Apple's 'Project Titan' Car Research May Be Headquartered at Leased Sunnyvale Campus

Apple's "Project Titan", its secretive and much-rumored electric car project, may involve a campus leased by Apple last year that is located in Sunnyvale, California, just a few minutes from the company's main 1 Infinite Loop campus in Cupertino, reports AppleInsider .



According to "two people with knowledge of the project", the company has been receiving shipments that may be related to the project's development at the Sunnyvale address, though it remains unclear if that location is indeed the headquarters of the car project.

According to one AppleInsider source familiar with "Titan," many of Apple's new auto-related hires, including recruits from Tesla, have been working out of the Sunnyvale campus. This person claims that some of the projects underway there have been kept "very secret" within the company.



It is said that the "Titan" development building itself is codenamed "SG5."

Apple's presence at the campus is not a secret, but AppleInsider believes Apple is linked to another company quietly operating at the site, likely as a front for Apple's more secretive efforts. That company, SixtyEight Research, claims to be a market research firm, but there is little public evidence of any actual operations in that field. Instead, the building where SixtyEight Research is listed as a tenant has seen city permits issued for construction of an "auto work area" and a "repair garage".




Photo of SixtyEight Research's offices (Source: AppleInsider)

SixtyEight's affiliation with Apple could not be confirmed, but Apple does have a long history of using shell corporations and deceptive methods to hide its secret projects. Aside from a barren website, there is scant other information about SixtyEight — lending more credence to its use as a front.



It wouldn't be a stretch to surmise that SixtyEight could play a role in allowing Apple to purchase and import automotive equipment and tools without drawing any suspicion. Apple, after all, is the biggest company in the world, and has been known to force engineers to use false names in the past when visiting suppliers to avoid unwelcome attention.

A visit to SixtyEight's offices by AppleInsider was met with frosted opaque glass and security cameras, with a note pointing those looking for the company offices to a three-story building in the complex leased to Apple.



Much of the evidence is circumstantial, but there definitely appear to be some curious circumstances at Apple's Sunnyvale campus. Apple's car project is reportedly still in the early stages, but the company is said to have committed to building a team of up to 1000 employees with a goal of launching a car around 2020 if the project proves promising.

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Posted in 2015 at 02:51PM, March 13

Upcoming 'Modern Family' Episode Shot Entirely on iPhone and iPad Cameras

The upcoming February 25 episode of ABC's multiple Emmy-winning sitcom "Modern Family" will take place solely on a MacBook screen (via The Verge ). The episode, being shot by director and series co-creator Steve Levitan, used an iPhone 6 and iPad Air 2 to shoot every scene.



The episode's story focuses on Claire Dunphy's (Julie Bowen) attempt to reach her daughter Haley (Sarah Hyland) by contacting various other members of the Dunphy/Pritchett clan via multiple forms of MacBook apps, all while stuck in an airport.





The show will not only use various chat apps like Apple's own FaceTime and Messages, but include references to everything from Reminders to the now-obsolete iPhoto. Levitan mentioned that the idea for the episode came from his own experience communicating with his kids in college through the vast array of chat software available today.

"I have two daughters at college, and we do a lot of FaceTiming," he said at a recent press event in Los Angeles. He was working one day with a number of emails and websites open on his machine, when a video chat from his daughter popped up. On the screen he saw his work, his daughter, himself, and his wife doing something behind him all at the same time. "And I realized on that screen you could tell so much about my life. So the original idea was from there."

The show has been a proponent of Apple-related gadgets in the past, with an early-series episode mostly dedicated to Claire's attempt to get Phil the original iPad. Apple was even reported to lend the show a slew of iPhones, iPads, and MacBook Pros for shooting the video chats and for allowing the show's editors to conduct post-production work once the shoot was done.



The episode has been so long in production - with motion graphics artist John Brown at the head - the team had been working on it since OS X Yosemite itself was in beta. "It was frustrating to be like, 'Act one, totally locked,' and then come in Monday and hear the FaceTime notification has changed," Brown said.



Besides a few slight liberties to the Apple OS X platform, including giving FaceTime the ability to handle multiple calls at once and a few aesthetic alterations to Yosemite's transparency options, The Verge reports the environment created by the episode "felt all too familiar."



The episode, entitled "Connection Lost" airs Wednesday, February 25 on ABC.

