Author

Jordan Kahn

Dir. Partnerships

9to5Mac / 9to5Google / 9to5Toys / Electrek.co / DroneDJ / SpaceExplored

Jordan manages the internal Partner Program for sponsorships and partnerships across the 9to5 network’s media brands including 9to5Mac, 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, Electrek.co, SpaceExplored and DroneDJ.com.

Jordan also writes about all things Apple as a Senior Editor of 9to5Mac. He covers Google for 9to5Google.com, the best gadgets and deals on 9to5Toys.com, and EV and solar news on Electrek.co. He also co-authors 9to5Mac’s Logic Pros series and makes music sometimes.

Contact Jordan with partnership inquiries and long-winded complaints:

Connect with Jordan Kahn

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Report: Why Apple’s electric car negotiations w/ BMW stalled, could potentially resume

Jordan Kahn Jul 31 2015 - 12:58 pm PT

11 Comments

News first surfaced earlier this year that Apple and BMW had engaged in negotiations over the possibility of the Cupertino company using components from the carmaker for its own electric vehicle project. The negotiations reportedly fell through following a visit by Tim Cook and other Apple execs to BMW in Germany, but a report from Reuters today adds that talks between the two companies “may be revived at a later stage.”

The report also shares some more insight into Cook’s visit to BMW, noting that talks have stalled due to Apple wanting to “explore developing a passenger car on its own”:

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StubHub iOS app adds Uber and Apple Music integration

Jordan Kahn Jul 29 2015 - 12:46 pm PT

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StubHub is rolling out an updated version of its iOS app today that adds integration with both Uber and Apple Music.

For Uber, users can now request a vehicle directly from within the app when purchasing event tickets or setup a reminder to do so for an upcoming event. Once you’ve booked a ride with Uber, StubHub automatically provides the location of the event venue to the driver:

After completing a ticket purchase on StubHub, fans will now be able to set a reminder to arrange transportation through Uber when the event is imminent. Users who purchase tickets within two hours of the event will be able to order an Uber directly from the order confirmation page.

As for the Apple Music support, the app can now tap into your Apple Music library to automatically scan for new artists to add to your StubHub ‘favorites’, a feature that lets users track upcoming events for their favourite artists.

The Uber and Apple Music integration is available for StubHub users in the updated StubHub app, version 6.0.4, on the App Store. The Uber feature, however, is available only for users in the UK, US, and Canada.

Pandora’s ‘Sponsored Listening’ rewards ad interactions with commercial-free playback

Jordan Kahn Jul 27 2015 - 11:39 am PT

6 Comments

After a pilot of its new “Sponsored Listening” advertisements last year, streaming music service Pandora Radio announced today that it’s rolling out the feature to all advertisers and listeners in its mobile apps. The feature rewards users with an hour of ad-free, uninterrupted listening as long as they first interact with an ad for at least 15 seconds.
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Apple bringing its Maps vehicles to France, Sweden & more US/UK cities

Jordan Kahn Jul 27 2015 - 9:51 am PT

2 Comments

Apple has announced an expansion of its Apple Maps vehicle program, a fleet of vans equipped with advanced sensors collecting data for an improved Maps experience. Among the new locations, Apple will be bringing the vehicles to France and Sweden for the first time, while it also plans to survey a long list of new cities in the US and UK where it’s already started surveying.

We first reported on the project back in May, noting that Apple was gathering data to reduce its reliance on third-parties, including getting Google Street View-type images of storefronts and other 3D imagery.

For France, Apple lists the following areas already scheduled for surveying: Hauts-de-Seine, Paris (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th), Seine-Saint-Denis, Val-de-Marne.

For Sweden, the areas the company plans to visit include: Malmö in Skåne County, and Stockholm (Bromma, Enskede-Årsta-Vantör, Farsta, Hägersten-Liljeholmen, Hässelby-Vällingby, Kungsholmen, Norrmalm, Rinkeby-Kista, Skarpnäck, Skärholmen, Spånga-Tensta, Södermalm, Älvsjö, Östermalm).

Apple has also added a number of new areas in the UK and US that it plans to survey from August 17th to August 30th next month. The full list is on its website here along with other dates scheduled for data collection in various locations.

