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Tim Cook’s kinder, gentler management style is the biggest reason why 2016 was one of the most boring years for Apple in recent memory, according to a former employee of the company.

Steve Jobs was notorious for inciting conflict and competition between top employees, which him a controversial leader but also birthed some of the most iconic tech products ever (iMac, iPod and iPhone). After Cook took over, he worked to eliminate conflict within Cupertino’s walls and made employees less passionate, claims ex-Apple employee Bob Burrough.

Move over The Crown and Stranger Things! Apple is planning to enter the original TV shows and movies market, according to a new report.

The Wall Street Journal claims Apple has been in talks with “veteran producers” over the past few months about buying the rights to existing shows, and has also told them that it has plans to create its own programming — although those efforts are still in the early stages.

Amazon is planning to capitalize on the success of its Alexa speakers by launching a high-end model with improved audio and a built-in touchscreen, according to a new report.

It would become the first Alexa speaker with a display, which is expected to show useful information like weather forecasts, calendar appointments and breaking news.

We’re all expecting Apple to deliver something spectacular for the iPhone’s tenth anniversary next year, but what comes after that? According to some analysts, it will be a “decade-long malaise” that will cause Apple to fall.

Amazon is reportedly looking to bring live sports streaming to Prime subscribers. The retail giant is said to be in talks with a number of major sports organizations like the NBA, MLB, and NFL over rights to show live games.

Cord cutters rejoice — Sony revealed today that it is bringing its popular streaming service, PlayStation Vue, to Apple TV.

Apple will reportedly slash its 30 percent App Store fee in half for video services that support its upcoming TV app, according to a new report. The incentive should persuade more providers to support the app, which is set to be released next month.

Cupertino’s slow flirtation with Hollywood nearly landed Apple an exclusive iTunes movie deal with comedian Chris Rock, according to a new report.

Apple has shown interest in producing original video content of its own. The company bought the rights to James Cordon’s Carpool Karaoke TV show, and it appears Apple has some tepid interest in making the type of movies you’d find on Netflix.

AT&T is planning to give away free Apple TVs to customers who sign up to DirecTV Now for at least three months, according to a new report. Those who commit to at least one month will receive a free Amazon Fire TV Stick.

Forget $9.99 per month — Apple might slash the price of Apple Music subscriptions to better compete with streaming music rivals, most notably Amazon.

According to a new report, Apple could drop monthly subscription prices by as much as 20 percent. The Apple Music price drop would mean a regular subscription would cost users around $7.99 per month, while a family package would go for $12.99.

Worldwide tablet sales continued to decline in the third quarter of 2016, according to a new report from International Data Corporation that also reveals Apple’s newest iPads aren’t the most popular.

Netflix won’t be embracing Apple’s vision for the future of television.

Apple revealed its plan to own your TV screen today with a new app called TV. The new service aims to unify your TV experience on iPhone, iPad and Apple TV by taking you straight to content, but the two best streaming services won’t be available.

Siri is about to get a lot smarter thank to Carnegie Mellon researcher Russ Salakhutdinov, who announced today that he is joining Apple to lead the company’s artificial intelligence efforts.

Apple should take a note out of Jeff Bezos’ playbook and launch an Amazon Prime-style subscription service, claims an analyst for Goldman Sachs.

“We think Apple should launch a subscription bundle as a way to reinforce iPhone loyalty and leverage it into content,” Simona Jankowski writes in a new note to clients. In the brief, Jankowski and colleagues ponder the potential of a $50 monthly subscription that would get customers the latest iPhone plus other services like Apple TV, Apple Music and freemium access to the iTunes library.

Shoppers frequent Amazon every day, trusting the site’s algorithms to show the best deals. But a recent Pro Publica report suggests that Amazon is becoming more biased, with its own products and “Fulfilled by Amazon” offerings being prioritized over those from other vendors — even if the other vendors have the cheapest prices.

The Apple Watch and new AirPods may seam like silly side projects to fans, but some analysts on Wall Street believe the company is using the two new products to lay the groundwork for the next era of personal technology.

While Silicon Valley is obssessed with virtual reality headsets, Apple is obsessed with making gadgetry less visible. UBS analysts Steven Milunovich and Benjamin Wilson told clients that while many firms see a lot of downside for Apple, the company’s “ambient paradigm” could be a huge money maker.

Two of the biggest names at Apple made it onto Vanity Fair‘s 2016 ‘New Establishment’ list that ranks the top names in Silicon Valley, Hollywood and Wall Street. But instead of including designer Jony Ive, the fashion mag bumped him for ugly-shirt-lovin Eddy Cue.

Not only does Google want to replace your iPhone with a Pixel, the search giant revealed today that it plans to invade homes with three new products that directly compete with offerings from Apple and Amazon.

During an event in San Francisco today, Google unveiled a new Wi-Fi router, an improved Chromecast and a new Google Home device that’s a lot like Amazon’s Echo smart speaker, only it’s powered by Google Assistant.

Refurbished MacBook Pros shine brightly in this week’s top bargains, along with two of the best Apple accessory offers we’ve ever seen. Read on to see the week’s best Apple deals.

The first ever J.D. Power music streaming satisfaction survey found that Apple Music is the most liked streaming service in the U.S.

Spotify didn’t even manage to crack the top 3 in the survey that polled over 4,000 subscribers to music streaming services to gauge how well each company performs when it comes to performance and reliability, ease of use, cost, content, communication and customer service.

Apple has taken big strides to make Siri even greater in recent years, like bringing it to Apple TV and macOS, and opening it up to third-party developers. In that time, Apple’s virtual assistant has also gotten more accurate and more reliable.

But some might say third-party alternatives — particularly those from Google — are still a step ahead, with greater features and more flexibility. So, is Apple doing enough to make Siri just as stellar as Google Now and the new Google Assistant?

Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we go head-to-head over virtual assistants.

Powering your home with Amazon’s Alexa digital assistant is now a lot cheaper, as the company has officially unveiled an updated version of the Echo Dot speaker.

Eddy Cue is among a list of high-profile speakers that will feature at this year’s New Establishment Summit held by Vanity Fair. Walter Isaacson, author of Steve Jobs’ biography, is also in the lineup, alongside Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Apple board member Bob Iger.

The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are set to be unveiled in just a few minutes in San Francisco, but Amazon has already spoiled a lot of the details by posting its specialized page for iPhone 7 cases.

Check it out:

Sonos has teamed up with Amazon to bring Alexa voice control to its range of wireless speakers. The long-term deal will soon allow users to interact with their Sonos speakers via Alexa using voice commands.