MacRumors

Apple is hoping to sign an agreement with the city of San Jose that would allow it to build a massive campus in the northern part of the city, reports the Silicon Valley Business Journal. Apple is in talks with city officials over a development agreement that would lead to a campus up to 4.15 million square feet, larger than both its existing Infinite Loop campus and its second Apple Campus under construction in Cupertino.

The draft agreement, which is not yet completed, will come before the city's Planning Commission later this month, officials said. It would lock in development rights -- and expectations for both sides -- for the next 15 years in an area that sprawls across 86 acres north of Highway 101 across from the Mineta San Jose International Airport.

Apple has already bought or leased much of the land that would house the campus in a series of real estate deals that have happened over the last few months. Apple purchased a 296,000 square foot research and development building in May, and it leased a 43-acre development site in August, which is approved for up to 2.8 million square feet of office space. Apple has also leased a nearby 202,000 square-foot office building. The agreement covers all three of these sites.

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According to the Silicon Valley Business Journal, the development agreement is not the same as a concrete project and gives no guarantee that Apple will build on the space, but given Apple's land grab in the area, it seems the company has plans for something big.

Along with its expansion into North San Jose, Apple has also purchased or leased office space in other Bay Area locations. In early October, Apple signed a deal for a 770,00 square foot campus in Sunnyvale, and back in June, it leased 76,000 square feet of office space in the popular (and pricy) South of Market (SoMa) neighborhood in San Francisco.

ios_9_iconApple today seeded the second beta of iOS 9.2 to public beta testers, one day after seeding the second beta to developers and a week after releasing the first iOS 9.2 public beta. iOS 9.2 follows iOS 9.1, which launched on October 21.

Beta testers who have signed up for Apple’s beta testing program and have will receive the second iOS 9.2 beta as an over-the-air update.

Those who want to be a part of Apple’s beta testing program can sign up to participate through the beta testing website, which gives users access to both iOS and OS X betas. As iOS 9.1 was recently released, it will likely be several weeks before we see the public release of iOS 9.2.

According to the release notes for the first iOS 9.2 beta, the Safari View Controller (the view of Safari you see within apps) is being updated with support for third-party Action Extensions that will let it more closely mirror the Safari app. It also includes options to reload content and request a desktop site, as in Safari, and iOS 9.2 beta 2 improves Safari View Controller further, introducing support for dismissing it with an edge swipe.

Along with improvements to Safari View Controller, iOS 9.2 also introduces support for AT&T's NumberSync Wi-Fi Calling feature and includes bug fixes for iCloud Keychain, Apple Watch syncing and pairing, audio quality when streaming to stereo systems, and more.

Tag: iOS 9.2
Related Forum: iOS 9

Sotheby's will soon be auctioning a contemporary Macintosh painting by the late Andy Warhol, a successful artist known for his paintings of iconic American objects like Coca-Cola and Campbell's Soup and celebrities including Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley and Muhammad Ali.

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The acrylic and silkscreen canvas painting is part of Warhol's "Ads" suite from 1985, one year after the original Macintosh launched. The painting, which features Apple's old rainbow logo sandwiched between the words Apple and Macintosh, is estimated to receive between $400,000 and $600,000 U.S. at auction.

"We went into Sean [John Lennon's son]'s bedroom–and there was a kid there setting up the Apple computer that Sean had gotten as a present, the Macintosh model. I said that once some man had been calling me a lot wanting to give me one, but that I'd never called him back or something, and then the kid looked up and said, 'Yeah, that was me. I'm Steve Jobs.' And he looked so young, like a college guy. And he told me that he would still send me one now. And then he gave me a lesson on drawing with it. It only comes in black and white now, but they'll make it soon in color...I felt so old and out of it with this young whiz guy right there who helped invent it." — Andy Warhol

The starting bid for the Macintosh painting will be $280,000 U.S. when the eBay auction starts on November 12 at 9:30 AM Eastern. The painting is in very good condition overall based on the Sotheby's report, with only light wear and handling along the edges, minor hairline craquelure, possible retouching and a few other blemishes.

appletvremoteinhandDespite Siri's availability on iOS in over fifteen different languages and over thirty countries, the voice assistant's support on the new Apple TV has remained limited to eight countries: Australia, Canada, Great Britain, United States, Germany, France, Spain, and Japan.

