MacRumors

Establishing a billion dollar search engine deal with Google took Apple more than four months, according to new details shared today by former Apple lawyer Bruce Sewell.

Sewell recently did an interview with a Columbia law student, which was noticed this afternoon by CNBC, and in the interview, he shared details on his time at Apple and some of the negotiations he handled for the company.

According to Sewell, he attended near daily meetings with Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Google lawyer Kent Walker when hammering out a deal, working alongside Tim Cook or Eddy Cue.

And then with myself and either Tim [Cook] or Eddy Cue who was my counterpart on that deal. They'd be at Google or we'd be at Apple almost every day, it's just one example there are a lot of those kinds of negotiations or lawsuits that just completely suck up all your time.

Sewell did not go into detail about the amount of money that Google pays Apple to be the primary search engine on Apple devices, but in the past, Google has been rumored to be paying billions for the privilege.

Sewell says that in his time at Apple, he had 900 people working under him. 600 of those were in the law group and included lawyers and paralegals.

In just one of the Samsung lawsuits, Apple had 350 people billing time on that case at any given moment, most of which were outside counsel because it's impossible for Apple to handle cases of that magnitude with an internal team. "And this was just one of them. There were seven of them going on," said Sewell.

There were seven or eight billion documents to review, and collectively, law firms billed Apple 280,000 hours. Sewell says his budget was "just shy of a billion dollars a year."

Sewell says that he steered Apple in the wrong direction on its iBooks negotiations, leading to the ‌iBooks‌ snafu with the U.S. government that cost Apple a lot of money because he didn't know about deals publishers made among themselves. Cook, though, was forgiving and said he'd made the right choices.

But that was an example of sailing as close to the wind because it was so important to Apple. But in the end, I got it wrong and Apple ended up having to pay a large fine. The reaction from Tim was "That's the right choice. You made the best choice that you could with the information you had. You didn't know about these other things. Don't let that scare you. I don't want you to stop pushing the envelope because that's why legal is an important function at the company."

During the interview, Sewell also shared a few tidbits about Apple CEO ‌Tim Cook‌, who he said would send him emails in the very early morning due to Cook's "crazy" work schedule.

From 4:00 a.m. to 5 a.m., there's a there's a lot of activity, so my first thing when I got up around 6:30 a.m. would be to check my email and see all the stuff that Tim had left for me, the little cookies he's left for me.

Sewell had other thoughts to share on working as a traditional lawyer vs. working for a major company as legal counsel, and his shift from Intel to Apple, which he likened to going to kindergarten from university given Apple's focus on creativity. The full interview can be watched in the video up above.

From 2009 to 2017, Bruce Sewell served as Apple's general counsel before retiring at the end of 2017. Sewell has since been replaced by Katherine Adams.

Apple this afternoon shared a new video in its ongoing "Shot on iPhone" series, this time showcasing the work of photojournalist Christopher Anderson, who Apple says is known for "magnetic portraiture."

In the video, which is in portrait orientation and meant to be watched on an ‌iPhone‌, Anderson provides some tips on what he pays attention to when creating a portrait of a person.

Anderson says he takes into account lighting conditions and interesting backgrounds when setting up to take photographs, as well as anticipating the movements of his subjects and the look of the foreground and background to get the perfect shot.

To add color and intrigue, he plays with props or an object that can create shadows of reflections to define subjects and obscure parts of the image that might be distracting. He uses things like keys, glasses, bottles and mirrors to experiment with different looks.

Post processing is also important, and be says that he uses a lot of Apple's built-in tools for adjusting contrast and lighting.

Apple has shared multiple videos in its Shot on ‌iPhone‌ series, including several longer-form videos created by various artists, including the recent Maldives video and a series of nature scenes called "Don't Mess With Mother."

Apple today released iOS 12.3.2, a minor update to the iOS 12 operating system that runs on the iPhone and the iPad. iOS 12.3.2 comes a month after the release of iOS 12.3, the last major update, and two weeks after the release of iOS 12.3.1, another bug fix update.

