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Mike Beasley

Apple engineer Greg Christie discusses the process of creating the original iPhone

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Apple made Greg Christie, one of its original iPhone engineers, available before yet another round of patent fights with Samsung, allowing Christie to further expand on the stories of the iPhone’s secretive development under then-CEO Steve Jobs in a report by the Wall Street Journal. While some of what Christie said isn’t new information, there are some interesting anecdotes near the end of his interview.

For example, in 2005—two years before the Apple went public with the iPhone—Christie’s team was responsible for planning how the device would look and work. When the team found itself floundering and unable to settle on how the phone should work, Christie was told that his team could either figure it out over the next two weeks or be moved to another project so someone else could solve the problems.


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BlackBerry sues its own SVP of Software as he attempts to leave the company for Apple

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BlackBerry has filed a lawsuit against one of its own executives over his decision to leave the company for a position at Apple, as noted by iMore. Sebastien Marineau-Mes is BlackBerry’s Senior Vice President of Software until Apple offered him a role as Vice President of Core OS last December. That’s when Marineau-Mes told BlackBerry he’d be quitting in two months for Cupertino.

But because Marineau-Mes had signed a contract that required him to give six months notice before leaving (rather than two), the company filed a lawsuit to keep him around for four extra months. The court ruled that Marineau-Mes would have to stay on with BlackBerry for the full six months before he would be allowed to vacate his post.

BlackBerry called the lawsuit “unfortunate” but said that it expected Marineau-Mes to fulfill the contractual terms he agreed to when he accepted his job.

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Facebook reaches 1 billion active mobile users, 200 million Instagram accounts

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During a call with investors today, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the social network had reached over one billion mobile users. That’s up from only 945 million active users in the last quarter of last year, putting the total gain since then at about 55 million mobile users.

The Facebook-owned photo app Instagram also announced a milestone today on its blog as it passed the 200 million user mark. A quarter of those users joined in just the last six months. Instagram also announced that users have shared over 20 billion photos on the network since it launched.

Apple updates Trailers app with push notifications, better Rotten Tomatoes integration, and more

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Apple has updated its iTunes Movie Trailers app with several new features and upgrades. The biggest new feature is the ability to get push notifications when movies marked as favorites hit theaters or iTunes. The in-app movie reviews have also been tweaked. Where previously you could only see a movies overall Rotten Tomatoes rating, you can now read full reviews right from within the app.

A few smaller features are also included in the update. You can now share links to movie trailers via AirDrop to other iOS devices, and a few bugs have been squashed. You can grab the app for free on the iTunes App Store. The full change log is below:


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Apple experimenting with related terms in App Store search results on iOS

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Image via Olga Osadcha

Update: Apple tells TechCrunch that the feature we saw should roll out to users over the next few weeks.

Apple appears to be testing a new feature for the iOS version of the App Store that presents users with related search terms at the top of the search results page.

The feature isn’t available to everyone yet, but users on iOS 7.1 and 7.0.x are reporting spotting it. 9to5Mac‘s own Zac Hall only had access to the feature temporarily, though his search results have now returned to the previous design.

The feature was first pointed out by Olga Osadcha on Twitter:


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New video shows demolition of old HP buildings as construction begins on Apple’s ‘spaceship’ campus

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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XA1H2AhcEMI]

Update: As you can see above, the footage was removed from YouTube at the request of Apple. Additional photos below.

A new video popped up on YouTube today showing what appears to be the demolition of the buildings that formerly occupied the space where Apple’s new headquarters will be located. We’re not sure who the source of the video is, but it is in fact legitimate footage that Apple circulated internally.


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Apple finds new Washington, D.C. lobbyist in former Senate Finance Committee staffer Amber Cottle

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Apple has hired Amber Cottle as its new chief lobbyist, reports Politico. Before joining the Cupertino company, Cottle spent time as the Democratic Staff Director on the Senate Finance Committee, giving her a unique perspective on how Washington politics affect companies like Apple. Prior to serving the Finance Committee, Cottle was the Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Investment.

In the past, Apple has not always focused heavily on lobbying efforts in Washington, and though the company hired a lobbying firm to represent them in 2011, the financial investment remains lower than that of many similar companies.

Regardless of past investment, however, Apple will likely need to get cozy with certain parts of the government, such as the FDA, in the near future as it prepares to enter the heavily-regulated medical device market. The company will also need a stronger presence in D.C. as the administration continues its promised reforms of the National Security Administration’s spying tactics.

Apple takes concussions head-on with latest addition to ‘Your Verse’ campaign

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Apple has updated its ‘Your Verse’ campaign web page with new stories of athletic teams using the iPad to help detect concussions in players, potentially helping save lives. Because concussions can’t be detected by medical equipment, players who suffer head injuries need to take cognition tests that measure their pre- and post-injury abilities to determine whether they’ve suffered a concussion.

