interview

Read Cult of Mac’s latest posts on interview:

These 8 words persuaded Angela Ahrendts to join Apple

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Angela Ahrendts.
Angela Ahrendts at the iPhone X keynote.
Photo: Apple

It took Apple nearly a year to convince Angela Ahrendts to ditch Burberry join Apple as the company’s head of retail.

Ahrendts discussed Apple’s recruiting process in a recent podcast interview and said a 2012 Fortune magazine feature put her on Apple’s radar because Tim Cook was on the cover. Cook apparently tried to get Ahrendts to join Apple shortly after but Ahrendts felt like the timing wasn’t right. Months passed and she had another meeting with Cook who said eight words that completely changed Ahrendts’ life.

Jony Ive: I feel like I’m living two years in the future

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Jony Ive CultCast
It's like Back to the Future, but with more aluminum.
Photo: BBC

Because his job involves dreaming up Apple’s next products, Jony Ive says he feels like he’s constantly living “two years in the future.”

That’s one of the insights that emerges from a new interview with Ive and Kim Jones, creative director of Dior Men. While short on specifics about Apple’s future plans, it sheds light on Ive’s design process. It also reveals some of the challenges that accompany his role.

Tim Cook talks Apple values in rare interview with high schooler

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Tim Cook still hid a few surprises up his sleeve for the iPhone X event.
One lucky high school student secured an interview with Tim Cook.
Photo: Apple

As CEO of the world’s most valuable company, Tim Cook can pick and choose where he gives interviews. Which is why it’s kind of cool that he just gave an interview to high school student Rebecca Kahn.

In an article published by the National Center for Women & Information Technology, Kahn recalls her experience speaking Tim Cook — and the unlikely way it all came about.

iPhone X seemed ‘impossible’ to make, Apple says

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iPhone X
The iPhone X feels like the future.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple media boss Phil Schiller says that even though Face ID on the iPhone X works nearly flawlessly at one point in the device’s development the entire thing seemed impossible.

Schiller sat down for an interview to talk about Apple’s latest products like the iPhone X, HomePod and even the iMac Pro which is coming out later this week.

Jony Ive refuses to mourn death of iPhone Home button

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Face ID iPhone X
Apple has not regrets ditching Touch ID.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Killing the home button on the iPhone X was a no-brainer, according to Apple’s design boss Jony Ive. But figuring out the best way to replace wasn’t an easy task.

In a recent interview on iPhone X, Jony Ive revealed some of the design decisions his team had to make in order to bring huge innovations to this year’s flagship device.

Tim Cook’s secret weapon for job interviews? Silence

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LOVELOUD
Tim Cook's not a chatty chap, apparently.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Steve Jobs could be pretty forthright, even abrasive, in interviews with prospective new employees. Tim Cook, on the other hand? It’s all about the power of silence.

In a new interview to promote her book Radical Candor: Be A Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity, former Apple and Google employee Kim Scott reveals what it’s like to interview with Apple’s CEO — and how she was saved from talking herself out of a job.

Tim Cook promises iPhone features you’ve never dreamed of

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LOVELOUD
Everything at Apple is great. Promise...
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Future iPhones are going to be so amazing, you probably haven’t even thought of the features Apple is going to add, Tim Cook claimed in a recent interview.

The Apple CEO appeared Monday on Mad Money in an effort to abate the company’s bleeding stock price following last week’s less-than-stellar earnings call. Cook reassured investors that the rumors of Apple’s demise have been greatly exaggerated once again.

While lackluster iPhone sales last quarter have scared off mega-investors and analysts alike, Cook promised some incredible innovation is in the pipeline. In addition to touting upcoming iPhone features, Cook’s wide-ranging conversation with Mad Money host Jim Cramer touched on everything from the Apple Watch being (inaccurately) dubbed a flop to Apple’s growing interest in India and much more.

Here are the highlights:

The Google interview process is harder (but less horrible) than Apple’s

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Job Interview photo by Ibrahim Adabara
The interview process is getting longer, but at least that gives you an extra day or two to decide what kind of tree you would be. Photo: Ibrahim Adabara/Pixabay

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.

