Racing Optics® Introduces Game-Changing Twilight Tearoff to Enhance Visibility in Low-Light Racing ConditionsApple CEO Tim Cook’s latest visit to London, on Wednesday, Dec. 11, was an opportunity to emphasize the company’s commitment to London and the U.K. It has invested over $22 billion or £18 billion in the U.K. in the last five years. Tim Cook. While he talked to young people at Caius House, a youth center near Apple’s London HQ in Battersea, he was candid and open about his life and Apple’s latest features. I’ve seen Cook work the room like this before. He can take the “OMG, it’s him!” energy and use it to get to know people, putting them at their ease not least because of his effortlessly genuine interest. I asked Cook what it meant to him to be at events like these. “It means something to be able to give back,” he said, “and to connect with kids that are going to run the companies and businesses and governments in the future, and see what's on their mind, to see what their dreams and aspirations are. It keeps me connected to youth, which is so important both from a personal point of view, but also from a business point of view. Asked by the group about how he started out, he talked about his interest in computing, which spiked when he realized that it had great potential for helping people, connecting them. The spark came when he was at college, not high school. “Find what it is that you’re most curious about, and don’t worry if you don’t get that lightbulb moment immediately,” he reassured the room populated mostly by teenagers. FBI Warns iPhone, Android Users—Change WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Signal Apps What We Know About Luigi Mangione: Alleged UnitedHealthcare Shooter’s Gun Matches Shell Casings From Scene, NYPD Says Facebook And Instagram Down: Here’s What We Know About Widespread Outages Succeeding in business was another question, and Cook had plenty of tips. Don’t look in the rear-view mirror, always be looking forward instead of congratulating yourself on what you’ve achieved, surround yourself by a strong team of people and so on. He talked about how he started out at Apple, saying that in 1997, the company, “and it may be hard for you to believe this, was thought to be on the verge of bankruptcy.” He added that Michael Dell, the CEO of Dell Computers, said that the best thing would be for Apple to be shuttered and the money given back to the shareholders. “And the only difference between Michael Dell and the rest of the industry was that he said it while everyone else was thinking it.” Nonetheless, he joined Apple because, “There was something about the twinkle in Steve Jobs’ eye, the way he was turning left while everyone else was turning right,” that appealed to him. Asked about Apple Intelligence and where it would lead, Cook said, “We're actually releasing iOS 18.2 today, and I would encourage you to get 18.2 in a hurry. It has many different parts of Apple Intelligence, from the ability to clean up a photo to writing tools to ChatGPT integration. There’s a ton of features in it but the elegance of it is that it's integrated into the apps that you use every day. “And the elegance of it is also that it's private,” he added. “It's very unusual in that we've kept the processing either on-device or in a private cloud. In the future, you'll see more features being added and it will just keep getting better and better. Artificial intelligence is a horizontal technology in that it will touch everything in your life over time. It will change everything, because it will be like having an assistant to prepare things that it would have taken you longer to do, to free you up to spend more time, pulling that string of curiosity or creating or following your passion.” One of the developers he met talked about the need to “always be iterating.” I asked Cook if that rings true for Apple, as well. “Yes, it’s the incredible, relentless drive that nothing is ever perfect. That there are always improvements to be made. And there’s the importance of being willing to view people’s feedback as jewels and continuing to make your craft better and better over time,” he said. As Cook met with app developers, I wondered if the App Store is part of Apple’s focus on democratization. “Even before I worked there, Apple's always been about democratization. The aim of putting a personal computer in every classroom. that doesn't sound too ambitious, in 2024, but it was ambitious at the time,” he said. “Then getting a personal computer for everyone, and then a smartphone in every pocket, the ability for everyone to be a photographer, to film a movie and then edit it. These things used to cost hundreds of thousands of pounds or more, and now all of a sudden you can put them in your pocket. The latest example, perhaps, is the Hearing Test. There are a billion and a half people with hearing problems in the world, and now we can democratize the hearing test, because very few people get one. It's always about democratizing for us.” That feature has just gone live on AirPods Pro 2, alongside iOS 18.2. So I asked Cook what Apple Intelligence means to him and to Apple. “I think it means a whole new era for iPhone, because the difference with Apple Intelligence versus a usual feature is Apple Intelligence touches everything. It touches every application that you use so much of. It touches Notes, Mail, it touches Messaging. These apps that you live in today, it touches all of those, and so the integration is deep and very different than having to think, oh, I want to use Apple Intelligence, let me go to this special place. It's in the places that you are already in. It starts a level of innovation that's on a different trajectory for the future. I think it's foundational and huge.”
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US stocks experience mixed fortunes on quiet day of tradingSurvey on isolation: Nearly half of Minnesotans report feeling left out at timesContacts between the parties suggest that the early post-election preference of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael for Labour to join them in government will not be reciprocated, at least not in the immediate future. Labour leader Ivana Bacik has instead been pursuing the broad red-green alliance with the Greens and the Social Democrats that she repeatedly flagged during the election campaign. The results of her efforts have not been encouraging, however; the Greens have been left without a meaningful parliamentary presence, while the Social Democrats – never visibly enthused by Bacik’s proposal – gave it the thumbs down on Friday. The Social Democrats said they would meet separately from Labour with other parties, including Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. So that’s that. Labour must now decide whether to seek a coalition deal with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael – and there is a difference between actually seeking a deal and just meeting for the optics, remember – or whether it wishes to continue in Opposition for another five years. The political dangers of going into government are well understood in Labour, and their fears are unlikely to have been assuaged by the fate of the Greens. At the same time, nobody knows better than Labour that government is where parties can achieve their aims, implement their policies and force the changes they have promised voters. There is, reportedly, division between Labour TDs on the issue, but the prospects of the party playing a role in the next government seem to be diminishing. And so, the focus will inevitably move to the Independents . A group convened by the Tipperary North TD Michael Lowry has made the early running, signalling its availability, and there have been some preliminary discussions. It is not yet clear whether they will seek positions in government, as Independents did in the 2016-20 administration, or be content to support the coalition from the outside, as Independents did previously. In any case, a series of deals with the Independents will not be straightforward. Each Independent TD speaks for himself or herself, and has only their own vote to trade; that is the nature of their status. They will be focused on their constituencies, but any new government will need them to stay on board for broader matters such as budgets, motions of confidence and controversial issues. A good deal of foresight will be required to future-proof any agreement. It seems unlikely that matters will have moved on conclusively when the new Dáil meets for the first time on December 18th. That means a new government is unlikely before mid-January. It should not take longer than that. The options are clear and the participants need to get on with it.
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