Apple

Apple buys huge development site in San Jose for $138 million

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Apple has purchased a massive development site in North San Jose in a blockbuster real estate transaction, reports the Silicon Valley Business Journal. The move comes just weeks after the company leased nearly 300,000-square-feet of office space in the city.

According to public records, Apple closed the deal with developer Lowe Enterprises' for its so-called "n1 Campus" last week. It paid around $138 million for a roughly 43-acre development site, which has been approved for up to 2.8 million square feet of office space.

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Struggling to return strong profits, Samsung slashes price of Galaxy S6 phones

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 3, 2015

After posting another disappointing quarterly earnings, a fifth straight profit drop, Apple's chief rival Samsung has now slashed the retail price of Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge flagship smartphones by a hundred euro, or about $110, BetaNews learned.

The consumer electronics giant's mobile division suffered a 37.6 percent drop in operating income during the April-June period after badly miscalculating demand for the higher-priced Galaxy S6 Edge, leaving it with unsold inventory of the regular Galaxy S6 devices.

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August Smart Lock is ready for your wrist with brand new Apple Watch app

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 3, 2015

The popular Smart Lock accessory by August now makes it easy to lock and unlock your door right from your wrist with a brand new Apple Watch app, announced Monday.

Available as a free update to the existing iPhone application, the WatchKit component provides an Apple Watch app and a glance which can be used to operate your August Smart Lock and view its logs, view your most recent activity, receive instant notifications and more.

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Apple to become a carrier by 2020, report claims

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 3, 2015

You might be able to replace your dreaded carrier with Apple by 2020 as the company is reportedly in talks to launch its own virtual network service in the United States and Europe, Business Insider reports.

A mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO, leases mobile network capacity rather than own spectrum or run expensive wireless network infrastructure.

According to Business Insider's sources in the know, carriers would auction capacity to Apple so it could run the service itself. The Cupertino firm “is privately trialling” an MVNO service in the United States, the story goes, and is negotiating with wireless carriers in Europe about bringing the service to that continent.

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Could iPhone 6s lose protruding camera after all?

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 3, 2015

The slightly protruding camera lens on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus that Apple's design tzar Jony Ive likened to “a really very pragmatic optimization” could become a thing of the past after next-generation iPhones arrive next month.

Monday, uSwitch published claimed CAD design renders for upcoming iPhones which were obtained from @OnLeaks. The drawings depict a little thicker next-generation 'iPhone 6s' than the current model, measuring 7.1mm thick versus the current iPhone 6 with a thickness of 6.9mm, without the protruding camera.

However, renderings of an 'iPhone 6s Plus' suggest the phone is 7.8mm thick with the camera protrusion versus the current iPhone 6 Plus that measures 7.1 mm deep. Unless erroneous, the discrepancy might hint that the protruding camera that featured on the iPhone 6 “could be missing from the iPhone 6s but will reappear on the iPhone 6s Plus,” notes the publication.

Again, the 0.5mm camera bulge is present on renderings of the 4.7-inch iPhone 6s, but is nowhere to be found on technical drawings depicting the 5.5-inch iPhone 6s Plus.

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Nokia sells HERE maps division to German carmakers Audi, BMW and Daimler

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 16, 2018

Nokia, once the dominant force in the mobile industry, has sold off its prized HERE maps division to a German carmaker consortium comprised of Audi, BMW and Daimler, technology blog Re/code reported this morning.

The $3.07 billion transaction (2.8 billion euros) is pending regulatory approval and should be completed in the first quarter of 2016. The deal is meant to “secure the long-term availability” of HERE maps as an open platform, as per a media release.

News of the deal arrives following months of speculation that a bunch of Silicon Valley technology giants were interested in a takeover bid, including ride sharing service Uber, as well as Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Baidu and others.

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iPhone 6s display assembly with claimed Force Touch sensing layer surfaces

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 3, 2015

A trio of claimed spyshots were published this weekend by French blog NowhereElse.fr, ostensibly offering a first look at a fully assembled 'iPhone 6s' display with Force Touch technology. At first look, the part appears to be virtually unchanged from the front display assembly on the current iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in shape, size and overall design.

Upon closer inspection, however, some differences become apparent. For instance, you'll notice strange black dots running across the sides of a shielding which some folks say may or may not be related to Force Touch technology.

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KGI: new iMacs in the pipeline feature faster CPUs and ‘much better display quality’

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 3, 2015

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who is arguably the most reliable Apple analyst out there, is out with a new analysis offering some new details regarding Apple's upcoming refresh of the iMac lineup.

According to his note to clients, a copy of which was obtained by AppleInsider, Apple will updated iMacs this quarter with faster processors from Intel and enhanced screen technology designed to provide a “much better display quality.”

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Reuters: Apple, BMW could resume talks over electric car partnership

Cody Lee ∙ Updated May 17, 2018

The rumors that Apple visited a BMW plant last year to learn about auto manufacturing is true, reports Reuters. Citing sources familiar with the talks, the outlet says that Tim Cook and his senior executive team traveled to BMW's Leipzig factory last fall, showing interest in its i3 electric car.

"Apple executives were impressed with the fact that we abandoned traditional approaches to car making and started afresh. It chimed with the way they do things too," a senior BMW source said. The executives asked BMW board members detailed questions about both tooling and production.

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SwiftKey previews upcoming ‘Your Signature Emoji’ feature in iPhone app

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 31, 2015

Have you ever wondered which emoji symbols you use the most as your unique writing style? Well, the popular smartphone keyboard, SwiftKey, is previewing a new feature called 'Your Signature Emoji' which was designed to help you find out precisely which emoji characters you use more than other people.

Available as a beta for SwiftKey's iPhone users, and coming soon for everyone, this feature takes advantage of SwiftKey's knowledge base which gets continually updated as you're typing away.

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Create colorful keyboards that match your mood in an instant with Photokeys

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 1, 2018

Photokeys by developer Appyfurious was released in the App Store last evening. This quite interesting application makes it easy and fun to create your own colorful keyboards in seconds, from any photo in your library.

Just take or import a picture, adjust color themes as you like and your keyboard is ready for use in any application.

If you're unhappy with the results, refine your custom designs with manual controls to mix and match your own colors and achieve the keyboard nirvana. But wait, there's much more to Photokeys, a 99-cent download from the App Store, than meets the eye.

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