MacRumors

Apple Music today gained support for user-uploaded unofficial remixes, according to TechCrunch. Unofficial remixes are mixes by DJs typically uploaded by the artists themselves, but major labels choose not to upload them to music services because of rights issues. SoundCloud is one of the few services that can offer support for unofficial remixes.

In March, Apple struck a deal with Dubset, a music rights management firm that matches snippets in a DJ's mix to a database and pays out royalties to the original rights holders. Spotify also struck a deal with Dubset, but did so in May. Spotify has also gained unofficial remixes.

The first unofficial remix is DJ Jazzy Jeff's remix of Anderson .Paak.'s "Room in Here." Unofficial singles are only the first step of Apple's agreement with Dubset. TechCrunch notes that multi-song mixes that DJs use during their shows are also on the way to the service.

Popular API documentation browser Dash was yesterday pulled from the App Store after a routine migration request. Dash developer Bogdan Popescu was given no explanation for why the app had been pulled aside from "fraudulent conduct," but after a conversation with Apple, he's been accused of manipulating App Store reviews.

Popescu received a "Notice of Termination" email yesterday and his iTunes Connect account was shut down. Apple initially declined to offer more information, but after Dash's App Store removal started making headlines, Apple told Popescu it was due to App Store review manipulation, such as paying for positive reviews, something he denies doing.

Update: Apple contacted me and told me they found evidence of App Store review manipulation. This is something I've never done.

Apple's decision is final and can't be appealed.

Despite Popescu's denial, Apple appears to be adamant that some sort of fraud took place. Apple's marketing chief Phil Schiller has stepped in and commented on the situation, through an email sent to Matthew Els, who asked him about the situation.

Hi Matthew,

Thanks for your email about this app.

I did look into this situation when I read about it today. I am told this app was removed due to repeated fraudulent activity.

We often terminate developer accounts for ratings and review fraud, including actions designed to hurt other developers. This is a responsibility that we take very seriously, on behalf of all of our customers and developers.

I hope that you understand the importance of protecting the App Store from repeated fraudulent activity.

Thank you,
Phil

At this time, Popescu says that Apple's decision is final and the app will not be returned to the App Store. The developer community seems to be surprised by the accusation, with many calling Dash a quality app that wouldn't have needed to boost its reviews.

It's not clear what's going on, and the App Store reviews for Dash are no longer visible as the app has been pulled. As developer Steven Troughton-Smith points out, if Popescu didn't manipulate his own reviews, it's possible he's been targeted maliciously by a third party or that Apple's flagging system made a mistake. With Apple's Phil Schiller having looked into the situation, the latter option seems unlikely.

Dash for Mac remains available outside of the Mac App Store, and Popescu is encouraging Dash for Mac users to migrate from the Mac App Store version. It is unclear if the iOS version will be reinstated.

During the iOS 10 beta testing period, Apple added an alert message to notify users who downloaded an older 32-bit app that it could affect system performance, but the warning message does not appear to have made it into the final version of iOS 10 that was released to the public.

Starting in iOS 10.1, Apple is reinstating the warning message, with a more dire alert that will likely steer customers away from apps that have not complied with Apple's 2015 mandate stating all apps must be 64-bit. As can be seen in the alert below, the message now warns that an app "may slow down your iPhone." It goes on to say "The developer of this app needs to update it to improve its compatibility."

During the iOS 10 beta testing period, the alert instead warned 32-bit apps were "not optimized for iOS 10" and usage "may affect overall system performance."

Starting in late 2013, Apple began asking developers to submit 64-bit apps for the iPhone 5s, the first iPhone with a 64-bit processor. On February 1, 2015, Apple made 64-bit support mandatory for all new app submissions, and on June 1, 2015, all app updates submitted were required to include 64-bit support.

Apps that are popping up warnings in the iOS 10.1 beta are apps that have not been updated since that time.

Apple has likely reinstated the 32-bit alert message as part of its crackdown on older, outdated apps to clean up the App Store. In early September, Apple notified developers about an upcoming plan to remove apps that have not received compatibility updates, do not comply with current review guidelines, or that no longer function as intended.

Notices started going out on September 7, with developers given a 30 day period to fix problematic apps. After that period, Apple will be removing outdated apps from the App Store.

Following a report yesterday that cited three former Yahoo employees who claimed the company built a program to scan every customer's email for specific information at the order of the United States government, new pieces of information have surfaced in a separate article from The New York Times. Specifically, anonymous sources close to the matter said that Yahoo built the program by adapting a filter meant to scan email inboxes for child pornography, malware, and basic spam content.

Yahoo was said to have done this in order to "satisfy a secret court order," created to require the company to search for content containing a specific computer signature related to online communications of an unspecified state-sponsored terrorist group. Two of the anonymous sources -- referred to as "government officials" -- mentioned the Justice Department received the order from a judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court sometime last year, an order that Yahoo was "barred from disclosing" to the public.

