MacRumors

After two weeks of testing, Apple has released iOS 8.1.1, a minor update that includes several bug fixes. Apple first seeded the iOS 8.1.1 beta to developers on November 3.

iOS 8.1.1 is available immediately as an over-the-air download. Apple has also released new Apple TV software and an update to OS X Yosemite, OS X 10.10.1.

According to Apple's release notes, iOS 8.1.1 includes bug fixes and increased stability and performance improvements for both the iPad 2 and the iPhone 4s, two of the older devices that support the operating system.

iOS 8.1.1 may offer several bug fixes, but as a minor update, it does not bundle in any of the major new features that are rumored for iOS 8, like improvements to Maps and split-screen multitasking for the iPad. These updates may come in iOS 8.2 or iOS 8.3, both of which Apple is rumored to be working on.

Apple today released OS X Yosemite 10.10.1, the first update to the new operating system since its initial October release. Testing for OS X 10.10.1 began on November 3, with Apple seeding two betas to developers before launching the software publicly.

The new software is available through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store.

The OS X 10.10.1 update is recommended for all Yosemite users. It improves the stability and compatibility of your Mac. This update:

- Improves Wi-Fi reliability
- Improves reliability when connecting to a Microsoft Exchange Server
- Improves reliability sending Mail messages when using certain email service providers
- Improves reliability when connecting to remote computers using Back to My Mac.

The update should fix several major issues that users have been seeing with OS X Yosemite, including a major Wi-Fi issue that’s caused connection problems for a number of users.

Microsoft yesterday launched the latest in its series of ads comparing the Surface Pro 3 to Apple's MacBook Air. The new ad, entitled "Winter Wonderland", compares and contrasts the two machines to the jingle of the Christmas melody.

The ad's predominant assessment of the Surface Pro 3 is how powerful the device is in comparison to the MacBook Air, offering similar performance while also supporting pen input. Microsoft also highlights the use of the Surface Pro 3's kickstand and touch screen as major advantages over the MacBook line, as the Microsoft user in the ad goes about using the Surface to design a Christmas-themed coffee mug. Finally, the ad highlights the Surface Pro 3's ability to detach from its magnetic keyboard for easy travel and its robust array of ancillary ports, such as its USB port. "I think I like your Surface Pro 3," the MacBook Air user states at the ad's end. "No seriously, where can I get one?"

Since the Surface Pro 3 was announced this past May, Microsoft has released several ads comparing the device to Apple's line of MacBooks. Back in August, the company released a series of ads sizing up the MacBook Air with the Surface Pro 3 for the first time, most likely for the then-impending back-to-school rush. Microsoft has also pitted the MacBook Air against Lenovo's Yoga 3 Pro in another ad released earlier this month.

All of the ads unsurprisingly position the Microsoft product as offering more versatility and a wider array of functionality compared to the MacBook Air. None of this is new, of course, as Apple and its products have long been popular targets in ads from a number of competitors including Microsoft, which has in the past compared its Cortana virtual assistant to Siri and the Surface RT to the iPad.

As is typical for this time of year, Apple is planning to spruce up its retail operations ahead of the end-of-the-year holiday shopping season. This year's changes in the company's retail offering include new colors for store gift cards and holiday-colored shirts for Apple employees, with retail head Angela Ahrendts reportedly introducing these holiday updates in an internal company video.

Anonymous sources claim Apple's new gift cards will move to solid silver, gold and space gray designs to match the current styling of the iPad and iPhone. Similar to previous gift cards, these new gift cards can be used in store or online with a value up to $2000. They will debut starting today, November 17.

Other retail changes include the rollout of red holiday t-shirts to replace the traditional blue shirts for employees and the removal of the neck lanyard from the employees' standard retail uniform. The lanyard badge holders are distinctive to Apple and issued to current employees, but without the lanyard there will be more emphasis on employees introducing themselves to customers.

