Genius Bar - page 2

Thieves use Apple Store uniform to steal $16,000 worth of iPhones

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All it takes is a blue shirt to bypass Apple security.
All it takes is a blue shirt to bypass Apple security.
Photo: Lyle Kahney/Cult of Mac

Apple may want to rethink its permanent blue uniform strategy after thieves pillaged an Apple Store in New York in broad daylight last week.

Two teenage thieves reportedly pulled off an iPhone heist without employees ever noticing because they were dressed similar to Apple’s staff, says the police.

Our Facebook page has been hacked, and it’s impossible to get it back (Updated)

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Cult of Mac's Facebook page has been taken over by hackers; and we're having trouble getting it back. It's impossible to contact Facebook.
Cult of Mac's Facebook page has been taken over by hackers, and we're having trouble getting it back.
Photo:

Update:We’re back! We were finally able to get hold of someone at Facebook and get our Facebook page back. Many thanks to everyone who tried to help and offered support. We contacted someone at Facebook through a reader in Chicago, who happens to work for a big newspaper. He had a contact in Facebook’s media team and called her up. Within minutes I received an email asking for details, and two minutes after that it was fixed. In fact, it was shocking how quickly the situation was reversed, given that we’d been wrestling with it for almost 24 hours — many thanks to the Facebook insider who fixed the problem for us. However, my thesis still holds — Facebook is a locked vault. If you don’t know someone who knows someone who works there, you’re SOL. Oh, and no word on what happened. I asked them, but no reply as yet.

Much to our horror, Cult of Mac’s Facebook page got hacked Monday and turned into a spam site. The hackers have locked us out and we’re finding it impossible to regain control.

We’re trying desperately to contact Facebook, but the company offers no customer support whatsoever. There are no online submission forms, no support email addresses, and the phone automatically hangs up on you if you call. It’s impossible to raise a human being over there.

It would be laughable if it weren’t so serious. But during this ongoing nightmare, I’ve discovered something important about Facebook and the kind of tech companies it represents.

Genius Bars will begin servicing Beats headphones Tuesday

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Be cool. Stay in school.
Beats will be serviced by Genius Bars starting on Tuesday. Photo: Beats
Photo: Beats

Ever since Apple bought Beats for $3 billion back in May, Cupertino has slowly but surely been integrating the headphone maker’s products and services into the official Apple portfolio. It’s added Beats Music to the Apple TV, officially listed it as an Apple app on the App Store, and rolled out a Beats by Dre section at Apple Stores.

Now it looks like Beats by Dre headphones will officially be an Apple product in the biggest way that counts: You’ll soon be able to get them repaired or replaced at your local Genius Bar.

Apple isn’t ignoring ‘Bendgate,’ will replace affected devices

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Is your iPhone 6 Plus still as straight as it was the day you got it? Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac
Is your iPhone 6 Plus still as straight as it was the day you got it? Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

It turns out that things made out of thin pieces of aluminum will bend under enough force. Who’d have thought it? But fortunately for those who are experiencing the well-documented “Bendgate” issue with a new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, Apple is not ignoring the problem: The company will replace devices under warranty so long as they pass a visual inspection.

Sam Sung’s last Apple Store shirt is being auctioned for charity

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When your name is the oh-so-ironic Sam Sung, it's quite frankly amazing you were ever allowed in for an Apple Store interview to begin with.

Sung was, however, and when he finally left the job earlier this year, he auctioned off his work shirt, badge and business card to raise money for charity. The eBay auction ended at $2,653.Photo: Sam Sung

When your name is the oh-so-ironic Sam Sung, it's quite frankly amazing you were ever allowed in for an Apple Store interview to begin with.

Sung was, however, and when he finally left the job earlier this year, he auctioned off his work shirt, badge and business card to raise money for charity. The eBay auction ended at $2,653.

Photo: Sam Sung


Apple fanboys with a sense of humor and few hundred bucks to spare can own a piece of the thermonuclear history between Apple and Samsung, by throwing down on an eBay auction by the guy who had the worst name for an Apple Store specialist ever.

Ask An Apple Genius: Extending Your iPhone 5 Warranty, Water Damaged MacBooks And Swapping iPhone Colors

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askageniusanything

This is the Cult of Mac’s exclusive column written by an actual Apple retail store genius. Our genius must remain anonymous, but other than “Who are you, anyway?” ask anything you want about what goes on behind that slick store facade.  