Through its modifications to the spam filter program, Yahoo complied with the Justice Department's order and made available any email that contained the signature, but as of now that collection method "is no longer taking place." The order was described as "unusual" because it required the scanning of individual emails instead of user accounts as a whole, and was allegedly only given to Yahoo as other tech companies, including Apple, have said they never encountered such a demand.

In response to a request for comment, an Apple spokesperson told BuzzFeed News, “We have never received a request of this type. If we were to receive one, we would oppose it in court.”

A Microsoft spokesperson said, “We have never engaged in the secret scanning of email traffic like what has been reported today about Yahoo.”

A Google spokesperson told BuzzFeed News, “We’ve never received such a request, but if we did, our response would be simple: no way.”

According to the sources, federal investigators learned last year that members of a foreign terrorist organization were communicating using Yahoo's email service, through a method that used a "highly unique" designator, or signature, in each communication. Although built to look for specific content, the modified program's far-reaching scanning of each user on the service brought about unrest in the user base when the original report came out yesterday. Yahoo's compliance is also being contrasted to Apple's obstinate response in its battle with the FBI earlier in the year.

After the news broke, Yahoo said that the Reuters story was "misleading" and that the email scanning outlined in the report "does not exist on our systems." Compounding the company's woes, last month Yahoo confirmed that "at least" 500 million user accounts were compromised during an attack in late 2014, leaking customer information like names, email addresses, telephone numbers, birthdates, hashed passwords, and both encrypted and unencrypted security questions and answers. In the midst of all of this, Yahoo’s pending acquisition by Verizon could potentially face negative effects.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Apple plans to unify its cloud services teams, including Siri, Apple Maps, iCloud, Apple Pay, Apple News, and parts of iTunes and Apple Music, at its existing Infinite Loop headquarters in Cupertino, California, according to Bloomberg.

Moving the teams into a single campus should streamline growth of Apple services, as the current structure of having teams spread out throughout various office buildings in Cupertino and Sunnyvale contributed to software bugs and slowed product development, the report claims.

The cloud services teams could be on the move again in the near future as Apple completes work on its new Campus 2 headquarters, where well over 13,000 employees are expected to work. Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company will begin moving employees to the new campus in 2017.

The report adds that Apple is also planning to shift its services to a single, Apple-made backend system, codenamed Pie. The infrastructure change will reportedly give Apple "more control" and "may speed up load times."

Apple has begun moving over parts of Siri, the iTunes Store, and Apple News to the new platform, one of the people said. Apple plans to move other services, including Maps, to its new system over the next few years. Apple has also developed an internal photo storage system dubbed McQueen to gradually end its reliance on Google and Amazon servers, the people said.

In March, it was reported that Apple is working on an in-house cloud storage system called "McQueen" to reduce its dependence on services like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform, with today's report specifying it will be an internal photo storage system.

Apple experienced its first-ever iPhone sales decline earlier this year, but its services category continues to grow. In its most recent quarter, Apple reported nearly $6 billion in revenue tied to services like the App Store, Apple Music, AppleCare, Apple Pay, iCloud, and the iTunes Store, up 19% compared to the year-ago period.

Twitter shares took a tumble yesterday following reports that neither Apple nor Google are interested in making a bid for the social media company.

Last month, Twitter shares rose 20 percent after rumors emerged that it had received takeover approaches from several tech giants and that its board of directors was open to a deal, which could come by the end of this year.

But according to sources who spoke to Recode yesterday, Twitter should have "low expectations" of receiving an offer from Apple, whose focus "remains on its flagship consumer products and not on social networks", while Google – hitherto considered its most likely suitor – is no longer moving forward with an effort to buy at this time. Disney, which had also considered a bid, has also ruled itself out.

That leaves American cloud computing company Salesforce in the driving seat for a potential acquisition, but the firm has so far refused to comment publicly on speculation that it is considering a buy.

Twitter is said to be eager to wrap up any deal before its quarterly earnings report on October 27, but the latest share slump suggests investors are wringing their hands over the likelihood of a firm buy offer any time soon.

For the last two years Twitter has been searching for ways to attract new users as the growth and profitability of rival social media companies like Snapchat and Facebook continue to outpace it.

In June, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey suggested Twitter can be somewhat confusing and alienating to its install base in comparison, but it remains to be seen whether its recent flurry of additional features will do enough to change that perception.

Critics remain skeptical and advertiser interest in Twitter has waned as a result, while the company has endured internal turmoil in recent years with a revolving door of executives and board members.

In the past couple of days, several Apple employees have begun tweeting about the Orchard, a new program created by Apple to find upcoming marketing talent. The Cupertino company has also created an Orchard page on its website teasing the program.

