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Tesla’s battery bank will charge your iPhone with same battery as Model S/X

For Tesla fans, the Electric vehicle/energy company just put out a iPhone/iPad powerbank “designed and inspired after Tesla’s supercharger monument at the Tesla Design Studio”.

In case you missed it last night, Tesla put on quite a show – check our sister site Electrek for all the details on the Tesla Semi and 250+mph, 0-60 in 1.9 sec, 1000km range Roadster. 
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Woz thinks Apple is too big a company to come up with the next big thing [Video]

Steve Wozniak

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has implied that Apple is too big a company to come up with the next big thing in tech.

Interviewed by Bloomberg on what are likely to be the biggest tech breakthroughs in the coming years, and which companies are likely to make them, Woz didn’t list Apple as a contender. A later comment he made underlined the fact that he doesn’t think it will be Apple …


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UBS says low chance of Apple buying Netflix, Tesla or Disney, but ‘surprising’ acquisition possible

When a company has a market cap of around $800B and is sitting on cash reserves of more than $250B, it’s not surprising that we hear continual speculation about some kind of mega acquisition. In Apple’s case, the three usual suspects are Netfix, Tesla and Disney – the latter most recently pitched by RBC last month, the former just last week by Citigroup.

Each has an obvious logic, as UBS acknowledges, but the bank believes that a ‘surprising’ mega-acquisition is a more likely bet …


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There is no shortage of Teslas at Apple’s headquarters

Teslas-at apple

Update: The Apple employee that took the picture asked that we take it down. Above is a picture of the same spots (only 4 Teslas) from Google Streetview.

Apple and Tesla have had a rocky relationship when it comes to poaching employees from each other, but that doesn’t mean Apple employees aren’t fond of Tesla’s work. This is very apparent by this Reddit thread, initiated by an Apple employee. The image attached to the thread shows seven Teslas parked right outside of Apple’s headquarters.


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Tesla CEO Elon Musk says Apple may have left it too late on its car project

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Never one to shy away from provocative opinions, Tesla CEO Elon Musk told the Re/code conference that Apple may have left it too late to compete effectively in the autonomous car field. He also said that not all companies exploring the idea appreciate the scale of the undertaking.

I think they should have embarked on this project sooner. I don’t think they’ll be in production sooner until 2020. Is that too late? […]

The sheer scale of automotive manufacturing is hard to imagine until you see the plants. The size of the industrial infrastructure is astonishing.

He did, though, wish Apple luck …


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Apple seeking 800,000-sq feet of space for car project as team reaches around 600 people – WSJ

A Tesla-style concept of the Apple Car from CarWow

A Tesla-style concept of the Apple Car from CarWow

One of the largest property companies in the San Francisco Bay Area has said during an investor call that Apple is seeking around 800,000 square feet of space in the area to expand its car project. The WSJ quotes Hudson Pacific Properties CEO Victor Coleman talking about rising demand for space for car R&D in the area.

We’re seeing the Toyotas of the world, the Teslas of the world, BMWs, Mercedes. Ford now is out in the marketplace looking for space. I haven’t even mentioned the 400,000 square feet that Google’s looking to take down and the 800,000 square feet that Apple’s looking to take down for their autonomous cars as well.

That would be almost a third the size of the spaceship campus Apple is currently building, which is around 2.8M square feet …


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Exclusive: Apple hires former Tesla VP and Aston Martin Chief Engineer for ‘special [car] project’

chirs porritt

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has an affectionate nickname for Apple: The ‘Tesla Graveyard‘. “They have hired people we’ve fired,” Musk said. “We always jokingly call Apple the ‘Tesla Graveyard.’ If you don’t make it at Tesla, you go work at Apple”. He made the comment after being asked about the so-called “poaching war” between the automaker and the consumer electronic giant following the start of Apple’s electric car program: ‘Project Titan‘.

We follow who’s coming and who’s going at Tesla pretty closely at Electrek and it’s clear that the two companies share a lot of former colleagues. Tesla’s senior engineering staff and leadership are full of former Apple directors and VPs, while the Cupertino-based company hired quite a few former Tesla engineers, but rarely any senior leadership… until now.

9to5Mac, in collaboration with our sister-site Electrek, has exclusively confirmed and discovered respectively that Apple hired former Tesla Vice President of Vehicle Engineering and former Aston Martin Chief Engineer, Chirs Porritt, to work on “special projects”, and we know that “special projects” is where Apple’s Titan car project lives.


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Elon Musk hires Apple’s alloy expert to lead materials engineering at both Tesla and SpaceX

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Original Story from our sister-site Electrek

Elon Musk, CEO of both electric automaker Tesla and rocket manufacturer SpaceX, splits his time between his two companies, which he also co-founded and financed with most of his early fortune from Paypal. Now Electrek has learned through sources that Musk will not be the only executive dividing his time between Tesla and SpaceX since the CEO hired Apple’s alloy expert Charles Kuehmann to lead materials engineering at both companies.

Kuehmann is now Vice-President of Materials Engineering at Tesla and SpaceX, where he is responsible for delivering materials innovations, something he is very familiar with after over two decades spent in materials science.
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Summon your Tesla Model S using only your Apple Watch [Video]

apple watch summon model s

Last month Tesla released its latest ‘Autopilot’ update (v7.1), which we covered intensively on Electrek, but if you are not up-to-date with Tesla’s latest software, the Model S’ Autopilot now includes a new feature called ‘Summon’, which allows Tesla owners to remotely move their vehicle without anyone in it.

