MacRumors

Cathy Edwards, who works as a Director of Evaluation and Quality on Apple Maps, is planning to leave Apple in April, reports TechCrunch. Edwards initially co-founded and served as chief technical officer at app discovery platform Chomp, joining Apple after her company was acquired in 2012.

Apple purchased Chomp in early 2012 to bolster its App Store search and discovery algorithms and incorporated the company's technology into its App Store in August of 2012, adding a card-style search results format that is still used today.

Following the acquisition, Edwards served as Head of Search and Management, taking on the responsibility of search systems across multiple Apple products. Later, just after the disastrous launch of Apple Maps, Edwards took on the role of Director, Evaluation and Quality, Apple Maps.

She joined that role at a pretty thankless time, if you recall the chaos of Apple Maps-gate. Edwards' role at Apple Maps has focused on "Building out an organization focused on QA automation, statistical quality analysis and analytics within Maps," according to LinkedIn. Essentially, her work was about making sure that Apple Maps didn't suck, something that remains a goal for the company. "We're hiring, come join us!" ends the description. This remains her role up to today.

It is unclear why Edwards is leaving Apple or what she plans to do next, but TechCrunch suggests that the departure may be contractual as it has now been two years since Chomp was acquired. It is unknown if other former Chomp employees will be leaving the company as well.

Turkey's first Apple Store is nearing completion, as seen in new photos posted by Turkish Apple blog ElmaDergisi (via AppleToolbox). Taken on March 24 and 25, the images show the progress on the upcoming Istanbul location.

Located in the heart of Istanbul's multi-use Zorlu Center, the store is said to feature a concept that includes a design with a cubic glass ceiling. As can be seen in the photos, the wooden frame covering the building has been removed, but the structure itself, said to be entirely glass, remains under wraps.

According to Apple CEO Tim Cook, the Istanbul store will be unique among Apple retail locations, spanning more than 20,000 square feet with a portion of the store located underground.

The Istanbul Apple Store is rumored to open on Friday, April 4. Both Tim Cook and Turkish president Abdullah Gül are both expected to attend the opening.

Amazon today notified customers they are eligible for a refund for books they purchased through the Kindle book store. The refunds were paid by publishers Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, and Penguin as part of a settlement agreement in ebook price-fixing lawsuits filed by State Attorney Generals and other class-action plaintiffs.

Amazon issued the settlement refund in the form of a Kindle book store credit that is automatically applied to a customer's Amazon account. The credit is valid for one year and must be redeemed before 03/31/2015.

Good news! You are entitled to a credit of $27.55 for some of your past Kindle book purchases. The credit results from legal settlements reached with publishers Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, and Penguin in antitrust lawsuits filed by State Attorneys General and Class Plaintiffs about the price of eBooks.

You don't have to do anything to claim your credit, we have already added your credit to your Amazon account. We will automatically apply your available credit to your next purchase of a Kindle book or print book sold by Amazon.com, regardless of publisher. The credit applied to your purchase will appear in your order summary. If your account does not reflect this credit, please contact Amazon's customer service.

For more information about the settlements, please visit www.amazon.com/ebooksettlements

Your credit is valid for one year and will expire after 03/31/2015. If you have not used your credit, we will send you another email 90 days before it expires to remind you that it is still available.

Thanks for being a Kindle customer.

The Amazon Kindle Team

Select book sellers like Barnes & Noble and Sony are expected to begin issuing similar credits today, with postcard checks from other booksellers being sent via mail to consumers starting March 27, 2014. You can find information on book retailers and their refund payment methods on the e-book settlement web site.

Apple also was included in the antitrust lawsuits, but refused to settle. After being found guilty in federal court of conspiring to artificially inflate e-book prices, Apple was barred from entering into anticompetitive deals with content providers and must submit to court-appointed compliance monitoring. The Cupertino company also could owe as much as $500 million in damages, which are yet to be assessed.

