California

Read Cult of Mac’s latest posts on California:

California shutters its phone-based COVID-19 exposure notification system

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California shutters its phone-based COVID-19 exposure notification system
CA Notify is no more.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

California introduced a COVID-19 exposure-notification system that used iPhone and Android to track interactions with infected people. And now that the U.S. government says the pandemic is over, CA Notify is shut down.

It’s possible Apple will eventually remove the underlying technology from iOS.

Apple pumps $1 billion into affordable housing for California

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Apple's affordable housing initiative invests $1 billion
Taylor Mestres and Keteria Lara bagged a new home with Apple's help.
Photo: Apple

Apple on Wednesday confirmed it has deployed more than $1 billion for affordable housing initiatives across California. The company calls this a major milestone in its $2.5 billion commitment to combat the housing crisis.

And now, after its initiative has helped thousands of people across the state become homeowners for the first time, Apple says it is accelerating its support for affordable housing..

Apple lobbyist helps push back Right to Repair vote in California

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Cult of Mac's buyback program pays good money for your gear, even broken ones.
Laws will be pushed back to 2020 at least.
Photo: Warren R.M. Stuart/Flickr CC

Right to Repair legislation in Apple’s home state of California has been successfully pushed back to at least January 2020. After intervention by an Apple lobbyist, the co-sponsor of the bill pulled it from committee on Tuesday.

“While this was not an easy decision, it became clear that the bill would not have the support it needed today, and manufacturers had sown enough doubt with vague and unbacked claims of privacy and security concerns,” said California Assembly member Susan Talamantes Eggman.

Apple plans store in Downtown Los Angeles’ historic Tower Theater

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The Tower Theater will be the home of the first LA Apple Store in the Downtown district.
The 91-year-old Tower Theater will be the home of the first LA Apple Store in the Downtown district.
Photo: Steve Minor/Flickr

There are multiple Apple Stores in the Los Angeles Area, but not one in the Downtown district. That’s apparently just about to change.

The iPhone maker has plans to put an Apple Store in the historic Tower Theater on S. Broadway.

Apple snaps up Culver City office after HBO backs out

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Apple Culver City
Apple video's new home in Culver City.
Photo: Culver City Planning Dept.

Apple looks set to open a new office in Culver City, California, after HBO backed out of plans to take the lease. The new building, which features 128,000 square feet of space, is projected to open in late 2019 and could become the home of Apple’s original video efforts.

Apple’s self-driving car filmed cruising California highway

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The 2015 Lexus RX450h is Apple's vehicle of choice.
Photo: Lexus

The first video footage of Apple’s self-driving car has already surfaced on the internet, just over a month after the company first received permission to drive on public roads.

Apple’s self-driving car is actually a Lexus RX450h outfitted with sensors powered by Apple’s own autonomous driving software. Video of the car in action reveals Apple’s project is already highway-worthy as the company races to catch up to its competition.

Watch it cruise the road with ease:

Apple wants California to change self-driving car reports

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apple lexus
Apple's self-driving Lexus hits the streets of California.
Photo: Bloomberg

Just weeks after getting its permit to drive self-driving cars on public roads, Apple is already asking the California DMV to change reporting protocol requirements.

Apple sent the DMV a letter today arguing for changes to the rules for “disengagement reporting,” which if successfully implemented, would give the public less information about Apple’s self-driving vehicles.

Apple training documents leak details of self-driving car project

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lexus
The 2015 Lexus RX450h is Apple's vehicle of choice.
Photo: Lexus

Getting behind the wheel of one of Apple’s self-driving cars requires drivers to pass a series of tests, based on new information about the secretive project that leaked out today.

Details of Apple’s self-driving car program have been revealed by documents filed with the California DMV that shed light on the “Apple Automated System” currently under development.

How to spot Apple’s self-driving cars in the wild

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tim cook in a car
Tim Cook and Apple are getting serious about the auto industry.
Photo: Tim Cook/Twitter

Apple finally received permission from the California DMW to test self-driving cars on public roads this week, but spotting an Apple Car in the wild won’t be easy for fans.

Instead of making its own automobile for the streets, Apple will simply be testing its autonomous vehicle software using other company’s cars. Apple has permission to drive only three cars, so seeing them on the road might be tough.

Here’s what to look for.

FaceTime proposal leaves hopeless romantic stuck on a cliff

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This proposal turned out to be a real cliffhanger.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Whether it’s customizing a smartwatch to deliver the message, or persuading the developers of a popular app to help you win over the woman of your dreams, tech fans have certainly come up with some adorably neat ways to propose to their loved ones over the years.

Decidedly less so was the plight of Apple user and, apparently, godawful mountain climber Michael Banks. His idea? To climb 600 feet up Morro Rock in California — so that he could get a volcanic outcrop as his background — and then pop the question via FaceTime. Before getting hopelessly stuck, of course.

Proposed law could ban Apple from selling iPhones in California

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The iPhone isn't ditching LCD screens.
Designed by Apple in California. Just not for sale there.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple could be banned from selling iPhones on its home turf of California if a new bill banning unbreakable encryption is passed.

Called bill 1681, the proposed law was put forward by California assembly member Jim Cooper, who wants any smartphone sold in California after July 1, 2015 to be “capable of being decrypted and unlocked by its manufacturer or its operating system provider.”

