It looks like my Cult of Mac colleague Killian’s endless hours spent feverishly Googling the word “Fortnite” like a battle royale-loving version of The Shining‘s Jack Torrance have paid off.
That’s because Google has released its annual “Year in Search” results, and it seems that the ultra popular Fortnite game is one of the year’s most sought-after topics.
Apple is planning to launch its own paid magazine and newspaper subscription service, which will serve as a premium part of the existing Apple News app.
It is based on Texture, the $9.99 a month magazine service Apple purchased back in March. As happened with the Beats Music technology that went into Apple Music, Apple will use its acquisition as the basis for its own branded product offering.
Apple is offering promo codes to Apple Music customers, giving them money off the HomePod smart speaker in time for the holidays.
So far, users in the U.K. have reported receiving the offer for 50 British pounds ($63) off the full price of a HomePod. The offer runs through December 16, giving would-be purchasers until the end of the week to take advantage. It’s not clear how many markets Apple will offer the discount in.
This year’s Facebook congressional hearing highlighted just how little many lawmakers know about the technology which dominates our lives.
That seemingly didn’t change during yesterday’s House Judiciary Committee hearing with Google CEO Sundar Pichai. At one point in proceedings 69-year-old Republican Congressman Steve King expressed his disappointment to Pichai that his 7-year-old daughter had been shown a photo of her grandfather with some unflattering language on her iPhone.
“Congressman, the iPhone is made by a different company,” Pichai said.
Tim Cook has admitted that Apple Pay hasn’t taken off quite as quickly as he would like. But that’s not stopping the European Commission from threatening that Apple’s mobile payments service could face challenges if it gets much more dominant.
Speaking this week, European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said that, while at “first glance, we couldn’t see Apple being dominant,” it will face ongoing scrutiny regarding Apple Pay.
On paper, the recent arrest of Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, has nothing to do with Apple. But it could nonetheless wind up hurting the U.S. tech giant.
Here’s why.
As promised, Super Micro Computer, the manufacturer of technology accused by Bloomberg of containing Chinese spy chips, has carried out an investigation of its hardware. And it’s apparently clean.
The company hired outside investigators to resolve the claims leveled against it. On Tuesday, it told customers that there was no evidence of malicious hardware on its current or older motherboards.
Apple Pay has made its official debut in Germany. The country marks the 32nd market to receive Apple’s mobile payment service after it went live in Belgium and Kazakhstan last month.
Apple Pay is supported by 15 banks and financial institutions, including Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank unit Comdirect, Hypovereinsbank, Wirecard, Hanseatic Bank, and others.
One of the priciest countries on the planet to buy an iPhone claims that Apple is violating competition rules — thereby driving up prices for customers.
Egypt, where an iPhone costs up to 50 percent more than in the rest of the Middle East, accuses Apple of placing unfair restrictions on local distributors. According to a report, this behavior is the reason customers have to pay so much in the country.
Apple has joined other tech giants — including Google, Microsoft, Facebook and others — in speaking out against the anti-encryption law recently passed in Australia.
The country’s controversial law means that law enforcement officials are allowed to access encrypted messages when required. Unsurprisingly, tech’s biggest titans are none too happy about it.
A court in China has granted Qualcomm an injunction against Apple. The ruling bars Apple from importing and selling multiple iPhone models in China.
The order specifically bars Apple from selling the iPhone 6s, 6s Plus, 7, 7 Plus, iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and iPhone X. However, the iPhone XS, XS Max and XR should be good to go.
Apple has done a whole lot in 2018 but, from a stock price perspective, none of it matters. That’s because Apple’s declining stock price means that the company has now officially lost money this year.
AAPL finished 2017 at $169.23. At time of writing, it is trading at $164.48. Overall, it’s now down around 1 percent year-on-year. In the process, it’s fallen behind some major rivals.
Apple’s Bordeaux retail store in France was raided over the weekend as continued anti-government protests raged.
In a clip widely shared on Twitter, looters entered the Apple Sainte-Catherine store on Saturday night. They proceeded to pull MacBooks, iPhones and other items off the shelves and tables. Some of those involved with the incident were wearing the yellow vests associated with the riots.