Apple retail stores will also begin servicing Beats Electronics products starting tomorrow, as shown in an internal memo leaked by TechnoBuffalo late last week. Retail sources have confirmed to MacRumors that the leak is genuine and that most service will not take place at stores themselves, but instead be handled through mail-in depot channels. Issues with minor items such as cables, chargers, and cables will be handled in-store.

These small modifications are part of a larger plan by Angela Ahrendts to revamp Apple's retail operations. Apple's recently appointed retail chief reportedly is focusing her efforts on mobile payments, expansion into China, and the customer's Apple Store sales experience.

Apple has reportedly chosen Samsung over Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) as the primary supplier for its future application processors in a deal worth billions, claims The Korea Times (Via G for Games) citing sources familiar with the deal.

Starting in 2016, Samsung reportedly will supply 80 percent of Apple's supply of 14 nm application processors with TSMC supplying the remaining 20 percent. The key factor that boosted Samsung was its recent partnership with GlobalFoundries, a relationship which will enable Samsung to produce sufficient supply of processors to meet Apple's demand.

"Apple has designated Samsung as the primary supplier of its next A-series chips powering iOS devices from 2016 as the alliance with GlobalFoundries (GF) enabled Samsung to cut off capacity risk," a source familiar with the deal said.

During its recent conference call, Samsung confirmed that it is producing sample 14 nm chips for an unidentified customer with plans to mass produce the chips in 2015 and 2016. This latest Korean Times report claims Samsung will begin building the processors early next year in its South Korean plant with plans to expand production to the company's Austin, Texas facility and GlobalFoundries' New York factory in the coming year.

Apple today announced that it is now accepting UnionPay as a payment option for App Store customers in China. Established in 2002, UnionPay is the most popular payment card company in China with over 4.5 billion cards issued. With today's announcement, users can simply link their UnionPay debit or credit card for easy purchases.

“The ability to buy apps and make purchases using UnionPay cards has been one of the most requested features from our customers in China,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “China is already our second largest market for app downloads, and now we’re providing users with an incredibly convenient way to purchase their favorite apps with just one-tap.”

The acceptance of UnionPay in the App Store is the latest move by Apple to expand its presence in China. The company is also in talks with major Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba over a China-focused payments partnership, which could see the Alipay electronics payment service integrate with Apple Pay. Discussions between the two companies were acknowledged by Alibaba Executive Vice Chairman Joseph Tsai and Alibaba founder Jack Ma.

In a new interview with The Independent, screenwriter Aaron Sorkin shares a few more details regarding his upcoming movie about Steve Jobs, noting that while there is no word on who will play the leading role yet, an announcement is imminent.

Leonardo DiCaprio and, more recently, Christian Bale, pulled out, the latter because of the sheer demands of the role: “It’s a 181-page script, about 100 of it is that one character,” says Sorkin. The frontrunner is now believed to be Michael Fassbender. Sorkin, today, can confirm only that an announcement is imminent.

As previously shared by Sorkin, the film will focus on three 30-minute scenes showing Jobs backstage before the announcement of the Mac, NeXT, and the iPod.

Sorkin also reveals in the new interview that the character of Jobs' daughter Lisa will play a major role as the "heroine" of the film. Lisa Brennan-Jobs had declined to contribute to Walter Isaacson's authorized biography of her father while he was alive, but has worked with Sorkin on the screenplay for the film.

“[I]in the case of Steve Jobs, it’s the relationships he had – particularly with his daughter, Lisa – that drew me to it,” he says. Jobs initially denied paternity of his daughter, now 36, though they later reconnected and she lived with him in her teens. “She didn’t participate in Walter Isaacson’s book, because her father was alive at the time, and she didn’t want to alienate either of her parents, so I was very grateful that she was willing to spend time with me,” says Sorkin. “She is the heroine of the movie.”

Sorkin's Jobs film does not yet have a release date, but with Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle on board and casting starting to firm up, things are clearly moving forward.

Apple Pay has been available in quite a few retail stores since its release more than three weeks ago on October 20, but thus far there's been little concrete indication of its popularity with customers. A new report from The New York Times, however, sheds some light on Apple Pay's early success.

