Apple Says it Has Created Over 2 Million U.S. Jobs Since iPhone Launched in 2007
In a new article posted by The New York Times over the weekend, Apple’s contributions to the United States workforce and economy are highlighted with a focus on the company’s campus in Austin, Texas. Some of its 6,000 employees there (grown from 2,100 seven years ago) were interviewed, providing a glimpse into the employment lifestyle Apple offers its staff members.
The central occupation of the workers in Austin is customer tech support, but there’s also employees who manage Apple’s network of suppliers, run iTunes and the App Store, update Maps, and keep tabs on Apple’s finances. The average income for a call center worker at the Austin campus is $30,000 a year, but following the completion of a one-year contract many become permanent employees and earn $45,000 per year, “plus generous benefits and small annual stock grants.”
According to Apple, factoring in senior management staff, the average salary of its Austin staff is $77,000 a year. Although the company didn’t tell The New York Times any of its future expansion plans for the U.S., it reiterated on its contributions to the country’s workforce, with the iPhone as a launch pad for its employment boost.
“Apple has created over two million jobs in the United States since the introduction of the iPhone nine years ago, including explosive growth in iOS developers, thousands of new supplier and manufacturing partners, and a 400 percent increase in our employee teams,” the company said in a statement. “We made the unique decision to keep and expand our contact centers for customers in the Americas in the United States, and Austin is home to many of those employees. We plan to continue to invest and grow across the U.S.”
In the call center, the entry-level positions open up major possibilities for quality workers later on. One worker, Genny Lopez, began as a basic contractor answering customer calls, and is now on staff fielding and troubleshooting more difficult problems. “You don’t need a crazy technical background to do this job,” Lopez said. “A lot of the training is getting really good at talking to people.”
In Austin, Apple is also said to encourage employees to test out other team environments, “to allow workers to try a completely different role for six months to see if it suits them and the company.” The New York Times met with Brisa Carillo, who was one of the test pilots for the team-switching idea, and found out that she began work at Apple in its call center right after college, but now handles the company’s international payroll while she studies for her M.B.A. to continue to move up the ranks of Apple’s finance department. A formal program backing the progressive idea is on track to be instituted soon.
Image via The New York Times
Apple prides itself on providing top-notch phone service in 26 languages — 12 are spoken at the Texas call center alone — and the people who handle the calls are expected to follow up on any problem that cannot be quickly resolved. During the recent visit, Stephanie Dumareille, a senior adviser on iOS issues who is fluent in English and Spanish, patiently answered questions from a customer who was worried about saving her résumé online and did not know whether she was using a Windows or a Mac computer.
Much of The New York Times’ article is a response to critics, including President-elect Donald Trump, who believe Apple should move its manufacturing plants into the United States to improve its contribution to jobs within the country. A report from last week claimed that Apple asked both Foxconn and Pegatron to look into making iPhones stateside, a request which Foxconn is allegedly studying closely.
Apple’s investment in and nurturing of its employees makes up for its lack of product manufacturing stateside, according to Lopez, who said that at the Austin campus “the product that Apple builds here is us.”
Check out the full story by The New York Times here.
Tag: Austin
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Apple Ceases Development of ‘AirPort’ Wireless Routers as Engineers Reassigned to Other Products
Apple has dissolved its division which develops wireless routers and is now sending engineers who worked on the AirPort lineup into other product teams, including one currently working on Apple TV. The news comes from a report by Bloomberg, who said Apple has been slowly shutting down the division over the past year and made the decision “to try to sharpen the company’s focus on consumer products that generate the bulk of its revenue.”
Currently, Apple sells three wireless routers, including the AirPort Express ($99), AirPort Extreme ($199), and AirPort Time Capsule ($299), but none of the devices have seen a refresh since 2013. A temporary stock shortage earlier in the year gave hope that a refresh of the AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule was coming during WWDC, but Apple never mentioned the products during its keynote. The trio of wireless routers still remain available for purchase for the time being.
