A significant number of users on Reddit and Twitter, corroborated by multiple tips we have received, are affected by an ongoing App Store issue preventing a number of popular iOS apps from showing up in search results unless already installed, including Google, Periscope, Spotify, Tidal, Tumblr, Uber, Vine, Waze, and many others.
The search issues appear to be widespread, affecting iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch customers throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, Hong Kong, and elsewhere since early Thursday morning. Apple has yet to update its System Status page with any reported issues as of 6:00 a.m. Pacific, but it has historically been slow in reflecting outages.
Update: The search issues also appear to extend to iTunes and the Mac App Store.
Update 2: Apple is aware that users have been "experiencing a problem with the App Store" since about 2:00 a.m. Pacific. Apple is "investigating and will update the status as more information becomes available."
Update: Apple's System Status page indicates the App Store issues were resolved shortly after 8:00 a.m. Pacific. Search results now appear to be functioning normally.
British luxury car maker Bentley has released an Apple Watch app that treats Bentayga SUV passengers to a bevy of car functions not seen before on a smartwatch.
The app uses "bespoke digital architecture" that synchronizes with the vehicle's Touch Screen Remote (TSR) system, enabling passengers to access in-car climate control and entertainment systems, including the ability to adjust the heating, ventilation, and massage functions of their seats.
Elsewhere, users can also monitor real-time car information from within the app, such as vehicle speed, distance travelled, and outside temperature. Meanwhile, media functions for hi-fi and digital TV include the ability to change volume, adjust playback controls, and switch media sources.
And if the driver seat is too reclined for passengers' liking, this can be adjusted from the app, too.
Los Angeles police investigators have discovered a workable method to bypass the hardened security features of a locked iPhone 5s, according to The Los Angeles Times.
In court documents seen by the newspaper yesterday, LAPD detectives found a "forensic cellphone expert" who could unlock the iPhone 5s belonging to April Jace, the slain wife of "The Shield" actor Michael Jace, who is accused of killing her at their L.A. home in 2014.
The claim appeared in a search warrant filed during the same period that the FBI was demanding Apple unlock the earlier model iPhone 5c of San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook. In that high-profile case, the FBI eventually unlocked the phone with the help of professional hackers, paying them up to $1 million for a tool exploiting a security vulnerability.
According to FBI director James Comey, the method obtained by the bureau only worked on a "narrow slice of phones", which did not include models of the iPhone 5s and after, presumably because the latter devices are equipped with Apple's proprietary Secure Enclave, a separate security-hardened portion of the core processing chip with its own secure boot and personalized software where private encryption keys are stored and used to secure data.
Prior to the the FBI's acquisition of its hacking method, several security experts warned that the ability the bureau sought from Apple would in fact work on later devices, while Apple claimed back in February that the method the FBI asked it for to unlock an iPhone 5c was also possible on newer devices with the Secure Enclave. According to TechCrunch, Apple said at the time that the technical solutions would be different than they are on the iPhone 5c, but not impossible.
According to The Times, the search warrant filed in the April Jace killing did not detail the method used by the LAPD to open the later-model iPhone 5s, nor did police reveal the identity of the cellphone expert. It's also unclear what operating system April Jace's phone had.
The iPhone 5s has been at the center of the investigation after it was claimed that the actor and his wife argued "about their relationship" via text message shortly before he is alleged to have shot her. Michael Jace's attorneys successfully persuaded a judge to delay his murder trial, arguing that the dead woman's phone should undergo a more exhaustive search than one initially conducted by police.
Shortly after her killing, April Jace's cellphone was locked by a passcode, which "hindered" the investigation. But in January 2015, an Apple technician was ordered by an L.A. judge to help police extract data from the phone, according to the search warrant.
That attempt apparently failed to obtain any information and a second attempt by the L.A. County district attorney's office the same month left the phone "disabled". The following month, authorities tried to inspect the iPhone but it didn't even turn on, the warrant stated.
