| Cult of Mac

Today in Apple history: Google comes out of beta

By

Google Apple
Google and Apple were friends at first. It didn't last.
Photo: Google/Apple

September 21: Today in Apple history: Google comes out of beta September 21, 1999: A little startup called Google comes out of beta, with the launch of a website that will let the general public easily search the internet for information.

To Apple, which is embracing the internet with its twin iMac G3 and iBook products, Google seems like the perfect ally. Sadly, the relationship between the two companies won’t remain rosy for long.

Tim Cook cracks top 3 of Vanity Fair’s ‘New Establishment’ list

By

Tim Cook
Tim Cook at the iPhone 8 keynote.
Photo: Apple

Apple CEO Tim Cook ranks as one of the three most influential personalities in the world, according to Vanity Fair.

The fashion magazine published its annual “New Establishment” list today. While the top two spots did not change from last year’s rankings, Cook made a big leap from his No. 11 position in 2016 into the top 3.

Google co-founder’s flying car gets internet debut

By

Weekends at the lake will never be the same.
Weekends at the lake will never be the same.
Photo: Kitty Lake

Forget self-driving cars. A startup backed by Google co-founder Larry Page is aiming to reshape transportation by giving us flying cars, and the company finally gave the internet a teaser today.

Kitty Hawk posted the first video of its all-electric aircraft today. The vehicle is only designed to fly over water, but the company says you won’t even need a pilot’s license to fly it.

Check out the teaser:

Tony Fadell is leaving the Nest

By

Fadell
From the sound of things, Nest CEO Tony Fadell learned quite a bit from working with Steve Jobs.
Photo: Nest

Nest co-founder and CEO Tony Fadell revealed today that he’s taking flight and leaving the company he created.

The godfather of the iPod hit a grand slam with the launch of his smart-thermostat company that was bought by Google, but it appears he’s ready to call it quits just six years into Nest’s run.

Google now a subsidiary of a new company: Alphabet

By

google-now-a-subsidiary-of-a-new-company-alphabet-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads201508alphabet-jpg
Larry Page announced a whole new company, Alphabet, and it now owns Google.
Photo: Alphabet
alphabet
Larry Page announced a whole new company, Alphabet, and it now owns Google. Photo: Alphabet

Google just dropped a bombshell announcement that the operating structure of the company is getting seriously shaken up. To start, co-founder Larry Page broke the news of Alphabet: a new holding company which Google will operate under moving forward. Page will operate as the CEO with Sergey Brin as President effective immediately.

Why Steve Jobs told Google’s Larry Page he was doing too much

By

post-301804-image-841710d8ed2a28404ac4294d47c7ad26-jpg
/Flickr CC

Google’s co-founder Larry Page partook in a wide-ranging interview with the Financial Times, published Friday. Among other topics, he talks about Google’s oppository approach to business compared to Apple — epitomized by a story about Steve Jobs.

“He would always tell me, You’re doing too much stuff,” Page says. “I’d be like, You’re not doing enough stuff.”

Larry Page: How’s That Thermonuclear War Working For You Apple?

By

larry_page_large

Steve Jobs used to like Larry Page and the guys at Google, until they went and made their own smartphone operating system by copying iOS. Steve Jobs was livid. He threatened “to go thermonuclear war” on Google over Android, and the relationship obviously soured.

Now that Larry Page is the CEO of Google, he’s got a lot to worry about, but Steve Jobs’ thermonuclear threats haven’t seemed to bother him. In an interview with Wired’s Steven Levy, Page was asked about competition, and Jobs’ threats of war, but rather than going on an anti-Apple rant, Page’s answer was pretty calm, cool, and collected.

Wall Street Is Worried That Google CEO’s Illnesses Might Make Him The Next Steve Jobs

By

larry_page_large

Before his tragic and untimely death last October, Steve Jobs’s chronic health issues were such a constant concern for investors that they arguably kept the stock price of the company artificially low for years, as Wall Street worried that the company would tank without its charismatic leader at the helm.

Obviously, that hasn’t happened. In fact, since Jobs’s death, Apple’s share price has soared to new highs. As sad as it is to say, in some ways, Jobs’s death finally liberated the stock from the hyperbolic threat of his death, and allowed investors to finally appraise the company as it actually is: the best on Earth, even without Steve, because he made it that way.

But Wall Street never learns. Since Google CEO Larry Page called in sick to last week’s annual meeting, investors are panicking.