Rumor: Thinner iPad mini 4 will resemble iPad Air 2 hardware

Jordan Kahn Jul 27 2015 - 7:35 am PT

34 Comments

Japanese blog Macotakara, which often publishes accurate information about unreleased Apple products and company news, today claims to have some reliable information on the yet-to-be-announced, upcoming iPad mini 4. Today’s report claims that the iPad mini 4 will look a lot like a smaller version of the current iPad Air 2.
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Report: Apple in negotiations to use BMW i3 as basis for its own electric car

Jordan Kahn Jul 24 2015 - 1:35 pm PT

63 Comments

BMW i3-Apple

Apple and BMW have engaged in negotiations over Apple’s interest in using BMW’s i3 electric cars as a basis for its own electric car project, according to a new report from German publication…

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Microsoft Office iOS apps add Outlook integration, improved sharing, protected documents, & more

Jordan Kahn Jul 23 2015 - 1:25 pm PT

1 Comment

Microsoft is rolling out an update to some its Office iOS apps today that includes a handful of new features for the Word, PowerPoint, and Excel iPhone and iPad apps.

Among the new features, all three apps get support for viewing protected documents and Outlook integration. For Outlook, users now have the ability to “send a document as an attachment in Outlook. Or directly edit a document attached to or linked from an Outlook email message.”

In addition, all three apps get support for bi-directional and script languages, including Thai, Hebrew, and Arabic.

The updated apps will also now let users invite others to edit a document and configure permissions for those collaborators.

The updated Microsoft Office apps (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) are available on the App Store now.

Gameplay recording platform Kamcord brings live game streams to mobile apps

Jordan Kahn Jul 23 2015 - 7:03 am PT

3 Comments

Kamcord, a popular platform that lets game developers add gameplay recording features to their mobile apps, is today taking its first step into live streaming. The move is a notable one as competitors such as live game streaming service Twitch, now owned by Amazon, move into the mobile space and live streaming apps like Periscope and Meerkat begin to gain traction among users.
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Apple again lands behind Samsung at #15 on Fortune Global 500 list, #2 by profit

Jordan Kahn Jul 22 2015 - 8:15 am PT

8 Comments

Fortune is out with its latest Global 500 today ranking the world’s largest 500 companies by revenue and Apple has once again landed at #15 on the list. Apple comes in behind #1 Wal-mart, a long list of petroleum companies, Volkswagen, Toyota, and #13 Samsung.

After a bumpy start to 2014, Apple’s stock finished the year up 40%, adding nearly $200 billion to the company’s market value. A product pipeline that’s gotten Apple fanboys lining up all over again has certainly helped reenergize revenue growth: In addition to unveiling new categories like Apple Pay and Apple Watch, the company launched the iPhone 6, selling a record-breaking 10 million units in the first three days. As CEO Tim Cook recently told investors: “It’s tough to find something in the numbers not to like.” The normally low-profile Cook is breaking new ground in other ways too–in October, 2014 he came out as the first openly gay CEO of a Fortune 500 company.

In Fortune’s calculations, which account for total revenues for the fiscal year that ended before March 31, 2015, Apple came in with almost $183 billion in revenue, compared to around $195 billion for Samsung and $485 billion for #1 on the list, Walmart. Apple, however, comes in at #2 on the list when filtering by profit with $39.5 billion compared to $44.7 billion for the #1 company by profit, Industrial & Commer. Bank of China. Other tech companies coming in behind Apple for profit include Microsoft at #8 with $22 billion and Samsung at #9 with $21.9 billion in profit.

The new Fortune 500 Global list follows Apple’s Q3 2015 earnings report yesterday where the company reported record revenue for several products, hinted at over $1 billion in Apple Watch sales, and crossed the $200 billion in cash mark for the first time.

Tim Cook hints Apple Watch revenue higher than $1B, sales likely exceed 3 million units

Jordan Kahn Jul 21 2015 - 3:10 pm PT

19 Comments

Apple isn’t breaking out Apple Watch sales or revenue during today’s fiscal third quarter earnings report (the three month period that ended in June). While that’s not a surprise— Apple said previously it wouldn’t disclose Apple Watch numbers for competitive reasons— today we did get our first official glimpse at how the Apple Watch sold during its launch. The math plus some hints from Tim Cook himself hints that Apple Watch sold over $1.4 billion in revenue:
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Apple’s Q3 numbers: All-time high Android switching, record revenue, Apple Watch stats, & more

Jordan Kahn Jul 21 2015 - 2:18 pm PT

30 Comments

Apple just announced its fiscal third quarter earnings and as usual offered some stats on progress since last checking in. Among the notables: the company’s revenue in China is up 112%, it returned $13 billion to shareholders through its capital return program, and it sold a record number of iPhones and Macs during the quarter. The company, citing its own research, noted that users switching from Android to iPhone was at an all-time high, while giving us some insight into Apple Watch usage. Head below for the full roundup of numbers from today’s earnings call:
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DIY project: How-to unlock your door with Apple Watch (Video)

Jordan Kahn Jul 20 2015 - 2:00 pm PT

0 Comments

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d8M4K4iUKk] Make posted this video showing off their latest DIY project that uses an Apple Watch to open an electronic door…

NFL will bring on-demand games to Apple TV for the first time w/ revamped Game Pass service

Jordan Kahn Jul 20 2015 - 12:18 pm PT

26 Comments

The NFL is about to retire Game Rewind, a paid service for users in the US that offers online streaming and apps for on-demand NFL games, and replace it with a revamped version of its Game Pass service that will bring full, on-demand games to Apple TV for the first time. Previously the Game Pass service was only available to users internationally and not available on Apple TV.