Using an iPad app created by C3 Logix, medical staff can quickly test players for symptoms in a variety of areas, such as visual acuity and balance, and determine the severity of the concussion. For example, doctors can use the iPad’s accelerometer and gyroscope to help test a player’s balance:


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Apple reaches out to in-app purchase customers, offers refund for purchases made by minors

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Police officer Doug Crossan reported his son Cameron for fraud after Cameron spent £3,700 on the App Store

Apple has sent an email to customers who recently made in-app purchases on their iOS devices informing them that any purchases made by a minor were subject to a refund. This is the latest in a series of steps Apple has taken to ensure that children do not make unauthorized purchases on a parent’s device or iTunes account.

The email tells customers that if they suspect a purchase was made by a minor, they can request a refund by logging into their iTunes account and reporting a problem with the purchase:


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Non-poaching emails show Jobs was warring with Google long before iPhone was launched

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If you’ve paid attention to the ongoing feud between Apple and Google in recent years, you might think that the conflict is the result of Google’s decision to create a competitor to the iPhone after working in tandem with Apple to create the iconic device. And you’d be forgiven for thinking that.

But according to some emails sent by Google’s Sergey Brin back in 2005 that recently surfaced during a class-action lawsuit over the do-not-hire policies of the two companies (among others), that may not be the case. This “thermonuclear war,” as Steve Jobs put it, was a long time coming. Android was just the last straw.


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Apple reportedly discussing the possibility of a TV streaming service with Comcast

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The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple is now in talks with Comcast about the possibility of a collaborative television streaming service. The plan, according to the report, is for Comcast to provide preferential streaming treatment to an Apple-built set-top box like the existing Apple TV.

The service would allow subscribers to stream live TV shows as well as on-demand content provided by Comcast. The agreement between the two companies would allow Apple’s box to continue streaming smoothly even when other connections were bogged down by high traffic and bypass bandwidth issues.


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New tax law could see UK iTunes customers paying up to 20% more next year

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Members of the UK government are seeking to close a tax loophole that currently allows online music, app, and book downloads to avoid the country’s 20% “value added tax” in favor of much lower international tax rates, reports The Guardian. If the push is successful, iTunes customers in the UK will instead be taxed at the appropriate rate for their own country.

However, the new law won’t go into effect until January 1, 2015, so there’s still time for things to change. Supporters of the change say that it will lead to more fair competition among foreign and domestic companies, since UK-based companies are currently at a major disadvantage due to the higher tax rate.


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Apple Maps gains 3D flyover support in three new cities in Europe and Australia

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Apple added 3D flyover support in its Maps application for Mac and iOS to three new cities this weekend: Perth, Australia; Saint-Tropez, France; and Cordoba, Spain. This addition comes just a few months after Apple added flyover support for Cape Town and others as the company continues to expand its coverage to include as many major cities as possible.

Not everyone’s excited about Apple’s 3D mapping technology, though. The Norwegian government has blocked Apple from collecting flyover data from Oslo, the nation’s capital.

Apple is working on polishing the Maps application before the release of iOS 8 later this year. In addition to improved mapping data, the app will reportedly be updated to include public transit directions, which were removed from the iOS app when Apple decided to build its own in-house system instead of relying on Google Maps.


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Rumor: 12-inch Retina MacBook/Air updates coming soon without fan or mechanical trackpad button

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A forum poster with a reputable history on WeiPhone.com [Google translate] (via MacRumors) claims to have information about an upcoming MacBook/Air refresh. According to this source, the new model will sport a 12-inch design close to the current 11.6-inch model, but will feature significant internal differences.

The updated MacBook will reportedly not have a fan, will feature a Retina display, and redesigned trackpad. This new trackpad will ditch the mechanical button that has been in the multi-touch trackpads since they first debuted. Instead, the new Air will use only tap gestures for clicking but may feature some tactile feedback to simulate a click.


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Twitter #music goes the way of the Flappy Bird, pulled from App Store as service prepares to shut down

Remember Twitter #music? Apparently not many people do, and as a result Twitter has decided to pull the app from the iOS App Store today and shut the service down completely next month. According to a pair of tweets posted on the official @TwitterMusic account, the app will be removed from the App Store later today and all streaming service will end on April 18th—one year after the app first launched.

If you hurry, you can probably still grab a copy of the app to use until then.


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Tweetbot for Mac updated with larger in-line image previews, bug fixes

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Tweetbot for Mac, the desktop counter to the incredibly popular iOS Twitter client, was updated to version 1.5 today. The new update brings a few bug fixes and a big visual change that was first introduced in the most recent update to the iPhone version. This change brings large image previews to the feed, much like those found in the official Twitter for iPhone app.

For those who don’t like the new look, there’s a setting in the app’s preferences to get the smaller previews back or disable image previews completely. The smaller previews have also been tweaked to be a bit bigger and no longer have a border. Other issues addressed by the update include bugs with context menus, tweet detail layouts, and swipe gestures.

