Apple CEO Tim Cook calls out a report that Jony Ive’s leaving the company on bad terms

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Apple CEO Tim Cook wanted to set the record straight about a recent Wall Street Journal story that claims there is tension between the company and departing Chief Design Officer Jony Ive. He calls the report “absurd” and that “conclusions just don’t match with reality.” The story claims that Ive’s leaving was a long time coming with the designer drifting away from the company in recent years, which has resulted in the team being rudderless and without leadership. Cook says in an email to NBC News reporter Dylan Byers that the Apple design team is “phenomenally talented” and “stronger than ever.” He says projects they’re working on “will blow you away.” It’s rare for the Apple CEO to talk about internal shakeups with reporters, but it seems this particular topic hit a nerve.

Learn how to use a synth with this Ableton interactive tool

If synthesizers confuse you, this new interactive browser game from Ableton will help you sort things out. The electronic music company uses fun illustrations and widgets to make it easier for beginners to learn the basics of synthesizers. It teaches everything from the basics of amplitude and pitch, synth concepts, envelopes, LFOs, and oscillators. There are drag-and-drop sliders that are adjustable so you can find the sound you want. The culmination of Learning Synths is the Playground, where users can play with presets and sequences. According to The Verge, this tool is a great way to learn how synthesizers generate certain tones and visually match waveform shapes to their sound.

Hans Zimmer will be designing the sound for BMW’s futuristic concept car

For motorheads, the silence of electric vehicles can seem deafening, especially when compared to traditional cars. But now, BMW’s future electric vehicles, more specifically, the Vision M Next concept sports car will have a unique soundtrack, courtesy of award-winning film composer Hans Zimmer. Zimmer has worked on iconic sci-fi films including Interstellar, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Blade Runner 2049, and Inception. Zimmer will be working with BMW sound designer Renzo Vitale to make the “drive sounds” and “sound signs” for the Vision M Next, which will debut this week at BMW’s NextGen event.

Zimmer’s work will also be part of “BMW IconicSounds Electric,” which is a sound offering for future electric cars. The hope is it’ll help drivers feel less “alienated” from their vehicles. As Quartz points out, BMW has been working on the sounds for electric cars for around a decade now. But this collaboration means the German automaker wants to create more distinctive sounds for its EVs.

Google tries to make an AirDrop competitor called Fast Share

It looks like Google wants to build its own take on Apple’s AirDrop feature. Called Fast Share, this will take the place of the deprecated, NFC-based Android Beam. The aim is to simplify file sharing between devices, including Android phones, Chromebooks, and possibly even iPhones. Everything from photos, files, to URLs and text snippets are supposedly going to be shareable to nearby devices without using the internet. According to 9to5Google, it’ll use Bluetooth with Location enabled, having physical proximity factored in. It can be accessed through the Share menu or by heading to Settings > Google > Fast Share. And you can give frequent senders “Preferred Visibility.” This feature seems to in testing right now. But if it goes public, do you see yourself using it?