Tim Cook - page 51

Tim Cook just did something odd: he allowed another company to take the stage right off the bat to explain cool things people can do with iOS devices, artificial intelligence and robotics.

Boris Sofman, founder of ANKI, showed off ANKI Drive, remote control cars that connect to your iPhone via Bluetooth 4.0 and can drive themselves around a course while automatically detecting the other drivers, motions of the track, etc.

Kind of like Google’s self-driving cars, but for children. The reaction from the audience wasn’t that great, and the demo sort of failed, but you can see the possibility: iOS devices acting as the brains for real life robots.

It’s a small, fun demo, but it’s more about the possibilities here. Everything you love about video games imbued in real objects, or artificial intelligences being powered by iPhones.

Today Tim Cook gave an Apple State of the Union update at WWDC 2013. He kicked off with Apple Retail, highlighting the recent opening of Apple’s new store in Berlin. “It’s a fantastic store in a great location,” he said. “Only Apple could do this.”

Cook went on to talk about Apple’s success on the digital storefront: the App Store and iTunes.

Here are some big numbers that were mentioned:

It’s not a big deal, but in a human touch, Tim Cook just acknowledged the difficulties Apple had accomodating all the developers who wanted to go to WWDC 2013 this year.

“We apologize for not being able to have more developers here,” Tim Cook said. “This is the largest venue we can hold WWDC in.”

This is a nice nod to the controversy that erupted after Apple’s WWDC 2013 tickets sold out after just two minutes this year. Of course, the biggest issue isn’t just capacity: Apple’s ticketing system fell over in demand this year. But it’s still nice to hear Tim Cook acknowledge the difficulty so many developers have had getting to WWDC.

Let’s hope they manage better next year. In the meantime, Apple is posting all of its conferences online.

To rousing applause, Tim Cook has just taken the stage at the 2013 Worldwide Developer’s Conference at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

Today, Tim Cook is expected to unveil Apple’s new streaming music service, iRadio, along with iOS 7 and OS X 10.9. In addition, we’re expecting new MacBooks, a radically redesigned iOS experience courtesy of Jony Ive, and possibly new Mac Pros.

This year, Apple kicked off the WWDC keynote with something different: a video presentation expressing Apple’s design ethos. It was very pretty, and forecasts some radical changes to iOS and OS X 10.9.

We can’t see what’s coming next. But first, the obligatory numbers.

The finishing touches are being added to Moscone West as WWDC 2013 draws closer. In just three short days Tim Cook and company will take stage at Moscone West to reveal a redesigned iOS, new MacBooks, and possibly a new iPad.

Apple’s WWDC keynote is slated to start Monday, June 10th at 10AM PST. Don’t want to miss all the juicy details as they’re unveiled? Well, here’s a handy infographic so you know what time to hop on and check the Cult of Mac liveblog for the full scoop on everything that goes down at WWDC 2013.

Image: Twitter

Apple has been praised by Chinese environmental activist Ma Jun for its “aggressive” adoption of progressive environmental policies in China. The Cupertino company, which initially refused to cooperate with the Beijing-based Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs (IPE), has gone further than any of its peers in the technology industry, Ma said.

SwiftKey creator TouchType will be closely watching Apple’s WWDC keynote on Monday, hoping that the Cupertino company opens up its iOS platform to third-party keyboards for the first time. The SwiftKey keyboard has been exclusive to Android since its inception, but the company is itching to bring it to iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches.

Ever since Tim Cook ousted Scott Forstall last year, the Apple CEO has preached a lot about how collaboration within Apple is one of the most important aspects of the company’s culture.

Speaking at a reunion for Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, Tim Cook outlined what kind of attributes he looks for in employees and what it takes to be a great collaborator.

Here’s what Cook had to say about collaboration:

Despite launching iAd in 2010, Apple’s foothold in the mobile advertising business hasn’t really taken off yet. Tim Cook even addressed Apple’s advertising strategies during his interview at the All Things D tech conference this week, and stated advertising isn’t core to Apple’s business.

Apple’s enthusiasm for mobile advertising might start picking up soon though if today’s latest rumor turns out to be true. According to Business Insider, Apple is planning to launch an ad exchange, similar to way Facebook and Twitter have recently done.

Southern gentleman and Apple Chief Tim Cook fielded a barrage of questions at this week’s D11, the big tech conference that puts top CEOs on stage for long chats. And on this week’s CultCast, we analyze and scrutinize Mr. Cook’s thoughts and statements on an Apple television, iWatch, wearable tech like Google Glass, and just when we can all expect Apple’s next big thing.

All that and more on this week’s CultCast. Stream or download our new or past shows on your Mac or iDevice by subscribing now on iTunes, or hit play below and let the anarchy begin.

Apple has received a lot of heat from the U.S. Senate lately regarding its international tax practices and off-shore cash, and you can now add Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak to the list of Apple tax dissenters.

Woz said that he doesn’t think Apple’s tax practices are really fair, and suggested that Apple, and other large firms, be taxed on their income.

In an interview with the BBC, Woz had the following to say regarding Apple’s tax practices:

We’ve already brought you some of the most interesting topics that came up during Tim Cook’s interview at D11 last night, but if you’d like to watch the entire thing yourself, you can do so right now. AllThingsD has posted the entire thing — which runs for one hour and 20 minutes — online this morning, and you can watch it below.