The moment is now. Throw everything you know out the window. All in. Head first. Join the Orchard. If you're lucky enough to make the cut, expect to surround yourself with like-minded souls who are as terrified and excited as you are. Be part of a hand-picked team with a plethora of talent. Kick ass together. Panic together. Grow together. Work alongside the brains of all the iconic work you love from Apple. Watch and learn. Trust your gut. Challenge our ways. Have an impact on everything you touch. Be prepared to stumble and fumble and embarrass yourself. It will be messy, and it won't be pretty at times, but if you stick together as a team, you'll build a special bond and something truly great will come out of it all. Take it from us. It's the only way. Does this whole proposal sound crazy to you? Good. We like crazy.

On its jobs page, Apple explains that the Orchard will be made up of 10 participants. Of those 10, there will be 4 art directors, 4 copywriters and 2 strategic planners. The program will last for six months and give participants the opportunity to work and grow alongside Apple's marketing communications team. The Orchard is intended for those with 0 to 3 years of experience.

The goal of the program, according to Apple, is for the "mutual learning and growth of the next generation of Apple thinkers and creators." Participants of the Orchard will also go through a set curriculum, receive mentoring from Apple employees and work on Apple projects. Enrichment opportunities and sessions with leaders of Apple departments outside of marketing will also be available.

Applicants must submit a cover letter, resume and examples of design, marketing or advertising that show a "talent or passion for communication." Applications will only be accepted from October 3 to November 4, and a selection committee will review all applications and screen applicants via FaceTime. In December, finalists will be flown to Apple's Cupertino headquarters for one-on-one interviews. Orchard participants will then be with the company from January 16, 2017 to August 25, 2017. All participants will be given a competitive salary and a relocation package.

This isn't the first time Apple has created a program intended to educate the next generation of Apple employees. In 2011, Apple created Apple University, an internal program to teach new employees about management techniques and the history of how Apple has approached problems and decisions.

Update: Apple has pulled the webpage describing the Orchard program, but the job listings remain available.

Samsung has acquired Viv, the AI assistant co-founded by Dag Kittlaus, Adam Cheyer and Chris Brigham, who created Siri, which was acquired by Apple in 2010, reports TechCrunch. The trio left Apple in 2012 and founded Viv. Viv will continue to operate as an independent company.

Viv has enhanced contextual understanding thanks to "dynamic program generation," which means that Viv can understand the intent of a user's queries and self-code responses on the fly. Viv can understand context and stack multiple queries on top of each other. For instance, at TechCrunch's Disrupt NY event last year, Kittlaus was able to ask Viv whether it was raining in Seattle a couple days prior, following up with whether it'll be warmer than 70-degrees near Golden Gate Bridge after 5pm the day after tomorrow.

Kittlaus tells TechCrunch that the reason it sold to Samsung was ubiquity. The company ships 500 million devices a year, he explained, which gives Viv a large distribution network. On the other hand, the acquisition gives Samsung its own AI assistant that can go toe-to-toe with Siri, Google Assistant and Amazon's Alexa.

Samsung says that while the acquisition was done by its mobile team, the company sees the benefits to multiple product categories. "From our perspective and from the client’s perspective, the interest and the power of this really comes from taking advantage of the Samsung scale overall, as well as the richness of the touch points we have with consumers." Viv's technology may eventually work its way into Samsung's non-mobile devices, like washing machines, refrigerators and TVs.

Advanced AI assistants have become a focus amongst Apple and its rivals recently. In May, it was reported that Apple was planning on introducing a next-gen natural language API in its rumored Amazon Echo competitor. The technology behind the API is the work of VocalIQ, a natural language outfit purchased by Apple in October 2015. The API has the ability to do "session-based" contextual responses similar to Viv.

Apple's first iOS Developer Academy is set to open this week at the University of Naples Federico II's new San Giovanni a Teduccio campus, located in a coastal suburb east of Naples, Italy.

The campus will see Apple teaching 200 Italian students how to write code to create apps that will run on Apple's iOS devices during the nine month course. Students will be provided with a current-generation MacBook, iPhone, and iPad, along with tuition, all for free.

More than 4,000 students applied for 200 spots during an open enrollment program. Next year, more spots will be available, as the university plans to accept 400 students.

Leopoldo Angrisani, a professor who has helped get the program up and running, spoke with The Guardian and shared some details on the campus ahead of its opening on October 6. Apple had a hand in the design of the academy, which is housed in one of three modern-looking buildings with glass facades.

The layout of the large, open-plan classroom was designed by Apple. "The didactic model is very new [for us]," Angrisani said. Small groups of students will sit at round tables equipped with special acoustic systems so the teacher can communicate with each table individually about their work. All courses will be taught in English, since it is meant to be open to students from around the world.

"Competition will be a fundamental part of the class," Angrisani said.