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Posted in 2015 at 02:51PM, February 17

Upcoming 'Modern Family' Episode Shot Entirely on iPhone and iPad Cameras

The upcoming February 25 episode of ABC's multiple Emmy-winning sitcom "Modern Family" will take place solely on a MacBook screen (via The Verge ). The episode, being shot by director and series co-creator Steve Levitan, used an iPhone 6 and iPad Air 2 to shoot every scene.



The episode's story focuses on Claire Dunphy's (Julie Bowen) attempt to reach her daughter Haley (Sarah Hyland) by contacting various other members of the Dunphy/Pritchett clan via multiple forms of MacBook apps, all while stuck in an airport.





The show will not only use various chat apps like Apple's own FaceTime and Messages, but include references to everything from Reminders to the now-obsolete iPhoto. Levitan mentioned that the idea for the episode came from his own experience communicating with his kids in college through the vast array of chat software available today.

"I have two daughters at college, and we do a lot of FaceTiming," he said at a recent press event in Los Angeles. He was working one day with a number of emails and websites open on his machine, when a video chat from his daughter popped up. On the screen he saw his work, his daughter, himself, and his wife doing something behind him all at the same time. "And I realized on that screen you could tell so much about my life. So the original idea was from there."

The show has been a proponent of Apple-related gadgets in the past, with an early-series episode mostly dedicated to Claire's attempt to get Phil the original iPad. Apple was even reported to lend the show a slew of iPhones, iPads, and MacBook Pros for shooting the video chats and for allowing the show's editors to conduct post-production work once the shoot was done.



The episode has been so long in production - with motion graphics artist John Brown at the head - the team had been working on it since OS X Yosemite itself was in beta. "It was frustrating to be like, 'Act one, totally locked,' and then come in Monday and hear the FaceTime notification has changed," Brown said.



Besides a few slight liberties to the Apple OS X platform, including giving FaceTime the ability to handle multiple calls at once and a few aesthetic alterations to Yosemite's transparency options, The Verge reports the environment created by the episode "felt all too familiar."



The episode, entitled "Connection Lost" airs Wednesday, February 25 on ABC.

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Posted in 2015 at 02:51PM, February 17

CES 2015: Kwikset Unveils 'Kevo Plus' Remote Lock Access, 'Works With Nest' Thermostat Integration [iOS Blog]

Residential lock manufacturer Kwikset revealed its extension of the Kevo platform with Kevo Plus at CES 2015, which features the ability to enable remote access capabilities for the Bluetooth smart lock. Kevo Plus, available this spring, establishes a direct online connection to the Kevo app, letting users lock and unlock their doors from any location in the world.



Previous Kevo account holders will be able to upgrade to Kevo Plus at any time through MyKevo.com, and will receive a free Bluetooth-enabled gateway that plugs into the user's router and allows a secure connection between the Kevo lock and a user's Kevo Plus account. The membership will also allow for unlimited and scheduled eKeys, which users can distribute using the Kevo app to allow guests access to their home immediately or at specific time and dates.





The app doubly serves as an activity monitor for all those accessing and interacting with a user's home Kevo lock unit at any given time. Kwikset promises more upgrades in the future, including Event Scheduling to allow users to plan Kevo's locking or unlocking at predetermined periods and Lock Grouping to let users group multiple Kevo locks and send one eKey for all of them at the same time.



Also revealed today at CES 2015 is a partnership between Kevo and the Nest Learning Thermostat that will allow customers of both devices to set Nest to Home and Away modes through the Kevo app. The partnership is one of fifteen new Works With Nest connections being shown off at CES.



Under Works With Nest, the Kevo app will also prompt users, upon locking their home, to set Nest to an energy-saving Away mode, which they can customize to fit their personal preferences in the Nest itself. In reverse, when a user unlocks his or her home, Kevo will promptly ask to readjust Nest to its natural temperature.

“Kwikset’s integration with Nest is an example of Kwikset’s commitment to improving the Kevo user experience,” says Keith Brandon, director of residential access solutions, Kwikset. “Both Nest and Kwikset add convenience to users’ active, on-the-go lives and we are proud to provide added value for consumers with both products.”

Nest integration is available starting today to Kevo users who have iOS 8 or greater. The iOS Kevo app is available for free on the App Store. [Direct Link]

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Posted in 2015 at 02:51PM, January 05