Apple’s reportedly getting a second ‘Spaceship’ campus

Apple’s new 2.8 million square foot California HQ hasn’t even been built yet, but already the “spaceship” campus has achieved iconic status. Tim Cook and 12,000 other employees hope to move in late next year, but that won’t be the end of the company’s expansion in the area. BizJournals reports that Apple has signed a new deal for Landbank Investments LLC’s planned Central & Wolfe campus in Sunnyvale, which is roughly a five-mile drive from its current Cupertino home. Slideshow-324894

Current plans show that the 777,000-square-foot project will consist of three, six-story buildings that are almost spaceship-like in their appearance. You could even say it looks like Apple’s Command key, albeit without the final roundel. It will also be super efficient with a LEED Platinum rating, which ensures it’s sustainable, able to reclaim water and energy, uses energy-efficient materials and provides indoor environmental quality.

Once built, the Central & Wolfe campus could host around 3,000 Apple employees. The company has leased a number of smaller sites in the area, but this second campus highlights that Apple continues to grow at a rapid rate (not surprising given it’s now the world’s biggest firm). There’s no word on when developers will break ground on the project, or when Apple is scheduled to move in — perhaps it’ll coincide with the release of the oft-rumored Apple Car.

Via: Bizjournals

Source: Not Another Box

Apple Watch to be Sold at All U.S. Target Stores by October 25

Popular retailer Target this morning announced that the Apple Watch would begin arriving at some of its stores this week, with a plan to have the wearable device available at all of its United States retail locations by October 25. Customers who are interested in buying the device online on Target’s website can do so beginning October 18. The move sees Target gearing up for the holiday season, calling Apple’s wearable “one of the season’s hottest gift items.”

The retailer says it will carry a total of 20 models of the Apple Watch, in both 38mm and 42mm sizes, specifically noting the availability of space gray and rose gold color options. “Select models and bands” will be available for customers at Target’s physical locations, but the company notes that an “expanded assortment” of Apple Watch and Apple Watch Sport will be found online.

In the beginning, Apple Watch was available exclusively at Apple’s own retail and online storefronts — and some select high-end boutiques — but now the company has begun expanding the device’s reach and availability for customers. In August, Best Buy began selling the wearable, along with some first- and third-party Apple Watch accessories, followed by an expansion into department stores in the United Kingdom, and then the physical locations of carriers like T-Mobile and Sprint.

Some iPhone 6s Owners Seeing Their Phones Randomly Turn Off

Since the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus have been available on September 25, many users have begun reporting that their 6s or 6s Plus will randomly turn itself off, even when it’s left unattended. It’s unknown what causes the shut off, but some users have also reported their home button feels warm to the touch.

Users on Reddit, the Apple support communities and the MacRumors forums have experienced the issue. While 6s and 6s Plus users have seen the majority of incidents, some iPhone 6 users have also reported the issue, indicating that iOS 9 may the root of the problem.

After the bug turns off the phone, the only way to turn the phone back on is to hold the power and home button down for 10 seconds, forcing the phone to restart. MacRumors‘ forum users have been organizing around the issue, creating a poll to see how many people are affected and gathering data (model number, OS and actions before shut down) to send to Apple’s engineering team.

Thus far, the data collected indicates that no specific action causes the shutdown. Additionally, iPhone 6s users and iOS 9.0.1 users appear to be the most affected by the bug.

Users experiencing the issue can contribute to the data pool in this MacRumors‘ forum thread.

Tim Cook Addresses Privacy, Government Requests in New NPR Interview

Just days after Apple updated and expanded its privacy site to explain how it handles personal information, CEO Tim Cook sat down with NPR’s Robert Siegel to talk about how the Cupertino company protects user data and when and where it uses that information.

Image via NPR
Cook starts off by noting that Apple designs its products with privacy in mind after being asked about government data requests. Apple wants the user to control the data and who gets to see or use it.

However, we design our products in such a way that privacy is designed into the product. And security is designed in. And so if you think about it … some of our most personal data is on the phone: our financial data, our health information, our conversations with our friends and family and co-workers. And so instead of us taking that data into Apple, we’ve kept data on the phone and it’s encrypted by you. You control it.

The Apple CEO goes on to address his thoughts on a “back door” that allows government agencies access to user data in an effort to pursue national security. Cook notes that if you leave an open door for the good guys in your product, there’s an opportunity for the bad guys to find and use the open door. He believes that everyone, including government agencies, are coming around to the idea that a “back door” is a nonstarter and that encryption “is a must in today’s world.”

When asked whether Apple’s emphasis on privacy is a dig to competitors like Google or whether it would exist if Apple wasn’t a hardware company, Cook maintains that Apple’s views on privacy are born out of the company’s values.

Our values are that we do think that people have a right to privacy. And that our customers are not our products. We don’t collect a lot of your data and understand every detail about your life. That’s just not the business that we are in.

Cook also talked about how Apple uses user data, noting that he believes its fine for the company to know your purchasing history in iTunes or the App Store to recommend music and apps to customers. However, Cook draws the line at sharing data between apps, saying that he doesn’t believe the News app should know what music you buy, or whether the content of your emails should be used to sell a different product.

This marks the third major occurrence in which the Apple CEO has addressed the company’s stance on user privacy this summer. Two weeks ago, Cook spoke about privacy concerns regarding the new “Hey Siri” feature in the iPhone 6s during a ride to Apple’s flagship 5th Avenue location in Manhattan. In June, Cook spoke about the importance of encryption and privacy at the Champions of Freedom event in Washington.

The entire interview can be listened to at NPR’s website.

Apple Expands Bay Area Presence With New ‘Second Spaceship’ Lease

Apple has purchased additional land in the Bay Area, inking a deal with Landbank Investments for an upcoming 770,000 square-foot campus at Central and Wolfe in Sunnyvale, California. According to the Silicon Valley Business Journal, Apple has leased the property for an undisclosed amount of money.

The upcoming campus is notable because current plans call for an amorphous design that eschews the traditional square office building. The space is advertised via the website “Not Another Box,” which describes the curved structure as “the blending of art, science, and nature.” It is not yet known if Apple’s deal for the space will call for modifications on the planned design, however.

One caveat: It’s unclear whether the project will be built according to that design, from architecture firm HOK, or if Apple and Landbank will want to modify it in some way. At this time there’s no indication it will change substantially, and indeed Landbank has made the signature look a key selling point, with a website that highlights the out-of-the-box design. (That same website also features a quote from Walter Isaacson, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs’s biographer.)

Construction of the Central and Wolfe campus was approved last year and will see nine existing buildings razed in favor of a new structure. The location is approximately five miles north of Apple’s second campus in Cupertino and is near other Apple office buildings in the Sunnyvale area.

In recent years, Apple has been expanding rapidly in the Bay Area near its main Cupertino campus. In addition to its “Spaceship” campus that’s already under construction, Apple has also purchased a large swathes of land in North San Jose and it has bought office space in San Francisco.