MacRumors

Doppler is getting a significant update next week, bringing some notable track and album features to the increasingly popular third-party music playing app for iPhone.

For those unfamiliar, the Doppler app offers users an alternative way to experience their music library, sporting an adaptive minimalist interface with an emphasis on album artwork/metadata editing on ‌iPhone‌ and support for importing MP3, FLAC, AAC, and WAV file formats without having to connect to a computer.

In December, Doppler Listening reports were added, offering users an elegant overview of their listening habits over the course of the year.

And in the latest v2.3 update due to roll out on February 23, Doppler users will be able to ask Siri to play specific albums, songs and playlists within Doppler. ‌Siri‌ commands like "Play all songs by James Blake in Doppler" or "Play my Liked Songs playlist in Doppler" are now supported in English, French, German, and Spanish.

Users will still need to include "in Doppler" at the end of commands so Siri knows which app to use, but the developer says this should change in iOS 14.5.

Doppler will also support ‌Siri‌ Suggestions from next week. As Doppler is used, ‌Siri‌ can learn patterns around how and when music is listened to. For example, when headphones are connected, ‌Siri‌ can intelligently suggest music to play.

In addition, Doppler 2.3 will integrate with Spotlight search. Songs and playlists show in search results on the Home Screen. Results can be tapped to open in Doppler, or to start playing without having to open the app.

The third and final integration is Doppler for CarPlay — a custom ‌CarPlay‌ app to access and play content from the Doppler library. The ‌CarPlay‌ interface offers library-wide playback and shuffle buttons, as well as Recently Added albums and usual artists, albums and playlists. ‌Siri‌ support is also included, so Doppler can be controlled in ‌CarPlay‌ with voice alone.

Doppler costs $6.99 and is available to download for ‌iPhone‌ from the App Store. [Direct Link] Interested readers can subscribe to Doppler's email list to get a notification when the v2.3 update is live.

Accurate and rapid COVID-19 testing has become a critical hallmark in the battle against the pandemic. Unfortunately, getting tested on a mainstream level currently requires a trip to a clinic or government instituted site.

However, in a possible breakthrough of what it means to get tested, Kroger Health today announced it's planning to obtain FDA approval for the first smartphone-enabled COVID-19 rapid antigen test.

According to a press release, patients will administer a nasal swab themselves and complete a rapid antigen test. Then, patients will scan the rapid test using the app on their iPhone, and using AI technology, the app will provide their results "within seconds."

What the app aims to do is remove any doubt of the actual results of the test by using AI to correctly determine the location of the results line. In COVID-19 rapid antigen tests, the presence and location of a line in different areas determines whether the patient tests positive or negative for COVID-19, and some patients may misinterpret the lines, leading to a false understanding of what their result actually is.

In compliance with U.S. law, the app will automatically share the results with appropriate public health agencies and abides by all HIPAA rules and regulations. The hope is that this new test will increase the number of people who can get tested for COVID-19 themselves with a higher level of accuracy.

The new test is awaiting FDA approval, and clinical trial results submitted to the agency shows the test has a "93% positive agreement and 99% negative percent agreement compared to high-sensitivity, emergency-use-authorized PCR tests," according to Kroger Health.

You can learn more about the test here.

TikTok on Tuesday was targeted by EU consumer protection groups for allegedly violating the bloc's consumer laws and for failing to protect children from hidden advertising and inappropriate content (via Reuters).

The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) lodged a complaint against the short video-sharing app with the European Commission, citing several issues in its complaint, one of which relates to its terms of service.

"They are unclear, ambiguous and favor TikTok to the detriment of its users. Its copyright terms are equally unfair as they give TikTok an irrevocable right to use, distribute and reproduce the videos published by users, without remuneration," it said.

Other complaints include TikTok's virtual currency, which allows users to purchase coins to use as virtual gifts for TikTok celebrity performances, as well as the company's allegedly misleading practices relating to processing personal user data.

In addition to BEUC's complaint, consumer organisations in 15 countries alerted their consumer protection authorities and urged them to act.

