Apple Inc. - page 8

Apple takes heat over Saudi app that tracks women

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Saudi government app
A Saudi man can use a government app to restrict the travel of his wife or daughter.
Screenshot: iTunes

A U.S. senator is asking Apple and Google to pull an app in Saudi Arabia that men use to track and restrict the movements of women.

Sen. Ron Wyden wrote a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google boss Sundar Pichai asking them to “immediately remove” the app Absher, from their app stores.

Millenials pick YouTube over Apple as top brand

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YouTube in Safari on iMac Pro
Apple lost to YouTube in a brand-ranking survey among millenials, but slipped only to second place.
Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac

YouTube is labeled the new “most intimate brand” according to a survey of millennials. Apple took the title last year, but now drops to second place.

Other brands that did well include Netflix and Disney,  Android-maker Google came in at ninth place. Samsung didn’t make the top ten.

Apple’s awesome chip team is now designing iPhone modems

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Apple A4 chip
Johny Srouji’s team is in charge of modem development.
Photo: Apple

Apple has shifted to in-house modem chip engineering led by senior vice president of hardware technologies Johny Srouji, according to a new report.

The move all but confirms that Apple will develop its own cellular chips for future iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch models after years of sourcing them from Intel and Qualcomm.

Apple will pay France $571 million in back taxes

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Apple France tax
Apple's tax bill in France will be deductible.
Illustration: Cult of Mac

Apple has agreed to pay French authorities around $571 million in back taxes, according to new reports.

Apple today confirmed the deal but did not disclose the sum itself. The agreement comes after a multi-year audit into Apple’s accounts by the French tax administration.

Facebook employees considered quitting after iOS apps shutdown

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Facebook employees
Facebook employees went through a tense 24 hours.
Photo: Facebook

Apple’s sudden shutdown of Facebook’s internal apps for iOS created enough chaos this week that some working for the social network company were openly talking about quitting, according to reports.

The Facebook employee apps show shuttle schedules, campus maps, and company calendars. Apple disabled all of them Wednesday after it learned Facebook ran a research app where iOS users could be rewarded for their data, a sideloaded app that violates Apple’s developer rules.

Google pulls ‘research’ iOS app and issues apology to Apple

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Google research app
Google rewards the family that willing shares its data.
Screenshot: Google/YouTube

Apple may have another tech giant to deal with over an iOS app that bypasses the App Store and Cupertino’s strict developer terms.

Until late today, Google ran a research app that monitored and analyzed internet usage and enticed users with rewards to download the app directly from Google with a developer’s code and registration.

Apple reinvents seatbelt with gesture controls

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Project Titan seatbelt
Simple drawing of a sophisticated seatbelt.
Photo: Apple/USPTO

Project Titan may take the steering wheel out of the driver’s hands, but controlling the car could be as easy as gesturing at the seatbelt.

Apple has filed an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that details a smart seatbelt with a surface that would sense hand gestures for adjusting the entertainment system and operating various features in self-driving vehicles.

Samsung eyes camera company that sued Apple

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CorePhotonics
The rear-facing dual-cameras of the iPhone X.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Samsung is reportedly close to completing a deal to buy an Israeli optics company accusing Apple of stealing its patented dual-camera technology.

CorePhotonics most recently developed a periscope camera module with 5x telephoto for the Chinese smartphone maker Oppo.

Facebook could merge WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger by 2020

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Facebook messaging apps
Mark Zuckerberg was to integrate Facebook-owned, Instagram, WhatsApp and messenger.
Photo: Facebook

Facebook will merge its messaging apps, WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram, by 2020 under a new plan ordered by CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Under the plan, the three apps will remain separate but integration would allow an Instagram user to directly chat with someone on Messenger.

Apple wants tax incentives to boost iPhone assembly in India

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iPhone assembled in India
Coming soon with a 2?
Photo: Indian Express

Apple is hoping to secure new tax incentives in India that will allow it to increase local iPhone production and export more devices to be sold in other countries.

The company has teamed up with other large names in the Indian Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) to propose a raise in export credits on smartphone shipments, as well as tariff cuts on imports of components and machinery.

The group argues that manufacturing growth cannot be sustained and accelerated without the changes.

Tim Cook celebrates the Mac on its 35th anniversary

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Macintosh
The very first Macintosh.
Photo: Tim Cook

Apple CEO Tim Cook took to Twitter today to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Mac.

Steve Jobs, Apple co-founder and former CEO, unveiled the very first Macintosh on January 24, 1984. The machine had been teased in a now-famous Super Bowl commercial two days earlier.

“It changed the way we think about computers and went on to change the world,” Cook says.

Apple sees advantages for iPhone as climate change worsens

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iPhone XS Max vs. iPhone XS size: Sometimes bigger really is better.
Natural disasters will make iPhone even more vital, Apple says.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

iPhone sales might be struggling right now, but they could see a surprising boost from … climate change?

