Jordan Kahn

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) announced today that it’s forming a new Automation Committee to oversee self-driving transportation policy and one of its 25 members happens to be Apple’s Vice President of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives, Lisa Jackson.

According to the department’s press release, the newly formed committee will have its first meeting later this month on January 16 and the focus of the group will be to address “the development and deployment of automated vehicles, and determining the needs of the Department as it continues with its relevant research, policy, and regulations.”

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The latest drone flyover of Apple’s under construction Campus 2 headquarters in Cupertino arrives today showing recent progress at the site expected to officially open its doors early this year. The footage comes courtesy of drone pilot and YouTuber Matthew Roberts.

In the video, we can see that Apple has done a lot of cleaning up in recent weeks as it continues with landscaping and earthwork on the surrounding site. Apple expects to wrap up the landscaping work sometime in Q2 this year, according to its latest general project schedule, but it could begin moving in as early as later this month. 

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After launching Designed by Apple in California back in November, the book celebrating 20 years of Apple product design is available today in more countries including Canada, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, Brazil, New Zealand, Ireland, Singapore, and many others. The book is available to purchase now through Apple.com and also through some of its retail stores.

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In this week’s top stories: Our look at what’s to come from Apple in 2017, reports of an upcoming Apple Watch refresh, new accessories get shown off at CES 2017, and we compare Apple’s AirPods to the competition.

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In the lead up to Apple’s release of AirPods late last month, I had tested just about every pair of cord-free earbuds already on the market. But now that AirPods are here and I’ve been using them daily for an extended period of time, the difference is even more striking than I anticipated.

With AirPods, Apple has done what it does best: taken an emerging product category with a frustrating user experience and delivered a polished product made possible by its control over both the hardware and software. And the AirPods are one of the best examples of that in a long time.

But is there any competition or even a decent alternative?

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CES 2017 has officially kicked into full gear ahead of the show opening to the public this weekend, and today we get a look at the latest aftermarket in-dash entertainment systems that support Apple’s CarPlay platform. Announcements at the show include new products from JVC, Clarion, Kenwood, Pioneer, and one of the first aftermarket units to support wireless CarPlay connectivity from Alpine. Head below for all the details.

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Accessory maker Henge Docks, best known for its docking stations made for MacBooks, announced today that it has signed up to be an official Apple reseller allowing it to offer Apple’s MacBooks and accessories bundled with its companion products.

In order to do this, Henge Docks has partnered with Apple through the company’s Authorized Business Solution Provider (ABSP) program.

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USA Technologies announced today that Apple Pay is getting support for its MORE loyalty card and payroll deduct program that is accepted at more than 300,000 vending machines across the US. The company is demoing the new integration this week at CES 2017.

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Griffin today announced new products for its line of BreakSafe products with magnetic breakaway connectors that mimic the functionality of Apple’s legacy MagSafe technology. Among the new products is an updated BreakSafe Magnetic USB-C Breakaway Cable for the 2016 MacBook Pro, as well as a new USB-A adapter, a car charger, and a wall charger that all use the BreakSafe magnetic connectors.

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Following reports in recent weeks that Apple held talks regarding a potential investment in Softbank’s $100bn technology fund, today the company confirmed that it will indeed invest $1 billion into the project known as the “Softbank Vision Fund.”

The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple confirmed the investment today and also offered a statement provided by company spokesperson Kristin Huguet. In the statement, the company says it thinks the investment will help “speed the development of technologies which may be strategically important to Apple.”

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This week at CES, Apple accessory maker TwelveSouth is launching a new armband product that is one of the first upper-arm straps we’ve seen for Apple Watch.

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Intel today announced new 7th Gen Kaby Lake processors as part of its CES announcements, some of which could be suitable for use in future upgrades to Mac products.

After launching the first of the Kaby Lake chips officially in August, and having a long list of products introduced with the chips since, today the company introduced new processors to round out the lineup that could make their way into both future Mac desktops and MacBooks. Intel says the new chips deliver performance increases including “up to 20 percent for performance and gaming notebooks and 25 percent for desktops.”

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It’s officially 2017 and we’re already looking forward to what Apple has in store over the next twelve months. This year will mark the 10th anniversary of the iPhone, and the grand opening of Apple’s ‘Spaceship’ Campus 2 headquarters in Cupertino where it will host events at a new 1000 seat auditorium, and that’s before we even get to actual products.

Head below for our look at what’s next for Apple as we ring in the New Year.

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In this week’s top stories: Our iPhone 8 rumor roundup, Tim Cook says AirPods are a runaway success, Apple’s ‘New Year’ Apple Watch Activity Challenge, and Zac and Benjamin discuss what’s next from Apple in this week’s 100th episode of 9to5Mac’s Happy Hour podcast.

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What’s next for iPhone? 2017 will be Apple’s 10th anniversary iPhone year and the latest intel shows it could be one of the biggest updates to the device in a long time. Bigger, better, and curved displays, an all-glass design, wireless charging, and a new embedded home button are just some of the features Apple is reportedly considering for the iPhone 8. Head below for our full roundup of everything we currently know about Apple’s next flagship.

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I was never satisfied with the crop of charging station products for iPhones and iPads that mostly all use the same design with slots to accommodate tablets and smartphones. Little to no extra room for my many other devices– my MacBook, camera, external batteries, smartwatches, etc– meant the majority of my devices were still a mess. Griffin’s Cove charging station takes a different approach by offering a self-contained shelving unit with built-in USB ports that can hold just about all of my devices that need charging.

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In this week’s top stories: Hands-on with Apple’s AirPods as they begin arriving to customers, more iPhone 8 reports, Tim Cook on the future of Mac desktops, and much more.

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