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Apple is taking active steps to block Facebook’s data collection practices.
The Safari-maker said Monday that it will give users the ability to stop Facebook, Google and other platforms from tracking them across the web through “like” and “share” buttons.

The announcement is Apple’s most significant counter yet to Facebook’s data collection practices, and comes after years in which Apple executives have criticized Facebook as reckless with user privacy.

“We’ve all seen these like buttons and share buttons,” Apple software VP Craig Federighi said at the company’s annual developer conference. “Well it turns out, these can be used to track you, whether you click on them or not. So this year, we’re shutting that down.”

When Safari users arrive at a page with a Facebook like, a pop-up window will appear that asks: “Do you want to allow ‘facebook.com’ to use cookies and website data while browsing [this site]? This will allow ‘facebook.com’ to track your activity.”

Facebook’s chief security officer Alex Stamos immediately took issue with the move, questioning on Twitter whether it was a serious effort to protect privacy or “just cute virtue signaling.”

Apple has put a premium on user privacy for years. In 2010, then-CEO Steve Jobs said Apple had “always had a very different view of privacy than some of our colleagues in the Valley.”

“Privacy means people know what they’re signing up for, in plain English and repeatedly,” Jobs said. “I believe people are smart and some people want to share more data than other people do. Ask them. Ask them every time. … Let them know precisely what you’re going to do with their data.”

Current Apple CEO Tim Cook has returned to this theme in recent months as Facebook has come under fire for its collection of a huge amount of user data and its failure to protect that data from abuse by third parties — most notably Cambridge Analytica.

In an interview with CNN’s Laurie Segall on Monday, Cook said, “I think that the privacy thing has gotten totally out of control and I think most people are not aware of who is tracking them, how much they’re being tracked and the large amounts of detailed data that are out there about them … We think privacy is a fundamental human right.”

Facebook has made itself vulnerable to Apple’s criticism. Less than 24 hours before Apple’s conference, the New York Times reported that Facebook’s data-sharing partnerships with device makers, including Apple, were still in effect despite Facebook’s claim that they’d cut off such data sharing in 2015.

Meanwhile, Apple has seized the opportunity to cast itself as the best behaved player in tech. In addition to the new privacy measures, Apple also introduced new features that will encourage users to limit the amount of time they spend on their phones.

“[Apps] try to draw us in for fear of missing out,” Federighi said. “We may not even recognize how distracted we’ve become.”

Apple revealed a new operating system for the Mac on Monday.
It features a dark mode that sets text and images against black backgrounds.
The MacOS update follows major update announcements for iPhone and iPad software, and for the Apple TV.
Apple reveals new Mac software Apple reveals new Mac operating system
19 Hours Ago | 06:45
Apple revealed a new operating system for the Mac on Monday, dubbed MacOS Mojave.

The update comes as Apple has vowed to refocus its desktop “pro” line for power users, as graphic-heavy fields like virtual reality become more popular. It features a dark mode that sets text and images against black backgrounds.

“Dark mode is not just about the dock or the menu bar, it extends to your windows’ chrome, your side bar and even the content of the windows,” top software executive Craig Federighi said. “It’s so great for the pros. It makes photographic content absolutely pop off the screen.”

The MacOS update follows major update announcements for iPhone and iPad software, and for the Apple TV. The desktop update is all about easy, customizable editing:

Mojave will automatically arrange a user’s desktop with “Stacks” — grouping files according to type, date or tag.
The Finder file folder will make it easier to convert images into a single PDF, and to run custom actions on a group of files.
Quick Look will integrate Mark-Up, allowing users to sign or highlight a document in seconds.
The screen capture tool can take a video recording.
Phones and Macs that are synced can share instant document or image scans.
Federighi also announced popular iPhone apps — Home, Apple News and Voice Memos — are coming to the Mac on Mojave.

