MacRumors

Apple today released the third Yosemite public beta for beta testers, following the release of the second Yosemite public beta on August 21. Developer Preview 8 has also been released for developers, two weeks after the seventh Developer Preview was released.

The software update can be downloaded through the software update function of the Mac App Store, and developers can also download DP 8 from the Mac Developer Center.

It is possible given the release timing that both versions of Yosemite, DP 8 and the new public beta, are the same. The public beta will also include updates from Developer Preview 7, which included a new look for Dark Mode, several tweaked icons, and the removal of the "Software Update" option from the main Apple menu.

Apple is expected to release OS X Yosemite to the general public later this year, possibly following an October event that may introduce new iPads.

During Apple's keynote announcement, the company announced plans to provide U2's new album, "Songs of Innocence," to all iTunes customers for free. Rather than letting customers choose to download the album on their own, however, Apple pushed it to iTunes accounts, causing some devices to automatically download the album without explicit user permission.

The move upset users who did not want to have U2's album listed on their devices, which has now prompted Apple to create a process for removing the album from user's devices. According to Apple spokesperson Tom Neumayr, who gave a statement to Re/code, customers were asking Apple how to delete the album after it was distributed, which has led Apple to create both a tool and a support document that outlines the process for removing the album from iCloud.

Here's Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr's explanation: "Some customers asked for the ability to delete 'Songs of Innocence' from their library, so we set up http://www.itunes.com/soi-remove to let them easily do so. Any customer that needs additional help should contact AppleCare."

To remove the U2 album, users are directed to Apple's new removal tool that will automatically remove the U2 album from an account after signing in with an Apple ID and password.

Apple warns that once the album has been removed from an iTunes account that it will no longer be available as a previously purchased album. Users have until October 13, 2014 to manually reinstall the album for free.

With Dell having announced its upcoming 5120 x 2880 "5K" display that would be the equivalent of a Retina 27-inch iMac or Apple Thunderbolt Display and Apple rumored to be launching its own such display later this year, connectivity options for such displays have now taken a significant step forward with today's official release of the DisplayPort 1.3 specification by the Video Electronics Standards Association (via 9to5Mac).

The new standard offers a 50 percent increase in bandwidth to 32.4 Gbps, or 25.92 Gbps of uncompressed video data once overhead is accounted for.

The increased bandwidth enables higher resolution monitors, including recently announced 5K monitors (with pixel resolutions of 5120 x 2880) using a single DisplayPort cable, without the use of compression. It will also enable higher resolutions when driving multiple monitors through a single connection using DisplayPort’s Multi-Stream feature, such as the use of two 4K UHD monitors, each with a pixel resolution of 3840 x 2160, when using VESA Coordinated Video Timing.

Apple has been rumored for some time to be working on Retina iMacs and displays, but connectivity bottlenecks have been one of the factors slowing progress in that area.

The previous DisplayPort 1.2a standard offered enough bandwidth to support 4K displays without compression, but pushing resolutions to 5K has presented difficulties for connectivity. With the new DisplayPort 1.3 standard, which will presumably be built into future Thunderbolt implementations, computer manufacturers such as Apple will be able to fully support the new high-resolution displays set to hit the market in the coming months.

As retailers prepare to begin sending out iPhone 6 and 6 Plus pre-orders to customers, shipping company employees behind the scenes are working hard to transport the phones from China to the United States. One MacRumors reader who works in shipping has posted photos of 195,000 iPhone 6 and 6 Plus pre-orders that he flew from China to Alaska in a 747, which will then be sent on to Chicago.

Yep, that's what I do. I fly stuff. Privileged to be a small part of the Apple supply chain. Just landed a 747 full of iPhone 6's in Anchorage. Another crew will take the airplane on to Chicago. It'll be on the ground at O'hare about 9am Sept. 15. I gave it a little extra gas coming over the Pacific, just to get them here a little quicker. You're welcome

According to the poster, goforblacksky, the massive load of phones weighed approximately 256,000 pounds. Though the photo shows the cargo under tarps and concealed, a second shipping photo from China Daily depicts a similar plane loaded with iPhones departing from the Henan province in China bound for Chicago last week.

