Month: July 2024

Enlarge / The iPhone 15 lineup. (credit: Samuel Axon)

After years of rumors and speculation, Apple is moving ahead to produce its first foldable iPhone, according to two anonymous sources who spoke with tech publication The Information.

The sources say that Apple has begun discussing specific component requirements with suppliers and offered several new details about both the foldable device and the upcoming iPhone 16, iPhone 17, and revamped iPhone SE.

The foldable phone would arrive no sooner than 2026, as it takes about two years to go through the process of manufacturing a new iPhone model. It's also still possible that Apple will abandon its plans in the future.

Enlarge / If you get hired for this position, you'll be provided an assistant. It's this guy. This guy is your assistant. His name is "Googly."

Update: We've resurfaced this posting one more time to make sure everyone who might be interested can see it. If it sounds like your jam, be sure and apply as soon as possible. We're looking forward to working with you!

Google is a company in transformation—but "from what" and "to what" are not always clear. To catalog and examine Google's moves in this new era of generative AI, Ars Technica is hiring a Senior Technology Reporter to focus on Google, AI, Android, and search. While attention to so-called "consumer products" will be important, this role will be more focused on Google's big moves as a technology and infrastructure company, moves often made to counter perceived threats from companies like OpenAI, Microsoft, and Perplexity. Informed skepticism is the rule around here, so we're looking for someone with the chops to bring a critical eye to some deep technical and business issues.

As this is a senior role owning an important beat, it is not an entry-level position. We're looking for someone who can primarily self-direct when it comes to their reporting and someone who is comfortable working remotely within a similarly remote team. We'd also like someone who can bring to the table deep and intelligent analyses on broader Google topics while also hitting smaller daily news stories.

Enlarge / If you live in San Francisco, you might start to see these Waymo Zeekrs driving around. (credit: Waymo)

Google's parent company, Alphabet, will invest another $5 billion over the next few years in its autonomous driving operation, Waymo. Alphabet CTO Ruth Porat announced the news during the company's quarterly financial results call with investors on Tuesday evening. "This is consistent with enabling Waymo to build the world's leading self-driving technology," Porat said.

Waymo has been developing its autonomous vehicle tech for over a decade now. Originally the Google self-driving car project, its roots lie in Stanford's entries in the 2005 and 2007 DARPA Grand Challenges. At first, the Google project used modified Toyota Priuses and Lexus SUVs, but the company planned to deploy cute pod cars with two seats and no steering wheel.

In 2016, Alphabet spun Waymo off as a standalone company under the Alphabet umbrella. The following year, the pod car—called Firefly—was no more; instead, Waymo placed big orders for hybrid Chrysler Pacifica minivans and fully electric Jaguar I-Paces, kitting out those production models with their own sensors and autonomous driving hardware. The company is also starting to test its tech with an EV created by Zeekr (a Geely brand alongside Polestar and Lynk & Co).