Founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple is best known for making some of the world’s most ubiquitous consumer devices, software, and services: the iPhone, iPad, iMac and MacBook computers, Apple TV, Apple Watch, iOS, iCloud, iTunes, Apple Music, Apple Pay, and many more. Led by CEO Tim Cook since 2011, Apple is one of the largest technology companies in the world alongside Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Facebook.
The company responded to Apple’s new App Store policies in a post on X, claiming the updated fees “do nothing to open up the mobile app ecosystem to competition” and “deliberately violate” the EU’s Digital Markets Act.
Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls, which featured classic characters from the series and launched in 2021, will become unavailable to download on August 20th and will be fully shut down on September 3rd, Konami says.
Symphony of the Night composer Michiru Yamane worked on the game, and we interviewed her back when it came out.
[Castlevania -Grimoire of Souls- Official Website]
The pricing spread on items in the new early Apple / Steve Jobs auction is wild. A pair of signed Steve Jobs business cards is going for six figures, and the disparity in Apple devices is distinctly tilted towards the modern era, as seen here.
It’s a terrible time to buy a laptop (sorry), but if you gotta do it, here are some to consider.
You’re not alone — Apple told TechCrunch that it sent the notifications on Thursday to users in 110 countries who it suspects have been targeted by mercenary spyware. Apple has a new support page with guidance on how targets can best protect their devices against such attacks, which have “historically been associated with state actors.”
The company working on deals that would let Siri to lean on publisher content for news and information, The Wall Street Journal reports. Apple has apparently proposed a plan where publishers would get paid when content is actually used.
[The Wall Street Journal]
Now, it’s a glassier orb. I like it.
With beta 5, Apple also tweaked the Safari, Preview, Settings, and Remote app icons, according to 9to5Mac. I grabbed a screenshot of the new icons — what do you think?
Jennifer Bailey will be leaving Apple in October, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports. That means she’ll be leaving shortly after incoming CEO John Ternus takes over on September 1st.
In a memo to staff included in Gurman’s article, SVP of services Eddy Cue said that a succession plan will be announced before Bailey departs.
ESPN lost Formula 1 rights last year, when Apple spent big to get the rights for Apple TV. Now, Disney is replacing F1 with… Formula E, the all-electric (and increasingly Formula 1-ish) racing series, starting this December on Disney Plus and ESPN Plus. Shockingly, this deal might come with less talk about battery management than whatever’s happening with F1.
[The Walt Disney Company]
An analyst report yesterday claimed Apple had canceled plans for an all-glass iPhone to mark its phone’s 20th anniversary. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman disagrees. He says the phone is still due to launch in 2027, it just won’t be all glass, with a slim metal frame connecting the two curved glass panels.
With the success of Whoop and other screen-free fitness bands like the Fitbit Air, Polar Loop, and Helio Strap, it’s not a surprise that the company is weighing its options. But nothing is set in stone yet. According to Mark Gurman:
The company is considering new devices with no displays, as well as different types of screens and various sizes. While unlikely to hit the market, round screens have even been considered. I’m told the work also includes potentially adding premium models beyond the Ultra and Hermès variants. On the lower end, Apple is considering more affordable concepts besides the current SE model.
Private Relay is supposed to conceal your IP address when browsing Safari, but security researchers discovered that several WebKit browser engine quirks actually allow any website that supports passkeys to bypass the privacy feature entirely and expose your device’s IP. This comes just a month after Apple’s Hide My Email feature also failed to hide emails.
[Mysk Blog – In-Depth Cybersecurity & Mobile App Privacy Research]
Saw this from a MacRumors headline that I keep chuckling at: “CarPlay is Coming to Pontoon Boats.” Maybe Apple should have built a boat instead of failing at a car? (I’m kidding…. unless?)
According to the Financial Times, Apple “has introduced a cap and a 30-day cool-off period” for researchers’ vulnerability reports for its operating systems due to an uptick in reports using AI that “can hallucinate security risks.” Apple is also reportedly using AI internally to help manage the recent “upsurge” in bug reports.
[Financial Times]
The Cupertino company has reportedly launched another legal challenge against the UK government’s attempt to force Apple into providing it with backdoor access to encrypted iCloud data. While the UK dropped its initial demands in August 2025, it apparently issued a second order last October that specifically targets British user data.
Apple is struggling to keep the laptop in stock, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, with new orders on some configurations experiencing “essentially unprecedented” delays of roughly a month. This joins the shortages for the Mac Mini and Studio, all of which are seemingly connected to the ongoing memory crisis.
