iTunes Store, App Store and Other Apple Services Experiencing Outage [Mac Blog]

According to Apple’s System Status page, several of its services are experiencing downtime. Some users may be unable to access the iTunes Store, App Store, Mac App Store, and iBooks Store.

The page also suggests some users may be experiencing issues with the Apple TV, iTunes Match, iTunes Radio, iTunes U, and OS X Software Updates.

The downtime appears to have started just after 3pm and is ongoing. We have received several emails and tweets from users who are unable to access the App Store or can only access certain parts of the App Store.

App Store Top Charts, for example, have been unavailable since the downtime originally began, and while some app categories were also blank, those seem to be reappearing, suggesting the outage may be short.

Today’s App Store outage is the second Apple has seen this week.

How to Digitally Sign a PDF Using Preview on Mac [Mac Blog]

When you receive a PDF document by email that you must sign, the process of printing out the file, signing on the dotted line with a pen, scanning the signed document and sending it back can be a rather tedious task. Fortunately, Apple introduced the ability to digitally sign a PDF document using Preview, a program that comes preinstalled on every Mac, on OS X Lion or later.

The steps involved to digitally sign a PDF using Preview on Mac are quite simple and will save you valuable time, especially if you have multiple documents, contracts, forms or other paperwork to sign. If you are worried that your digital signature will look bad, rest assured that you can create your signature by using the trackpad or holding up your signature on paper to a Mac’s built-in iSight camera. Read more

Apple Watch Apps Begin Showing Up in the App Store Ahead of Apple Watch Launch

Ahead of the Apple Watch’s upcoming April 24 launch, apps that include Apple Watch support are beginning to be released in the App Store. As of today, several popular iOS apps have been updated with built-in Apple Watch apps, including Evernote, Dark Sky, Things, and Target.

Additional apps with Apple Watch support will be rolling out over the course of the day, giving us a first look at how many of the apps on the device will function. We’ll be updating this post with a list of Apple Watch apps that are available as they come out in the App Store.

According to Evernote‘s app description, for example, users will be able to dictate notes into the Apple Watch, which will be transcribed and synced to Evernote. Users will also be able to see recently created, updated, and viewed notes, and get reminders about items that are due. Dark Sky‘s weather information will be brought to the wrist, and according to the app release notes, it’s been designed from scratch to fit on the smaller screen of the Apple Watch.

As we’ve mentioned before, Apple Watch apps are bundled into existing iPhone apps because the iPhone powers the app while a UI is extended to the Apple Watch. This helps to preserve battery and it controls the amount of access developers have to the watch. Apps that run fully on the Apple Watch are coming in the future, but are not available yet.

The Apple Watch will be available for pre-order and try-on sessions at Apple retail stores beginning on April 10. Third-party Apple Watch apps have likely started popping up today to allow Apple Store employees to install content on demo Apple Watches that will be shown off to customers.

Amazon Cloud Drive Now Includes Unlimited Cloud Storage Plans

Amazon on Thursday announced two new unlimited cloud storage plans for Amazon Cloud Drive, enabling users to store an endless amount of photos, videos, movies, music, and files. Amazon users can choose either the Unlimited Photos Plan for $11.99 per year or the Unlimited Everything Plan for $59.99 per year, with a free three-month trial available for each plan for customers that want to try the service.

The lower-tier Unlimited Photos Plan allows for an unlimited number of photos to be stored on Amazon Cloud Drive, alongside up to 5GB of additional storage for videos, documents and other files. The more expensive Unlimited Everything Plan allows for unlimited storage of photos, videos, files, documents, movies and music with no restrictions. Amazon Prime members are already provided with an Unlimited Photos Plan at no additional cost.

“Most people have a lifetime of birthdays, vacations, holidays, and everyday moments stored across numerous devices. And, they don’t know how many gigabytes of storage they need to back all of them up,” said Josh Petersen, Director of Amazon Cloud Drive. “With the two new plans we are introducing today, customers don’t need to worry about storage space—they now have an affordable, secure solution to store unlimited amounts of photos, videos, movies, music, and files in one convenient place.”

The addition of unlimited cloud storage makes Amazon Cloud Drive a more competitive alternative to other cloud storage services such as iCloud Drive, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive and Dropbox. Apple does not offer unlimited iCloud storage, providing customers with tiered storage options of 20GB, 200GB, 500GB or 1TB for between $0.99 and $19.99 per month. Google and Microsoft also have capped storage plans, while Dropbox offers unlimited storage to business customers only.

Tim Cook Named ‘World’s Greatest Leader,’ Reflects on Leading Post-Jobs Era at Apple

Following the release of Becoming Steve Jobs, an acclaimed biography of the late Apple co-founder, Fortune has named Tim Cook the “world’s greatest leader,” accompanied by an in-depth profile that reflects on the chief executive in the post-Jobs era. The interesting article provides a closer look at Cook’s transition from a soft-spoken operations manager to a high-profile leader at Apple, and reveals how Cook has managed the pressure that comes with his new role.

