In a somewhat odd move, Apple has hired away the Toronto Blue Jays' assistant manager Jay Sartori for a position on its App Store team. I mean, the company frequently snags top talent from silicon valley, but the MLB?
Apparently, Sartori will be taking over as the manager of the 'sports and entertainment' category in the App Store for the Cupertino company—a major departure from his contract and bargaining duties with the Blue Jays...
You can kiss good-bye good ol' days when you could count on limited exposure to your Facebook friends due to theirs not having enough time to meticulously comb through your entire Timeline.
But starting today and onwards, figuring out where you were, what you commented on your ex's photos, whether you mentioned "drunk" or F-words in posts and much, much more can become unravelled pretty easily.
That's the power of Facebook's updated Graph Search for you. After first experiencing Graph Search in action earlier this year, I went ecstatic. Finally, I could use Facebook's search field for something more complex than barebone friends search. For example, as an avid photography fan I absolutely love the ability to filter just the photos my mom took in Prague back in 2007, or those of my significant other I snapped up last year.
That was merely warming up - Facebook now includes more of your content in Graph Search than ever before, things like your posts (way overdue), status updates (useful), photo captions (fun), Notes (meh) and check-ins (creepy)...
The beat goes on for primo patent troll Lodsys. Apple's attempt to intervene in a concerted clipping of iOS developers failed after a patent-owner friendly judge dismissed the tech giant's legal motion. U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap in East Texas ruled Apple's motion "is far outside the scope" of his courtroom.
The decision effectively opens the door to Lodsys settling all cases with defendants, thereby ending a 2011 effort by Apple to shield hundreds of thousands of individual iOS developers from being sued for patent-infringement by Lodsys...
Apple's iPad has been used for a number of various augmented-reality applications which impose real-world information over live video feed. The car industry seems to be particularly keen on embracing the Apple tablet. Cody last month told you about eKurzinfo, an Audi app that uses an iOS device camera to help identify parts and features on your car.
Today, Volkswagen is highlighting a similar augmented-reality software, but aimed at repair technicians and car dealers. It's called MARTA (Mobile Augmented Reality Technical Assistance) and Volkswagen showed it off ahead of the InsideAR Conference, the world's largest augmented reality conference slated to run October 11, 2013 in Munich, Germany...
Folks in the market for a high capacity-model iPad will be happy to hear that Apple has begun offering refurbished versions of its 128GB tablet in its web store at a nice discount.
Over the weekend, the top-end storage model for the fourth-generation iPad popped up on the company's website, in a variety of configurations, at up to $140 off their original prices...
Not to be outdone by fellow prepaid telco Virgin Mobile, Boost Mobile is said to soon start carrying Apple's iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c handsets. According to EVLeaks, the Irvine, California headquartered Boost Mobile should start selling both new iPhones soon on its no-contract unlimited monthly plan with Shrinking Payments.
Again, Boost is a prepaid carrier so they'll be likely selling full-price, unsubsidized handsets with plans probably starting at around $50 per month, decreasing every six months until the plan pricing hits $35...
"I realize many of you worked tirelessly to bring us this far. I know it required great personal sacrifice," wrote Apple's boss Tim Cook in an email to the company's employees before making a surprise announcement.
"In recognition of your incredible efforts and achievements, I’m happy to announce that we’re extending the Thanksgiving holiday this year," reads the memo.
Although the extended Thanksgiving holiday won't apply to Apple's retail and support army "so we can continue to serve our customers," the rest of Apple will shut down with pay on November 25, 26, and 27, Cook wrote. I've included the full contents of Cook's email to employees right below...
Apple has made quite a noise about its brand new chip, the M7 motion coprocessor designed to offload taking sensor measurements from the iPhone 5s's main A7 processor. Because the M7 requires at least one-sixth of the power versus the 64-bit A7 chip, it can log data from the accelerometer, gyroscope and compass sensors independently of the A7 package, thus allowing for substantial power savings.
The details of how this data is captured and what power savings developers can count on were kept to Apple's chest until the Argus app made headlines as the first fitness software optimized for the M7 silicon. Here are a few previously unknown details about Apple's motion coprocessor hardware...
Exactly a week ago, Apple extended its Personal Pickup service to the new iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c, allowing customers to order their handset online for same-day delivery to one of Apple's retail outlets in the United States. Then the following day it pulled the in-store pickup for both new iPhones without an explanation, with anonymous sources telling one publication the company will reinstate the option today. Sure enough, both new handsets are now available with in-store pickup option...
As of recently, Rdio has been making a number of moves in a bid to fight off the Apple iTunes Radio threat. Just a few days ahead of Apple's September 10 iTunes Radio launch, Rdio unveiled a new ad-supported music service in partnership with radio operator Cumulus.
And back in August, the popular service gained such abilities as station tuning, improved search, Pandora-style personalized Stations and more.
Rdio's latest effort to re-introduce some of the original magic involves bringing back Recommendations, a feature popularized by the inaugural 1.0 version of Rdio...
The sometimes-reliable Taiwanese publication, DigiTimes, has been saying for years that Apple was shifting its chip manufacture away from Samsung and towards its rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC).
In its new report Monday, the trade publication now claims that TSMC will be responsible for the bulk of orders for Apple's next-generation processor, the A8 chip, with Samsung taking care of about one-third of orders...
Apple has overtaken Coca-Cola as the new most valuable brand in the world, according to a new report from brand consulting firm Interbrand. The move puts an end to the beverage company's 13-year reign as #1.
The firm calculates that the Apple brand is worth in upwards of $100 billion. And it says that its 'ethos' played a big factor in why the iPad-maker was able to beat out other tech companies like Google and Samsung...