McDonald's, an early Apple Pay partner that accepts the payment system in all of its 14,000 restaurants in the United States, saw Apple Pay accounting for 50 percent of all of its tap-to-pay transactions. At Walgreens, a drugstore chain of more than 8,000 stores, Apple Pay doubled the number of mobile wallet payments being made.

As shared earlier this month, Whole Foods processed 150,000 Apple Pay transactions between October 20 and November 6, which equated to an estimated one percent of all Whole Foods transactions.

Some stores, however, haven't seen as much success with Apple Pay. According to Toys R Us, which has 870 stores in the United States, while there was an increase in mobile payments, it was minor "because customers were still learning about the new technology."

As noted by The New York Times, the interest consumers are expressing in Apple Pay hints at a growing acceptance for mobile payment solutions. Denée Carrington, a Forrester Research analyst attributed Apple Pay's early success to the "strength of the Apple Brand" and the ease of the experience. "I'm not saying it's changing the landscape overnight," she said. "But this has never happened with other mobile wallets."

Along with bolstering mobile wallet usage in retail stores, Apple Pay has also been responsible for increasing consumer interest in the mobile payment arena in general. Google Wallet, for example, saw a surge in usage after the launch of Apple Pay, and Softcard, another mobile payment solution backed by AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile has also seen a growing number of users.

According to Softcard CEO Michael Abbott, "Apple Pay has been a huge tailwind" and a "rising tide that has lifted all boats."

Mr. Abbott said that because of Apple, many companies now want to support the same technology for paying by phone: near-field communication, which enables devices to exchange information wirelessly over very short distances. This consistency would help make paying for things with a smartphone less confusing for shoppers.

Apple currently has 36 retail partners that accept Apple Pay in their stores, and new partners are signing up on a regular basis as the payments service catches on. Just this week office supply store Staples and grocery chains Winn-Dixie and BI-LO began accepting Apple Pay payments.

In late October, researchers discovered that AT&T and Verizon had been engaging in some unsavory customer tracking methods, using unique identifying numbers or "perma-cookies" to track the websites that customers visited on their cellular devices to deliver target advertisements.

Following significant negative attention from the media, AT&T today told the Associated Press that it is no longer injecting the hidden web tracking codes into the data sent from its customers' devices.

The change by AT&T essentially removes a hidden string of letters and numbers that are passed along to websites that a consumer visits. It can be used to track subscribers across the Internet, a lucrative data-mining opportunity for advertisers that could still reveal users' identities based on their browsing habits.

AT&T's customer tracking practices, called "Relevant Advertising," were the result of a pilot program the company had been experimenting with, which has apparently come to an end.

While AT&T has opted to stop using the invasive tracking method, Verizon is continuing to utilize perma-cookies to track the web activity of its customers. Unlike AT&T's experimental program, Verizon has been using Relevant Advertising techniques for approximately two years.

Verizon Wireless, the country's largest mobile firm, said Friday it still uses this type of tracking, known as "super cookies." Verizon spokeswoman Debra Lewis said business and government customers don't have the code inserted. There has been no evidence that Sprint and T-Mobile have used such codes.

"As with any program, we're constantly evaluating, and this is no different," Lewis said, adding that consumers can ask that their codes not be used for advertising tracking. But that still passes along the codes to websites, even if subscribers say they don't want their data being used for marketing purposes.

Verizon and AT&T customers are able to check whether their devices are sending identifying codes by visiting a website created by Kenneth White, one of the security researchers who discovered the tracking methods.

While Verizon customers can opt out of tracking on the Verizon website, that does not stop the identifying code from being inserted into the URLs of the websites that they visit.

Earlier this week, Beats Electronics introduced new Solo2 Wireless on-ear headphones, the first product the company has released since its acquisition by Apple became official back in August. While the headphones are not yet available for purchase on the Beats website, Mike Liang, aka HiFiGuy on YouTube has gotten an advanced first look at the new Solo2 Wireless headphones and has shared both photos and first impressions with MacRumors.