In a new report by MacPrime [Google Translate], the importance of "film and television content" -- including altering the phonetic pronunciation of movie titles and actor names -- was given as the main reason behind this initially small Siri support on the new Apple TV.

The explanation: Siri on Apple TV is different in large parts of Siri on iOS. The voice control of the set-top box Apple had to put a special focus on television and film content. These include in particular film titles and names of actors, directors, producers and the like. Apart from the various translations of movie titles, the pronunciation of titles or name differs depending on the country or region.

Specifically, examples for film titles like "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and the actor Matthew McConaughey were given as the most different from the way Americans tend to say them. Since the new Apple TV is fueled by an extensive Siri voice search functionality, Apple feared that releasing the feature to a more global audience, who may run into problems and become frustrated, would dilute its overall appeal.

The project managers that MacPrime spoke to noted incoming support for more countries and languages, although the company has yet to give an exact date to the expanded regions that will gain Siri functionality on the Apple TV. Those areas that still received the fourth generation set-top box at launch, but are without Siri, were given a remote that looks identical to the Siri Remote but has been dubbed the "Apple TV Remote" due to its lack of full voice control capabilities.

Related Roundup: Apple TV
Buyer's Guide: Apple TV (Don't Buy)

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who passed away in October 2011 following a lengthy battle with a rare illness, contemplated building a so-called "Apple Car" as recently as 2008, according to his former advisor Tony Fadell.

Faddell-Bloomberg

Tony Fadell discussed an Apple Car with Steve Jobs in 2008 (Image: Bloomberg)

In an interview with Bloomberg, Fadell, who led Apple's iPod division between 2001 and 2010, said he had discussions with Jobs on multiple occasions to hypothesize about what features an Apple-branded vehicle could have.

"We had a couple of walks," Fadell said in an interview with Bloomberg's Emily Chang. The pair posed hypothetical questions to each other, such as: "If we were to build a car, what would we build? What would a dashboard be? And what would this be? What would seats be? How would you fuel it or power it?"

Jobs, who drove a Mercedes, decided not to move forward with the idea at the time, said Fadell, instead focusing Apple's efforts on the iPhone, which accounted for about two-thirds of the company's net revenue last year according to SEC filings.


Fadell, who now serves as Nest Labs CEO at Google parent company Alphabet, said he does not have firsthand knowledge about Apple's car plans, but he did reflect on the similarities between smartphones and modern vehicles.

"A car has batteries; it has a computer; it has a motor; and it has mechanical structure. If you look at an iPhone, it has all the same things. It even has a motor in it," said Fadell, who's now the chief executive officer of Alphabet's Nest home appliances company. "But the hard stuff is really on the connectivity and how cars could be self-driving."

Apple has considered building a car before 2008, Bloomberg noted. Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller disclosed in 2012 court testimony that Apple discussed building a car before the original iPhone launched in 2007, while former Apple board member Mickey Drexler has also said Jobs wanted to build a car.

Apple faces growing competition from tech rivals such as Tesla and Google, and traditional automakers, if it chooses to enter the electric vehicle market. Recent rumors suggest Apple has assembled a team of hundreds of employees to develop an electric vehicle that could enter production as early as 2020.

Microsoft this week began the sign-up process that will let a few iOS users test out an early beta version of its Cortana personal assistant ahead of its wide release sometime next year (via The Verge). Specifically, the company said it's looking for a "limited number of people" in the United States and China, with updates rolling out over the next few months to tweak features and provide any fixes to bugs found by the beta participants.

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In the spirit of the Windows Insider Program, we’re looking for a limited number of people to get their hands on an early version of the app. It’s important to keep in mind that this is the first public release of the Cortana for iOS beta. And that for now, Cortana for iOS is only available in the U.S. and China. Over the coming months, we’ll continue to deliver frequent updates to the app to expand the features and functionality.