Details of the alleged breaches are set out in two reports, one of which accuses the Chinese-owned app of failing to protect children and teenagers from hidden advertising and potentially harmful content shared on the platform.

As a press release by the BEUC put it:

“TikTok's marketing offers to companies who want to advertise on the app contributes to the proliferation of hidden marketing. Users are for instance triggered to participate in branded hashtag challenges where they are encouraged to create content of specific products. As popular influencers are often the starting point of such challenges the commercial intent is usually masked for users. TikTok is also potentially failing to conduct due diligence when it comes to protecting children from inappropriate content such as videos showing suggestive content which are just a few scrolls away."

Previous regulatory intervention in Europe occurred in Italy, where TikTok was forced to apply an age verification process in the country, after the death of a ten-year-old girl who participated in a "black out" challenge propagated on the the platform.

ByteDance-owned TikTok has also introduced an in-app summary of its privacy policy, which the company says makes it easier for teens to understand its stance on privacy.

"We're always open to hearing how we can improve, and we have contacted BEUC as we would welcome a meeting to listen to their concerns," a TikTok spokesman told Reuters.

Vivid Money now supports Apple Pay in France, the neobank has announced.

As spotted by iGeneration, the Russian-German mobile bank announced the development on its Twitter account, and users have already confirmed that they're able to add their Vivid Visa card to Apple's Wallet app this morning.

Launched in France last November, the neobank offers 25% cashback on daily expenses as well as a commission-free shares and FCBs investment mechanism that allows users to buy fractions of shares from 1 euro cent, which makes it more a rival for the likes of Revolut rather than a traditional bank.

Apple maintains a complete list of the countries where ‌‌‌‌Apple Pay‌‌‌‌ is available on its support site, and we have a detailed Apple Pay roundup with everything you need to know about Apple's payments service.

Antivirus software developer Malwarebytes today shared its 2021 State of Malware Report, which found that malware threat detections on Macs fell a total of 38 percent in 2020.

In 2019 Malwarebytes detected a total of 120,855,305 threats, which dropped to 75,285,427 threats in 2020. Consumer threats were down 40 percent, but as businesses operated remotely and shifted to online work, threat detections for business users grew 31 percent.

There was a drop in detections of Adware and potentially unwanted programs (PUPs), but Malwarebytes says that malware, which includes backdoors, data stealers, and cryptocurrency stealers/miners, increased by more than 61 percent.

That number sounds high, but malware still only accounted for 1.5 percent of all threat detections on the Mac, with the rest still coming from Adware and PUPs.

Potentially unwanted software represented more than 76 percent of detection in 2020, while Adware represented approximately 22 percent. These are overall numbers, and the breakdowns varied somewhat by country, but most Malwarebytes users are in the United States. Business machines saw a bit more malware and adware, with less unwanted software.

Of malware found on Macs, the top 10 malware families accounted for more than 99 percent of the total, with more than 80 percent detected due to suspicious behaviors. OSX.FakeFileOpener, malicious apps designed to open files, accounted for the second highest number of detections.

Malwarebytes says that the most unusual Malware detected on Macs in 2020 was ThiefQuest, which spread through installers found on torrent sites. When infected, Macs would start to have files encrypted, with the malware providing ransom instructions.

These instructions went nowhere, though, and didn't provide a legitimate contact for removing the encryption. Instead, the ransomware was a cover for something more malicious.

Upon further investigation, we learned that the ransomware activity was really a cover for massive data exfiltration, including MS Office and Apple iWork documents, PDF files, images, cryptocurrency wallets, and more. This kind of malware, known in the Windows world as a "wiper," had never before been seen on Macs.

Even more interesting, the malware would inject malicious code into executable files found in the Users folder, such as components of Google Software Update, in a virus- like manner, another rarity in the Mac world. The combination of these features made ThiefQuest not only the most unusual Mac malware in 2020, but perhaps the most unusual Mac malware ever.

Sophisticated adware techniques were also spotted on Macs in 2020, including phishing for admin passwords, using synthetic clicks to automate browser extension installations, modifying the sudoers file to maintain root permissions indefinitely, and manually editing the TCC database to give the adware more system access.

