Tim Cook labels claims Apple avoids taxes ‘political crap’ in CBS interview, will talk encryption & terrorism

by | Dec 18, 2015 |

Tim-Cook-China

We learned last night that CBS is set to air a tour inside Jony Ive’s “secret” design lab on the 60 Minutes program this Sunday evening, and now the network has shared a clip of Tim Cook being interviewed by Charlie Rose as a separate segment due to air in the same episode.

While Apple’s design chief will likely discuss lighter topics, the legendary CBS interviewer is seen pushing the Apple CEO on claims that the company keeps profit overseas in order to avoid paying the United States government fair taxes.

Cook is also expected to address questions on Apple’s strong privacy position and encryption, which law enforcement officials say prevent proper investigations into criminal activity even when a warrant is issued.

In the released clip, Cook reduces the long-running claim that Apple improperly holds funds in international accounts in order to avoid paying their fair share of taxes to the federal government to “political crap” while adding that Apple pays more taxes in the US than anyone.

Cook acknowledges that the company also has more money overseas than anyone, while two-thirds of the company is located out of the United States. While he says he’d love to repatriate the funds, Cook says it would cost 40% to bring the money home and that Apple pays every cent it owes. Back in 2013, the Apple CEO voluntarily testified before a Senate committee investigating the tax issue.


While the clip shared above (Flash/Chrome required on desktop) teases the “political crap” portion of the conversation, CBS News says that Cook will also address new pressure to stop encrypting iPhones and iPads, iMessage, FaceTime, and their iCloud services. Apple has been under added pressure to accommodate law enforcement officials and national security agencies, which argue Apple’s marketing a platform that creates a safe haven for criminals and terrorists to communicate under the radar.

These groups have called for Apple to provide a back door for officials at least when a warrant is provided, but Apple has maintained its position that a backdoor for government officials would create a backdoor for criminals as well and put all customer privacy in jeopardy.

While the privacy versus security debate continues, the interview will also see the Apple CEO address the issue of the United States company making most of its products in China.

60 Minutes airs on CBS on Sunday, December 20th at 7:30 pm ET and 7 pm PT.

Filed under: AAPL Company

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Shop Apple’s holiday gift guide, save up to $350: great 9to5 deals on every device + accessory

by | Dec 18, 2015 |

applestorediscounts

Every year, Apple puts together a beautiful-looking holiday gift guide on Apple.com, packed with the latest iOS devices, Macs, and accessories people would love to receive as gifts. The hitch is that Apple’s prices are almost always full retail, with no discounting, so it’s easy to spend anywhere from $5 to $300 more per item than if you shopped around.

This year, 9to5Toys and 9to5Mac have done the bargain hunting for you. We’ve found savings on virtually every item on Apple’s holiday shopping list, which this year is organized into 6 sections: Gaming, Photography, Music, Fitness, Learning and Travel. Using the links below, you can save up to $350 on a new 12″ MacBook, between $20 and $80 on many third-party accessories, and up to $130 on a pair of Beats headphones…

Gaming

Apple’s Gifts for Gamers page is fairly heavy on apps this year, all of which can only be purchased through the iOS App Store. We’ve provided links to save on Apple hardware, several major accessories, and high-value alternatives.

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Photography

Apple’s Gifts for Photographers page offers everything from add-on camera lenses and microphones to apps and carrying cases. Only one item in here is an Apple Store-exclusive bundle, and there are a couple of apps, too; everything else can be had at a savings.

 

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Music

Apple’s Gifts for Music Lovers page notably leaves out any mention of iPods — amazing, right? — to focus on Beats, Bose, and B&O audio accessories. We found an awesome 12″ Retina MacBook deal for this section, as well.

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Fitness

Apple’s Gifts for Fitness Enthusiasts page leans heavily on the Apple Watch, accessories, and apps this year. We found some nice savings on the Apple Watch and Beats audio gear, plus some other bonuses.

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Learning

Apple’s Gifts for Learners page is heavy on science education tools and toys. If you’re interested in saving money on an iPad or MacBook, this is a good section; apps are inexpensive but not discounted.

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Travel

More From This Author

Check out more of my reviews, How-To guides and editorials for 9to5Mac here! I’ve published a lot of different topics of interest to Mac, iPad, iPhone, iPod, Apple TV, and Apple Watch users, as well as a last-minute holiday gift guide for Apple fans, a great holiday gift guide for iPhone users, a detailed holiday gift guide for Mac users, and a separate holiday gift guide for Apple photographers.