A note on the NFL’s webpage for Game Rewind warns users that “as of July 31, 2015 Game Rewind will no longer be available.” The message, however, notes that users will be able to access games with “the all new NFL Game Pass,” and more importantly, promises that the service will soon arrive on Apple TV.
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Apple Music’s Beats 1 radio station partners w/ MTV to exclusively announce VMA nominees

Jordan Kahn Jul 20 2015 - 10:46 am PT

3 Comments

Beats-1-VMA Apple is putting a big focus on exclusive content with its new Apple Music streaming service. In addition to the debut of exclusive music, interviews, and content uploaded directly by artists on the fly, it appears the service’s 24/7 live radio station, Beats 1, will also be the source of exclusive industry news and events.

The proof of that comes in the form of an announcement today that the station will exclusively reveal nominees for the upcoming Video Music Awards. Clearly Apple has partnered with MTV in order to be first to make the announcements, and it’s obvious from the effort that Apple hopes Beats 1 won’t just be the venue for new music, but also a source for music fans when it comes to news and other industry related events.

In addition to exclusive music from artists and industry news and events, Apple is also hiring music video producers and other creatives to help work alongside artists in creating Apple-produced music videos and other original content for the service.

Beats 1 will announce the MTV VMA nominees on Tuesday at 7AM PT/10AM ET.

[tweet https://twitter.com/beats1/status/623132759951847424]

iTunes Connect experiencing multi-day outage for many users, here’s a fix

Jordan Kahn Jul 20 2015 - 7:10 am PT

0 Comments

A noticeably large number of users are reporting issues logging into iTunes Connect, Apple’s developer portal for managing and distributing apps and other content to the App Store and iTunes. The outage appears to only be affecting a subset of users (we’ve had success logging in, for instance), but a growing number of developers have publicly voiced complaints online. Some users report not being able to access the service for going on four days:

[tweet https://twitter.com/powerje/status/623119396412751873]

Apple currently has yet to report any issues for iTunes Connect on its System Status page that tracks and reports downtime for its developer services.

Some users have reported success logging in after tweaking VPN settings, while another user posted the following workaround fix that others have used to patch what appears to be a Javascript issue at least temporarily until Apple officially addresses it:

[tweet https://twitter.com/psyclr/status/623099998687789057]

We’ve reached out to Apple about the downtime, and we’ll update here if we hear back.

[tweet https://twitter.com/rantydave/status/623064147211632641]

[tweet https://twitter.com/umugenzi/status/623020410251034624]

[tweet https://twitter.com/telemedicalapp/status/622972407884709888]

Confirmed: New iPod nano and shuffle won’t get Apple Music to prevent piracy

Jordan Kahn Jul 17 2015 - 1:16 pm PT

52 Comments

You might have heard some discussing the state of Apple Music on the iPod nano and shuffle, two products that just got a minor facelift alongside a larger refresh for their bigger brother, the iPod touch. And you might have already guessed that streaming to the devices was a no-go from the lack of Wi-Fi capabilities, but it turns out you won’t even be able to store your offline Apple Music collection on the devices either.

The reason, according to sources, is simply to prevent piracy…
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Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation game for iPhone/iPad arrives ahead of movie release

Jordan Kahn Jul 17 2015 - 6:31 am PT

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[youtube=https://youtu.be/0yOU_o4oc_I]

With the latest installment in the Mission Impossible series set for a theatrical release later this month on July 31st, an official iPhone and iPad game for the movie has just launched on the App Store.
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New ‘Misfit Link’ app brings iPhone camera control, music remote, and more to Flash hardware

Jordan Kahn Jul 16 2015 - 12:19 pm PT

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Misfit, makers of the popular Flash and Shine wearables for fitness and sleep tracking, today launched a new iOS app that turns its Flash hardware into a remote control for a connected iPhone’s camera, music functions, and more.

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Apple Watch release date for New Zealand scheduled for July 31st

Jordan Kahn Jul 15 2015 - 1:24 pm PT

9 Comments

After its initial launch in nine countries in April, followed by seven more late last month and a handful of other countries launching later this week, Apple Watch will arrive for customers in New Zealand for the first time on July 31st. Apple has quietly made the announcement on an updated product page within its Apple Store iOS app, as pictured above.
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Apple’s HR head talks diversity improvements, more transparency planned for upcoming report [Video]

Jordan Kahn Jul 15 2015 - 11:34 am PT

9 Comments

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhamo3pNlqY]

Apple executives don’t often make appearances at tech industry events, but the company’s Global Human Resources Chief Denise Young Smith this week sat down for a discussion at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference.

