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Fiat and Apple CEO meeting backs up Apple's car plans Mr. Marchionne said Tim Cook is “interested in Apple's intervention in the car, that's his role,” according to Reuters. He didn't elaborate on what he meant, but his comment does add more weight to reports that Apple is designing an electric car. The Mac Observer's…

iPads to help check up on senior citizens in Japan Currently postal workers check in on the elderly on their delivery routes as a paid service. Putting iPads in the hands of senior citizens will make it easier to check their status and, thanks to the apps IBM is developing, will help them stay in…

Apple wants to launch Apple Watch sales in more countries in June “Right now, Watch demand is greater than supply. We've made progress over the last week or so,” Mr. Cook said during Apple's second fiscal quarter earnings conference call. “We're in a good position, and by late June we anticipate we can begin to…

And if you're having trouble reading between the lines, Sony's device, the Xperia Z4 smartphone, doesn't qualify as the “best” in their minds. Jame Bond Only Uses the Best The basic story is that Sony offered Daniel Craig an endorsement fee of $5 million dollars, as well as $18 million in supporting marketing for the…

Some USB battery chargers are just ho-hum with nothing special about them. But the Just Mobile TopGum 6000 mAh charger takes everything a step further. It has a magnetic charger stand with two input modes, dual outputs, a hideaway Lighting connector and even a gold color option in addition to silver and black.   ____________________…

After 14 amazing years at Apple, it's time to move on and see what adventures life holds for me next! pic.twitter.com/9oFp3lGcMB — Natalie Kerris (@nataliekerris) April 22, 2015 Ms. Kerris was a fixture in Apple PR who came up under the reign of Katy Cotton. She was excellent at her job, especially when that job…

Rather than pitching our reviews as numbers, we want to give our readers a call to action. We've always written the kind of reviews we want to read, and we wanted our ratings to match. Accordingly, there are no numbers associated with our new system, and instead we are offering a call to action based…

Twitter opens the door to private messages… sort of Twitter's Direct Message, or DM, feature has been a way for people to carry on a private conversation. It's been limited to users who follow each other—something that cuts down on just who can chat privately with each other, but also cut out the possibility for…

Scott Forstall TechCrunch discovered the information in the leaked emails posted to Wikileaks. They were part of massive amount of emails and other information stolen by North Korean hackers in retaliation for the movie The Interview. The information about Snapchat came from Michael Lynton, CEO Sony Pictures, who also serves on the board of Snapchat.…

Apple CEO Tim Cook ranked as one of TIME's most influential people for 2015 Mr. Cook's entry on the list was penned by Congressman John Lewis (D-GA), who is also a civil rights proponent. He said, Tim is unwavering in his support of an individual's right to privacy and is not only embracing equality and…

LA school district backed out of iPad contract and now wants its money back Current Superintendent Ramon Cortines said, “I don't believe we can afford a device for every student,” according to the LA Times. “Education shouldn't become the gimmick of the year.” The school district signed a deal with Apple and Pearson under former…

Apple CEO Tim Cook supporting human rights through Charitybuzz auction Mr. Cook's 2013 auction raised $610,000 for the RFK Center, and his 2014 auction brought in another $300,000. Charitybuzz is expecting this year's auction to bring in at least $100,000. Bidding is currently sitting at $37,500, but you have until May 6 to break out…

USPTO throws a wrench in Personal Audio's paten lawsuit scheme The Electronic Frontier Foundation helped spearhead the effort to invalidate the patent. EFF Staff Attorney Daniel Nazer commented, “We're glad the Patent Office recognized what we all knew: 'podcasting' had been around for many years and this company does not own it.” Personal Audio found…

Apple ran through at least 975,000 Apple Watch pre-orders last Friday Apple launched Apple Watch pre-orders on Friday, April 10 as 12:01AM pacific time. Deliveries should start arriving on April 24. 62 percent of Friday's Apple Watch pre-orders were made up of the Apple Watch Sport which customers spending an average of US$382.83 per watch.…

Star Wars is finally going digital The movies will include deleted scenes, cast and crew interviews, and behind-the-scenes looks into all six movies. There isn't any word on which versions of the movies we'll get this Friday—the original theatrical releases, or the updated bonus special effects versions that completely kill the growth of Han Solo.…

Felony convictions cost construction workers jobs at Apple campus site News of the now out of work construction crew came courtesy of Iron Workers Local Union 377 and site workers speaking with the San Francisco Chronicle. DPR, the company overseeing the construction project, sent the workers packing because being a charged or convicted felon “does…

Penclic has released a mini wireless keyboard with normal size keys that can be used with either battery power or connected to your Mac via USB for continuous use. There are a lot of really good things to say about this keyboard, but there are also a couple of important issues that Penclic could have…

Mr. Rockwell served as the leader for Dolby's Advanced Technology Group, and was involved in the company's Dolby Vision display technology, according to 9to5Mac. He has also been a part of Dolby's home theater product designs, along with the company's mobile products. Apple hired Tomlinson Holman, Lucasfilm's TXH sound system inventor, in 2011 for its…

We’ll be comparing four services here: the new Tidal, the elder statesman of music streaming Pandora, Apple-owned Beats Music, and the current leader in streaming music, Spotify. Is Streaming Right For You? First of all, streaming music may not be for you at all. If you have a very limited data plan, or commonly find…

The Satechi 10 Port Premium Aluminum Hub  has seven USB 3.0 ports and three USB charger ports. This combination  comes in a device that is only 7 x 2.5 x 5.75 inches (18 x 6.4 x 14 cm) and weighs 1.9 pounds (867 grams). The Hub provides date rates of up to 5.0 Gbps. It…

Facebook can track everyone online thanks to website plug-ins Facebook's tracking uses Web browser cookies to track online activity, and those cookies can be set regardless of whether or not you have a Facebook account thanks to the Like button plug-ins that appear on many sites. The company's extensive tracking shouldn't come as a big…

This is handy if I need a quick sum or average, for example, of a group of numbers. And that bar is even more useful than it appears at first glance—for starters, it’s easy to customize what functions appear there by clicking on the gear icon at the bottom of the window and choosing from…

FoundationDB specialized in databases using NoSQL, a way of storing and crunching data without using a relational structure. The company also specialized in ACID-compliant transactions, making FoundationDB the kind of company that could improve Apple's iTunes, App Store, iBooks Store, Mac App Store, and other iCloud-related services. TechCrunch noted that FoundationDB previously touted: At current…

Steven Levy put it best in a piece over the weekend titled, “The War Over Who Steve Jobs Was.” It's a great read about Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli's biography Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader (Amazon, iBooks). More specifically, Mr. Levy, an excellent journalist who interviewed Steve…