Answers will be published first in Cult of Mac’s Magazine on Newsstand. Send your questions to with genius in the subject line.

With iPhone 5 warranties about to expire for early adopters, our Genius runs through the litany of legitimate issues you can use to get your iPhone replaced for free. We also dive into whether it’s better to be upfront about water damage and switching colors when the Genius Bar replaces your device.

1. My iPhone 5 warranty is about to expire.  How can I get my device replaced for free so I have a new iPhone from the warranty of the old one?

Like any piece of advanced tech, the iPhone certainly has its faults and manufacturing defects, even if they are somewhat rare.

Hardware defects are the easiest way to go

One of the biggest problems we have to swap iPhones for is the sleep/wake button. That button often gives out or gets jammed and becomes unresponsive. If that happens we swap the device. Same thing for the volume buttons. The home button isn’t as common a replacement. We may be able to do a modular repair to replace the flex assembly that goes to your home button. Often times that fixes it, but if it doesn’t we’ll swap it out.

Essentially, hardware defects are the easiest way to go. Camera defects come up frequently too, with issues like spots or lines on the sensor and shutter fails being the most common issue. We don’t have a camera replacement for the iPhone 5, so if you have any of those issues, definitely bring it in. There have also been issues with the iPhone 5’s metal enclosure getting bent out shape. As long as the screen isn’t cracked and the bend or morphing is noticeable, your warranty covers that as well.

Getting an iPhone replaced under warranty for a software issue is a bit trickier. Most software issues that people see will not lead to an iPhone replacement. Before you come to the Genius Bar you’ll be reminded to try rebooting your iPhone and restore from a backup. Those two quick steps usually do fix most software issues. Some software issues – like maybe your WiFi has gone out – can get you a replacement iPhone as long as the Genius can observe and verify the issue.

The good thing about taking your iPhone 5 in for those issues:  it won’t cost you anything and extends your warranty for another 90 days. After two replacements we have to ask a manager for permission to replace an iPhone, even if it’s a legitimate reason. Most of the time managers are cool and will just tell us to go ahead and swap it, but the two-replacement policy is supposed to act as a safeguard from people who try to milk Apple for an infinite number of replacement iPhones.

2. Why won’t the Genius Bar let me change the color of my iPhone when I get it replaced under AppleCare+?

Essentially, we don’t allow it in order to benefit our customers and make sure that inventory flows through the channels in the most efficient way possible.

When you buy a black iPhone, Apple keeps track of how many models it has sold in each color and plans out how many it will need to supply for replacements at the Apple Store. It’s a complicated process to get all the Apple Stores stocked with the right amount of iPhones in the various configurations, even though Apple makes it look easy.

Allowing customers to change colors at random would add an extra element of variation to Apple’s supply chain and could result in supply shortages. And then customers who actually need a device swap in their original color would get screwed over. So, sorry, you’re stuck with your original color choice. Choose wisely.

3. My 30-day-old MacBook Pro had a little accident involving water on the ride home. The screen isn’t working, but it will output video to an external monitor. What’s my best bet when approaching the Genius Bar – pretending I don’t know what happened, or fessing up?

Honesty is the best policy right? The Apple Geniuses are going to find out one way or another that your MacBook is water damaged. It’s better for them to find out from you right away, so fess up to it, but ask them what the best options are.

The Genius Bar is there to fix your computer, but it’s really about fixing your relationship with Apple

Ask them what was damaged and what repairs can be done. Sometimes – especially in your case where you purchased it very recently – they may be able to talk to a manager to help you out, so it’s good start off on the right foot.

The Genius Bar is there to fix your computer, but it’s really about fixing your relationship with Apple. Because the company wants to represent itself well and get great customer satisfaction scores, a manager might give you a break and only make you pay a partial amount of the repair, or even hook you up with a free repair.

Apple Workers File Lawsuit For Losing Wages During Bag Searches

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Some Mac users felt Apple's 'Genius' ads made them look stupid.
Some Mac users felt Apple's 'Genius' ads made them look stupid.

Former Apple Store employees from New York and Los Angeles filed a complaint in San Francisco federal court that claims Apple workers are being shorted around $1,500 a year in unpaid wages while they wait off the clock to have their bags searched.

The class-action suit claims that Apple’s “personal package and bag search” policy can cause staff members to stand around for 5 to 15 minutes every time they clock out to leave on a lunch break or at the end of a shift:

Scalpers Are Stealing All Of China’s Genius Bar Appointments!

