News - page 576

It’s been more than a week since the shocking news that Jony Ive is leaving Apple, and everyone is still trying to make sense of what it means for the company’s future.

According to some, it’s an internal coup: Tim Cook’s operations team finally wrested control from Ive’s industrial design crew, and the company‘s glory days of innovation are over. Others claim Ive’s days have been numbered ever since his dream of a solid gold Apple Watch flopped.

How can there be so many conflicting accounts of one man’s departure? Surprisingly, it may be for the same reason that the final season of Game of Thrones sucked. It all boils down to how we tell stories.

It took Apple nearly a year to convince Angela Ahrendts to ditch Burberry join Apple as the company’s head of retail.

Ahrendts discussed Apple’s recruiting process in a recent podcast interview and said a 2012 Fortune magazine feature put her on Apple’s radar because Tim Cook was on the cover. Cook apparently tried to get Ahrendts to join Apple shortly after but Ahrendts felt like the timing wasn’t right. Months passed and she had another meeting with Cook who said eight words that completely changed Ahrendts’ life.

American business magnate and politician Ross Perot died yesterday at the age of 89.

However, while the world probably remembers Perot best for his 1992 and 1996 presidential campaigns, Perot also played a crucial role in Apple history. Here’s how.

A young Fortnite fan has been streaming the game for 10 hours a day to raise money for his father’s cancer treatment.

ZylTV has already raised over $13,000 playing the hit battle royale game on Twitch. He has also racked up 20,000 followers since he started playing at the beginning of July.

Zoom conference calls are as much of a part of modern office working life as disagreements about the air-con system.

But security researcher Jonathan Leitschuh recently stumbled upon something extremely concerning. As discovered by Leitschuh, Zoom featured a vulnerability that allowed hackers to break into a target’s Mac webcam. This happened regardless of whether the Mac user was using Safari, Chrome or Firefox.

Fortunately, Zoom has, well, zoomed to correct it.

Apple wants to offer opportunities to kids in London who are at risk of being caught up in gang life.

In partnership with City Hall, its new “Made in LDN” program will offer youths free coding, music-making and movie-creating workshops.

Apple is gearing up to launch HomePod in Japan — more than two years after the device got its first unveiling.

Smart speaker shoppers will be able to pick one up in the coming weeks for 32,800 yen (approx. $301). HomePod will then be available in a total of 11 countries.

Apple has opened a new Design and Development Accelerator in China to promote app development in the country.

Located in Shanghai, the accelerator features a range of lectures, workshops, networking events and more covering all of Apple’s different platforms.

If you thought that Apple had slightly lost its touch when it comes to naming products, you’re not likely to be swayed by the nickname suggestions included on iOS 13’s Game Center.

They are, well, pretty gloriously weird.

Several Apple Health employees, including a 24-year veteran of the company, have been hired away by insurance giant Anthem.

The hirings come at a time when insurers are changing their offerings to embrace Silicon Valley’s digital health initiatives.

Apple committed to releasing its much-anticipated credit card some time this summer, and that promise moved closer to coming true today with the introduction of the sixth developer beta of iOS 12.4. The whole purpose of this version is support for the Apple Card.

The already crowded market for streaming video services is getting a little more so. WarnerMedia just unveiled HBO Max, which will include original programs as well as shows created for The WB like Batwoman. Most notably, this will be the only place to watch Friends re-runs.

It will face competition from Apple TV+, Disney+, Netflix and many more.

A federal appeals court ruled today that President Donald Trump can’t block dissenters from posting replies to his Twitter account.

This upholds an earlier ruling that Trump’s account is a public forum, and therefore preventing anyone from speaking is a violation of the First Amendment to the Constitution

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have summoned the biggest tech companies in the nation to come to testify before an anti-trust panel. Apple’s representative will be joined by executives from Amazon, Facebook and Google on July 16.

Instagram is adding more muscle to fight bullying, including one tool that appeals to a harasser’s conscious.

Instagram has been addressing online harassment over the last couple of years with options to block followers and report offensive items. But for the first time, artificial intelligence will hold an intervention with a would-be bully.

Apple is trying to woo new students gearing up for the school year with a new offer that gives them six free months of service before they have to pay a dime.

The offer popped up on Apple’s educational site just after the company revealed its back-to-school promotion of free Beats headphones with qualifying purchases.

I use my iPad for almost all my computing. I write, read, record and edit music, edit photos — you name it. I’ve used my decade-old Mac less and less in recent years, as the iPad, or rather iOS, has gotten ever more capable.

But this week I dusted off my Mac, ordered some extra RAM (yes, it’s still available!), and fired it up. Why? Because, as powerful as the iPad is, the Mac is still way, way better for some tasks. In my case, that task is recording and editing music.

Update Nov. 13, 2019: The 16-inch MacBook Pro released today is the first in years without the Butterfly keyboard. And the head of Apple marketing talks about redesigning this notebook keyboard in an interview.

Original article:

The upgraded MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models released today are faster and better looking. However, they still include the keyboard that sent so many of their predecessors to the repair shop.

A rumored redesign apparently hasn’t happened yet.

Apple updated the design of its AirPods in-ear headphones this spring but reportedly isn’t resting on its laurels. A redesigned third-generation version will be out later this year, according to a market-analysis firm.

Apple has significantly reduced the price of its SSD upgrades for Mac.

Many options now cost half as much as they did yesterday. A whopping 4TB SSD for the 15-inch MacBook Pro is now priced at $1,400 — down from $2,800.

Moment started out making lens attachments to turn the iPhone into a better camera. Now the mobile photography brand wants to do the same for the cameras that fly on DJI drones.

The company designed an anamorphic lens called Moment Air to bring a sweeping, cinematic view — and that distinctive Hollywood lens flare — to footage captured by select DJI drones.

Apple could team up with a new OLED display-maker ahead of this year’s iPhone refresh. The move may mean that Samsung plays a smaller part in future iPhone production.

Industry sources have also reignited rumors that none of Apple’s next-generation handsets will offer 3D Touch.

It’s a rare day that doctors are running ahead of schedule. Fortunately, today is just such a day as Dr. Mario, the classic 1990s Nintendo puzzle game, has landed in the App Store one day early.

Originally expected to drop July 10, Dr. Mario instead went live today. It’s free to download, although there are in-app purchases available for those who hate the idea of socialized health care.

Apple today kicked off its latest Back to School promotion. It gives students the opportunity to bag free Beats headphones with qualifying purchases.

The deal comes just as a more-affordable MacBook Air with True Tone and a faster 13-inch MacBook Pro were added to the Apple Store.

Apple has dropped the 12-inch MacBook after introducing an improved MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro.

The previous MacBook Air without a Retina display, which was Apple’s most affordable notebook, has also been ditched.