Apple CEO Tim Cook (Image Credit: Joe Pugliese)
Cook brings a different leadership style to Apple, placing more trust in others instead of being as impulsive and manipulative as Jobs often was. The results have been favorable, as Apple has grown to become the world’s most valuable company during the three-and-a-half years since Cook took over the helm. Nevertheless, he admits that he has needed to grow thicker skin to handle the intensity that comes with the territory.

“I have thick skin,” he says, “but it got thicker. What I learned after Steve passed away, what I had known only at a theoretical level, an academic level maybe, was that he was an incredible heat shield for us, his executive team. None of us probably appreciated that enough because it’s not something we were fixated on. We were fixated on our products and running the business. But he really took any kind of spears that were thrown. He took the praise as well. But to be honest, the intensity was more than I would ever have expected.”

Despite his successes, Cook has faced a number of senior management challenges since taking over as chief executive, including the disappointment that was Apple Maps, fallout with sapphire partner GT Advanced Technologies and the short-lived hiring of John Browett as Apple’s retail chief. Cook reflected on Browett, who never fit in with the company’s culture and was ousted after just six months on the job.

“That was a reminder to me of the critical importance of cultural fit, and that it takes some time to learn that,” he says. As CEO, “you’re engaged in so many things that each particular thing gets a little less attention. You need to be able to operate on shorter cycles, less data points, less knowledge, less facts. When you’re an engineer, you want to analyze things a lot. But if you believe that the most important data points are people, then you have to make conclusions in relatively short order. Because you want to push the people who are doing great. And you want to either develop the people who are not or, in a worst case, they need to be somewhere else.”

Following the departure of Browett, Cook recognized the need to be patient in his search for a retail chief that could truly fit in with Apple’s culture. Last May, the company found its candidate in former Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts, who discretely met with Cook in Cupertino, outside of Apple’s headquarters, to discuss the future of retail. Ahrendts did not expect to join Apple, but she ultimately reconsidered after she felt moved by Cook.

“The first time I sat down with him, I walked away thinking wow, that’s a man of peace,” she says. “I just absolutely loved his integrity, his values. Nothing anybody can write, say, or do is going to take him off of always doing the right thing. Not just for Apple, but for Apple’s people, for communities, for countries. The world needs more leaders like Tim.”

Cook became the first Fortune 500 CEO to publicly come out as gay last year, which he hopes will make other people realize that they do not need to hide who they are. He further expressed that he made the decision of coming out “quite some time ago,” adding that, while the United States has made some progress on the issue, he “didn’t feel like business was exactly leading the way in the executive suite.”

“To be honest, if I would not have come to the conclusion that it would likely help other people, I would have never done it,” he says. “There’s no joy in me putting my life in view.” Referencing the often-cited line that “to whom much is given, much is required,” Cook says, “I’ve certainly been given a lot.”

The full-length profile has been published in the April 2015 issue of Fortune.

Apple Hiring for Retail Store in São Paulo as Construction Nears Completion [Mac Blog]

Apple has posted several job listings in recent weeks to fill retail positions at an under-construction Apple Store in São Paulo, the most populous city in Brazil. The company is seeking to hire Creatives, Specialists, Geniuses, Managers and a number of other positions for the store, which appears to be nearing completion based on new photos published by Brazilian website Blog do iPhone.

Apple has placed its traditional large wooden tables throughout the store, while the lighting fixtures and interior panels have also been installed. This new location will be the second Apple Store in Brazil, alongside the Village Mall store in Rio de Janeiro that opened in February 2014. Apple now has over 450 retail stores in 16 countries, with aggressive plans to continue opening new stores in China and other emerging markets.

Apple Watch Learns Runners’ Strides Over Time, Becoming More Independent From iPhone [iOS Blog]

After talking with Tim Cook onstage at the March 9 “Spring Forward” media event, model Christy Turlington Burns has kept a weekly blog on Apple’s official website with updates on her preparations for the London Marathon next month.

In this week’s post, Burns mentions in passing that the Watch will not only learn a user’s stride after a few exercises when paired with an iPhone, after a while the Watch will be able to act independently in tracking fitness-related stats without needing to be tethered to an iPhone at all (via MacObserver).

Burns shows off the ease of exchanging Apple Watch bands in this week’s blog post
The post, titled “The Art of Vacation Training”, finds Burns on a bit of a break from her usual training regimen while on vacation with her family in the Caribbean. Still finding time to put in a 14-mile run in one day, Burns discusses how her personal Apple Watch has since learned her stride and speed, the Watch becoming less reliant on the iPhone in the fitness-tracking departments the more she uses it.

I switched up my runs between the treadmill at the hotel gym and outside. After you run with Apple Watch and your iPhone a few times, the Workout app knows more about your stride. So you can run on a treadmill or outside without your phone and still get a really accurate workout summary.

