Reuters

iPhone manufacturer Foxconn rumored to spend $7 billion on U.S. expansion

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 7, 2016

Taiwan-based iPhone manufacturer Foxconn is said to be considering pouring as much as $7 billion into a massive expansion of its operations in the United States, looking to create 50,000 jobs within the country in the next four years, Reuters reported Wednesday.

Foxconn is reportedly looking to build a collection of U.S.-based assembly plants.

The company has confirmed being in preliminary discussions regarding expansion of its U.S. operations. CNBC earlier posted a slide which pegs the investment at $7 billion.

McLaren confirms it was in talks with Apple that never “matured to a definitive proposition”

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated August 2, 2017

Back in September, The Financial Times, The New York Times and Bloomberg ran reports that Apple was considering either a full takeover bid or at least a large investment in the British supercar maker McLaren Automotive. A potential acquisition was valued at between $1.3 billion and $1.9 billion though McLaren later said it was “not in discussion with Apple in respect of any potential investment.”

Saturday, McLaren CEO Mike Flewitt confirmed in an interview with Reuters that his company did hold talks with Apple after all, but said the discussions never progressed towards a definitive proposition.

The government of Ireland will back Apple in its fight against EU’s tax bill from hell

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 2, 2016

Following news earlier this week that the European Commission had ruled that Apple must pay €13 billion ($14.5 billion) in back taxes to the government of Ireland because its sweetheart deal with Dublin that lets it be subjected to a lower tax rate constitutes “illegal state aid,” the Irish government said today it would join Apple in its fight against the ruling.

“Paradoxically, Ireland is determined not to accept the tax windfall, which would be equivalent to what it spent last year on funding its struggling health service,” says the report.

Tim Cook resumes charm offensive in China, confirms Asia-Pacific R&D center

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 16, 2016

Tim Cook is on the road again, visiting China, where he's promised to increase investment by opening up a research and development center in the increasingly tough 1.33 billion people market by the end of 2016. Cook has confirmed the move to Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli, one of China's most senior officials, Reuters reports this morning.

Apple finds it tough to recruit top minds in artificial intelligence and machine learning

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 7, 2015

Apple's massive hiring effort in artificial intelligence and machine learning has hit roadblocks as the company is increasingly finding it tough to recruit top data scientists and AI experts due to its own strict privacy policies that prevent those engineers from retrieving valuable user data.

In other words, according to a Reuters report Monday, some of the brightest minds in artificial intelligence are increasingly not interested in working for a company that values and respects privacy of its users.

Reuters: Apple, BMW could resume talks over electric car partnership

Cody Lee ∙ Updated May 17, 2018

The rumors that Apple visited a BMW plant last year to learn about auto manufacturing is true, reports Reuters. Citing sources familiar with the talks, the outlet says that Tim Cook and his senior executive team traveled to BMW's Leipzig factory last fall, showing interest in its i3 electric car.

"Apple executives were impressed with the fact that we abandoned traditional approaches to car making and started afresh. It chimed with the way they do things too," a senior BMW source said. The executives asked BMW board members detailed questions about both tooling and production.

Microsoft bringing Cortana personal assistant to iOS this fall

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 13, 2015

Microsoft has been hard at work developing an iOS and Android version of its Siri-like personal assistant, Cortana, which could hit the iPhone and iPad as a standalone application sometime in the fall 2014 timeframe, Reuters reported Friday.

The software giant currently provides Cortana on Windows phones and is set to launch it on desktop with the arrival of Windows 10 this fall.

Windows 10 integrates Cortana so users can perform queries and get various answers just by asking.

Reuters: Apple’s Project Titan involves a self-driving electric car

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 14, 2015

A rumor involving an Apple-branded electric vehicle that The Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal threw their weight behind just took an interesting turn with a Reuters report Saturday offering additional tidbits.

The news gathering organization learned from sources that Apple's electric vehicle is actually an autonomous self-driving car. Apple is reportedly actually “exploring how to make an entire vehicle” rather than just designing automotive software as previously suspected.

Samsung to outwit Apple with 3-sided Galaxy S6 screen and all-metal enclosure?

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated September 26, 2016

Bloomberg is reporting Wednesday that Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S6 flagship smartphone, developed under the “Project Zero” codename, will come in two flavors, including a model with a display covering three sides. The other model will have a regular screen that doesn't stretch down either side.

Sources with direct knowledge of the matter who spoke to the news organization report that both editions of the device rock 5.1-inch screens, are encased in all-metal bodies and run “Samsung’s most advanced processor chips.”

We recently reported that Samsung in a last-minute move dropped Qualcomm's 64-bit Snapdragon 810 silicon which overheated during testing.

iPhone theft drops 50% in London, 40% in SF and 25% in NY due to Activation Lock

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 11, 2015

In the twelve months after Apple added an Activation Lock feature to its devices, iPhone theft has dropped 40 percent in San Francisco and 25 percent in New York, Reuters reported Wednesday. In London, smartphone theft dropped by half following the Activation Lock introduction, which debuted alongside iOS 7 in September 2013.

Reuters TV hits App Store, a personalized TV news reportage in the palm of your hand

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 5, 2015

If you prefer watching news footage over reading articles, don't pass on a brand new app from Reuters, a global news-gathering organization owned by Thomson Reuters.

Their free Reuters TV for iOS app just went live in the App Store, bringing you personalized video news when you want it, straight from the source and made to fit your day.

Offering both on-demand and live news programming and reportage from over 2,500 journalists in 200 countries, Reuters TV is personalized (swipe to skip the stories that don’t interest you), highly customizable (you can set your preferred show length) and relevant (news is tailored to your location).

More than half of top U.S. hospitals now trialling Apple’s HealthKit

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 5, 2015

According to Reuters Thursday, HealthKit trials are moving away from universities and into hospitals, with more than half of the nation's top 23 hospitals having already rolled out their own trials of the HealthKit platform, or “are in talks to do so”. HealthKit allows third-parties to integrate and interact with the user's health database on iOS 8 devices.

Fourteen of the nation's top 23 hospitals confirmed to the news gathering organization participating in the HealthKit roll-out, including at least eight of the 17 hospitals on the U.S. News & World Report's Honor Roll list, which ranks the best hospitals in the U.S.