Customers who pre-ordered early from carriers like Verizon have already begun receiving shipping notifications, and customers who placed orders from Apple and were lucky enough to receive a 9/19 shipping date are seeing their phone statuses listed as "Preparing for shipment." Apple orders may begin shipping out later today.

iPhone 6 and 6 Plus orders will begin arriving to customers on Friday, 9/19, which is the date that the iPhone will also begin appearing in stores. Apple will have additional iPhone 6 and 6 Plus units available for customers willing to wait in line and purchase in store on that date.

Currently, all pre-orders for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus have sold out. iPhone 6 orders placed on Apple's online store now have shipping estimates of 7 to 10 days, while iPhone 6 Plus orders have shipping estimates of three to four weeks.

Duke University, Stanford University Hospital, and medical device manufacturers are working with Apple on patient trials involving Apple's new HealthKit API, reports Reuters. Apple mentioned the trials in its recent September press event, but did not provide any details on the health parameters or patient groups being studied.

Speaking to Reuters, Duke University's Ricky Bloomfield, internal medicine pediatrician and director of mobile strategy, confirmed the research institution will use HealthKit to track vital health parameters such as blood pressure and weight for patients with cancer or heart disease. iOS 8's HealthKit API will gather this health-related information from a variety of sources and compile it so patients and doctors can easily view this information in one place.

"This could eliminate the hassle of getting data from patients, who want to give it to us," said Bloomfield, "HealthKit removes some of the error from patients' manually entering their data."

Stanford Children's Chief Medical Information Officer Christopher Longhurst confirmed that the research hospital will be monitoring Type 1 diabetes patients, who will be sent home with an iPod touch and instructed to enter blood sugar levels in between doctor visits. Two patients already are enrolled in the trial.

Besides doctors, medical device makers are interested in HealthKit, taking advantage of HealthKit's ability to gather medical information from a device and share it with an iOS app. Apple already announced it has electronic health record software vendor Epic Systems as a HealthKit partner. Many other manufacturers, such as glucose monitor company Dexcom, are interested in HealthKit and are in talks with Apple and the FDA about adopting the technology.

Apple has made clear it views HealthKit as an important aspect of iOS 8 and upcoming devices such as the Apple Watch, in line with the company's emphasis on enriching the lives of users through innovation in technology. That vision, however, will take some time to develop as Apple continue its own work and relies on partners to help support the effort going forward.

Several months ago, T-Mobile US launched an iPhone "test drive" program allowing users to test an iPhone 5s on the carrier's network for seven days free of charge. The program helps users decide if T-Mobile's coverage is satisfactory in the areas they frequent, and also gives users unfamiliar with the iPhone a free introduction to the platform.

With Apple ready to release new iPhone hardware and software, T-Mobile has informed Re/code that it will continue offering the program and plans to upgrade the test drive units to iOS 8 within days of its public launch this Wednesday. T-Mobile also has plans to begin offering iPhone 6 units through the testing program, but it will take some time for those to become available as supplies will be tight in the early weeks after release and they will unsurprisingly be prioritized for customer purchases.

“We don’t have a definitive timeline, but we do intend to switch over in future,” a T-Mobile spokesperson said. “There are a variety of factors that affect that timeline, (including) product availability.”

T-Mobile's test drive program is one component of its ongoing "Un-carrier" initiative in which has sought to differentiate itself from the other major U.S. carriers. The latest piece of the program, unveiled last week, includes support for Wi-Fi calling and a partnership with inflight Internet service provider Gogo to allow T-Mobile customers to use text, picture message, and visual voicemail services on Gogo-enabled airplanes free of charge.

Apple today announced that it has processed more than four million iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus pre-orders in the first day of pre-launch sales in the select countries that started accepting orders on September 12. This figure doubles Apple's previously announced record of two million pre-order sales for the iPhone 5 in 2012.

“iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are better in every way, and we are thrilled customers love them as much as we do,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Pre-orders for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus set a new record for Apple, and we can’t wait to get our best iPhones yet into the hands of customers starting this Friday.”