The iOS 12.3.2 update is available on all eligible devices over-the-air in the Settings app. To access the update, go to Settings > General > Software Update. As with all iOS updates, iOS 12.3.2 is free to download, but it may take some time for iOS 12.3.2 to propagate to all iOS users. Today's update is limited to the ‌iPhone‌ 8 Plus and it is not available on other devices.

According to Apple's release notes, the iOS 12.3.2 update addresses an issue that caused the Camera app to capture Portrait mode photos without a depth effect on the ‌iPhone‌ 8 Plus.

Apple is also working on an iOS 12.4 update that's set to be released in the near future, as well as iOS 13, which will come out this September.

Apple's Beats brand today launched a collection of new Solo3 Wireless Headphones in a range of bright color combinations, including yellow and blue, white and red, red and blue, and navy and white.

The new headphones are priced at $199.95 like other Solo3 Wireless models, and with their launch, Beats has discontinued all other available Solo3 headphones with the exception of the special Mickey version.

Like most Beats headphones, the Solo3 models are equipped with a W1 wireless chip for quick and easy connections to Apple devices, alone with up to 40 hours of battery life.

Apple is running a promotion on some existing Beats headphones models as well, dropping the price of all Beats Studio3 Wireless Headphones from $349.95 to $279.95, a $70 discount.

The price drop includes the standard Beats Studio3 Wireless Headphones as well as the Skyline collection in special colors.

Apple is also discounting the Mickey-branded 90th anniversary edition Beats Solo3 Wireless headphones, dropping the price from $299.95 to $224.95.

Apple at WWDC 2019 last week unveiled its long-awaited redesigned Mac Pro along with a new Pro Display XDR. At the time, Apple said both products will be available to order in the fall, without providing a more specific timeframe.

Apple has since updated its website following the end of WWDC, however, revealing that the new Mac Pro and Pro Display XDR are "coming in September." This date is listed on Apple's homepage in an overlay that pops open after clicking on "notify me" under each product, although only in the United States.

This date has yet to be listed outside of the United States, while the main Mac Pro page and other marketing materials still say "coming in the fall," so this may or may not be an error. We've reached out to Apple for comment.

The all-new ‌Mac Pro‌ is an absolute powerhouse with up to 28-core Intel Xeon processors, up to 1.5TB of ECC RAM, up to 4TB of SSD storage, up to AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo graphics with 64GB of HBM2 memory, and eight PCIe expansion slots for maximum performance, expansion, and configurability.

The new design includes a stainless steel frame with smooth handles and an aluminum housing that lifts off for 360-degree access to the entire system. The housing also features a unique lattice pattern, which has already been referred to as a cheese grater, to maximize airflow and quiet operation.

Apple's Pro Display XDR is a 32-inch 6K monitor with a P3 wide color gamut and true 10-bit color support, 1,600 nits of peak brightness, a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, and a super-wide, off-axis viewing angle.

The new ‌Mac Pro‌ will start at $5,999, while the Pro Display XDR will start at $4,999 with an optional $999 stand.

Update: Apple's homepage now says the new ‌Mac Pro‌ and Pro Display XDR are "coming this fall." It's unclear if the "September" timeframe was simply a mistake or prematurely-revealed information. We've yet to hear back from Apple.

Say "Hey Siri" when using an iPad, and Apple's virtual assistant will take over the entire display, obscuring whatever you were doing on the device. Say the same thing to your Mac, however, and ‌Siri‌ responds in a more multitasking-friendly way by appearing in a small window in the corner of the screen, allowing you to drag and drop retrieved items from it.

This less disruptive, more functional implementation of ‌Siri‌ in macOS may well be coming to ‌iPad‌, although it's unlikely to appear in the first version of iPadOS, which is due to be released this fall. The possibility was hinted at by Craig Federighi, Apple's VP of software engineering, in response to an email sent to him by Apple user Juliano Rossi.

