announced plans to acquire both Beats Electronics and Beats Music for a combined total of $3 billion, but a new report from The Wall Street Journal breaks those numbers down further.

As it turns out, Apple is paying slightly less than $500 million for the Beats Music streaming service, with the bulk of the money ($2.5B) going towards the purchase of Beats Electronics, which includes the company's popular line of headphones and speakers.

At yesterday's Code Conference, Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine revealed that the service has 250,000 subscribers in the United States, a small number compared to Spotify's 10 million worldwide listeners. Beats Music's relatively modest size explains why it was so much cheaper than the company's Electronics division, which pulled in $1.5 billion in sales in 2013 according to a source that spoke to The Wall Street Journal.

Leveraging iTunes and iTunes Radio, Apple may be able to grow Beats Music significantly in the coming months. Apple's existing streaming music service, iTunes Radio, has a total of 40 million listeners and via iTunes, Apple has sold 35 billion songs. The company also has more than 800 million iTunes accounts, most with credit cards attached, along with a wealth of data on customer listening habits.

"We think all of those things, when you put them all together, it's on steroids with us together," said iTunes Chief Eddy Cue.

Under the terms of the deal, Beats co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre will both be joining Apple to work under Cue, while marketing head Phil Schiller will oversee the Beats headphone business. Apple CEO Tim Cook has called Iovine and Dre's talent and skills "really unique" and "very hard to find." He also stated that Apple felt Beats Music was the first music service to "get it right" through the use of human curation.

Following regulatory approval, Apple's purchase of Beats is expected to close during the fiscal fourth quarter.

Apple is nearly finished decorating the Moscone Center ahead of its annual Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco next week. Decorations began appearing earlier this week with a larger banner that says "Write the code. Change the world."

MacStories editor Federico Viticci has shared selection of images from San Francisco. Giant Apple logos are nearly finished on the sides of Moscone, with large square panels in the same style as the other banners have appeared on the Metreon building across the street.

Finally, MacRumors reader Joseph sent in this image of an empty banner bracket inside Moscone West. In past years, Apple has draped black tarps over banners that were then revealed following the Monday morning keynote address.

Apple's WWDC keynote kicks off on Monday at 10:00 AM Pacific Time, and the company will be providing a live video stream of the event.

The rumored split-screen multitasking feature said to be coming with iOS 8 is still a work in progress and won't be previewed at Apple's upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference, according to Brian Chen of the New York Times.

Designed for the iPad Air and possibly a larger-screened iPad to be released in the future, split-screen multitasking would allow two apps to be displayed at the same time on a single screen while in landscape mode. It might also include a feature that allows users to share information like links, images, and text between two apps.

The iPad's inability to display two apps at once is a lack that Microsoft has used to heavily advertise its Surface tablet, which does have the ability to display multiple apps on the screen at one time.

While the multitasking feature will reportedly not make its debut at WWDC, it is still slated for inclusion in iOS 8. It appears multitasking will be limited to the iPad Air at launch, and it is unclear whether the smaller Retina iPad mini and iPhone might also gain the functionality.

Earlier this week, a report suggested Apple has plans to unveil a new smart home initiative at WWDC. This platform would allow the iPhone to directly control lights, security systems, and other household gadgets, with Apple giving third-party device makers official approval for integrated devices.

Gigaom has some new information on how the smart home program will work, confirming that it is a fairly simple program that will certify both connected devices already on the market and upcoming devices under the existing "Made for iPhone" certification process currently used for iOS accessories like iPhone cables and gaming controllers.

The program will not include an Apple-made software interface that overrides the existing apps tied to current iOS-compatible home accessories like the Philips Hue lighting system or the Nest thermometer, and will instead focus on connecting devices via WiFi. There's also the possibility for voice control using Bluetooth.

The MFi certification will essentially be used to notify consumers about which products will integrate well both with the iPhone and with other home automation accessories, suggesting the program introduced next week will feature several home automation product manufacturers that have agreed to work with the MFi standards for quality and compatibility.

Instead of worrying about hubs and what might work with other devices, consumers can look for the MFi label and be assured that they can pull their smart home setup together -- and control it from their iOS device.

It's technically possible that the user could control some device functions from a handset or tablet without opening the app, or that the app would open automatically based on a voice command or eventually through presence detection.

Apple is expected to unveil more information on its smart home initiative on Monday, when WWDC kicks off with an opening keynote.

Following the announcement that Apple was acquiring Beats Electronics, the audio accessory company is not slowing down, announcing a new version of its most popular set of on-ear headphones. The new Beats Solo² offers a new physical design and improved acoustics that promise to deliver "a wider range of sound and enhanced clarity."

An early review from Engadget suggests the new cans tone down the bass, providing a "more balanced" sound than other Beats headphone models that often are criticized for their bass-heavy sound.

Well, the best way I can describe the sound here is "more balanced." Don't get me wrong: There's still plenty of bass when tunes call for it, but you can also clearly pick up other elements -- things like hi-hats, snares and others all seem to stand out more when compared to previous releases.

Besides the improved audio quality, the Beats Solo² has a sleeker, more polished design that makes the headphones comfortable to wear, says The Wall Street Journal.

The new design, which echoes the more expensive, over-ear Beats Studio, is sleeker, with no visible screws and higher quality materials that offer a more premium feel than the predecessor. Acoustics have been improved, too. The ear cups now sit at an angle that’s far more comfortable on your ears—especially after hours of wear. The new ear-cup design also blocks out more background noise.

Now that Apple is acquiring Beats, these Solo² headphones may be among the last models released by Beats as a standalone company. Going forward, Apple will oversee the design and marketing of Beats' future products. As part of this transition, Beats will sever its long-term relationship with design firm Ammunition, which is responsible for the design of the Beats' current lineup of headphones and speakers.

The new Beats Solo² headphones are available now for pre-order from Beats' website and will arrive in retail stores beginning June 1. Pricing for the model remains the same, with the Solo² costing $199. It is available in a variety of colors including pink, blue, gray, white or red.

Apple is once again said to be considering wireless charging capabilities for the iWatch, according to a various Chinese media reports citing sources at Apple supplier Luxshare (Google Translate, via GforGames).

The Shenzen-based company has reportedly sent Apple wireless charging coils for certification, and pending approval, will likely be providing the wireless charging modules for the iWatch. The report also notes that the iWatch will launch in the second half of this year pending production times.

A report last December also stated that Apple would include wireless charging capabilities in the iWatch, allowing the device to charge from up to a meter away. The iWatch's battery life has been previously reported as a problem for Apple, with iWatch prototypes lasting only 1-2 days on a charge and the company hoping to find ways to extend that to 4-5 days. While wireless charging would be one way to reduce the burden of frequent charges, it is still unclear exactly how it would be implemented in the device's body.

Rumors have indicated Apple's iWatch will contain several different biometric sensors allowing it to track health-related metrics like heart rate, sleep quality and more. The sensors will aggregate data that will be stored in a rumored "Healthbook" application, slated for inclusion in iOS 8.

Along with health-related functionality, the iWatch will likely integrate with the iPhone and iPad to provide notifications and quick access to frequently used apps and services.

Apple's iWatch is rumored to ship later this year two different sizes to accommodate different sized wrists. A report last week stated the the device will feature a round face similar to that of Motorola's Moto 360 smart watch, with production beginning in late July.