Check out Apple’s plans for the iCar as it prepares the groundwork for its charging infrastructure.
Learn more of what’s in store for the iCar in this week’s jam-packed Cult of Mac Magazine. Plus, Foxconn manages to replaces half its workers with robots.
All this, and much much more, in Cult of Mac Magazine, free for you right now.
Here are this week’s top stories.
Apple is the most valuable publicly traded company in the world, but when it comes to CEO pay, Tim Cook is conspicuously absent on the latest list of top 200 paid CEOs in the US.
Mainland China is Apple’s second biggest market, and will one day be its first. Apple is making a big push on the mainland, opening new stores and investing in home-grown companies. Why the interest? Because China is the new Japan — it’s where the future is happening. All this week we take a look at the cutting-edge apps that define mobile life on the mainland.
SHANGHAI CITY, China — Imagine a website where the all the millions of “made in China” products are at your fingertips . Taobao delivers just that, and the app has completely revolutionized online shopping here in China.
Mainland China is Apple’s second biggest market, and will one day be its first. The company is making a big push on the mainland, opening new stores and investing in home-grown companies. Why the interest? Because China is the new Japan — it’s where the future is happening. All this week we take a look at the cutting-edge apps that define mobile life on the mainland.
SHANGHAI CITY, China — Just like their U.S. counterparts, Chinese youth obsess over their smartphones. But while the phones they use look the same, the apps are quite different: China has its own must-have apps that keep users’ eyes glued to screens at all hours of the day.
Some Chinese apps seem quite similar to their Western counterparts, but others boast innovative and intriguing features. Apple’s clearly interested: While slowing growth in China put a dent in APPL stock, Cupertino recently made a strategic $1 billion investment in Chinese Uber rival Didi Chuxing.
What other apps in China might grab Apple’s attention? Tim Cook could start his due diligence with this list of powerhouse Chinese iPhone apps. The country’s young people use these apps to listen to music, make purchases, get around town, interact with others and maintain their online identities.
These Chinese apps are impressive and convenient, and they are showing us the future of mobile: a world where everything is at our fingertips.
Apple could be about to kill its most popular notebook. According to reliable KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the company is planning to ditch the MacBook Air and add a 13-inch MacBook to its lineup as a replacement.
The original ultraportable is starting to look a little long in the tooth. Having gone without an update for over a year, it is Apple’s only laptop without a Retina display, a Force Touch trackpad, and Thunderbolt 3 connectivity.
But is it really time to let it go, or does it just need a refresh? Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we battle it out over whether the MacBook Air has a place in Apple’s future.
Amazon Alexa, the powerful virtual assistant found inside the retail giant’s Echo speaker, is now available in your browser. It can answer your questions and even control your smart devices, and all you need is an Amazon account and a microphone.
Concerns about the effect Apple’s massive Irish data center will have on badger and bat populations may have momentarily suspended the company’s plans, but Apple representatives have assured locals the $950 million project will be largely invisible.
Robert Sharpe, Apple’s senior director of global data center services appeared at a hearing in Galway County this week to address concerns about the 500 acre data center and revealed why it’s so important to Apple’s expansion plans in Europe.
You don’t need a pressure-sensitive display or fancy sensors to take advantage of the 3D Touch features on the iPhone 6s. Engineers at the University of Michigan have developed a way to bring 3D Touch to any smartphone using incredibly clever software.
Details of Apple’s upcoming Amazon Echo competitor are starting to surface, and it sounds like it could be both Apple’s most futuristic and creepiest product yet.
The iPhone-maker is considering adding a camera to its Echo rival, according to a new report that claims the device will be able to tell who is using it just by looking at you.
Apple Stores in the U.S. are no longer selling the AirPort Extreme or Time Capsule. It’s thought both devices were pulled as the result of a new FCC ruling that comes into effect soon — but it’s likely they will return at some point.
U.S. lawmakers are said to be giving up on their push for new encryption laws that would require companies like Apple to create software backdoors that allow the government to access our devices.