Analysts have been trying to convince Apple for some time that it needs a range of iPhones to better compete with rivals like Samsung, but CEO Tim Cook doesn’t agree.

During his interview at D11 last night, Cook explained to Walt Mossberg that Apple doesn’t want to become “defocused” with multiple iPhone lines. He did suggest, however, that the Cupertino company may address different consumer needs in the future.

During a Q&A session at D11 last night, Tim Cook was asked whether Apple would ever port any of its apps to rival platforms like Android or Windows Phone. His response was somewhat surprising; Cook said that Apple wasn’t against porting apps and services to other platforms — if it made sense.

The only problem is, Cook doesn’t believe that it does make sense.

In his interview today at the AllThingsD D11 conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook responded to questions from Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg about Apple taxes. Relating his time with the congressional subcommittee this past week, Cook, said that he felt strongly about how the company was portrayed by lawmakers.

Cook said that he wanted to be a catalyst for a discussion, coming to the hearing with a proposal rather than a defense, one for a revenue-neutral and major overhaul of corporate taxes nationwide.

Cook said that he felt simplicity was good, and how Apple approaches everything. The current tax system, he said, results in a two foot high tax return every year. When asked what he would like to do with it, he replied, “I would suggest we gut it.”

This week on The CultCast: Apple Chief Tim Cook brings his Southern charm to Washington, hints at an iHologram; we break down the Apple tax debacle and say why their overseas billions are too legit to quit; and Xbox One vs. Apple TV, should Apple be worried?

All that and more on this week’s CultCast. Stream or download new and past episodes on your Mac or iDevice by subscribing now on iTunes, or hit play below and let the good times roll.

Show notes up next.

Tim Cook survived his grilling during his appearance before the U.S. Senate Sub-Committee Hearing to Examine Offshore Profit Shifting and Tax Avoidance by Apple Inc. Even though some of the senators still aren’t happy with Apple’s international tax practices, a solution to the problem wasn’t given.

Not one to pass up the opportunity to make fun of senators, John Stewart broke down the Senate hearing on his show last night and jokingly proposed the U.S. create the ‘Tax Code Nano.’ The entire bit is pretty hilarious, you can watch it below:

Apple always kicks WWDC off with a big keynote on Monday morning and this year will be no different. AllThingsD reports that Apple has officially stated that the keynote for WWDC is scheduled for Monday, June 10th.

No word on who the speakers for the keynote will be, but you can expect to see at least Tim Cook and Phil Schiller. Who knows, maybe Jony Ive will make an appearance to show off his changes to iOS 7, now that he’s the director of Human Interface. We’ll have to wait and see.

Source: AllThingsD

Senator John McCain had a lot of fun grilling Tim Cook at yesterday’s Senate Sub-Committee Hearing, but before he was done he couldn’t help but let off one little joke as he asked Tim why he has to keep on updating all the apps on his iPhone manually.

“Can’t you guys fix that already?” McCain asked.

Cook let off a chuckle before stating that Apple is “working on making our products better all the time.” But we know what the southern gent was really thinking.

Source: Reddit

Penguin announced this morning that the company has reached an agreement with the US State Attorneys General to pay $75 million as a settlement for the eBook price fixing claims that have been launched against Apple’s iBookstore.

US authorities have called Apple out for collusion with electronic book publishers, saying that the Cupertino-based company conspired with publishers to raise eBook prices when negotiating iBooks by playing them all against each other and against rival eBook retailer, Amazon.

Here’s Penguin’s official statement on the settlement:

Holograms are supposedly going to be the future of artistic performance. First there was the Tupac hologram at Coachella, and now Eazy-E and Ol’ Dirty Bastard are making a hologram comeback too.

Tim Cook had to endure a barrage of silly questions at yesterday’s Senate hearing, but the most most absurd and tasteless came from none other than TMZ who was dying to know if Steve Jobs will make an appearance as a hologram at the next Apple event.

Rather than slapping the reporter for being ridiculous, Tim Cook used his southern charm to deflect the question. Heres a video of the awkward encounter: 

During his appearance before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations on Tuesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed that Apple’s “Made-in-USA” Macs will be manufactured in Texas. The Cupertino company announced its plans to produce one of its Mac lines on U.S. soil last December, but until now, it was unclear where the process would take place.

Apple has published the opening statements read by CEO Tim Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer earlier today at the U.S. Senate Subcommittee hearing on corporate taxes. The hearing lasted several hours and was televised live on CSPAN.

Senators like Carl Levin, John McCain, and Rand Paul were present to lead the committee and hear from industry experts. Apple was called to the stand to explain why it stores a large percentage of its billions in cash overseas.

U.S. Senator Rob Portman from Ohio has just raised a fascinating point at today’s Senate Sub-Committee Hearing to Examine Offshore Profit Shifting and Tax Avoidance by Apple Inc.

The American corporate tax system is so broken that Apple is at a competitive disadvantage against Samsung when it comes to the taxes it pays globally, and how easily it moves its money around.

Senator Claire McCaskill has just asked Apple CEO Tim Cook about the deal Apple forged with Ireland to pay only 2% taxes, and whether or not there will ever be a country that offers Apple such a great tax deal that they would pack up and move out of Cupertino to overseas.