Apple

Apple’s car team

Speculation regarding Apple’s plans to build an electric car has been at an all-time over recent months. Earlier this year, we broke down the team that Apple has assembled to work on its car, several members of which were poached from Tesla. In Tesla’s Q1 2015 earnings call, however, CEO Elon Musk commented on Apple’s alleged electric car plans and the poaching war that has been ongoing between the two companies.

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The American Foundation for the Blind today announced four honorees for the upcoming Helen Keller Achievement Awards, highlighting Apple’s VoiceOver and Accessibility efforts alongside actor Charlie Cox, musician Ward Marston, and biopharmaceutical company Vanda Pharmaceuticals.

The foundation says that it gives this award to “accomplished individuals and companies for their success in improving quality of life for people with vision loss either through groundbreaking innovation or inspirational achievement that changes perceptions about what it means to be visually impaired.”

Apple is specifically being awarded for VoiceOver Accessibility technology across its products, per the announcement:

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Apple today has published a redesigned version of its Human Interface Guidelines website for Apple Watch WatchKit application development. The new website is far cleaner than the previous website, and introduces lengthier and more interactive descriptions of the different Apple Watch interface paradigms…

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Apple this week has expanded its Apple Maps Connect service to five additional regions in Europe: Austria, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, and The Netherlands. The additions were noted in an email to users of the platform and on the Apple Maps Connect website. For those unfamiliar, Apple Maps Connect allows business owners to both manage existing Apple Maps listings and add additional listings to the platform. This service works closely with the Apple Indoor Mapping feature, which aims for businesses to help Apple build up a portfolio of indoor mapping data. Apple earlier expanded Apple Maps Connect via service updates in January, February, and March. Thanks Chris!

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As we reported earlier this year, the upcoming Apple TV will feature a redesigned remote with improved functionality, according to The New York Times. We reported that the new remote would have more tactile buttons and a new design, and today’s report adds that the controller will have a touchpad akin to the trackpads on Apple laptops. There will also be two physical buttons on the remote, the report claims.
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It’s no secret that the price of the Apple Watch rapidly increases if you want a gold model. The Apple Watch Edition with an 18 karat rose gold case starts at $10,000 and ranges to $17,000 for yellow gold models with a gold-plated band. Jewelers, however, looking to take some of Apple’s high-end Watch market, have now started offering their own take on the gold Apple Watch…

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GE announced today that it’s introducing HomeKit enabled LED lighting products offering Siri-controlled solutions for both the home and enterprise. With support for Apple’s new HomeKit framework, users will be able to control the lights from their iOS device using Siri.

The company noted that the new line of GE HomeKit lighting will also include its GE Align technology that “tunes the light spectrum to help promote the body’s natural sleep cycle by controlling the blue concentration of light output.”
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Allegations that Apple is engaging in anti-competitive practices in the run-up to the launch of its rebranded Beats streaming music service are now being investigated by the Department of Justice, according to “multiple sources” cited by The Verge.

The claim is that Apple has been attempting to use its influence to persuade music labels to pull out of deals with free, ad-supported services like Spotify and YouTube in order to reduce competition and increase demand for its own paid service. The European Commission launched an investigation into these same allegations last month …

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A new video has been published that compares the rumored iPad Pro shape/size to the current generation iPad. It’s obviously much larger than the iPad Air 2. This rumored tablet is said to feature a 12.3 to 12.9 inch display. Check out the video below for a size comparison between the cases and iPad Air 2…

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As we reported would happen earlier this week, Apple this evening has updated its Apple Store app with support for Watch. From the app, users can get real-time order status updates, initiate the process of picking up an order, make and search for Genius Bar appointments, and discover events and workshops taking place in nearby Apple Stores.