But in March, investigators learned that a forensic cellphone expert could "override" the security features and let authorities view the phone's contents. A senior investigator with the district attorney's office was apparently then able to examine the phone in April. Jace, 53, is currently awaiting trial in the case.
Last week it was reported that the FBI will not reveal to Apple the method it used to hack into the iPhone of the San Bernardino shooter, because it does not have the rights to the technical data about how the method functions. Apple wants details on the flaw so a fix can be implemented. Until it does, the FBI can keep using the vulnerability so long as it remains unpatched.
Amid its dispute with the FBI, reports suggest Apple has already begun work on implementing stronger security measures to protect iOS devices in order to counter the threat of hackers rather than the government. Apple has also said it has revamped its internal security teams.
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
Live video streaming iOS app Periscope has gained a new feature that lets users save their broadcasts forever.
Users of the Twitter-owned app are now able to permanently save replays of their videos simply by including the hashtag #save in the title, with the option remaining to delete the broadcast at a later time. The new feature puts it on a level footing with Facebook Live, which touts the same facility to make videos permanent.
The new feature was announced last night via Periscope by CEO Kayvon Beykpour, who described the feature as a "public beta" and part of an upcoming "holistic solution" that will let users control how broadcasts stay on the platform, including when to keep broadcasts for longer than the default 24-hour window and when to have them deleted more quickly.
Comments and hearts are saved with broadcasts that use the new #save hashtag and there is no limit to the number of videos a user can save. Broadcasts with the hashtag will be visible in a user's profile, as well as anywhere else they show up, while links shared externally such as via Twitter will remain permanently active.
Periscope also bid a fond farewell to Katch, a third-party tool for saving Periscope videos and sharing them elsewhere. The startup shut down last month after running out of funding, reports TechCrunch.
Periscope users need not update their app to see the change come into effect, but should instead sign up for the Periscope Beta Program.
Periscope is a free download on the App Store available for iPhone and iPad. [Direct Link] A separate Apple TV app is also available on the Apple TV App Store.
Dag Kittlaus and Adam Cheyer, co-founders of Siri, the virtual assistant now built into all of Apple's iOS devices, are set to demonstrate their newest artificial intelligence project on Monday, reports The Washington Post. Viv, the name of the AI bot, is more advanced than Siri and is able to carry out complex tasks by mimicking the "spontaneity and knowledge base" of a human assistant.
Viv can, for example, set up a dinner reservation and purchase movie tickets all based on one query, parsing ticket prices to find deals and offering suggestions if a movie is sold out or a restaurant has no seating available. Completing the same task with Siri would require multiple commands and human interaction. In an example given by The Washington Post, the Viv team uses it to order pizzas from a nearby restaurant, with Viv parsing numerous voice-based topping and side dish orders without ever needing to open an app.
Much of Viv's functionality is enabled through integration with third-party apps like Uber, Florist One, SeatGuru, ZocDoc, and Grubhub, similar to Amazon's Alexa. The team behind Viv is in talks to bring on more partners and plans bring the Viv technology to a variety of Internet-connected devices like cars and TVs.
Grubhub chief executive Matt Maloney said he rushed to sign up with Viv two years ago, impressed with the idea of allowing consumers to perform different activities without having to toggle between services. "No one has been able to say, 'I want the movie ticket, and the bottle of wine, and some flowers on the side' -- all in one breath," he said.
The goal with Viv, according to Kittlaus, is to offer a way for humans to interact naturally with services through complex human-to-human style conversations, a project Kittlaus and Cheyer have been pursuing since before the development of Siri.
Siri was built around the same premise, but underwent changes under Apple's leadership. "Steve [Jobs] had some ideas about the first version, and it wasn't necessarily aligned with all the things that we were doing," Kittlaus told The Washington Post.
