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News tagged ‘New York Times’
Review roundup: Apple's Retina MacBook Pro is pretty but pricey
On Monday Apple introduced its next-generation MacBook Pro with Retina Display. Just days after reviewers of the biggest mainstream publications started post their opinions on the redesigned 15-inch MacBook Pro, but some of them remain putting off by the $2,200 entry price. Here are some of the highlights:
Facebook reportedly hiring former Apple iPhone engineers for phone project
The New York Times claims that Facebook is drawing upon former Apple engineers and has hired "more than half a dozen former Apple software and hardware engineers who worked on the iPhone" to develop its own phone. The New York Times’ report also said that Facebook is interested in buying a smartphone company. It raised $16 billion during its recent IPO, enough to purchase either Research in Motion or HTC.
One tipster suggested that the current effort is the company's third attempt to build a smartphone. People who reportedly worked on the first attempt told the Times that the project fell apart because it proved to be more difficult than expected. As a result, Facebook is believed to have realized that it needs industry-experienced veterans to develop hardware, specifically Apple alumni.
Foxconn's Servers Hacked, Exposing Vendor Usernames and Passwords
Swagg Security hacking group announced this week that they managed to hack Foxconn servers that expose usernames and passwords for clients and employees. Such information could be used to place fraudulent orders for companies like Apple and Microsoft.
Swagg Security alleged that it had bypassed Foxconn's firewall "almost flawlessly." Using several hacking techniques and a couple of days time, the hackers reportedly dumped "most of everything of significance," including usernames and passwords. According to the group, the leaked passwords "could allow individuals to make fraudulent orders under big companies like Microsoft, Apple, IBM, Intel, and Dell."
CNN Interviewed Current iPad Assembler About Working Conditions At Foxconn
After The New York Times reported on the working condition of major Apple’s contract manufacturer Foxconn in China, other publications have been conducting their own investigations to find out more information. Today, CNN a video from a journalist Stan Grant who recently held an interview with the current employee of Foxconn and assembler of iPad display:
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More Hints that Apple is Working on an NFC Payment System on the Next iPhone
Apple has been demonstrating interest in incorporating short-range wireless communication technology Near Field Communication (NFC) into the iPhone for a long time. In March 2011 from the New York Times published the most creditable report, where the newspaper confirmed Apple’s interest in NFC, but was unable to specify when the technology would be incorporated into new iPhone:
According to two people with knowledge of the inner workings of a coming iteration of the Apple iPhone - although not necessarily the next one - a chip made by Qualcomm for the phone's processor will also include near-field communication technology, known as N.F.C. This technology enables short-range wireless communications between the phone and an N.F.C reader, and can be used to make mobile payments. It is unclear which version of an iPhone this technology would be built into.
NYTimes: Why Apple builds its products in China
The NY published an absolutely fascinating article, explaining why Apple builds almost all of its stuff in China. The short of it is that companies like Apple simply cannot manufacture products in the United States. The cost is not the reason, however. Years ago, the Chinese government subsidized building cities of factories that can hire 3,000 workers to live in a dorm in a day —or 8,700 Industrial Engineers in two weeks (it would take 9 months in the U.S.).
The most interesting tale might have been the last minute decision to make the iPhones display glass:
In 2007, a little over a month before the iPhone was scheduled to appear in stores, Mr. Jobs beckoned a handful of lieutenants into an office. For weeks, he had been carrying a prototype of the device in his pocket.
Mr. Jobs angrily held up his iPhone, angling it so everyone could see the dozens of tiny scratches marring its plastic screen, according to someone who attended the meeting. He then pulled his keys from his jeans.
Target confirms it will open 25 Apple store-within-a-store outlets this year
Last week AppleInsider exclusively reported that Apple would plan to open 25 specialty stores inside Target's largest stores this year. The retailer confirmed those exact details in a presentation in New York on Thursday, according to The New York Times.
The concept is called "The Shops at Target," and the dedicated Apple ministores coming to 25 Target locations will not be alone. The Minneapolis-based retailer has also partnered with Boston's Polka Dog Bakery and Miami's The Webster, among others, for its specialty shops.
Rumors: Apple Has Been Researching And Prototyping Small Wearable Devices
Nick Bilton from The New York Times, who in October that large parts of rumoured Apple’s television sets appeared in the company's supple chain, now that Apple may be researching and even prototyping new wearable devices.
Apple Launched Internal App In Apple Stores To Further Improve Customer Experience
Last week The New York Times on Apple's retail store software that helps employees timely respond to customer assistance requests. This internal app shows the in-store location of customers who requested assistance to employees on their iPod touches. Customers can inform employees that they need their assistance by touching a button on iPads which are mounted on the sales floor next to products and display information and purchases option. Employees’ iPods receive requests and show customer location in red. Apple Store’s employee Diego Aguirre said:
Steve Jobs wanted Apple to reinvent TVs, textbooks and photography
The famous author of Steve Jobs’ authorized biography, Walter Isaacson, has revealed in his recent interview that the passed away Apple’s co-founder had free things he wanted to reinvent: the television, textbooks and photography. The most difficult for him was television with its "complicated remote controls." Isaacson said that Jobs said he felt there was "no reason" for TVs to be so difficult to use and he claimed he had managed to “crack” the secret of a simple HDTV.
