MacRumors

Apple is stepping up its efforts to recruit employees focused on artificial intelligence and machine learning, reports Reuters. The report suggests Apple is looking to challenge Google's lead in features such as Google Now that learn to anticipate smartphone users' needs, something Apple is starting to address in iOS 9 with its new "Proactive" feature.

As part of its push, the company is currently trying to hire at least 86 more employees with expertise in the branch of artificial intelligence known as machine learning, according to a recent analysis of Apple job postings. The company has also stepped up its courtship of machine-learning PhD's, joining Google, Amazon, Facebook and others in a fierce contest, leading academics say.

Apple's machine learning efforts are in large part built with Siri in mind, and Siri should play an important role in this Wednesday's media event, as indicated by the event invitation's tagline.

Many of the currently posted positions are slated for software efforts, from building on Siri’s smarts to the burgeoning search features in iOS. The company is also hiring machine learning experts for divisions such as product marketing and retail, suggesting a broad-based effort to capitalize on data.

Reuters notes that Apple faces a challenge with machine learning due to its focus on privacy and reluctance to tap into all possible data sources. For example, with the Proactive features of iOS 9, Apple is primarily keeping all of the data and analysis on the user's phone, enhancing privacy but limiting some of what can be learned from data passed to the cloud.

Apple's strict policies not only limit what can be learned from user data but also discourage some machine learning experts from pursuing positions with Apple due to that lack of access. Still, Apple is said to be opening up about machine learning, engaging with academic programs in its efforts to lure talent and already having tripled or quadrupled the size of its machine learning team over the last few years.

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has issued a new report that suggests next year's "iPhone 7" could be Apple's thinnest smartphone yet, with a thickness of somewhere between 6.0mm and 6.5mm, which Kuo mentions is a near similar measurement of the current iPod touch's 6.1mm. As a comparison, the current model of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are 6.9mm and 7.1mm thick, respectively.

The report also states that the company will stick to a similar Force Touch technology in next year's version of the iPhone, due to the heavy amount of time and investment Apple and its suppliers have put into adapting it for this year's "iPhone 6s" and "iPhone 6s Plus."

Due to this, Kuo believes that Apple is unlikely to switch from in-cell over to glass-on-glass touch panels next year, which a rumor out of Apple's supply chain in Asia suggested last week. The KGI report says that in-cell panels won't encounter any harsh production bottleneck issues, and that Apple won't be looking to create an iPhone display with a resolution of 4k or higher, so it's more likely for the company to stick with in-cell panels for the time being.

The continued use of in-cell panels would also grant Apple the ability to produce an iPhone as thin as Kuo's suggested 6.0mm-6.5mm size. Although glass-on-glass panels allow for the possibility of a bezel-free iPhone, it also limits the ability for the company to create smaller and thinner smartphones, so if KGI's claim of an iPod Touch-size iPhone is true, it would make most sense for the company to keep using in-cell panels.

The Danny Boyle-directed and Aaron Sorkin-penned Steve Jobs film premiered last night at the 42nd Annual Telluride Film Festival in Colorado, and the first impressions of the biopic are surfacing on the internet this morning. Although not a full review of the movie, Deadline has posted a short opinion piece about the film, noting impressive directing, well-paced editing, and a script by Sorkin that is "even more effective" than his Oscar-winning work on The Social Network.

It’s a companion piece to Sorkin’s Oscar-winning The Social Network screenplay — but even more effective. Boyle said the script is 200 pages and it is densely filled with the kind of dialogue only Sorkin seems to specialize in these days. It’s actually thrilling to listen to, an action movie driven almost exclusively by words, a rare thing for sure in today’s visually driven cinema.

[Boyle's] direction is flawless and really keeps this thing moving, avoiding the static pace it might have been in lesser hands. The result is well worth it, and those magical words provided lots of opportunity for great acting performances led by Michael Fassbender’s spot-on and relentless portrayal of the not-very-likable computer genius.

