Apple

Apple acquires AI startup Turi for a reported $200 million

Cody Lee ∙ Updated May 1, 2018

Apple has acquired machine learning and artificial intelligence startup Turi, reports GeekWire. Citing sources close to the deal, the outlet says the purchase price was somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 million, and the team will stay on and continue its work.

Turi, formerly Dato, builds platforms for developing intelligent applications using machine learning technology. Its products are used by a number of Fortune 500 companies for fraud detection, recommendation engines, lead scoring and other predictive capabilities.

Latest drone flyover gives overview of landscaping progress at iSpaceship site

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 5, 2016

The iPhone maker's upcoming circular-shaped corporate building, Apple Campus 2 aka “iSpaceship”, seems to be coming along nicely as the company pushes the project to meet its self-imposed January 2017 deadline for moving in.

YouTubers Matthew Roberts and Duncan Sinfield have been taking their pricey drones to the skies every month, like clockwork, to keep us updated on construction progress with birds-eye 4K footage.

The most recent drone video from Matthew focuses on landscaping work as other smaller structures are beginning to pop up throughout the campus, with landscaping on the corporate auditorium set to begin shortly.

Sonny Dickson posts nice-looking iPhone 7/Plus photos, but are they genuine?

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 5, 2016

Noted Australian leakster Sonny Dickson, who made a name for himself by supplying a steady stream of photos showing genuine components for unreleased Apple products, has been pretty silent lately. Silent, but not inactive.

Yesterday, Dickson re-joined the rumor game by tweeting out a pair of quality images that appear to show off a 4.7-inch variant of the iPhone 7 next to its 5.5-inch brethren. Both devices are in Rose Gold and have a tweaked camera design on their backside.

At long last, Instagram is adding much-needed Drafts to save unfinished posts for later

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 5, 2016

You cannot find it mentioned in release notes accompanying the most recent Instagram update which brought out a new Snapchat-like Stories feature, but either that or an earlier update has quietly added a much-needed Drafts feature to the popular mobile photography app.

Called by some fans the best feature that has happened to Instagram in quite a while, Drafts lets you save the photo you're currently editing as a draft.

This is quite useful, if not essential, in case you just spent your time making detailed edits to a photo, but ultimately decided not to post it until later.

Another hands-on video shows genuine-looking, working Lightning EarPods in action

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated June 14, 2017

Apple's official Lightning-based EarPods (that could be marketed under the 'AirPods' moniker, according to a trademark filing) were already filmed on video and depicted on leaked photos. Today, UK-based mobile accessory firm MobileFun posted a hands-on video of its own of what appears to be a wired, Lightning-based edition of the EarPods.

Apple, as you know, is widely expected to ditch the 3.5mm headphone jack from its next iPhone in favor of Bluetooth wireless headsets and Lightning-based wired ones, the latter potentially providing lossless digital sound.

This is how I know Samsung will ditch the headphone jack

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated September 11, 2017

Three days ago, Samsung of South Korea took the wraps off its flagship Galaxy Note 7 phablet. It's a cool, powerful smartphone that features a curved 5.7-inch AMOLED screen, Galaxy S7-like design, speedy chips, an iris scanner and an improved S Pen (which has learned a few new tricks, like translating words, and is now waterproof itself).

Believe it or not, a Samsung executive during the Note 7 unveiling mocked live, on stage, Apple's rumored decision to remove the 3.5mm audio jack from the next iPhone.

“You know what else it [Note 7] comes with? An audio jack. I’m just saying,” he quipped.

Apple Music officially launches in South Korea

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 5, 2016

It's taken longer than anticipated and Apple CEO Tim Cook himself has had to personally negotiate deals with local right holders and copyright associations, but Apple Music as of today is finally available to music lovers in South Korea. Launch in Samsung's home turf, home to 50 million people, comes hot on the heels of the service's debut in Israel yesterday.

Apple said to be building wireless earbuds with low-power Bluetooth chip

Cody Lee ∙ August 4, 2016

Apple has spent the last few years developing a custom Bluetooth radio chip for wireless earbuds, reports Forbes. Citing a source with knowledge of the project, the outlet says the earbuds could be ready to launch this fall.

If true, the timing makes sense, given that Apple is slated to unveil a new iPhone in September. The handset is expected to ship without the customary headphone jack, indicating the company is going all-in on wireless.

Apple offering up to $200K for vulnerabilities in new bug bounty program

Cody Lee ∙ August 4, 2016

Apple on Thursday launched a new bug bounty program, in which it will pay researchers cash for discovering vulnerabilities in its products. The announcement was made at the annual Black Hat security conference by Apple's head of security engineering Ivan Krstic.

Several major technology companies, such as Microsoft and Google, have long offered similar programs, but Apple has remained a holdout until now. The iPhone-maker will pay anywhere between $25K and $200K for exploits, depending on where it is and what it does.

Samsung caught using drawings of Apple Watch in its own smartwatch patent filing

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 4, 2016

The iPhone's look and feel isn't the only design feature Samsung “borrowed” from Apple (100+ top designers agree), for which it was ordered to pay nearly $1 billion to the Cupertino firm in damages (later slashed to $548 million). No, the South Korean company is notorious for frequently borrowing a page from Jony Ive's design book when it comes to other things like the look and feel of software, packaging, marketing material and more.

As was discovered by Patently Apple, the Galaxy maker appears to have borrowed a few familiar looking images from Apple in its latest patent filing for a ”Wearable Device” which includes drawings of Apple's smartwatch that depict the Digital Crown, crystal back, heart rate sensor and even several of its proprietary band designs.

Apple gives away Brushstroke painting effects app

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 4, 2016

Brushstroke is one of those image effects app with a unique twist. Not only does it transform your photos into faux paintings, but optionally lets you order mounted canvas prints of your images directly from the app that you can hang on the wall.

Apple named Brushstroke its Free App of the Week in December 2014. If you forgot to grab this nicely done $2.99 iPhone and iPad app for $0 back then, now's your chance.

Google Photos gains 3D Touch shortcuts and storage optimization feature

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 16, 2024

Google today issued a minor refresh to its native Photos app on the App Store, introducing 3D Touch shortcuts for the Home screen and a much-needed new feature designed to optimize storage space on your device. Bumped to version 1.13, Google Photos for iPhone and iPad produces a 3D Touch menu upon pressing its Home screen icon, giving you access to the following shortcuts: I'm Feeling Lucky, Free Up Space and Make Shared Album.

In addition to these 3D Touch shortcuts and the new storage-optimization feature, this edition of the app packs in unspecified performance improvements.