Google and Facebook have already made offers to purchase Viv, but it is not clear if Kittlaus and Cheyer have plans to sell the technology. The Viv Labs team wants to see the technology built into a wide range of devices, and Kittlaus says the company will "pick the path that gets us there."
Internet-based subscription television plans are growing in popularity, and YouTube is the latest company rumored to be working on a standalone television service. According to Bloomberg, YouTube is developing a paid subscription service called "Unplugged," offering a bundle of channels for a set price.
YouTube has already built the infrastructure necessary for the service and is prioritizing its development for a 2017 debut. YouTube has been in talks with major media companies like NBCUniversal, Viacom, Fox, and CBS, but has not yet been able to secure rights for the service.
YouTube is said to be aiming to build a streaming service similar to the service Apple hoped to offer before putting its streaming TV plans on hold. It would include a "skinny bundle" of channels from the four major U.S. networks along with a few popular cable channels priced at around $35 per month.
YouTube is also considering plans offering a collection of less-watched television channels or smaller groups of channels built around different themes, such as comedy or lifestyle.
YouTube would charge one subscription for the main bundle, and extra, smaller monthly fees for these theme-based groups, one of the people said. Using this approach, YouTube could show it is capable of bringing new viewers to many of these second-tier channels, a major concern for large media companies that depend on TV for most of their profits.
If YouTube can make it work, media companies may be more open to including more-successful channels later, one of the people familiar said.
Along with YouTube, Hulu is also building its own competing streaming television service. News of Hulu's plan surfaced earlier this week and was confirmed this morning by Hulu CEO Mike Hopkins.
Hulu's subscription model will offer customers cable-style access to popular broadcast television networks and cable channels to complement its existing streaming service, plus it will include a cloud-based DVR feature. Hulu is also aiming to launch its live TV subscription plan in 2017 and is close to signing deals with partners like Disney and Fox. Pricing for the service has not yet been announced, but rumors suggest it will be available for around $40.
"This means our viewers will be able to enjoy live sports, news and events all in real-time without a traditional cable or satellite subscription," said Hopkins. "We're going to fuse the best of linear television and on-demand in a deeply personalized experience optimized for the contemporary, always-connected television fan."
As network executives grow accustomed to establishing deals for streaming television services, Apple may be able to revisit its television plans. Apple has been working on some kind of subscription TV service for several years, but executives have not been able to establish deals with content owners. Apple's latest streaming plans reportedly fell apart because media companies demanded more money than Apple wanted to charge for its TV service and were reluctant to unbundle channels.
Twitter today updated its dedicated Mac app with support for several Twitter features that have previously been available to Twitter users on iOS and the web, including Moments and Polls.
Introduced in October, Moments is a new Twitter tab that's designed to help users discover popular news stories, events, and trending topics, aggregating interesting content into categories like News, Sports, Entertainment, and Fun.
The ability to create custom polls embedded within Tweets was also added in a separate October update, allowing Twitter users to query their followers through multiple choice 24-hour polls.
Along with support for Moments and Polls, Twitter for Mac users can now share GIFs in tweets and Direct Messages through a new GIF search feature.
What's New - Find the best of Twitter in an instant with Moments. Follow top stories through immersive pics, clips, and conversations. Get insights and perspectives you won't find anywhere else. - Create polls on Twitter and with just a couple of taps, people can weigh in on all the topics they care about. - Sharing GIFs in Tweets and Direct Messages is even easier with our new GIF search.
Today's Twitter for Mac update comes five months after a major app overhaul that was introduced in December. The Twitter for Mac 4.0 update introduced a slew of features like inline video playback, group direct messages, mute, a dark theme, and Notification Center widget.
Twitter for Mac can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]
Apple no longer has the exclusive rights to the "iPhone" trademark in China after the Beijing Municipal High People’s Court ruled in favor of leather goods manufacturer Xintong Tiandi Technology earlier in March. As reported by Legal Daily [Google Translate], the decision will let the Beijing company continue to sell leather bags and cases with the brand name "IPHONE" on each cover without fear of legal blowback from Apple (via Quartz).
