Toshiba

Read Cult of Mac’s latest posts on Toshiba:

Apple to sell back its stake in Toshiba Memory after just 1 year

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Toshiba
Toshiba is ready to go public.
Photo: Toshiba

Apple could be about to sell back its stake in Toshiba Memory less than a year after acquiring it.

A new report claims Toshiba plans to buy back the shares it sold to Apple, Dell, Kingston, and Seagate after securing billions in loans from Japanese banks. It’s thought Toshiba later plans to become a public company.

Apple’s biggest manufacturer is buying Toshiba’s PC business

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Toshiba
Toshiba was once a leader in the PC industry.
Photo: Toshiba

The Foxconn-owned Sharp Corp. has agreed a deal to acquire an 80 percent share in Toshiba’s PC business. Foxconn currently assembles Macs for Apple, while Sharp is an iPhone display maker.

The move won’t compete directly with Apple, although it puts Foxconn and Sharp in charge of a company which, at its 2011 peak, sold 17.7 million PCs in a year. That number fell to just 1.4 million units last year. Toshiba led the world in producing some of the earliest laptops. Its first laptop launched in 1985.

Apple joins last-ditch bid for Toshiba’s chip division

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Toshiba
Toshiba is ready to go public.
Photo: Toshiba

Acquiring Toshiba’s chip-making business could still be in play for Apple after all, even though the company’s previous attempts to secure the coveted division with Foxconn fell through.

According to a new report, Apple is part of a “last-ditch” bid to acquire Toshiba’s chip-making ability along with Bain Capital and a few other players. If successful, the acquisition could give Apple a serious weapon in its battle with Samsung for smartphone supremacy.

Apple may help rescue Toshiba’s chipmaking business

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Foxconn Wisconsin
Foxconn wants Toshiba's chip business.
Photo: Foxconn

iPhone-assembler Foxconn may be about to get some help from none other than Apple in its quest to buy Toshiba’s chipmaking business.

Apple is reportedly considering whether to make a huge multi-billion dollar investment in the world’s second-largest memory chip maker. If the deal goes through, it would give Foxconn and Apple a major advantage over other smartphone manufacturers.

Foxconn may pay $27 billion for Toshiba’s chip business

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Foxconn is taking over everything.
Photo: Foxconn

Apple’s most important manufacturing parter is getting ready to make a huge investment that could make it one of the world’s biggest chipmakers.

The Japanese government is hoping Toshiba will sell itself to a domestic company, but Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industries (aka Foxconn) is preparing to make a huge offer for the company that could shake up the tech world.

iPhone chipmaker will decide on U.S. plant in 2018

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TSMC and Apple: productive partnership
TSMC is one of Apple's biggest partners.
Photo: Apple/TSMC

Apple’s favorite chipmaker in Asia may be ready to move to the United States next year.

TSMC — the world’s largest contract chipmaker, and sole supplier of the A10 Fusion processor that powers the iPhone 7 — says it is weighing the benefits of setting up shop in the U.S. under President Donald Trump.

Apple’s biggest assembly partner wants Toshiba’s chip business

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iPhone sales drive Apple’s biggest supplier to big profits
Foxconn could cement its position as Apple's biggest supplier.
Photo: CBS

Foxconn CEO Terry Gou has said the company is “very serious” about acquiring Toshiba’s memory chip business.

If this happens, it would cement Foxconn as potentially Apple’s single biggest manufacturer, with it having already purchased a controlling interest in iPhone display maker Sharp, in addition to building iPhones and iPads for the company.

Samsung outranks Apple where it really hurts… in the patent department

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In an effort to prevent rivals from stealing its ideas, Apple patents everything it invents — from the iPhone and the iPad, to app icons and even “magic” tactile gloves. But compared to its biggest competitors, Apple’s patent portfolio from 2015 looks surprisingly bare.

Microsoft, Sony, Google, and LG have all outrank Apple in the patent department this year, while arch rival Samsung has absolutely crushed it.

Toshiba’s racist new ads star squinty-eyed Japanese tablets

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Not cool, Toshiba.
Not cool, Toshiba.

