MacRumors

Apple introduced its 2015 Back to School promotion in late July, but it was initially limited to Apple's Retail Stores in a few select countries. As of today, the Back to School Program is also available for purchases made online, and it has expanded to additional countries.

With Apple's 2015 Back to School promotion, students, parents of students, and educators who purchase an eligible Mac will receive a free pair of Beats Solo2 On-Ear Headphones or a pair of Beats Solo2 Wireless On-Ear Headphones at a $200 discount.

Eligible Macs include the iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac Pro. The Mac mini, refurbished Macs, iPads, and iPhones are excluded from the 2015 Back to School program.

Apple has added a link to the Back to School promotion on its main site, which takes users to the Education Store and details the promotion. Viewing any Mac in the Education Store also brings up information on the Back to School program.

When an eligible Mac is added to a shopping cart, buyers will have the option to select their free Beats Solo2 headphones in Gloss Black, Gloss White, Gloss Blue, Gloss Pink, Gloss Gray, Gloss Red (Product RED), Gold, Silver, or Space Gray. Students hoping to take advantage of the $200 discount on Wireless Solo2 headphones will need to add them to the cart manually.

This year's Back to School promotion is a significant deviation from the deals offered in past years. Previously, Apple provided iTunes or Apple Store gift cards in amounts between $50 to $100 with the purchase of a Mac, iPhone, or iPad.

Apple's Back to School promotion will run until September 18, 2015.

Apple today released the fifth beta of iOS 9, and as with the previous iOS 9 betas, there are a few new features and tweaks bundled into the release. WiFi calling for AT&T users has been introduced and is coming soon, Apple's debuted several new wallpapers, and there are tweaks to CarPlay and the iPhone keyboard.

Several bugs have been fixed in iOS 9 beta 5, and features like News and Siri Suggestions are working more smoothly than ever. With approximately a month and a half to go until release, iOS 9 is feeling faster, more polished, and more full featured. For those eager to know all about what's coming in iOS 9 ahead of its release, we've rounded up a complete list of the changes introduced with iOS 9 beta 5 below.

You can also check out all of the changes, large and small, that have been made in previous betas: iOS 9 beta 1, iOS 9 beta 2, iOS 9 beta 3, iOS 9 beta 4.

Wallpapers - Today's update includes a wide selection of new wallpapers, introducing images featuring close ups of feathers, flowers, plants, and more. Many older wallpapers have been removed, so people running iOS 8.4 should save their favorites now before they're deleted with the launch of iOS 9.

WiFi Calling for AT&T - Beta 5 adds WiFi calling options for AT&T subscribers, but attempting to turn the option on results in a message saying WiFi calling is not yet available. The addition of the setting heralds the imminent release of the feature for AT&T users. Previously, WiFi calling was limited to T-Mobile and Sprint. There's also a new WiFi Assist feature that will "automatically use cellular data when Wi-Fi connectivity is poor."

Apple Music - There's a new "Shuffle All" option at the top of My Music when in Song, Album, or Genre view. It'll play all songs in a music library on shuffle mode.

Keyboard tweaks - On the iPhone, the keyboard has been tweaked and simplified with new shift and backspace keys.

Handoff - Handoff functionality has been changed in iOS 9 beta 5. Previously, Handoff had an option that would allow users to see lock screen suggestions for Apps in the App Store for a relevant location, but now only installed apps will be displayed. In the Settings app, Handoff options under General -> Handoff & Suggested Apps, the option to display App Store apps has been removed.

Regulatory info - The General portion of the Settings app has a new "Regulatory" section that displays regulatory information for iOS devices. This was information was previously hidden (and is still located) in General --> About --> Legal.

CarPlay - The CarPlay interface has been updated, changing the way images are displayed behind music controls and adding the ability to heart songs that are playing through Beats 1 radio or Apple Music.

Siri Suggestions - The Siri Suggestions interface has been tweaked slightly, removing the labels for calling and messaging a contact. Only icons are displayed now.

Text Replacements - In the Settings app, the section where you can create shortcuts for keys has been renamed "Text Replacements."

WiFi animation - There's a new animation that's used when WiFi is turned off. Instead of the bars disappearing one by one, the WiFi symbol now fades to gray before disappearing.