The Cupertino company filed for a trademark of the iPhone name in China back in 2002, specifically centering around computer software and hardware, but Xintong Tiandi didn't do the same for leather goods until 2007, the year the iPhone launched in the United States. The leather case maker was granted that trademark in 2010. Following a few years of growing iPhone success, Apple decided to take the case to the Chinese trademark authority in 2012, subsequently filing a lawsuit in a lower Beijing court, and eventually losing both.
Xintong Tiandi's trademarked IPHONE case
The Chinese trademark authority's decision stemmed from its belief that "the general public will not link the trademark in dispute with Apple to harm its [Apple’s] interests," stating that Apple could not prove "iPhone" was a well-known brand in China before Xintong Tiandi trademarked it in 2007.
Apple continued to appeal, all the way to the Beijing Municipal High People’s Court, but the final decision has come and echoes the trademark authority's conclusion that the company can't prove it was a known trademark before 2007, since Apple's iPhone didn't launch in China until 2009. The court's judgement also made no distinction between the two stylizations of Apple's "iPhone" and Xintong Tiandi's "IPHONE" moniker.
Apple retains the computer software and hardware rights to the iPhone trademark, but with the new ruling, Xintong Tiandi can continue to manufacture and sell its "IPHONE" branded cases to the Chinese public. The accessory maker hopes that Apple will work with it moving forward to create a market that is beneficial to both definitions of "iPhone" consumers.
Xintong Tiandi wrote on its website that the court’s decision is a reflection of a “free market.” “We will also make full achievement of the ‘iphone’ trademark, and work together [with Apple] to benefit more iphone consumers!,” it said on the site.
China is Apple's second largest market in total revenue following the United States, and the company has been following a steadfast strategy of expanding its presence in the country with numerous retail shops openingfrequently over the past few months. Still, unease and concern with China's strict internet policies have led to a few mishaps with Apple products. Most recently, that included the unexpected closure of the iTunes and iBooks stores when a dystopian film depicting Hong Kong in an unfavorable light launched on Apple's digital platform in the country.
Update: In a new statement, Apple confirmed it intends to keep fighting the trademark battle with Xintong Tiandi, all the way up to China's highest court. “We intend to request a retrial with the Supreme People’s Court and will continue to vigorously protect our trademark rights,” the company said in a statement to the South China Morning Post.
Kohl's has announced that customers can now pay for their purchases with Kohl’s Charge Cards or other credit or debit cards and simultaneously earn Yes2You Rewards loyalty points with a single tap using Apple Pay.
The combined functionality is currently available in approximately 250 Kohl’s stores in the United States, and the department store chain expects one-tap checkout to be available in all stores nationwide later this month.
Kohl's is the first retailer to offer a one-tap solution for payments and rewards using Apple Pay. Customers can simply add both their Kohl's Charge Card or other payment method and Yes2You Rewards card to Apple Pay and simultaneously pay and collect loyalty points upon checkout with one Touch ID tap for verification.
Last week, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that Apple Pay is "growing at a tremendous rate," with transaction volume up five times compared to a year ago and the service gaining one million new users per week. Apple Pay is currently available in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, China, and Singapore.
Cook noted that Apple Pay will launch in additional regions "soon," including Hong Kong and Spain through a partnership with American Express later this year. Visa and/or MasterCard support may also be coming soon in countries such as Brazil, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore.
As a few users have noticed over the past day, Spotify has begun rolling out a small but significant design change to its iOS app that does away with the hamburger menu and replaces it with an easier-to-understand navigation bar across the bottom of the experience. The new bar more closely resembles the rest of the apps in Apple's ecosystem, particularly the navigation menu on its own streaming music service, Apple Music, which is now rumored for a design overhaul announcement at WWDC.
