Exclusive: Apple hires former Tesla VP and Aston Martin Chief Engineer for special [car] project
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has an affectionate nickname for Apple: The ‘Tesla Graveyard‘. “They have hired people we’ve fired,” Musk said. “We always jokingly call Apple the ‘Tesla Graveyard.’ If you don’t make it at Tesla, you go work at Apple”. He made the comment after being asked about the so-called “poaching war” between the automaker and the consumer electronic giant following the start of Apple’s electric car program: ‘Project Titan‘.
We follow who’s coming and who’s going at Tesla pretty closely at Electrek and it’s clear that the two companies share a lot of former colleagues. Tesla’s senior engineering staff and leadership are full of former Apple directors and VPs, while the Cupertino-based company hired quite a few former Tesla engineers, but rarely any senior leadership… until now.
9to5Mac, in collaboration with our sister-site Electrek, has exclusively confirmed and discovered respectively that Apple hired former Tesla Vice President of Vehicle Engineering and former Aston Martin Chief Engineer, Chirs Porritt, to work on “special projects”, and we know that “special projects” is where Apple’s Titan car project lives.
Filed under: Apple Car Tagged: Apple, Apple Car, Aston Martin, Chirs Porritt, Tesla, VP of engineering
Legal analysis of anti-encryption bill says its unconstitutional unenforceable and would harm investigations
While the FBI abandoned its court case against Apple, the dispute of course still rumbles on in Congress, with hearings today and a proposed bill to force U.S. tech companies to break encrypted devices on demand. But at least one legal expert thinks the Feinstein-Burr bill is deeply flawed, arguing that it is unconstitutional, unenforceable and would harm U.S. investigative capabilities.
And not just any legal expert: you can’t really ask for better credentials in this area than those of Paul Rosenzweig.
Paul Rosenzweig is the founder of Red Branch Consulting PLLC, a homeland security consulting company [and] formerly served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy in the Department of Homeland Security. He is a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Homeland Security Studies and Analysis Institute. He also serves as a Professorial Lecturer in Law at George Washington University [and] a Senior Editor of the Journal of National Security Law & Policy.
In a blog post on Lawfare, Rosenzweig sets out the three problems he sees with the Feinstein-Burr bill …
Filed under: AAPL Company, iOS Devices Tagged: Apple, Congress, Encryption, FBI, Feinstein-Burr, Lawfare, Paul Rosenzweig, privacy
Apple releases new 12 inch Retina MacBook: new processors Rose Gold better battery life
Apple has today released an update to the 12 inch Retina MacBook line, with new Skylake processors, overall better performance, and a new color: Rose Gold. The new internals have also allowed Apple to grab an extra hour of battery life out of the same sized product. The MacBook refresh keeps the same thin chassis, the same edge-to-edge keyboard and the same single USB-C port design as the original Retina MacBook, released about a year ago. The new Retina MacBook costs the same as before, starting at $1299.
The lineup means Apple now offers the MacBook in the same colors as its iOS devices, Space Grey, Silver, Gold, and Rose Gold. For the 13 inch MacBook Air, Apple has also made 8 GB RAM the standard spec across every configuration. More specs after the jump.
Filed under: AAPL Company, iOS Devices, Mac, Tech Industry Tagged: iOS, MacBook, MacBook Retina
Steve Wozniak one of three judges of tech company competition prize is one-on-one time with him
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has been announced as one of three judges of Talent Unleashed, a competition to identify the best tech companies in five categories. Fellow judges are Virgin founder Richard Branson and Facebook VP Nicola Mendelsohn.
The Talent Unleashed Awards are on the hunt for ground breaking technology superstars across five global categories across Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Europe and the UK. Celebrating today’s passionate leaders, tomorrows change makers, bold innovation and game changing ideas.
There are five categories, including Best Start-up (Social Impact), Best Start-up (Tech Innovation) and Best Digital SME.
The prize is one-on-one time with Woz, but as this is described as time with him ‘at an exclusive cocktail party,’ it’s not clear that this is the kind of consultancy input entrants might hope for.
Woz retains an honorary position with Apple, but does not play an active role. He does, though, sometimes comment on the company, siding with Apple against the FBI but expressing concern at the complexity of the Apple Watch line-up.
