Apple's Tim Cook makes first visit to Canada, surprises students in Apple Store

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Apple CEO Tim Cook made his first visit to Toronto, Canada. Cook surprised students at the popular Apple Store in the Eaton Centre, one of the country's busiest malls. The unnanounced visit took staff, customers and students by surprise. Cook also thanked app developers, who were running a coding clinic for their contributions to the Apple ecosystem.

The students in question were a class of Grade 7 Students in Toronto's east end who were programming robots dancing on tables using Apple's Swift Playgrounds app on the iPad. Apple opened its Everyone Can Code initiative late last year and this focuses on making technology accessible so virtually anyone can create apps and solutions.

Canada is an extremely important market for us. We have a great team in Canada," Cook said in an interview with The National Post.

There are 120,000 Canadian jobs directly related to Apple's iOS and App Store ecosystem, the company said.

Upcoming iOS update will allow users to disable intentional battery throttlling

Apple CEO Tim Cook recently confirmed that the latest update to iOS 11 will allow users to disable the intentional battery slowdown on their devices. This is the latest update to the news from last month that Apple's iOS purposely slow's down performance on older iPhones in order to counteract battery degradation (an issue that causes some older iPhones to shut off when the battery is at 40%).

Apple has taken flak for reducing performance on older devices and has since given users a discount on battery replacement services for older iPhones. In an interview with ABC News, Cook announced how Apple plans to roll out an update next month, first to devs and the to all users by March. “We’re going to give people the visibility of the health of their battery so it’s very, very transparent,” he says. “This hasn’t been done before.”

Source: The Verge

Here’s your chance to have lunch with Apple CEO Tim Cook at Apple Park

If you want to pick the brain of one of the biggest, most prominent names in tech, you’re going to need money—a lot of it. But at least the cost is going to a good cause. Apple CEO Tim Cook partners once again with Charitybuzz to give fans a chance to have a one-hour lunch with him. It’s his fifth time hosting this charity lunch but it’ll be the first one that’ll be hosted at the new Apple Park campus. Like before, the winning bidder will get to bring one more person to the lunch. And while the meal is included in the bid, travel and accommodations aren’t. The bidding ends on May 16^th at 3 p.m. EDT. At the moment there are already nine bids valued at US$84,888. The auction listing itself has an estimated value of US$100,000.

The proceeds for the auction will go to the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. Cook became part of RFK Center’s board of directors last year after years of supporting the charity. RFK Center aims for a just and peaceful world by teaming up with human rights leaders, teaching social justice, and advancing corporate responsibility. Last year, the winning bid was at U$515,000, which is US$95,000 less than the largest amount raised during the first year Cook hosted this lunch.

Source: MacRumors

You can donate to Red Cross for Hurricane Matthew relief support via iTunes

Visible satellite image of Hurricane Matthew approaching Jamaica, Haiti, and Cuba at 15:15 UTC on October 3, 2016. [GOES East Satellite (NOAA)]

In case you didn’t know, you can send support for Red Cross’ Hurricane Matthew relief through iTunes.  Donating through iTunes is an easy affair. Head over to this link and donate as little or as much as you like. Apple guarantees the money goes directly to Red Cross for the cause.

Our thoughts are with all those affected by #HurricaneMatthew. Support relief efforts by donating to @RedCross at https://t.co/2b9MLALy4L

— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) October 10, 2016