European Commission to reportedly rule against Apple’s sweetheart tax deal with Ireland

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 1, 2017

According to a 130-page judgment seen by The Financial Times, the European Commission (EC) is set to rule Tuesday against Apple's sweetheart tax deal it struck with the government of Ireland back in 1999.

The Commission is reportedly set to demand that Ireland recoup over 1 billion euros in back taxes from the iPhone maker, or circa $1.12 billion.

“Apple will on Tuesday be hit with Europe’s largest tax penalty after Brussels ruled that the company received illegal state aid from Ireland,” warns the financial newspaper.

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“Hey Siri, see you on the seventh!”

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 29, 2016

Siri giving witty responses ahead of major Apple events has become something of a tradition for Apple and part of the festivities by its eager fans. The just-announced September 7 iPhone 7 press conference is no exception. Thanks to a silent backend update, Siri now serves up a variety of amusing responses when asked about the iPhone 7 event.

Best thing you check them out for yourself.

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September 7 Apple event wallpapers: “See you on the 7th”

Jim Gresham ∙ Updated October 16, 2018

Apple just announced the iPhone 7 media event, to be held on September 7. Their invitation has sparked many comments and additional rumors about the content of the media event. "See you on the 7th" could hint at many different announcements, but perhaps the strongest is optical or camera upgrades.

Per usual, the goal of our Wallpapers of the Week series is to highlight photo quality images for your iOS devices. Apple media event wallpapers for iPhone are always our most popular posts. These images are submitted to me via Twitter @jim_gresham. If you would like to add your images, simply send them my way.

Step inside for the latest download, in a post that will be updated throughout the day!

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Verizon rolls out LTE Advanced with 50% faster peak speeds in 461 U.S. cities

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 16, 2018

Verizon, the nation's leading telecommunications company, today said that mobile users in 461 cities across the United States now get fifty percent faster peak wireless data speeds thanks to LTE Advanced, the next generation of wireless technology.

A major enhancement of the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard, LTE Advanced uses existing cell towers and a software technique called carrier aggregation which combines multiple channels to transfer data more quickly than with LTE.

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Steven Levy confirms that some of the data in Apple iBrain can be restored to a new phone

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 29, 2016

Journalist Steven Levy's excellent in-depth look at Apple's machine learning and artificial intelligence systems used throughout iOS and its other products have left some people wondering about transferring the so-called iBrain database to a new device. Apple told Levy that iBrain is local to a device and doesn't get sent to the cloud.

The explanation promoted some people to wonder if that means that iBrain has to start all over again after getting a new phone, and lose all memory of what it learned in the process. As it turns out, some of the information in that “brain” can indeed be restored and moved to a new device in a safe manner.

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T-Mobile’s new ONE add-ons bring unlimited LTE tethering, daily HD passes & more

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 29, 2016

When T-Mobile announced its upcoming ONE service that'll give all customers “unlimited” 4G LTE data, eagled-eyed readers discovered in the fine print that mobile tethering is limited to sluggish 2G speeds, with 5GB of 4G LTE tethering sold as a $15 add-on. Today, the carrier clarified that ONE would include unlimited tethering at 3G speeds at no additional cost after all while unveiling ONE Plus upgrades with unlimited 4G LTE tethering, daily HD passes and more.

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Amazon to take aim at Apple with $9.99 a month music service, due in September

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 29, 2016

Amazon already has a music store, but its catalog of songs is limited and streaming is only available to those subscribed to the company's $99 per year Prime service. As Re/code said, the online retail giant has also considered a bargain-priced music service that would only work on Echo hardware and be priced at $4 to $5 per month.

Monday, The Financial Times newspaper reported that Amazon has a third offering in the works, a $9.99 per month music-streaming service that would offer the full catalogue of songs that Spotify and Apple offer.

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New Surface Pro 4 ad calls MacBook Air “less useful, like a hat for your cat”

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 29, 2016

Following its recent iPad Pro-dissing commercial, Microsoft today released another nicely done Surface Pro 4 ad which takes aim at the MacBook Air, calling it “less useful, like a hat for your cat”. Surface ads have successfully promoted competitive advantages of the hybrid device, which comes with a detachable keyboard, pen, touchscreen and more. And thanks to an Intel chip, it runs the full Office suite and most other Windows programs, like Photoshop.

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Go Radar update adds better Pokémon scanner and improvements to zoom

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated February 10, 2018

Ever since the removal of the footsteps feature from Pokémon GO, the crowdsource-based Go Radar app from the App Store has quickly become one of the most popular ways to help with Pokémon tracking.

The latest update (version 2.0) brings Pokémon scanning functionality that users have been requesting for some time, as well as improvements to the app's workflow that helps users get more out of it.

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