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Screen Shot 2013-07-29 at 9.34.47 AM

It’s hard to make a buck, especially in China. It’s also hard to get an appointment at the Genius Bar. It’s hard, then, to know where our sympathies should lie in this story: Chinese scalpers are apparently booking up all of the Genius Bar appointments in China and then selling them online at huge premiums. Oh wait, no, it’s not. Those scalpers are scumbags.

Fifth Avenue Apple Store Roof Springs A Leak, Again [Video]

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applestorebuldge

 

Apple is having some trouble with its signature store on 5th Avenue in NYC. The company rebuilt the glass cube above the store so it will have less seams, but ever since the renovation was finished Apple has had not one, but two leaks.

A rain storm hit New York City yesterday, and just like two weeks ago, the roof of the 5th Ave store began to bulge with large deposits of water that then leaked and flooded the lower level. To make matters worse, the roof of the Apple Store in SoHo sprung a leak too.

One Apple Store customer got the entire scene on video this time. You can watch the 5th Ave Geniuses scramble to solve the flooding after the jump:

Apple Beats Out Its Own Tech Support Score From Last Year [Report]

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Apple-Genius-Bar
So patient, so knowledgeable. Swoon!

Consumer Reports, the popular magazine and website for figuring out what consumers think about all sorts of products and services, just published its annual reader survey on computer tech support.

Apple not only claimed the top spot in the list this year, beating out all other computer manufacturers, it got an even better score than it did in last year’s survey.

Samsung’s Apple Store Clones Begin Popping Up In Best Buy Stores Across The U.S.

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Samsung warned us that its Apple Store clones were on the way, and this week they’ve begun popping up in Best Buy stores across the United States. Dubbed “Samsung Experience Shops,” the locations give customers the chance to get their hands on Samsung smartphones, tablets, laptops, and other devices so that they can try them out before making a purchase.

This Is What Afghanistan’s Unofficial Apple Store Looks Like [Image]

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apple-store-af

 

The Genius Bar is a little sparse, and the flooring never would have been approved by Steve Jobs, but if you find yourself in Kabul with a deep thirst for the latest Apple gadgetry, the unofficial Apple Store of Afghanistan is the place to go.

While Apple has been busy dominating the retail world with its highly profitably shops, poor Afghanistan has been left without an official Apple Store to call its own, so someone decided to open one up.

BMW Wants To Copy Apple And Put A Genius Bar In Every Dealership

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bmwgeniusbar

 

Apple’s retail operations were mocked by everyone on the planet when the first Apple Store was opened. But now that the Apple Store is the most profitable retail store in the world, everyone wants to copy what Apple’s doing.

Thanks to some inspiration from the Apple Store, BMW has decided that starting in 2014 they will require all dealers to hire young tech-savvy employees to handle questions from customers about the vehicles on the showroom floor. They’ll even be equipped with iPads and be called Geniuses.

Users Complain Of ‘Green Glow’ Plaguing iPhone 5 Display

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iphone5
Does your iPhone 5 display glow green?

The iPhone 5’s been on sale for three weeks now, and as is always the case with a device this popular, a long list of defects is already building up. There’s Maps, of course — though that’s not really exclusive to the iPhone 5 — the purple haze that sometimes appears in photos, and the black model is susceptible to chips and scratches.

And now some users are reporting that an odd green glow, described as “plasma bleed,” is plaguing the handset’s display.

iOS 6 Users Experiencing Wi-Fi Connectivity Problems On iPhone 4S, New iPad

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ipad-wifi
Struggling to turn this on? You're not the only one.

It seems Apple’s new Maps app isn’t the only thing frustrating iOS 6 users right now. A 91-page thread on Apple’s Support Communities forum is full of users who are also complaining about Wi-Fi connectivity issues, which are said to be plaguing the iPhone 4S and the new iPad after upgrading. It’s not just that Wi-Fi performance is poor; some users can’t enable it at all.

Apple’s First Ever Double-Row Genius Bar Coming Soon To New Jersey [Report]

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This short move along the mall would triple the size of Apple's Garden State store.
This short move along the mall would triple the size of Apple's Garden State store.

Apple is reportedly gearing up to bring the first double-row Genius Bar to its new Garden State Plaza store in New Jersey. The Cupertino company is planning to move the store into a larger space in the mall, and it’s said that the Genius Bar will be one area that sees the benefits of the additional space. For customers, that means more Geniuses on-site to fix your troublesome iPhone.