The company reiterated that Windows is where Cortana "really shines," thanks to a few hardware-specific features, but promises that iOS users can expect a robust personal assistant that makes a "perfect companion" to the Windows experience. Those who are interested in testing out Cortana for iOS can complete a short survey on Microsoft's website to possibly become one of the limited access users of the beta, who will begin receiving download links in their email over the next few weeks.

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has released a new research report outlining his expectations for Apple's 2016 iPhone launches, including several interesting tidbits about the upcoming devices.

First, Kuo believes Apple still has a new 4-inch iPhone in the works that "resembles an upgraded iPhone 5s". The device is said to be targeted for launch in the first half of next year and will come equipped with an A9 processor.

As there is still demand for a 4-inch iPhone, we believe Apple will upgrade this product line. Because the iPhone 5s is more popular than the iPhone 5c, we think Apple is likely to launch an upgraded iPhone 5s. We predict Apple will mass-produce this new 4-inch iPhone in 1H16 with metal casings. In order to make the current iOS 9 or next-generation iOS 10 run smoothly, Apple may adopt an A9 chip for this new phone.

Kuo believes this new 4-inch iPhone will not include 3D Touch support as part of an effort to keep it differentiated from the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. He also projects Apple could ship 20-30 million units of this new iPhone through the end of 2016.

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Looking ahead to the next full refresh with the iPhone 7, Kuo expects the usual third-quarter launch in 2016 with an unsurprising upgrade to a new A10 chip to offer increased performance. He does, however, believe Apple will opt to differentiate between the two sizes of the iPhone 7 when it comes to RAM, with the 4.7-inch iPhone 7 carrying the same 2 GB seen in current iPhones while the 5.5-inch iPhone 7 Plus will include 3 GB of RAM for performance reasons.

Kuo believes major winners for the 2016 iPhone cycle include Foxconn, which he expects will be the exclusive supplier for the new 4-inch iPhone, and TSMC, which he expects will be the sole provider of the A9 chip used in that phone as well as the A10 chip used in the iPhone 7.

Related Forum: iPhone

Since launching in September alongside the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, iOS 9 has seen its adoption rate grow to 66 percent of active iOS devices, according to numbers on the Apple Developer Support page. Two weeks ago, iOS 9 adoption sat at 61 percent.
ios9adoptionAfter 24 hours, iOS 9 adoption was in line with the adoption rate of iOS 8. However, in late September Apple announced that the newest version of iOS had the fastest adoption ever and was on pace to be downloaded by more users than any other version of the mobile operating system. iOS 8 only achieved a 64 percent adoption rate by December 23 and a 68 percent adoption rate by January 7, ending up with a high of 87 percent on the eve of iOS 9's launch.

Apple released the first major update to iOS 9 two weeks ago with iOS 9.1, which featured a slew of brand-new emojis. Since that update, iOS 9 adoption has grown by 5 percent. Earlier today Apple seeded the second beta for iOS 9.2, the second major update to its newest mobile operating system.

Related Forum: iOS 9

Apple and its former sapphire supplier GT Advanced have reached an agreement that will allow GT Advanced to absolve itself of the remaining $439 million that it owes Apple, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Under the settlement, GT Advanced will host an auction on November 23 to get rid of the equipment that it contributed to the sapphire making process, with the proceeds being split between the two companies. Equipment that does not sell during the auction will be given to Apple.

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While GT intends to hang on to some of the equipment--as many as 600 sapphire-making furnaces--it is prepared to auction what it can and abandon what it can't cart off, court papers say.

Anything not sold will be handed over to Apple, which has agreed to scrap the equipment and extinguish the loan it made to transform GT from an equipment manufacturer into a supplier of smartphone-screen material.

Following the dissolution of the relationship between GT Advanced and Apple, GT Advanced agreed to sell off its sapphire furnaces to repay the loan Apple had provided to buy the equipment in the first place. Over the course of the past year, GT Advanced has been unable to find a buyer for the sapphire furnaces.