Apple believes that the negative impacts of climate change, particularly the increase in natural disasters, will make its smartphone even more vital. It points out a number of reasons where the iPhone can help “in the arena of personal safety.”

HomePod in China turns Siri into a storyteller

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HomePod in China
Siri and HomePod will oblige children in China when they ask for a story.
Photo: Apple

HomePod has a feature that is only available in China and could prove popular with busy parents and the kid who just wants to hear a story.

Apple’s version of a smart speaker made its debut in China and Hong Kong on Jan. 18 with the ability to command “Siri, tell me a story.”

Even billionaires don’t like buying extra Apple cables

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Anand Mahindra, USB-C, Apple, charging cables, Twitter, iPad Pro
The object of his ire, the iPad Pro's USB-C port.
Photo: Viktor Kádár

Billionaires are just like the rest of us: they put their pants on one leg at a time and rage when Apple changes charging ports on its devices.

Anand Mahindra, CEO of Mahindra Group, aired his beef on Twitter with having to carry different chargers for his iPhone and new iPad Pro.

Apple vies for J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot shingle

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Bad Robot
J.J. Abrams has studio pitches on his mind.
Photo: Joi/Wikimedia Commons

Apple looks like the competitive underdog in a field of entertainment’s heavy-hitters vying to be the new home for J.J. Abrams and his company, Bad Robot.

Abrams, the director of the last two Star Wars films, is set to part with Paramount, creating a bidding war among studios, including major players Disney, Universal and Warner Bros.

Samsung also suffers as smartphone sales slump in China

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Samsung Galaxy Note 8
Apple isn't the only one suffering in China.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

It turns out Apple isn’t the only smartphone maker that’s suffering from falling sales in China. Samsung, one of the iPhone’s biggest rivals, is also expected to follow Apple in confirming lower than anticipated revenue for the fourth quarter of 2018.

The South Korean company’s warning, which will reportedly come on Tuesday, will reveal a 12 percent fall in year-on-year operating profit for the three-month period. Revenue is also expected to drop 5 percent.

7 reasons people are keeping old iPhones much longer [Cult of Mac Magazine No. 278]

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Cult of Mac Magazine No. 278
Why people are holding on to older iPhones longer.
Cover: Leander Kahney, Marty Cortinas/Cult of Mac

Apple is set to make 5 billion dollars less this quarter than it previously expected, and one of the contributing factors is that the company sold fewer iPhone upgrades than it anticipated. People are holding onto their old iPhones for much longer. Why’s that?

Find out the future of your iPhone in the latest free issue of Cult of Mac Magazine. Get it now on iTunes, or keep reading for the week’s best Apple news, reviews and how-tos.

Austrian tech tax sets its sights on Apple

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tech tax
An Apple store in Austria.
Photo: Apple

The Austrian government will announce plans this month to impose a levy on giant tech companies that make huge online profits that largely go untaxed.

Austria joins France to be among the first countries to tax internet and technology companies that shuttle profits to avoid higher taxes in each company.

This dandy dongle isn’t real but maybe it should be

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USB-C dongle
Apple Dongle lets you connect with a good joke by Ryan Geraghty.
Photo: Ryan Geraghty

Dongles for this, dongles for that, USB-C dongles be damned. Product designer Ryan Geraghty feels your frustration and has created a concept designed to make Apple users laugh about their begrudged move to USB-C.

His idea of an Apple Dongle is “one elegant tapestry of connectivity” featuring 16 adapters into a single USB-C connector.

Apple promotes new SVP of machine learning and AI

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John Giannandrea
John Giannandrea is Apple’s newest SVP.
Photo: Apple

Apple has promoted John Giannandrea to its executive team as senior vice president of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence Strategy.

Giannandrea, who joined Apple back in April of this year after eight years at Google, is responsible for Siri and the Core ML framework. Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company is “fortune to have John … driving our efforts in this critical area.”

4-year-old uses Siri to summon help after mom faints

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Siri
Siri proved useful in helping a boy in England call for help.
Photo: Apple

A 4-year-old boy in England used Siri to call for help after his pregnant mom collapsed, according to reports.

Beau Austin, who reportedly loved talking to digital assistants on devices, called out to Siri on his mother’s iPhone to dial 999. He then told the operator “my mummy’s sick,” adding they were alone.

Macworld mag signed by Steve Jobs goes up for auction

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Steve Jobs Macworld autograph
Not everyone gets Steve Jobs to give an autograph.
Photo: RR Auction

A piece of a well-known story about Steve Jobs’ disdain for giving autographs goes on the auction block Thursday.

At the 2006 opening of an Apple Store in New York City, the Apple co-founder initially refused the request of a man in a wheelchair who had hoped Jobs would sign his copy of the premiere issue of Macworld magazine.

Jobs, according to witnesses, was joking when he said no. He eventually acquiesced and signed the magazine, “To Matt” followed by “steven jobs.” (He rarely used capital letters when signing his name.)