When Apple revealed the name of its next macOS update this week, Jonathan Mann — like a lot of Apple watchers — found himself somewhat amused by the “High Sierra” moniker.
If you don’t know Mann by name, you may well be familiar with his work. A YouTube musician and Apple fan, he has composed more than 40 songs about his favorite tech company over the years — including one that once made Steve Jobs dance.
Check out his appropriately smoky macOS High Sierra song below.
Do you hate going outside without anything on your feet? Happen to have a spare $30,000 sloshing around? Then you could be the lucky owner of an incredibly rare pair of authentic 1990s Apple sneakers, going up for auction this weekend.
Part of a Beverly Hills auction titled “The Future is Now” by Heritage Auctions, the shoes will be sold off on June 11, alongside an assortment of “sneakers, surfboards, skateboard decks and street art.”
With its new reality show Planet of the Apps, Apple didn’t try to reinvent the wheel. It slapped a new body on a well-worn vehicle — wannabe entrepreneurs pitching their precious ideas to a panel of questionable celebrity experts — and drove straight to “Meh-ville.”
Sitting on a cash pile of billions, Apple’s not a company that’s used to being left behind. But when it comes to artificial intelligence, that’s exactly what has happened in recent years. While companies like Google and Facebook led the way with cutting-edge AI, Apple lagged. It was embarrassing for a company in Apple’s position to miss out on the single best tech revolution taking place at the moment.
But during Monday’s WWDC 2017 keynote, Apple went a long way toward making amends.
Apple just updated and simplified its various iCloud storage pricing options, giving high-end customers more for their money and adding a sweetener for families who might want to share a plan.
Significantly, the company eliminated the 1 terabyte iCloud storage option, previously charged at $9.99 a month. Instead, people paying 10 bucks a month for iCloud storage will get 2 terabytes to play with.
Apple has joined a coalition of hundreds of U.S. companies and regulators, called “We Are Still In,” declaring that it will continue to support environmental causes despite President Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris climate accord.
The initiative is being led by former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg. Other non-Apple major tech companies which are taking part include Amazon, Google, Lyft and Spotify, and more. Check out their letter below.
Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou has confirmed that Apple will help it in its bid to buy Toshiba’s semiconductor business — and it’ll be getting a helping hand from Amazon, too.
A working Apple-1 computer will go under the hammer at a Christie’s auction later this month, with an estimated value of between $300,000 and $500,000.
Not only is the Apple-1 motherboard one of relatively few working units still in existence in 2017, but it also includes some unusual modifications by its original owner — with the original 4K of RAM boosted up to a whopping total of 12K.
Apple has updated its Siri design patent in the European Union and Hong Kong to also cover “smart glasses” as a category.
Ahead of a WWDC event where Apple is rumored to be introducing a standalone Siri speaker to take on the Amazon Echo and Google Home smart speakers, the news suggests that Siri could also be a key part of Apple’s future augmented reality plans.
In a spoiler for what Apple might unveil today at its Worldwide Developers Conference, a placeholder app has appeared for “Files” in the App Store.
There are no details about exactly what the app will offer, but it supports only 64-bit architecture, in line with reports that Apple will ditch support for 32-bit apps.
Bozoma Saint John, head of global consumer marketing for Apple Music, may be on her way out of Apple, a recent report claims.
Saint John is probably best known to Apple watchers as the person who took the stage at last year’s WWDC event to show off Apple Music’s then-new user interface — which included attempting to get the crowd to somewhat awkwardly clap along to The Sugarhill Gang’s song “Rapper’s Delight.”
Apple’s updated Swift Playgrounds app, giving would-be coders the chance to learn to program by controlling a robot, is just one of the great titles we’ve picked out for this week’s “Awesome Apps” roundup.
We’ve also got a fun space blaster, a big Wonder Woman-themed upgrade to a fun RPG battler, and a useful multi-person planning app. Check out our picks below.
