As part of ongoing upgrades to its in-house mapping service, Apple on Friday added a handful of entries to its rolling list of providers that supply the company with maps data, business listings and satellite imagery.

Source: Apple Insider

An excerpt from an upcoming book on the rise and collapse of Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry suggests that while the company — then known as RIM — had some appreciation for 2007’s first-generation iPhone, it did not see the device as a threat given RIM’s core customers.

Source: Apple Insider

Apple was on the list of attendees at a secretive three-day conference last week, where heads of intelligence agencies from around the world met with private sector tech companies, security experts and journalists to discuss the ramifications of data privacy on state protection.

Source: Apple Insider

The first Apple Watch Edition orders should arrive as soon as Saturday, although unlike most Watch models, buyers are being given the option of when they’ll have their device delivered, a report noted on Friday.

Source: Apple Insider

A 25-year-old British man who was shot in the chest with a shotgun during a confrontation outside of his home survived the event, thanks in part to his green iPhone 5c, which absorbed much of the impact.

Source: Apple Insider

By J Keirn-Swanson It seems that not a day goes by that we don’t learn about a new game that’s simplistic, deceptively so, but that easy on the eyes surface belies a daunting complexity underneath. It’s a lot like life. Anyway, not to get too philosophical on you in the Price Drop column, but we’ve got a few of these simple gamers this week, plus some classics, soon-to-be-classics, award winners, fitness, and a little dash of bloody literature to boot. So time to save some money, people.

Source: Maclife

The next version of Google’s Android mobile operating system will reportedly bring system-wide support for fingerprint authentication, paving the way for more Android devices to adopt Touch ID-style biometrics.

Source: Apple Insider

Fitbit devices remain both the most used and most wanted fitness trackers, but Apple is in a position to make gains with the Apple Watch, especially as a huge number of consumers plan to buy a wearable device in the near future, according to a U.S. consumer survey published on Friday.

Source: Apple Insider

Chip giant Intel is reportedly targeting August of this year for the initial rollout of its next-generation Skylake microarchitecture, a timeline that likely means Apple’s high-end Macs will skip the oft-delayed Broadwell line.

Source: Apple Insider

This week’s Watch OS 1.0.1 update has caused some Apple Watches to track hear trate sporadically, in some cases with an hour or more between readings, according to complaints on Apple’s support forums, and verified by AppleInsider’s own tests.

Source: Apple Insider