Tim Cook - page 45

It was only a matter of time before Apple spoke out more publicly about the controversy surrounding the compromised iCloud accounts of numerous celebrities.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Tim Cook revealed that Apple is adding new security measures to iCloud in the coming weeks. Users will be notified by email and a push notification for account activity, including whenever an iCloud backup is accessed. Two-step verification will also be strengthened to cover more aspects of iCloud.

Cook also said that Apple plans to raise more “awareness” about internet security.

On the 51st anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s powerful “I Have A Dream” speech, Tim Cook has tweeted to celebrate the life of the African-American civil rights leader and activist.

Describing King’s stirring words, delivered in 1963 from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., as “the speech of my lifetime,” Cook notes that “we must recommit to achieving his vision.”

The state of the tablet industry has not been promising lately. Over the last few months Apple reported slumping iPad sales, Best Buy’s CEO declared that tablet sales are “crashing,” and many analysts and pundits have eagerly declared the tablet fab is coming to an end, but Recode’s Walt Mossberg has a few points to make in defense of the tablet.

While IDC expects tablet sales to flatline by the end of 2014, Tim Cook indicated to Mossberg that the future of tablets is still bright, calling the current lull in sales a mere “speed bump.”

Tim Cook stepped up as the CEO of Apple on August 24, 2011. The soft-spoken Southerner, who has worked at the Cupertino company since 1998,  had previously acted as interim CEO when Steve Jobs stepped down to battle cancer.

Cook’s ascent to the permanent CEO position marked a sea change for Apple. Once called the stage manager to Jobs’ star, he’s now running the show. After endless speculation about whether Cook’s rule marked the end of Apple or signaled a bright new era, going by the numbers, it looks like he’s earned a solid B.

Here’s a look at his first three years as the head of Apple, a job he got paid $4.25 million to perform in 2013.

This week on the Cultiest of Casts: Steve Ballmer lands the perfect job; NFC and your iPhone make credit cards obsolete; iPhone 6 gets even faster data access; new photos give us our best look yet at a 4.7-inch iPhone 6; Apple wins their first Emmy; APPL stock hits an all-time high; and, behold, Podcasting turns 10! Oh, and it’s growing like crazy, too.

Snicker your way through each week’s best Apple stories! Stream or download new and past episodes of The CultCast now on your Mac or iDevice by subscribing on iTunes, or hit play below and let the chuckles begin.

Our thanks to Lynda.com for sponsoring this episode! Learn virtually any application at your own pace from expert-taught video tutorials at Lynda.com.

Click on for the show notes.

Apple still hasn’t opened an official store in the Middle East, but its about to make a huge retail splash by building its largest store ever amid the futuristic skyscrapers of Dubai.
Job listings posted to Apple’s career’s site last week indicated that Apple is interested in pursuing retail operations inside the UAE, but according to EdgarDaily, the company isn’t looking to build just a regular store in Dubai.

Every now and then an Internet craze will spread around the world with everyone trying their hands at it. From the cinnamon challenge to the fire challenge, each one brings its own risks and sometimes even pain.

The latest challenge meme — the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge — has been a force unlike any other, sucking in celebrities like Justin Timberlake, Lady Gaga, Oprah and even a couple of top Apple employees.

In today’s video, we take a look this icy charity dare that’s taking over the world. See Apple executives, actors, athletes and more take part in this chilling experience and find out the reason behind it all.

Subscribe to Cult of Mac TV on YouTube to catch all our latest videos.

First Phil Schiller dumped a bucket of ice cold water on his head, challenging Tim Cook to do the same. Then Tim Cook accepted the challenge, dousing himself at an Apple HQ beer bash to help raise money to fight Lou Gehrig’s disease.

We all thought it was over. But we forgot about Dre.

A group of Apple shareholders are ready to add to the company’s anti-hiring controversy woes with a new class action lawsuit of their own that alleges Apple leadership mislead investors and hurt the stock’s overall value.

The lawsuit was filed by attorneys for plaintiff R. Andre Klein with U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California this week, and accuses Apple’s senior management, including Steve Jobs and Tim Cook, of grossly mismanaging Apple’s resources when it struck an agreement not to hire employees from competing corporations.

Steve Jobs was known for speaking out loud, dreaming big and acting upon his thoughts. While it’s been just a few short years since his passing, fans have been able to see his characteristics shine through other personalities. The late comedian and actor Robin Williams lived a life similar to Jobs’ life: With every movie and every off-camera activity, Williams showed a passion for anything he did.

Watch today’s Cult of Mac news roundup to see how Apple pays tribute to Williams, as well as some crazy stories regarding the iPhone 6 and even how one new app is truly showing that life really is a box of chocolates.

Subscribe to Cult of Mac TV on YouTube to catch all our latest videos.

Bring on the ice, ice baby!

Tim Cook has gladly accepted Phil Schiller’s challenge to douse himself with a bucket of ice in order to get out of a $100 donation to ALS charities. Only instead of doing ice bucket challenge from the comfort of a beach chair, Cook made a party of it while Apple employees got turnt up with at the beer bash celebration for Diversity week.

Take a look:

If you’ve been on the Internet at all over the last few days, you’ve probably heard about the Ice Bucket Challenge. The idea is simple. Someone challenges you online to dump a bucket of ice water all over your head. If you choose not to do so within 24 hours, you are asked to donate $100 to a charity to fight Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

Speaking as an observer, I can say conclusively that the Ice Bucket Challenge is best when accepted by buxom 19-year-olds in string bikinis. But watching Apple’s Senior Vice President Of Marketing dumping a bucket of ice water on his head? Definitely a close second.

