Tag - Auction

GT Advanced hopes to emerge from bankruptcy with new debt
Former Apple manufacturing partner and sapphire crystal furnace manufacturer GT Advanced Technologies may soon be able to emerge from bankruptcy, following the filing of a new plan with the court that would see $60 million in new debt and $20 million in preferred stock put up by lenders early next year -- however, the plan does not include any compensation for shareholders or other investors. Under the proposal, ownership of the company would be transferred to creditors, which may still include Apple.

Warhol Apple painting to go on auction in New York
A painting by Andy Warhol based on an early Macintosh ad from 1985 will go on auction at Sotheby's in New York City in just over a week, with an opening minimum of $280,000 and an expected estimate of between $400,000 and $600,000 for a final purchase price. Warhol, who once met Steve Jobs (and received a brief tutorial on how to draw on the original Macintosh) when the Apple co-founder was installing a machine at John Lennon's house, painted the six-color Apple logo as part of the illustration.

Briefly: working Apple I auction, Brussels store opening September 19
Bonhams in New York City will auction another rare, fully-working Apple I computer said to be in "fantastic" condition in October, said to be one of the first 50 hand-constructed by Steve Wozniak and one of only six or seven units known to still be functioning. A number of the few remaining working units have been turned over at auction in recent years: Bonhams is expecting to fetch $500,000 or more for this latest unit, but others have sold for much more.

Briefly: three new stores, rare functioning Apple I up for auction
Apple plans to open at least three new stores in time for the retail debut of the Apple Watch -- though it is unclear if any of the stores will actually have Watches to sell, as the company has switched to an online pre-order system only ahead of the debut date. The stores will open in Hangzhou, China; Miami Beach, Florida; and Sao Paolo, Brazil. The latter two have already been officially announced for April 24 by Apple. Of these, Brazil is the only new store not to be part of the first wave of countries receiving the Apple Watch.

Apple's Cook again offering lunch date for charity drive
For the third year running, there is an opportunity for a winning bidder to have lunch with Apple CEO Tim Cook, thanks to a Charitybuzz online auction. The lunch data and a pair of VIP tickets to one of Apple's future keynote events are on auction to raise money for Cook's preferred charity, the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. Last year, a similar auction raised $330,000 for the center. Current bidding, with 21 days to go, is $37,500.

Beats executive Ian Rogers auctioning off private lunch date
Ian Rogers, who was previously the CEO of Beats Music and is still running the service now that it's at Apple, is auctioning a private lunch date in either Los Angeles or Cupertino as part of a charity fundraiser for The Pablove Foundation, a pediatric cancer research nonprofit. The auction, which is being run through Charitybuzz.com, estimates the value of the lunch at $3,000 but is of course hoping to raise much more.

FCC delays 600MHz spectrum incentive auction until early 2016
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced that it is delaying the upcoming 2015 incentive spectrum auction until at least early 2016. In a post from Gary Epstein, the chair of the FCC's Incentive Task Force, he said that recent court filings by broadcasters are causing the agency to push back the auction for spectrum previously assigned to television broadcasts.

TV broadcasters file petition against FCC over 2015 spectrum auction
The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has filed a petition with the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, seeking a review of the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) 2015 spectrum auction. In the filing, the NAB states that the FCC isn't taking the proper precautions to protect broadcasters that choose to retain their spectrum. According to the NAB, an updated methodology the FCC is using will result in a loss of coverage area for remaining broadcasters.

US Court issues temporarily order to stop bitcoins domain auction
A US District Court judge in Washington state issued a restraining order yesterday, placing a temporarily restriction on the bitcoins.com domain from being auctioned off. Yesterday, Tibanne KK, the company owned by former Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles, was ordered to account for and hold all assets. The order stems from a legal issue between CoinLab and Mt. Gox dating back to 2013.