Apple recently appealed the verdict, calling the plan a "draconian and punitive intrusion into Apple's business, wildly out of proportion to any adjudicated wrongdoing or potential harm."

A new photo may indicate that Apple is nearing the grand opening of its long delayed retail store in Hanover, Germany, reports iFun.de [Google Translation]. The photo shows the building's partially constructed internals with an exposed Apple logo on the right side of its entrance, with a flag pole also positioned over the left door.

Furthermore, the layout of the location in question is similar to that of the Apple Store Opéra in Paris, France, which boasts similar features and has become known as as one of the company's most visually appealing locations.

It is likely that Apple's Hanover location will open sometime in April, which would mark one year after the company put up its traditional plain black barricades to begin progress on the store. The store will also mark Apple's 14th location in the country, which includes stores in Düsseldorf, Berlin, and Frankfurt.

Apple announced during its financial results conference call for the third quarter of 2013 that it would be building over 30 new stores in fiscal 2014, with 2/3 of those stores to be located outside of the United States. Apple also plans to remodel 20 stores over the course of the year.

A supposed internal Apple video depicting the demolition of Hewlett Packard's former offices in preparation for Apple's Campus 2 project has surfaced on YouTube (via 9to5Mac).

The video itself, which appears to be consistent with Apple's production quality, shows excavators tearing through multiple buildings. The footage was likely shot from late last year through earlier this year, as demolition on the site began in November after Apple received unanimous approval for the project from the Cupertino City Council.

With the demolition likely complete, Apple will begin the first phase of the Apple Campus 2 construction, which will involve a 2.8 million square foot ring-shaped main building with an underground parking facility capable of holding approximately 2,400 cars. Apple will also build a 100,000 square foot fitness center and a 120,000 square foot auditorium, with some of the barren landscape being occupied by over 4,500 trees.

Update 2:15 PM: The video has been removed from YouTube at Apple's request.

Update: The video has been reuploaded to Vimeo by another user.

Apple has filled a position of privacy counsel with a lawyer experienced in customer privacy, data protection, electronic surveillance, information security and more. Sabrina Ross, a former associate at both Ropes & Gray and Sidley Austin, joined Apple this month according to her LinkedIn page (via AppleInsider).

Ross is a certified privacy professional, professing expertise in Internet and information law matters including privacy and data protection. As it moves more and more into online services including iCloud, Apple is increasingly concerned with privacy matters, including national surveillance by the NSA. Apple CEO Tim Cook told ABC News that Apple executives would need to be carted out "in a box" for the company to allow governments unfettered access to its servers.

A certified privacy professional, CIPP/US, I have experience with a wide-range of Internet and information law matters involving privacy and data protection, online brand protection, electronic surveillance, defamation, information security, cloud computing, social media, locational privacy, e-commerce, and national security. I am passionate about addressing these issues with both business acumen and an eye towards litigation strategy.

My practice includes developing privacy compliance systems, creating privacy/data security training and policies, conducting risk analysis in the merger/acquisition context, and providing compliance counseling regarding the state/federal/international privacy law landscape.

Ross' CIPP/US certification is the first professional certification to be offered in the field of information privacy, covering the U.S. legal system including federal laws for protection of personal data, privacy marketing practices, state laws covering data breach notification and other privacy implications, as well as privacy in the workplace.

Back in January, Google began testing integration of its Google Now personal assistant service with its Chrome browser for the desktop. The feature, which allows users to receive notifications for such topics as weather, traffic, and events and can tap into device location, first appeared in the experimental Chrome Canary builds and gradually worked its way through Chrome's testing phases, and Google today has announced that it is beginning to officially go live for all users.

Starting today and rolling out over the next few weeks, Google Now notifications will be available to Chrome users on their desktop or laptop computers. To enable this feature, simply sign in to Chrome with the same Google Account you’re using for Google Now on Android or iOS.

Additional information on setting up Google Now for Chrome is available in Google's help pages.