Exiting the router business could make Apple’s product ecosystem less sticky. Some features of the AirPort routers, including wireless music playback, require an Apple device like an iPhone or Mac computer. If the company no longer sells wireless routers, some may have a reason to use other phones and PCs.
The central reason for abandoning the AirPort line appears to focus mainly on its small revenue gains in comparison to the company’s more lucrative products, like the iPhone. Apple includes its routers in the “other products” category of its annual financial results, a section which generated $11.1 billion in fiscal 2016, or about 5 percent of the company’s total sales.
Related Roundup: AirPort
Tags: bloomberg.com, AirPort Extreme, AirPort Time Capsule
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How to connect Google Home and IFTTT to do amazing things with your connected tech
Controlling hundreds of smart devices and services by voice is easy with IFTTT’s Google Assistant channel.
One of the cool things you can do with your Google Home is using your voice to control connected items around your house. While there are native connections to things like Phillips Hue lamps, SmartThings devices and Nest equipment, Google Home’s Assistant was ready for IFTTT on day one. That means you can control all sorts of things!
In case you didn’t know or just weren’t sure, IFTTT (short for IF This Then That) is an online service that smart devices can connect to and it facilitates communications between them. Companies like Facebook and Amazon and Google have used the service for a while and there are literally hundreds of “things” that connect to IFTTT. Some you’ve heard of and some you haven’t. Getting things to talk to one another is also simple to set up using a sort of flow chart system. Pick a “thing” that will be a trigger — the weather channel says it’s going to rain — then pick a thing that will act on that trigger — I get a text message telling me to bring my umbrella.
IFTTT is the messenger between two services and knows how to talk to both.
It works the same way with Google Home through Google Assistant. When you say “OK, Google. Turn on my bedroom TV,” it’s a trigger that the IFTTT Harmony channel can use to fire up my television through my Harmony remote. It’s really easy to use and works surprisingly well. Even if you don’t have a Google Home or a phone with Assistant it’s worth taking a look at because you probably are using something that is hooked into IFTTT. Have a look at the list of supported applets. Now think of things you can do to one of them that will make another do something on its own. Taste the rainbow.
The best way to understand how IFTTT works and to learn how to get it to play nice with Assistant is to just do it.
- Visit the IFTTT website or install the app from Google Play and get an account set up. If you already have an account at IFTTT, you can use it (and you likely already know how easy it is to add a channel like Google Assistant.)
- Make sure you’re logged in at IFTTT, and head to the Google Assistant applet page. You can find it at ifttt.com/google_assistant if you’re using a web browser, and if you’re using the IFTTT app tap the search button at the bottom and search for “Google” and it will be the first one on the list.
- Once you’re there, tap the blue Connect button. You’ll be redirected to a secure Google login page unless you’re already logged in through the browser or on your phone. If you have two-factor authentication enabled on your Google account you’ll need to authorize things. Once you’re logged in properly you’ll be asked to allow IFTTT to “Manage Google Voice commands.” Tap the Allow button and you’re done.
You’re conveniently redirected back to the Google Assistant page at IFTTT. You’ll see all sorts of pre-built applets you can play with that have Google Assistant do things like tell your robot vacuum to clean the room or turn your lights on. You’ll also find practical things like writing a note to Evernote or Todoist or Google Drive, making your lost phone ring or logging meals and weights to FitBit. All you have to do to try one is give it a tap. You’ll be walked through everything you need to do to set it up and test it. From there, you can look through the services that use IFTTT and start building your own.
OK, Google. Let’s do cool stuff.
Best Front-facing Camera
Snap a selfie perfectly each time with one of these smartphones.
Best Overall
Samsung Galaxy S7
See at AT&T
See at Sprint
See at T-Mobile
See at Verizon
Samsung has got the selfie all figured out. The Galaxy S7’s 5-megapixel front-facing camera may seem like it’s too low resolution for your beauty shots compared to other smartphones out there, but it’s a fine performer. The phone also offers a variety of selfie-shooting modes you’ll find useful, including filter effects, a robust beautify feature that works like Instant Photoshop, and even a Wide selfie mode, which transforms the Galaxy S7’s front-facing camera into an wide-angle camera lens, so you can fit more people into the shot.