Additional feature updates in iOS 9 beta 5 will be added here as they are discovered. Apple is expected to release at least one or two more update to iOS 9 before the operating system's official launch. iOS 9 is expected to be released to the public in the fall alongside new iPhones.

Microsoft today announced the release of an early version of its Windows Bridge software, which is designed to let software developers quickly port iOS, Android, and web apps to the Windows platform.

As of today, Windows Bridge for iOS is available as an open-source project under the MIT license and can be downloaded on GitHub. With Windows Bridge, iOS developers can begin testing the software that will let them convert iOS apps built for x86 and x64 processor architectures to a format that will run on Windows 10 and Windows 8.1.

As outlined by Microsoft, Windows Bridge for iOS includes four components to construct Windows apps using existing Objective-C code: an Objective-C compiler, Objective-C runtime, iOS API headers/libs, and Visual Studio IDE integration.

We're releasing the iOS bridge as an open-source project under the MIT license. Given the ambition of the project, making it easy for iOS developers to build and run apps on Windows, it is important to note that today's release is clearly a work-in-progress -- some of the features demonstrated at Build are not yet ready or still in an early state.

Regardless, we'd love for the interested and curious to look at the bridge, and compare what we're building with your app's requirements. And, for the really ambitious, we invite you to help us by contributing to the project, as community contributors -- with source code, tests, bug reports, or comments. We welcome any and all participation in building this bridge.

Microsoft first announced its plans for Windows Bridge at its April BUILD conference for developers, demonstrating an iPad app that had been converted to a Windows 10 app. Tools designed to help developers create Windows apps from their iOS apps could be a huge boon for Microsoft, as app availability has always been one of the major downsides to Microsoft's Windows mobile devices.

Both Google Play and the iOS App Store have always had far more apps than are available on Windows, so Microsoft is hoping its new tools will encourage developers to spend time creating Windows apps, heavily boosting the number of available Windows apps. As of July, there were 1.6 million Google Play apps, 1.5 million App Store Apps, 400,000 Amazon Appstore apps, and 340,000 Windows Phone Store apps.

Microsoft plans to release a completed version of Windows Bridge in the fall. Windows Bridge for web apps became available alongside the launch of Windows 10, and Windows Bridge for Android is available as a technical preview by invitation only.

Apple today seeded the fifth watchOS 2 beta to developers for testing purposes, more than two weeks after seeding the fourth watchOS 2 beta and nearly two months after announcing the new operating system update at its 2015 Worldwide Developers Conference.

watchOS 2 requires the iOS 9 beta to be installed and can be downloaded over-the-air using the Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General --> Software Update. Caution should be used when installing this beta, as downgrading the software on the Apple Watch is not possible without help from Apple [PDF].

watchOS 2 is the first major update to watchOS, the software that runs on the Apple Watch. watchOS 2 introduces several new features that developers can use to improve their Apple Watch apps, including native apps that run on the watch itself instead of the iPhone. The software also allows developers to access the Taptic Engine and other sensors like the heart rate monitor, the microphone, and the accelerometer for the first time.

With the new tools for developers, Apple Watch apps will be more complex and full-featured. Other features in watchOS 2 include new watch faces (photo albums and time-lapse), third-party Complications, Time Travel, and a Nightstand mode that's activated when the watch is charging, displaying the time.

watchOS 2 is currently only available to registered developers who have also installed iOS 9 on their iPhones. Apple plans to release the software to the public in the fall.

What's new in beta 5:

Previous watchOS 2 betas haven't added many new features, but there are several new additions in watchOS 2 beta 5, as listed below.

Timelapse - There's a new Timelapse watch face that displays the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France.

Sleep settings - There's a Settings option that will keep the Apple Watch's screen active and turned on for 70 seconds. Currently the watch face only stays on for 15 seconds.

Music - In the Music app, there's a new "Quick Play" button to access music on the iPhone more quickly. The Music app interface has also been tweaked and will display the app that's playing music.

Apple today seeded the fifth beta of iOS 9 to developers for testing purposes, more than two weeks after releasing the fourth beta and two months after unveiling the new operating system at the 2015 Worldwide Developers Conference.

Apple has also seeded a third beta of iOS 9 to public beta testers, which is identical to the fifth beta developers have received. Developers can also download Xcode 7 beta 5.

The update, build number 13A4325c, is available as an over-the-air update and can also be downloaded through the Apple Developer Center.