At the moment, it is primarily used to get the Model S in and out of a garage easily, but in the future, Tesla CEO Elon Musk says you will be able to summon your car from across the country and it will come meet you while charging at Tesla Superchargers along the way.
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Tesla is moving away from an SDK and instead planning to allow app mirroring from iPhones to center consoles

behance model s ui redesign

Since Tesla launched the Model S in 2012, the automaker has been talking about releasing a software development kit (SDK) to create a full third-party app ecosystem for its 17-inch touchscreen, which acts as a center console for the Model S and X, but despite several inquiries from eager app developers, there has been little communication about the project until now.
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Elon Musk says it’s an “open secret” Apple is making an electric car, will be “compelling”

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During an interview at Tesla’s design Studio in Los Angeles, Tesla CEO Elon Musk commented on Apple’s rumored electric vehicle program, codenamed “Project Titan“. It was hardly the first time the CEO commented on the project, but it always interesting to hear about the possibility of Apple bringing an electric car to market. This time Musk called the project under-development an “open secret” and agreed that Apple is “serious about it.”
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Apple poaches Nvidia deep learning exec for rumored self-driving car project

carplay-apple

Following CEO Tim Cook saying that the car industry is ripe for a major disruption, Re/code reports that Apple has hired Jonathan Cohen, Nvidia’s director of deep learning. While many only associate Nvidia with phone and computer chips, the company has recently been entering the car market, specifically in the form of autonomous vehicles.


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Elon Musk calls Apple the ‘Tesla Graveyard,’ warns of the complexities of car manufacturing

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Apple’s so-called “poaching war” with Tesla has been a hot topic for the company’s CEO Elon Musk and in a recent interview, Musk fired even more shots at Apple. Speaking to German newspaper Handelsblatt, Musk voiced his lack of concern regarding Apple’s tendency to hire Tesla engineers and executives. Musk is recently finished a trip around Europe, speaking with politicians and Tesla employees.


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Apple hires yet another former Tesla engineer to join its Project Titan car team

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Apple appears to have hired yet another former Tesla engineer to join its ever growing automated car team. First noticed by Reuters, Apple has hired Jamie Carlson to likely join its car team. Carlson’s LinkedIn profile reflects that he has left Tesla and joined Apple, although his role at Apple is simply listed as a a member of a special projects group.

While at Tesla, Carlson worked on its Autopilot self-driving program. Prior to his stint at Tesla, he worked on automotive vision systems for Gentex Corp.
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Apple hires former Fiat Chrysler executive for its rumored electric car team

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carplay

According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Apple has hired a seasoned veteran from the automotive industry for its rumored car initiative. The report claims that Apple has hired Doug Betts, who previously led global quality control at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Betts worked at Fiat Chrysler until last year and started at Apple earlier this month.


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Tesla Model S remotely started using Siri on Apple Watch and ‘Remote S’ app [Video]

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Apple Watch Tesla Model S

Last month we saw a rather glorious video demonstration of how the Apple Watch can remotely control the Tesla Model S with the right software, and now that app’s developer has gone a step further by adding voice commands like remotely starting the car to the demo using Siri. Check out the video below:
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App that lets Tesla owners pretend to be Knight Rider now #1 Lifestyle app in iTunes

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If you’re the sort of person that buys a car as hi-tech as a Tesla, it’s only natural you’re going to want to control it with an Apple Watch – and who could resist pretending to be communicating with KITT, the intelligent car in the 80s TV show Knight Rider?

Even so, hitting the number one slot in the Lifestyle category of the iOS App Store with a $10 app that’s only of any use to owners of a rather exclusive car is still impressive. Remote S for Tesla is a third-party app which uses the Tesla API to allow you to control a number of the car’s functions using a combination of iPhone and Apple Watch.

Highlights are the ability to unlock and start the car using Touch ID, monitor all three ranges at once (estimated/rated/ideal) and keep the heating/cooling running for more than 30 minutes when the car is not being used. Tech-ier users can even create web pages that communicate with the app.

Screen Shot 2015-05-18 at 13.25.40

The developer, Rego Apps, says that login credentials and commands are sent only directly to the Tesla servers, with no personally identifiable information stored by Rego. A number of the functions are unique to the Remote S app, shown below.

  • Fully functional Apple Watch app
  • Start car with Touch ID without needing a password (can be disabled)
  • Camp Mode allows you to keep the HVAC on in the car even though there is no activity. Normally, the car will turn off HVAC after 30 minutes.
  • Adjust the panoramic roof to more settings than just vent and close
  • Breadcrumb tracking allows you to see the path that car has recently taken
  • Accurate odometer readout. Remote S gives you the odometer reading that is accurate up to a few feet instead of rounded to the nearest mile.
  • In-app browser can detect commands from javascript and html so that you can create and use a webpage to control your car
  • This opens up all sorts of functionality, such as scheduling, queued commands, and repeated commands
  • Consolidated stats and commands into one screen for quicker and easier access
  • Start/unlock car with Apple Watch without a password
  • Ability to change passenger and driver temperature settings separately instead of always together
  • Estimated range is displayed (this takes the average consumption of your past 30 miles and estimates your battery range based on that past usage)
  • Monitor all three ranges (estimated, rated, ideal) at the same time without changing the settings in your car

With Apple rumored to be working on its own electric car, the two companies have for some time been poaching employees from each other. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said recently that he hoped Apple will indeed enter the car market.

The app is a $9.99 download from iTunes.