First-day demand was strong for the two iPhone 6 handsets with pre-orders pushing out availability of the phones to October. Ship times for the larger iPhone 6 Plus began to slide several hours after pre-ordering started on September 12, while supply of the iPhone 6 remained strong until mid-day.

After announcing the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus at its September press event, Apple will begin selling the two phones in its retail stores and through third-party retailers and carriers beginning Friday, September 19th in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore and the UK. The company will roll out the handset to more than 20 additional countries on September 26.

Samsung has introduced a new ad for its upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note 4, talking about how the company first introduced the Galaxy Note series in 2011 and popularized the "phablet" form factor while calling out Apple for making the similarly sized iPhone 6 Plus three years later.

The ad begins recounting the history of the Galaxy Note before talking about some of the features of the device, like multi-window multitasking and its S-Pen stylus. The ad then shows articles from online publications criticizing Samsung for releasing the original Galaxy Note due to the device's large size before showing articles praising Apple for releasing the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus.

Finally, the ad shows select tweets from users criticizing Apple for releasing the iPhone 6 Plus three years after Samsung started the Galaxy Note line of devices. The commercial ends with the release date for the new device.

Samsung has continually created advertising going after Apple, its products and its fan base, famously depicting people ogling the Samsung Galaxy S2 while waiting in line outside an Apple Store for the newest iPhone mode. More recently, Samsung published a series of web ads poking fun at Apple's September 9 special events and rolled out a "Wall Huggers" ad campaign that pokes fun at the iPhone's battery life.

Apple began accepting pre-orders for the iPhone 6 on Friday, September 12th. The first of those orders are beginning to ship to customers. Verizon sent notices to customers today with tracking numbers for their early orders.

Despite the early shipping, FedEx will hold shipments for simultaneous delivery on launch day -- Friday, September 19th. Despite the coordinated effort, some new iPhones may slip through and arrive a day early or so.

Readers on our forums are tracking their shipments and order status in various threads:

- The "I just bought/ordered/shipped/received my new iPhone 6/6 Plus" thread
- iPhone 6 & 6 Plus Sprint Pre-Order Thread!
- T-Mobile.com preorder thread
- ATT Pre-order status
- VZW Order Status Thread
- UK iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus Thread

Pre-order supplies of the iPhone 6 in the United States have dwindled significantly since pre-orders kicked off last night, with most models of the device now displaying shipping estimates of 7 to 10 days. The new shipping estimates mean customers who place an order now will likely be receiving their phones in October rather than September.

While there are still a some AT&T and Verizon iPhone 6 models available in space gray and gold, silver models for most carriers have now sold out. T-Mobile continues to have some availability in gold, with space gray models carrying shipping estimates of 7 to 10 days.

Though it has taken nearly a day for Apple to run out of most iPhone 6 models available to ship on 9/19, supplies of the larger iPhone 6 Plus were much more limited. Apple's online store was down until just before 3 AM PT, at which point almost all iPhone 6 Plus models were showing shipping estimates of 7 to 10 days before slipping to 3 to 4 weeks just hours later.

Supplies are similarly limited in other countries where pre-orders were accepted, with the U.K. and Germany seeing iPhone 6 shipping estimates ranging from 7 to 10 days or 3 to 4 weeks based on model. New orders of the iPhone 6 Plus in those countries have shipping estimates of 3 to 4 weeks for all models.

According to Apple, response to the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus was "incredible," with the company setting a new record for overnight pre-orders despite pre-order hiccups.

Though customers will no longer be able to pre-order most models of the iPhone 6 or a 6 Plus from Apple's site for delivery on 9/19, Apple will have launch day supplies at its retail stores on that date. Oftentimes, people wait in line for hours in an attempt to get a device from a retail store.

Supply of the iPhone 6 Plus seems to be similar to supply of the gold iPhone 5s last year, which became almost instantly unavailable. Unlike last year, however, there were few reports available on supply quantities.

Earlier this year, Apple and Square were rumored to be in talks over a possible acquisition, but no deal materialized. According to a new report from TechCrunch, talks between the two companies failed over purchase price.

