iTunes

Apple's use of HTTPS for its App Store isn't winning it any friends from the Chinese government.

The company seems to have recently turned on the more secure protocol for its App Store. Before that switch, censors in China could block Chinese users from searching for certain types of apps, such as VPN software, according to Greatfire.org, which monitors Chinese Internet censorship.

Searching for such apps would cause the actual connection to reset, meaning users in China couldn't download them even if they were available in the Chinese App Store.

But now with the more secure … Read more

Holiday shoppers looking for a gift for their favorite Apple fan can save $10 on an iTunes gift card via Walmart.

The retail company is now offering a $50 electronic iTunes gift card for $40. That seems to be the only deal since Walmart is selling all other iTunes gift cards at their regular prices.

Buyers who opt for the deal receive an initial confirmation e-mail from Walmart and then a second e-mail with access to a PIN. After receiving the PIN, you can then send the card as a gift to your recipient. The turnaround seems to vary, however. … Read more

Best Buy is once again offering a deal on iTunes Gift Cards.

The brick-and-mortar retailer's Deal of the Day is a 15 percent discount on an iTunes gift card. For $85, Best Buy's online customers will receive a $100 iTunes gift card, which can be used for music, movies, television shows, apps, and other digital goods available in Apple's marketplace.

Best Buy offered a similar deal in June, offering a 15 percent discount on its full range of iTunes gift cards. The company did the same last month for holiday shoppers.

This time around, Best Buy's … Read more

Apple this afternoon pushed out its first update to iTunes 11, restoring a useful feature that was removed from the previous version.

iTunes 11.0.1, which went out as a free update to users today, brings back the built-in tool to find duplicate songs, one of the seven features CNET highlighted as missing in the jump from Apple's last major iTunes release.

The update also fixes an issue that kept purchased items from showing up in the library if Apple's paid iTunes Match subscription service was enabled, along with an issue that kept the AirPlay icon from … Read more

Apple has revamped its online status page to include more detailed information on what's working and what isn't, following a number of recent outages of its Web-powered services.

The new page (pictured above) breaks down Apple's services, online stores, and specific features within iCloud. Also included is a "detailed timeline" which shows you a full day's worth of activity, and a rundown of any outages or issues with specific services.

The system replaces one Apple used specifically for iCloud features, which showed checkboxes next to items that had been fixed. The newer system uses … Read more

Apple has once again named its top picks for software released on its various application stores.

Formerly dubbed iTunes Rewind, Apple's gone back to a simple "Best of" header, with editorial choices from the App Store for iOS and OS X.

Taking top honors for the iPhone was Bad Robot's Action Movie FX, the software that adds computer generated action sequences to video you've shot on your iPhone or iPad. The software actually came out last December, though its developers put out version 2.0 this October. Meanwhile, Ubisoft's $2.99 Rayman Jungle Run … Read more

iTunes users in a wider range of countries can now buy or rent movies, though some will bump into certain limitations.

Citing reports from some of its readers, AppleInsider says that iTunes movies are now up for sale or rental in more countries, such as South Africa. However, the movies available vary from country to country.

Some countries provide only films from Disney, Sony, and their subsidiaries, AppleInsider noted. Others don't offer movie rentals or high-definition films.

Last week, Apple expanded its iTunes Store into Russia, Turkey, India, South Africa, and 52 other countries. At that time, movies were … Read more

iTunes 11 is finally here. I hear that it's a step in the right direction, correcting many of the missteps and redundancies that have crept into the bloated software over the years.

But I can't really give you a full opinion on iTunes 11 because I really haven't spent that much time with it on a personal level.

That's because I don't use my Mac for media.… Read more

The latest version of Apple's music management software, iTunes 11, was recently released, and is the first in a while to include significant changes to both its interface and the services offered through it.

While some of its refinements such as enhanced ease of use and overall snappier feel have been welcomed, the update did bring some changes including missing features that have been met with a fair bit of criticism.

Recently All Things Digital's Walt Mossberg outlined some of these features in his review of iTunes 11, and in doing so offers some insight on why Apple … Read more