Our country's constitution guarantees its citizens the right to freely practice their religion so that we may all avoid discrimination. That's what's so troubling about Religious Freedom Restoration Act legislation in Indiana and elsewhere that opens the door for people to use their religion as a reason to discriminate, and Apple CEO Tim Cook, like many others, is concerned.

Read More

Apple CEO Tim Cook hasn't been hiding his sexuality in his personal or business life, but he's never publicly acknowledged it—until now. In a personal essay published today by BusinessWeek, Cook says he's "proud to be gay," and we're pretty proud of him, too.

Read More

Between a still flagging economy, gun violence that seems more and more out of control, and hostile foreign powers edging closer to becoming nuclear threats, President Obama has a lot of ground to cover in his State of the Union address later this evening. But it's not like he's going to be the only important person on hand, and we're going to be on the lookout for a couple of celebrity guests in particular at tonight's State of the Union, including NASA's own Mohawk Guy.

Read More

The Apple iPhones, since its launch, have been at the high end of the smartphone price range. Anyone hoping for a break in price has been relegated to buying previous versions, but there's a rumor going around that says that won't be the case for much longer. Apple may be releasing a cheaper version of the iPhone concurrently with the flagship model, similar to how they recently launched the iPad mini as a more affordable alternative to the full-sized version. This is just a rumor, and considering it's CES week, we'll probably be seeing a lot more of those.

Read More

After two years of saber-rattling and a ever-increasing stakes, Apple and HTC have finally settled their patent disputes. Wait a second. There's another melodramatic tech patent lawsuit and we didn't know about it?

Read More

It's finally time, folks. October 23rd means Apple's "special event" is actually upon us. If current speculation is correct, the company is all set to announce a smaller version of their widely-adopted iPad. Whether it will actually be called the "iPad Mini" is up for debate, but it's almost certainly on the docket to be revealed. Who knows? Maybe they'll actually unveil something surprising. The show starts at 1 P.M. EST and 10 A.M. in California.

Read More

Hot off the heels of Apple CEO Tim Cook's sheepish apology to consumers over their lackluster new Maps app, Apple has retracted one of its boldest statements about the highly-criticized service. Until yesterday, Apple's description of Maps on their website called it "the most beautiful, powerful mapping service ever." That sentence, which would now seem especially foolish in light of Mr. Cook's statement, has since been retracted and replaced.

Read More

There's been a bit of an uproar over the iOS 6 update to Apple Maps. It's not even that they're completely unusable; it's the fact that some of it seems perfectly normal, and suddenly it's horrifyingly inaccurate. Sufficed to say, you wouldn't want to rely on them to get around. Even worse, Google apparently doesn't have any plans to bring an app of their own to the market. It's not good, but how bad is it exactly? Bad enough that Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, has officially apologized for it.

Read More

Tim Cook has wound up the Apple World Wide Developers Conference 2012 keynote and the Internet is collectively reeling from the blow. We've already taken a look at the new hardware Apple is rolling out, and now we turn our attention to the software. At the heart of the presentation is the forthcoming Mac operating system 10.8, or Mountain Lion to its friends, and iOS 6.

Read More

Apple's CEO Tim Cook has announced that the consumer electronics giant -- and world's most valuable company, be-tee-dubs -- will be paying shareholders a dividend of $2.65 a share starting this July -- the first since 1995. On top of that, the company will also launch a $10 billion effort to buy back shares of its stock, further bolstering its value. The move comes as Apple is enjoying record profits and the launch of a new iPad, and frankly has more money than it knows what to do with.

Read More

At 1 PM EST, Apple will be holding an event to announce the next iPad. Whether that iPad is named the iPad 3, or iPad HD as recent rumors have been suggesting, we'll know shortly after Apple takes the stage 1 PM. The event will be held at the Yerba Buena Center for Arts in San Francisco, one of Apple's favorite locations to hold these announcement events. Today, we'll likely see the confirmation or swift squashing of the more popular iPad 3 rumors, such as it being thicker, coming with a much faster A5X chip, larger battery, a 9.7-inch Retina display, and sporting 4G LTE compatibility, along with the possibility of a new Smart Cover.

Though Apple is said to be making a downloadable version of the announcement available a few hours after said announcement, you can watch live coverage of the announcement right here, after the break.

Read More

Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple computers and icon of the consumer electronics industry, has died. His visionary leadership of the company he founded, and the products produced under his tenure, have created and defined new markets that have changed the very landscape of technology. There was much speculation about Jobs' health when, not two months ago, he stepped down as CEO of Apple. He'd held that position since 1996 when he returned to the company after being forced out in 1985. Though the founding of the company with Steve Wozniak is the stuff of Silicon Valley legend, it was his return that fostered a rebirth in the then floundering company. What followed were a series of fantastically successful and innovative products, such as the iPod in 2001, the iPhone in 2007, and the iPad in 2010. Under his leadership as CEO, the company has seen record profits and was briefly the most valuable company in the United States. The spectre of Jobs' ill health has hung over the company since 2004, when he announced that he had pancreatic cancer.

Read More

It's finally October 4th, and that means that it's time for Apple's big iPhone 5 announcement. Today will see freshly minted CEO Tim Cook's first outing as Apple's front man at a big product announcement, and will surely see the rumored iPhone 5 out in public for the first time. But on top of that are juicy rumors of a budget-minded "iPhone 4S," the possibility of Sprint picking up the iPhone on their networks, and continued speculation about what wireless standard this new phone will embrace. Unfortunately, Apple decided to axe their traditional live coverage of unveilings this time around, so there's no official live stream. Didn't get a ticket to Apple's iPhone announcement today? You could stand there sulking, telling yourself that it probably got lost in the mail, or you could check out one of these liveblogs and livestreams that (hopefully) will be bringing you the skinny straight from Cupertino. The show starts at 1 P.M. EST and 10 A.M. in California.

Read More

Though Apple stocks took a five percent drop following Steve Jobs' resignation as Apple CEO, the capable Tim Cook quickly stepped up to fill the gaping Steve-shaped hole the former (but since he created a new position as Chairman, still kind of) Apple overlord left. Ars Technica got a peek at an email Tim Cook sent throughout Apple today after Jobs' resignation, wherein Cook talks glowingly about his decision to join Apple, praises Steve Jobs, and -- perhaps most importantly -- reassures everyone that Apple is not going to change. For better or worse, depending on how much you like Apple, I guess. Check out the email after the break.

Read More

Wednesday evening, the iconic Steve Jobs announced that he would be stepping down as CEO of Apple, the company that he helped found in 1976. Since his return to the top spot at the company in 1997 after an internal power struggle, Jobs has overseen the rebirth of Apple and the launch of innovative products like the iPod, iPhone, and iPad that have revolutionized the tech industry. In typical Jobs fashion, the letter is scant on details. He simply says that he can "no longer meet [his] duties and expectations as Apple's CEO" and recommends that Tim Cook, Apple's COO, take his place. Though not mentioned in the letter, Jobs' years-long struggle with pancreatic cancer could be a motivating factor in his decision. The big question now is how Apple will fare without its charismatic captain, especially since Jobs and his famous showmanship have been front and center for nearly every major Apple product release. However, Jobs will not be leaving completely. His letter to the Apple Board of Directors requests that he remain an Apple employee and be made the board's Chairman, a position which had not previously existed. It's safe to say that while Steve Jobs may be stepping down, he's certainly not bowing out. Read on after the break for the full text of Jobs' resignation letter.

Read More