Jony Ive explains why Apple Pencil is unlike any other stylus

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Jony Ive
Jony Ive wants to blur the lines between Apple's Pencil and a real one.
Photo: AP

In what seems to be less of a rare occurrence these days, Chief Design Officer of Apple Jony Ive gave an interview  about the iPad Pro for launch day. Specifically, he talks about the infamous optional accessory called the Apple Pencil. Being that most people at first glance will see this as an overpriced, $100 stylus, it’s fair that Ive wanted to state his case.

From iPad Pro to privacy: 8 things we learned from Tim Cook’s latest interview

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Tim Cook
Tim Cook talks all things Apple.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Tim Cook is in my home country of Jolly Old Blighty (read: the U.K.) at the moment, promoting the imminent launch of the iPad Pro.

While there, he’s given an interview to the Telegraph newspaper, in which Apple’s CEO touches on everything from the new Apple TV to the U.K.’s rumored “snooper’s charter” to, of course, Apple’s super-sized tablet.

Check out the lessons we learned below.

How Beats 1 DJ takes Friday nights to new heights

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anna-lunoe
DJ Anna Lunoe goes from the stage to the Beats 1 studio.
Photo: swimfinfan/Flickr CC

Beats 1 DJ Anna Lunoe revealed some details about how she got picked for her weekly gig before Apple Music had even been announced. Zane Lowe was apparently so impressed with her earlier work that he gave her complete freedom over what she wanted to do for the show.

Known for her house and electronic mixes, Lunoe aptly plays an eclectic collection of dance music during her slot every Friday night at 9 p.m. Pacific time or 12 a.m. Saturday Eastern time.

Jony Ive expresses ‘primal fear’ over Steve Jobs movie

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Jony Ive
He hasn't seen the movie, but Ive has his doubts.
Photo: AP

Apple’s Chief Design Officer Jony Ive said in an interview that he has a “primal fear” over the upcoming Steve Jobs biopic, and particularly the possibility that the movie could portray his former boss and friend in a negative light. He did say he hasn’t seen the film, but remains skeptical.

“I’ve talked at length with friends of Steve and of me who have seen the film,” Ive said, before later adding that there are “sons, daughters, widows and very close friends who are completely bemused and completely upset.”

Why Gaming Legend Peter Molyneux Thinks You’ll Be A Kinder, Gentler God

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godus
Your own private village.

Note: This article previously appeared in Cult of Mac Magazine, available in the App Store.

Godus is the upcoming game from god-game specialist designer Peter Molyneux. The game will play on Mac and iOS seamlessly, letting you create and nurture your own little island paradise on one platform and then watch it develop on the other.

“We want to reinvent the genre of god-games,” Molyneux told Cult of Mac from his vantage point in a suite at the swanky Intercontinental Hotel.

Tim Cook Talks Mac, Customer Emails, ‘iRing’, And NSA In ABC Interview

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As part of Apple’s celebration of the Mac’s 30th anniversary, the company invited David Muir of ABC News to its Cupertino headquarters for a rare interview with CEO Tim Cook. A couple teaser clips have already aired, and the full special will premiere tonight on ABC’s World News With Diane Sawyer.

In the interview, Cook was joined by Apple executives Craig Federighi and Bud Tribble. Federighi is in charge of Apple’s software, and Tribble was a member of the original Apple Macintosh design team.

There are several juicy tidbits to be gleaned from the interview excerpts, including the confirmation that Apple’s new factory in Arizona will manufacture sapphire glass. Cook also shared his thoughts on the iWatch rumors, NSA, and more.

RP One iOS Game Controller Is Full-Size — And Full Price — For A Reason

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Credit: Mark Prince
Credit: Mark Prince

A key feature in iOS 7 dangles the prospect of console-style action in front of hard-core gamers hooked on action-platformers and first-person shooters. But while developers can now add controller support to games, hardware makers face a new challenge: getting gamers to shell out $100 to morph their iPhones or iPads into console killers.

