Apple

6,155 'Apple News' stories November 2008 - January 2014

Apple News and Brief History

Before you can properly understand Apple News, it’s important to know its history. Apple was founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in 1976. In 1977, Apple’s sales were growing with the success of its early computers. Within a few years, Jobs and Wozniak hired designers and a production line crew. Apple went public in 1980 and was an instant success. Over the next few years, Apple shipped new computers featuring new graphical user interfaces, such as the original Macintosh in 1984. As the market for personal computers expanded through the 1990s, Apple lost market share to the cheaper Microsoft Windows on PC clones. Eventually, Wozniak and Jobs both left Apple. Jobs would go on to found NeXT and would return to Apple when NeXT was acquired in the late 90s. Apple then began a journey to the great second act in the history of the business world.

Since the release of the iPod in 2001, Apple has become a major player once again in the technology industry. After releasing the iPhone in 2007, the iPad in 2010, and the Apple Watch in 2015, Apple is now one of the largest companies in the world. Apple’s worldwide annual revenue totaled $274.5 billion for its 2020 fiscal year.

Today, Apple operates retail stores all across the world, has a growing services division, and an ever-expanding hardware lineup. The technology industry follows Apple news to see where the company is headed in the future.

Keep reading for the latest Apple news

iPhone-controlled door lock market heating up as Openways announces Okidokeys

Ben Lovejoy Jan 6 2014 - 4:30 am PT

14 Comments

A company that makes smartphone-controlled door locks for hotels has announced its first home door lock system, going by the rather cringeworthy name Okidokeys.

Once fitted, you’ll be able to unlock your front door from your iPhone (or Android handset) via Bluetooth. The locks are also compatible with RFID chips, allowing you to open them with a keycard or wristband in case your phone battery goes flat. As you’d expect from a hi-tech lock, you can also manage access and accounts online …
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SteelSeries announces the first MFi Bluetooth game controller for iPhone, iPad, & iPod touch

Jordan Kahn Jan 6 2014 - 12:58 am PT

5 Comments

Today we get a look at the first Apple authorized Bluetooth game controller for iOS devices with the Stratus Wireless Controller announced today by SteelSeries.

We’ve already reviewed the first two Apple authorized game controllers to hit the market since it introduced its controller MFi program alongside iOS 7 earlier this year: Logitech’s PowerShell and Moga’s AcePower. Those two controllers used Apple’s form-fitting design, which lets an iOS device dock directly into a recess in the controller and connect via a built-in Lightning connector. The new controller from SteelSeries is the first standalone controller that connects to any iOS device over Bluetooth, which means it will also support iPads. It uses Apple’s extended layout, which gives you dual analog joysticks and an extra set of shoulder triggers on top of the d-pad, face buttons and single set of triggers on Apple’s standard layout.

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Apple reportedly acquires SnappyLabs, the company behind the rapid-fire iOS camera app

Chance Miller Jan 4 2014 - 12:57 pm PT

0 Comments

According to a new report from TechCrunch, Apple has acquired the photo technology startup SnappyLabs. SnappyLabs is a one-man development team known for creating the SnappyCam app. As the name implies, the big feature of SnappyCam is its ability to take full-resolution images at 20 to 30 frames per second, which is considerably faster than the native Camera app on iOS. The app was sold for $1 on the App Store and was relatively popular, reaching #1 on the paid app chart in nine countries.

SnappyCam, on iPhone, is the fastest smart-phone camera on earth. With it you can easily get that impossible, perfect shot, every time. SnappyCam also shoots unique living photos that capture the entire moment, not just a single snapshot in time. It’s like an interactive flip-book, in full 8 Mpx glory and at high-speed.

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Anki Drive iOS app updated with new car upgrades, customization options

Chance Miller Jan 3 2014 - 10:44 am PT

1 Comment

Anki Drive got the ultimate endorsement last summer when Apple allowed the company to demonstrate its product on stage at its WWDC conference. For those unfamiliar, Anki Drive is a platform that allows hardware cars to be raced around a track and controlled wirelessly with an iOS device. Today, the company updated its iOS app with a host of new features, upgrades, and customization options. With today’s update, players can now take advantage of 20 new upgrade options, in addition to be able to further customize their car.