Apple is said to have wanted to purchase Square for approximately $3 billion, an offer that Square felt was too low given its valuation at the time.

Separately, TechCrunch has heard that Square and Apple were in acquisition talks, but that Square walked away. Apple wanted the company to come aboard, but the discussed price was a sticking point: Apple wanted to buy Square for around $3 billion, one source said. Square, valued at the time at a firm 66 percent delta to that price point, declined to accept. Apple also showed Square a raft of hardware that would compete with Square's point-of-sale tools, said the same source.

Earlier rumors suggested that the disconnect between Square's robust offline payment solution and Apple's simpler plan to enable payments via iPhone were another reason why talks eventually came to an end. Square has recently raised $100 million in capital, putting its valuation at $6 billion.

Apple on Tuesday revealed its long-rumored mobile payment solution, Apple Pay. Apple Pay is designed to allow iPhone users to make NFC payments using credit cards stored in Passbook, which are then authorized with the Touch ID fingerprint sensor. Apple has reached deals with credit card companies, credit issuers, and retailers, and has plans to launch Apple Pay in October.

According to Apple, the program will work with over 220,000 U.S. retail stores, including Walgreens, Duane Reade, Macy's, Nike, Bloomingdales, Staples, Subway, McDonalds, and more.

Update 7:00 PM PT: Jim Dalrymple has given one of his famous "Nope" responses to the Square/Apple acquisition rumors, suggesting that the two companies were not in talks about a possible acquisition.

The Edition version of Apple's 18-karat gold Apple Watch could cost around $1,200, reports TechCrunch. The site consulted with "jewelers familiar with the material" Apple uses for the Apple Watch Edition, basing an estimate on the size and weight of the device.

Chad Rickicki, a watch expert in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania said that a case the size and shape of the Apple Watch in 18 carat gold would cost about $600 to make. The rest -- the electronics and markup could double that price.

That doesn't mean that all of the Apple Watches will rest in the rarified air of haute horlogerie. The lower end sport versions will start at $349 and presumably the standard versions, simply called Apple Watch, will receive a premium over that. The Edition watches, however, are expensive because gold is expensive, even at 18K and intermixed with Apple's alloys.

Any predictions on possible cost for the gold Apple Watch at this point are fairly rough estimates, as the exact dimensions of the device remain unknown. It is also unclear whether the Apple Watch is gold plated or solid gold alloy.

According to Apple's site, the 18-karat gold used in the Apple Watch Edition has been crafted by the company's metallurgists to be "twice as hard as standard gold." It also comes with a polished sapphire crystal display and rumors have suggested the gold watches will come in special boxes that can also be used for charging.

Early iWatch rumors from KGI Securities Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggested the wearable device would come in an array of colors and styles, with some of them costing several thousand dollars. Depending on the pricing of the Edition watches, Kuo's prediction may not be far off.

While Apple is aiming for the luxury market with the Apple Watch Edition line, the company is also planning to offer the Apple Watch in several other lower-priced configurations. The Apple Watch Sport, for example, does away with sapphire in favor of an Ion-X glass display and a lightweight aluminum casing, making it much more affordable. According to Apple, its line of watches will start at $349 and will begin shipping in early 2015.

Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke with Charlie Rose in a two-part interview, and the first segment is airing today. In a series of video clips, Tim Cook talks about Steve Jobs, Apple's Beats Electronics acquisition, the Apple TV, and Apple's plans for the future.

In the first clip, Cook again comments on Steve Jobs' ongoing influence at Apple, saying Jobs is in his heart and deep in Apple's DNA. "His spirit will always be the foundation of the company," says Cook. Cook also gives one other interesting tidbit about Jobs -- his fourth floor office has remained untouched since his passing.

In a second clip, Cook says the hardest decisions Apple makes "are all the things not to work on." When asked if television is one of those areas, Cook said that TV is an area that Apple "continues to have great interest in." He went on to say that TV is one of those things "stuck back in the 70s," and he admits that with 20 million users, the Apple TV has "far exceeded the hobby label." Cook didn't divulge any details on the future of the Apple TV however, stating just that it's an area that Apple continues to look at.

