Apple

Apple has been ordered to pay $502.6 million in damages after a federal jury in Eastern Texas found that the company had violated patents owned by VirnetX.

The intellectual property battle -- relating to FaceTime, iMessage and VPN on Demand -- started back in 2010, with VirnetX claiming that Apple was violating four of its patents pertaining to communication security. Having been slapped with a $0.5 billion bill, it now remains to be seen whether Apple will actually stump up the cash.

Apple has announced the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus (PRODUCT)RED Special Edition which will be available to order from tomorrow, April 10.

Like last year's iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus (PRODUCT)RED, the new handsets feature a red finish and proceeds from sales will help to raise money for Global Fund HIV/AIDS grants. In addition to the phone, Apple has also announced a new $99 (PRODUCT)RED iPhone X Leather Folio case.

If you've been hoping for a new Mac Pro in the near future, you're going to be disappointed. Apple has said that a new model is not due to go on sale until 2019.

There is good news, however. The Mac Pro is undergoing a complete redesign, but it will remain a modular, customizable machine. The release date of 2019 also means that you'll have more time to save up -- and you'll probably need it.

Apple could be planning to ditch Intel and start to manufacture its own chips for Macs by 2020, according to a new report.

The move would be in line with what the company has done for iPhones and iPads -- the A11 Bionic chips are already designed in-house. Intel's share price dropped by 6 percent as the rumors of the plan came out.

Ahead of GDPR in Europe, Apple has released iOS 11.3, complete with a selection of privacy-focused tools. But while privacy is at the heart of the release, it is far from being the end of the story.

The recent Facebook scandal has focused attention on privacy, and this is something Apple will be more than happy to capitalize upon, bringing GDPR-prompted tools to the world -- not just Europe. But iOS 11.3 also includes an extensive changelog with a range of fixes and updates.

Today is a huge day for Apple fans — a new iPad! The company's latest tablet is extremely affordable at $329, and schools can get a $30 discount, bringing the price to just $299.

What makes this low-cost education-focused iPad so special is its Apple Pencil support -- something that was previously limited to "Pro" iPad devices. The problem? The Apple Pencil can be a bit too difficult for small hands to manage. To solve for this, Logitech has created the "Crayon" -- a writing device that is compatible with the new iPad. Best of all, it is more affordable than Apple’s offering at just $49.99!

Apple has today been hosting an education-focused event at the Lane Tech College Prep High School in Chicago, and as expected it has taken the wraps off a brand new iPad. The new device is designed to take on Google’s Chromebooks in the classroom, but will no doubt find an appreciative audience outside of the education system.

The new 9.7in iPad, Apple’s most affordable, works with the Apple Pencil, the first non-Pro device to do so. Pages, Keynote, and Numbers have all been updated with Pencil support too.

Apple has pitched the idea of introducing more than a dozen new emojis with a focus on disabilities. In a submission to the Unicode Consortium, the iPhone maker suggests 13 new emojis depicting a guide dog, wheelchair users and prosthetic limbs.

The company says that the current batch of emojis do not represent people with disabilities, and it would like to redress the balance. For now, just a limited number of disability-focused additions have been suggested, but Apple says that this should just be the starting point.

It's been a while since Apple introduced a new product and it looks like the wait will soon be over, as today it announced its first major event of the year. It'll take place later this month and it focuses on education, one of the company's core markets.

The location for the spring event is a bit unusual, given that Apple has a perfectly good venue in its spaceship campus in Cupertino. It'll be held in Chicago, at the Chicago High School, Lane Tech, on March 27. Given the theme, we're likely to see new hardware aimed at educators and students.

Today Apple revealed that it is to acquire the digital magazine subscription service Texture. The iPhone-maker says that it has signed an agreement about the acquisition but does not say when it will complete.

The company says the move is part of its commitment to "quality journalism from trusted sources," and it has already shown its appreciation of Texture by featuring it in the App Store's "best of" selections.

Apple has unveiled new logos for its MFi Program. The Made For iPhone/iPad/iPod Program is a certification program used to indicate that third-party accessories meet Apple's standards for quality.

Having launched a new set of simplified logos, Apple is giving manufacturers 90 days to switch to the new designs. The change may seem minor, but there are three tweaks worth noting.

The iPhone X is the best iPhone that you can get right now, but it's most certainly not the best looking. You can probably tell where I'm going with this: the notch. It may set it apart from other smartphones, but it's a pain to look at on a $1,000 device.

Apple probably had its reasons when it decided to go with that design and, I believe, this will be improved upon in future iterations. Trouble is, other manufacturers think it's something worth copying, not avoiding like the plague. The New ZenFone 5 comes with a notch and it is not the only one. By the looks of it, the upcoming Huawei P20 will follow suit.

Public Cloud is a massive business for tech giants like Amazon, Microsoft and Google. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is currently the clear leader, with 62 percent share, followed by Microsoft Azure, on 20 percent, and Google on just 12 percent.

However, Google has scored an important win over Microsoft, replacing its rival as the cloud infrastructure service Apple relies on for its own iCloud services.

It’s time to wrap up all these 2018 predictions, so here are my final three in which Apple finds a new groove, IBM prepares for a leadership change, and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg gives up a dream.

Apple has long needed a new franchise. It’s been almost eight years since the iPad (Apple’s last new business) was introduced. Thanks to Donald Trump’s tax plan, Cupertino can probably stretch its stock market winning streak for another 2-3 years with cash repatriation, share buy-backs, dividend increases and cost reductions, but the company really needs another new $20+ billion business and it will take every one of those years to get a new one up to scale.

There are only days until Apple begins storing the data of Chinese iCloud users within China, and concern is mounting about the human rights and privacy implications.

A new data center is due to open in China at the end of this month as Apple moves to comply with Chinese authorities. It means that iCloud data such as text messages, photos and emails will be stored in China -- as will the cryptographic keys required to access the data. These keys had previously been stored in the US.