GT Advanced and Apple originally partnered up to produce sapphire displays for the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6s Plus, but the deal soured when GT Advanced was unable to meet deadlines and produce sapphire that met Apple's standards. GT Advanced filed for bankruptcy in October of 2014, laying off more than 700 employees and shuttering the Mesa, Arizona factory, which Apple is repurposing as a data center.

Apple and GT Advanced's new agreement is set to be finalized following the approval of a bankruptcy judge.

Tapbots today released a significant update for its latest Tweetbot 4 Twitter client, adding support for the Apple Watch. On the Apple Watch, the default view is the Activity Feed, which includes Mentions, Favorites (soon to be likes), and Follows - the content you'd most likely want to view on a small screen.

From the Activity Feed, it's possible to tap to view individual tweets to Reply, Retweet, or Favorite, and tapping on a name also leads to a profile where a Direct Message can be sent to a user or someone can be followed. A force press on the Apple Watch within Tweetbot will bring up the option to send a tweet, and composing a message is done via voice dictation.

applewatchtweetbot
Today's update is the second major update to Tweetbot 4, which Tapbots released a month ago. Tweetbot 4, a newly universal app for the iPhone and the iPad, introduced a redesigned look, new Statistics and Activity Views, and support for features like split-screen multitasking on the iPad. A later update also brought support for 3D Touch on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus.

Tweetbot 4 can be downloaded from the App Store for $4.99. [Direct Link]

Apple today seeded the first beta of an upcoming update to tvOS, the new operating system that runs on the fourth-generation Apple TV. Today's tvOS beta marks the first software update to tvOS 9.0, a final version of which was released alongside the new Apple TV.

tvOS betas are not as easy to install as beta updates for iOS and OS X. The update will require the Apple TV to be connected to a computer with a USB-C to USB-A cable, with the software downloaded and installed via iTunes.

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It is not yet clear what is included in the new version of tvOS, but Apple's release notes for the update include references to networking and scrolling tweaks and we will include any other external facing changes below.

Related Roundup: Apple TV
Buyer's Guide: Apple TV (Don't Buy)

Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming OS X 10.11.2 El Capitan update to developers, one week after seeding the first beta and two weeks after releasing the first OS X El Capitan update to the public, OS X 10.11.1.

The new beta, build 15C31f, can be downloaded through the Apple Developer Center and through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store.

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It is not known what improvements the second update to OS X El Capitan will bring, but it’s likely to focus on bug fixes, security enhancements, and performance improvements to address issues that have been discovered since the release of OS X 10.11.1. Apple's beta 1 release notes asked developers to focus on Graphics, Mail, Wi-Fi, Calendar, USB, Notes, Photos, and Spotlight.

Related Forum: OS X El Capitan

Apple today seeded the second beta of iOS 9.2 to developers for testing purposes, one week after seeding the first iOS 9.2 beta and two weeks after releasing iOS 9.1 to the public.

The new iOS 9.2 beta, build 13C5060d, is available as an over-the-air update and through the Apple Developer Center.

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The first beta of iOS 9.2 introduced some changes for the Safari View Controller within apps, letting it work more like the standard Safari app with support for third-party Action Extensions and the ability to long tap on the Reload button to reload content without content blockers or request desktop site.

iOS 9.2 also includes a number of bug fixes and performance enhancements, many of which are under-the-hood improvements. Thus far no other outward-facing changes have been discovered, but updates in the second beta will be listed below if found.

Bug Fixes in iOS 9.2 Beta 2:

- Un-paring and re-pairing the Apple Watch will no longer cause the Stocks glance to go missing.
- Syncing Music to the Apple Watch has been fixed.
- An issue impacting audio quality when playing audio over USB in some car stereos has been fixed.
- A bug with iCloud Keychain has been fixed, so users should no longer see "Could Not Set Up iCloud Keychain" errors.
- Videos with 'folw' track associations will no longer fail to play on 32-bit devices.

New Features in iOS 9.2 Beta 2:
- It's now possible to dismiss the Safari View Controller with an edge swipe.