It’s thought the lack of White House support and Apple’s high-profile battle with the Justice Department, which was unable to force the company into providing an iPhone unlock, are some of the reasons why supporters are losing hope.
With over $223 billion in revenue and 115,000 employees, Apple is unquestionably a tech giant. And given its financial success, competitive wages, and sheer brand power, it’s no wonder that it’s the dream workplace of many seeking to work in tech.
Interested in landing a job at this Cupertino-based company? Read on: we’ve crafted a list of some of Apple’s highest paid positions and their job requirements, as well as several resources designed to get your foot into the door.
Google’s official iOS app is getting a massive speed boost. Its latest update cuts down loading times significantly using new Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) technology, and adds sports highlights that are baked into Google Now cards.
He’s previously admitting to not really “getting” Apple, but legendary investor Warren Buffett’s recent investment in AAPL seems to have convinced shareholders to have a bit more faith in the Little Cupertino Company That Could.
Samsung Pay is doing all it can to make things difficult for Apple Pay, and that could include bringing the fight to its own backyard. Samsung is said to be working on porting its mobile payment service to the iPhone — but there is a catch.
An almost 90-year-old grandfather was recently scammed out of $50,000 in iTunes vouchers, police detectives have revealed.
Calling the scam artists “the lowest of the low,” Detective Mike Oakley says that the victim received a call on May 3 from a person pretending to be his grandson and saying they had been involved in a serious car accident during a vacation in Florida.
Jennifer Bailey, VP of Apple Pay, says that Apple is “working rapidly” to expand the company’s mobile payments system way beyond the six countries it currently operates in.
“Our goal is to have Apple Pay in every significant market Apple is in,” Bailey said in a new interview.
It may not be quite the major update Apple TV looks set to receive at WWDC (thanks to the expected Siri API), but if you’re a pay-TV fan of shows from NBCUniversal’s Bravo, Syfy and E! networks you’re in luck because Apple TV just launched three new apps letting you watch content from the stations.
You can pay to have a cup of coffee with Tim Cook, so doesn’t it make perfect sense that you can also buy tea bearing the likeness of his predecessor, legendary Apple co-founder Steve Jobs?
Not really, if we’re honest — but try telling that to makers of “Tea Rebels,” a brand of teabags discovered recently in a supermarket in Katowice, Poland.
Here’s to the milky ones…
Hyundai car owners can now get Apple’s CarPlay technology on their dashboard thanks to a new Do-It-Yourself update that has been made available for 2015, 2016, and 2017 car models.
The free update doesn’t even require a trip to the dealer to be installed, and if you want Android Auto, the software can add that too.
Thanks to headsets like Google Cardboard and Gear VR, the virtual reality experience is already pretty portable. But on a smartphone, you’re only getting a watered-down version.
That’s why MSI decided it would be a good idea to build a PC into a backpack, allowing you to enjoy high-end VR on the go.
Apple is planning to open Siri up to third-party developers and it appears that Apple TV could be the biggest benefactor from the expanded platform.
In order to better compete with Amazon’s Echo devices, Apple reportedly plans to update the Apple TV with more Siri features that will hopefully turn the device into the hub of everything.
Twitch is giving users the ability to share the best moments from their favorite streamers. Its new tool, Clips, will showcase 30-second snippets without making viewers sit through an entire stream.
Pixelmator, the incredible image editing app for Mac and iOS, now ships with a useful Photos extension on OS X that allows you to make quick edits to your images without leaving Apple’s app. The latest release also brings new selection tools.
Walkie Talkies could be getting a big upgrade thanks to a new Apple patent that reveals the company has been thinking about more than just iPhones when it comes to two-way voice conversations.
Apple’s new patent describes a revamped wireless communication device that connects to a receiver module via Lightning or standard headphone jack, only instead of broadcasting to other devices using cellular it uses point-to-point ad hoc networking.