Apple

Tim Cook charity fundraiser earns $200,000 for RFK human rights campaign

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 28, 2019

Bidding for the annual Tim Cook lunch auction closed today and the winning bid stands at a cool $200,000, which goes to the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights.

Even though there were more than twenty bids, with the starting bid beginning at $10,000, the fundraiser has actually earned less this year than previous auctions held in 2013 and 2014, probably due to a shift in CharityBuzz’s authentication policy to better prevent false bids.

The annual auction broke records in 2013 when it raised $610,000 for Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. In 2014, the auction ended at $330,001.

Apple’s VoiceOver receives Award from the American Foundation for the Blind

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 6, 2015

Apple's VoiceOver technology has impressed the American Foundation for the Blind enough to award the company its Helen Keller Achievement Award for “breakthroughs in accessible technology.”

Part of Apple's rich set of accessibility features available across Mac, iPhone, iPad and iPod devices, VoiceOver for OS X and iOS is a gesture-based screen reader that lets visually impaired users navigate their devices via spoken word and gestures.

The organization has recognized not only VoiceOver, but other features that make the iPhone, iPad and other iOS devices accessible to people with vision loss.

Apple readying in-store pickups for Apple Watch

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 6, 2015

Reports are coming in that Apple is preparing the in-store pickup option on new Watch orders in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, allowing customers in these launch countries to (soon enough, hopefully) select an Apple retail store to pick up their device after order.

As indicated by a report on MacRumors, the grayed out in-store pickup option on both the Apple Online Store and Apple Store shopping app is now labeled as “coming soon”.

Pixelmator for iPhone coming soon, iPad version goes half price

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 6, 2015

Pixelmator, arguably the most popular alternative to Adobe's Photoshop available on the Apple platform, is “coming soon” to the iPhone, its developer has confirmed in a blog post published today. In addition, the iPad edition of Pixelmator is on sale and can be grabbed now with a cool fifty percent discount for just $4.99. As it'll soon be a universal app for the iPhone and iPad, now's the time to grab the iPad edition and upgrade later to Pixelmator for iPhone at no additional cost.

Apple announces 7-part bond sale to finance its capital return program expansion

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 6, 2015

During a conference call discussing its fiscal 2015 second-quarter results, Tim Cook & Co. also announced expanding their already massive capital return program to a whooping $200 billion through March of 2017 to “reflect strong confidence in what lies ahead for Apple.”

A filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission posted today on Apple's Investor website casts more light on the initiative, confirming the company will fund this expansion through a new seven-part bond to raise the funds.

Applebot, a web crawler for Siri and Spotlight, unmasked in a support document

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 6, 2015

An official support document updated last evening has confirmed that Apple is using a web crawler service called Applebot to index the web for content used by its Siri personal digital assistant on iOS devices and built-in Spotlight search on both iOS and OS X.

An Apple-operated engine, Applebot is described as “the web crawler for Apple” which gathers useful content for products including Siri and Spotlight Suggestions. The document doesn't state how long AppleBot has been operational in production.

FTC also probing Apple’s upcoming music service over deals with record labels

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated September 17, 2017

Increasingly, Apple is finding itself in hot water with regulators over its rumored subscription-based music service. Citing people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported that the United States Federal Trade Commission is now probing Apple's efforts to line up deals with record labels.

The agency is reportedly taking a closer look at the possible misuse of the iPhone maker's dominant market position as the largest seller of music downloads to put rival music services such as Spotify, Rdio, Pandora, YouTube and others at a disadvantage.

Apple’s Angela Ahrendts was highest-paid female executive in the US last year

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Angela Ahrendts, Apple’s recently-hired senior vice president of retail and online stores, was the highest-paid female executive in the United States last year. According to data compiled by Bloomberg, Ahrendts was awarded $82.6 million in 2014, including a sign-on bonus and a make-whole grant for money she left on the table at Burberry.

Coming in second on the list was Oracle’s Safra Catz, who raked in $71.2 million in fiscal 2014 for her role as chief financial officer and co-CEO. Rounding out the top 3 highest paid female executives was Yahoo!’s Marissa Mayer who, at 39-years-old, was the highest-paid female chief executive last year, with a salary of $59.1 million.

Apple working with researchers to build ResearchKit apps for gathering DNA data

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Apple is collaborating with US researchers to launch apps that would allow iPhone owners to get their DNA tested, according to a new report from MIT's Technology Review. The apps are based on ResearchKit, a software platform Apple introduced in March that helps researchers gather data.

If true, Apple would join a growing battle for genetic information. Everyone from Google, to the government, to top universities are spending millions of dollars to amass large databases of DNA info in an effort to uncover clues that would help identify causes and possible cures for diseases.

Home Depot to become largest retailer to support Apple Pay

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Contrary to earlier reports today, Home Depot isn't disabling Apple Pay, it's instead rolling it out to all of its 2,000+ brick and mortar retail stores. As Bloomberg reports, this will make Home Depot the biggest retailer accepting Apple Pay to date.

This is huge news, and certainly a major turnaround from the reports that said otherwise early this morning. Home Depot, which has been subject to massive data breaches in the past, is clearly putting its chips in with Apple Pay, which is known for its ease of use and its security.

Apple still missing key licensing deals ahead of rumored Beats Music relaunch

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Apple is really cutting it close if it wants to relaunch Beats Music at its developer conference next month. Citing sources familiar with the company's plans, Billboard reports that it is still missing a number of key licensing deals it would need to secure to unveil a new streaming music service.

"A June launch is still attainable," one source tells Billboard. "If any company can do it, they can." However, another source at a major record label tells the publication that there is no way Apple will be able to pull off a June launch for the new service, saying simply that "the deals aren't done."

Apple TV gains CBS Sports and USA NOW channels

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 5, 2015

As first spotted by Joe Rossignol over at MacRumors, owners of the $69 Apple TV set-top box will find two new icons on their Home screen later today: CBS Sports and USA NOW, the latter featuring content from the USA network. The channels have been added via a silent over-the-air update, without intervention on your part.

If you don't see them yet, however, simply restart your Apple TV or manually run Software Update in the Settings interface of your box. Keep in mind that the new channels should appear for everyone in the United States within the next few hours as these things typically take some time to propagate.