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Ford was one of the first car manufacturers to announce its intentions to add support for Apple’s CarPlay to its in-dash systems. Questions concerning how Ford plans to integrate Apple’s solution, however, have remained since the initial announcement. In an interview with Re/code today, Ford CEO Mark Fields clarified some of the details regarding the company’s plans to offer CarPlay (and Android Auto) in its vehicles.

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<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-irish-tax-changes-may-cost-us-groups-billions-2014-10">Apple’s European HQ in Cork, Ireland</a>

Following its announcement of record Q2 earnings, Apple published its quarterly 10-Q report, providing more in-depth details about finances. Notably, the company warns of the possibility of “material” back taxes due to the company’s well-documented favorable tax arrangements with Ireland.

On June 11, 2014, the European Commission issued an opening decision initiating a formal investigation against Ireland for alleged state aid to the Company. The opening decision concerns the allocation of profits for taxation purposes of the Irish branches of two subsidiaries of the Company. The Company believes the European Commission’s assertions are without merit. If the European Commission were to conclude against Ireland, the European Commission could require Ireland to recover from the Company past taxes covering a period of up to 10 years reflective of the disallowed state aid. While such amount could be material, as of March 28, 2015 the Company is unable to estimate the impact.

Apple will need to pay the fines if the European Commission, which is akin to the U.S.’s SEC, rules that Ireland granted Apple special privileges for reduced taxes. As the European Commission has not made any formal rulings on the fine, Apple says it could not estimate the impact. However, the Financial Times pegs the potential payments at $2.5 billion based on Apple’s current rate of profits.

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The Wall Street Journal reports that the limited initial roll out of the Apple Watch was slowed by supply manufacturing issues concerning the Taptic Engine. The report claims that after mass production of the device began in February, reliability testing showed that some of the Taptic Engines supplied by AAC Technologies Holdings began to break down after use.

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Apple Watch is finally here (well for some of us) and this week Zac, Benjamin, and Michael talk about their first impressions and experience with it. Has it been living up to the hype so far? Feel free to drop us a line about your Apple Watch experience at listenermail@9to5mac.com. The Happy Hour podcast is available for download on iTunes and through our dedicated RSS feed…

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Keyboards are important — so important that many people won’t “work” on their iPads without real keys to type on. No one complained when desktop mice gave way to laptop trackpads, or when trackpads evolved into tablet touchscreens, but the switch from physical to virtual keyboards has been met with plenty of resistance… specifically because virtual keyboards offer no resistance. There’s something about the responsive, up and down movement of actual keys, known as “travel,” that people clearly prefer over tapping on completely flat glass.

I’ve tested a lot of keyboards, and since I rely upon them professionally every day, I have some strong opinions as to the best options for different types of Mac and iPad users. You might be surprised by my advice, as it bucks a couple of Apple’s trends (“smaller!” “thinner!”), but if you’re like me, you’ll be a much happier typist if you “think different” on this topic than the folks in Cupertino…

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Apple’s latest iPad Air 2 tablet

Mercury News reports that an iPad test model was one of the items stolen in a robbery and kidnapping that took place at a Cupertino house earlier this month. Specific details regarding the device are sparse at this point, although it has not yet been recovered. The victim of the robbery was a 20-year old man who was also kidnapped after responding to an online advertisement from a woman. The victim is thankfully safe following the incident.

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There’s certainly a benefit to Apple’s use of sapphire crystal on Apple Watch. It’s extremely scratch resistant (even though stainless steel may not be) and will hold up over time, but how does it compare to sapphire crystal used in traditional watches? In a new video published by Unbox Therapy, Apple Watch was put up against a Tissot watch to see if Apple’s standards for sapphire crystal match up with traditional watchmakers….

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Apple CEO Tim Cook announced during the company’s Q2 earnings call this evening that he anticipates Apple Watch will launch in additional countries by late June. As of right now, Apple Watch is only available in 9 countries. A report earlier this month claimed that Apple would launch Watch in a second-wave of countries on May 8th, but we quickly debunked that rumor.

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