On Macs, Malwarebytes says that the "business model of choice for most criminals" remains Adware, with trojans, worms, spyware, and RiskWareTools being more common on Windows machines. Still, malware is an increasing Mac problem and it's something that Mac users should be aware of.

Malwarebytes' full report can be read on the Malwarebytes website.

Microsoft's Office app for iOS has been updated today to version 2.46 with support for iPadOS, bringing the unified Office experience of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint to Apple's tablet platform.

Office is now available on iPad: We're combining the Word, Excel, and PowerPoint apps you know into a single, iPadOS-optimized app. Plus, you’ll see additional tools to keep you more productive than ever. For example, you’ll be able to quickly create and sign PDFs, and transform pictures into documents.

While individual Office apps have been available for the iPad since 2014, the unified Office app launched in February 2020 has until now only been able to run on the ‌iPad‌ as a windowed iPhone app.

Office for ‌iPad‌ is free to use for iPad Air, ‌iPad‌, and iPad mini users, but requires an Microsoft 365 subscription to make full use of all features. For iPad Pro users, a paid subscription is required to even edit or create documents.

When upgrading to macOS Big Sur, there was an error that would cause issues if there wasn't enough storage space available. Unfortunately, the update was not checking if there was enough free space before the installation started, which could lead to data loss.

The free space issue has been addressed in a revised macOS Big Sur 11.2.1 update that was released this morning. According to Mr. Macintosh, the new update checks to make sure there is enough available storage space before installation starts.

If you don't have enough free space, the installer will say "There is not enough free space on the selected volume to upgrade the OS," and it will let you know how much additional space is required.

The new update that was released today is available only if you had not previously installed macOS Big Sur 11.2.1.

Apple today released watchOS 7.3.1 with a fix for an issue that can cause the Apple Watch Series 5 and SE not to charge after entering Power Reserve mode.

In a support document, Apple outlines the issue, which affected "a very small number of customers." Apple says that these people saw a problem with charging after the Apple Watch went into Power Reserve mode.

While watchOS 7.3.1 will fix the issue for customers who haven't previously experienced it, those who already had the problem may need to get support from Apple. Apple says to check if an Apple Watch is affected by the bug, users should place the watch on a charger and then wait for at least 30 minutes.

If the Apple Watch won't charge after the 30 minute time period, customers should contact Apple Support to set up a mail-in repair, which will be done free of charge by Apple.

Apple today released watchOS 7.3.1, a minor update to the watchOS 7 operating system that was released in September. watchOS 7.3.1 comes a couple of weeks after the release of watchOS 7.3.

‌‌The watchOS 7.3.1 update‌‌ can be downloaded for free through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General > Software Update. To install the new software, the Apple Watch needs to have at least 50 percent battery, it needs to be placed on a charger, and it needs to be in range of the ‌‌‌‌‌‌‌iPhone‌‌‌‌‌‌‌. Today's update is only available for the Apple Watch Series 5 and the Apple Watch SE, so other Apple Watch models will not have an update available.

According to Apple's release notes, the watchOS 7.3.1 update introduces a fix for an issue that prevented some Apple Watch Series 5 and SE models from charging after entering Power Reserve mode.

watchOS 7.3, the prior update, brought a Time to Walk feature for Apple Fitness+, expanded ECG functionality to new countries like Japan, and added a new Unity watch face. Apple is also working on watchOS 7.4, a major update that allows the Apple Watch to be used to unlock an ‌iPhone‌ when wearing a mask.

Over the weekend, the DisplayLink Manager app was updated with native support for Macs with the M1 chip, additional Retina resolutions for 4K displays, and a fix for an issue where screen tearing may occur in some high-load cases.

DisplayLink Manager provides a convenient way to enable your DisplayLink dock, adapter, or monitor on macOS. The app combines DisplayLink's latest driver with features that streamline the setup of mutliple displays with up to 4K resolution. Version 1.3 of the app can be downloaded from the DisplayLink website, and requires macOS Big Sur 11.2 or any version of macOS Catalina, according to the release notes.