Before the update, Spotify users had to tap on the three-line hamburger button in the top-left corner of the app to open up a launch pad menu that would bring them to other sections of the service like its radio and music library. Hiding much-needed areas of Spotify from the immediate view of its users made it somewhat of a hassle, especially for newcomers, so the introduction of the straightforward traversal cues presented by the navigation bar should help everyone out.
Specifically, the new bar houses tabs for Spotify's Home launching pad, an area to browse new music, a search function, access to radio, and your own library of music. Understandably, some in-house testing by Spotify discovered that with the tab bar, user interactivity with these menu options jumped up 30 percent over the hamburger UI, while also encouraging new music and artist discovery and keeping users inside the service instead of seeking alternative solutions in other music streaming apps.
iPhone users in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, and Sweden will begin seeing the navigation bar update as the rollout continues today, with the company promising additional markets and platforms in the coming months. Spotify Music is available to download from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]
Apple is planning to overhaul its year-old music streaming service to make it "more easy to use", according to people familiar with the matter (via Bloomberg News).
The company is set to redesign the user interface to make it more intuitive, said the sources, who asked to remain anonymous because the plans are yet to be made public. Apple also means to significantly enhance the integration of its streaming and download businesses and expand its online radio service.
According to Bloomberg, a full reboot of Apple Music is to be unveiled at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June and will be accompanied by a fresh marketing campaign to entice customers to the subscription-based service, which currently costs $10 per month.
Apple Music was introduced with much fanfare back in June 2015. While many commentators gave generally positive reviews, the service was criticized for its muddled interface and dearth of features. Meanwhile, Taylor Swift penned an open letter to the Cupertino company criticizing it for not paying artists during the service's free three-month trial and explaining her decision not to make her album 1989 available to stream on Apple Music. Artists have also complained that Apple Music's social aspect, called Connect, "fails miserably" in its aims.
Apple has struggled to integrate its employees and unite the streaming and downloading businesses into a cohesive music strategy, according to the latest report. As a result, the service is now being overseen by content head Robert Kondrk and Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor. Design chief Jony Ive's team has also been involved, along with former Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine and senior VP of Internet services Eddy Cue.
Apple Music has reached 13 million subscribers, announced Apple CEO Tim Cook at last week's earnings call. The figure was 2 million higher than that reported in February, indicating a growth rate on par with industry-leading streaming service Spotify.
Update: Details about the upcoming Apple Music redesign have been shared by 9to5Mac. It is said to feature a "bolder, yet simpler" design that puts an emphasis on black and white backgrounds and text and more of a focus on album art. The "New" tab in Apple Music is being replaced with a "Browse" option with better organizational tools for finding new content, and Apple will encourage users to use a simplified "For You" section.
Connect, Apple Music's artist-focused social network, will remain unchanged, as will Beats 1 Radio. New 3D Touch shortcut previews will be added, Apple will make sharing features more obvious, and a feature allowing listeners to easily access song lyrics will be added. The new Apple Music app will reportedly debut at WWDC in iOS 10 and will be introduced through an iTunes update on the Mac.
Three out of four wearable devices worn by U.S. consumers are fitness bands, over half of which are made by Fitbit, according to new statistics released today.
According to Kantar Worldpanel ComTech’s wearable tech report 2016, more than one in ten consumers in the U.S. own a wearable device (12.2 percent of survey respondents), yet despite smartwatch vendors like Apple promoting advanced features over and above health and fitness capabilities, fitness bands are showing no signs of wavering popularity.
"For both smartwatch and fitness band buyers – brand, ease of use, and functionality are the top drivers of purchase, outweighing both design and cost," said Shannon Conway, wearable tech analyst for Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. "Fitbit established itself as an early market leader, capturing 61.7 percent of the U.S. installed base by communicating a clear and simple value proposition to consumers." By contrast, Apple accounts for only 6.8 percent of the total number of fitness bands and smartwatches owned in the US.
