Charlotte Henry

Apple was once again named the biggest company in Ireland by the Irish Times. The newspaper said that the company continues to lead as it puts all non-US sales through the country which keeps it leading the pack. Google was in second place.

Apple, with turnover figures of almost €120 billion for its Irish operation, continu[es] to dwarf every other company which operates, or is headquartered, in Ireland. Yes, the US gadget giant is by far and away Ireland’s largest company, although it should be noted that the company, which recently made a larger leap into services, has not updated the figures for 2018, so the ones we are using are those which emerged as part of a European Commission investigation into its tax affairs. This process revealed that Apple puts all its sales outside of the US through Ireland, hence the scale of its Irish related sales.

Tech and politics are increasingly overlapping. That seems particularly true in the case of presidential candidate Mayor Pete Buttigieg. The Democratic contender has attracted support from a number of big names in Silicon Valley, including Mark Zuckerberg, Recode reported.

Buttigieg, though always stressing his bonhomie upbringing in the industrial Midwest — such as when giving a ride-along of South Bend’s abandoned factories — is quite comfortable in elite corridors like Silicon Valley. He is not an anti-tech firebrand politically, nor a total newcomer to the land of the uber-wealthy. And as his relationship with people like Zuckerberg shows, he also brings a Rolodex that gives him tech contacts that — with the right touch and message on Friday — can become exclusive supporters and maxed-out tech donor.

Apple is reportedly close to opening its first Apple Store in India. Bloomberg News, whose predictions can, it is fair to say, sometimes be a bit off, said the company now has a shortlist of locations in Mumbai. Whatever happens next, it is clear India is now a key focus for Apple.

The iPhone giant has zeroed in on several upscale sites in Mumbai, and plans to make a final decision in the next few weeks, said the people, asking not to be named because the discussions are private. The vetted spots are comparable to iconic Apple locations on Fifth Avenue in New York, Regent Street in London or the Champs-Elysees in Paris, they said. Apple has been prohibited from opening its own stores in the country because it doesn’t meet local sourcing requirements, but it’s shifting manufacturing into India and is in talks with the government about its retail expansion.

Angela Ahrendts recently gave her first interview since leaving Apple. However, it seems some at the company will not miss her. Bloomberg News spoke to a number of staff members at Apple Stores who say they became more unfriendly under her leadership.

They say the quality of staff has slipped during an 18-year expansion that has seen Apple open more than 500 locations and hire 70,000 people. The Genius Bar, once renowned for its tech support, has been largely replaced with staff who roam the stores and are harder to track down. That’s a significant drawback because people are hanging onto their phones longer these days and need them repaired…. [Deidre] O’Brien’s immediate challenge is to make the stores more shopper-friendly—even if that means moving away from the tony gathering places her predecessor favored and creating more clearly defined spaces for browsing, quick purchases and service.

Passwords are dying, and nobody is going to miss them very much. Fast Company reported on firms who are leading on finding the alternatives, including MobileIron, and even Google. Not surprisingly, there is a large focus on biometrics.

Mexico’s drug war is infamous the world over. The Verge reported on how a group of mothers in the country used drones to find victims’ graves.

When the members of family collectives like Solecito search for a mass grave in places like Colinas de Santa Fe, they go in groups. Often, dangerous people would prefer the bodies not be found. The sites are isolated, making the visits conspicuous, and it’s hard to say for sure whether the visitors are being watched. There is some safety in numbers. Drones have become a crucial part of the routine. The families sail them over the land to scan for signs of human presence, like a smoldering campfire or discarded cans of food — signals that they could come under attack because a criminal group is still there.

Facebook is developing its own payment system based on cryptocurrency. The Wall Street Journal reported that the social network is bringing in finance firms and online merchants to support its efforts.

The effort, should it succeed, threatens to upend the traditional, lucrative plumbing of e-commerce and would likely be the most mainstream application yet of cryptocurrency. It comes as the social-media giant is under intense pressure from regulators, users and shareholders to address privacy shortcomings. At the heart of the initiative, under way for more than a year and code-named Project Libra, is a digital coin that its users could send to each other and use to make purchases both on Facebook and across the internet, according to people familiar with the matter.