Apple Bans Felons from Space Ship Campus Construction

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…

Dolby VP Mike Rockwell Jumps Ship for Apple

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…

Comparing streaming services

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…

Facebook is Tracking You Even if You Don't Have an Account

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…

Numbers: Using the Quick Calculations Bar

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…

Apple Buys Advanced Database Company FoundationDB

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…

Steve Jobs's Inner Circle Defends Their Version of Jobs's Legacy

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…

How Comcast is Now Handling Internet Data Usage and Caps

__________________ To bring myself up to date, I chatted with a Comcast Corporate Communications representative in Philadelphia. It turns out that for the last several years, Comcast has been taking a very pragmatic approach that involves monitoring rather than imposing hard data caps that would result in a specific customer losing service. The representative told…

Pegtron Rides the iPhone Wave to Big Profits

Megatron's profits jump thanks to the iPhone's success Smartphone manufacturing makes up the majority of Pegatron's profits right now, and CEO Jason Cheng said he's fine taking advantage of that, according to Reuters. “It's definitely not a good thing to be too concentrated on just a few clients. But you can't avoid the fact that…

Collaborate on Event Photos with PartySnapper - Fun and Easy

Here’s how it works: You take one iOS device and set it up as the “host” device. Connect it via AirPlay to the device of your choosing (in my case, the Apple TV hooked to my television). Then encourage others to download the free app, and use that to take photos. Once someone gets a…

How Apple Neglects Us. Let's Count the Ways

______________________ First, there is the Apple Thunderbolt Display, last updated in July 2011. This display is so obsolete and overpriced compared to the competition, I didn't even consider it when I was hunting for a new one. Apple should update it or discontinue it, but not let it linger. The most frequent Apple product that…

Blackberry goes for Security with new Secutablet Tablet

Blackberry thinks it's Secutablet has a shot in the tablet market Blackberry is hoping to play off of its reputation to draw in government and business buyers who need high levels of security for their mobile devices, and that may be exactly what they need to find a place in the tablet market. “Security is…

New Biography Claims Tim Cook Offered Steve Jobs Liver Transplant

Becoming Steve Jobs Written by Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli, Becoming Steve Jobs was based in part by interviews with Steve Jobs conducted by Mr. Schelnder over a 25 year period. But the authors also were given interviews by Tim Cook, Sir Jony Ive, Eddy Cue, Pixar’s creative head honcho John Lasseter, Disney CEO Bob…

Nissan-Renault CEO Says Apple Car Is 'Good News for Us'

“If Apple does it, obviously it's good news for us, Mr. Ghosn said, according to CNet. “The fact that a company outside of the auto industry wants to do electric cars is refreshing.” Mr. Ghosn also said that he was curious about Apple's project. This contrasts sharply with other auto execs who have expressed doubts…

Samsung Innovation: Samsung Pay and an iPhone 6 Lookalike

Samsung has also found that no one—and I mean no one—cares for its me-too services and solution-in-search-of-problem software addons to Android. What's a shameless IP thief to do? Well, if you're Samsung, you come out with an innovative service called Samsung Pay, a mobile payment solution that will launch with the Galaxy S6 sometime this…

Apple Adds Cars to its Business in Switzerland

Apple adds cars to its business description in Switzerland News of the corporate description change comes courtesy of the Swiss website ApfelBlog (English translation). From Apple's updated corporate description: Vehicles; Apparatus for locomotion by land, air or water; electronic hardware components for motor vehicles, rail cars and locomotives, ships and aircraft; Anti-theft devices; Theft alarms…

IiPhoneography 101: Tripods for Your iPhone

Don't believe me? Here are two photos of the same subject, some change. Both were taken at maximum magnification on my iPhone and were shot at approximately the same distance to make it easier the see the difference. I've got lots of bright ambient light. I should be able to get razor sharp shots no…

Hue Do You Love? (Or, My Expensive Love Affair with Hue Lightbulbs)

Episode #111   I first heard about Phillips’ Hue Personal Wireless Lighting when the Apple Store began carrying the Phillips Hue Starter Pack in 2012. It promised everything you needed to get started, namely three color-changing LED light bulbs plus a Wi-Fi hub that lets you control bulb color and intensity with an iPhone/iPad app.…

Apple Buys Audio Plug-in Maker Camel Audio

Apple buys, shuts down Camel Audio An official announcement hasn't come from either company. The confirmation for the buyout came via documents found on the corporate registry site Companies House, according to MacRumors. Camel Audio's address is now the same as Apple's in London, and its only director is listed and Heather Joy Morrison, who…

Samsung Buys 'Battery Pack Business' for Electric Cars

Some of TMO's readers were among the first to predict Samsung would try to develop its own electric car in response to Apple. Rumors about an Apple Car have exploded in the last 10 days, and Samsung has a storied track record of copying Apple. Cue our editorial image above. But—and that's a really big…