You’d think Tim Cook would be too busy running Apple to be tweeting about surfing, but you’d be wrong. Well, kind of.
In fact, Cook tweeted over this weekend in praise of the cover of the year end issue of Surfer’s Journal magazine. The front of the mag features a dazzling bit of water-based sports photography which, you guessed it, was shot on an iPhone.
Richard Gere could be the next actor to participate in one of Apple’s original TV shows. According to a new report, Apple is in the process of signing a series starring the Pretty Woman actor, written by Homeland scribe Howard Gordon.
The eight-episode series would follow two elderly friends and Vietnam veterans, whose life is thrown into disarray when a woman they both loved 50 years earlier is killed in a car accident.
Qualcomm president Cristiano Amon says that, one way or another, the battle between his company and Apple is coming to an end soon.
“We feel like we are probably near the end of this game — we have a lot of legal milestones approaching,” Cristiano Amon told Yahoo Finance. “We see 2019 as having events that will drive resolution one way or another.” Unless an agreement is reached, the two companies are currently set to face off in court in April.
Apple has reportedly acquired U.K.-based music creative services and artist development company Platoon.
The company has history with Apple, being co-founded by former Apple live events and artist relations exec Denzyl Feigelson. Described as “a platform for fearless creatives,” Platoon has helped develop a number of early stage artists in the U.S. and UK since launching in 2016.
Apple’s apparently taking its “fire drill” approach to pushing the iPhone XR and XS seriously. As noted by developer Steve Lederer on Twitter, Apple recently sent out a push notification prompting users to upgrade to the iPhone XR or XS.
This was sent out to people on Apple’s iPhone Upgrade Program, so it’s not really breaking Apple’s own App Store rules stating that apps should not send unsolicited spam to customers. However, it’s also not the kind of soft sell we’d usually expect from Apple.
Australia’s population may be less than 10 percent of the United States’ but its new anti-privacy laws could still have Silicon Valley tech giants quaking in their boots.
The country’s newly passed laws mean that law enforcement officials are allowed to access encrypted messages when required. That affects companies including Google, Facebook, Twitter, and, yes, Apple.
If you’d had the foresight to invest in Apple and Microsoft back when they first went public, it’s no secret that you’d be sitting on a big old pile of cash today.
But which company would have made you more money? CNBC recently crunched the numbers and, well, the results are somewhat surprising.
ConnectSense, a company known for its HomeKit-friendly smart plug, has launched its next-generation device, the Smart Outlet2.
The outlet packs two Wi-Fi connected sockets that can be controlled individually via Apple’s Home app or the ConnectSense app.
‘Tis the season to be jolly — and, if you’re Apple, to try and pick up a few more Apple Pay stragglers before the year ends.
With that in mind, Apple has launched its special Apple Pay holiday offers, granting users an assortment of festive discounts from 19 different retailers. The discounts are available when you use Apple Pay in certain retailers’ apps or on the web, through December 19. Here’s what’s on offer:
A vintage handwritten spec sheet in which Steve Jobs called the Apple-1 motherboard a “great deal” has failed to sell at auction.
The document, written in the mid-1970s, was up for auction as part of Bonham’s “History of Science and Technology, Including Space History” collection. Its asking price was $60,000. However, the bidding “only” reached up to $28,000, thereby failing to meet its reserve. A couple of historical Apple items did sell, but for less than expected.
The national nightmare that was “bagelgate” may be over, but Apple is apparently swimming into more controversial emoji territory. This time, the Monterey Bay Aquarium is pointing out that Apple’s squid emoji is physiologically incorrect.
Essentially, Apple’s lack of biological accuracy means that its squid emoji would, among other things, poop out of its face. For shame!
You can now use Siri to check up on product availability or the whereabouts of your latest orders, courtesy of the official Apple Store app for iOS.
Version 5.2 of the app adds new Siri Shortcuts support, letting you create custom voice commands to carry out these tasks without having to open the app.