The Beats Solo2 Wireless headphones share the same design as the Solo2 headphones that Beats introduced back in May, with Beats' signature large cups emblazoned with the Beats logo. Aside from some small print on the box, there's no Apple branding or Apple references on the Solo2 Wireless headphones.

Reviews of the original Solo2 headphones suggested Beats had toned down the bass with the new design, offering better acoustics, and Liang says that the Solo2 Wireless headphones sound identical to the existing Solo2 headphones.

Solo2 Wireless has an exciting/energetic sound signature that's suitable for a wide variety of music genres (even Classical). No more muffled midrange and flabby bass of the old SoloHD by Monster. Audiophiles will certainly appreciate the much improved sound signature. No one can honestly say that the new Solo2 Wireless sound bad. These are good!

According to Liang, the Solo2 Wireless headphones paired easily to his MacBook Pro, taking only seconds to setup, but unfortunately it appears that Beats has opted to use the SBC Bluetooth codec rather than aptX, which is believed to offer superior sound quality.

Beats plans to begin selling its Solo2 Wireless headphones later this month for $300, a $100 premium over the standard Solo2 headphones. The Solo2 Wireless headphones are available in black, white, and blue, with Verizon exclusively offering a red option through the end of the year. Beats has also released new "Royal Edition" color options for the standard Solo2 headphones, making them available in Stone Grey, Hunter Green, Imperial Violet, Blush Rose, and Sapphire Blue.

Following in the footsteps of office supply store Staples, Winn-Dixie and BI-LO have become the second and third retail chain this week to begin accepting Apple Pay in their retail locations.

According to a tipster who spoke to MacRumors, Apple Pay will officially be supported at Winn-Dixie beginning on Monday, November 17, but multiple reports on Twitter suggest that both Winn-Dixie and its sister store BI-LO have already begun processing Apple Pay payments.

Winn-Dixie is is a major grocery store chain that operates in the southeastern United States, with more than 500 stores in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Similarly, BI-LO, a grocery store chain owned by the same parent company, consists of more than 800 stores across Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

The two grocery store chains will join Meijer, Wegmans, and Whole Foods, becoming the fourth and fifth grocery stores to accept Apple Pay. Unlike Staples, which also recently began accepting Apple Pay, BI-LO and Winn-Dixie were not listed under Apple's "Coming later this year" banner, making their adoption of Apple Pay somewhat of a surprise. Winn-Dixie did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the addition of Apple Pay in its stores.

With the addition of Winn-Dixie and BI-LO, Apple Pay now has 36 retail partners, including major retailers like Macy's, Disney, Foot Locker, Petco, Walgreens, and Toys R Us. Apple Pay is also unofficially accepted in many stores that support contactless payments.

Because Apple Pay is still in the early stages of rolling out, there's little data available on its popularity in retail stores, but Whole Foods processed 150,000 transactions in the 17 days following Apple Pay's October 20 debut, which equated to approximately one percent of all Whole Foods transactions.

Following the launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus back in September, a new survey of U.S. customers by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) details the adoption rate of the first thirty days of the devices' lifespan.

The survey data, shared in a research note published today by UBS analyst Steven Milunovich, indicates that 91 percent of iPhone owners bought either an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus in the first four weeks of launch, rising from 86 percent in the first two weeks. Uptake of the new models also compares favorably to last year's iPhone launch, which saw 84 percent of customers in the first thirty days opting for the iPhone 5s and 5c.

Most of the increase in share for the new models since the initial launch period has come from the iPhone 6, which saw an increase of six percentage points to 68 percent, while the iPhone 6 Plus remains at around 23-24 percent of purchases, despite both facing high demand during their initial launch.