Tweetbot for Mac 1.5 is available on the Mac App Store. It’s a free update for existing users and a $19.99 purchase for new users. The full change log is below:

What’s New in Version 1.5

– Large image thumbnail option (as well as an option for no thumbnail) in the display settings.
– Refreshed design of image thumbnails
– Three finger left/right swipes in your timeline function if trackpad settings are configured that way.
– Fixed the issue where some context menus had the first option highlighted by default
– Fixed layout issues when viewing tweet details

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Blogging service Medium launches its iPhone app, focuses on reading rather than writing

Medium, the blogging service designed for (you guessed it) medium-length entries, has released its first iPhone app. Unlike most blogging apps, however, the Medium app does not have any writing tools. Instead, the app’s sole purpose is to provide a platform for reading the writings of other users. The app also allows you to bookmark and share your favorite posts and get personalized recommendations based on your Twitter account. You can grab the Medium app for free on the App Store.

Review: ProWidgets is the ultimate widget platform for jailbroken iOS devices

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ProWidgets is a brand new tweak for jailbroken iPhones and iPads that builds on the foundation of a previous tweak called Tap to Widgets (both by developer Alan Yip) to provide the most solid and complete widget platform on iOS. With nine built-in, fully-featured widgets and an architecture that allows third-party developers to add their own, ProWidgets is one of the best tweaks you can get right now.

Keep reading for a full breakdown of everything this tweak can do for you.


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Apple seeds new betas of iTunes 11.1.6 and Mavericks 10.9.3 to developers

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Following this week’s release of iTunes 11.1.6 and OS X 10.9.3 betas to AppleCare employees, Apple has pushed the updates live to developers as well. The iTunes update restores the ability to sync contacts and calendars to an iOS device, which had been removed in favor of iCloud in previous versions of iTunes.

The OS X update (with the build number 13D21) includes the ability to output at 4k resolution with a 60Hz refresh rate on the latest MacBook Pro models. The build number on this update is two builds newer than the version that was pushed to employees earlier this week.

Other than these changes and a few bug fixes, there aren’t any major changes in either build.

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Who would have guessed? Apple reportedly the most valuable Silicon Valley brand

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According to a study uncovered today by the Silicon Valley Business Journal, Apple is the most valuable brand in all of Silicon Valley. The study, which was conducted by a consulting agency called Brand Finance, compared the value of 500 different brands to determine which one was worth the most. Each brand’s value was determined by “estimating the royalty rate that would be charged for use of the brand and factoring in future revenue.”

Much to no one’s real surprise, Apple was ranked the most valuable brand on the list, followed by Google and Microsoft in the second and third spots. According to the results of the study, Apple’s brand is worth $104.7 billion, or about 23% of its market cap. Google, ranked second, has a brand valuation of only $68.6 billion.


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Apple seeds Mavericks, Mountain Lion Safari 7.0.3/6.1.3 betas to developers

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Apple has just seeded the first beta of the next version(s) of its Safari browser for OS X. The new versions, 7.0.3 and 6.1.3, will be available for Mavericks and Mountain Lion users, respectively.

Earlier today Apple also released a new OS X 10.9.3 developer preview along with a beta version of iTunes 11.1.6 to employees. Based on the rapid release of these app betas and the decreasing time between OS X betas, the OS X update is expected to be available to developers later this week.

The new Safari beta includes the following release note:

Please focus testing on the following areas:
• General website compatibility
• Safari Push Notifications
• Login AutoFill
• Credit Card AutoFill (OS X Mavericks only)
• Extension Compatibility

Apple book authors talk about the ‘nonsense’ you can find in their books [Video]

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This nonsense belongs with some of the other books I’ve read about Apple. It fails to capture Apple, Steve, or anyone else in the company.  —  Tim Cook on Yukari Kane’s Haunted Empire

Take it from someone who would know: Apple CEO Tim Cook has declared Haunted Empire: Apple After Steve Jobs, a book that seeks to dispel the idea that Apple can maintain its identity after losing its founder, to be “nonsense.” But Cook went beyond even that claim, noting that the term applied to a wide selection of books about the company.

Even so, the authors of three such books of “nonsense” gathered for a Churchill Club panel in which they discussed their views on Apple through the lens of the “nonsense” stories contained in their books, as well as some more recent developments spearheaded by your good friends here at 9to5Mac. The panel consists of Yukari Kane, Cult of Mac‘s Leander Kahney, and WIRED‘s Fred Vogelstein.

The complete video of the event is an hour and a half long and moves from a moderated discussion of Apple’s past, present, and future into an audience-driven Q&A session, which can help provide some new context for the stories found in the books. But hey, if a busy man like Tim Cook can read 700 emails in a day and still find time to read these “nonsense” books, you can probably find time to watch the entire video, which is embedded below:


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