MacRumors

The Gilbert Public School Board has approved a tax break for Apple, clearing the way for the company to continue on with its plans to build a 700-employee manufacturing facility in Mesa, Arizona, reports AZ Central. The school board is reportedly the last of eight government entities needed to approve the deal, which will see Apple's property reclassified as a foreign trade zone.

The Gilbert Public Schools' governing board on Monday voted 5-0 in favor of allowing a tax break for Apple Inc., meaning the tech giant can continue with its plans to open a manufacturing plant in Mesa.

The fate of the high-profile deal potentially worth hundreds of jobs seemed to hang in the balance, with the school district being the last of eight governing entities needed to approve a property reclassification that would entitle the premier tech company to a tax break.

First announced in early November, the Arizona facility will be used by Apple partner GT Advanced to produce sapphire glass for Apple.

In addition to providing GT Advanced with a manufacturing plant, Apple will also fund the company with a prepayment of $578 million, allowing GT Advanced to install next-generation high capacity furnaces to manufacture greater quantities of sapphire glass at a lower cost.

Apple currently uses sapphire glass, which is more durable and scratch resistant than other glasses, in small quantities for both the iPhone's rear camera and the Touch ID home button on the iPhone 5s.

Rumors have suggested that sapphire glass could be used for future smartphone displays and it is also possible that Apple will use sapphire glass from GT Advanced for its rumored iWatch. Sapphire glass is already used by high-end watchmaking companies for its extreme durability.

The sapphire glass facility is set to open in Mesa, Arizona in 2014 and according to Apple, will provide more than 2,000 total jobs in engineering, manufacturing, and construction as it is built.

Apple has released a newly updated version of its Find My Friends app with an iOS 7-inspired redesign. The app was Apple's last consumer-focused app to receive a redesign for iOS 7, though iAd Gallery and iTunes Connect retain their old look-and-feel.

Other than the new design, Find My Friends does not appear to have any new features.

Last week, Apple released updated versions of iBooks and iTunes U with similar redesigns.

Find My Friends is a free download for the iPhone and iPad from the App Store. [Direct Link]

Two new channels have appeared on the Apple TV set-top box, with U.S. public television system PBS delivering some of its content through a new channel and Yahoo announcing the launch of Yahoo Screen, a channel for browsing videos such as Saturday Night Live and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart as hosted by Yahoo.

Full access to the PBS app, which includes over 5,000 hours of content, requires users to sign in with a Facebook, Google+, or PBS account, which subscribes them to email updates through their local PBS stations.

Apple has been rapidly expanding the number of content channels available on the Apple TV over the past several months, adding channels such as WatchESPN and HBO GO in June and music video channel Vevo and several Disney channels in August and September. The company is also said to be working on deals with cable provider Time Warner and TV network The CW.

An official at an Apple display supplier in Korea has told the The Korea Times (via Unwired View) that production of a 12.9-inch Retina Display to be used in the next-generation iPad is underway, with the tablet's release set for early next year. The report states that the 12.9-inch iPad will have an improved display nearing ultra high-definition (UHD) quality, which would be significantly bigger and contain many more pixels than Apple's current 9.7-inch iPad Air.

“Apple’s local first-tier display supplier is now producing a 12.9-inch Retina Display to be used in the new iPad, which will be coming out sometime early next year,” an official at a local Apple supplier in Korea told The Korea Times by telephone Tuesday.

...“The 12.9-inch iPad will have improved picture quality. As the Apple partner intends to boost its lineup for displays that have almost ultra high-definition (UHD) quality, the upcoming iPad will provide very clear quality similar to that of UHD,” said the official.

Reports of a 12.9-inch iPad have surfaced occasionally throughout the past couple of months, with The Wall Street Journal reporting in July that Apple and its suppliers had begun testing screens for a 12.9-inch iPad and a larger iPhone, which followed a sketchy rumor in May that said Apple was launching an "iPad Maxi" to target the ultrabook market. Supply chain research done by NPD DisplaySearch in October also suggested that a 12.9-inch iPad is set for debut next year, though that report did not specify when exactly the tablet would be released.

However, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo countered reports about a larger iPad in a research note last month, stating that he expects the company will instead release a new sixth-generation 9.7-inch iPad with 30%-40% higher pixel density than Apple's current iPad line. Apple just released the iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display earlier this month, with the latter experiencing supply constraints, and a new "iPad Pro" would expand the iPad family to encompass three sizes.

The first iOS 7 game controller launched today, with MOGA officially announcing its MOGA Ace Power controller for the iPhone 5/5c/5s and the fifth-generation iPod touch. The expandable controller is designed to plug into the Lightning port on Apple's newer devices and features dual analog sticks, a d-pad, action buttons, a headphone jack, and L1/R1 L2/R2 buttons.

MOGA's controller includes MOGA Boost, which will charge an iOS device while it is plugged into the controller, extending gameplay. It also has an LED battery life indicator, a pause button, and a button that controls the lock functionality on the iOS device.

Rumors of MOGA's controller originally surfaced shortly after WWDC, where the controller API was first revealed. In addition to MOGA, other companies like Logitech are also said to be producing iOS game controllers with similar features.

Eli Hodapp, editor-in-chief of our sister site TouchArcade, had the opportunity to go hands-on with the MOGA Ace Power and he has a detailed review along with a video demonstrating how the controller works.

According to Hodapp, while the Ace Power has a lot of potential for games like shooters and titles originally developed for consoles, it does suffer from some significant limitations and issues. Two major complaints were its Lightning port connection, which prevents it from functioning with the iPad or Apple TV, and a lack of testing by developers who have already implemented support into their apps.

Even in the best games, rough edges are everywhere when using an iOS 7 controller. Virtual buttons still persist on screen regardless of whether or not you're using a controller in most of the games I've tried. I've been the most excited for the potential of Bluetooth iOS 7 controllers, and having one that uses the Lightning port is vaguely disappointing because of the limitations it imposes.

The latency introduced through AirPlay is substantial, and I can't imagine anyone playing a game on their TV via AirPlay using a controller for anything past the initial "Huh, well that's neat," sensation. It's "playable," in massive air quotes, but isn't a great experience by any means.

In comparison to a standard console controller, Hodapp also pointed out that the MOGA Ace Power didn't feel worth its substantial $99 price tag, due to its texture, the rattling of the sliding mechanism, and the buttons. Despite these negatives, he declared it an important step forward in iOS gaming.

At the current point in time, multiple games offer iOS 7 controller support, including titles like Bastion, Dead Trigger 2, and the recently released Oceanhorn. Additional developers will build controller support into their apps now that the hardware is available to consumers, and software support is also likely to improve with an actual product available for testing.

The MOGA Ace Power controller, priced at $99, will be available from the MOGA website, the Online Apple Store and Apple retail stores on Wednesday. For additional details on the Ace Power, make sure to check out the full TouchArcade review.

As the holidays approach, Apple's iPhone 5s supplies are continuing to improve, alleviating the supply constraints the company has faced since the phone first launched on September 20.

In the Online Apple Store, iPhone 5s shipping estimates for all models and capacities have decreased to three to five days in multiple countries including the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and the Asia Pacific. The iPhone 5s continues to ship within one to two weeks in European countries.

Just a week ago, iPhone 5s shipping estimates improved to one to two weeks in all countries, following an extended two to three week shipping estimate. iPhone 5s supplies have been tight since the phone launched, and shipping estimates fell to 7 to 10 days just hours after release.

Supplies of the gold iPhone were especially low, but reports have indicated that Apple has significantly ramped up its iPhone 5s production in recent weeks, while cutting back on iPhone 5c production. Just today, a report suggested that Foxconn would cease production of the iPhone 5c to focus entirely on the iPhone 5s.

Apple is now offering the iPhone 5s in more than 60 countries, with no noticeable impact on its overall supplies. In store quantities of the iPhone 5s also continue to improve, with most models and capacities available for immediate pickup in a large number of Apple retail stores across the United States.