DisplayLink adapters have proven popular with M1 Macs, as they allow for multiple external displays to be connected. Officially, Apple says M1 Macs only support one external display (excluding the Mac mini, which can support a second display via HDMI).

France is pushing for changes to the EU's upcoming regulations on big tech companies, including Apple, Google, Amazon, and Facebook, that would make it easier for governments to penalize bad behavior and widen controls on content, according to a new report by the Financial Times.

The Digital Services Act, presented in December 2020, is designed to tackle illegal online content in the European Union by obliging big tech companies to quickly remove it, or face hefty fines.

France now wants to change the Digital Services Act by allowing every individual EU member state to have the right to fine big tech companies and force them to remove content on their platforms. Currently, only EU countries where tech companies are headquartered can enforce the EU's laws.

For example, Apple, Google, and Facebook have European headquarters in the Republic of Ireland. This means that, as it stands, only Ireland can sanction these companies or make requests for the removal of content. France's proposition would give all 27 EU member states the ability to punish or control big tech companies in the exact same way Ireland can.

There is, however, concern among EU officials that the French proposals would erode the EU's precious single market. The single market is an agreement designed to make it easy for people, goods, services, and money to move between EU member states, as though it is a single country. Under France's plans, big tech companies would be subject to 27 authorities, instead of just one.

France is also pushing for other changes to the Digital Services Act that would allow it to "include other types of problematic content," including "harmful content and disinformation," broadening the parameters of the "illegal content" that the Digital Services Act is proposing to control.

The Digital Services Act comes hand-in-hand with the Digital Markets Act, which demands that big tech companies share metrics with competitors, ensure that all apps are uninstallable, and do not preference their own apps and services. Companies that fail to do so may face large fines, as high as ten percent of the company's worldwide annual turnover, or even forced disinvestment.

Apple has already gone some way to meeting the rules set out in the Digital Markets Act. For example, as of iOS 10, Apple has allowed users to uninstall default apps. Likewise, last year, Apple adjusted its App Store search algorithm so that fewer of its own apps appear at the top of search results. Nevertheless, Apple will be equally obligated to meet the demands of the legislation, including sharing its internal metrics and data, when the act comes into law.

In recent weeks, France's minister for the digital economy, Cedric O, has met with senior EU officials, including the European commissioner in charge of the upcoming big tech regulations, Thierry Breton, to make the case for these significant changes to the Digital Services Act.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News 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.

Microsoft has begun testing its game streaming service, xCloud, on the web via a browser for iOS and iPadOS, and on PC via Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge, The Verge reports.

Microsoft's xCloud service allows subscribers to play games by streaming them from the cloud, instead of having to download the entire game locally on-device. Apple and Microsoft had a brief moment of contention in August of last year as App Store policy restricts services like xCloud from being available on the platform. Apple updated its policy to allow xCloud onto the platform, but it would require Microsoft to submit each game available on the service individually to the ‌App Store‌, and each would have to be vetted against the platform's guidelines.

Microsoft blasted the rules as a "bad experience for customers," and as a result, said it would push xCloud to iOS and iPadOS users via the browser on Safari. Screenshots provided to The Verge only show an xCloud experience via the browser on desktop, but the experience on iOS and iPadOS will likely be the same. Users will be able to select a game and play it directly within their browser, although the exact resolution the game will be streamed at is as yet unknown. Typically, services like these will automatically adapt the resolution to meet your specific network capability.

At launch, xCloud will only support browsers built on Chromium like Edge and Chrome on the PC, but The Verge's Senior Editor Tom Warren says that he expects support for Safari to be added following internal testing. With testing underway, there's no set timeframe when a public launch will take place, but The Verge guesses that a release is "getting very close."

Apple Music subscribers can now listen to their "Replay 2021" playlist as of today. This playlist ranks all of the music you've been listening to on ‌Apple Music‌ from 1 to 100, with your most-streamed songs ranked at the top of the list.

