cooking

Apple offered some minor details on how it's beefing up its troubled Maps app, which became a running joke last year for misplacing landmarks, skewing landscapes and misleading travelers.

"We've made a number of improvements to Maps," Apple CEO Tim Cook told Wall Street analysts during the company's first quarter earnings call this afternoon. Some of those include improved satellite and flyover imagery as well as local information for businesses, he said.

Cook said that people are using Maps "significantly" more than they were before iOS 6, which added Apple's controversial mapping … Read more

The next LG Optimus may have leaked!

This week Fortune debuted a list of the 100 best companies to work for. Google took the No. 1 spot while Microsoft checked in at No. 75. Wireless tech company Qualcomm took the 11 spot while chip manufacturer Intel showed up at 68.

Details of a high-powered version of LG's Optimus G have apparently leaked online. A slide sent to Engadget teases a new LG phone with a 5-inch 1080p display, a 1.7GHz quad-core processor, 13-megapixel rear camera, and 32 GB of on-board storage. There's no word yet on which … Read more

Apple CEO Tim Cook has promised Chinese customers an iPad Mini with cellular by the end of the month.

Speaking to news outlet Tencent (translation), Cook said the iPad Mini with cellular functionality will be coming to China "in late January." He declined to provide an exact release day.

The iPad Mini with Wi-Fi launched in China on December 7. Since then, the device has proven extremely successful, with Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White saying last month that consumers in China and Hong Kong have "an insatiable appetite" for Apple's smaller slate.

"Prior … Read more

Apple CEO Tim Cook has once again flown to China to meet with government officials there.

Miao Wei, head of China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, today met with Cook to discuss the country's tech industry, mobile communications, and Apple's operations, the government organization posted on its Web site. Bloomberg was first to report on the news.

Cook's latest visit to China comes less than a year after he made a relatively public tour across the country. During that stint, Cook met with a number of Chinese government officials. He also visited a Foxconn iPhone … Read more

Apple CEO Tim Cook received only $4.2 million in compensation this year.

A proxy statement Apple filed today with the Securities and Exchange Commission revealed Cook's base salary as $1.3 million with non-cash compensation making up the rest.

In contrast, Cook was given $378 million in overall compensation last year and $59 million the previous year. But the lower total compensation is all part of a plan.

As described by The Next Web, Apple's board gave Cook 1 million in restricted shares in August 2011 when it appointed him CEO. Worth around $376 million at that … Read more

When it comes to Apple's iOS versus Google's Android, there aren't many fence sitters. Roger McNamee, an investor who's been analyzing the output of Silicon Valley for 30 years, thinks Android is the "equivalent of having a motor scooter at the Indianapolis 500."

McNamee, who began his career by turning out big returns at T. Rowe Price Science and Technology Fund, and then started Silver Lake Partners, a private equity firm, and venture capital firm Elevation Partners, is troubled by what Google has done to encourage Android's "profitless prosperity."

"I … Read more

What could be better than the smell of a loaf of bread baking? The answer is as simple as it is obvious: the smell of two loaves of bread baking. Yet, in home kitchens everywhere, there is a major stumbling block hindering this wonderful and enticing experience. Alas, the bread machine can only handle one loaf at a time. The answer, again, is as simple as it is obvious: use two bread-making machines. Or just double down on one.

The Cooks Essentials Dual 1 lb. Bread Maker w/12 Programmed Settings ($99) is a double-barreled bread maker that can bake … Read more

For a job with more scrutiny than many in the public eye, look no further than Tim Cook, who replaced Steve Jobs as the chief executive at Apple last August.

On the plus side, Cook's first full year on the job was marked with prosperity. During Apple's fiscal year, the company sold more than 125 million iPhones, just over 58 million iPads, and raked in $41.66 billion in pure profit. Apple's stock also reached an all-time high, and the company pushed out a dividend to investors for the first time.

With that said, there are still … Read more

Apple CEO Tim Cook thinks the TV viewing experience is lousy. "When I go into my living room and turn on the TV, I feel like I have gone backwards in time by 20 to 30 years," he told NBC's Brian Williams.

Read: Apple TV hinted at by CEO Tim Cook

Cook is consistently coy about how Apple will go about making TV a great user experience. "It's an area of intense interest. I can't say more than that," he said in the interview with Williams. Some, like Piper Jaffray senior research analyst … Read more