Finally, Federighi addressed the persistent rumor that iOS and MacOS would merge, showing a single slide saying “No.” However, he said that Apple is taking some developer frameworks from iOS and bringing them over to the Mac, which will make it easier to bring iOS apps to the Mac. Apple already tested this capability with apps like News and Stocks, which are coming to Mojave, and this advance will come to developers in 2019, Federighi said.

Apple is on the verge of becoming the first American company to be worth $1 trillion.
Apple is now worth about $945 billion. Shares are up more than 13% this year, far better than the overall market. For Apple to hit a $1 trillion market valuation, the stock would need to go up just another 6% to $202.30 a share.

Even though some think Apple (AAPL) needs a new product to keep sales and profit booming, Apple has inched closer to an $1 trillion thanks to solid sales of the iPhone 8 and X — particularly in China and Japan — and surging services revenue from the App Store.

Apple’s sales increased 16% in the first three months of 2018 — not bad for a company of its massive size.

It also has been using its more than $267 billion in cash to boost its dividend and stock buyback program as a way of rewarding investors, which include Warren Buffett.

Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRKB)bought nearly 75 million shares of Apple in the first quarter, making it Berkshire’s top stock holding.

Related: Apple is showering its investors with cash

But Apple is benefiting from investor euphoria surrounding the tech sector broadly as well.

Amazon (AMZN) is also trading at an all-time high and is now worth more than $800 billion — that’s lifted the net worth of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to nearly $140 billion, according to lists by Forbes and Bloomberg tracking the world’s wealthiest people.

Watch the full exclusive interview with Apple CEO Tim Cook
Watch the full exclusive interview with Apple CEO Tim Cook
Google owner Alphabet (GOOGL) and Microsoft (MSFT) have rallied to near record highs this year too. They are each now worth more than $775 billion.

Facebook (FB), despite its Cambridge Analytica woes, is not far from its all-time high either. It has a market value of nearly $560 billion.

Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Facebook are now collectively worth about $3.9 trillion.

But Apple would not be the first publicly traded company in the world to surpass the trillion dollar mark.

Oil giant PetroChina (PTR) briefly topped a trillion dollar valuation in 2007 when its stock began trading in Shanghai, but shares quickly plunged afterward. PetroChina, which is also listed on the New York Stock Exchange, is now worth about $240 billion.

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak famously said the iPhone X would be the first model of the device he would not get on day one.
In December, Apple CEO Tim Cook sent “The Woz” — as he is often called — an iPhone X.
“The worst thing about it is the combination power and home key button which has about eight different functions in terms of when you push it and how you push it and how long you push it. It’s kind of confusing,” Wozniak told CNBC.
Apple’s products are worth the price, co-founder Wozniak says Apple’s products are worth the price, co-founder Wozniak says
1 Hour Ago | 04:03
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak famously said the iPhone X would be the first model of the device he would not get on day one. In December, Apple CEO Tim Cook sent “The Woz” — as he is often called — an iPhone X.

And the Woz’s verdict? “Plus and minus,” he told CNBC in an interview on Monday.

When he got the device he criticized the Face ID function, which lets you unlock the phone with your face, saying that he prefers using a fingerprint.

And he also had an issue with the home button that is located on the side of the device. It has a number of functions, such as activating Apple’s voice assistant Siri or to wake the handset up. A few months on, The Woz is still not impressed by the home button.

“The greatest thing about the iPhone X for me is a little more screen space that’s in my pocket. As far as the face ID, it really hasn’t worked as well for me as Touch ID and I really like the ones where you touch on the back. It hasn’t been like, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s the greatest thing in the world,'” Wozniak said.

“The worst thing about it is the combination power and home key button which has about eight different functions in terms of when you push it and how you push it and how long you push it. It’s kind of confusing… and that’s not the nature of Apple products.”

Wozniak, who co-founded Apple with Steve Jobs in 1976, spoke to CNBC at an event at the Money 20/20 conference in Amsterdam, Netherlands, hosted by Feedzai.

