Apple’s Tim Cook On PRISM: “There Is No Back Door. The Government Doesn’t Have Access To Our Servers”

ABC News is planning to air an interview with Apple CEO Tim Cook this evening, but a few bits and pieces have already started trickling out. In the first big excerpt to be released, Cook touches on his concerns regarding the NSA and their deeply controversial PRISM surveillance program.

“The government doesn’t have access to our servers,” Cook says. “They would have to cart us out in a box for that.”

Here’s the transcript of the released excerpt:

David Muir: “What is your biggest concern — with the surveillance program here in this country?”

Tim Cook: “I’ve been pushing very, very hard to open the books and be totally transparent. Much of what has been said isn’t true; there is no back door. The government doesn’t have access to our servers. They would have to cart us out in a box for that. And that just will not happen. We feel that — strongly about it. But I do want to be transparent, because I think transparency would help put everything in perspective.”

David Muir: “Do you think Americans, Tim, would be more at ease if you could tell them more?”

Tim Cook: “I do.”

The Video:

Of course, as many have pointed out since companies first started making these sorts of official statements, there are many a concern that even “The government doesn’t have access to our servers” can’t sate. Talk of theoretical gag orders aside, one of the most disconcerting tenets of the PRISM program is the idea that the NSA doesn’t need a company’s approval (or even for the company to know) for them to start gathering data; they purportedly just snatch what they can as the data passes through the Internet’s central hubs.

In that case, all Apple can really do — besides fighting hard for transparency — is encrypt the hell out of things (like they do with iMessage) and hope their encryption is up to snuff.

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Yahoo Ends 2013 With No Apps In Apple’s Top 100

Yahoo put of lot of effort and investment toward presenting a new Yahoo to the world in 2013, and a lot of that has hinged on improving its mobile business. There have been significant updates to old apps; over a dozen (out of a total of 28) mobile-related acquisitions to pick up talent, technology and products; and tests for what Yahoo should focus on next. But even as it has managed to grow its mobile audience this year, Yahoo is exiting 2013 on a mobile low note: not one of its apps is in the top 100 chart on the iTunes App Store.

This dearth of winners is a sign of how, despite all the effort, Yahoo has not (yet?) managed to tap into a ‘breakthrough’ app that has remained a perennial favorite, with the downloads to prove it. Nevermind the new-look apps, and the out with the old, in with the new logo: Yahoo! remains Yahoo!

As a point of comparison, consider how other app publishers are faring in Apple’s top 100: Google has five apps (Google Search, Google Maps, Gmail, YouTube and Chrome). Facebook has three (Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Instagram). Twitter has two (Twitter and Vine). And a number of companies like Microsoft (Skype), Netflix, Amazon, eBay, Pinterest, Snapchat, Uber — “even fucking Groupon,” as one observer noted to us — have one apiece.

(Tumblr, acquired by Yahoo for $1.1 billion and with its own recent update, also failed to make the cut. According to AppAnnie, it’s currently at No. 110.)

So what’s going on here? You could argue Yahoo has yet to tap into a blockbuster on the platform it has chosen as its primary one, and as a result is finishing 2013 not with a mobile bang but a whimper.

“It is very clear that whatever they are doing over there is not working because people have spoken and they do not want Yahoo’s apps on their mobile,” our observer notes.

What is worth pointing out, though, are a couple of important caveats, which either will help Yahoo buy time, or may prove to be a strategy in its own right.

While Yahoo may not have a single bona-fide hit on its hands, what it is doing is spreading its bets, doing alright (if not brilliantly) on Android, and continuing to get repeat usage among those who have already downloaded its apps.

Comscore, according to its latest U.S. smartphone usage statistics from earlier this month (October 2013 figures) notes that Yahoo is the third most-popular property behind Google and Facebook on smartphones, with a reach of nearly 78 percent, some 11 percentage points behind Google. Yahoo has managed to hold on to that No. 3 spot for a while now, although its reach has declined compared to the previous few months (eg September: 82.2 percent reach; August: 83.2 percent).

Although Yahoo has long been making efforts to streamline its presence on mobile, Yahoo currently has 15 apps in the U.S. App Store (16 if you count Tumblr).

Using App Annie’s historical data, you can see that within individual categories like Weather, News and Sports, Yahoo has been consistent at the top of the rankings, even as its overall standing for each app has fluctuated with spikes around updates. I’ve included the figures on Android where they are available.

Yahoo Mail:

(iOS)

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2013 Mac Pro Review: Apple’s New Desktop Boasts Dramatic Redesign, Dramatic Performance

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Apple’s new Mac Pro is a sight to behold: In black aluminum with an eye-catching cylindrical design, there’s little chance you’ll ever mistake it for any other computer. The previous Mac Pro was iconic too, of course, but this one is also just slightly larger than a football and dimpled on the top with a recess like a jet engine. But the true power lies under the hood, and what’s contained therein will satisfy even the most pressing need for speed.

Video ReviewFacebookTwitterLinkedIn2013 Mac Pro ReviewBasics (as reviewed)3.7 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon E5 processor16GB 1897 MHz DDR3 RAMDual AMD FirePro D300 graphics cards with 2GB of RAM each256GB SSD6 Thunderbolt 2.0 Ports, 4 USB 3.0802.11ac

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Apple’s New Holiday Ad Flips Your Expectations And Tugs The Old Heartstrings

Oh, brooding, teenage boy apparently dejected at holiday family gathering, I was you once. But unlike the character in Apple’s note-perfect holiday commercial embedded above, I was doing terrible things like texting with my friends about how lame everything was and playing Snake, not capturing sentimental moments shared with family to surprise them with later.

Apple may get flack from the Android camp for not opening up its platform enough and other grave sins related to things that mostly concern us super nerds, but Apple has a knack for consistently nailing the human aspect of technology, which is what’s on display with this commercial. I’m still willing to bet that in real life, that volta where everything’s revealed to be sweetness and good feeling is a rarified occurrence, but you still got me right in the feels, Apple.

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