- The second iOS 9.2 beta includes support for AT&T's NumberSync feature, which is part of Wi-Fi Calling. With NumberSync, AT&T users can receive calls to their phone numbers on Macs and iPads even when those devices are not on the same Wi-Fi network as the iPhone.

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The functionality is similar to the Continuity feature that allows phone calls to be answered on devices other than an iPhone, but that feature currently requires an iPad or Mac to be on the same Wi-Fi network as the iPhone and signed into the same iCloud account. With the addition of NumberSync, the devices are no longer required to be on the same network and answering calls on a Mac or an iPad is even possible if an iPhone is missing or has a dead battery.

Tag: iOS 9.2
Related Forum: iOS 9

Sam's Club today announced its "Lowest Prices of the Season" event, starting in retail locations around the country at 7 A.M. on Saturday, November 14. The company promises that the event will feature deals on "the most sought-after tech, toys and home décor for the holiday season," which includes the iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, and iPad Air 2.

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“We’re excited to kick off holiday shopping for our members with our lowest prices of the season event on Saturday, Nov. 14. Our shoppers can feel confident they are getting a great deal on many top gifts, and early enough to plan the rest of their holiday budget,” said Rosalind Brewer, president and CEO of Sam’s Club.

“In addition to several savings events, every week, Sam’s Club is rotating new items onto its shelves to help shoppers surprise and delight everyone on their lists. This year we are confident we’re giving our members new ways to save and discover the value of being a member.”

Users who opt-in for Apple's iPhone 6s or 6s Plus during the event will get a $200 Sam's Club gift card when activating the phone on any Verizon, Sprint, or AT&T installment plan. The event will also allow customers the option of 2-year plans for Verizon, Sprint, and U.S. Cellular users starting at $99 (16GB for 6s) and $199 (16GB for 6s Plus), but they won't be eligible for the $200 gift card.

The iPad Air 2 is going on sale as well, with the 64GB and 128GB (available online only) versions marked as $150 off during the event. Sam's Club is also offering users a slight discount on a packaging of four $25 iTunes gift cards, normally retailing for $100 and going for $79.47 during the event.

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Customers who choose to shop exclusively online can get a head start on the Sam's Club sales on November 14, with all the discount prices opening up to users at 12:01 on Saturday morning and most items shipping free in the United States. The retailer also has a few deals on 4K Smart TVs, the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Note5, and various other jewelry and kids' toys.

In addition to the Lowest Prices of the Season event, Sam's Club will host a Pre-Black Friday Event on Saturday, November 21 through Wednesday, November 25, focusing on savings on "top brands and Thanksgiving meal essentials." While it didn't provide specific sale details just yet, the company noted that Black Friday deals will begin online at 12:01 AM on Thanksgiving Day and start in retail locations Friday, November 27 at 7 AM. Cyber Week specials will follow on Monday, November 30 through December 6.

Related Forum: Community Discussion

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday granted Apple a patent for a low-travel keyboard design with Force Touch-like sensors that measure the pressure placed on a key when a user presses or rests a finger on it.

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As summarized by AppleInsider, the exhaustive patent filing details how the keyboard would have a switch-less QWERTY input mechanism, rather than mechanical switches, allowing for less key travel and potentially thinner Mac keyboards.

Apple's current MacBook and Mac accessory lineups employ modified scissor switches, or butterfly switches on the 12-inch Retina MacBook, nestled within hollow key caps. Today's patent mirrors the aesthetic of existing designs, but deviates from established technology by replacing mechanical switches for a stack of sensors, actuators and supporting circuitry.

Theoretically the system operates akin to Apple's Force Touch trackpads, but on a much larger scale; one force sensor package for each keyboard key. Force sensors configured to measure downward pressure are integrated beneath the keyboard's key caps, while integrated actuators — part of the key stack — generate haptic feedback.

The patent filing does not guarantee that Apple will release a Force Touch keyboard, but a pressure-sensitive keyboard is plausible alongside the Magic Trackpad and Force Touch trackpads on MacBooks.