We all know that Apple’s advertising is a cut above the competition, but sometimes Cupertino’s competitors stoop so low that all you can do is just shake your head in embarrassment.

That’s certainly the way I feel about Toshiba’s racist new ads. Released in Croatia, they feature a couple of slanted tablets that have been placed to look like squinty eyes, just like the way Asians have been stereotypically portrayed in Western media for centuries. Face palm!

Samsung Unveils New High-Res Display With Higher PPI Than Retina 13-Inch MacBook Pro

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It was just last Fall that Apple announced the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display but Apple is already facing some competition from the likes of Google’s  Chromebook Pixel and now Samsung is getting in on the game.

This morning Samsung announced that it is manufacturing a 13.3-inch display that will have higher pixel densities than both the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro and the Chromebook Pixel.

Foxconn Prepares For Life After Apple

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iPhone 6 maker Foxconn is looking to lower its reliance on Apple.
iPhone 6 maker Foxconn is looking to lower its reliance on Apple.

Foxconn has been forced to make preparations for life after Apple following reduced demand for the iPhone and other iOS devices which has caused the company’s revenue to nosedive, The New York Times reports.

The manufacturer has been doing well off the back of Apple’s hugely successful devices in recent years, which have been contributing at least 40% of its revenue, according to analyst estimates. But after suffering a 19.2% drop in revenue during the first quarter of the year, thanks to declining iPhone and iPad orders, Foxconn is now looking at ways in which it can be less reliant on Apple.

The Five Greatest Apple Hardware Mods Of All Time

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Apple makes some really great software and hardware. We love it. But sometimes there are certain little things you want out of your computer that Apple can’t or won’t provide. That’s why we have jailbreaking and modding.

We love it when someone takes an Apple product and morphs it into something completely different. There have been a lot of Apple hardware mods that have crossed our desks over the last few years. Some have been simple, while others have required over a hundred hours of work. Here are the five greatest Apple hardware mods we’ve ever seen.

Toshiba Is Making A Tiny Lytro Sensor That Might Fit In Future iPhones

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lytrophone

In the future you’ll never have to worry about taking blurry pictures whenever you go out on the town and get drunk. No matter how crappy your photography skills are future cameras will have infinite focus just like the Lytro camera that let’s you choose which objects to put in focus after you’ve taken a picture.

According to a new rumor, Toshiba is working hard on a chip that will bring perfectly focused pictures to your smartphone really soon. Their new sensor is a lot like the Lytro, except it’s small enough to fit in an iPhone.

This Is Hacking! Vintage Macintosh Portable Now Runs OS X [Video]

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Ah, the venerable old Macintosh Portable. First introduced in 1989, the $6,500 wasn’t just a milestone in that it was the first battery-powered portable Mac, but it was also the first laptop ever used to send an email in space.

I’ve always been fond of the cute, suitcase-y design of the Portable Macintosh, so I’m delighted to see that some industrious hacker has given it a new life by gutting it and transplanting the innards of a Toshiba NB100 netbook inside. Some truly advanced soldering later, and you have, for all appearances, a pristine Macintosh Portable that can also run OS X Mountain Lion.

Check out this full video tour…

Foxconn Admits To Using Underage Interns As Young As 14

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Foxconn says it will fire the employees responsible for hiring underage workers.

Foxconn has admitted to finding underage interns as young as 14 working in one of its Chinese plants, where the minimum legal working age is 16. The company, which assembles Apple’s hugely popular iOS devices, has sent all underage workers back to their schools, and it’s now investigating how they were ended up at its plant.

iFixit Tears Down The New iPod Nano, Gives It 5 Out Of 10 For Repairability

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7th gen iPod nano teardown
Almost every component in the iPod nano is soldered together.

Just days after pulling apart the fifth-generation iPod touch, iFixit have taken their tools to the new, seventh-generation iPod nano. This model marks another major change to the iPod nano lineup; it’s no longer a tiny device you can wear on your rest, but instead it takes a longer form much like the fourth- and fifth-generation devices.

iFixit has given this model a reparability score of 5 out of 10, which means that like the rest of Apple’s new iOS devices, this one isn’t to get into, or easy to repair. Here are some other interesting things the teardown uncovered.