Today's beta introduces new wallpapers and heralds the imminent release of a WiFi calling option for AT&T users. For a full list of changes in the beta, make sure to check out our iOS 9 Beta 5 Tidbits post.

iOS 9 beta 4 brought the return of Home Sharing for music and it fixed a bug that had prevented the iPhone's volume buttons from being used as a camera shutter. It also introduced a new look for Handoff in the app switching interface.

In addition to providing developers with five betas, Apple has also seeded two iOS 9 betas to public beta testers. The company plans to release iOS 9 to the public in the fall, likely alongside new iPhones.

In a new interview with Evening Standard, Apple Music executive and Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine sat down to talk about everything from the launch of Apple Music to the company's dramatic reversal of its free trial royalties policy following Taylor Swift's public dismissal of the service in an open letter.

Iovine depicts a conversation between himself, Eddy Cue and Apple CEO Tim Cook that ultimately resulted in the support of Taylor Swift's -- and many musicians backing the pop star -- opinions on the service.

“Eddy [Cue, Apple senior VP] woke up on Sunday morning,” says Iovine. “He called me and said, ‘This is a drag’. I was like, ‘Yeah, maybe there’s some stuff she doesn’t understand’. He said, ‘Why don’t you give Scott [Borchetta, Swift’s label boss] a call? I called Scott, I called Eddy back, Eddy and Tim [Cook, Apple CEO] called me back and we said, ‘Hey, you know what, we want this system to be right and we want artists to be comfortable, let’s do it’.”

Later in the interview, Iovine mentions an aim for more personality in the Apple Music experience, attempting to avoid the use of numbers and algorithms curating music for its users, and hiring experts for the job of building the playlists that fill out each Apple Music user's personalized "For You" section. Still, the Apple Music executive mentions a "numbing" amount of music streaming services available to customers -- from Spotify to Rdio and the newly-launched Tidal -- as a definite hurdle for the new streaming service to clear.

“There’s a lot of [them],” he says, disdainfully. “Music deserves elegance and the distribution right now is not great. It’s all over the place and there are a bunch of utilities. That’s the best you can find. It’s basically a really narrow, small, inelegant way to have music delivered. So it’s sterile, programmed by algorithms and numbing.”

As Iovine says: “Algorithms don’t understand the subtlety and the mixing of genres. So we hired the best people we know. Hired hundreds of them.”

The entirety of Evening Standard's interview with Iovine is worth a read, as it touches more on his background with Steve Jobs, his early-industry struggles with competitors like Napster, and the difficulties of hiring Zane Lowe away from the BBC and into Apple Music's 24/7 Beats 1 DJ position.

In an interview with USA Today, Apple's Eddy Cue reveals that Apple Music currently has 11 million users taking advantage of the initial three-month trial period, with two million of those taking advantage of the family plan that will cost $14.99 per month once the trial ends. A single-user membership will be priced at $9.99 per month.

"We're thrilled with the numbers so far," says Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet software and services, adding that of that sum 2 million have opted for the more lucrative family plan at $14.99 a month for up to six people.

The officially announced milestone of 11 million users is roughly in line with the rumored ten million users shared by HITS Daily Double last week.

Cue notes Apple is "releasing updates as fast as we can" to address bugs and other issues with Apple Music amid duplication and mislabeling complaints. Jimmy Iovine also contributed to the interview, highlighting some of the challenges of reaching users in certain countries and age demographics while noting Apple believes it can use its leverage to bring many of those users on board for a subscription music service.

On a separate note, Cue shared some new App Store numbers, noting that July set a record with $1.7 billion in App Store transactions thanks to strong performance in China. Apple has now paid out $33 billion to developers since the App Store debuted in 2008.

Nearly four months after release, the new 12-inch MacBook is starting to become available for personal pickup in Apple Stores in the United States. Previously, some stores have had sporadic stock for walk-in customers, but it now appears that stock is substantial enough for Apple to offer personal pickup.

The personal pickup option isn't universal yet however, with only select configurations at select stores being available. For example, the 256 GB Silver MacBook is not available for personal pickup in New York, NY while the 256 GB Space Gray is widely available.

While some Apple Stores and Best Buys have had sporadic stock for walk-ins, most Apple Stores around the world have only had the unit on display. In the MacRumors' forums, users have been reporting which stores around the world have had the new MacBook on display, whether they were available to purchase or not and how many units they had left in stock.