WWDC is almost upon us. Ahead of Monday’s keynote event we’re running down everything we’re expecting for the annual developers extravaganza. You can watch the keynote live, and follow coverage here at Cult of Mac.
From software to hardware, here’s what we are predicting for next week:
Want to earn money and help out your favorite tech company? According to a new report, Apple has created a Mechanical Turk-style web app that lets people sign up and help improve Apple Maps for money.
People in the program reportedly earn about 54 cents per task (correcting or verifying a placemark in Apple Maps), with a maximum of 600 tasks every seven days. That’s about $324 per week — which is roughly in line with U.S. minimum wage for a full-time job, minus any additional benefits.
Following President Trump’s decision to take the United States out of the Paris climate agreement, Apple CEO Tim Cook shared an email with Apple employees.
Cook, who spoke with Trump ahead of the announcement, said that his efforts to persuade Trump to stay in the agreement had failed. Despite this, Cook noted that it will have no impact on Apple’s environmental initiatives. Check out the letter below.
Banners and other WWDC paraphernalia are going up at San Jose’s McEnery Convention Center, ahead of next week’s 2017 Worldwide Developers Conference.
Images posted online so far show a large banner at the front of the venue, decorations covering one side of the building, and smaller banners hung from nearby light posts. The images show variations on the artwork reportedly created by Los Angeles artist, graphic designer, and movie title sequence creator Geoff McFettridge.
As Apple’s longest-running annual keynote event, it’s no surprise that WWDC has played host to some absolutely enormous announcements over the years.
From strategies that changed the company’s course to the debut of astonishing new products, here are our picks for the most important ones. Check out the list below.
Wonder Woman is the DC Extended Universe’s best-received movie so far by a long shot, and to celebrate, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has added a bunch of new Wonder Woman-themed content to its DC Legends game for iOS.
An update worthy of Zeus’ daughter, for sure!
Intel is benefitting from Apple’s current standoff with Qualcomm, with Apple reportedly upping its wireless “baseband” chip orders from Intel for the iPhone.
Apple first added Intel as a second baseband supplier in 2016. This was part of its strategy to diversify the number of suppliers that provide each of its components, to allow Apple to lessen its risk and negotiate more favorable terms for components.
iTunes has had new movies available for purchase day-and-date with the DVD release since May 2008.
Jump forward a decade, and a report claims that Apple will be the first choice for studios and exhibitors when they eventually agree to video-on-demand while movies are still showing in theaters.
Laurene Powell Jobs has kept a relatively low profile since Steve Jobs’ death in 2011, but tonight she’ll be in conversation at the Code Conference — where she’ll be talking about her approach to philanthropy.
The on-stage interview will be with U.S. senator and Democratic party “rising star” Kamala Harris, and takes place at 8.30pm PST. You can watch it live at the link below.
The current ban on laptops and tablets in carry-on luggage from 10 different airports could be extended internationally, a new report claims.
The U.S. government has held high-level discussions with officials from the European Union, with both sides deciding “to intensify talks.” The U.S. is said to be more enthusiastic about the possible ban than their European counterparts.
It’s almost the start of a new month, so that can only mean one thing: the latest Apple Park drone flyover video.
As with the latest flyover videos of the site, this video shows that construction work on buildings is almost complete, with only minor touches still to be done. However, the most significant work is on landscaping the massive site — which is likely to extend through the rest of 2017.
Check out the video below.
Component supplies for the Nintendo Switch are reportedly being limited by Apple’s own component demands, a new report claims.
The components in question reportedly include NAND flash-memory chips for data storage, LCD displays and Linear Resonant Actuators,the tiny motors used in the Switch’s hand-held controllers.
Apple has hired a former Qualcomm Engineering VP to act as the project lead on its wireless “System on a Chip” (SoC) project, hinting that it may be planning to develop its own cellular modems.
The hiring of Esin Terzioglu, who joined Qualcomm back in 2009, comes at a time when Apple is locked in a legal battle with the company.