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CES 2014 to host iBeacon scavenger hunt w/ official mobile apps

Jordan Kahn Jan 2 2014 - 3:02 pm PT

3 Comments

Today, the Consumer Electronics Association announced that it will be using Apple’s new iBeacon technology to host a unique scavenger hunt of sorts at its International CES event scheduled for next week. Using the official CES mobile apps for iOS or Android, attendees will be able to collect badges for encountering the location-aware Bluetooth iBeacons placed throughout the CES showfloor. CEA is using a Bluetooth iBeacon development kit from Radius Networks (pictured above) and Texas Instruments’ SensorTag technology. It hopes the scavenger hunt will encourage attendees to explore more areas of the show.
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Wells Fargo downgrades AAPL based on gross margin concerns

Ben Lovejoy Jan 2 2014 - 5:13 am PT

3 Comments

Photo: e-architect.co.uk

Well Fargo has downgraded AAPL stock from ‘outperform’ to ‘market perform,’ citing the fact that the company’s gross margins have typically fallen 2.25 percent in the two quarters following the launch of a brand new iPhone model (rather than an S upgrade).

Our bullish thesis on Apple had been predicated on the expectation for gross margin (GM) expansion driven by the 5s cycle. While we still have conviction in the gross margin thesis (and the potential for iPad/iPhone unit upside), we believe this may be largely embedded into the valuation.

The bank has not changed its valuation range of $536 to $581, though is presumably now expecting something toward the lower end of the range.

Wells Fargo’s Maynard Um said that he also believed the balance of power may be shifting away from Apple to the carriers as they shift away from subsidized deals (read: disguised loans) to higher up-front costs and/or separate phone financing.

iFixit teardown praises new Mac Pro for repairability, upgradability

Benjamin Mayo Dec 31 2013 - 6:07 am PT

14 Comments

Following a quick look from Other World Computing last week, iFixit has published its teardown of the new Mac Pro.

Unlike any other Apple product iFixit has reviewed this year, the firm gives high praise to the repairability of the Mac Pro. The system uses no proprietary screws and RAM is accessible without the need for any tools. Add in the socketed, upgradable CPU originally found in the earlier teardown, the Mac Pro is the most repairable computer in Apple’s lineup by far.

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NSA had almost total access to iPhones, including microphone & camera, says security researcher

Ben Lovejoy Dec 30 2013 - 2:00 pm PT

6 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0w36GAyZIA&start=270]

The NSA could access almost all data stored on an iPhone, including location, text messages and contact lists – including the ability to activate both microphone and camera, according to a presentation by security researcher Jacob Appelbaum at the Chaos Communication Conference in Hamburg, Germany.

Appelbaum showed what he said were leaked NSA documents in which the agency claimed to have a “100 percent success rate” at installing spyware on iPhones. The documents date back to 2008, at which point the NSA needed physical access to an iPhone to install the spyware, but a remotely-installable version was said at the time to be in development.

Even needing physical access to the phone was seemingly not a barrier to the NSA …
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Apple hires NYT Magazine design director Arem Duplessis for creative role

Jordan Kahn Dec 30 2013 - 8:02 am PT

0 Comments

In an interview with Mediabistro published earlier today (via Engadget), Design Director of The New York Times Magazine Arem Duplessis reveals that he’s leaving the magazine for a new role at Apple as a Creative Director. Duplessis worked as Design Director at the The New York Times for nearly ten years and still lists the position as current on his LinkedIn profile, but in the interview said he’ll begin his new role in Cupertino this February.No word on exactly what Duplessis will be doing, but he will at the very least be working with the internal marketing team.