Couches and a lounge area are included in the classroom, giving students a chance to rest, and Apple expects collaboration between students will be a key part of the classroom experience. "Apple thinks that all of these activities, learning and rest and so on, have to stay very close to each other, because this is the best way to ensure that the concepts are absorbed and understood very well," Angrisani told The Guardian.

During its visit to the campus, The Guardian was shown the classroom where classes will be held, but was not allowed to sit in on a meeting where an Apple official was instructing academy teachers. University officials also said Apple had been "very, very" involved in the work at the academy, down to details like the lighting in the classroom and the color on the walls.

In the past, Apple has said the iOS Developer Academy will be expanded to other countries around the world in the future.

An increasing number of iPhone users are experiencing an Activation Lock issue in which the device is linked to an Apple ID email address that does not belong to them, according to crowdsourced information from MacRumors and Twitter.

MacRumors reader Balders, who recently purchased an iPhone 7 Plus, explained in our discussion forums:

Just received my brand new 256GB Jet Black iPhone 7 Plus. Looks immaculate, screen is perfect, machining all fine… Only problem is, it appears someone has already used it as the iPhone is asking for the account used to activate it — o.....@icloud.com. Apple say it needs replacing […] Now got to wait for an expedited replacement iPhone once I've returned this one.

With the wrong Apple ID being displayed, users cannot sign in and are therefore unable to proceed with setting up the iPhone. The issue has primarily affected new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus models upon being turned on for the first time, and iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus models upon being restored to default settings, although older models appear to be affected to a lesser extent.

MacRumors user TheKricket said his iPhone 6s suddenly became activation locked:

I purchased an iPhone 6s full-price and outright directly from an Apple Store in September 2015. The phone was unlocked (I switched from T-Mobile to Verizon after I purchased it without issue). I recently purchased an iPhone 7 Plus and after that phone was activated on Verizon's network, the iPhone 6s now indicates that it has an "Activation Lock." It is also linked to some unknown iCloud account (not the account I activated it with or have been using it with for close to a full year).

The discussion topics above and others have received multiple replies from other MacRumors readers experiencing the same issue, while several Twitter users have also shared similar complaints. It is unclear when the Apple ID mixups first began, but user reports have gained traction since at least September.

A number of affected users said Apple was able to remove the Activation Lock on their iPhones upon providing the company with proof of purchase. This process can seemingly be completed at an Apple retail store by scheduling a Genius Bar appointment, or remotely by calling Apple's support team at 1-800-MY-APPLE.

On rarer occasions, however, the Activation Lock screen linked to a wrong Apple ID email address reappears more than once. In these cases, some users report that Apple fully replaced their iPhones.

It remains unclear what is causing the Activation Lock issues. Apple has not publicly commented on the matter.

Over the past couple of weeks, YouTubers have been conducting all kinds of "tests" on the new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, looking for flaws, confirming Apple's design claims, and exploring new features. One test on the sapphire cover of the rear-facing camera, calls into question whether lens cover is indeed made of sapphire after it's shown being scratched with picks designed to emulate the Mohs hardness scale.

On the Mohs scale of hardness, sapphire rates a 9, coming in just under diamond at a 10 on the top of the scale. Its hardness makes it resistant to scratching, and so it's used by high-end watch makers and by Apple to cover the Home button and the rear camera of the iPhone 7.

In the video, scratches are made on the iPhone 7 camera and a sapphire-equipped Tissot watch using specialized Mohs tools. With a pick the reviewer claims is "Mohs 6," he is able to make scratches on the camera lens, theorizing that it is made from sapphire-laminated glass or impure sapphire because sapphire should resist scratches at Mohs 6.

This test, and others like it, have caused people to claim that Apple is lying about using pure sapphire crystal over the camera lens, prompting the company to release an official statement subtly calling into question the testing methods used in the video. The reviewer does use tools to determine the composition of the sapphire and finds carbon, but it is not clear that the test was done without contamination.

Apple confirms the iPhone 7 camera lens is sapphire, and under proper testing conditions, achieves the hardness and purity results expected from sapphire.

Last month, Apple's Phil Schiller also confirmed on Twitter that the rear lens cover on the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus are constructed from sapphire.

According to iMore's Rene Ritchie, there's a simple explanation for the discrepancy between Apple's claims and what's going on in the video. The tools used in the video aren't scratching the lens -- they're causing fracturing, as can even be seen when the sapphire is placed under the microscope, due to heavy pressure.

Fracturing -- as opposed to scratching -- is what happens when you have something so incredibly thin -- unlike the much thicker watch used for comparison -- and you apply pressure with no level of control.

You'd have to precisely apply the same level of force, likely to the same thickness of material, to properly do that test.

Apple has used sapphire crystal for iPhone components for multiple years and maintains that sapphire crystal continues to be present in the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus, a conclusion that was also ultimately reached in the video.