Free Republic

As employers push harder for in-person work, employees are finding new ways to resist — without outright refusing to show up. Short of simply refusing to turn up office workers are finding new creative solutions to limit their in-person hours. The most popular trend du jour, driven largely by millennials, is 'coffee badging'. It involves showing up at the office just long enough to grab a coffee, greet the right people, and then quietly leave to finish the day working remotely. The behavior is now so widespread that executives are seeing it as a threat to their efforts to return...

President Donald Trump's 25% tariffs on Indian goods will do little to slow the role of the Asian country as a key hub for manufacturing iPhones, even when it means more expensive smartphones for U.S. consumers, analysts and industry executives said. Apple has realigned its India exports to almost exclusively serve the U.S. market, with nearly all the $3.2 billion-worth iPhones exported by Foxconn from India going to the United States between March and May. It's "too early to say" if recent events or future changes in Trump's stance will alter Apple's manufacturing plans in India, an industry executive familiar...

Apple has rolled out its first public betas for iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26, and tvOS 26, inviting users to experience the forthcoming features ahead of the official release. With a notable shift in branding, Apple has opted for a year-based numbering system to align its software versions with the calendar year, trading in the previous chronological format. As a result, the latest updates will be labeled accordingly, reflecting their primary visibility in 2026. One of the standout features across Apple’s platforms is a significant cosmetic overhaul dubbed Liquid Glass. This redesign aims to create a cohesive...

It’s no secret that kids (and some of us adults) love fruit juice. Many of us grew up drinking fruit juice, and parents often think 100% fruit juice is healthy. But is it really? UC Davis Health pediatricians Lena Rothstein and Dean Blumberg tackled this juicy topic in their podcast Kids Considered: We often like the taste of fruit juice because it’s a sweet drink. But it’s no secret that sweet often means more sugar, even if it’s natural sugar. Think about whole fruits that are sweeter – they have more natural sugars that make them taste sweet. Same goes...

Apple TV+ just crossed a line we can’t ignore. In a recent episode of one of their shows [Your Friends & Neighbors], a man and woman break into a Catholic church… He opens the tabernacle… And then starts snacking on the consecrated Hosts — Our Lord Himself — as if they were crackers. He even dips the Hosts into jam. But it gets worse. Then — God help us — he drops the Blessed Sacrament on the floor and commits a vile act of fornication in the pews with the woman. All right in front of the altar… and the...

Apple's effort to expand iPhone production in India has encountered a setback as Foxconn has recalled hundreds of Chinese engineers and technicians from its Indian factories, Bloomberg reports. According to people familiar with the matter who spoke to Bloomberg, Foxconn has been sending home a large number of Chinese workers previously stationed at its ‌iPhone‌ manufacturing facilities in southern India. The process began approximately two months ago, and more than 300 Chinese staff have now departed. These individuals were primarily engineers and technicians responsible for supporting operations on-site, many of whom played a central role in training local Indian workers...

It’s lights out and away we go at the box office as “F1,” a big-budget racing drama starring Brad Pitt, impressively revs to $55.6 million in its domestic opening weekend. With great reviews and a promising “A” grade on CinemaScore exit polls, “F1” landed in the middle of expectations of $50 million to $60 million. At the international box office, the film collected a strong $88.4 million from 78 markets. Those initial ticket sales are significant given “F1” is an adult-skewing tentpole that’s not part of an existing film franchise — a rarity in today’s I.P.-dominated movie theater landscape. Directed...

Hosts: Andru Edwards & Jon Rettinger | Guest: Mark Gurman Inside WWDC 2025 & Apple's Year-Long Siri Delay w/ Mark Gurman - Geared Up 208 | 1:02:40 Geared Up | 2.89K subscribers | 8,393 views | June 17, 2025

I’ll keep this short and sweet so I can get this out faster to you. As headline says, 16,000,000,000 passwords have been leaked. Most likely the biggest password leak in history. It would probably be a good idea to change your passwords. If you have Google, maybe start there and change your Google password, since a lot of people have numerous saved passwords to bank accounts, social media accounts, email, etc, all under Google. Forbes: Update, June 19, 2025: This story, originally published on June 18, has been updated with comments from the founders of Keeper Security regarding the 16...

Apple heiress Laurene Powell Jobs, Google founder Eric Schmidt, and the George Soros-backed Tides Foundation are among the Democratic heavyweights bankrolling the anti-Israel charity of activist Kamau Franklin, who called Elias Rodriguez’s alleged assassination of two Israeli diplomats in Washington, D.C., a "morally righteous" act. Franklin runs Community Movement Builders, an Atlanta-based nonprofit that promotes "liberation" ideology for black Americans, Palestinians, and other groups. The organization embraces radical rhetoric in support of those causes, referring to police as "pigs" and calling the state of Israel "the result of a war crime." Last week, Franklin signed an open letter defending Rodriguez’s...