The 3:1 ratio favoring the iPhone 6 over 6 Plus has come down slightly from early adoption rate data, but as highlighted by Apple's Greg Joswiak last month, the true balance of customer interest won't be known until production constraints, which more heavily affect the iPhone 6 Plus, are resolved. The balance will also vary significantly by country, with customers in Asian countries tending to prefer larger screens than those in other countries.

The study by CIRP also measured future intentions on purchasing the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Of those asked, over 40 percent were planning to buy an iPhone 6 within the next year. Nineteen percent of Samsung users surveyed also plan to switch over to Apple for their next phone purchases, with over half of those intended purchases favoring the iPhone 6 Plus.

While that marks a significant potential share gain for Apple, recent data has so far shown lower than expected shares of Android customers switching over to the iPhone 6. A more realistic picture will, however, come later as the surge of iPhone early adopters wanes.

When the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus launched in September, they sold over ten million units in their launch weekend, including 4 million first-day pre-orders. The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus also outpaced last year's nine million units of the iPhone 5s and 5c shipped in their opening weekend, but that figure is widely viewed as somewhat inflated by ample stocks of iPhone 5c units shipping into inventory channels.

Apple and manufacturer partner GT Advanced parted ways after the sapphire supplier filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. While most Apple supplier relationships are kept secretive, the background story behind the GT-Apple partnership was revealed in a series of court documents filed by GT that were recently made public.

A follow-up report by The Guardian provides an interesting look at how a deal with Apple often can make and sometimes break a supplier. While the report does not introduce any significant new information, it is a good summary of the chain of events and may help some readers get caught up on the story.

In the case of GT, the outcome of its partnership with Apple was not favorable, with the supplier filing for bankruptcy in order to sever the ties between the two companies.

On 9 September Cook showed off the new phones - without sapphire screens. By 10 September GTAT stock was down 25% to $12.78; by Friday 3 October it stood at $11.05. On Monday 6 October, GTAT filed for Chapter 11, and its stock plummeted to $0.80. Trading ceased on 15 October.

Squiller says in the deposition that GTAT put itself into Chapter 11 bankruptcy (which protects a company from its creditors) simply to release itself from the Apple deal - and hence save the company.

The narrative of the relationship by GT paints a bleak picture of Apple and includes allegations of deceptive "bait and switch" business practices on Apple's part and onerous contract terms that led to productions delays. When GT questioned the contract it was about to sign, Apple reportedly confirmed "similar terms are required for other Apple suppliers" and told GT to "put on your big boy pants and accept the agreement."

In the end, GT failed to produce sapphire in suitable quality and sufficient quantity to meet Apple's demands. Instead of a success story, GT is an excellent example of what happens when a supplier goes all in with Apple and fails to scale its production technology fast enough.

Just a couple days after the discovery of an iOS vulnerability referred to as Masque Attack because of its ability to emulate and replace existing legitimate apps with malicious ones, Apple has responded in a statement to iMore. 

"We designed OS X and iOS with built-in security safeguards to help protect customers and warn them before installing potentially malicious software," an Apple spokesperson told iMore. "We're not aware of any customers that have actually been affected by this attack. We encourage customers to only download from trusted sources like the App Store and to pay attention to any warnings as they download apps. Enterprise users installing custom apps should install apps from their company's secure website."

Masque Attack works by luring a user to install an app outside of the iOS App Store by clicking a phishing link in a text message or email. For example, a user could be prompted to download a new app in a text message that says something like "Hey, try out Flappy Bird 2". A user is then directed to a website where they're prompted to download the app, which will install the fake app over the legitimate one using iOS enterprise provision profiles, making it virtually undetectable.

Earlier today, the United States government issued a warning about Masque Attack to iOS users. The vulnerability was discovered just a week after reports of malware called WireLurker surfaced. WireLurker is able to attack iOS devices through OS X using a USB cable. Both vulnerabilities are unlikely to affect the average iOS user as long as Apple's security features are not bypassed.

Both WireLurker and Masque Attack can be avoided by staying away from suspicious apps and avoiding links that prompt users to install apps outside of Apple's App Stores.