Apple

GT Advanced requests permission to shut down sapphire plant

Cody Lee ∙ October 10, 2014

Apple partner GT Advanced has asked the court's permission to "wind down" operations at its manufacturing plant, reports Recode. The news comes less than a year after GT announced its high-profile deal to make sapphire for Apple, and just a few days after it filed for bankruptcy.

On Monday, the company shocked investors by announcing that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. It's believed that GT spent most of its cash trying to produce sapphire display covers in time for the iPhone 6, but fell short of expectations and lost out on the order.

Jony Ive talks Apple design process, copycats and more in new interview

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Jony Ive, Apple's senior vice president of design, gave an onstage interview last night at Vanity Fair's New Establishment Summit in San Francisco. The executive was among several Silicon Valley elite to participate in the conference, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, and Astro Teller from Google X.

Although Ive has participated in several interviews over the years, his appearance on stage is a rare one—rumor has it that he doesn't like speaking in front of large crowds. The discussion covered a number of interesting topics, including how Apple goes about designing its new products, life lessons from Steve Jobs, and more.

New report suggests Apple-GT Advanced deal fell apart over iPhone 6 displays

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

The deal between Apple and GT Advanced, which involved the former giving the latter a near-$600 million loan, fell apart over iPhone 6 displays, reports The Wall Street Journal. The outlet says Apple expected GT to produce sapphire for the displays of its new handsets, but it either wasn't tough enough or the yield was too low.

GT Advanced made the surprise announcement on Monday that it would be filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and it had its first hearing this afternoon. We expected the proceeding to offer a better explanation of what happened, but GT was granted a secrecy motion that closed the hearing and sealed all documents.

Apple says U2 ‘Songs of Innocence’ album has been downloaded 26 million times

Cody Lee ∙ October 9, 2014

The controversial U2 album 'Songs of Innocence' has been downloaded nearly 30 million times since Apple announced it would be available to iTunes users for free last month. In a statement to Billboard on Thursday, senior VP Eddy Cue said that the album had racked up 26 million 'complete downloads' since its September 9 debut.

Cue adds that over 81 million Apple customers have experienced Songs of Innocence within the last month—a number that includes Beats Music, iTunes, and iTunes Radio streams. "To help put this into perspective," Cue says, "prior to this, a total of 14 million customers had purchased music from U2 since iTunes opened in 2003."

Apple once again tops Interbrand’s Best Global Brands ranking

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated August 26, 2017

For the second year in a row, Apple tops Interbrand’s Best Global Brands ranking, an annual report that analyzes the brand value of the largest corporations in the world. Just like last year, Google scores the second place, right ahead of Coca Cola. Valued at $118.9 billion, Apple increased its brand value by 21%, while Google, valued at $107.43 billion, increased its brand value by 15%.

“Apple and Google’s meteoric rise to more than USD $100 billion is truly a testament to the power of brand building,” said Jez Frampton, Interbrand’s Global Chief Executive Officer. These leading brands have reached new pinnacles—in terms of both their growth and in the history of Best Global Brands—by creating experiences that are seamless, contextually relevant, and increasingly based around an overarching ecosystem of integrated products and services, both physical and digital.”

For more details, have a look at the 2014 rankings, as well as the methodology used.

Video walkthroughs offer detailed look at CarPlay on Pioneer’s $700 AVH-4000NEX receiver

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 13, 2018

Though we've seen our fair share of CarPlay demos in months past, we still can't get enough of learning about the intricacies of Apple's in-car iPhone entertainment system. You may have head that Pioneer recently released a firmware update bringing CarPlay functionality to five of its 2014 NEX in-dash multimedia receivers, so people don't have to buy a brand new car just to enjoy CarPlay.

As noted by TUAW, Josh Carr of technology repair firm Fix Denver put Pioneer's new software through its paces and created several videos showing off different aspects of CarPlay, including Phone functionality, Apple Maps and various other built-in apps including Spotify, which recently updated its iPhone and iPad app with CarPlay support .

Interested? Jump past the break for more.

Weebly releases website-creation app for iPad

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 9, 2014

To think they used to say that one couldn't do real work or create content on the iPad... Enter Weebly for iPad, a native application by the popular web-hosting service which allows users to create websites in minutes by dragging and dropping various elements in its web interface.

Although it's been available on iOS since May 2012, Weebly was iPhone-only until todays update which has brought out native iPad interface with full editing capabilities, unlike the iPhone and iPod touch version.

Weebly is available free of charge in the App Store.

WSJ: 12.9-inch iPad delayed to 2015, Retina MacBook Air entering production in December

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 9, 2014

Due to strong demand for the iPhone 6 Plus, which continues to exhibit a 3-4 week delay on the Online Apple Store, Taiwanese suppliers have reportedly pushed back plans to produce a rumored larger iPad with a 12.9-inch screen to 2015, according to people familiar with the matter cited by The Wall Street Journal Thursday.

The so-called iPad Pro was originally scheduled to enter mass production in December, the financial newspaper added. Moreover, mass production of a new MacBook Air model with “a higher resolution” screen should commence in December, as per WSJ's sources.

HTC launches iPhone-compatible Wi-Fi camera and ultimate selfie phone with dual 13MP shooter

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 27, 2016

Wednesday, Taiwanese handset maker HTC at its 'Double Exposure' media event in New York City unveiled an iPhone-compatible waterproof Wi-Fi camera and the Desire Eye, a brand new handset with a 5.2-inch full HD (1,920-by-1,080 pixels) screen and BoomSound dual front-facing stereo speakers.

More than anything, however, the Desire Eye is aimed at improving the quality of users' selfies by putting a powerful 13-megapixel sensor on both the front and back side.

That's right, you get dual-color LED flash and wide angle lenses on each side. As a bonus, the Android-driven device is water and dust proof.

You can now protect your OneDrive with Touch ID

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 8, 2014

Windows and Office maker Microsoft on Wednesday pushed a small but important update to OneDrive, its cloud storage client for the iPhone and iPad. The refreshed application enables users to lock content in the app using Touch ID-based fingerprint verification on the iPhone 5s, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

The new OneDrive 4.5.1, a free 12.7-megabyte download from the App Store, also takes full advantage of the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, lets you sort files and folders and includes bug fixes and stability improvements.

Fitbit currently has no plans to integrate with iOS 8 Health app

Cody Lee ∙ October 8, 2014

It looks like Fitbit won't be sharing data with the new iOS 8 Health app anytime soon. Responding to a question in support forums, a representative for the company said that it "currently has no plans to integrate with HealthKit."

The rep adds that HealthKit is an interesting new platform that Fitbit will be watching as it matures, as it looks for opportunities to improve the user experience. "But at the moment," he says, it's working on "other exciting projects."

DigiTimes: 12″ Retina MacBook Air in limited production now

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 8, 2014

Apple's rumored MacBook Air with a twelve-inch Retina screen has allegedly entered limited production, according to sources with Apple's supply chain Wednesday morning who spoke to DigiTimes, a Taiwanese trade publication.

Apple has reportedly commissioned contract manufacturer Quanta Computer to start building the ultra-thin notebook in small volumes in October, with output expected to increase gradually beginning November.

Apple is holding a media event next Thursday so a Retina MacBook Air could be on tap along with new iPads, a (possibly) refreshed Apple TV hardware and what not.