Apple’s annual developers conference also kicks off Monday. Several rumors have suggested that the company could unveil a refreshed version of its lower-priced iPhone SE. This could help it continue to grow iPhone sales with people who don’t want to fork out for the $999 iPhone X, but also in emerging markets such as India.

“I’m actually for the lower cost models,” Wozniak said. “At one point, we actually introduced two iPhones — the iPhone 5C and the iPhone 5S. The S had the fingerprint detection, the C did not. It was $100 cheaper, a smaller, little classic-y looking phone.

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“I loved that phone. I loved the design of it. I think it was one of the best designs Apple ever did for how it looked and felt and did the main things for a good price. It was a good trade-off. So I think that is an appropriate place for Apple to be.”

Apple might lower the prices of its crop of new iPhones, if the latest research note from well-known Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo (now at a new gig at TF International Securities) is to be believed, via MacRumors.

According to Kuo, those prices will be somewhat cheaper than the last wave of iPhones, which saw the popular smartphone cross the $1,000 mark for the first time with the iPhone X. Instead, Kuo claims that the second-gen iPhone X will cost between $800 and $900, the iPhone X Plus will be $900 to $1,000, and the entry-level 6.1-inch LCD option will be in the $600 to $700 range.

IT’S NOT ENTIRELY CLEAR WHY APPLE WOULD WANT TO LOWER THE PRICE ON THE IPHONE X
While Kuo is generally pretty reliable when it comes to his predictions for Apple, it’s worth pointing out that, historically, his sources have been more placed in the supply chain as opposed to higher up in Apple’s management. Therefore, it’s worth taking these pricing rumors with a grain of salt, especially because of how far out we are from any potential announcement. It’s also unclear if Apple would even be looking to lower the price point of the iPhone X because the higher profit margins of the more expensive phone were the main driver for Apple’s overall increase in revenue despite selling fewer phones last quarter.

As a reminder, the rumor mill — both from Kuo and others — has stated for a while that Apple is expected to release three new iPhones this fall: an updated OLED 5.8-inch iPhone X, a larger 6.5-inch iPhone X Plus, and a 6.1-inch LCD iPhone that will offer the same bezel-less design as the iPhone X at a cheaper price point.

I am struggling to understand how Apple Inc.’s purported plan to dramatically expand its digital-advertising business makes sense for a company that has successfully differentiated itself by selling products and services, rather than information about its customers.

A sad face emoticon is seen on an iPhone in this photo illustration on May 25, 2018. (Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

On June 1, the Wall Street Journal reported Apple was looking to expand its advertising business with a new network for app-makers such as Pinterest Inc. and Snap Inc.

“The digital ad effort, if it proceeds, would push Apple into territory dominated by Alphabet Inc.’s Google, which claims 35% of the mobile ad market, and Facebook Inc., which has 25%,” the Journal reported.

It could also take Apple farther away from its original vision, which has in many ways been the secret to the company’s success.

Steve Jobs decided long ago that Apple would make its money selling great products and services. He believed people would be willing to pay a premium for such products and services, and if they did, then Apple would not have to make its money off their personal information the way that competitors such as Google (now Alphabet Inc.) and Facebook Inc. increasingly were.

In recent months, Apple CEO Tim Cook seemed like he was doubling-down on that original vision, emphatically declaring that Apple’s customers are not its product.

“If our customer was our product, we could make a ton of money. We’ve elected not to do that,” he told Recode in March. “We’re not going to traffic in your personal life.”

Apple is holding its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, where this year the company could place as much attention on the quality of its iPhone and iPad software than announcing a bevy of new features.

The secure messaging app Telegram was banned in Russia back in April, but so far, it’s still available in the Russian version of Apple’s App Store. As another measure toward completely banning Telegram, Russia is now asking Apple to remove the app from the App Store and block it from sending push notifications to local users, as reported by Wccftech. In a supposedly legally binding letter to Apple, authorities say they’re giving the company one month to comply before they enforce punishment for violations.