Before his almost 10 years at The New York Times, Duplessis worked as design director at GQ and Spin magazine. A few of the New York Times covers that he served as Art Director on are above.

Tim Cook’s revised stock deal cost him $4M this year

Ben Lovejoy Dec 30 2013 - 4:03 am PT

10 Comments

Photo: mashable.com

ComputerWorld noted that Apple’s SEC filing on Friday revealed that Tim Cook lost out on $4M worth of stock as a result of his request to the board in August to revise his compensation arrangements to a deal he felt was fairer to shareholders.

Earlier this year Apple’s board revised Cook’s vesting schedule at his urging. Rather than the two monster stock handouts — which only relied on his continued employment — Cook asked that they be spread out over a 10-year period and tied to the company’s stock performance …
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Tesla taps Apple manufacturing veteran to lead vehicle manufacturing technologies

Mark Gurman Dec 27 2013 - 9:46 pm PT

13 Comments

From Electrek:

Tesla seems to be joining many other Silicon Valley companies in hiring employees away from Apple. Only weeks after poaching Apple Mac Hardware Vice President Doug Field to run Vehicle Design, we have discovered that Tesla has made another notable hire from the Cupertino tech giant: Rich Heley. He was hired away from Apple in November and joined Tesla in that same month, according to his LinkedIn profile:

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Apple issues Preliminary Proxy Statement, urges shareholders to vote against Icahn proposal & Human Rights Board committee

Mark Gurman Dec 27 2013 - 2:49 pm PT

16 Comments

Apple today issued its Preliminary Proxy Statement via its Investor Relations website. As a publicly traded company, Apple issues this document annually, and it discusses pay packages for both executive team members and board members, company practices, and topics which shareholders will vote on at the upcoming shareholder meeting. Apple says that the next shareholder meeting will take place on February 28, 2014. Some interesting tidbits include that Apple’s board met seven times in 2013 with 75%+ attendance during each meeting. Additionally (to be voted on), a shareholder wants Apple to create a board committee related to human rights. Apple says that it is against this additional committee:

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iTunes Connect is back for developers today (like Apple said it would be)

Mark Gurman Dec 27 2013 - 2:18 pm PT

0 Comments

iTunes Connect has gone back online today after a short hiatus due to the holidays. This is not unexpected as Apple told developers the website would be closed between December 21st and December 27th. iTunes Connect is the online portal for developers to manage, upload, and make changes to their applications on the iOS App Store. This means developers can now make price or content changes and means customers will be able to get the latest changes.

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Apple’s 12 Days of Gifts app offering free download of Tiny Thief iOS app

Jordan Kahn Dec 27 2013 - 11:25 am PT

5 Comments

On the second day of Apple’s “12 Days of Gifts” promotion, the app is now offering a free download of Rovio’s ‘Tiny Thief’ app. This morning the 12 Days of Gifts app was offering a free pilot episode of TV show Once Upon a Time, but Apple appears to have now switched the gift to the ‘Tiny Thief’ app. It’s unclear if Apple mistakenly offered the TV show download for a short period of time or if it plans to offer various gifts throughout the day as part of the promotion.Yesterday the 12 Days of Gifts app was offering a free download of Justin Timberlake performances from the recent iTunes Music Festival.

Rovio actually dropped the price of Tiny Thief from $2.99 to free a few days back, and the app remains available for free directly through the App Store as well. You can grab Apple’s 12 Days of Gifts app on the App Store in select countries.

Apple offers Boxing Day iTunes sale w/ deals on select albums in Canada

Jordan Kahn Dec 26 2013 - 8:50 am PT

0 Comments

As it has done in recent years, today Apple launched a special Boxing Day sale in at least the Canadian iTunes store offering deals on select albums and songs. The sale is accessible through the iTunes store on both iOS devices and on the desktop. While Boxing Day is recognized as a holiday on Dec. 26 in Canada, retailers usually hold Boxing Week sales that last from Dec. 24 through Jan. 2.
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Cydia app for jailbroken devices updated with iOS 7 look and feel

Ben Lovejoy Dec 24 2013 - 7:12 am PT

10 Comments

Jailbreaking may be for those who want the freedom to step outside of what Apple has decided iOS devices should do, but even jailbreakers are not immune to the influence of the company’s design guidelines, it seems.