Just like last year's Replay playlist, Replay 2021 will update every week on Sunday, constantly changing as you listen to more songs on ‌Apple Music‌. By the end of the year, you'll have an overall snapshot of the tracks you listened to the most in 2021.

The Replay 2021 playlist can be found at the bottom of the Listen Now tab in ‌Apple Music‌, as well as on Apple Music for the web. If you head to the web version, you'll also get a few more pieces of data like most streamed artists and albums, as well as detailed play counts and hours listened data.

As of now, this secondary information is still reflecting 2020 streaming stats. Apple still hasn't made this information available directly in the ‌Apple Music‌ app.

‌Apple Music‌ Replay is Apple's version of Spotify Wrapped, but there are differences. Spotify Wrapped doesn't track songs throughout the year, but it's far more popular when it's shared in December thanks to easily shareable infographics generated by Spotify based on each user's listening habits.

While ‌Apple Music‌ Replay is available year-round, the playlist doesn't tend to change much once you get far enough into the year, and Apple still hasn't provided a year-end recap that its subscribers can post to social media platforms.

Head to the ‌Apple Music‌ app or Apple Music on the web to add the Replay 2021 playlist to your library.

Apple is expected to retain its smallest 5.4-inch iPhone model size in its forthcoming ‌iPhone‌ 13 lineup, despite a barrage of recent reports suggesting lackluster iPhone 12 mini sales.

2021 began with a report suggesting Apple's ‌iPhone 12 mini‌, which is the smallest ‌iPhone‌ that has been released since the 2016 ‌iPhone‌ SE, was not selling as well as Apple hoped, making up just 6% of ‌iPhone‌ 12 sales in the U.S. in October and November, according to data gathered by Consumer Intelligence Research.

Later in January, a Morgan Stanley investment note claimed Apple had cut production of the ‌iPhone 12 mini‌ by two million units to create more manufacturing capacity for the more popular ‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro.

That was quickly followed by a Taiwanese report citing supply chain sources that appeared to corroborate this narrative, suggesting that strong demand for ‌‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro‌ models in China had led Apple to strengthen its supply of the more expensive devices in response.

Come February, Counterpoint Research weighed in with its own analysis which continued the same theme, claiming that the ‌iPhone 12 mini‌ accounted for only 5% of all ‌iPhone‌ 12 sales in the U.S. in the first half of January.

A few reasons have been offered for the poor ‌iPhone 12 mini‌ sales, despite broad satisfaction reported by owners of the smaller device. One is that Apple's smallest ‌iPhone‌ 12 model was launched to target the U.S. and European markets, but the global health crisis has impacted sales in these territories, leading to a slowdown in ‌‌iPhone 12 mini‌‌ orders.

The theory goes that with people staying at home a lot more during lockdown, smartphone users are consuming more content on their device and therefore want bigger screens to enjoy it. A consequence is that users don't have as much opportunity to appreciate the convenience of having a smaller phone in their pocket while out and about.

Meanwhile, though China has not been as severely impacted by the health crisis in recent months compared to these parts of the world, the East Asian market has historically favored larger form factor devices, which has put ‌iPhone 12 mini‌ at a disadvantage in those regions from the get-go.

Another possible factor is the continuing availability of lower-cost models like the $399 ‌‌iPhone‌ SE‌, $499 ‌iPhone‌ XR, and $599 ‌‌iPhone‌ 11‌, which may have ultimately limited the appeal of the more expensive ‌‌iPhone 12 mini‌‌, which is priced at $699.

Despite these variables – along with a recent claim by JPMorgan Chase that Apple plans to discontinue ‌iPhone 12 mini‌ production in the second quarter of 2021 – it is understood that Apple has not given up on the 5.4-inch model yet, and is broadly expected to include the form factor in its ‌iPhone‌ 13 lineup, likely to be launched in the fall.

