Tim Cook refused to give the FBI a backdoor into iPhones during a terrorism case

Apple CEO Tim Cook on what it takes to run the world's largest company

Apple CEO Tim Cook is a tough interview subject. He doesn't give many of them, and when he does it's often difficult to move him off of his talking points. In this interview for Dua Lipa's podcast, however, he opens up for a wide-ranging discussion about everything from artificial intelligence to the impact of technology on climate change—in addition to his own personal journey and his philanthropic endeavors.

Steve Jobs once explained why iPhones can’t be made in the US

In 2011, then-President Obama asked Steve Jobs, “What would it take to make iPhones in the United States?” Steve Jobs said it wasn’t a viable option, explaining that overseas factories had far outpaced the US’s in terms of skill and speed.

Creating the iPhone ended the marriages of several of Apple's engineers

In the early 2000s, Apple recruited multiple engineers onto rival teams tasked with combining phone, internet, and iPod capabilities. Despite significant technical hurdles, Steve Jobs favored a prototype with multitouch technology and a modified Mac operating system over a competing in-house model based on the iPod's click wheel. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Read about the time Apple tried to trademark an actual apple in Switzerland

In 2017, tech company Apple filed for the trademark to a black-and-white image of a Granny Smith apple in Switzerland—a request that was only partially granted. Apple wanted full control over the image, but many worried that granting the trademark would open up too many opportunities for the company to own the rights to the mere shape of an apple.

Apple's board fired Steve Jobs in 1985

Apple's board fired cofounder Steve Jobs after he clashed with then-CEO John Sculley about Apple's goals and vision, as well as how to run the company. Apple later rehired Steve Jobs as interim CEO, a role he held until he died in 2011.

How Steve Jobs tried to end development on Linux by offering Linus Torvalds a job

In a 2012 interview, Linus Torvalds claimed that the Apple CEO offered him a job in 2000 to exclusively work on Mac OS's Mach kernel. While Linux has not provided the financial benefits that a business venture with Apple may have, Torvalds stated, "I'm very happy with feeling that I've done the right thing." (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

How TSMC, the world's biggest chip manufacturer, makes money

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has more than 500 clients across the world, but none are bigger or more consequential to its business than Apple. The iPhone maker accounts for 25% of TSMC's total revenue. TSMC controls more than 60% of the global market share in semiconductor manufacturing. Dive into the economics and outlook of this important company here.

The 'Facebook papers' revealed the company prioritized profit over public safety

A whistleblower came forward with internal documents showing employees warned leadership about the company's role in fueling political unrest and misinformation. Systems like XCheck shielded high-profile users like President Donald Trump from normal content rules, often to avoid PR backlash.

Steve Jobs tried to treat his cancer with alternative medicine

After Steve Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, he reportedly restricted his diet to just fruits or just fruits and vegetables, tried out hydrotherapy, and consulted psychics. There’s compelling evidence about the impact of alternative medicine on cancer patients.

When Tesla died in 1943, the FBI seized his property for national security

Although Nikola Tesla had become increasingly eccentric in his later years, the US government wanted to ensure plans for a possible secret weapon didn’t fall into enemy hands during World War II.

Apple Pay is activated on more than 78% of US iPhones

As a result, some banks worry they could be losing ground to the tech company. As consumers continue to use Apple Pay instead of pulling out their physical debit card to pay for everyday items, some banks are fighting back in the digital wallet war.

Explore a breakdown of 18 influential Apple products

The launch of the MacBook Air in 2008 popularized the ultrabook category of laptops, while the iPad (2010) made large-screen mobile devices a technological norm. The iPhoneX (2017) introduced the notch, which has become a staple at the top of many smartphone displays.

US lawmakers banned TikTok in 2024 for security purposes

After years of concerns about ByteDance Ltd.'s affiliation with the Chinese government, Congress passed a bill banning TikTok in the US. The main argument favoring the ban is that Beijing could use the wildly popular app to run foreign influence campaigns. Americans opposed to the ban say the law will negatively impact the livelihoods for TikTok shops and influencers.

Read about former FBI Director James Comey's time at Bridgewater Associates

Comey worked at Bridgewater Associates for three years before becoming the director of the FBI in 2013. Comey has said the company's tradition of "probing," or intense questioning, can be more intense than government hearings. During his time at Bridgewater, Comey led multiple investigations into employee conduct—particularly that of former executive Eileen Murray. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

The FBI once raided Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan's home

In 2024, after Polymarket markets favored what turned out to be the winning outcome of the US presidential election, agents raided Coplan's New York City apartment. Coplan, who was only 26 years old at the time, was home during the raid and turned over his devices to authorities.

Listen to Palantir CEO Alex Karp explain how ICE uses the company's services

Alex Karp is well-known for being outspoken both about his own beliefs and about the role of Palantir in protecting Western civilization. Karp has said that while supporting government institutions doesn't always mean supporting every policy or decision those institutions make, not allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement to access Palantir's services would go against the company's central mission of supporting Western democracy.

The FBI ran a covert campaign to discredit Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

From 1963 to 1968, the FBI surveilled Dr. King with wiretaps, hotel bugs, informants, and anonymous threats, citing concerns about Communist influence—an effort later revealed through declassified files and documented in the film MLK/FBI.