Bottom line: You’ll win at narcissism with the Galaxy S7’s fine front-facing hardware.
One more thing: The Galaxy S7 is available in a more ruggedized form if you’re an AT&T subscriber. Just look up the Galaxy S7 Active. Or, if you’re looking for a bigger smartphone, the phablet-sized Galaxy S7 Edge also shares the same hardware.
Why the Galaxy S7 is the best
Let’s riff on the Galaxy S7’s specifications for just a second. This phone is equipped with a 5-megapixel front-facing camera, which shoots at an f/1.7 aperture and feature auto HDR capabilities. The Galaxy S7 also comes equipped with a double-press shortcut, which lets you press the Home button twice to quickly launch the camera app whenever you need. And, if you’re aching to be the next YouTube star, you can use the Galaxy S7’s Live broadcast feature to stream you and your friends making silly faces at one another.
Best Non-Samsung
Google Pixel/Pixel XL
See at Verizon
See at Google
I’ve been using the Pixel and Pixel XL to take snaps of me and my pals for the past few weeks. Its 8-megapixel front-facing camera is a phenomenal performer, though it only shoots at an aperture of f/2.4. It also doesn’t have as many extra feature offerings as Samsung’s smartphones, though you can download a third-party app like the BestMe Selfie Camera to have some fun with your friends.
Bottom line: If you’d rather go Google because software updates matter more to you than an abundance of camera features, the Pixel is a bona fide selfie shooter.
One more thing: The Pixel also utilizes the helpful double-press-to-launch shortcut like the Galaxy S7.
Best Budget
Honor 8
See at Amazon
Huawei is particularly keen on boasting about its selfie capabilities — and for good reason. The Honor 8 is an entry-level smartphone with an 8-megapixel front-facing camera. It shoots at an aperture of f/2.4 and comes bundled with features like the “Perfect selfie,” which stores your customized beauty settings.
Bottom line: If you don’t want to pay full price for a premium phone, but you still want a worthy selfie-snapping sensor, the Honor 8 is a worth considering.
One more thing: The Honor 8 also has dual 12-megapixel rear-facing cameras on the back, so you won’t be compromising your main camera performance either.
Conclusion
Samsung knows selfies. It’s been attempting to perfect them since the Galaxy S III, likely because it’s a major selling point. Don’t be deterred by the lower resolution of its front-facing camera, however. There’s plenty of fun to be had with Samsung’s flagship, including tktk, tktkt, and tktktk. Best of all, you can use the spotlight effect to add a little more glow to your headshots.
For the most part, the best smartphone for selfies is the one you already have your hand. So get to snappin’!
Best Overall
Samsung Galaxy S7
See at AT&T
See at Sprint
See at T-Mobile
See at Verizon
Samsung has got the selfie all figured out. The Galaxy S7’s 5-megapixel front-facing camera may seem like it’s too low resolution for your beauty shots compared to other smartphones out there, but it’s a fine performer. The phone also offers a variety of selfie-shooting modes you’ll find useful, including filter effects, a robust beautify feature that works like Instant Photoshop, and even a Wide selfie mode, which transforms the Galaxy S7’s front-facing camera into an wide-angle camera lens, so you can fit more people into the shot.
Bottom line: You’ll win at narcissism with the Galaxy S7’s fine front-facing hardware.
One more thing: The Galaxy S7 is available in a more ruggedized form if you’re an AT&T subscriber. Just look up the Galaxy S7 Active. Or, if you’re looking for a bigger smartphone, the phablet-sized Galaxy S7 Edge also shares the same hardware.
HTC could be looking to bow out of the smartphone business
A rumour has come out of China suggesting HTC is looking to sell off its mobile business after poor sales and continuing losses. The rumour, from Chinese site MyDrivers, and subsequently picked up by MobiPicker, says HTC CEO Cher Wang has said himself that the company will sell off the mobile arm in spring 2017.