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said he told Apple CEO Tim Cook that he doesn’t want the tech giant to build its products in India, taking shots at the company’s moves to diversify production away from China and urging him to pivot Stateside. “I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday,” Trump said. “I said to him, ‘my friend, I treated you very good. You’re coming here with $500 billion, but now I hear you’re building all over India.’ I don’t want you building in India.” Trump was referencing Apple’s commitment of a $500 billion investment in the...

Apple reported its highest March-quarter revenue in over two years, reaching $95 billion, as customers rushed to purchase devices ahead of potential new U.S. tariffs. As a result of the ongoing trade war with China, the tech giant announced that the majority of U.S. iPhones would come from India, while iPads and other devices would be imported from Vietnam. The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple announced a significant surge in revenue for the March quarter, driven by strong demand for iPhones and other devices as customers moved to make purchases before the introduction of new U.S. tariffs in April....

IBM will invest $150 billion in the US, including on facilities for quantum computer production, over the next five years, the latest American technology company to back the Trump administration’s push for local manufacturing. The company’s announcement on Monday follows similar pledges by tech giants such as Nvidia and Apple, both of which have said they would spend about $500 billion each in the country over the next four years. Several analysts see the spending commitments as overtures to President Trump, whose tariffs threaten to roil supply chains and raise costs for the technology industry. IBM, also a significant government...

In a strategic move driven by escalating trade tensions between the United States and China, Apple is set to transition all production of iPhones destined for the US market to India. Apple is looking to move most of its manufacturing and production out of China, with India being one of the countries where they are increasing activities. Apple is looking to move most of its manufacturing and production out of China, with India being one of the countries where they are increasing activities. According to GSM Arena, the shift comes in the wake of ongoing trade policies and tariffs imposed...

European leaders announced this week they will try to steal up to $800 million from Apple and Meta with bogus antitrust penalties under the EU’s Digital Marketing Act. This fine is what we call “sour grapes” economics. The socialist nations of Europe can’t compete in the tech space, and so they are penalizing Apple and Meta because of their superiority in cell phone services and social media applications. The issue is whether Apple and Meta should be able to bundle services on their product lines and social media platforms. The answer, of course, is yes; they built it and they...

NATIONAL CHEESE FONDUE DAY Observed annually on April 11th, National Cheese Fondue Day recognizes a food holiday many enjoy. Fondue is a dish of melted cheese or other ingredients, served in a communal pot (caquelon) over a small portable stove (réchaud). Participants then dip the bread into the cheese using long-stemmed forks. Cheese fondue consists of a blend of cheeses, wine, and seasoning. #NationalCheeseFondueDay A 1966 book published in Zurich, under the name "Kass mit Wein zu kochen" is known for having the earliest known cheese fondue recipe. It calls for grated or cut up cheese melted with wine and...

Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives slashed his price targets for Apple and Tesla over the weekend as President Trump’s tariffs threaten to disrupt both businesses. “The tariff economic Armageddon unleashed by Trump is a complete disaster for Apple given its massive China production exposure,” Ives said in a warning note over the weekend. “In our view, no U.S. tech company is more negatively impacted by these tariffs than Apple with 90% of iPhones produced and assembled in China.” Wedbush cut its price target for Apple stock by $75, down to $250 per share. Apple’s shares are down this afternoon by...

As part of Apple's iOS 18.4 update, iPhone users will have access to eight new emoji. And there is one face that everyone is already saying will be their favourite. The new emoji list includes some items that some iPhone users might find helpful including a harp, a shovel, a leafless tree and a root vegetable. The update also includes a few stranger choices, such as the purple 'splatter', a bright blue fingerprint, and the flag of Sark – a small Channel Island with a population of just 500. But it is the exhausted-looking 'face with bags under eyes' emoji...

President Donald Trump is expected to announce a $100 billion investment from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing to bolster chip manufacturing over the next four years in the U.S, NBC has learned. The Wall Street Journal first reported the news. TSMC, which supplies semiconductors to the likes of Nvidia and Apple for artificial intelligence use, would help support the Trump administration’s efforts to make the U.S. an artificial intelligence hub. Last month, Trump announced a multibillion-dollar AI infrastructure project with Oracle , OpenAI and Softbank. Trump has repeatedly called out and accused Taiwan of stealing the U.S. chip manufacturing business and touted...

Feb 25 (Reuters) - Apple shareholders voted to keep the tech giant's diversity, equity and inclusion policies on Tuesday, a win for management which had opposed efforts by a conservative group to scrap the program. The vote at the iPhone maker's annual meeting was seen as a test of shareholder views about the value of DEI programs, which many companies added or beefed up starting in 2020 amid the Black Lives Matter movement.