The Moscow-based app got in trouble in April for refusing to share its encryption keys with Russia’s Federal Security Service. A court ruling banned Telegram from the country until the app provides the keys, citing the threat of criminals and terrorists using the encrypted platform for communication. Then in early May, Russia blocked 50 VPN services and internet anonymizers to further restrict access to Telegram.

But despite these efforts, the majority of users in Russia are still accessing the app, the Kremlin’s censorship arm Roskomnadzor announced yesterday. Only 15 to 30 percent of Telegram’s operations have been disrupted so far, leading Russia to turn to Apple for help taking the app down. The censorship arm also says that it’s in talks with Google to ban the app from Google Play.

While Apple has expressed its support for encryption and secure data in the past, it’s also made concessions to local demands. In China, the company has pulled VPN apps from the store and moved its iCloud operations to a local firm that has ties to the government. We’ve reached out to Apple for comment.

People can finally connect two of Apple’s HomePod smart speakers together so that they can play music in stereo sound.

The consumer technology giant said Tuesday that the HomePod’s stereo feature is part of a larger update to the iOS mobile operating system that’s now available to download.

Apple said that when two HomePods are connected to play music in stereo, one speaker will act as the “left” channel while the other speaker will act as the “right” channel, similar to conventional stereo speakers. When linked, however, the speakers will “act as one” so that if a person asks Siri to play a song, both speakers will play the tune, Apple said.

Additionally, Apple (AAPL, -0.46%) said the new iOS update lets people sync together multiple HomePod speakers so that the play the same music from different rooms in their homes at the same time. This so-called multi-room audio feature is becoming popular with smart speakers with Amazon’s (AMZN, +0.20%) Echo speaker getting a similar feature last August.

It should be noted that with the HomePod selling for $349, people should expect to pay $700 or more for the stereo or multi-room features.

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Apple’s iOS update also includes a new version of Apple’s audio streaming technology AirPlay 2 that will make it possible for people to connect their HomePods to AirPlay 2-compatible speakers, which include certain models made by Bang & Olufsen, Denon, Marantz, and Sonos, Apple said. Although people won’t be able to sync a HomePod with a third-party speaker to play music in stereo, they will be able to play the same music through multiple speakers by asking Siri.

Apple first debuted the HomePod in February as the company’s flagship smart speaker. HomePod faces stiff competition from Amazon’s Alexa-enabled devices and the Google (GOOG, -0.19%) Home speaker. Technology reviewers have generally praised the HomePod’s sound quality, but criticized the capabilities of its integrated Siri digital assistant when compared to rivals.

The optimism over Apple’s services opportunity is overblown, according to one Wall Street firm.

Maxim Group lowered its rating to hold from buy for Apple shares, predicting the company’s subscription businesses will disappoint investors.

“Prior survey data indicates attach rates for [Apple’s] subscription services will be at best 30%, likely lower given ecosystem centric approach, especially for services where entrenched incumbents exist,” analyst Nehal Chokshi said in a note to clients Wednesday entitled “Downgrading to Hold as Subscription Services Long-Term Opportunity Not Attractive Enough & Expect FY19 to be a Down Year.”

“We believe at best AAPL’s subscription businesses at maturity will generate an operating margin in-line with the current corporate average of ~25% with some risk that actual long-term OM [operating margin] will be lower,” he added.

Amazon and Apple engage in turf war for location of second headquarters Amazon and Apple engage in turf war for location of second headquarters
8:10 AM ET Thu, 24 May 2018 | 03:22
The analyst reduced his price target for Apple shares to $200 from $204, representing 6 percent upside to Tuesday’s close.

Chokshi cited long-term operating margin Wall Street estimates for major subscription companies such as Spotify, Dropbox and Netflix, which range from 4 percent to 20 percent.

The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.