Watch Apple Watch cases be 3D printed from titanium powder

Apple Watch Ultra 3 cases are 3D printed entirely from recycled, aerospace-grade titanium powder using lasers to fuse particles. Over 400 metric tons of raw titanium were saved in 2025, with two watches fabricated from the same amount of raw material that would have previously been used to make one.

In 2020, the US DOJ sued Google for unlawful monopolization of the search engine market

The US Department of Justice and numerous states accused Google of making exclusionary agreements with Android phone manufacturers to make its search engine the default on those devices, preventing competitors from gaining market share.

Brain wave-reading earbuds are being used by companies to study workplace performance

Limited safeguards prevent governments from accessing and companies from sharing brain data. Foreign governments may also be developing technology to spy on and potentially disrupt human thoughts.

Why don’t we negotiate with terrorists?

Politicians in the US and the UK regularly refuse to negotiate with terrorists. Some claim that negotiating with terrorists would be inappropriate and impractical, and might encourage and legitimize terrorists around the world. But, other Western governments—including France and Spain—have negotiated with terrorist groups. So why do some governments refuse to negotiate with terrorists, while others consider it effective? This article by Chatham House breaks down the history, strategies, and arguments around negotiating with terrorists.

Warren Buffett was famously anti-tech stock during the 1990s dot-com boom

Buffett said that tech is something that Berkshire Hathaway doesn't "understand, so we don't invest in it." This philosophy led him not to invest in Yahoo or Microsoft during this time. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

The Fourth Amendment protects against unreasonable searches and seizures of your home

It requires officials to establish probable cause before obtaining a warrant. It was a direct response to British general warrants that authorized open-ended searches of Colonial homes and businesses.

Accessing the dark web is legal in the US, the EU, and most countries worldwide

As long as users do not pay for illegal goods or services or acquire illegal content, they cannot be prosecuted. Those on the dark web include academics, researchers, and cybersecurity experts gathering threat intelligence on cybercriminals, cyberterrorists, and state actors, as well as protesters, activists, and grassroots organizers.

The story of Dollree Mapp, whose legal challenge over her 1957 conviction for possessing "obscene material" led to a major strengthening of the Fourth Amendment

The Golden State killer case spotlights how genetic testing can affect your—and your relatives'—privacy

Police managed to use consumer DNA test results to close a case 32 years after a killer was believed to have committed at least 12 murders and 50 rapes. Their "smoking gun": They compared a DNA sample from the crime scene to genetic data relatives had shared on an open-source genealogy database. The suspect was caught after investigators explored family trees on this database and connected the dots from over 100 distant relatives who had some percentage of DNA that matched the killer. (Some users may encounter a paywall.)

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

In 2025, four executives from large tech companies were given positions in the US Army Reserves—including Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar, which reinforced Palantir's ties with the US military and its role as a leading defense partner.

In 2019, a laptop loaded with six of the worst malware in history and described as 'an exhibit of historical weaponry' sold for $1.3M.

US intelligence allegedly pursued more than 600 schemes to assassinate Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

Mark Twain spent decades feuding with the US Postal Service, convinced its costs and regulations were bureaucratic overreach.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

The idea for the Federal Reserve was conceived in secret in 1910—with bankers donning duck hunt gear for disguise while traveling to a remote country club on Georgia's Jekyll Island

Tattoos remain visible on your skin thanks to immune cells called macrophages

In 2018, 26-year-old missionary John Allen Chau was killed by tribesmen after attempting to reach and evangelize on India's isolated North Sentinel Island

In 2009, the nation was gripped by the story of a missing young boy who was believed to be floating over Colorado in a homemade balloon, until it was revealed that he was at home the whole time.

After her fellow cult members tried to kill her with an LSD-infused hamburger, one member of the Manson Family, the murderous cult led by Charles Manson, decided to testify against the group's leader.

Despite being favored by 87% of Americans, Congress does not have term limits.

The Beatles' US label rejected the band's first two singles, 'Please Please Me' and 'From Me to You,' with one executive calling the band 'dead in the water.'

The Mona Lisa's celebrity status and repeated restorations have obscured what made the painting so revolutionary for its time

The identity of the Tank Man in the iconic photo from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests remains unknown and was possibly killed.

Scientists have struggled to pin down Ebola's natural reservoir species for decades, but the available evidence suggests that it's very likely fruit and insect-eating bats found in Africa.

Against his wishes, Albert Einstein's brain was removed before his cremation, and the pathologist responsible stored it for decades in mason jars within a beer cooler.

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

Lesser-known phobias include turophobia, or the fear of cheese, and nomophobia, the fear of being without your cell phone.

American dance legend Martha Graham, sometimes called 'the Picasso of dance,' refused to perform at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and conceived the piece 'Chronicle' in response to the experience.

See this overview of the firework rules across all 50 states, ranging from a complete ban on non-professional fireworks in Massachusetts to states with more lax rules like Indiana.

After the Boston Tea Party, colonists switched to coffee, which became the main morning drink for revolutionaries.

An initial public offering or 'IPO' is the process of a private company becoming public by putting shares of the company on the stock market for purchase.