Via Business Insider
Filed under: AAPL Company Tagged: startups, Steve Wozniak, Tech unleashed, Woz
Apple posts latest Transparency Report received over 30k law enforcement requests complied with up to 82%
Apple had published its latest Transparency Report on Government Information Requests, covering the second half of last year. It revealed that it received over 30,000 requests last year, and complied with up to 82% of them. It is not allowed to specify the exact number of National Security Requests, but says they fell into the 1250-1499 band.
Apple breaks down the numbers by country, region and type of request. It says that most fall into what it terms device requests. Apple’s compliance here ranges from 52% in EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) and India, to 80% in the USA.
The vast majority of the requests we receive from law enforcement relate to information about lost or stolen devices, and we report these as device requests. Device requests may include requests for customer contact information provided to register a device with Apple or the date(s) the device used Apple services. We count devices based on the individual serial or IMEI numbers related to an investigation. We encourage any customer who suspects their device is stolen to contact their local law enforcement agency.
Of perhaps greater interest are account requests, where the government is asking for information ranging from names and addresses to copies of iCloud backups …
Filed under: AAPL Company, iOS Devices Tagged: AAPL, Apple, FBI, Government, law enforcement, Transparency Report
Embedded Apple Map on WWDC site suggests official public MapKit web API coming soon
Apple seems to be preparing to announce a web version of its MapKit framework, allowing anyone to embed an Apple Map view into a web page. On the WWDC microsite, Apple has embedded its own map object in the page to show attendees how to get between Moscone West and the Bill Civic auditorium, where the Monday keynote will be held. Looking at the code, it appears Apple wants to make this embeddable map a public API in the (near?) future so anyone could add an Apple Map to their website.
The map allows user interaction like you might expect with panning, zooming and such. Behind the scenes, the Apple map uses a HTML5 <canvas> element to render the custom cartography. Right now, MapKit is exclusive to iOS and Mac apps, ostensibly funded by the revenue Apple brings in from the sale of App Store apps.
From a business perspective, it is unclear why Apple would want to open up its API to web developers. Today, most developers use embedded Google Maps to display maps on their websites due to its ubiquity. Although other mapping options exist, a high-profile entrance of Apple into the space would provide strong competition to Google’s offering.
Filed under: AAPL Company, iOS, iOS Devices, Tech Industry Tagged: Apple, developer, iOS, maps, market, web, Web app, web site, WWDC
Everything you need to know about this years Worldwide Developers Conference
After an odd semi-unveil via Siri earlier today, Apple this evening officially confirmed that its annual Worldwide Developers Conference would take place from June 13th through June 17th in San Francisco. As in previous years, tickets are being distributed via a random lottery process to eligible developers. Interested in attending? Read on as we break down everything you need to know about WWDC 2016.
Filed under: AAPL Company Tagged: Apple, iOS, Mac, WWDC, WWDC 2016
Apple Pay now available in Singapore for American Express customers, support for Visa & others coming soon
Apple Pay is now available in yet another country. Apple today has updated its website and Apple Pay support page to reveal that the service is now available in Singapore. Through a partnership with American Express, users in Singapore can now take advantage of the company’s mobile payments solution.
Filed under: Apple Pay Tagged: Apple pay, jennifer bailey, Singapore
Apple shares new collection of Earth Day-inspired playlists on Apple Music
Continuing its Earth Day efforts, Apple today has shared a collection of new playlists on Apple Music that the company says provides the “perfect soundtrack for Earth day – and beyond.” The collection consists of five different playlists containing a wide array of artists.
Filed under: Apple Music Tagged: Apple Music, Earth Day, Music, streaming
Apple unveils redesigned webpage sharing details on how to succeed in the App Store
Alongside officially announcing details for its Word Wide Developer Conference, Apple this evening has launched an entirely redesigned webpage with guides on how to make “great apps for the App Store.” On the webpage, Apple details how interested users can join the Apple Developer Program, manage applications, promote applications, and much more.
The App Store makes it simple for users around the world to discover, download and enjoy your apps. Grow your business with resources designed to help you create great apps and reach more users.
Filed under: Apps