Apple’s presentation of the device, ever since its reveal last September, has been of a Watch in nearly constant need of contact with an iPhone. Although Burns’ blog post only appears to confirm the Watch’s fitness-focused apps can sufficiently work sans iPhone, it’s still an interesting piece of information, especially for users planning to use the wearable as a sole workout device.

Check out the rest of Burns’ blog post, and her earlier entries, on Apple’s official website.

Twitter Launches Live-Streaming iOS App ‘Periscope’ [iOS Blog]

After acquiring live-streaming video service Periscope back in January, Twitter today officially launched the Periscope app, which aims to compete with newly popular apps like Meerkat in allowing users to instantly live-stream right from an iPhone (via The Verge).

In development for over a year, once a user syncs their Twitter account with Periscope, they can view a list of curated live feeds on the app’s homepage and even replay streams that have since ended. Streams can be replayed up to 24 hours after ending, and broadcasters can opt-out of allowing users to view their stream after it’s over.

That replay feature could be Periscope’s killer feature over Meerkat, as The Verge points out, with the ability to browse old feeds and dig through current live streams resulting in “an app that can actually be browsed.” Though working in tandem with one another after being installed, the Twitter and Periscope experiences will stay separate from one another, according to Periscope co-founder Kayvon Beykpour.

You won’t be able to launch Periscope directly from the Twitter app, at least not for a while. “We don’t think we need to start there,” Beykpour says. “We think this deserves to be a separate experience indefinitely.” Still, there’s a reason Twitter scooped up Periscope: Twitter is a mostly live experience, and so is its new broadcasting app. “We always thought that what we were building, if successful, could be a real-time visual pulse of what’s happening around the world,” Beykpour says. The vision for Twitter is much the same.

Periscope also includes a few unique social aspects to live-streaming, including the ability for viewers to tap on the stream to send hearts to the broadcaster, showing up as tiny floating emoticons on the stream’s lower-right corner for everyone watching the broadcast to see.

The more hearts on a video, the higher the stream climbs on the app’s “Most Loved” list found on the front-end menu. This becomes a good measure for the crowd opinion on a current stream, according to Beykpour, who hopes the accessibility of the service propels it to be used by a vast audience and not just as “a tool for very few people.”

Although largely in favor of Periscope, The Verge mentions that the push notifications become “out of control” for the live-streaming service, comparing the experience to “getting a push notification each time every single person you follow on Twitter tweeted.”

Those interested in Periscope [Direct Link] can download the app for free from the App Store.

Apple Secretly Acquired Data Analytics Firm Acunu [Mac Blog]

Just a day after Apple acquired database company FoundationDB, Bloomberg reveals Apple had previously acquired U.K.-based data analytics company Acunu. The acquisition appeared to have happened in late 2013.

The purchase of the Vienna, Virginia-based software maker follows a deal for closely held Acunu Ltd., a U.K.-based data analysis company, Apple said.

Acunu creates technology that provides analytics on databases, and its technology can be used in conjunction with other tools, improving their performance. Bloomberg notes the company’s tools work well with free Cassandra databases, which Apple runs on several thousand computers.

It’s likely that the Acunu acquisition will be used for iCloud and its various services, like iTunes Radio, the upcoming reimagined Beats Music streaming service and Apple’s over-the-air TV service. Acunu Chief Technology Officer Tim Moreton began working in Apple’s iCloud division in December 2013, and other Acunu employees made the jump to the Cupertino company in early 2014.

iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus and 4-Inch iPhone 6C Rumored for 2015 Release

Apple is planning on releasing three new iPhone models in the second half of 2015, according to a new report from DigiTimes. The site claims that a 4-inch iPhone model will join the 4.7-inch iPhone 6s and 5.5-inch iPhone 6s Plus.

Apple will release three different iPhones in the second half of 2015, the iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus and a 4-inch device currently being referred to as iPhone 6C, according to industry sources.

A new 4-inch iPhone was also rumored in December 2014, with a report claiming that the device would be aimed toward female users. However, even if a new 4-inch iPhone isn’t introduced, Apple will presumably have the iPhone 5s to offer for free on a two-year contract once the current models slide down.

DigiTimes notes the 4-inch iPhone 6c is likely to be manufactured by Wistron while both the 6s and 6s Plus will be manufactured by Foxconn. In January, a report from Chinese site Feng.com claimed that Apple had not made any orders in its supply chain for a 4-inch iPhone.

Earlier this year, CEO Tim Cook said the new, larger iPhone models had brought the highest Android switcher rate over the past three years and that they brought in more newer customers than previous iPhone models. It’s possible that Apple believes offering more sizing choices to customers could allow Apple to reach more customers, as Cook also mentioned different regions preferred different sizes.

Apple is expected to announce new iPhone models in September, with new additions to both the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus rumored to include 2GB of RAM and Apple’s new Force Touch technology, which has already made its way into Apple Watch, the new MacBook and new 13-inch MacBook Pros.