Thirty-seven states and the District of Columbia have agreed to a $17 million settlement with Google over the company's circumvention of privacy settings in Safari, reports PCWorld. Google previously agreed to a $22.5 million settlement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to settle a similar case between the company and the federal government.

Google took advantage of a loophole in Safari's privacy settings designed to prevent placement of third-party cookies by default, using invisible web forms to trick Safari into thinking that users had interacted with Google's ads and thus allowing cookies to be placed on the device.

"Consumers should be able to know whether there are other eyes surfing the web with them," [New York Attorney General Eric] Schneiderman said in a statement. "By tracking millions of people without their knowledge, Google violated not only their privacy, but also their trust."

Google said it was pleased to reach the settlement. "We work hard to get privacy right at Google and have taken steps to remove the ad cookies, which collected no personal information, from Apple's browsers," a spokeswoman said by email.

Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin were all involved in the settlement.

Samsung's Galaxy Gear has not been selling well, according to a new report from BusinessKorea. First launched in September, the $299 smart watch has been purchased less than 50,000 times and has received largely negative reviews.

With daily sales reaching just 800 to 900 units, Galaxy Gear sales are falling below initial industry expectation, despite an aggressive marketing campaign from Samsung.

During Business Insider's Ignition conference in NYC, Samsung EVP David Eun spoke about the Galaxy Gear smart watch, lauding the company for being first to market and promising great things in the future. He compared the Galaxy Gear to a green tomato that would ripen over time.

When you're dealing with innovation and when you're dealing with startups, I always make the analogy to small green tomatoes. What we're dealing with is small green tomatoes and what we want to do is take care of them and work with them so they can become big red ripe tomatoes.

And what you want to be sure is that you don't pluck the green tomato too early and you want to make sure you don’t criticize a small green tomato for not being a big red ripe tomato.

It's a 1.0 device. I like it a ton. It's 1.0. Personally, I don't think enough people gave us the credit for innovating and getting it out there. Not easily done to integrate all this functionality into one thing. But I would also say over time this thing is going to get big and red.

While Samsung is the first major electronics company to come out with a smart watch aside from Sony, other tech companies, like Apple and Google, are also working on developing their own smart watch products which could compete with future offerings from Samsung.

Apple's iWatch is said to incorporate several health-monitoring functionalities, along with a full version of iOS. Recent rumors have indicated that it could come in multiple sizes, combating the bulkiness issue that plagued the Galaxy Gear.

Though Samsung's Galaxy Gear product is already on the market, Apple has reportedly opted to hold off on releasing its iWatch as the company works to solve battery life issues. The Galaxy Gear launched with a single day battery life, but Apple is aiming for a battery life of at least four to five days.

Apple is supposedly preparing to launch its iWatch in late 2014, and began filing trademarks for the product earlier this year. The company is also said to be focusing most of its resources on wearables, delaying its ongoing television plans.

Update: According to a report from Reuters, Samsung announced on Tuesday that it had sold 800,000 Galaxy Gear watches since the device's debut two months ago. Yonhap reports [Google Translate] that the 50,000 number referred to South Korea alone.

Apple has released the first beta of iOS 7.1 to registered developers for testing purposes. The update can be downloaded via Apple's developer center. The beta arrives as build number 11D5099e. Apple also released a new Apple TV beta.

According to the release notes, iOS 7.1 fixes some network connection issues and some other bugs. There is also a new Yahoo logo, as well as new burst mode upload options and a toggle for a 'dark keyboard' in the Accessibility settings, according to 9to5Mac.

Late last week, Apple released iOS 7.0.4 to all users, fixing an issue with FaceTime calls.

After building large solar power and biogas fuel cell generating facilities at its Maiden, North Carolina data center, Apple is one of the of the largest non-utility clean energy generation companies in the country. As of a report earlier this year, Apple uses 100% renewable energy across all its data centers, plus 75% at its corporate facilities.