The Cydia app, which allows users of jailbroken iPhones and iPads to install software not available on the App Store, has been updated with a flat look, bright colors and translucent overlays in line with iOS 7. This follows the surprise release of an iOS 7-compatible untethered jailbreak by the Evasi0n team.

There’s perhaps a small amount of rebellion in the fact that the app’s icon has not yet been updated to an iOS 7 look.

A thank-you for help with the new look was tweeted by @saurik. Video of the new app below the break …

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“Small, fast and in a league of its own” – the early Mac Pro verdicts are in

Ben Lovejoy Dec 24 2013 - 5:39 am PT

45 Comments

Audiovisual professionals may have had a very long wait for a new Mac Pro, and that wait may not be quite over, but from the early hands-on reviews it seems they’re unlikely to be disappointed.

The real performance of the machine is currently only being seen with Final Cut Pro, which Apple optimized to take full advantage of the dual GPUs, but it’s a near certainty that Adobe and others will follow this example.

With a price tag of anything up to $14,000 if you completely max it out, this is not a machine that will be seen gracing too many living-rooms, but for those earning their living from audio and video and where time is money, the early hands-on reviews suggest that the Mac Pro lives up to its promise …
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9to5Toys, Last minute edition: $10 off $50 iTunes or Best Buy in store, Amazon free 1 day shipping

Seth Weintraub Dec 23 2013 - 11:50 am PT

0 Comments

Some last minute Christmas gift ideas from 9to5Toys.com:

Gift Card Mall has the $50 iTunes gift card for $40 shipped. The 20% discount is the lowest we’ve seen. Keep in mind this isn’t guaranteed to make it to the house before Santa.

If you need a guarantee, Best Buy’s Ebay site will give you $10 off $50 or more, via coupon code CLICKLASTMINUTE on “site-to-store” meaning you have to get in your car here.

Today only, Best Buy's eBay offers $10 off $50, via coupon code CLICKLASTMINUTE
http://t.co/Hw93zagjAV

— 9to5Toys (@9to5toys) December 23, 2013

If you want to stay at home, Amazon will still ship certain gift items to your home for free 1 day meaning you have only a few hours left.

If all else fails, Amazon emailed and iTunes emailed gift cards are always popular.
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Apple acquired mapping firm BroadMap’s talent, location-infused Evernote competitor Catch

Mark Gurman Dec 23 2013 - 9:53 am PT

2 Comments

<a href="http://benjaminfeenstra.com/2012/11/google-vs-apple/">Apple HQ in Cupertino</a>

Apple has been on a roll this year in terms of acquisitions. According to Apple CEO Tim Cook, the Cupertino firm acquired 15 companies this year, but only ten have been revealed. That list includes mapping companies such as Embark, chip makers like Passif, search specialists such as Cue and Topsy, and hardware companies such as PrimeSense. Because only 10 of the 15 Apple acquisitions of 2013 have been revealed, we have been digging and asking around to find the few remaining Apple pickups. Based on evidence and chatter from sources, Apple seemingly acquired mapping firm BroadMap in the first half of this year and Evernote-competitor Catch within the last few months…

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AAPL stock more than 3 percent up on China Mobile news

Ben Lovejoy Dec 23 2013 - 7:32 am PT

1 Comment

After the fall in Apple’s stock value when the China Mobile failed to materialise as expected on 18th December, yesterday’s news that the deal had finally been concluded sent the stock shooting back up again, having climbed more than 3 percent at the time of writing (it was up 4% in pre-market trading but has settled).