Notably, Deadline also caught up with Steve Wozniak at Telluride to get his opinion on the film, which partially portrays Wozniak's own life as well with Seth Rogen in the role of the Apple co-founder. Wozniak was enthusiastic about the movie, calling it "authentic" and particularly praising Kate Winslet's performance as Macintosh marketing chief Joanna Hoffman.

When I caught up with him Wozniak told me that, unlike the Jobs biopic with Ashton Kutcher, this one is totally authentic. “I saw a rough cut and I felt like I was actually watching Steve Jobs and the others (including Rogen’s dead-on portrayal of Wozniak), not actors playing them, I give full credit to Danny Boyle and Aaron Sorkin for getting it so right,” he enthusiastically told me, He adding that of all the actors in the film he thinks Winslet might be the most likely to garner awards attention.

The movie was portrayed as a "work in progress" to the attendees at Telluride, due to the fact that Boyle and his workers are still tweaking and editing parts of the movie. With just about a month to go until the film's wide release, it's likely small details like sound cues and other small edits that will make the Telluride screening largely similar to the final movie.

Other sites have begun posting full-length reviews, including Variety, who compares Sorkin's three-act, multiple time period structure to Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Also of note is a neat detail that Boyle shot each time period on era-relevant formats, a fact along with Boyle's uncharacteristically restrained direction that Variety particularly liked.

Working with d.p. Alwin Kutchler, Boyle sometimes sends the camera hurtling after the characters in lengthy, down-the-corridor tracking shots; elsewhere, the brief transitional snippets between acts feature some fairly aggressive stylization, in line with his usual m.o. But for the most part, this is the filmmaker’s most reined-in picture in some time, as if a too-kinetic approach would interfere with the verbal energy of Sorkin’s script.

Besides Guy Hendrix Dyas’ unobtrusively excellent production design, the picture’s major visual coup is the decision to shoot the three acts on three different formats: grainy 16mm film for 1984, lustrous 35mm for 1988, and sleek, high-definition digital for 1998. The distinctions may well be lost on the vast majority of viewers, but it’s just the sort of nicely understated aesthetic flourish that Steve Jobs himself would have surely appreciated.

Indiewire gave the film a B+, pointing out good performances from the cast and the movie's decision to focus on three highly stressful points in Jobs' life to showcase his true personality, ultimately calling it "a kind of "Birdman" for the tech sector," thanks to its real-time accounts of some highly dramatic backstage moments prior to a big show. The website also noted, however, that Sorkin's dialogue can suffer from "constant overstatement" and some foreshadowing to Apple's future feels "unnecessary."

The movie currently sits at a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, but still has just five reviews collected at the time of writing. Although it's still just a handful positive opinions, it's a bit more encouraging as we enter the final stretch before the October 9 theatrical debut, especially for a film that's been a large source of speculation and rumors for so many years now.

Update: Oscar buzz is also surrounding the film coming out of Telluride, with Michael Fassbender's performance getting thrown into the Best Actor category along with other frontrunners like Johnny Depp in Black Mass and Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl.

Ahead of next week's big iPhone-centric event, Apple has begun decorating the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco where the event will take place. As shared by several Twitter and Instagram users, signs with the Apple logo are beginning to go up, and several Apple-branded flags are flying.

A white Apple logo with rainbow-colored accents against a blue background is shown on one wall of the auditorium, shared by CBS/CNET photographer James Martin. The same design was seen on the invitations for the event and was created to mimic Siri's look on the Apple Watch and iOS 9.

Security is heavy around the auditorium, with security guards and police officers guarding signage that's being put up, according to someone on site who spoke to MacRumors and provided pictures. Some of the security guards are now wearing outfits with Apple logos on them.

The colorful Apple logos are accompanied several flags surrounding the auditorium, featuring a white Apple logo on a dark blue background. Swarms of workers are all over the perimeter of the auditorium, running cables up walls into the interior and building out the infrastructure needed for the event.