Gigaom's Katie Fehrenbacher went to the facility and has written an extensive article with a number of images of both Apple's two gigantic solar farms, as well as its Bloom Energy biogas fuel cell farm. In total, Apple generates roughly 50 megawatts at peak efficiency -- 40MW across two solar farms, plus another 10MW in fuel cells.

With Apple's data center consuming roughly 40 MW of electricity, at times of peak power production the company becomes a net power producer for local utility Duke Energy. Apple appears to be the only major Internet company with its own power generating facilities like these.

Apple’s solar panel farms were built and are operated by Bay Area company SunPower. SunPower manufacturers high-efficient solar panels, solar panel trackers and also develops solar panel projects like Apple’s. The solar farm across from the data center has over 50,000 panels on 100 acres, and it took about a year to build the entire thing.

Each solar panel on Apple’s farms has a microcontroller on its back, and the panels are attached to long, large trackers (the steel poles in the picture). During the day, the computers automatically and gradually tilt the solar panels so that the face of the panels follow the sun throughout the day. The above picture was taken in the late morning, so by the end of the day, the panels will have completely rotated to face where I was standing. The trackers used are single-axis trackers, which basically means they are less complex and less expensive than more precise dual-axis trackers.

Apple works with a company that provides sheep to eat the grass underneath the solar panels, an environmentally friendly alternative to mowing.

For its fuel cell facility, Apple uses biogas fuel cells made by Bloom Energy. Biogas is an alternative to natural gas that can be captured from decomposing organic matter like landfills, water treatment facilities and farms. Natural gas is significantly cheaper, but is a nonrenewable fossil fuel.

When I was walking around the outside of the fuel cell facility I could also see a couple of people doing maintenance work on some of the fuel cells. I’m not sure what they were doing exactly, but fuel cells need some level of maintenance to keep them provided with the fuel, as well as to replace moving parts like fans. Every few years they also need to have a key part replaced called the stack, which can lead to expensive maintenance costs for the fuel cell operator.

Gigaom has much more about the facility in its article, and examines what a number of other tech companies are doing with regards to clean energy as well.

Renewable energy is a hot-button issue at the moment with some outside observers like Greenpeace pushing large Internet companies to adopt clean power for their data centers, which consume some 2 percent of the total electricity produced in the United States each year. Apple has worked hard in recent years to improve its public image with regards to the environment, and recently hired former EPA chief Lisa Jackson to head the company's environmental and sustainability efforts.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit today ruled that Judge Lucy Koh, who presides over the Apple v. Samsung case, must reconsider her 2011 decision not to ban Samsung devices that infringed on Apple products, reports The Wall Street Journal.

The appeals court ruled unanimously that U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, Calif., made errors last year when she denied Apple's request for a court injunction against 26 Samsung products.

The court said parts of Judge Koh's ruling against Apple were correct, but it said the judge should spend more time considering evidence offered by the iPhone maker to support arguments that Apple is being irreparably harmed by Samsung's patent infringement.

During the original Apple v. Samsung trial, Apple requested an injunction to prevent Samsung from selling its Galaxy line of smartphones and tablets within the United States. Koh denied Apple's request, suggesting there was no evidence Apple would suffer irreparable harm if Samsung was able to continue selling its products.

Koh did issue preliminary injunctions against the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and the Galaxy Tab, but the appeals court later reversed the ban on the Galaxy Nexus.

While today's appeals court ruling upholds Koh's original decision disallowing Apple from requesting an injunction based on design patents, it does allow for a possible injunction on Samsung products based on Apple's utility patents, such as the "Steve Jobs patent" and Apple's "rubber banding" patent covering bounce back.

With both stronger patents and the possibility of an injunction, Apple will have a good case for a Samsung product ban during its second infringement lawsuit that will cover more recent Samsung products like the Galaxy S III, and the Galaxy Note II, among other products. Though the injunction Koh must reconsider dates back to the 2011 lawsuit and covers older products, it would also affect newer devices with a similar infringement pattern.

The second trial will begin in 2014 and is separate from the current ongoing trial, in which Samsung will be forced to pay close to $1 billion in damages following the conclusion of this week's damages retrial.

