| Cult of Mac

Google Pixel Buds Pro could go toe-to-toe with AirPods Pro

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Google's top new earbuds will come in several colors.
Google's top new earbuds will come in several colors.
Photo: Google

Google brought out a range of new Pixel devices to compete with Apple products at its I/O developer conference Wednesday. They include Pixel Buds Pro, premium earbuds with a number of AirPods Pro features.

But Google’s new buds, available July 21, will cost about $50 less than Apple’s top wireless earbuds.

Google shows a possible killer feature for AR glasses

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A screen shot from Google's video shows language transcription on the screen.
A screen shot from Google's video shows language transcription on the screen.
Photo: Google

Years ago Google failed to find a broad audience for Google Glass, its internet-connected glasses. But now the tech giant’s trying something new. It previewed augmented reality (AR) glasses Wednesday that translate language, Bloomberg reported.

The company conducted a brief demonstration at its annual I/O developer conference and released a video on Twitter, below.

Apple employees overwhelmingly back Biden over Trump

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Election contributions by Apple employees for heavily toward Democrats
Political contributions by Apple employees show a clear preference for Democrat candidates.
Photo: Pixabay/Pexels CC

Apple employees show they lean to the left in the clearest way possible: with their wallets. Election contributions by Apple employees inclined strongly toward Democrats in the 2020 presidential race.

It’s not even close. Apple employee contributions to Joe Biden’s campaign were more than 13 times greater than they were to President Donald Trump’s, for example.

YouTube wants to take on TikTok with upcoming ‘Shorts’ feature

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2020 is the year everyone wants to be TikTok famous.
Big tech is setting its sights on taking down TikTok.
Photo: Aaron Yoo/Flickr CC

TikTok, the popular video-sharing app that is especially popular among young people, is going to get some fresh competition from Google later this year.

Google is reportedly planning to create its own version of TikTok with a new Youtube feature called “Shorts” that will live inside the platform’s apps on Android and iOS.

Google splashes $2.1 billion on Fitbit to fight Apple Watch

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Fitbit
Fitbit will soon be a Google company.
Photo: Fitbit

Google has confirmed plans to buy Fitbit as it looks to step up its fight against Apple Watch. The deal, worth approximately $2.1 billion, will bring new Made by Google wearables to market.

“Together, we aim to spur innovation in wearables and build helpful products to benefit more people around the world,” Google said.

Google’s massive cash pile is now bigger than Apple’s

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A group called Google You Owe Us wants $1000 each after Google invaded their privacy
Apple's been spending cash lately while Google's been hoarding it.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Apple’s decade-long run as the company with the world’s largest cash pile has finally come to an end.

Financial paperwork filed by Apple and Google’s parent company Alphabet revealed that the search engine giant now has $15 billion more in the bank than the iPhone-maker does.

Tim Cook made massive donation to keep Trump out of White House

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Cook
Tim Cook was an outspoken Hillary supporter.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Tim Cook fought harder than any other Apple employee to make sure Donald Trump didn’t become president.

A study of all the political donations made by Apple employees found that Tim Cook contributed more than any other employee to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 election campaign with a $236,100 payment to the Hillary Victory Fund fundraising committee. Tim’s favoritism towards Democrats isn’t surprising, and the study found that an overwhelming majority of Apple employees are following his lead.

Apple drops a spot in Fortune 500 rankings

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European Commission could get even tougher on tech in 2020
Apple's revenues need to get bigger if it wants to rise in the rankings.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Despite closing in on becoming the country’s first trillion dollar company, Apple took a small drop in the annual Fortune 500 rankings.

The rankings released this morning put Apple in the number 4 spot as ExxonMobile leapfrogged the iPhone-maker and Berkshire Hathaway to claim the number 2 spot.

Amazon could beat Apple to $1 trillion market cap by one week

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Apple is worth more than the entire US energy sector combined
Apple remains no. 1... for now.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Amazon could beat Apple to become the world’s first $1 trillion company, a new report suggests.

While Apple’s market cap currently stands at $893 billion to Amazon’s $752 billion, the online retail giant is rapidly closing the gap. By current trajectories, it will beat Apple to the $1 trillion mark by a mere week.

Amazon tops Apple for title of best-managed company

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Amazon is on fire.
Amazon is on fire.
Photo: Amazon

American tech companies are a some of the most effectively managed businesses in the world, according to a new landmark system that ranked the top 250 companies.

Even though Apple is the world’s most profitable company, the rankings found that Amazon is actually the most efficiently run business. But Apple follows at a close second.