Apple

Cook wants key players in Washington to know they now have an open line to the chief executive in Cupertino.That was the message aides briefed on the meetings said Cook conveyed in sit-downs with House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Cook didn’t connect with the top House Democrat, Nancy Pelosi, who hails from neighboring San Francisco, because she was traveling back from an official trip to Afghanistan when he made his rounds.

Jean-Louis Gassée takes a look at Apple, Amazon and Facebook and the things that affect their share prices.

SimpleAir does not appear to have any actual products available for sale, as the company is self-described as “an inventor-owned technology licensing company.” It said it has “interests and intellectual property in the wireless content delivery, mobile application, and push notification market spaces.”

I don’t mind a company protecting its intellectual property, but I hate patent trolls.

Apple CEO Tim Cook is refusing to take $75 million in dividend income to which he’s entitled, according to a new SEC filing.

Guy English:

Ultimately, the retention of talent will be Apple’s Achilles’ heel.

Mashable:

Steve Jobs may have built Apple into the world’s most valuable technology company in part by betting against the web. But global celebrities and some of the Internet’s brightest stars joined together to create a heartfelt tribute video honoring the legendary entrepreneur during Monday night’s Webby Awards in New York City.

Barack Obama, Bono and Sarah Silverman were among roughly a dozen celebrities and political figures to appear in the video thanking Jobs for his company’s role in changing the technology world and everyday life for millions upon millions of digitally savvy consumers.

Reuters:

The chief executives of Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd are used to running the show at their global tech empires, but they will be in for a different experience when they arrive at a San Francisco federal courthouse on Monday.Apple’s Tim Cook and Samsung’s Choi Gee-sung, whose companies are embroiled in bitter patent litigation, have been instructed by a federal judge to appear for court-supervised mediation. A joint court filing in April said that “as directed by the Court, Apple and Samsung are both willing to participate” in the discussions. In other words, it was not exactly their idea.

I wonder if the judge will make them hug it out?

Apple capitulated to Greenpeace and other environmental activists on Thursday, stating plans to build a massive solar farm to power its NC-based data center.

Variety:

Sony Pictures has tapped its Oscar-winning “Social Network” scribe Aaron Sorkin to adapt “Steve Jobs,” Walter Isaacson’s bestselling biography of the late Apple co-founder.Sorkin, who earned an Oscar for adapting Ben Mezrich’s Facebook tome “The Accidental Billionaires,” previously wrote “Moneyball” for the studio. His other feature credits include the politically-themed trio “Charlie Wilson’s War,” “The American President” and “A Few Good Men,” as well as “Malice.”

This announcement alone guarantees the movie will be better than anything Ashton Kutcher stars in.

Apple has released a Flashback malware removal tool for users of Mac OS X 10.5.

Harry McCracken checks infamous Taiwanese tech news site Digitimes to see how their batting average is for accuracy on Apple stories. Turns out it’s pretty low.

Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn A. Britt has apparently never heard of Apple’s AirPlay.

Kapersky Labs’ CTO claims that it’s working with Apple to bolster security in OS X.

Foxconn said it and Apple will split the costs of improving labor conditions at its Chinese factories where Apple products are made.

[Via Dan Benjamin]