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Apple iCar looking even more likely

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Apple’s list of car specialists just keeps getting bigger with the tech giant hiring Doug Betts, ex-head of global operations at Fiat Chrysler automobiles.

Betts has now changed his job status to “operations-Apple”.

Although pretty cryptic, we can only guess that Betts has joined Apple to work on a car project.

Since February of this year, reports of several hundred employees working on an Apple-branded eclectic car shot into public attention.

Other employees of Apple’s new project include the head of research and development of Mercedes-Benz North American Lab.

It's no wonder everyone is flocking to Apple, as according to Bloomberg, Apple is offering $250,000 signing bonuses with gigantic salary hikes.

Unfortunately we still have no idea what the iCar will look like or any of its features as Apple is keeping things very much behind closed doors.

But with Betts in Apple’s corner and their specialist team getting bigger, hopefully it won't be long before we see the fruits of their labour. 

Now you can see how much Google stalks you

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If you've got Google's location history turned on (which you almost certainly will have) you can open Maps and see how your location is tracked in real time; go to the innocently-named Real-time routines option in the sidebar menu. In a desktop browser, go to Options > My Places > Your timeline.

If you want to disable Google's collection of your personal location data, go to My Account – there you can easily access and manage your Location History setting alongside all your other Google settings

Most useful for those times you've got an expenses receipt you can't remember or for a late night out. But we can think of some other, more illicit ways it could end up being used…

Your Timeline: Revisiting the world that you’ve explored | Google Maps Blog

How many Apple Watches have flown off the shelves?

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Apple has lumped the Watch into the ‘other’ category which includes the iPod, Beats and Apple TV – which is about a much use to everyone as a chocolate teapot.

What Apple did tell us is that sales in the ‘other’ category were up 56%. Now, that isn’t really hard considering the category compromises of several different devices, and the Watch is an entirely new device. The general consensus is that Apple has shifted between 2.5 million and 3 million Apple Watch’s, which if you compare to the iPhone is a small speck of the tech giant’s total sales.

According to the BBC, Apple chiefs said: “We made a decision back in September not to disclose the shipments of the watch.” They went on to say “It was not a matter of being transparent it was a matter of not giving your competition insight on a product we’ve worked hard on." 

Whether that’s the case, or whether Apple is hiding low sale figures to avoid people loosing confidence is another matter.

How are other Apple Products faring?

Apple sold 47.5 million iPhone units in the past 3 months, which is up 35 per cent this time last year. Again this is not surprising as the iPhone 6 – released last September – was the most popular iPhone to date, replacing the lacklustre 5S.

Unfortunately for Apple, sales of the iPad are down for the 6th consecutive quarter. This could be due to the iPhone 6 Plus stealing the limelight with its whopping screen, but it's also a statement on the tablet market. Those who want have already got one. And once people have one, they're happy with it for a long while. 

Now why not check out our predictions for the iPhone 6S?

Samsung announces 5.6mm Galaxy Tab S2 tablets

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Samsung’s answer to the iPads is the new Galaxy Tab S2. The new tablets take over from last year’s Galaxy Tab S range and brings in improved performance and hardware that is more suitable for reading and consuming content.

Samsung has shrunk the display size of its larger-sized variant and now the biggest Galaxy Tab S2 measures 9.7-inches compared to Galaxy Tab S’ 10.5-inch.

Both tablets are super thin at 5.6mm and weighs 389g (9.7 -inch) and 265g (8.0 -inch). Additionally, the tablets feature a Super AMOLED display with QXGA resolution (2048×1536 pixels), 94% Adobe RGB colour standard, Adaptive Display and Reading Mode.

The tablets run Android 5.0 Lollipop update, are powered by an octa-core processor, 3GB RAM, and features LTE support, 32GB or 64GB internal memory, microSD card slot up to 128GB, 8MP rear-facing camera, 2.1MP front-facing camera, fingerprint sensor, 5870mAh battery (Galaxy Tab S2 9.7) or 4000mAh battery (Galaxy Tab S2 8.0).

On the software side, the tablets will come pre-loaded with Microsoft Office apps, 100GB of free cloud storage on OneDrive, Smart Manager, Pop-up Window and Multitasking.

The tablets will go on sale in most of the global markets from August 2015.

Boeing developing a drone that can deliver spyware

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Boeing subsidiary Insitu, which specialises in unmanned aerial vehicles, is teaming up with Hacking Team – which develops surveillance tech – to build a drone that can remotely hack a device.

It will be capable of targeting a suspect’s smartphone or computer through a Wi-Fi network. From there, it can access files, calls, chats, emails and more. Even if the target only connects for a brief second, the drone could slip in surveillance code from a safe distance.

The news came to light after a hacker attacked Milan-based Hacking Team earlier this month, and released hundreds of gigabytes of company information online. Now it’s all been published on WikiLeaks for everyone to see. Among the emails is a recap of a meeting in June of this year, which gives a “roadmap” of projects that Hacking Team’s engineers have underway.

The hacking drone tops the list: “Develop a way to infect computers via drone. One engineer is assigned the task of developing a ‘mini’ infection device, which could be ‘ruggedized’ and ‘transportable by drone (!)’ the write-up notes.

It’s worth mentioning that the conversation was still in the early stages, so there’s’ no need to worry about any drones listening in on your phone calls or reading your Facebook messages, not just yet anyway.  

Via: The Intercept