Responding to Rossi's request that ‌Siri‌ on iPadOS behaves like on the Mac, without filling the entire screen, Federighi wrote:

"Hi Juliano,

Thanks for the note. Really glad that you enjoyed the keynote.

What you describe is certainly valid feedback. Unfortunately, it's not something we can add in at the last minute, but we will certainly consider it for the future.

Thanks for caring!

- craig"

As Federighi's response suggests, adding this less intrusive ‌Siri‌ behavior would require some significant changes to the OS, so it's not something that could be included at this late stage in software testing. But as Portuguese tech blog iHelp BR notes, it's at least good to know that Apple is aware of the legitimate request, which would bring iPadOS even closer to the macOS experience.

Apple often considers user feedback, but sometimes takes a while to act on it. For instance, the company eventually responded to multiple user requests that it change the volume level indicator in iOS. When pressing the volume buttons on iPhone or ‌iPad‌ running iOS 12 or earlier, the volume indicator displays in the center of the screen, obscuring content. As of iOS 13, coming this fall, the indicator is smaller and appears at the side of the display in a less intrusive manner.

Unveiled last week during Apple's WWDC keynote, iPadOS is designed to bring more desktop-class functionality to iPads with bigger screens. iPadOS will incorporate several features that recognize the tablet's function as a potential computer replacement, including a new Home screen, an updated Split View to enhance multitasking, and improved Apple Pencil support.

In iOS 13 and iPadOS, Apple has added a new way to delete apps from your device right from the App Store.

When you're updating apps on your phone, or viewing apps that were recently updated, you can swipe left on any app in the list to bring up a "Delete" option.

Tapping on delete brings up the standard app deletion interface, where you can confirm the app's deletion or select the cancel option.

The option to delete apps right from the ‌App Store‌ is a convenient way to get rid of unwanted apps as soon as you see them, without the need to leave the ‌App Store‌, hunt down the app's icon, and remove it that way as was necessary in prior versions of iOS.

Apple has moved the app update interface in iOS 12 to make room for Apple Arcade. The new ‌Apple Arcade‌ tab replaces the prior Update tab to provide easy access to the upcoming gaming service.

You can now access app updates by tapping on your profile picture at the top of the ‌App Store‌ and scrolling down to the Pending Updates section, which also houses a list of recent updates.

WWDC 2019 wraps up today after a very busy week in San Jose, ranging from Apple's reveal of the all-new Mac Pro and iOS 13 on Monday to rock band Weezer performing at the WWDC Bash on Thursday. In between, there were hundreds of sessions, special events, get-togethers, and more.

We've put together a gallery of photos from Apple and others for a look back at the past six days of festivities.

Check out our WWDC 2019 news hub for in-depth coverage of all of Apple's announcements and software releases.

In macOS Catalina, the Preview app has a new feature that makes it easier to sign PDFs and other documents by leveraging an iPhone or an iPad running the iOS 13/iPadOS operating system.

Rather than using the Trackpad to create a signature, or scanning a piece of paper, you can connect to your ‌iPhone‌ or ‌iPad‌ to sign there using either a finger or an Apple Pencil.

In the Preview app, under Tools > Annotate > Signature > Manage Signatures > Create Signatures, there is a new option to choose to create a signature with an iOS device. Clicking on this option lets you select an available ‌iPhone‌ or ‌iPad‌ to use.

Devices running iOS 12 will show up in this list, but creating a signature only works on a device running iOS 13. Selecting an ‌iPhone‌ or ‌iPad‌ with iOS 13 will pop up a simple signature interface on the device in question, where you can sign with a finger on the ‌iPhone‌ or a finger or ‌Apple Pencil‌ on ‌iPad‌.

After you've signed, tap the done button, and your signature is instantly made available in the Preview app as an option to be inserted into your documents.

We needed to have the devices unlocked to get the signature interface to pop up, but this may be a bug that will be addressed in a later beta.

