Tuesday, June 25, 2019

Apple Confirms Acquisition of Self-Driving Vehicle Startup Drive.ai

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Apple purchase Drive.ai, an autonomous driving startup based out of Mountain View, the company confirmed to Axios today.

Apple has hired dozens of Drive.ai engineers, and Drive.ai has ceased all operations over the course of the last few weeks.


Rumors in early June suggested Apple was in the process of acquiring Drive.ai to boost its in-house development of a self-driving vehicle system.

The deal at the time was described as an acqui-hire, suggesting Apple was interested in the company for its employees rather than its technology.

Drive.ai was first founded in 2015 by a group of Stanford University students, and launched a self-driving shuttle service in select cities in Texas. The company ran into difficulties, however, and sought out a buyer, which turned out to be Apple.

There's no word on the purchase price, but Axios says Apple has taken on new hires in the areas of engineering and product design.

Rumors have suggested that as part of its self-driving car efforts, Apple is working on a self-driving campus shuttle service to drive employees between the company's various Bay Area offices.

Apple's Drive.ai acquisition confirms that work on the Apple Car project is still underway. Apple in February laid off 190 employees in its self-driving car division as part of a restructuring effort.

Related Roundup: Apple Car

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Intel to Auction Off Modem IP and Patents

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Intel is planning to auction off its portfolio of patents related to cellular wireless connectivity, according to a new report from IAM.

Intel's upcoming auction follows the company's April decision to exit the 5G smartphone modem business. Intel stopped work on 5G modem technology after Apple and Qualcomm reached a settlement and a supply agreement that will see Qualcomm providing 5G modem chips for future iPhones.

Intel 5G Modem
Multiple rumors have suggested Apple and Intel have held talks about Apple's potential purchase of Intel's German modem unit. The two were in talks as early as this month, with Intel planning to sell its modem business off in pieces.

Intel is aiming to sell off 8,500 assets from its patent portfolio, including 6,000 patents related to 3G, 4G, and 5G cellular standards and an additional 1,700 patents on wireless implementation technologies.

The auction that Intel has planned is separate from its efforts to sell its smartphone modem business, though IAM speculates that an interested buyer could potentially pick up both. It's also possible that a group of companies could band together to purchase the patents that are up for grabs.
It could be that Intel's decision to sell its portfolio is part of a strategy to drum up interest in the modem business as a whole. There is no indication yet that Intel has ruled out selling the patent assets to a non-practising entity, which might encourage a group of operating companies to band together to take the assets off the assertion market.
Should Apple purchase either Intel's patent business, Intel's patents, or both, it would give the Cupertino company a leg up in its own mobile chip development. Apple is working on creating its own line of modem chips to reduce reliance on suppliers like Qualcomm, but it will be several years yet before Apple's own chips are ready to be used in iPhones and other devices.


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Apple's iWork Apps for Mac and iOS Gain Text Styles, Apple Pencil Customization Options and More

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Apple today updated its line of iWork apps for iOS and macOS, bringing new features to Pages, Keynote, and Numbers on both iOS devices and Macs.

All of the apps have a new feature designed to let you style text by filling it with gradients or images, or by applying new outline styles. Images, shapes, and equations can be placed inline in text boxes so they move with text, and using face detection features, subjects in photos are intelligently positioned in placeholders and objects.


In Pages, Apple added new templates for novels, and the option to reapply text to a master page so text and placeholders return to their default style and position. Release notes for Pages are below:

iOS Version:
- Style your text by filling it with gradients or images, or by applying new outline styles.
- Customize lists by choosing from new bullet types, changing the size and color of bullets, creating custom bullets, adjusting indentation levels, and more.
- Choose Learn Spelling to add a word to the spelling dictionary.
- Create links from text to other pages in a page layout document.
- Copy and paste pages or sections between documents.
- Use new chart editing capabilities to change the style of individual series, adjust spacing between columns, add trendlines, and more.
- Adjust the appearance of cell borders in tables.
- Place images, shapes, and equations inline in text boxes so they move with text.
- Choose whether Apple Pencil is used to start drawing or to select and scroll -- or toggle between these options via double-tap using a supported Apple Pencil.
- Using face detection, subjects in photos are intelligently positioned in placeholders and objects.
- Reapply a master page so text and media placeholders return to their default style and position.
- Create books using new templates for novels (available in English only).
macOS Version:
- Style your text by filling it with gradients or images, or by applying new outline styles.
- Create links from text to other pages in a page layout document.
- Copy and paste pages or sections between documents.
- Place images, shapes, and equations inline in text boxes so they move with text.
- Using face detection, subjects in photos are intelligently positioned in placeholders and objects.
- Reapply a master page so text and media placeholders return to their default style and position.
- Create books using new templates for novels (available in English only).
Keynote for iOS and macOS has a new feature for editing master slides while collaborating on a presentation, while Keynote for iOS specifically has options like customizing lists with new bullet types, selecting what the Apple Pencil can do, and more. Release notes for Keynote are below:

