Compared to some of the other automotive naysayers, Ford has been outspoken about the fact that Silicon Valley might (shock horror!) actually be able to successfully disrupt the car industry.
Now a Ford exec says his company actually welcomes the competition from companies like Google and Apple.
If he really wants the job, presidential hopeful Donald Trump should probably figure out what the office can and can’t do.
Trump showcased his continuing delusion of ultimate executive power to do everything ever at a speech at Liberty University today. And in addition to his lofty goals to construct a huge wall completely sealing off the border between the United States and Mexico (“Someday they’ll call it Trump Wall”) and build a military “so big, so strong, [and] so powerful that nobody is going to mess with us,” he also turned his attention to companies like that have outsourced production overseas to save money on labor and taxes.
“We’re gonna get Apple to start building their damn computers and things in this country instead of in other countries,” Trump said, apropos of nothing.
If you have an iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus that’s not properly showing how much battery you have left, there’s good news and bad news. Bad news first? Apple doesn’t exactly know what’s causing the problem. Good news: They’re looking into it, and there’s a temporary fix.
This week on The CultCast: super-sized drones, app-controlled robot bartenders, smart coffee mugs and the coolest of gadgets from CES 2016. Plus, don’t miss our picks for the absolutely, positively, you-should-install-them-today, most essential Mac and iOS apps.
Our thanks to Harry’s for supporting this episode. Harry’s super-sharp, German-made razors ship free right to your door and for way less than drugstore razors. Learn more at Harrys.com and save $5 off your first order with code CultCast.
Recent reports suggest Apple might ship wireless, noise-canceling EarPods with the iPhone 7. From a hardware perspective, these headphones would be very similar to hearing aids.
With the right feature set, these devices could change the way we hear digital audio and pave the way for transformative new audio experiences for everyone.
We all know Apple’s are much safer than Windows PCs at keeping out the malware, right?
Researcher Patrick Wardle has been trying to make sure of that for months now as he pokes holes in Apple’s current protection scheme, Gatekeeper.
In fact, he’s gotten past Apple’s latest patch to its software security system in literally five minutes.
We’re back from CES and rounding up everything from the show, checking out the new operating system betas for your iPhone, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV, proposing ways to fix Apple’s fitness apps, and taking a little time to mourn David Bowie and play some retro-tastic games on Apple TV.
All this, and a lot more, coming your way in this week’s Cult of Mac Magazine.
Have you heard the one about the phone encryption bill in New York that will fine retailers $2,500 for each cell phone they sell that can’t be decrypted?
That set-up is its own punchline. This bill is a terrible idea.
Now you can try out the latest and greatest operating systems for Apple products, thanks to public betas for iOS 9.3 and OS X El Capitan 10.11.4. Both are now available for testing — even if you don’t have a developer account.
You can grab both updates from Apple’s beta program website for free. Take note, however, that this is trial software — and updating could cause some apps and features on your iOS or Mac devices to go funky or stop working altogether. Use these at your own risk.
If you’re dreaming about being a software engineer at either Google or Apple, you should brace yourself for an ordeal.
A new report comparing the difficulty, experiences, and lengths of interview processes from a variety of tech companies says that a Google interview is the hardest one you can undertake. Apple did slightly better in that regard; it was the fourth toughest. But the data suggest that one of those two processes is considerably more pleasant.
Apple’s iOS 9 has been adopted by users at a pretty rapid rate, one that’s faster than even iOS 8 enjoyed.
Apple just updated its developer information page, claiming that iOS 9 is now on 75 percent of all iOS devices out there. This is four percent more than it was just a month ago, showing steady, if slower, growth than the first few weeks after the iOS 9 release.
The Apple Car has its share of skeptics, but there’s at least one person who believes it is coming, and he should know: Tesla founder Elon Musk says it’s an “open secret” that Cupertino is working to become Coupe-rtino. Get it?
The Google Chromebook has moved past Apple to the head of the class for sales of tech products in the K-12 market.
Chromebook sales surpassed 51 percent, up from 40 percent, for the first time, according to third quarter figures for 2015.