That has led to a new speculation and rumors that Apple is planning to release a television set at some point in the near future. The New York Times said last month that Apple is expected to release a TV with Siri voice recognition functionality by the year 2013.
Isaacson also noted that Jobs was interested in changing textbooks and photography. Apple has already started implementation of an iPad in schools to replace standard printed textbooks and offered to use the iPad as a device for taking pictures. Apple believes that digital textbooks are more convenient and the iPad will improve quality of pictures.
Enterprise adopting Apple products as company becomes 'easier to work with'
The New York Times published an article by Nick Wingfield where Apple’s growth in enterprise sector of the market was revealed, noting that the current Apple’s CEO Tim Cook is "more at ease" meeting with enterprise customers, while Jobs disliked working with businesses.
"While corporate technology buyers say Apple does not try to hide the fact that consumers are still its top priority, they note that the company has gotten easier to work with in recent years, adding features to its devices that make them more palatable to business," author Nick Wingfield wrote.
Under Jobs guidance corporate customers were often rubbed the wrong way. Tim Cook, even before being appointed Apple’s CEO, was said to engage in more communication with the company's enterprise clients.
"(Cook) met more frequently with corporate customers and seemed to appreciate their needs, even if he did not deviate from Mr. Jobs's views about making consumers the priority when making Apple products," the report said.
Apple's new success in the enterprise belongs largely to the iPhone and iPad. According to the recent reports, 93 percent of Fortune 500 companies are deploying or testing the iPhone, while 90 percent are deploying or testing the iPad. Macs also have found its place in enterprises. Moreover, as it was found out, Mac business users are more productive than their PC counterparts.
Steve Jobs' sister shares his final moments, last words
The New York Times has published Steve Jobs’s biological sister, novelist Mona Simpson’s eulogy. She shared her eulogy for her passed away brother, offering an intimate look at the last moments before he died, including his surprising last words.
"Even as a feminist, my whole life I’d been waiting for a man to love, who could love me. For decades, I’d thought that man would be my father. When I was 25, I met that man and he was my brother," she wrote.
Jobs and Mona didn’t know each other until they were both adults. In 1985 a lawyer contacted Simpson to inform her about her brother, but he refused to call his name.
"When I met Steve, he was a guy my age in jeans, Arab- or Jewish-looking and handsomer than Omar Sharif," she wrote.
Jobs and Simpson had a long walk. Jobs said that he was in computer business and was working on something “insanely beautiful" at that moment. Jobs wasn't ashamed of working hard even if "the results were failures." After his resignation from Apple, he was disappointed, especially when he wasn't invited to a meeting of 500 Silicon Valley leaders with the then U.S. president.
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Apple Looking to Launch Siri-Enabled Television Set by 2013
Nick Bilton at the New York Times is pretty sure that Apple is building a television set. It is believed that the TV set will include Siri voice recognition service. Apple could announce the new set by the end of 2012 with public reliance in 2013. Anonymous sources say that an Apple television is a "guaranteed product for Apple" because "Steve thinks the industry is totally broken."
The rumors about Apple’s television set have been circulating for years, perhaps as far back as 2007, since the launch of the first iPhone. Some days ago we reported that Apple now is making prototypes of the Apple TV.
It’s the stuff of science fiction. You sit on your couch and rather than fumble with several remotes or use hand gestures, you simply talk: “Put on the last episode of Gossip Girl.” “Play the local news headlines.” “Play some Coldplay music videos.” Siri does the rest.
As the line between television programming and Web content continues to erode, a Siri-powered television would become more necessary. You aren’t going to want to flip through file folders or baskets of content, checking off what you want. Telling Siri to “play videos of cute cats falling asleep” would return an endless YouTube stream of adorable napping fur balls.
Bilton also reports that Apple still has “quite a bit of work to do on the project.” But the launch of the new Apple’s television set is just a matter of time.
Apple's 'Let's Talk iPhone' Keynote Live Blog!
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iPhone 5 Announcement 'Just Weeks Away'
The New York Times' Nick Bilton has heard that the iPhone 5 will be announced in just few weeks.
We’re just weeks away from the announcement of the new Apple iPhone 5, according to an Apple employee who asked not to be named because he was not allowed to speak publicly for the company.
The report also tells us that the next-generation iPhone design is quite similar to various cases and what we’ve heard from anonymous Apple employees.
From descriptions I’ve heard of the new iPhone from Apple employees, the images seemed potentially authentic.
Bilton claim that there is still no information about whether the iPhone 5 will represent a truly updated form factor, but he echoes a number of previous claims that the next-generation iPhone will receive 8-megapixel camera, possibility of near-field communication (NFC) technology for payments, though, it’s unclear whether NFC will arrive in the iPhone 5 or iPhone 6.