Why the kill switch law can make iPhone theft obsolete

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SACRAMENTO — California just flipped the kill switch for smartphones, in a move to make iCrime a thing of the past.

Governor Jerry Brown signed into law State Sen. Mark Leno’s Smartphone Theft Prevention Act (Senate Bill 962). The law will affect any smartphone manufactured on or after July 1, 2015.

There’s some reason to hope that the kill switch will do for smartphones what sophisticated alarm systems did for cars: make stealing them less appealing than a pair of leg warmers. Car thefts plummeted 96 percent  in New York City when engine immobilizer systems came into play.

Bye bye, iCrime! California moves to make iOS-style ‘kill switches’ required by law

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Introduced in iOS 7, Activation Lock is a feature that prevents users who recover a lost or stolen iPhone from activating the device without signing in with the Apple ID used to erase the device remotely.

By all accounts, Activation Lock has made a difference in stopping smartphone theft, especially in New York. But in California, law may very well mandate smartphone features like Activation Lock shortly.

California closer to smartphone ‘kill switch’ law

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CC-licensed, Aquilaonline, via Flickr.
CC-licensed, Aquilaonline, via Flickr.

SACRAMENTO — The state where the iPhone was born came a step closer to a law that might help keep it in your hands.

State Sen. Mark Leno’s Smartphone Theft Prevention Act (Senate Bill 962) passed the state legislature this morning with a 51-18 vote. Now it will move on to the Senate for a vote on amendments.

California won’t be the first state to flip the kill switch – that distinction goes to Minnesota, which heeded the call from consumers in May. If the law passes in the most populous state in the U.S. and the birthplace of the iPhone, it may mark a sea change in similar legislation. California’s law will affect any smartphone manufactured on or after July 1, 2015.

This Fabulous iPad-Controlled Mansion Can Be Yours For Only $22 Million

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ipadhousepool

Apple Fanboy One Percenters (if such a thing exists) looking for new real estate might be tempted to scoop up the open condo next to Tim Cook, but if you’re looking for something more high-tech, with a bigger price tag, this iPad-controlled mansion in Newport Beach, California just came on the market, and it’ll only set you back $22 million.

It’s a mansion worthy of Fortune Cookie himself thanks to incredible beachfront views. And it fits in with Apple’s push for green renewable energy as 95% of its electricity is supplied by a gigantic solar panel in the backyard.

Check it out:

All You Need To Know About Apple Campus 2 – In Pictures

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campus
Sustainability is a key theme of Apple's forthcoming Apple 2 campus.
Photo: Apple

Did you know that the new Apple Campus 2 “spaceship” is wider across than the Empire State Building is tall? It’s going to cost 60 times more than the Pentagon did back in 1943, too. Heck, you’ll be able to cram up to 35 jetliners full of passengers in its rounded confines without breaking a sweat.

The Cupertino City Council unanimously approved Apple’s plans for the tech company’s a couple of weeks ago, after a long, heartfelt public comment session.

We thought it would be great, then, to take a look at some of the details of the new campus, set to finish construction in 2016.

It's big. Like, Pentagon big.
It’s big. Like, Pentagon big.

The proposed Apple Campus 2 is huge. Apple plans to put a 100,000-square-foot fitness center, 11,000 parking spaces, 2,000 bike parking spaces, 2.8 million square feet of office space, and a 100,000-square-foot lab. Oh, and a restaurant. All of this in four stories, housing 12,000 employees.

The Pentagon, in contrast, which itself was completed in 1943, has 3.7 million square feet of office space, is seven floors tall, and houses 25,000 people.

A lot of krill, and a lot of oil, really.
A lot of krill, and a lot of oil, really.

The Apple Campus 2 will have a 1,522 foot diameter, which means the Empire State Building could comfortably lie down somewhere inside its massive circular footprint. Heck, a T1-class Supertanker could fit in there, as well, with its 1,246 foot length, and you’d have to get somewhere around seven or eight blue whales–the largest known mammal on Earth–just to get across half of the diameter of the new Apple Campus. That’s a lot of krill.

I'd pick sunny California, too.
I’d pick sunny California, too.

The spaceship campus has plans to hold 12,000 employees within it’s solar-panel-using, green technology hallowed halls, which would fill something like 160 double-decker buses, or 35 Boeing 747 jets. The Apple folks will have it easier, as they’ll at least be able to get nice food there, and a much less foggy view in Cupertino than in London.

Beam me up, Ivey.
Beam me up, Ivey.

Of course, no look at anything tech-related is complete without a comparison to a fictional starship, and since we’ve been calling this the spaceship campus since Steve Jobs unveiled the design two years ago, it seemed fitting to see how it stacks up against the USS Enterprise. Unfortunately for trekkies, the new Apple Campus 2 has a diameter quite a bit larger than the original Gene Roddenberry creation.

Nice salaries, folks.
Nice salaries, folks.

The city of Cupertino itself, home not only to Apple founders Woz and Jobs but also author Raymond Carver and actor Aaron Eckhart, only has around five times the population as will work in the Apple Campus 2. Interestingly, the median income of Cupertino-based Apple employees is a bit lower than that of Cupertino in general, but perhaps that’s just a function of how much larger the city is than the building. Which, to be honest, doesn’t seem to be that much of a news item. It is, however, funny that a .27 square mile building can cause the kind of traffic jams that the city of 11.26 square miles seems to be mostly worried about.

Image: City Of Cupertino