Hardware maker Signal is unapologetic about the hefty price tag for its new RP One controller, one of several new gaming devices certified under Apple’s Made for iPhone (MFi) program.

“Quality is not free,” Signal’s director Mark Prince told Cult of Mac, “and it makes no sense to compare an MFi controller to a ‘bag and tag’ generic [Bluetooth] controller.”

Core gamers want to sit down with a precision controller when they immerse themselves in a console game. iOS developers compete with the big boys of console gaming like Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo, for their audience’s gaming dollars.

It’s a clear trend, and even Apple, which has long played the “we don’t care much about gaming” card with iOS, has finally introduced built-in code to support game controllers.

Peripheral makers Logitech, SteelSeries, and Moga have all put their efforts into iOS 7-compatible controllers, each a little different. They all run $100, though, leaving gamers wondering if Apple has set the pricing.

“$100 is probably the lowest viable price point for most if not all of us to cover development, material and manufacturing costs, plus packaging, distribution and retail margins,” said Prince. “We’d like to go on record as saying that Apple does not set these prices.”

Indie Dev Talks Demon Chic, Mental Illness, Making Games, And His Mom

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Demon Chic

Note: This article originally appeared in the Newsstand magazine” target=”_blank”>Cult of Mac Newsstand issue, Game On!. Grab yourself a copy or subscribe today.

Michael Frauenhofer is an indie developer who currently lives in Pennsylvania. He and his mom made Demon Chic, a story-based, decidedly indie game available for iPad. The game focuses on three roommates trying to live life while battling monsters, giant babies, and floating heads. It’s an experience that turns the traditional idea of monster battles on its head, as the main characters all are really fighting their own inner demons.

Demon Chic is a hallucinogenic trip through the lives of three ordinary people who must learn to live with their illness, not cure it, and find some sort of fulfilling life while doing so.

This ain’t no Angry Birds sequel, folks, so buckle up.

All-Female iOS Game Revolution 60 Is Far More Than A Political Statement

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Brianna and Frank Wu didn’t set out to make a statement.

They just ended up creating a full-on spy-meets-spice-girls mobile game with the most distinctive look you’ve ever seen, and all the roles that matter are filled with women.

“I love the idea of powerful girls who are blowing stuff up,” says Frank Wu, “flying spaceships, diffusing bombs, and doing all the stuff that you associate with space marines, but it’s kind of irrelevant to the story that they’re girls.”

Irrelevant to the storyline, maybe, but in an entertainment media that is short on strong, normative female lead characters, upcoming iPad game Revolution 60 is a breath of fresh air.

An Emotional Ashton Kutcher Explains How He Felt After Steve Jobs’s Death [Video]

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Ashton Kutcher, who plays Steve Jobs in an upcoming biopic called JOBS, has revealed how he passed up the opportunity to meet “the Leonardo da Vinci of our generation” since months before he passed away because he had to work.

During an emotional interview on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Kutcher also speaks about how he felt after Jobs’s death, and how he took the Apple co-founder “for granted.”

Bill Gates Emotionally Recalls His Last Visit To Steve Jobs [Video]

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For a long time, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were two of the biggest competitors in the technology industry. They were both early pioneers of desktop computing, and their companies were battling each other for every ounce of market share they could get their hands on.

But those shared experiences eventually led to the two becoming good friends. In a new interview for CBS’ 60 Minutes, Gates fondly remembers his old foe, and emotionally recalls his last visit to Jobs’s Palo Alto home before he passed away in October 2011.

What Did Schiller Really Say? Reuters Pulls Story On Low-Cost iPhone Comments

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Phil Schiller introducing iPad mini

Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, reportedly shot down suggestions that the Cupertino company will launch a low-cost iPhone later this year during an interview with a Chinese newspaper earlier this week. According to the report, Schiller said that the budget devices will “never be the future of Apple products.”

Reuters was one of the first media outlets to cover the report, but in an interesting move, it has this morning pulled its piece after “substantial changes” were made to the original article. Could this mean Schiller didn’t really say those things?