Filed under: Apple TV, Apple Watch, Buying Guides, iOS Devices, Mac Tagged: Accessories, Apple gift guide, Apple TV, Beats, discounts, gift guide, Gifts, iPad, iPhone, IPod Touch, Mac, Shopping

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9to5Toys Lunch Break: 12-inch Retina MacBook from $950, iPhone 6s on contract $1, Bastion for iOS $1, more

by | Dec 18, 2015 |

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Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.

TODAY’S CAN’T MISS DEALS:

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Apple 12-inch MacBook 1.1GHz/8GB/256GB in all colors: $1,000 or $950 w/ .edu (Reg. $1,300)

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Best Buy offering iPhone 6s for $1 on contract w/ Sprint & Verizon

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Games/Apps: Bastion for iOS $1 (Reg. $5), 50% off Final Fantasy 1-7, freebies, more

applestorediscounts

Shop Apple’s holiday gift guide, save up to $350: great 9to5 deals on every device + accessory

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Grab the entire Infinity Blade Trilogy on iOS for just $1 each ($20 value)

App Store Free App of the Week: Attack the Light RPG goes free ($3 value)

Frogmind drops the new BADLAND 2 for iOS, original down to $3 (Reg. $5)

Hitman Sniper for iOS drops to its lowest price yet: $1 (Reg. up to $5)

PayPal Digital Gifts

Gift Cards w/ Email Delivery: JCPenney $60 for $50, Toys R Us $100 for $90, more

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Apple Watch Sport $100 off at B&H Photo, prices start at $249 with tax only in NY

Best Buy’s latest Apple sale is your best chance to score iPad, Mac, & Watch deals before Christmas: iPad Air 2 $125 off, iPad Air $100 off, iPad mini 4 $100 off, much more!

MORE NEW GEAR FROM TODAY:

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Fitness Trackers: Fitbit Charge HR $110 (Reg. $130+), The Microsoft Band 2 $200 (Reg. $250)

MORE DEALS STILL ALIVE:

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Seagate Backup Plus USB 3.0 5TB Desktop External Hard Drive $115 (Orig. $180)

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iPhone 6/s/Plus Accessories: Sport Armbands from $6, cases in a variety of colors/styles from $3 shipped, more

USB Chargers w/ Prime shipping: Imneed 10,000mah Slim power bank $12, Nylon Braided Lightning Cable $8, more

Anker USB Power Deals: Astro E7 26,800mAh Power Bank $40 (Reg. $60), Braided Nylon MFi Lightning Cables from $8, more

NEW PRODUCTS & MORE:

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Tiny Arcade puts those 80’s gaming cabinets in the palm of your hand

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Justin’s Holiday Gift Guide: speakers, Lightning mics, pocket synths & more to up your home recording set-up

Trevor’s Holiday Gift Guide: The perfect accessories for travel – backpacks, cord management, more

Dan’s Holiday Gift Guide: rare Apple collectibles & swag for the techie who has everything

Skip the holiday blues with these practical stocking stuffers

Top 10 holiday movies you can stream right now on Netflix

Filed under: Tips and Tricks Tagged: 12-inch, 9to5Toys, Amazon, app deals, Bastion, Best Buy, Daily Deals, free apps, Gold Box, iPhone 6s, MacBook, video games

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Get Canary’s all-in-one home security system + air quality/temperature sensor for $179 (Reg. $200)

by | Dec 18, 2015 |

canary-security-ios

This is one of the best deals yet on our favorite all-in-one home security system and air quality detector.

Just in time for the holidays, get $20 off Canary. That brings the price down to $179 from the regular $199. Better yet, you can save a total of $50 off regular price when purchasing the Canary Two-Pack.

This Wi-Fi, smartphone connected security system does a whole lot more than the webcam style security cameras gaining popularity recently, and it does it all with gorgeous, Apple-like industrial design and slick companion apps for iPhone and Apple Watch… 

Canary has specs that rival all the latest range of smart, Wi-Fi connected security systems— 1080p video, motion detection, audio, a siren, night vision— and it adds it some unique features that make it a step ahead the competition including sensors that detect air quality, temperature and humidity, and the ability to intelligently learn your habits.