This belief is reflected in the earliest reports of the ‌iPhone‌ 13 series, all of which underlined that Apple would follow the same four-model lineup as the ‌iPhone‌ 12 in the same three sizes. Indeed, Apple will have had its ‌iPhone‌ 13 production and supply chain operation planned out well in advance, and if the above reasons for poor ‌iPhone 12 mini‌ sales are on the mark, Apple may well be expecting an upturn in demand for the smaller size in its target markets, as vaccination programs roll out and lockdowns ease over the course of the year.

As recently as this past weekend, hit-and-miss Apple leaker Jon Prosser claimed that the ‌iPhone‌ 13 mini will indeed materialize later this year, with the accompanying claim that there will be no new "2021" ‌iPhone‌ SE, of which the current model may have cannibalized some ‌iPhone 12 mini‌ sales.

All in all, despite the early doom and gloom, "mini" fans still have reason to be cheerful as we move through the year and approach the next launch of a new series of Apple smartphones.

This year's iPhone 13 lineup will include an always-on display with a 120Hz refresh rate, improved camera capabilities for astrophotography, stronger MagSafe magnets, and a finer matte finish on the back, according to leaker Max Weinbach (via YouTube channel EverythingApplePro).

Weinbach is a well-known leaker who has shared information via the YouTube channel in the past regarding the 2020 ‌iPhone‌ 12 lineup, some of which came true. Regardless, take the following with a grain of salt. According to his sources, Apple is planning to include an always-on display in the ‌iPhone‌ 13 series, with the technology being similar to the always-on display in the Apple Watch Series 5 and later.

Always-on displays are typical in most flagship Android smartphones, and the technology allows users to see information on their screen at all times without having to power on or unlock the device. Ever since the iPhone X, which was the first ‌iPhone‌ to feature an OLED display, many have speculated Apple will bring this feature to ‌iPhone‌ users.

OLED displays use less power than LCD displays, since each pixel is individually controlled, unlike LCD panels which use backlights to light up all of the pixels, even to show a small piece of information on the screen. With OLED displays, Apple is able to only light up the pixels needed to show users the time, battery, or some form of indicator for app notifications, without using a significant amount of battery power.

Weinbach claims that the always-on display will look like a "toned down Lock screen," where the clock and battery charge are always visible, and past notifications are shown through "a bar and icons." When users receive a notification, the notification will "pop up normally except that the screen will not entirely light up." Instead, "it will display it just like you're used to right now, except dimmed down and only temporarily," according to the leaker.

The leaker also "confirms" that a 120Hz ProMotion refresh rate is happening on the 2021 Pro ‌iPhone‌ models, a feature that was widely rumored to appear on the ‌iPhone‌ 12. An always-on and ProMotion display would not require a change in physical design, and Weinbach reports there will indeed be no change to the actual chassis on the ‌iPhone‌ 13 family compared to the ‌iPhone‌ 12 lineup. The only potential hardware change will be a matte back with a "grippier, more comfortable" feeling, similar to the finishing on the back of the Google Pixel series.

Internally, ‌MagSafe‌ will be getting "considerably" stronger, according to the leak. The ‌iPhone‌ 12 features ‌MagSafe‌ on the back that allows users to magnetically attach different accessories and offers an alternative way to charge the device, but the magnets have been criticized by some for being weak. Apple is looking to alleviate those concerns by adding stronger magnets, according to Weinbach, although the addition is not expected to be the sole reason for a rumored increase in device thickness. As for the cameras, Weinbach reports that Apple is increasing its efforts in astrophotography.

Astrophotography, the photography of astronomy, typically requires complicated camera setups to proficiently capture the nighttime's dark sky. The integration of the ability into the ‌iPhone‌ is expected to be seamless, with the leak claiming the ‌iPhone‌ will automatically switch to the mode when it registers a user pointing to the sky. The mode will allow the phone to detect different artifacts such as the moon and stars and adjusts settings such as exposure accordingly. Corroborating Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the leak says the ultra-wide camera across the entire lineup will be getting an improved sensor and lens.

The newest information from the leak points toward the ability to take portrait videos on this year's ‌iPhone‌. Users have been able to take portrait photos since the launch of the ‌iPhone‌ 7 Plus, but it has remained entirely limited to still photos. Portrait mode adds a depth feel to your photos, blurring the background and keeping the center subject fully in focus. With videos, the task becomes much harder since the subject is actively moving, making it harder to add a depth effect in real-time.

