With the opening ceremonies for the 2012 Summer Olympics set for tomorrow in London, Apple is preparing to offer an extra bonus to some customers visiting its stores in the area during the roughly two-week event. The company has produced a series of four lapel pins commemorating the London Olympics, displaying the flag of the United Kingdom in place of the screen of both black and white iPhones and iPads.
The pins are distributed attached to larger sheets of cardboard that appear as five iOS device flags hanging on a line, with the center one being the actual lapel pin.
We have not confirmed the exact details on distribution of the pins, but we've heard that select stores will be distributing the free of charge while supplies last on select days. Also unclear is how broad the distribution will be: Apple has a total of six retail stores inside the M25 motorway encircling London, with several others just outside and a total of 33 in the United Kingdom.
Apple offered a similar promotion during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, distributing an iPod nano pin with the Canadian maple leaf at one store and a pair of pins showing off the maple leaf and the Apple logo at the other Vancouver-area store open at the time. Apple now has four stores in the Vancouver area.
Thursday September 17, 2026 4:17 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
In iOS 27, available now, CarPlay gets its biggest update in years, but some features depend on what type of car you have rather than your iPhone model. Some of the biggest additions won't do anything in the vast majority of vehicles on the road today. Here's how the new features pan out.
Works in Any CarPlay Vehicle
Custom widgets: In iOS 27, CarPlay is no longer limited to Apple's handful ...
Wednesday September 16, 2026 8:53 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
The new Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 have hardware changes that allow for faster charging, but you will need to use the new version of the Apple Watch Magnetic Fast Charger included in the box in order to achieve this boost. If you need extra ones for your own charging stands or travel or so forth, Apple released the new version of the charger on its online store last week, with...
Wednesday September 16, 2026 1:32 pm PDT by Juli Clover
The iOS 27.2 beta that Apple released today adds a feature that reminds you it's your anniversary when you call someone, as long as you've added the date in the Contacts app.
On the date of your anniversary, when you go to call the person, you'll see a reminder that it's an important day so you don't forget to say something. The anniversary alert uses Call Context, a feature Apple added in...
As an Irish person, I have always found the British tendency to stick the Union Flag absolutely everywhere extremely crass and imperialistic.
As a British person I can safely say that I've not seen a Union Jack hung anywhere in my city for ages...and its a big city.
It's nowhere near as bad (not sure thats the correct way of putting it) as in the US, where its seemingly common to have a flag hanging on the front of your house.
As an Irish person, I have always found the British tendency to stick the Union Flag absolutely everywhere extremely crass and imperialistic.
As an Irish person, I have no problem with it. As someone else said, they don't have Union Jack's everywhere all the time. It's just on special days. We do the same on Saint Patrick's Day and other special occasions.
I don't think some realise it's different to how it was 30 years ago. We break out the Union Flag now for the right reasons, basically to celebrate or to party.
But you know, if people want to see it as it was that's their issue to work through, not ours.