Here’s a look at the iPhone app in action:

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And for Apple Watch users, the company brings the core experience to your wrist with a companion app for the device:

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With most other smart security cameras on the market, you have to pay to get access to live streaming or video history. With Canary, you get live streaming, 12 hours of video history, and video saves on the entry-level free plan. That means, unlike the competitors, you can give Canary as a gift and not have to worry about the recipient having to pay monthly.

And if you need more storage or history, Canary’s upgrade plans start at $5/month.

Head over to Canary’s site now to take advantage of the deals.

Canary-Features

Filed under: Sponsored Post Tagged: air quality, Apple watch, Camera, Canary, deal, discount, humidity, iPhone, Security, Temperature

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Feature Request: Give Siri access to third-party apps, and (in time) much more

by | Dec 18, 2015 |

siri

I know not everyone gets along with Siri, but personally I love it. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that it’s my default way of interacting with my iPhone, whether it’s searching the web, dictating a text message, setting an alarm, setting for location-based reminders, noting appointments, phoning friends, playing music, getting directions … even opening apps.

The main reason I use Siri is simply efficiency – which some of my friends insist is spelled ‘laziness.’ But really, if I can simply ask my phone to do something for me, or tell me something, why wouldn’t I? Interacting with a touchscreen and manually typing things is so last century.

It also saves time. If I’m walking down the street, I can ask Siri to do something without breaking stride. Doing the same task manually would mean either stopping or ending up walking in front of a bus. I’ve also used my Apple Watch to ask Siri to do something at traffic light stops when cycling – there simply wouldn’t be time in that situation to pull out my phone and do the same thing manually.

But powerful as Siri is, I’d like to see it be able to do more – much, much more …

My single biggest frustration with it right now is that I have all these apps on my phone that can answer lots of questions and do lots of things, but Siri has no access to most of them. If it’s an Apple app, no problem. I can ask Siri to send a text, remind me to buy milk when I pass my local shop, play some Anna Nalick, show me the photos I took yesterday and a lot more.

But what I can’t yet do is ask the time of my next train home, despite having an app on my phone that can answer that question. I can’t ask it to show me today’s Timehop, nor can I ask it to post that to Facebook. I can’t ask it to post something to a Hipchat or Slack chatroom. I can’t ask it to call an Uber car. I can’t ask it to translate ‘Where is the nearest pharmacy’ into Mandarin. I could name many other examples, but you get the idea.

Almost nobody buys an iPhone and then installs no third-party apps, so it feels odd that Siri is entirely unaware of them. An API that allows third-party apps to interface with Siri seems, at first glance, a small thing to ask.

watch

But I recognize that the reality is very different. What I’m asking for here is non-trivial. Let’s take the train home example, and look at exactly what I’d be asking Siri to achieve.

What time is my next train home?

Let’s start with the good news. Siri knows where my home is, and it knows my nearest train station. It knows where I am now. My train app also knows which station I need to get to, and it knows when the next train is. It can tell me which platform it goes from and what time it gets me home. So far, so good. But after that, things get complicated.

First, Siri has to parse the question. While I know mileages vary, my own experience is that Siri is almost faultless at this – but that’s in large part because there are a limited number of questions you can ask. The more questions we add to the list, the greater the chances of it failing to properly understand what I’m asking.

Second, Siri has to know which app is able to answer the question. That may be relatively trivial if I only have one app capable of answering the question, but what if I have two or three trains apps, each of which could do so? Which app does Siri query?

Third, the train app has to make sense of the query passed to it by Siri and pass the required information back to Siri.

Fourth, Siri has to be able to translate the data handed over by the app into speech – which isn’t as trivial as it sounds.

apps

We could offer Siri a helping hand with the second step. I could tell Siri which app to ask.

Ask myTrains Pro the time of my next train home

But that’s horribly clunky. Worse, I had to actually look at my iPhone to check the name of the app – I just think of it as my train app. I couldn’t tell you offhand the names of half the apps on my phone, and I bet the same is true for most people. There’s little benefit to using Siri if we first have to look at the screen and perhaps flip through to the correct screen and maybe open a folder too.

But there is one very practical way we could make the task easier. The iPhone 6s prompted third-party apps to learn a new trick: 3D Touch actions. These are a very limited number of things they can do right from the Home screen. My train app hasn’t yet learned this trick, but when it does, ‘Next train home’ would be the most obvious 3D Touch action.

So Siri wouldn’t have to learn to parse a massive number of new queries, only the very limited number of queries/actions available through the 3D Touch function. With that approach, it becomes a lot more practical.