Along with the flags, Apple has decorated light posts in the area with matching Siri-style banners in a dark blue shade. The decorations for the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium are already beginning to outshine decorations and signage used at past events, and Apple is likely to continue adding more over the course of the weekend.

Apple's upcoming Wednesday, September 9 event is expected to be huge. The auditorium where it's being held seats 7,000, and the company may be using some of the available space to demo products that will be released. The event will see the debut of an unprecedented number of devices, including the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, the new Apple TV, the iPad mini 4, and the iPad Pro.

Apple is also expected to introduce additional Apple Watch Sport materials, perhaps in gold, and new Sport bands. An iPad keyboard may also make an appearance at the event, and we'll also get release details for iOS 9 and watchOS 2.

MacRumors will provide live coverage of Apple's event, through a live blog on MacRumors.com and on our MacRumorsLive Twitter account.

(Thanks, John!)

Based on a few whispers and some research, MacRumors believes that Swiss real-time motion capture firm Faceshift may have been acquired by Apple in recent weeks. Faceshift has been working with game and animation studios, as well as smaller companies, on technology to quickly and accurately capture facial expressions using 3D sensors, including releasing Faceshift Studio software with plugins for animation software like Maya and Unity. More recently, the company has been working toward consumer-facing software such as a Skype plugin that would support real-time avatars for video chat.

Faceshift was launched in 2011 out of the Computer Graphics and Geometry Laboratory at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne and has shown off some impressive demos of its technology in a number of settings. In mid-2013, the company brought on industry veteran Doug Griffin, formerly of Industrial Light & Magic and Electronic Arts, to head up a San Francisco office.

Faceshift has clearly been acquired by another company in recent weeks, as noted in a Swiss company registry filing from August 19 showing the three original corporate directors having stepped down as of August 14 and being replaced by Baker & McKenzie mergers and acquisitions attorney Martin Frey. Frey does not appear to have any direct links with Apple, but Apple has frequently used Baker & McKenzie's services in a number of countries around the world, including management of some of Apple's Swiss trademarks.

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Accompanying the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, iPad Pro and next-generation Apple TV set to be announced next week, Apple is also planning a revamped iPad keyboard and new metal finishes for the Apple Watch Sport, including a less expensive gold version, according to The New York Times.

9to5Mac reported similar information, claiming the iPad Pro will have expanded Bluetooth keyboard support and that Apple is working on a new keyboard accessory for the rumored 12.9-inch tablet, which could be released by year end. The report also hinted at the possibility of new gold Apple Watch Sport colors.

Last month, a new Apple Wireless Keyboard with Bluetooth 4.2 and a rechargeable lithium-on battery was discovered in filings with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. Images of an Apple Wireless Keyboard with backlit keys and a power button also briefly surfaced on the Apple Online Store in March.

MacRumors has also received information about Apple's plans to release at least one new metal finish for the Apple Watch. KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo first noted the Apple Watch may gain additional casing options in March, and three months later said a yellow and rose gold Apple Watch Sport will launch in the fall.

Apple is also expected to debut new Apple Watch Sport bands at its September 9th media event, possibly with a focus on darker colors.

MacRumors will be providing live blog coverage of Apple's "Hey Siri" media event, which begins next Wednesday at 10:00 AM Pacific.

Apple has constructed a creative barricade with colorful artwork that confirms its first Apple Store in Belgium will open on Saturday, September 19. The retail store will be located on Avenue de la Toison d'Or in the capital city of Brussels.

Apple confirmed the store opening to Belgian website Apple Nieuws Vlaanderen, which has shared several photos of the storefront. The store has not yet been listed on Apple's website, but store hours and grand opening details should be available soon.

Update 8:32 AM: Apple's store page for the new Brussels location is now live, but with the opening still two weeks away the store is not yet taking reservations for Genius Bar appointments or workshops.

Apple will announce an updated 21.5-inch iMac with a 4K display at the end of October alongside the release of OS X El Capitan, reports 9to5Mac. The new iMac will then begin shipping out to customers in early November.

