Joe Rossignol

Apple today previewed its new Michigan Avenue store along the Chicago River ahead of its grand opening on Friday. Apple shared new pictures that provide a look at the store's 32-foot glass facades and 111-by-98 foot carbon-fiber roof. Two staircases lead to the store's lower level, featuring indoor trees and a seating area for Today at Apple sessions. The flagship store is designed to...

Apple Stores continue to be the most popular destination to purchase a new Mac in the United States, according to a recent survey conducted by research firm Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. Apple's retail locations and online store accounted for roughly 40 percent of Mac sales between October 2016 and September 2017, based on 2,000 survey respondents who purchased a Mac during that...

Rite Aid today announced that it now accepts Apple Pay as a payment method on its desktop and mobile website. iPhone, iPad, and Mac users accessing RiteAid.com through the Safari web browser will now see a "Buy with Apple Pay" option at checkout alongside existing credit card and PayPal payment options. Rite Aid said it is the first pharmacy retailer to accept Apple Pay as a form of...

Apple has reportedly asked its suppliers to reduce iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus production by nearly 50 percent in November and December, according to Reuters, which cited Taiwan's Economic Daily News. The report quotes an unnamed source who claims it is the first time in the iPhone's history that new models face a major cutback so shortly after mass production began. iPhone 8 and iPhone 8...

In addition to Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and the United Arab Emirates, Apple Pay may launch in the Netherlands and Poland later this year. Dutch blog One More Thing, citing multiple sources familiar with the matter, claims that ING will be the first bank to offer Apple Pay in the Netherlands. Virtual bank Bunq also supposedly plans to support Apple Pay. Rabobank, one of the largest banks...

Verizon today announced it is lowering its deductible for cracked screen repairs for customers signed up for its Total Mobile Protection plan. Starting on Thursday, October 19, the fee will be reduced from $49 to $29. Total Mobile Protection itself costs $11 per month for smartphones and $9 per month for tablets. Enrolling in Total Mobile Protection is typically only allowed within 30 days...

A new entry in Apple's Machine Learning Journal provides a closer look at how hardware, software, and internet services work together to power the hands-free "Hey Siri" feature on the latest iPhone and iPad Pro models. Specifically, a very small speech recognizer built into the embedded motion coprocessor runs all the time and listens for "Hey Siri." When just those two words are detected,...

Apple Maps now provides indoor maps for eight additional airports in the United States, as the new feature continues to roll out in iOS 11. The recently added airports include O'Hare International and Midway International in Chicago, McCarran International in Las Vegas, Baltimore–Washington International, Miami International, Minneapolis–Saint Paul International, Oakland International,...

Apple and GE today announced a new partnership that will provide developers with the tools to make their own powerful industrial apps. The two companies unveiled a new software development kit for iOS that will give developers the ability to make iPhone and iPad apps that use analytics from GE's industrial "Internet of Things" platform Predix. For example, a Predix app can notify workers...

Microsoft today introduced the Surface Book 2, the second generation of its high-end notebook and tablet hybrid. The new Surface Book 2 is equipped with Intel's latest eighth-generation Core processors, up to NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 graphics, up to 16GB of RAM, and up to 17 hours of battery life based on video playback. Microsoft says those tech specs make the Surface Book 2 up to five...

Last year, popular accessory maker Twelve South introduced a candle that promised to deliver a "New Mac" scent. The limited time product was so popular among Apple aficionados that it quickly sold out. Twelve South is back at it again this year with a new "Inspire" candle, which it refers to as Mac candle N°2. Made from 100 percent soy wax, it is said to give off strong notes of bergamot,...

Apple TV's universal search feature now supports a selection of additional apps in the United States and other countries. In the United States, fourth- and fifth-generation Apple TV users can now search for movies or TV shows on BBC America, Classix, and Oxygen, an NBC-owned channel that primarily airs true crime programming. In Canada, newly supported apps include Apple Music, CBC TV,...

Google's official search app for iOS has been updated this week with more navigation options in the United States and other countries. In addition to Google Maps, you can now use Apple Maps or Waze for navigation when searching for places and addresses in the Google app. When you search for an address and tap the navigation button, a menu opens with the three options for directions:...

While the iMac Pro doesn't launch for another six weeks or so, possible benchmarks for the computer may have already surfaced on Geekbench. The results provide us with an early look at just how powerful Apple's $4,999-and-up desktop workstation will be when it is released in December. Interestingly, the iMac Pro models benchmarked appear to have custom, downclocked Xeon chips that Intel...

VirnetX today announced that the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas has denied all of Apple's motions in a longstanding FaceTime-related patent lawsuit between the two companies. The court also granted all of VirnetX's motions in the retrial and increased the royalty rates that Apple owes during the infringement period, resulting in a revised final judgment amount ...

Just over a decade after the iPhone launched, and six years after Steve Jobs passed, some critics believe that Apple's pace of innovation has slowed. Unsurprisingly, Apple's services chief Eddy Cue doesn't share that opinion. "I disagree vehemently with that and I think we've been incredibly innovative," said Cue, in a recent interview with Indian publication Livemint. Cue pointed out...

Mathy Vanhoef, a postdoctoral researcher at Belgian university KU Leuven, has discovered and disclosed major vulnerabilities in the WPA2 protocol that secures all modern protected Wi-Fi networks. Vanhoef said an attacker within range of a victim can exploit these weaknesses using so-called KRACKs, or key reinstallation attacks, which can result in any data or information that the victim...

Apple is "aware of" an issue preventing the GarageBand app from opening on iOS 11 for some users, and "investigating solutions," according to a new support document published on its website on Thursday. If the GarageBand app won't open after updating your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to iOS 11, Apple says to turn off iCloud for GarageBand on the device in Settings > Apple ID, iCloud, iTunes & ...

If you own a 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display released in Mid 2012 or Early 2013, and your notebook qualifies for battery service, the repair should be free if you are willing to wait for around one month. Apple has advised Genius Bar employees and Apple Authorized Service Providers to offer these customers a free battery repair if they are willing to wait until at least November 15...

Apple's Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad is now estimated to ship in 6-7 weeks in the United States and several other countries, fueling speculation that a refreshed model could be released alongside the iMac Pro in December. The extended wireless keyboard was just released alongside WWDC 2017 in June, so any possible update could be relatively minor. The eject key could be replaced...