The new information joins an already long list of features we're expecting for the 2021 ‌iPhone‌. A Bloomberg report suggests that the biggest headlining feature of the lineup will be the reintroduction of Touch ID on the iPhone. According to that report, Apple is testing burying the Touch ID sensor below the display, allowing users to unlock their device if Face ID is deemed unusable, such as when you're wearing a mask. Unlike the ‌iPhone‌ 12 which saw delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ‌iPhone‌ 13 is expected to launch on time in September.

An online auction to sell off a rare employment questionnaire filled out by former Apple CEO Steve Jobs opens later this month.

Jobs filled out the application in 1973, just after dropping out of Reed College, where he attended school for approximately six months and then audited classes for another year and a half.

On the document, Jobs lists "english lit" as his major, and Reed College as his address. He lists "Computer" and "Calculator" as skills, along with "Design" and "Tech," and says that he has special abilities that include "Electronics" and digital "Tech or Design Engineer."

A year later Jobs joined Atari as a technician, where he worked with Steve Wozniak before they founded Apple in 1976.

It was previously sold at auction in 2018 for over $175,000.

The online auction is being hosted by Charterfields, on the instructions of Begbies Traynor and Inquesta, liquidators of Sourcechain Technologies Limited. It kicks off on February 24 and will end on March 24.

Apple is expected to partner with a third-party car maker to build its rumored self-driving car with reports surfacing in January suggesting that Apple was eyeing Hyundai to be the official partner for Apple Car. Subsequent reports suggest Apple is actively pursuing all of its options and talking to a number of different manufacturers.

In the latest round of speculation, Apple reportedly approached Nissan in the last few months about a potential partnership for a self-driving car, according to a paywalled Financial Times report. The report states that negotiations between the two companies were "brief" and that discussions did not make their way to higher executive or leadership levels in either company due to disagreements over the specifics of the Apple Car.

It's worth noting that an older report by Nikkei Asia cited Nissan as one of at least six Japanese automakers that Apple is eyeing for the Apple Car. The report didn't, however, provide specific details as to the progress of any talks, or if Apple is ultimately siding with one carmaker over the others.

Nissan and Apple reportedly clashed over how a partnership would actually play out. Nissan reportedly was concerned that a deal with Apple would downgrade Nissan to simply a "hardware supplier." The Apple Car is expected to be fully branded by Apple, including Apple software and design. While Apple holds the in-house ability to design its own software and hardware, it's not positioned to build the actual hardware at a mass scale, which is why a partnership is considered to be a hallmark of the project itself.

During an earnings presentation, Nissan's COO Ashwani Gupta stated that Nissan is open to partnerships, but only if the opposite party adapts to Nissan's services, not vice versa. The COO said that Nissan has its own customer base to satisfy and that it will not "change the way" it makes cars.

Earlier in the year following reports of a potential tie-up with Apple, Hyundai's shares surged by more than 25% but remained volatile after negotiations came to a standstill. Attempting to avoid from a similar scenario, Nissan quickly and unequivocally confirmed in a statement that it's "not in talks" with Apple but remains open to working with other companies.

Apple remains a tightly secretive company that rarely confirms the existence of unreleased products and projects. The statement by Hyundai earlier in the year confirming it's in negotiations with the tech giant undoubtedly upset Apple executives as it was seen as a confirmation that Apple is pursuing a partnership for a potential self-driving car. The statement was quickly reworded to remove mention of Apple, and soon after, talks between the two came to a screeching halt.

Despite the plentiful number of reports about Apple's self-driving car, sources suggest that we won't be seeing it on the road until at least 2026. Bloomberg reports that the Apple Car is "nowhere near production stage," and that a release is at least half a decade away. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, one of the most reputable analysts for Apple, still believes that despite Hyundai's mishap, Apple will ultimately side with the carmaker as the official partner for its self-driving car ambitions.