During the interview, Smith talked mostly about diversity at Apple and noted the company would release its second report disclosing data on the subject later this year. Smith’s role expanded to head of human resources for the whole company back in February last year after previously leading HR for Apple’s retail operations, and since has been the face of many of Apple’s diversity related initiatives and announcements. Last August, Apple for the first time released diversity data while stepping up initiatives to include employee events celebrating and promoting diversity. It also announced $10K Inclusion and Diversity scholarships last year for minorities in tech.
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Taylor Swift’s label exec talks behind-the-scenes Apple Music negotiations over 3-month trials [Video]

Jordan Kahn Jul 14 2015 - 12:34 pm PT

6 Comments

The controversy surrounding Apple Music’s launch thanks to Taylor Swift made for an excellent way to drum up some extra attention for the service’s debut late last month. First, Swift, who was already vocal in the past regarding streaming services, penned a blog post knocking down Apple’s decision to offer a free, three-month trial without paying artists for streams during that period. Apple responded to Taylor’s decision to hold back her music from the service and it was thought the blog post eventually inspired Apple to reverse its decision. Swift responded to Apple’s decision positively and announced her latest record would be available on the service, all in the days leading up to the Apple Music launch on June 30.

Today we get a bit of insight into what was going on behind the scenes via a Fortune interview with CEO of Taylor’s label, Big Machine Label Group, Scott Borchetta. The record exec notes that he was already in the middle of negotiations with Apple regarding the terms of the three-month trial when Swift published her blog post without letting her label know beforehand. In the end, Apple was able to gain added attention over its music service launch with Swift’s album featured on day one.

Microsoft’s $99 Universal Foldable Keyboard for iPhone, iPad, & other devices now available

Jordan Kahn Jul 14 2015 - 7:21 am PT

7 Comments

Microsoft’s new Universal Foldable Keyboard, first unveiled earlier this year, is now available to purchase online and through Microsoft stores. The super portable Bluetooth keyboard folds in half when not in use and allows users to connect to two mobile devices at once including iPhones, iPads, Android, and Windows devices.

Microsoft notes that the keyboard has full-size keys, a spill-resistant, water-repellent keyboard and outer material, and a built-in rechargeable battery that will get you around three months of use on a charge. There’s also an “OS” button for switching between connected devices. Here’s a closer look at the keyboard:

The Microsoft Universal Foldable Keyboard is available for $100 on Amazon, and it’s also available through Microsoft retail stores and online.

Microsoft made a new video for today’s launch to show off some of the keyboard’s features and its compact, 5mm thin design:

[youtube=https://youtu.be/zNrop5Mwv0g]

The truth about HackingTeam, jailbreaking and iOS – and how to keep your device safe

Jordan Kahn Jul 14 2015 - 6:42 am PT

17 Comments

Editors note: Will Strafach (@chronic) runs a mobile security services firm helping enterprises protect their employees and confidential data from mobile threats. Fast and thorough analysis of the compiled binaries found within the HackingTeam dump was possible using their upcoming cloud-based iOS application analysis platform, using highly advanced pattern-matching and heuristic techniques to detect threats and privacy leaks within applications installed on enrolled mobile devices. He can be reached at will@wstraf.me if any readers have further questions or concerns regarding HackingTeam or other iOS malware.

Written by: Will “Chronic” Strafach

There has been a lot of mixed information and speculation in the media recently in regards to the HackingTeam leak and what it all means for iOS users. Do the surveillance tools the group has reportedly provided to governments and law enforcement present a risk to the average iPhone and iPad user? That’s a question we’ve been getting a lot, so I will attempt to present all of the facts based on the recently leaked documents detailing the HackingTeam’s tools, as well as my opinion on the impact of certain aspects for iOS devices. Advanced users will already be aware of what I am about to state, but for everyone else, here’s what we’re dealing with:

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TiVo’s AirPlay blockade ends as iOS app adds streaming to Apple TVs

Jordan Kahn Jul 14 2015 - 5:00 am PT

1 Comment

One of the long-running complaints among TiVo users has been the company’s decision to block Apple’s AirPlay mirroring feature, preventing users from streaming content from the TiVo iOS app to an Apple TV. That’s all changing today as the company plans an update to the app that enables the functionality for the first time, allowing TiVo hardware owners to stream any content accessible via the iOS app to an Apple TV connected to the same network.
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