In the third and final clip, Cook spoke on Apple's decision to buy Beats, reiterating many of the reasons behind the acquisition. "Jimmy and Dre are off the charts creative geniuses," said Cook, pointing towards Iovine's knowledge of the music industry and Dre's connection to artists. He also said that Beats Music's human curation was a major factor in the acquisition.

The complete first part of Tim Cook's Charlie Rose interview will air later tonight on PBS, with the second part of the interview airing on Monday night.

Apple's ambitious new mobile payment initiative, Apple Pay, was announced on Tuesday during the company's iPhone event. Many questions still linger about the service, but information is beginning to trickle out from various sources as retailers, banks, and credit card companies prepare for the service's October launch.

According to a new report from The Financial Times, Apple stands to make quite a bit of money from its payments service. Banks and payment networks will be forking over 0.15 percent of each purchase to Apple, which equates to 15 cents out of a $100 purchase.

They are also paying hard cash for the privilege of being involved: 15 cents of a $100 purchase will go to the iPhone maker, according to two people familiar with the terms of the agreement, which are not public. That is an unprecedented deal, giving Apple a share of the payments' economics that rivals such as Google do not get for their services

According to bank executives, Apple was able to negotiate with so many partners and receive choice deals because the industry didn't see anything threatening in Apple Pay. One executive suggested that Apple's payment model continued to put banks "at the centre of payments." Apple may also have been able to negotiate better deals due to the tight security it has in place for Apple Pay. Payments will be made via NFC with a one-time token, and also secured with a Touch ID fingerprint.

Additional details about Apple Pay's security have been unveiled by MasterCard executive Jorn Lambert, who spoke to Bank Innovation, explaining how each transaction will be secured.

Along with the cryptogram generated between a standard debit or credit card and a point of sale terminal, Apple Pay takes advantage of a token system that encrypts every step of the payment process. Tokenization is already built into the standard NFC specification, so what Apple is really doing is utilizing existing technology and further securing it with its own Touch ID fingerprint authorization system.

Every card added to Apple Pay (and located in Passbook) is assigned a token, which Apple calls a Dynamic Account Number. Each Dynamic Account Number is stored in the secure element of the iPhone and accompanied by a unique cryptogram for each transaction.

[Touch ID] authentication prompts the "secure element" to send the token and cryptogram to the merchant. The network decrypts the cryptogram and determines whether it is authentic or not. If it is deemed authentic, the network will pass it along to the issuer (i.e. the bank), which then decrypts the token. In other words, every party to the transaction decrypts something.

Once the issuer decrypts the token and determines that it is authentic, the issuer/bank authorizes the transaction. Money is then credited to the merchant and marked as an amount owed by the cardholder.

The token system essentially provides an extra layer of security to payments made through NFC, which, as mentioned earlier, allows merchants to pay a lower "card present" rate for NFC purchases. Merchants still pay the higher "card-not-present" rate when payments are made over Bluetooth LE rather than NFC, however, or when a purchase is made in-app using Apple Pay.

According to Lambert, Apple is not handling tokenization, instead leaving it up to credit card companies like Visa, MasterCard, and American Express. He describes Apple's role as a "channel and not a party," and Apple itself has confirmed that it won't store any information about transactions conducted by customers.

Apple has plans to roll out Apple Pay beginning in October, and promises the program will work with more than 220,000 U.S. retailers including Walgreens, Macy's, Nike, Bloomingdales, and more. Some stores like Walmart and Best Buy claim to have "opted out" of Apple Pay, but users should be able to make payments via the service at any location that has an NFC-capable point of sale system.

Many retailers are currently in the process of updating their point-of-sale hardware, as an upcoming change will see merchants that do not support EMV credit cards being liable for fraudulent, lost, and stolen cards. EMV credit cards, also known as "chip cards," include integrated circuits to authenticate debit and credit card purchases. The updated point of sale systems with EMV card support being adopted by retailers also generally include NFC, which means Apple Pay may work even at stores that have not specifically chosen to support the service.