Apple's new Retina MacBook has been criticized by some over its all-new butterfly mechanism keyboard, which has low key travel, so whether Apple implements this new keyboard design into the rest of its MacBook lineup remains to be seen.

Apple was granted U.S. Patent No. 9,178,509, and credits Jeffrey T. Bernstein as its inventor.

Related Roundups: MacBook Pro, MacBook Air
Related Forums: MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air

twitterTwitter today announced the impending rollout of a new "Hearts" and "Likes" system for its social network, which will replace the traditional "Stars" and "Favorites" that's been used on the service for the past few years. The company cites a "confusing" quality to the star system that causes a disconnect between a new Twitter user and anyone who favorites their tweet. The heart, it believes, is more of a universal symbol of expression and connection.

We are changing our star icon for favorites to a heart and we’ll be calling them likes. We want to make Twitter easier and more rewarding to use, and we know that at times the star could be confusing, especially to newcomers. You might like a lot of things, but not everything can be your favorite.

The heart, in contrast, is a universal symbol that resonates across languages, cultures, and time zones. The heart is more expressive, enabling you to convey a range of emotions and easily connect with people. And in our tests, we found that people loved it.

The hearts system will also make its way to the Twitter-owned Vine service, rounding out the social networks that the company owns -- including Periscope -- with a more uniform liking system. The company notes that the new update will roll out starting today on Twitter for iOS and Android, the web, Windows 10, TweetDeck, "and on Tweets across the Internet." Other services, like Twitter for Mac, will see support coming "soon."

Nomad today announced a new product, the "Wallet for iPhone," which hides a small rechargeable battery cell within a traditional billfold wallet. The 2,400 mAh lithium-ion battery is housed in the hinge of the Wallet and promises to provide a full charge to an iPhone 6s. Owners of an iPhone 6 Plus or iPhone 6s Plus will probably only see half the charge of their phone restored due to the smaller battery size of the wallet.

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We went to the absolute extreme of lithium-ion battery tech and ultra compact circuit boards to make this an ultra high density battery system. We used an advanced SoC (system on chip) microprocessor and 01005 grade components which allow us to pack a huge 2400mAh battery providing a full charge for your iPhone 6s.

The company claims that the Wallet is no thicker than the average billfold wallet, even when counting the increased weight of a wallet full of credit cards and cash. The normal functions of the wallet allow it to hold six business or credit cards total. Specifically, Nomad gives its dimensions as 25 mm max thickness, 85 mm wide, 125 mm long, which it calls "thinner than most men's billfolds."

When users want to charge their iPhone, an integrated 3.5 inch Lightning cable is simply removed and plugged into the device to begin refilling its charge. The Wallet will function with any iPhone supporting a Lightning port, and promises one 100% charge to each device on a full battery. The Wallet itself is recharged via micro USB cable -- taking up to two full hours from an empty battery -- and four LED lights on its underside show a visual representation of its charge level.

nomad wallet 2Nomad's Wallet can be pre-ordered now for $79.99 with a shipping date of November 15, with orders placed from that date on being charged the full retail price of $99.99

Tag: Nomad

A handful of technology giants -- including Apple, Amazon, Google, PayPal, and Intuit -- have announced a partnership in the formation of the Financial Innovation Now coalition (via Re/code). The group aims to promote tech-friendly policies and changes within the financial services sector in Washington, D.C. Those behind the group will work to alter the political debate on relevant issues like tech security, mobile payments, and fraud prevention in the favor of its partners.

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“A technological transformation is going to make financial services more accessible, more affordable and more secure,” said Brian Peters, executive director of Financial Innovation Now. “The challenge in Washington is making sure policy-makers understand that, and they’re comfortable with it, and they don’t apply old rules to new technology.”

Thanks to the growing popularity of mobile payments solutions like Apple Pay, Google Wallet, and PayPal, the companies behind such services are positioning themselves as part of the future in financial services discussions in Washington, since they're more part of the conversation than ever before. The partnership also intends to work together to achieve blanket improvements for each individual service in topics like user security and authentication, faster payment processing, and "access to basic financial services for the two billion people in the world who are underserved."

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.