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Icahn has sold his shares in the company over concerns at China’s influence on its stock price Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn says he had sold his entire stake in Apple Inc, citing the risk of China’s influence on the stock. In an interview with US cable television network CNBC on Thursday, Icahn also said he was “still very cautious” on the US stock market and there would be a “day of reckoning” unless there was some sort of fiscal stimulus. Icahn had been a huge cheerleader of Apple, acquiring a stake in the company almost three years ago, repeatedly calling the investment a “no brainer.” In an open letter to Apple chief executive Tim Cook in May 2015, Icahn had argued that shares of the iPhone maker were worth $240 (£164), about 90% more than they had been trading. At $240 a share, Apple’s market cap would be $1.4tn, Icahn asserted. But Icahn, who owned 45.8m Apple shares at the end of last year, said China’s economic slowdown and worries about how China could become...

Apple has hired ex-Tesla engineer and opened R&D base in Germany, but reports suggest first versions of long-rumoured vehicle won’t be self-driving Apple’s not-so-secret project to build an electric car is heating up, according to media reports, with the company poaching an expert from rivals Tesla. It has also opened an R&D office in Germany, home to some of the world’s most important luxury car manufacturers. Industry site Electrek reports that Chris Porritt, a British car designer who worked at Aston Martin until he left in 2013 to become the vice-president of vehicle engineering at Tesla Motors, has been hired by Apple to work on the company’s Project Titan – just a few months after the executive believed to have been running the project, Steve Zadesky, left the company . While Porritt, who quit Tesla in September 2015, is one of many former Tesla engineers employed in Cupertino, he’s one of the only senior managers to have made the jump. The timing of his departure co...

Apple Watch expected to last only three years too, while Mac computers should last four, plus Apple slip-up points to OS X rebranding as MacOS, Apple has said that it expects so-called first owners of £500 iPhones, iPads and Apple Watches to replace them after only three years of use, and Mac computers only four. As part of the company’s new environmental push, which includes its new Apps for Earth campaign with the WWF, Apple has listed how long it expects its products to last for their “first owners” and therefore how much they contribute to the greenhouse gas lifecycle. Continue.... Published By - Theguardian.com - Tech News, Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis: Friday 15 April 2016 10.34

Western companies  The Western companies need to end their hypocrisy over free speech in China, and start helping to end censorship in the country. The co-founders of GreatFire, an organisation dedicated to fighting the so-called Great Firewall of China.  So the technological heart of state censorship in the country, said it hurts to see companies such as Apple citing Chinese censorship in their battles with western governments, while co-operating with authoritarian state in order to earn money from its burgeoning middle classes and take advantage of its enormous manufacturing base. But technology firms, including Apple, often cite China when arguing with western states about repressive internet restrictions. So instead working hand-in-glove with the Chinese state o profit from the country’s vast internal market. He also praised Google for their decision in 2010 to stop censoring search results and pull out of mainland China. Censorship The Google was tempered with caution, ho...