You can already sign PDFs right on the ‌iPhone‌ or ‌iPad‌ using Markup features, but the new Preview option is a useful, streamlined way to get a signature on a document if you start the process using a Mac.

macOS Catalina introduces Sidecar, a native feature that turns the iPad into a secondary display for the Mac. It's a useful function that works well, but it's also something that third-party companies have been doing for several years now.

One of those companies makes the Luna Display, a hardware-based dongle that plugs into the Mac to turn the ‌iPad‌ into a secondary display. According to Luna Display's founders, though ‌Sidecar‌ offers similar connected technology, the Luna Display is sticking around.

"We're not going anywhere," wrote CEO Matt Ronge and Head of Product Giovanni Donelli in a blog post shared this afternoon. The two go on to explain that while they're disappointed in Apple's decision, they plan to continue to cater to creative professionals.

We've spent the last five years building innovative products like Astropad and Luna Display that cater to true creative professionals. Our team has always doubled-down on delivering deep customization and low-latency input. Why? Because that's user-driven and that's what we do.

If you have basic needs, Apple's Sidecar may do the trick. But if you're a pro, we've built Luna Display to fit around your creative workflow.

We know that creative pros have highly-individualized and unique ways of working productively. Whether you need to collaborate with multiple users, or take advantage of the Mac mini's portability by setting your iPad as the main display -- Luna offers the freedom and flexibility to build a connected workspace around your needs, so you can be productive anywhere.

Luna Display's founders are also planning to expand to new platforms and see a "bright future" in Windows.

The Luna Display adapter has been around since it launched as a Kickstarter project in 2017, and before that, Astropad, an iOS and Mac app that offers Sidecar-like functionality, was available for using an ‌iPad‌ or iPhone as a secondary display for a Mac.

‌Sidecar‌ is available in macOS Catalina and it takes just a few clicks to turn an ‌iPad‌ into a secondary display. ‌Sidecar‌ does have its limitations, though, and is only available on newer Macs from 2015/2016 and later.

Apple's upcoming iPadOS is designed to bring more desktop-class functionality to iPads with bigger screens, and as part of that aim, Safari is receiving a major overhaul that will enable it to display desktop versions of websites.

In the first instance, Apple is going about this by adapting Safari's mobile "user agent" – that aspect of the software which retrieves and renders interaction with web content – to enable the iOS browser to retrieve the desktop variety of a website by default, rather than its mobile counterpart.

In addition to that, Apple appears to be custom-optimizing the iPadOS Safari user agent to include touch- and keyboard-based interaction with at least some popular websites. As highlighted by The Verge's Dieter Bohn in his brief testing of Google Docs, Apple has made it possible to use touch to hit the menu buttons.

Google Docs has long been a huge problem on the iPad, for two reasons. First, Google’s own iPad app is god-awful and the company seems hell-bent on not updating it to work better. Second, Google Docs in Safari on the iPad right now redirects you to that app even if you “Request Desktop Site.”

On iPadOS, however, Google Docs in Safari seems great.

Admittedly, I only spent about five minutes poking around, but I went straight for the stuff I didn’t expect to work at all — and it worked. Keyboard shortcuts for formatting and header styling, comments, cursor placement, and even watching real-time edits from another person in the doc all worked.

For the productivity suite, Safari for iPadOS seems to be re-rendering the web-based interface to align it more with the site's desktop functionality. Granted, we don't know yet how far this optimization extends – is it only available for a handful of commonly used desktop sites, for example, or will Apple's implementation be more extensible? – but it's at least a sign that Apple is doing a lot under the hood to make Safari on iPad more of a desktop-class user experience.

iPadOS will incorporate several features that recognize the tablet's function as a potential computer replacement, including a new Home screen, an updated Split View to enhance multitasking, improved Apple Pencil support, and additional keyboard shortcuts for use with physical keyboards. iPadOS is due to get its public release in the fall.