Taiwanese media reports that HTC has categorically denied the rumours, although some industry analysts say this is just a cover up to avoid bad press about its current financial situation.
If HTC does decide to sell, there’s also rumours suggesting Google will be a good buyer, considering HTC is responsible for making the Pixel and Pixel XL. The two companies have a good rapport, as HTC has been the device manufacturer of choice for several Nexus products in the past and has a good track record of making decent devices itself, including the recently released HTC 10.
However a sale does beg the question, what else does HTC have? The HTC Vive is the only real commercially available product the company has to fall back on, and even though it does deliver a superb virtual reality experience, sales have been poor.
Of course, this is all just a rumour for now so should be taken with a hefty pinch of salt, but if true, it would be a sad day for smartphonekind.
HP could release a consumer Windows Phone in February 2017
German website DrWindows.de has come out and said HP and Microsoft are working on a consumer edition Windows Phone to be released in February 2017. The site says it has received “concrete evidence” that the phone is real, but hasn’t been told about specs or features.
However the site predicts the phone would come with Lumia technology such as a ClearBlack screen, Glance Screen to check on notifications, a camera key and a “great camera”.
More than one source has told Dr Windows about the HP Windows Phone and another has said that Microsoft has sent an internal memo around referring to plans to hold a Windows Phone event in February next year.
February is Mobile World Congress month and considering the HP Elite X3 was announced there, there’s plausible evidence to suggest HP could return to Barcelona in 2017.
Neither HP or Microsoft have commented on the rumours and Dr Windows does stress that it is all still rumour for now, so should be taken with a pinch of salt, as it may all end up being false information.
Windows Phones have the ability to be used as both a smartphone and to act as a computer when hooked up to a monitor thanks to Windows’ Continuum feature. From our brief hands on time with the HP Elite X3, we were impressed with the speed of the device and its ability to easily handle programmes such as Word and PowerPoint.
We’ve also recently seen images of a possible Microsoft Surface phone which could be made by Dell. With two strong rumours of Windows Phone devices now circling, Microsoft may finally be ready to take on the likes of Apple and Google.
The Morning After: Monday, November 21, 2016
Today begins with the proliferation of political Twitter bots, testing Sony’s pricey full-frame camera, tens of thousands of recipes from your Amazon Echo and LG’s new phone for audiophiles.
For a second, we forgot all about mirrorless shooters.24 hours with Sony’s A99 II full-frame camera
Sony’s A99 II is set to arrive later this month priced at $3,200, body-only. For that money, there’s a massive 42.2-megapixel sensor, max ISO of 102,400, 12-fps continuous shooting and, unlike the original A99, 5-axis image stabilization. Edgar Alvarez says high-end lenses help make the most of the camera, but it’s the autofocusing skills that are particularly impressive.
Great for audiophiles, but who else?Review: LG’s V20 smartphone
Don’t let its dull looks fool you, Senior Editor Chris Velazco says that beyond the V20’s flagship-level power and slightly tweaked version of Android Nougat is a device tailor-made for creatives. The V20 is an excellent media player (even with lossless files) and doubles as an impressive audio recorder. The dual-camera system still needs some work compared to LG’s rivals, but at least there’s manual shooting — which is a pleasure.
Pro-Trump bots were especially commonTwitter bots were rampant during the US election, surprising no-one
Researchers at the international Project on Computational Propaganda report that the use of politically minded Twitter bots reached an “all-time high” during the 2016 presidential campaign. Out of 18.9 million studied tweets using political hashtags, 17.9 percent of them came from “highly automated” accounts that post 50 or more tweets per day. That ratio only grew higher during the debates and conveniently tanked after the election. There are caveats, however: The team noted its data collection method is inherently limited. Not all of those prolific Twitter users are guaranteed to be bots, and the data doesn’t include the legions of tweets that didn’t include the hashtags or mention candidates by name. Automated political social networking is a thing now.