Tim Cook has tweeted his condolences in the wake of the tragic death of actor and stand-up comedian Robin Williams, at age 63.

Cook wrote that he is “Heartbroken by the news of Robin Williams’ passing. He was an incomparable talent and a great human being. Rest in peace.”

Since Apple announced its Q3 2014 earnings last month everyone seems focused on less-than-stellar iPad sales, but along with the impending launch of the iPhone 6, Apple’s got a lot to celebrate as the company told CNBC that the App Store had record-setting revenue numbers in July.

Apple says it saw a record number of customers making transaction on the App Store in July, prompting Tim Cook to launch a celebratory tweet to developers:

Watch today’s Cult of Mac news roundup for details on a lawsuit filed by Apple employees. Plus, you’ll get info on the latest Apple software updates, a look at the Starbucks app’s new capabilities and Jimmy Kimmel’s hilarious iWatch prank.

Subscribe to Cult of Mac TV on YouTube to catch all our latest videos.

Tim Cook told investors he’s happy with Apple’s trade-in program and other used iPhone sales, and it turns out so is eBay.

In the last 12 months nearly $2 billion worth of Apple devices, ranging from iPhones, iPads, and old Macs, have been sold on eBay’s store, according to data obtained by Computer World, and just like Apple’s own sales, the iPhone brought in most of a money on eBay too.

Even Apple execs sounded pleasantly surprised as they revealed last quarter’s mostly higher-than-expected numbers Tuesday. But in what’s become something of a refrain in Cupertino, they couldn’t stop themselves from vague and knowing references to the incredible products waiting in the magical Apple pipeline.

Trust us, they seemed to say: Last quarter’s net profit of $7.7 billion — fueled by robust sales of iPhones, MacBooks and a surprisingly strong showing in the iTunes Software and Services category — was totally great, but wait till you see what we’ve got up our sleeves.

“We’re expecting a very busy fall,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s chief financial officer. “We’re very excited about what’s in the pipeline.”

What else did Apple executives have to say during Tuesday’s Q3 earnings call? Here’s our take on everything you need to know from the latest numbers talk.

Tim Cook and newly-apointed CFO Luca Maestri are getting ready for Apple’s Q3 2014 earnings call with investors. The call will reveal just how much cash the company raked in over the past three months and what they should expect later this year. We’ll be right here, liveblogging the whole thing.

Apple hasn’t released a new product this quarter, but investors on Wall Street are still bullish about the future of AAPL, sending the company’s stock price surging 26% since its last earnings report.

Whether Apple was able to beat expectations of $38.4 billion in revenue without an explosion of new sales will finally be known today at 2 p.m. Pacific, and we’ll be ready to dish out all the news and juicy tidbits Tim and the team tell investors.

So keep this page open for the full scoop on how ridiculously profitable Apple was last quarter, as well as what’s to come its “most exciting product pipeline in 25 years.”

Don’t expect anything too exciting from Apple’s third quarter earnings tomorrow.

This is Apple’s slowest part of the year. The summer slump means no new hardware, which means no explosive sales growth. But that’s alright, because the best is yet to come.

Tim Cook and co. have promised that truly epic things are coming in the fall, and Wall Street is actually excited about Apple again.

Apple is continuing its push to diversify its leadership with the announcement this afternoon that Susan Wagner, a wall street insider who co-found one the world’s top investment firms, has been added to the company’s board of directors, taking the spot of the board’s longest serving member.

Bill Campbell has been on Apple’s board for 17 years but has decided to retire, making room for Wagner to take her seat on Tim Cook’s board. Wagner comes to the board after co-founding BlackRock in 1988 and leading it to become one of the world’s most successful asset-management companies. She’ll continue to serve on BlackRock’s board, as well as boards for Swiss Re, Wellesley College, and Hackley School.

In an press release announcing the changes, Tim Cook had high praises for Wagner, as well as the man she’s replacing:

IBM and Apple used to be sworn enemies, but a lot has changed since the early days of the Macintosh and the PC race. Both companies have committed to making Apple software and hardware a one-stop shop for businesses in what some consider one of the “most important and powerful tech partnerships” ever.

In an interview with CNBC, Tim Cook and IBM CEO Virginia Rometty discussed their mutual excitement about the “landmark” partnership.

Ever want to sit down with the guy at Apple who has basically been tasked to fix every disaster of the last five years? If you got more than ten grand to spare and love basketball this may be your lucky day, as CharityBuzz just opened a new auction lot that includes a one-hour paid lunch at Apple HQ with you, your friend, and Mr. Fixit Eddie Cue.

When you’re a company the size of Apple (whose co-founder Steve Jobs famously made comments about how it’s not the job of users to know what they want) you’d be forgiven for thinking they don’t listen to the little guy.

Over the weekend, a story popped up on Reddit, however, revealing how one user supposedly convinced Tim Cook to change Apple’s on-hold music — telling him that it sounded distorted and therefore surprisingly un-Apple-like in its lack of quality. Cook apparently listened and – hey presto! – people dialling into Apple now get better-sounding hold music while they wait.

The full post can be read below:

The devil is in the details: Tim Cook said that Apple’s commitment to accessibility is so complete that the Cupertino company never looks at the return on investment but considers it “just and right.”

That’s a pretty different picture than the one venerable news org Reuters painted by giving a quick chop to his comments in a piece about blind app users seeking more accessibility from Apple.