With the WSJ having reported that 18th December was the day, the market was clearly jittery when nothing materialized. Everything had appeared to be in place: regulatory approval, Apple putting the handsets on sale in China on the opening weekend, China Mobile posters, a pre-order website, in-store displays – and 4G service up-and-running on schedule …
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Veteran Apple ad man Ken Segall praises holiday ad – says Apple still thinking differently

Ben Lovejoy Dec 23 2013 - 7:10 am PT

5 Comments

Ken Segall, the ad exec behind Apple’s Think Different campaign, and the man who put the i into iMac, has praised Apple’s new holiday ad, saying that it shows Apple is still thinking differently.

This ad is a holiday card from Cupertino. It lines up perfectly with the values Apple has communicated for years. It’s not about technology — it’s about quality of life.

The takeaway is much the same as one gets from the “Designed by Apple in California” ad, but I like it a hundred times more. In that previous effort, Apple simply told us why it is different. This new spot tells an interesting story and lets us draw that conclusion for ourselves. It’s a more artful, more memorable way to make the point.

Once again, Apple demonstrates it’s a different kind of technology company. Most talk about what goes into their phones — Apple shows what we can get out of them …
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12.9-inch iPad rumor is back with launch date, early launch for larger size iPhone included

Ben Lovejoy Dec 23 2013 - 5:55 am PT

27 Comments

Mockups: T3

Rumors of a larger iPad have been bouncing around since May (complete with the world’s silliest name). They gained credibility (minus the name) when reported by the WSJ in July, and our poll certainly suggests there would be demand for it, with 24 percent of 9to5Mac readers declaring that they love the idea. There have, however, so far been few supporting specifics.

Digitimes is not always the most credible of sources, but it is today suggesting that the 12.9-inch iPad will be manufactured by Quanta Computer, launched in October and targeted at the education market, citing its usual anonymous “supply chain sources” …
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New Retina MacBook Pros can drive 4K displays at 60Hz – when running Windows, Mac OS needs new drivers

Ben Lovejoy Dec 23 2013 - 5:51 am PT

20 Comments

Tests by French site Mac4Ever.com found that current model Retina MacBook Pro machines can use their Thunderbolt 2 connections to drive the Sharp PN-K321 4K display at 60Hz when running Windows 8.1 with the latest NVidia drivers, rather than the 30Hz possible with OS X. This suggests that OS X will be able to do the same when Apple updates the rMBP video/Thunderbolt 2 drivers.

While 30Hz is good enough for movies, our own Seth Weintraub found on his bargain Seiki that it gives a poor experience when scrolling webpages, and is of course completely unusable for games. 60Hz, in contrast, gives a smooth experience when using a computer. The mystery had been why the latest Retina MacBook Pros, with Thunderbolt 2 support, were limited to 30Hz when the specs should have made them capable of double this – and the video drivers appear to be the answer …

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Tim Cook tells employees Apple has ‘big plans’ for 2014 that ‘customers are going to love’

Mark Gurman Dec 22 2013 - 11:46 am PT

40 Comments

This morning, Apple CEO Tim Cook sent a lengthy memo to employees as a reflection of the soon-ending 2013 and the upcoming year of 2014, according to multiple sources. In the letter, Tim Cook discusses people experiencing Apple products this holiday season, the Apple products launched throughout 2013, and corporate initiatives. “This holiday season, tens of millions of people around the world, from all walks of life, are experiencing Apple products for the first time. Those moments of surprise and delight are magical, and they’re all made possible by your hard work,” Cook says in the beginning of the email.

Cook notes Apple’s new manufacturing process for the Assembled in the USA Mac Pro and calls iOS 7 an “extraordinarily ambitious project.” “We extended our lead in the smartphone market with iPhone 5s; launched iOS 7, an extraordinarily ambitious project; released OS X Mavericks for free to our customers; introduced the iPad Air and the iPad mini with Retina display; and this week began shipping the Mac Pro from a manufacturing facility in Austin, Texas,” Cook told employees. Cook also notes his pride over Apple reaching 50 billion App Store app downloads this year. Apple reached this milestone in approximately five years…

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