Apple Third Street Promenade closing September 16th, Palo Alto-style renovations expected

Apple has announced that its retail store on Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade will close temporarily beginning September 16th.
Roundup: Everything we know about the iPhone XS

Apple officially announced its September iPhone event this week, confirming that it will be held on September 12th at Steve Jobs Theater. The event is expected to be packed full of new product announcements, headlined by the iPhone XS.
Read on for a roundup of everything we know about the iPhone XS…
Download these iPhone XS inspired space theme wallpapers from NASA

Earlier this week, we showed off an exclusive image of the iPhone XS that Apple will unveil later this month. In that image, the iPhone XS is rocking a brand new wallpaper that seemingly depicts the planet Jupiter.
While our own Gui Rambo shared his best artistic recreation of the wallpaper on Thursday, we’ve got some more options for you below.
Apple invites Heart Study participants to complete survey as program begins to wrap up

After closing the Heart Study to new participants last month, Apple today has started sending notifications to participants informing them that their participation is nearly completed.
Top stories: Exclusive look at iPhone XS & Apple Watch Series 4, Apple announces Sept 12 event, more

In this week’s top stories: We exclusively show off the new iPhone XS and Apple Watch Series 4, Apple announces its September iPhone event, a surprise AirPort Express update, and more. Read on for all of this week’s top stories.
Nanoleaf’s touch-sensitive Canvas light panels w/ HomeKit support to launch in December

Back at CES in January, Nanoleaf announced new touch-sensitive light panels as a followup to its popular Aurora product. Now, the company is offering more details on when those panels will be available and how much they will cost.
Making The Grade: Apple should release a low cost AirPlay-only receiver

Making The Grade is a weekly series from Bradley Chambers covering Apple in education. Bradley has been managing Apple devices in an education environment since 2009. Through his experience deploying and managing 100s of Macs and 100s of iPads, Bradley will highlight ways in which Apple’s products work at scale, stories from the trenches of IT management, and ways Apple could improve its products for students.
I’ve written a lot about Apple TV over the years. I own five of them, and I use them every day. On the flip side, I can admit that is overpriced for what it does. I wrote this previously:
The problem, I believe, is that it’s become similar to HomePod: a device that’s perfect for people who are all in on Apple. Some people will argue that all of Apple’s products are better when used alongside others. While that’s true, I’d also say that Apple’s best products are also best in class on their own (iPhone, iPad, Mac). I think the Apple TV is great, but it still has some major flaws
Mac: How to force aptX/AAC on your supported Bluetooth headphones

While iOS won’t support the standard, macOS officially supports aptX (not to be confused with aptX HD) as a Bluetooth audio codec. However, macOS will likely favor AAC as Apple’s apps such as iTunes prefer the codec.
Hands-on: Logitech’s MX Vertical changed the way I look at mice

When I first saw the announcement for the MX Vertical from Logitech, I was intrigued. I had seen vertical mice like this from other companies on Amazon before but was never quite sure if they “really” worked.
I came from the MX Master 2S (and MX Master before that, with a few MX Anywhere mice thrown in as well.) In my mind, nothing could be as good ergonomically as the MX Master. It felt better than other mice and had tons of features. My views were completely changed after using the MX Vertical for just over a week.
Apple’s autonomous vehicle got rear-ended by a Nissan Leaf on August 24

Apple’s autonomous car project is no secret to anyone following the company closely. Apple uses Lexus SUVs that drive on the streets of Cupertino to do its autonomous testing.