The MacBook is currently showing shipping estimates of at least 1 - 2 weeks when ordered online. Comparatively, both the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro are showing shipping estimates of at least 1 business day.

Pricing for the 12-inch MacBook starts at $1,299 for the entry-level model with 256 GB of storage while the higher-end model starts at $1,599 with 512 GB of storage and a slightly faster dual-core Intel Core M processor.

Apple today seeded the third beta of OS X 10.10.5 to developers, nearly one week after seeding the second 10.10.5 beta and more than a month after releasing OS X 10.10.4 to the public.

Today's beta, build 14F25a, can be downloaded through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store or through the Apple Developer Center.

The first and second OS X 10.10.5 betas did not appear to include any consumer-facing changes, so it's likely that this update focuses on behind-the-scenes bug fixes and performance enhancements. OS X 10.10.5 beta 2 introduced a fix for the DYLD_PRINT_TO_FILE exploit that's been making headlines over the last few days, and the security flaw will be patched as soon as OS X 10.10.5 is released to the public.

Because we're just a couple of months away from the public release of OS X 10.11 El Capitan, OS X 10.10.5 will likely be one of the last updates to Yosemite, designed to prepare the operating system for its imminent retirement. It will, of course, continue to get bug fixes and minor repairs even after El Capitan's release to patch security flaws and fix other issues.

Over the course of its lifespan, OS X Yosemite has received four updates. The first two brought bug fixes and security improvements, while OS X 10.10.3, the most significant update to Yosemite, introduced the new Photos app, Force Touch APIs, new emoji features, and more.

OS X 10.10.4, the current version of OS X Yosemite, introduced multiple bug fixes and under-the-hood performance improvements, including the removal of the problematic Discoveryd process.

Apple yesterday won a significant ruling against a group lawsuit filed by a former iPhone user who sued the Cupertino company after claiming that switching from an iPhone to an Android smartphone interfered with her receipt of text messages (via Bloomberg).

The plaintiff, Adrienne Moore, noted in her complaint originally filed in May 2014 that an inability to unlink her phone number from iMessage prevented her from receiving text messages sent by iPhone users to her Samsung Galaxy S5 running Android. The lawsuit claimed users switching away from the iPhone to other devices were "penalized and unable to obtain the full benefits of their wireless-service contracts" due to the issue, with Moore and her lawyers alleging Apple failed to successfully elaborate on the "interference" that switching platforms would cause.

The lawsuit sought group status for the claim, which would automatically include all affected users and potentially result in a significant settlement or court judgment, but U.S. District Judge Lucy H. Koh yesterday ruled the suit can't continue as a group lawsuit because it wasn't clear enough that all included members were actually affected by the occurrence described by Moore. Koh decided there was no direct "contractual breach or interference" relating to a problem within the iMessage system itself, thereby giving Apple a victory on the case.

Even if Moore is correct in arguing iMessage has “systematic flaws that could result in the disruption of text messaging services, that determination does not assist the court in determining whether iMessage actually caused the proposed class members to suffer any interference,” Koh wrote in her ruling.

The ruling is a win for Apple because allowing the case to proceed stood to increase the iPhone maker’s potential costs in defending the case, and could have given plaintiffs leverage to negotiate a deal.

The lawsuit began in May of 2014, with customers noting iMessage issues after switching over to a non-Apple platform since the service was introduced in 2011. Despite Apple's move to address the issue by offering a tool for users to deregister their phone numbers from iMessage, it was ruled last November that the company would indeed face a federal lawsuit on the iMessage issue.

Target this morning announced that it would begin testing beacon technology in 50 of its stores in Chicago, Denver, Minneapolis, New York City, Pittsburgh, Portland, San Francisco and Seattle (via Buzzfeed and TechCrunch). The company plans to use the technology to send deals and customized recommendations to customers who opt-in to get the notifications within the Target iOS app [Direct Link].

After users download the app and turn on notifications and Bluetooth, the beacon technology will discover where customers are within each Target location and send out subsequent push notifications regarding items in their nearby vicinity. Target promises that it will keep beacon alerts to a maximum of two per shopping trip. The company says the current plan is to "adapt and enhance" the service following the 50-store roll out, then introduce it to other locations sometime later in the year.

