Jordan Golson

Apple will launch a new software platform that will let the iPhone directly control lights, security systems and other household gadgets at WWDC next week, according to a report from The Financial Times. The piece claims Apple will make a "big play" in smart home technology by working with device makers give them official approval, like the "Made for iPhone" program does for some accessories...

Bringing "culturally aware" managers to Apple is a big part of why Apple is interested in acquiring Beats, according to a new report from TechCrunch.The piece claims that Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre are the big prizes at the company, and that it fits with Tim Cook's recent hiring of high-fashion managers like Angela Ahrendts from Burberry, wearable expert Ben Shaffer from Nike, and Paul Deneve...

Microsoft's design manager for Office for iPad has posted an interesting piece discussing the company's design philosophy behind the software. The software, released back in March, has been well received by both users and critics. It's seen more than 27 million downloads and has already seen a significant update to add features that weren't ready for launch. Han-Yi Shaw writes about the...

Pixelmator has updated its incredibly popular image editing software to version 3.2, including a completely redesigned repair tool, 16-bits per channel color support and a much-requested Lock Layers feature. The new repair tool includes quick, standard and advanced modes that use retouching algorithms to remove imperfections or unwanted objects from images more efficiently. The Lock Layers...

Algoriddim, makers of the popular DJing software Djay, have solved one of the app's biggest problems with a new update out today. Thanks to a new partnership with Spotify, the subscription music service, Djay now offers direct access to Spotify's full music library of more than twenty million songs. Previously, users could only mix and play songs that were stored locally on their iPhone or...

The Nest Protect app-enabled smoke detector will be returning to store shelves soon, the company said today, after being pulled off the market and recalled because of a potential safety issue last month.The company, which was acquired by Google earlier this year for $3.2 billion, stopped selling the Nest Protect last month after laboratory testing determined that the Nest Wave feature could...

Apple has renewed exclusive rights to use Liquidmetal Technologies' metal alloys in consumer electronics items, according to a filing with the SEC.The rights were originally purchased back in 2010, to run through February 2014. The new renewal extends the agreement through February of 2015.On May 19, 2014, Liquidmetal Technologies, Inc. (the “Company”) and Apple Inc. (“Apple”) entered...

Apple and Google/Motorola Mobility have agreed to a settlement and will dismiss pending patent litigation between the two companies, according to a court filing referenced by Reuters. As part of the settlement, Apple and Google have agreed to work together "in some areas of patent reform". Apple and Google have been in patent disputes for years. This particular settlement does not include a...

Google has bought the popular iOS and Android visual translation app Word Lens to "incorporate [the] technology into Google Translate's broad language coverage", according to a statement on Quest Visual's website.The software uses a smartphone camera to translate signs in real time into the users native language. The technology is remarkable and used by many world travelers. Previously,...

With the next iPhone widely expected to be available in larger screen sizes, Canalys reports that a third of all smartphones sold worldwide in the first quarter had screen sizes larger than five inches, a full inch larger than Apple's 4" iPhone 5s screen. The five-inch market -- some 90 million units in the quarter -- was the fastest growing portion of the smartphone market in the first quarter. ...

Apple has published its iOS Human Interface Guidelines to iBooks. The guidelines are Apple's recommendations and suggestions to developers for designing cohesive and usable apps that follow similar user interface principles to other iOS applications. The company has long offered user interface guidelines, dating back to the original Macintosh, but has recently only offered its iOS 7 guidelines ...

New Apple Senior Vice President of Retail and Online Stores Angela Ahrendts has received a signing bonus potentially worth $68 million at current share prices, in the form of 113,334 restricted stock units that vest over the next four years.Ahrendts will receive shares spread over several different vesting periods between June 1, 2014 and June 14, 2018, assuming Ahrendts stays with the company. ...

Apple's share price has closed above the $600 mark for the first time since October 2012, some 18 months ago. It illustrate a significant recovery for Apple's stock, which hit a low of $388/share in late June 2013.The price is mostly psychological, made even more so by the fact that Apple will split its stock by a 7/1 ratio next month, dropping the price down to roughly $85 per share at current ...

Apple is expanding its iTunes Match service to Japan, according to a MacRumors tipster and the company's iTunes Match availability website. The service, which costs ¥3,980 per year, allows iTunes users to match their existing iTunes libraries with high quality versions of songs from Apple's iCloud. After matching, content is available in iCloud and can be accessed from any device. iTunes Match ...

London-based streaming music service Bloom.fm is shutting down following the withdrawal of its main investment partner, TNT, a Russian television channel. TNT withdrew its funding following an organizational change, said VentureBeat.In a blog post, the Bloom.fm team said the withdrawal of funding was a surprise and that the company has no time to find new investment.We’ll keep this short...

Apple has initiated a recall of some iPhone 5 models because the Sleep/Wake button may "stop working or work intermittently", according to an Apple statement given to The Loop. The company has created a special support website for the recall where customers can enter their iPhone serial number and see if their phone is one of the "small percentage" of iPhone 5 models that are affected....

Apple today announced financial results for the first calendar quarter and second fiscal quarter of 2014. For the quarter, Apple posted revenue of $45.6 billion and net quarterly profit of $10.2 billion, or $11.62 per diluted share, compared to revenue of $43.6 billion and net quarterly profit of $9.5 billion, or $10.09 per diluted share in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin for the quarter...

Steve Jobs was infamous for his temper, with a famous story about him blowing up at the MobileMe team following a rocky rollout of that service in 2008.However, Jobs isn't the only employee at Apple with a short fuse. A profile in The Information studies Kim Vorrath, Apple's vice president in charge of "program management" for both iOS and OS X. She supervises Apple's thorough testing process...

A research note (via Barrons) from Christopher Caso, an analyst with Susquehanna Financial Group, reiterates previous analyst reporting about the iWatch, saying Apple is looking to enter production with a pair of screen sizes in the fourth quarter of 2014. Caso says Apple has production targets of 5-6 million units, but believes the iWatch will "essentially replace the iPod in the consumer...

Google is covering lawyer fees and potential damage awards with regards to four patents in the ongoing Apple/Samsung patent case, according to a report from Re/code, quoting deposition testimony from a Google attorney that Apple introduced in court today. Google's contractual obligations to defend Samsung relate to a "Mobile Application Distribution Agreement" between the two companies related...