Some new (circumstantial) evidence is lending further weight to the possibility that we may one day cruise down the street in an Apple Car.
Listings on domain search site Who.is show that Apple is buying up car-related web domains like crazy. The sites in question are “apple.car,” “apple.cars,” and “apple.auto.” This is not the absolute, ironclad confirmation a lot of Apple Car fans are looking for, but it may point to some news coming.
Or it may not.
Apple’s latest acquisition is of a small artificial intelligence company called Emotient. The startup has technology that analyzes people’s emotions through their facial expressions.
Apple “buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans,” Apple’s spokeswoman told The Wall Street Journal. That’s the typical statement Apple gives when snatching up small companies.
It’s not clear yet what Apple has in mind for Emotient, but we sure can speculate.
Apple CEO Tim Cook made approximately $10.3 million in 2015 — $10,281,327 to be exact. That is up only a tad from the $9.2 million he earned in 2014. The other executives at Apple all made around $25 million each for the year. Sure, it’s rough to place the word “only” in front of a ten million dollar check, but in Cook’s case, he is making significantly less than the other execs.
No, that car you see above is not a real Batmobile — but it is just as exciting. Built by Faraday Future, the FFZero1 is a concept smart car that’s back from the future, with a 1,000-horsepower electric engine that goes from zero to 60mph in under three seconds.
In making a smaller MacBook, Apple took away one little thing that could have us tripping – literally. Gone with all the ports on the slim 12-inch MacBook with a single USB-C port is the magnet in the connector that kept your charging cord securely plugged in.
Trip over the cord on earlier MacBooks and it broke away cleanly without sending your laptop flying. Foreseeing the accidents, tech accessory company Griffin has created a USB-C power cable with a quick-release magnetic feature.
In a not-exactly-happy New Year message sent to employees, Samsung chief executive Kwon Oh-hyun has warned that growth will continue to slow over the course of 2016 — with the reason being weak global economies and increased competition from the likes of Apple.
You could say 2015 was a product-ive year for Apple. The company entered the wearable market with the Apple Watch, released a hugely updated version of the Apple TV streaming box, unveiled the massive iPad Pro (and considerably less massive iPad Mini 4), took on tune-streaming with the Apple Music service, and made its annual update to the iPhone with the 6s and 6s Plus.
We also saw updates to the operating systems that run all those things, as well as a new desktop OS in El Capitan, but it wasn’t all great news. Apple encountered lawsuits, shakeups and investigations by countries and entire federations thereof.
So whether we ultimately decide Cupertino had a good or bad year, at least it was pretty interesting. Relive the ups and downs with this Apple year in review 2015, Cult of Mac-style.
Apple won’t tell you it makes the world’s best computing products. That’s because rhetoric doesn’t have the same power as seeing is believing.
Apple is showcasing the work of some of the more creative users of iMacs, iPads and iPhones in an advertising campaign called “Start Something New.”
Although Samsung has vowed to take its patent fight with Apple all the way to the Supreme Court after welching on a deal to pay Cupertino $548 million in damages, Apple isn’t letting up its assult on the Galaxy-maker. As a Christmas present, Apple just asked for an additional $180 million in damages.
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: We venture into very heart of Apple, inside Jony Ive’s super-secret design lab, and what we find is amazing. Plus: the best holiday iOS App Store deals and our favorite movies of 2015!
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Happy holidays, everyone! No matter what you celebrate (or don’t), we’ve got a ton of great stuff in the latest issue of Cult of Mac Magazine, right here for you.
There’s a sneak peek inside Apple’s secret design studio to start you off, plus the best games for your Mac from 2015, a deep dive on what the management shake-up means for you, how to maximize your MacBook trade-in, a look at new Siri-style voice technologies coming down the pike, and a bunch of how-tos and tips to keep you rocking all the way through your season.
Here’s the rundown this week:
Apple Pay will finally arrive in China next year, and it’s going to have strong competition from day one. Just hours after Apple announced the expansion of its mobile payment service, Samsung confirmed its own will be following after it struck an almost identical deal with China UnionPay.