During Target’s testing period, capabilities are limited to surfacing deals and recommendations based on what section of the store a customer is in: A two-for-one deal on Tylenol pops up when a shopper hits the pharmacy, or a recipe for banana bread appears while walking through the fresh fruit section. Target has plans to add features like reorganizing a shopping list based on the most efficient route through the store, and pushing a reminder if you forgot anything on that list once you hit the checkout line, but these will not be available at launch.

Target hopes that the Bluetooth-enabled technology will be welcomed by customers, thankful of its ability to keep them in the loop of weekly deals -- courtesy of a bit of synergy with the company's Cartwheel coupon app [Direct Link] -- in addition to acting as a hub and guide in their shopping experience. The beacon technology will even gather data from third-party apps, letting users know what clothes and shoes near them in the store are currently trending on Pinterest, for example.

Apple has its own spin on the beacon technology, iBeacons, that it's rolled out in all of its brick-and-mortar retail stores across the country. Like Target's plan, the App Store app provides customers with nearby notifications of accessories to purchase and even local store events that may be occurring. Last year, the company tested the technology in small scale retail store locations like American Eagle and even at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

IBM today announced the launch of a new service that will allow large companies to easily incorporate Mac computers into their preexisting corporate infrastructure. The service, being deployed by IBM's MobileFirst Managed Mobility Services unit, will be aimed at companies around the world and not just based in the United States.

Thanks to the MobileFirst partnership with Apple that has brought about multiple waves of enterprise-focused apps as the company has increased its own usage of Macs, IBM saw an opportunity to commercialize its expertise in "enterprise deployment" of Macs in the workplace.

“Ease of adoption and use are at the foundation of every Apple product, and as these devices are used more in the workplace, people expect the same experience they enjoy with Apple technology in their personal lives,” said Richard Patterson, general manager, Infrastructure Services, IBM Global Technology Services. “IBM’s new enterprise services ensure a great user experience for clients using Macs, providing world-class support from installation through the life of the product.”

The company promises that the new MobileFirst service will be completely headache-free for clients, with the Macs delivered directly to customers and ready to go out of the box with easy network access setup screens and security measures. It will also support the personal Macs of employees if they bring their own devices to work. The source of the quick-and-painless software setup is a partnership with JAMF Software and its Casper Suite, the "leading solution" for the quick deployment and setup of enterprise computers.

Today's news comes after an internal video of IBM chief information officer Jeff Smith that leaked late last week, in which Smith told employees that the company could end up purchasing 150,000-200,000 Macs annually, significantly more than the original estimate of 50,000 Macs deployed through the end of the year announced in internal memo earlier in the year. IBM has told Apple it expects the initiative could eventually see 50-75 percent of IBM employees switching over to Mac from the company-standard Lenovo computers used at IBM.

Apple's Beats 1 radio station was recently updated to give users access to full replays of radio segments, with a new Beats 1: Replay feature. As highlighted by MacStories, Replay covers several Beats 1 shows, including those by Zane Lowe, Julie Adenuga, and Ebro Darden, letting users re-listen to a missed segment.

Since Apple Music's debut, there's been an option on Beats 1 radio to listen to playlists of songs by each DJ after a show ends, but there was often no way to listen to a full show with guests and commentary unless you caught it on the second playthrough, 12 hours after it first aired.

With the change implemented in the last few days, Beats 1 users can access both a full replay that's the same as listening to a show live and a playlist of songs from each program.

Though a feature that's likely going to be welcome by many Beats 1 listeners, Replay is somewhat hidden. Re-recordings of shows can be accessed by tapping on the Beats 1 logo in Apple Music to open the list of featured shows, tapping on a DJ, and going to the "Connect" page. Alternatively, it's also possible to search for an individual DJ to access their Connect section, or to search directly with a term like "Julie Adenuga Replay."

Tapping on the "Beats 1: Replay" option will play the entire show in one long block, with no option to see the songs that are playing as is possible when Beats 1 radio is playing live. As MacStories points out, it's akin to listening to one long podcast. Replaying a show eliminates the ability to heart songs and add them to playlists to enhance the Apple Music listening experience, but it does give users a way to listen to one-of-a-kind content and commentary that would have previously been missed.

Since Apple Music launched, Beats 1 radio has featured a near-endless stream of exclusive content, worldwide song debuts, and artist interviews, all designed to draw in listeners. The service's most recent exclusive was MTV's announcement of the 2015 Video Music Award nominees.