| Cult of Mac

Today in Apple history: IBM and Apple shake and make up

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Steve Jobs and IBM
At one time, an Apple and IBM deal sounded impossible.
Photo: Andy Hertzfield

October 2: Today in Apple history: IBM and Apple shake and make up October 2, 1991: As the Cold War comes to an end, hell freezes over a second time as Apple and IBM agree to put aside their differences.

Having been bitter rivals for the past decade, the two tech giants host a press conference at the Fairmont hotel in San Francisco to unveil their new partnership. “We want to be a major player in the computer industry,” Apple CEO John Sculley says. “The only way to do that is to work with another major player.”

Apple CEO Tim Cook will discuss cybersecurity with President Biden this week

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Tim Cook congressional antitrust hearing: Should Tim Cook be worried about Congress breaking up Apple?
Cybersecurity is a big concern for many countries.
Photo: C-SPAN

Apple CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and other tech executives will meet President Biden at the White House this week. The focus of the meeting will be the efforts of private companies to improve cybersecurity following an increase in online attacks, one report claims.

Apple joins White House effort to help workers find the jobs of the future

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Find Something New
If you thought switching from PC to Mac was strange, try jumping to an entirely new career.
Photo: Find Something New

With nearly 18 million Americans out of work because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Apple, IBM and other companies teamed up with the White House to help workers find new jobs.

The result is the Find Something New campaign. The program encourages to people explore a wide range of education and training options beyond the traditional four-year degree.

Mac makes IBM employees more productive and happier

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IBM
Once rivals, IBM later embraced the Mac, and now thousands of its employees are users.
Photo: Apple

Research by IBM found that its employees who use a Mac are more likely to exceed expectations on performance reviews than co-workers with PCs. Mac’s users also make larger high-value sales deals.

Long-time Mac users should find this delightfully ironic, as IBM helped popularize the PC back in the 1980s.

What you need to know about Deirdre O’Brien, Apple’s new head of retail

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Deirdre O’Brien, a 30-year Apple veteran, will lead Apple’s Retail and People teams.
30-year Apple veteran Deirdre O’Brien will handle the company's retail push.
Photo: Apple

Apple tapped Deirdre O’Brien to be its new retail boss today in light of the news that Angela Ahrendts plans to leave the company.

While O’Brien may not be a household name to most Apple fans, she’s been with the company for more than three decades. From the days of Steve Jobs saving Apple from bankruptcy to watching Tim Cook leading the company to a first-ever $1 trillion valuation, O’Brien has seen huge changes during her tenure with the iPhone-maker. Now she’s set to be one of the most powerful people in Silicon Valley.

Here are six things you didn’t know about the new Apple retail boss.

IBM CEO agrees with Tim Cook on regulating tech giants

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IBM
Apple and IBM are on the same page.
Photo: Apple/IBM

The CEO of IBM — once Apple’s biggest rival — agrees with Tim Cook about regulating tech giants who gobble up massive amounts of user data for what amounts to surveillance on users.

Echoing Cooks’s words last month, IBM’s chief exec Ginni Rometty addressed top EU officials at an event in Brussels on Monday. Rometty said that the, “irresponsible handling of personal data by a few dominant consumer-facing platform companies” has caused a “trust crisis” in customers.

Apple teams up with Salesforce to deliver better business apps for iOS

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Salesforce iOS
The redesigned Salesforce app will bring exclusive features to iOS next year.
Photo: Apple

Apple has entered into a new partnership with Salesforce to deliver new iOS apps focused on business.

Salesforce is redesigning its app and adding exclusive new features as part of the deal, while Apple has vowed to provide tools and resources to help millions of Salesforce developers create their own native apps for iOS.

Apple will expand its corporate reach by teaming with HP Enterprise

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Apple enterprise
Apple’s push into the corporate world continues.
Photo: FiftyThree

Apple plans to expand its presence in the corporate sector by teaming with Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the United Kingdom, a new job listing reveals.

Similar partnerships are already in place with the likes of IBM, Cisco, and SAP. Apple is now seeking a strategic partner manager who will lead its new efforts with HPE from London.

Swift Playgrounds adds new robots for budding coders

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Swift Playgrounds
Dive into coding with Swift Playgrounds.
Photo: Apple

Swift Playgrounds, Apple’s code-learning app aimed at youngsters, got a huge update today with the biggest new set of features sent the app came out in 2016.

With the Swift Playgrounds 2.0 update, coders get access to a host of new robots, as well as the ability to subscribe to third-party level creators so you can find and download new levels faster.

Apple and other tech giants battle Chinese intellectual property theft

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Apple Store
Apple has faced challenges growing its brand in China.
Photo: Apple

Chinese companies copying Silicon Valley tech giants, and thereby infringing on intellectual property rights, is something that has been an issue for years.

It seems that U.S. tech companies are striking back, however, with a trade group that represents companies including Apple, Google, and IBM speaking out against Chinese regulators at an International Trade Commission hearing this week.