CBS’ Primetime news show, 60 Minutes, ran what turned out to be a soft-ball interview with Tim Cook as part of a broader look at Apple last night. Not much was learned. Cook predictably dodged the few questions interviewer Charlie Rose had to offer, so we don’t really know any more about whether or not Apple is, say, working on a car than we did before last night’s airing.
Rose did, however, get access to chief design guru Jony Ive, along with Phil Schiller and other notable Appleites, so there was some kinda-sorta behind-the-scenes moments to be enjoyed. But mostly it was about Tim Cook taking a moment to discuss privacy concerns, defend manufacturing in China, and absolutely, categorically deny any allegations of Tax fraud, calling the accusations “total crap” with “no truth behind it.
While we’d like to have seen some harder questions and more depth to the report, it’s still rare to get such access to Apple when, as Cook puts it, the company “probably has more secrecy than the CIA.” You can read more about the interview here.
Looking for a sneaky way to integrate some home video security? LG has just the robot vacuum for you!
The company has just unveiled what it calls the HOME BOT TURBO +, which is a pretty fancy name for a vacuum with a video camera on it. BUT, when you take a second to think about it, the premise of the device is pretty clever. The Home Bot Turbo + is an Internet-connected advanced vacuum armed with not one, but three camera sensors.
The cameras assist the vacuum and the user in targeting must-clean areas and navigation, but they also allow the owner to use the bot-vacuum as a sort of incognito mobile security camera. The bot can even be programmed to take pictures if unexpected motion is detected then forward them to its owner with an alert.
The takeaway here is that pretty soon every appliance in our home will soon have a camera built in and an Internet connection, meaning it’s only a matter of time until the machines take over. And if you think I’m joking, just wait until we start reporting from CES early next month. You’ll see.
Finally – and this should really come as no surprise – the much-hyped Star Wars: The Force Awakens had one hell of a record-breaking weekend. Episode VII raked in an estimated $238 million over the weekend, trouncing Jurassic World, which just broke the record a few months ago at $208.8 million.
Internationally, the film forced an additional $279 toward Disney’s coffers, bringing the total to a whopping $517 million, which wasn’t enough to beat our Jurassic World, but that’s only because The Force Awakens hasn’t debuted in China yet. Anyway, we’re pretty sure this is just the beginning of the jaw-dropping numbers because the film is receiving universal acclaim — it’s even got a 95% rating at Rotten Tomatoes right now, which is really saying something.
So, if you’ve actually been holding out to see if the flick would flop before committing to seeing it, well, you might as well get after it. Everyone else is and they’re loving it. Happy Holidays, Star Wars fans.