I don’t think you can call that karma.GoPro gives you a free Hero5 camera if you return your Karma drone
Returning tech products is a pain — even when they’re explosive Note 7s. GoPro is attempting to sweeten the deal (or apologize) by offering a free Hero5 Black camera if you return your Karma drone. Some of the camera maker’s debut quadcopters are experiencing sudden power loss, and so the company is offering free refunds to those that return the robot. Now you get a free camera on top of that.
But wait, there’s more…
- Kanye West says Facebook and Google ‘lied to you’
- The After Math: This week’s WTF numbers
- Amazon Echo now talks you through 60,000 recipes
- Alphabet’s autofocusing contact lens won’t be tested in 2016
Watch the Earth from the ISS observatory in a 4K 360 video
International Space Station (ISS) crew work pretty hard, but when they do get time off, they often head to the “Cupola,” according to Andrey Borisenko. The Russian cosmonaut shows us what it’s like to hang around the space station’s observational dome, thanks to a new 360 degree, 4K video from Russia’s RT News. He dryly mocks flat-Earth types, saying “you can see from here that the Earth is round — no elephants or whales holding it up.
The Cupola was built in 2010 to give astronauts and cosmonauts the best view to operate the Mobile Servicing System robotic arm (the Canadarm2). However, it soon became a favorite R&R spot thanks to the spectacular view through the seven bay windows. Avid photographers including Chris Hadfield and Reid Wiseman snapped their best shots from the Cupola. Astronaut Sunita Williams says she likes to play “guess where you are” from there using cloud formations and geological features.
Borisenko says “this is the place where any astronaut or cosmonaut that visits the ISS wants to spend all their free time … though actually, there isn’t really that much free time here.” When he does, he’s often in a rapture just watching our home planet fly by. “No matter how many more planets we discover, the Earth will always be the most beautiful.” Check it out below (hint: spin the camera towards the Earth after the 1:25 mark or so), or for the best effect, doff your VR headset.
Source: RT News
Barclays’ new ATMs let you withdraw money with your phone
Contactless technology is, we’re told, destined to replace physical currency. In the meantime, you’ll soon be able to use your phone to withdraw cash from an ATM — if you’re with Barclays that is. The banking giant announced today that it’s in the process of rolling out new in-branch cash machines that will let you withdraw up to £100 with your smartphone or contactless card.
Initially, Barclays will install new “Contactless Cash” machines in the north, before expanding it to 180 branches next year. Over 600 cash machines will be outfitted with contactless readers, which offer three ways to withdraw money. If you own an NFC-enabled Android smartphone, all you’ll need to do is tap on the contactless reader before entering a PIN. When you’re in a rush, the Android app will let you pre-select how much money you want to withdraw and enter your PIN. You’ll then have 30 seconds to tap your phone against the ATM’s contactless reader, which will automatically dispense your cash.
Cards must be added to the Contactless Cash section of the Barclays Mobile Banking app. They can also be tapped (followed by a PIN) instead of physically entering them into the machine.
Barclays argues that Contactless Cash doesn’t just save time, it is also more secure: “Whether using your smartphone or card, it removes the risk of magnetic card skimming and distraction fraud, as the device never needs to leave your hand.”
Apple Watch Owners Challenged to Earn Thanksgiving Day Activity Achievement
Apple is celebrating Thanksgiving this year by urging U.S. Apple Watch owners to bag a special achievement by recording a minimum walking or running distance on Thursday, November 24.
Available through the Activity app this morning, the Thanksgiving Day Challenge is the first activity challenge of its kind from Apple, and includes a share-able Messages app sticker as an enticement to get out and get moving.
To earn the achievement, Apple Watch wearers must record an Apple Watch Workout distance of 5K (3.1 miles) on the day in question, using Apple’s Workout app or any third-party app that syncs with HealthKit.
An Apple Watch user’s history of achievements can be viewed any time via the Achievements tab on the iOS Activity app.
(Thanks, Dan!)
Related Roundups: Apple Watch Series 2, watchOS 3
Buyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Neutral)
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