A new 21.5-inch Retina iMac has been anticipated for several months, following the discovery of code in OS X El Capitan that pointed towards a 21.5-inch machine with a resolution of 4096 x 2304. That code pointed towards Broadwell chips with Intel Iris Pro Graphics 6200 and AMD Radeon M380 - M395X discrete graphics, which may hint at the hardware we'll see in the updated iMac.

Reliable KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo also said in early August that the iMac line would receive a refresh this quarter, adding new processors and improved display quality that brings greater color saturation.

Apple began updating its iMac lineup last October, with the launch of the 27-inch Retina iMac. Updates across the line have been slow, however, due to Intel's ongoing Broadwell chip delays, and the 21.5-inch iMac has not seen an update since 2013.

It is not clear if Apple will release multiple 21.5-inch iMac models during the October refresh, or which chips those machines might use. Skylake chips appropriate for the iMac are launching "later this year," but there are a handful of Broadwell chips appropriate for various 21.5-inch iMac models.

The latest data from digital media analytics firm comScore shows that Apple continues to increase its lead over Samsung, LG, Motorola, HTC and other handset makers in U.S. smartphone market share, less than one week before the launch of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.

iPhones captured 44.2% market share among U.S. smartphone subscribers aged 13 and older based on a three-month average ending July 2015, an increase of 1.1 percentage points over the preceding three month average.

Samsung's smartphone share in the U.S. dropped to 27.3% in July 2015, a decline of 1.3 percentage points over April 2015. LG, Motorola and HTC rounded off the top five smartphone makers with 8.7%, 4.9% and 3.5% smartphone market share in the U.S. respectively.

Android remained the most widely adopted smartphone platform in the U.S. with 51.4% market share based on the July 2015 data, trailed by iOS with 44.2% market share. Windows Phone, BlackBerry and Symbian accounted for 2.9%, 1.3% and 0.1% market share in the U.S. respectively.

Facebook ranked as the most popular smartphone app in the U.S. with 73.3% reach, according to comScore's Mobile Metrix. Facebook Messenger, YouTube, Google Search, Google Play, Google Maps, Pandora Radio, Gmail, Instagram and Yahoo Stocks rounded off the top ten apps.

Apple is set to announce the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus at its September 9th media event in San Francisco.

6S Marketing, an ad agency located in New York, is hoping to persuade Apple to change the name of its upcoming iOS device, the iPhone 6s, to the iPhone 7. The company has written an open letter addressed to Apple and rented several billboards, one in Times Square, reading "Dear Universe, Please call it the iPhone 7. Sincerely, 6S Marketing."

6S Marketing has also tagged its billboards with a campaign hashtag, #WeAre6S, which it says it uses to "highlight our unique and fun company culture."

In the letter posted on its website, 6S Marketing goes on to say the company has heard rumors the next-generation iPhone will be called the iPhone 6s, and urges Apple to "reconsider" before detailing the company's long history.

See, our company name is 6S Marketing, but our clients, friends, and colleagues simply refer to us as good ol' "6S." It's a small name but a big part of our identity -- one we've been using since 2000, when we started this company in my tiny apartment. At that time, we didn't think that one of the biggest, and most well-respected, companies would use it to name a mobile device. (We were still using Motorola flip phones at the time, after all.)

The reason we chose the name "6S" is that it sound like "success" (get it?).

As we're now less than a week away from the unveiling of the next-generation iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, there would be no time for Apple to change its own marketing materials and packaging even should it choose to consider 6S Marketing's plea, a fact the company likely knows, making this more of a publicity stunt than a genuine request.

Apple's iPhone naming scheme has been the same for multiple years in a row, having kicked off with the iPhone 3GS. 6S Marketing's publication of its letter at this late date in Apple's development cycle suggests the company is simply hoping to garner some attention ahead of the September 9 introduction of the next-generation iPhone.

6S Marketing ends its open letter with the following: "Hopefully, this message will reach you in time and you'll reconsider leaving "6S" to the originals -- we've been rocking it since the millennium, after all."