iOS Version:
- Edit master slides while collaborating on a presentation.
- Place images, shapes, and equations inline in text boxes so they move with text.
- Style your text by filling it with gradients or images, or by applying new outline styles.
- Use new chart editing capabilities to change the style of individual series, adjust spacing between columns, add trendlines, and more.
- Using face detection, subjects in photos are intelligently positioned in placeholders and objects.
- Adjust the appearance of cell borders in tables.
- Choose whether Apple Pencil is used to start drawing or to select and scroll -- or toggle between these options via double-tap using a supported Apple Pencil.
- Customize lists by choosing from new bullet types, changing the size and color of bullets, creating custom bullets, adjusting indentation levels, and more.
- Choose Learn Spelling to add a word to the spelling dictionary.
macOS Version:
- Edit master slides while collaborating on a presentation.
- Style your text by filling it with gradients or images, or by applying new outline styles.
- Place images, shapes, and equations inline in text boxes so they move with text.
- Using face detection, subjects in photos are intelligently positioned in placeholders and objects.
Numbers for Mac and iOS offers improved performance while editing and sorting tables and the option to add rows to filtered tables. For iOS, there are Apple Pencil options and customizable lists. Release notes for Numbers are below:

iOS Version:
- Greatly improved accuracy using the enhanced 128-bit calculation engine.
- Style your text by filling it with gradients or images, or by applying new outline styles.
- Create links from text to other sheets in a spreadsheet.
- Add rows to filtered tables.
- Use new chart editing capabilities to change the style of individual series, adjust spacing between columns, add trendlines, and more.
- Adjust the appearance of cell borders in tables.
- Place images, shapes, and equations inline in text boxes so they move with text.
- Using face detection, subjects in photos are intelligently positioned in placeholders and objects.
- Choose whether Apple Pencil is used to start drawing or to select and scroll -- or toggle between these options via double-tap using a supported Apple Pencil.
- Customize lists by choosing from new bullet types, changing the size and color of bullets, creating custom bullets, adjusting indentation levels, and more.
- Choose Learn Spelling to add a word to the spelling dictionary.
macOS Version:
- Greatly improved accuracy using the enhanced 128-bit calculation engine.
- Style your text by filling it with gradients or images, or by applying new outline styles.
- Create links from text to other sheets in a spreadsheet.
- Place images, shapes, and equations inline in text boxes so they move with text.
- Using face detection, subjects in photos are intelligently positioned in placeholders and objects.
- Improved performance while editing and sorting tables.
- Add rows to filtered tables.
All of the new updates are available from the iOS App Store and macOS App Store as of this morning.

Apple's iWork apps are free downloads for everyone.


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Apple Has Explored Adding Positionable Cameras to Apple Watch Bands

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Apple has explored the idea of adding a camera to the Apple Watch, although not in the way one might expect.

MacRumors mockup of Apple Watch with camera band

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office today granted Apple a patent that describes an Apple Watch band with a camera or optical sensor affixed to the end of it. This would enable the Apple Watch to capture photos and video, with the Apple Watch's display serving as the viewfinder.

The band would be made with flexible materials, like many current bands, allowing the user to bend or twist it to aim the camera. Apple's patent includes various illustrations of how the band and camera could be positioned, including one where the camera hovers just above the Apple Watch's display.


A camera on the Apple Watch could enable basic photo capturing and FaceTime calls on the wrist. The patent also describes the possibility of multiple optical sensors, suggesting that a future Apple Watch band could have both front and rear cameras, allowing users to switch between views like on the iPhone.

Apple filed the patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on September 16, 2016, a week after it unveiled Apple Watch Series 2 models. While both Series 3 and Series 4 models have launched without camera bands since then, Apple could certainly move forward with the idea in future models.

Apple files numerous patent applications every week, however, and many of the inventions do not see the light of day. Patents are also very detailed, encompassing many possible ideas, even ones that Apple might not have any plans to advance. So, the exact implementation if any remains to be seen.

Over the years, rumors have come and gone about the Apple Watch gaining a front-facing camera in the bezel above its display, but this has never come to fruition, perhaps because of the limited internal space available inside the device. A camera watch band is just one potential solution to that problem.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch, watchOS 5, watchOS 6
Tag: patent
Buyer's Guide: Apple Watch (Caution)

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Amazon Prime Day Launches: LG W30 Aurora Green, Galaxy M40 Cocktail Orange, OPPO F11 Pro Waterfall Gray


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