One-off (Product) RED Mac Pro fetches $977,000 at auction
Apple is known for making history by inventing the future, but even its designer could not have predicted a new record shattered on Saturday as a special one-off red version of the new Mac Pro (which is not officially available for sale yet) was sold at a charity fundraising auction for $977,000 -- an all-time record for the priciest personal computer ever made or sold. A couple of other items also designed by Sir Jonathan Ive of Apple and designer Marc Newson also fetched record sums.
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Cirrus creates Lightning-headphone dev kit
Apple supplier Cirrus Logic has introduced a MFi-compliant new development kit for companies interested in using Cirrus' chips to create Lightning-based headphones, which -- regardless of whether rumors about Apple dropping the analog headphone jack in its iPhone this fall -- can offer advantages to music-loving iOS device users. The kit mentions some of the advantages of an all-digital headset or headphone connector, including higher-bitrate support, a more customizable experience, and support for power and data transfer into headphone hardware. Several companies already make Lightning headphones, and Apple has supported the concept since June 2014. http://bit.ly/29giiZj

Apple Store app offers Procreate Pocket

The Apple Store app for iPhone, which periodically rewards users with free app gifts, is now offering the iPhone "Pocket" version of drawing app Procreate for those who have the free Apple Store app until July 28. Users who have redeemed the offer by navigating to the "Stores" tab of the app and swiping past the "iPhone Upgrade Program" banner to the "Procreate" banner have noted that only the limited Pocket (iPhone) version of the app is available free, even if the Apple Store app is installed and the offer redeemed on an iPad. The Pocket version currently sells for $3 on the iOS App Store. [32.4MB]
Porsche adds CarPlay to 2017 Panamera
Porsche has added a fifth model of vehicle to its CarPlay-supported lineup, announcing that the 2017 Panamera -- which will arrive in the US in January -- will include Apple's infotainment technology, and be seen on a giant 12.3-inch touchscreen as part of an all-new Porsche Communication Management system. The luxury sedan starts at $99,900 for the 4S model, and scales up to the Panamera Turbo, which sells for $146,900. Other vehicles that currently support CarPlay include the 2016 911 and the 2017 models of Macan, 718 Boxster, and 718 Cayman. The company did not mention support for Google's corresponding Android Auto in its announcement. http://bit.ly/295ZQ94

Apple employees testing wheelchair features
New features included in the forthcoming watchOS 3 are being tested by Apple retail store employees, including a new activity-tracking feature that has been designed with wheelchair users in mind. The move is slightly unusual in that, while retail employees have previously been used to test pre-release versions of OS X and iOS, this marks the first time they've been included in the otherwise developer-only watchOS betas. The company is said to have gone to great lengths to modify the activity tracker for wheelchair users, including changing the "time to stand" notification to "time to roll" and including two wheelchair-centric workout apps. http://bit.ly/2955JDa

SanDisk reveals two 256GB microSDXC cards
SanDisk has introduced two 256GB microSDXC cards. Arriving in August for $150, the Ultra microSDXC UHS-I Premium Edition card offers transfer speeds of up to 95MB/s for reading data. The Extreme microSDXC UHS-I card can read at a fast 100MB/s and write at up to 90MB/s, and will be shipping sometime in the fourth quarter for $200. http://bit.ly/294Q1If

Apple's third-quarter results due July 26
Apple has advised it will be issuing its third-quarter results on July 26, with a conference call to answer investor and analyst queries about the earnings set to take place later that day. The stream of the call will go live at 2pm PT (5pm ET) via Apple's investor site, with the results themselves expected to be released roughly 30 minutes before the call commences. Apple's guidance for the quarter put revenue at between $41 billion and $43 billion. http://apple.co/1oi1Pbm

Twitter stickers slowly roll out to users
Twitter has introduced "stickers," allowing users to add extra graphical elements to their photos before uploading them to the micro-blogging service. A library of hundreds of accessories, props, and emoji will be available to use as stickers, which can be resized, rotated, and placed anywhere on the photograph. Images with stickers will also become searchable with viewers able to select a sticker to see how others use the same graphic in their own posts. Twitter advises stickers will be rolling out to users over the next few weeks, and will work on both the mobile apps and through the browser. http://bit.ly/29bbwUE