3d-touch-04

But I’m not done yet. In time, I’d like Siri to be able to handle tasks like this:

Arrange lunch with Sam next week

Siri knows who Sam is, so that bit’s fine. It has access to my calendar, so knows when I have free lunch slots. Next, it needs to know when Sam has free lunch slots.

This shouldn’t be complicated. Microsoft Outlook may be one of my least-favorite apps in the world, but it has for years offered delegated access to calendars, where work colleagues are allowed to check each other’s diaries for free slots, and authorized people are allowed to add appointments. So what we need here is the iCloud equivalent.

I pre-approve contacts allowed to do this. iOS could show me my Favorites list as an initial prompt (though I’m probably not going to authorize my local cab company). Those approved contacts are then given access to my iCloud calendar at a busy/free level, without actually getting access to the data itself. My iPhone checks Sam’s iCloud calendar for free lunch slots and matches them with mine. It finds we’re both free on Wednesday so schedules the lunch.

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And it could do even more. My iPhone could easily note my favourite eateries, and Sam’s, and find one we both like. It could then go online to the restaurant’s reservation system to make the booking. The process would then look (well, sound) like this …

Hey Siri, arrange lunch with Sam next week

Working – I’ll get back to you shortly …

Ok, I arranged lunch with Sam for 1pm next Wednesday at Bistro Union at Clapham Park

There are a few data privacy issues to figure out. In order to work out a convenient location, it would need to know where each of us will be before and after, to ensure the location is practical. So, in practice, Siri would need a little more access to Sam’s diary than just busy/free. But as long as only Siri sees location info, and we’re approving the contacts we allow such access, I think that’s acceptable.

What are your thoughts? Is this exactly what you’ve been waiting for? Is Siri so hopeless for you that you never use it? Or something in between? As ever, take our poll and share your views in the comments.

Benjamin Mayo kindly lent his developer expertise to assist with this piece.

Images: apple.com; livetrainsapp.co.uk; apple.com; me; Standard

Filed under: Feature Request Tagged: Feature Request, icloud, iOS, iPhone, Siri

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Target reportedly developing its own Apple Pay-like mobile wallet service

by | Dec 18, 2015 |

apple-pay-clover

American retail chain Target is said to be developing its own mobile payment service that would compete with Apple Pay, according to the latest Reuters report this morning. Target’s mobile wallet service is described as being in the early stages of development with a possible launch possibly planned for sometime next year. Like other retailer-specific mobile wallets, Target’s mobile wallet would let customers pay for goods through a smartphone app.

While Target is certainly no stranger to Apple, with all the Apple Watch and iPad sales headlining during Black Friday this year, the retailer has resisted accepting Apple Pay for purchases in its stores since Apple’s wallet service launch in October 2014. Target has, however, made Apple Pay checkout through its app available for online orders since day one.

Target CEO Brian C. Cornell has even been open to the idea of introducing Apple Pay for in-store purchases in the near future, although during a Recode conference interview this year the executive importance of first rolling out chip-and-pin support for more secure debit and credit cards that are now growing common in the United States, then revisiting Apple Pay in stores after the holiday shopping season. Both chip-in-pin and contactless payment support is critical for Target which was hit with a massive security breach in 2013, which prompted the retailer to promote the use of paper checks (of all things) at checkout.

Notably, Target is among the list of retailers included in the Merchant Customer Exchange consortium, a band of retailers behind the arguably-failed CurrentC mobile wallet service. News of Target developing its own mobile wallet service likely says more about the demise of CurrentC and less about future plans not to accept Apple Pay in stores next year based on Cornell’s past comments.

Walmart, another early CurrentC backer that has so far resisted accepting Apple Pay in its stores, recently officially announced its own Walmart Pay mobile wallet service. Several other early CurrentC backers including Kohl’s, Best Buy, Chili’s, and Dunkin’ Donuts have adopted Apple Pay payments in either their stores, iPhone and iPad apps, or both.

Filed under: iOS Devices Tagged: Apple pay, Commerce, mobile payment service, Security, target, wallet

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Apple facing second (unrelated) lawsuit over excess data usage, this one for iPhone 5/5s

by | Dec 18, 2015 |

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Apple is already facing one class action lawsuit alleging that customers were unknowingly using up substantial amounts of mobile data, and it now faces a second.