In the two months ending with March 2016, Fitbit claimed more than 50 percent of wearable purchases with the sales period only partially covering its newest releases, the Blaze and the Alta. Apple and Garmin trailed in second and third, respectively.
In the same period, Fitbit's Flex continued to be one of the top-selling models among fitness bands and smartwatches combined, behind the Fitbit Charge and Charge HR. Overall sales of wrist-worn wearables were driven largely by online purchases (63 percent) and particularly through Amazon.com, which has proven to be Fitbit's top retailer.
Meanwhile in Europe, wearables have not seen the same popularity as in the U.S., achieving only half the market penetration (6.6 percent), while Fitbit does not dominate the market the way it does on the other side of the Atlantic. "Of the combined fitness band and smartwatch base, Fitbit remains the most-owned brand at 18.5 percent, but Apple and Samsung follow closely with 14 percent and 11.6 percent, respectively," said market analyst Lauren Guenveur. Europe's big four markets include Great Britain, Germany, France, and Italy.
Earlier this week, Fitbit CEO James Park explained in an interview how he decided to re-engineer Fitbit products to support Bluetooth following the introduction of the iPhone 4s (the first iPhone to support Bluetooth 4.0), which made the the Fitbit One and the Fitbit Zip highly successful as a result. Since then, Fitbit has made an effort to stray away from Apple's approach to product design, focusing on simple devices to make wearables more approachable while avoiding "feature overload".
Fitbit sold 21.4 million devices in 2015, earning $1.86 billion in revenue. While Apple doesn't break out sales of the Apple Watch, IDC and Strategy Analytics estimates put sales at approximately 11.4 million.
The full Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Quarterly Wearables Report can be viewed here.
Moog Music has brought its legendary $10,000 Model 15 analog synthesizer to iOS with the launch of the $30 Model 15 app.
The digital version of the analog modular synth is a one-to-one recreation of the iconic Model 15 from 1973, with a scalable interface that features gestural support for oscillators, low/high-pass filters, a looping recorder, full MIDI integration, ping-pong delay module, and numerous patch cables among the various knobs and switches.
The Model 15 ships with over 160 unique presets, a 1150 ribbon controller, 8-step sequencing arpeggiator, as well as the award-winning Animoog keyboard with 22 built-in scales and polyphonic modulation capabilities.
The Model 15 app supports Inter-App Audio and external MIDI controllers, and comes with Apple Pencil support for iPad Pro owners. The app was built using Apple's Metal low-level graphics optimization API to ensure smooth scrolling and a responsive touch interface throughout. As such, it only works on 64-bit devices running iOS 9.3, including the iPhone 5s and iPad Air or later.
Model 15 is available for $29.99 on the App Store for iPad and iPhone. [Direct Link]
Swiss-made encrypted email app ProtonMail received a significant update yesterday, bringing Touch ID integration and other security enhancements to iOS users.
Logging into the app previously required users to remember their login and mailbox password to access their inbox, but as of version 1.2.3 they can turn on the Touch ID feature to unlock encrypted email with their finger on opening the app.
An optional second layer of security has also been included, requiring users to enter a PIN code instead of or as well as their fingerprint. A new automatic lock function also lets users set ProtonMail to auto-lock every time they come out of the app, or after a set amount of time.
Elsewhere, ProtonMail users can now add attachments from iCloud and other third-party storage apps directly to their messages, while an option to automatically show images in messages and password manager support for iOS have also been introduced. Paid ProtonMail Plus account holders additionally get mobile signature editing, with a number of bug fixes and smaller improvements also among the updates.
ProtonMail was launched in March by Swiss software developer and civil liberties outfit Proton Technologies. The service made waves in the security community as the first free end-to-end encrypted email service built on the back of a half a million dollar crowdfunding campaign.
ProtonMail invisibly integrates PGP encryption into a modern user interface and operates on the service's "zero access" policy, meaning all messages are stored in encrypted format so that not even ProtonMail has access to their contents.
Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke with CNBC's Mad Money host Jim Cramer yesterday for a two-part interview covering a wide range of topics. In the second portion of the interview, which aired tonight, Cook talked about Apple's recent feud with the FBI, what Apple stands for, and who he personally admires.
On a question about what Apple stands for and what he's most proud of, Tim Cook said Apple conducts business in a way that's "right and just." He pointed towards the company's environmental efforts, use of renewable energy, focus on human rights, employee shareholder plans, and privacy efforts. "All of these things help us stand for something," he said. "And I think that's what people want."
He went on to say that he's proud of the products Apple makes that give customers the ability to do things they couldn't have done otherwise, from giving a voice to an autistic child to providing tools for artists to giving grandparents a way to talk to their grandkids with FaceTime. "All of these things excite me because they're bringing out the best in people," he said.
Apple has always stood for building the best products on Earth that enrich people's lives. Whether it was Steve's Apple or -- I don't view it as my Apple today, I'm the CEO of it -- that is what we're about. And so we want to change the world through our products. We produce products that give people the ability to do things they couldn't do before.
The discussion on Apple's values turned towards the company's recent dispute with the FBI, where Apple was ordered to unlock the iPhone 5c of San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook, leading to a vicious and public debate between Apple and the U.S. government. Echoing past statements, Cook said the FBI's request, which asked for a new version of iOS that bypassed passcode restrictions, went too far and had the potential to put millions of people at risk. He said Apple had to stand up for what it believed in, even though it led to a fight with the government.
Government in general has gotten quite dysfunctional in the U.S. and in some other countries as well. What that does, I believe, is put more responsibility on the everyday citizen and companies to help promote change and improve things. And I don't mean to play a government role, but it's not just government who can change things. All of us are responsible for changing things.
Cook reiterated his hope that the encryption debate will lead to a discussion where different groups, from law enforcement to civil liberties groups to technology companies, are represented and can weigh in on the issue.
In a final question, on who he admires, Cook named human rights leaders he's spoken of in the past and former Apple CEO Steve Jobs.
I had incredible love and respect for Steve and I think there has never been anyone like him and believe his contributions and gifts to the world were unbelievable. I also deeply admire people who fought for human rights and were pushing humanity forward. People who I think of when I say that are Bobby Kennedy and Dr. King. These people ultimately risked everything, including their lives, to push people forward so that everyone could be included. They were all about inclusiveness. I'm a great believer in inclusiveness.
The first half of Cook's interview with Cramer aired last night and covered topics including innovation, the future of the iPhone and Apple Watch, the growth of Apple services, Apple's performance in China, and more.
Apple recently hired Nest's former Vice President of Technology to work on health related projects at the company, reports Fortune. Yoky Matsuoka, a well-known robotics expert who co-founded the Google X experimental project lab, joined Apple after leaving Nest last year. At Nest, she led the development of machine learning algorithms for the Nest Learning Thermostat.
At Apple, Matsuoka is working under the company's chief operating officer Jeff Williams, who is in charge of Apple's health initiatives like ResearchKit, HealthKit, and CareKit.
Prior to working at Google and Nest, Matsuoka was the director and founder of the University of Washington's Neurobotics Laboratory, focused on building a robot-human system to help individuals who experience strokes, spinal cord injuries, and traumatic brain injuries with rehabilitation and regaining/enhancing motor control. She is known for her work on robotic hands.
Matsuoka has experience in robotics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence, all areas Apple has expressed interest in through recent acquisitions like VocalIQ, Emotient, and Perceptio. According to Fortune, Matsuoka will be working on health-related projects, but the report does not include specifics on what she will be doing or how her robotics expertise might be applied to Apple products.