5th Gen iPod Touch Teardown Reveals Massive Battery, Poor Repairability Score

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The new iPod touch goes under the knife.
The new iPod touch goes under the knife.

How do we know the new iPod touch began shipping yesterday? Because iFixit’s gone and torn it apart already. That’s right, the fifth-generation device has received its customary teardown, revealing its whopping new battery, and all of its new components. iFixit have awarded the iPod touch a repairability score of 3 out of 10, meaning it’s not at all easy to fix.

Toshiba Joins HP In Opting Not To Build iPad-Competing Windows RT Tablets

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Two key PC-makers drop plans for Windows RT tablets, leaving just five companies making the devices.
Two key PC-makers drop plans for Windows RT tablets, leaving just five companies making the devices.

Microsoft has positioned its Windows RT tablet OS as an iPad competitor, particularly in business and enterprise markets. Windows RT devices, which includes the ARM-based version of Microsoft’s Surface, are designed to be less expensive than Intel-powered Windows 8 tablets and are meant to push the new touch-oriented Metro interface.

Microsoft has even gone so far as to introduce special licensing terms for businesses that will offer free access to a virtual desktop from Windows RT devices while other platforms, including the iPad, will need to buy a new type of license for such access.

Windows RT would seem a perfect choice for businesses that want to support mobile employees with a tablet, except that Windows RT seems keep hitting one wall after another – the latest being that two of Microsoft’s longstanding OEM partners have decided to pass on creating Windows RT tablets.

Why The iPad Wins Despite The Cheap Sex Appeal In Other Tablet Ads [Video]

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Toshiba can sleaze it up all they want. If you don't show why customers should want your tablet, they won't buy it.
Toshiba can sleaze it up all they want. If you don't show why customers should want your tablet, they won't buy it.

Despite all the talk about Android, Windows, and other tablets being iPad killers and expected to steal both consumer and business market share from Apple, not one has managed to make a real dent in the iPad’s dominance – particularly in the business space.

There are, of course, plenty of factors that I could point to and say “this is why the iPad is still number one” – IT folks know how to secure and manage iPads, there’s a single form factor, there’s a great selection of apps. I could go on, but one of the biggest reasons Apple that retains the market share that it does has nothing to do with specs, brand loyalty, app choices, or integration with existing enterprise systems.

As this absurd  and rather sleazy ad for a Toshiba Windows tablet makes obvious, virtually all Android, BlackBerry, and Windows device commercials don’t tell me anything about what a device can actually do for me.

The SSD In The New MacBook Air Is 217% Faster Than Before

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The new MacBook Air not only has up to 512GB of flash storage, it's also a whole lot faster than before.
The new MacBook Air not only has up to 512GB of flash storage, it's also a whole lot faster than before.

The MacBook Air has never been a slouch in terms of performance, but with the 2012 model, SSD performance is scoring a whopping 217% higher than ever before.

In tests run by OSXDaily, read speeds reached a maximum of 461MB/s, and write speeds hit 364MB/s, a dramatic increase over the 2011 model, which scored just a modest 145MB/s read speed and a 152MB/s write speed.

iPhone 5 Will Be Lighter And Thinner Thanks To This New Touchscreen Tech

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Your iPhone’s touchscreen might look just like a single pane of living glass, but there’s a lot more going on than meets the eye. Every iPhone is comprised of multiple layers: an LCD that actually blasts the pixels out of the Retina Display, a glass substrate laye separating the LCD from the touch layer that translates your finger swipes and prods into input the system can read, and a layer of protective Gorilla Glass on top.

Obviously, Apple’s existing touchscreen tech works well, but having so many different layers has its drawbacks. A big one is that it adds to the iPhone’s thickness. But Apple may already be on the cusp of inking a deal with Sharp and Toshiba to adopt in-cell touch panel displays, which should lead to a slimmer, lighter iPhone 5.