Last week, we noted that some Retina iPad mini displays were exhibiting image retention issues, while in general other users were expressing some dissatisfaction with the color gamut of the Retina iPad mini's display, particularly compared to that of the iPad Air.

In an extensive review of the Retina iPad mini, AnandTech came away extremely impressed with the device but cited that color gamut issue as a significant disappointment.

Although display resolution is no longer a concern on the mini, color gamut hasn’t changed between the old and new minis. [...]

The iPad mini with Retina Display has the same color gamut as the standard iPad mini, which is narrower than the iPad Air and less than the sRGB coverage we normally look for. The biggest issue here is that there are other smaller tablets in this price range that do offer sRGB coverage (e.g. Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HDX 8.9).

DisplayMate's Ray Soneira has also taken a look at the Retina iPad mini's display in a "shoot-out" with the Kindle Fire HDX 7 and Google Nexus 7, with the Retina iPad mini's display registering a "distant 3rd place finish". The poor showing is due in large part to the iPad mini's narrow color gamut, which naturally leads to poor color accuracy.

[T]he iPad mini with Retina Display unfortunately comes in with a distant 3rd place finish behind the innovative displays on the Kindle Fire HDX 7 and new Nexus 7 because it still has the same small 63 percent Color Gamut as the original iPad mini and even older iPad 2. That is inexcusable for a current generation premium Tablet. The big differences in Color Gamut between the Kindle Fire HDX 7 and Nexus 7 and the much smaller 63 percent Gamut in the iPad mini Retina Display were quite obvious and easy to see in the side-by-side Viewing Tests. [...] This all appears to be due to incredibly poor planning. Instead of moving up to the higher performance (and cost) Low Temperature Poly Silicon LCDs, Apple chose to continue gambling on IGZO, which has resulted in both production shortages and inferior products.

Soneira notes that the strong performance by Google/ASUS with the LTPS display in the Nexus 7 and Amazon with its Quantum Dots technology in the Kindle Fire HDX 7 "should be a wakeup call" for Apple, as the company is clearly no longer leading the industry in display quality.

One complicating factor in comparing the 7.9-inch 4:3 Retina iPad mini to the 7-inch 16:10 tablets from Google and Amazon is the fact that the 35% larger display area for the iPad mini would result in substantially higher costs if Apple were to shift to a different display technology such as LTPS. Still, to consumers comparing display quality of various tablets, the iPad mini appears to be a clear notch below its competitors.

Foxconn will reportedly stop production of Apple's lower-cost iPhone 5C at its factory located in Zhengzhou, China, and will reportedly shift the facility's manufacturing efforts towards the iPhone 5s, reports Digitimes.

The news follows a report last week stating that Apple has been steadily reducing its orders for the iPhone 5c with suppliers as customers continue to prefer the iPhone 5s. Previously, it was stated that assembly partner Pegatron has slashed production from 320,000 units per day in October to just 80,000 units per day, with Foxconn operating at a minimal capacity of 8-9,000 units per day.

Foxconn and Pegatron Technology have obtained OEM orders for 30% and 70%, respectively, of iPhone 5c production, the sources said. One month ago, Apple lowered iPhone 5c orders to Pegatron by 20% and those to Foxconn by nearly one-third for the fourth quarter due to unsatisfactory sales, the sources indicated.

Major cuts in iPhone 5c production at Apple's two major suppliers were first reported last month, as the iPhone 5c has regularly seen much greater availability compared to the iPhone 5s. The Zhengzhou factory, one of Foxconn's main facilities for Apple, saw a hiring drive in April ahead of the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c launch in September, and by ceasing production of the iPhone 5c it will be able to focus its efforts entirely on the iPhone 5s.

While iPhone 5c supplies have been in strong supply since the device's September launch, the iPhone 5s has been much more constrained and is only now beginning to see improved supplies. Last week, shipping estimates for new orders through Apple's online store improved to 1-2 weeks, while the various models are showing significantly improved availability in Apple's retail stores.