Ahead of last night's Apple-sponsored Met Gala, Apple design chief Jony Ive spoke with fashion website Business of Fashion about the "Manus x Machina" theme of the event and accompanying Costume Institute Exhibition, giving some insight into his thoughts on design and some hints on the future of the Apple Watch.
According to Ive, who has had a hand in the creation and design of all of Apple's modern product releases, including the company's first wearable device, the goal of the designer is to solve problems without making the consumer aware of the problem that was solved.
In our work, we've always tried to design in a way where you're not aware of the problems that we've had to solve. That's the job of the designer: to solve problems and explore, but not really drag you through what all the problems were.
He went on to explain that tech products, like the Apple Watch, are becoming "more and more personal," something that he says technology companies still have a lot to learn about.
I think we have always had a very clear and a very singular approach to how we design products that are more familiar to people, more established in terms of product categories. I think it's very hard to have that same clarity and singularity when you're not absolutely confident in your subject matter."
Business of Fashion asked Ive about his future plans for the Apple Watch and while he refused to give specifics, he hinted that there could be some dramatic changes in store based on Apple's general product release philosophy. He said the Apple Watch is a "natural" category for Apple and that the company thinks about it in a non-opportunistic, "authentic" way.
It's quite interesting that if you look back at the first generation of the iPod or the Phone -- what happens in the next two, three, four years is dramatic. You'd be very surprised about some of the things you would absolutely assume that the first Phone did and it didn't have. [...]
I personally love products when they're at this level of maturity," Ive said of the Apple Watch. "You know we can't talk about future products, but if you look at what we typically do is that we don't make something and stop.
Jony Ive served as co-chair for the 2016 Met Gala and Costume Institute Exhibition alongside pop star Taylor Swift and actor Idris Elba. Last night, Ive, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and Steve Jobs' widow Laurene Powell Jobs attended the Met Gala alongside hundreds of celebrities, major fashion designers, and other well-known tech leaders like Kevin Systrom, Marissa Mayer, and Elon Musk.
TIME Magazine today published a list ranking the 50 most influential gadgets of all time, from cameras and TVs to music players, smartphones, and drones.
Unsurprisingly, Apple's iPhone was ranked as the number one most influential device on TIME's list, because it "fundamentally changed our relationship to computing and information," popularized mobile apps, and influenced the future of smartphone design.
Apple was the first company to put a truly powerful computer in the pockets of millions when it launched the iPhone in 2007. Smartphones had technically existed for years, but none came together as accessibly and beautifully as the iPhone.
Apple's device ushered in a new era of flat, touchscreen phones with buttons that appeared on screen as you needed them, replacing the chunkier phones with slide-out keyboards and static buttons.
Apple's Macintosh also ranked high on the list, coming in as the number three most influential gadget for setting the standard for "the way human beings interact with computers." The iPod, the precursor to the iPhone and the device that inspired Apple's line of mobile products, was listed as the ninth most influential gadget.
The only other Apple products to make the list are the iPad and the iBook. On the list for being "radically different" than the tablets that came before it, the iPad is ranked at number 25, while the iBook, the first laptop to offer wireless networking, is ranked at number 38.
The product's reveal was a classic example of Steve Jobs' showmanship at its best. While loading a webpage and showing off the computer's display at 1999's MacWorld conference, the Apple co-founder lifted the computer off its table and walked across the stage. The crowd roared in approval. In a gesture, he showed that Wi-Fi was here to stay.
Other smartphones that made the list include the Motorola Droid, credited with popularizing Android, the BlackBerry 6210, and the candy bar-shaped Nokia 3210, the first phone with an internal antenna and built-in games.
The full list, which includes products like Google Glass, Fitbit, Amazon Kindle, Oculus Rift, the Sony Walkman, and more, is available from the TIME website.
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The only other Apple products to make the list are the iPad and the iBook. On the list for being "radically different" than the tablets that came before it, the iPad is ranked at number 25, while the iBook, the first laptop to offer wireless networking, is ranked at number 38.