The issue at stake in this new suit is that the iPhone 5/5s could silently switch from WiFi to LTE under some circumstances, resulting in mobile data usage even when the phone was on WiFi. This was fixed for Verizon users back in September 2012, but law firm Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP claims that Apple didn’t fix it for AT&T users until more than a year later.

According to the complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Jose, Apple knew about the defect “almost immediately,” yet failed to fix it for AT&T wireless subscribers for years, and did not even disclose the defect. The defect affected all versions of iOS 6 and 7 and was only resolved with the release of iOS 8.1 in October 2014.

The firm said that the problem occurred when streaming video, when the phone was working so intensively it shut down other functions to cope, causing it to switch off WiFi. (Swift here refers to the name of the CPU on the A6/A7 chip rather than the programming language.)

In the iPhone 5 and 5S, when a consumer streamed high volumes of data for a period even as short as a couple of minutes, the graphics processing unit (GPU) would take over all video decompression, decoding and presentation to the display. Because the Swift central processing unit (CPU) no longer played a role in the video decompression, decoding and presentation process, the Swift CPU would go to sleep to conserve battery life. Once the Swift CPU was asleep, the iPhone 5 and 5S would automatically switch from streaming data via a Wi-Fi signal to streaming data via a cellular signal.

Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP said that because Apple was allegedly aware of the defect but failed to either fix it or warn customers, the company violated California consumer laws, “including the Unfair Competition Law, the Consumers Legal Remedies Act and the False Advertising Law.”

Anyone wanting to join the class action suit can do so via the firm’s website.

Photo: AnandTech

Filed under: iOS Devices Tagged: Apple Inc, AT&T, class action lawsuit, iPhone, Lawsuit, LTE, mobile data, mobile data lawsuit, Verizon, Wi-Fi

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Caption contest: What is Jony Ive explaining to Charlie Rose?

by | Dec 18, 2015 |

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When CBS shared a photo of Charlie Rose touring Apple’s secretive design studio to promote an upcoming 60 Minutes piece, we got to wondering what it was Jony Ive was explaining to Rose.

How thick the iPhone 7 will be now Apple has decided to include all the various features people have asked for? What the first prototype of the battery hump looked like? How much thicker his wallet got after his promotion?

Post your entries in the comments or on Twitter or Facebook, and the best one will win an Aukey Bluetooth Speaker and a 20000mAh USB battery pack. Keep it clean, please …

We’ll update the post with the winner on Sunday before the show airs. Good luck!

Filed under: AAPL Company Tagged: 60 Minutes, Apple Inc, Caption contest, Charlie Rose, Design studio, Jony Ive

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Apple lets you take your gift shopping to the wire with free overnight delivery & in-store pickup

by | Dec 18, 2015 |

gifts

If you’re one of those people who likes to leave your holiday gift shopping until the last minute, Apple has you covered. Apple notes on its website that you can order products online right up to 2pm on 23rd December and the company will deliver them overnight free of charge. The replaces the normal two-day shipping.

Still not cutting things fine enough for you? No problem …

In selected countries, Apple also allows you to place your online order right up until two hours before the closing time of your local Apple Store, and pick up the goods the same day. The company recently extended its Personal Pickup service first to Australia and Canada, then to the UK, and most recently to six more European countries.

Apple is offering gift suggestions in six different categories: gaming, photography, music, fitness, learning and travel – with the iPad Pro featured front-and-center. If you need additional ideas, check out our collection of holiday gift guides. Amazon also has its own set of last-minute deals in electronics.

Filed under: AAPL Company Tagged: Apple gifts, Apple Inc, Gifts, holiday gifts

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Star Wars: The Force Awakens soundtrack now available in Apple Music and iTunes

by | Dec 18, 2015 |

star-wars-image

Released today, fans of JJ Abram’s interpretation of Star Wars can now buy the full soundtrack album for the Star Wars: The Force Awakens movie ($11.99) or stream it with Apple Music. There are a total of 23 tracks with a total runtime around 70 minutes.  The album starts with the iconic opening credits soundtrack and ends with an track 8 minute entitled ‘The Jedi Steps and Finale’. The long-awaited seventh instalment in the film series is expected to break box office records, after strong first showings around the world.

Apple is also running a special Star Wars Apple Music Radio station, as we reported earlier in the week, in coordination with various other promotions of Star Wars content across the iTunes Store. You can download all six previous films as a digital movie collection for $90.

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Filed under: Apple Music, iOS, iOS Devices, Tech Industry Tagged: soundtrack, Star Wars

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