We’ve been talking a lot recently about the so-called “budget iPhone” that Apple will in all probability announce in September, but exactly how “budget” are we talking about here?
Now, the CEO of the rumored manufacturer of the budget iPhone is speaking up, and telling shareholders not to expect it to be cheap.
Apple is well-known for its love of the so-called golden ratio, an “extreme and mean” mathematical ratio that designers as far back as the third-century B.C. identified as most likely to lead to harmonious design. The iCloud logo, for example, is designed with the golden ratio in mind … and it’s widely believed that the iconic Apple logo is also designed using the golden ratio.
It’s a nice thought, isn’t it? That Apple’s logo is constructed out of mathematically perfect circles and partial circles? Unfortunately, not only is it not true, but Apple has different logos it uses even in its own official materials: the Apple icon etched into the back of your iPad is very different than, say, the official Unicode symbol.
What are you supposed to do with all the Apple logo stickers you get with each iPhone, iPad, and Mac purchase? Like, yeah I guess you could put one on your car if you’re into that, but then what do you do with the other 24 stickers you’ve collected over the years?
Redditor ebinellis decided to go super-meta and make an Apple sticker made out of Apple stickers. He says it’s still a work in progress, but unless he turns it into a Steve Jobs Apple-sticker-mural we think his work here is done.
Source: Reddit
Some radical Orthodox Christians in Russia are starting to have a hard time with Apple’s logo that decorates every iPhone, iPad and MacBook. These Russian Orthodox believe that the half-bitten logo is anti-Christian and represents the act of original sin committed by Adam and Eve in Garden of Eden when they first bit into an apple from the Tree of Knowledge.
To get past Cupertino’s symbol of evil while still using their products, many radical Orthodox, including priests, have swapped the Apple logo out for the much more “holy” image of the cross, a symbol of Jesus Christ.
The Apple Command key (or, as you might better know it, ⌘) has a beautiful and clear history. Originally, the ⌘ key was an Apple symbol instead, but Steve Jobs thought that using the Apple logo as a keyboard shortcut in the original Macintosh’s menus was “taking the logo in vain” so he tasked the great icon designer Susan Kare to find a solution. The symbol she chose was the traditional clover symbol we all know today, chosen because it is commonly used in Scandavaniva to indicate a tourist attraction or place of interest.
Interesting, right? Unfortunately, there’s no related story as to why the Option key has its own unique (and very abstract) symbol: ⌥. Marc Edwards’ brilliant take on what the ⌥ symbol means is doubtless revisionist history, but I love the visual metaphor of a train switching tracks. That may not be the real tale, but it should be.
Source: Twitter
Via: Brooks Review
Every so often, an iOS accessory maker takes advantage of a little-known or little-used feature to create a really unique product that no one else thought of. The FLASHr from Phaze5 is a Kickstarter project that falls right into that category. It’s an iPhone case that lights up whenever you receive a call, text message, or email — but there are no LEDs built-in. Instead, it uses your iPhone’s flash and the LED alert feature in iOS 5.
It’s been a week since Apple released its first iOS 6 beta, and we’re still digging up new features. We reported some improvements to the keyboard this morning, and now we’ve found some enhancements to Spotlight and wallpaper settings.
Unless you go for a boring old transparent hard case for your iPhone 4, you’re going to cover up that Apple logo on the back of your device when you slap a case on it. However, like those stick-on decals that you can buy for your MacBook, these iTattoo Snap cases compliment your Apple logo beautifully.
We’re all huge fans of the iconic glowing Apple logo that lights up every time we open up our MacBooks, so wouldn’t it be nice to have the Apple logo on the back of our iPhones do the same? Thanks to Andy and Chris at the U.K.-based iPatch iPhone & iPod repair specialists, you can have your iPhone 4 modded to boast a glowing Apple logo every time your screen lights up.
We don’t know where this came from.
We don’t know who made it (J.G. Thirlwell, perhaps?).
We don’t even know if there’s an iPad or iPad 2 ensconced within this case’s leathery, plush-lined folds.
We’d love to find out (tell us if you know), but until we do, mere ignorance will not stop us from posting this exquisite iPad Case, because all we can see is that gorgeously medieval gold emblem, showing Isaac Newton lazing under an apple tree, waiting for the full weight of gravity to come crashing down on his head. That was Apple’s original logo back in 1976.
Australian retailer Woolworths is buying time in the latest Apple logo dispute.
At the core of the corporate tussle is a “W” logo of a peeled apple with leaf filed back in August 2008 for the 80-year-old supermarket chain.
The new logo was supposed to symbolize fresh produce, but speculation was that Apple opposed it because the retailer might also slap blanket trademark on “fresh” computer products and home electronics, causing confusion for customers. Woolworths already sells own-brand credit cards and mobile phone plans.
Just came across Apple Rush, an organic apple juice and beverage company that turned up in an RSS feed for news on Apple Computers.
This one looks a lot more like the Apple logo than some of the logos with apples that have been taken to court by Apple over trademark issues.
Apple Rush, based in Dolton Illinois, sells apple juice and sparkling beverages in bottles and cans through a network of 40 distributors in the U.S. and abroad.
Granted, since confusion is one of the cornerstones of trademark infringement, unless consumers are likely to mistake a sparkling beverage with an iPod — though an Apple energy drink, to make your computing breezier would be pretty nifty — this one may end up in the copycat hall of shame instead of the courts.
Thoughts?
The latest corporate apple to be taken to court by Apple is Woolworths, an Australian supermarket chain.
They 80-year-old company restyled their “W” to look like an apple, meant to symbolize fresh produce.
Apple’s lawyers are seeing red, just as they did with the Canadian school, and hope to convince IP Australia, the federal agency that governs trademarks down under, to repeal Woolworths’ application, made last August, to trademark its new logo, according to The Age.
There are a lot of Apple-inspired confections out there, but this apple pie with a logo at the center by a photographer in Uruguay who goes by Miss Gong looks almost too yummy to eat. (Not sure if the reverse logo was intentional or just turned round in the photo).
Imagine inviting your Mac user group over and serving this apple pie for dessert…
A CoM reader wrote in after our story on the Apple symbols pried from dead computers and transformed into jewelry to say that he’s been doing the same for years.
The reader, who goes by the handle univac, set up a gallery of what he calls “liberated logos” on Flickr –Â there’s something wonderful about seeing the evolution of them side by side.
His collection includes a ton of iconic rainbow Apple symbols (including one possibly from a 512 “Fat Mac,”) plus larger ones from laserwriters, G3s and Quadras.
More pics after the jump.
In a nice little piece of Internet archeology, an interview with graphic designer Rob Janoff on the creation of the iconic Apple rainbow logo has resurfaced at zlok.net.
In 1976, Janoff worked as an art director for Regis McKenna where he created the logo, it was a pro-bono gig.
“For inspiration, the first thing I did was go to the supermarket, buy a bag of apples and slice them up. I just stared at the wedges for hours,” recalls Janoff. The fruit of his labor: a simple 2-D monochromatic apple, with a healthy bite taken from the right side. Jobs loved the conceit-only he suggested it be more colorful. Janoff’s boss disagreed, insisting the logo be made all black to save on printing costs.
“But Jobs was resolute, arguing that color was the key to humanizing the company,” says Janoff. “So I just put colors where I thought they should be, not even thinking about a prism.” What thanks did Janoff, now the owner of his own Chicago-based graphic design firm, get for all his hard work? “Not even a holiday card.”
Full article here.
Janoff’s site also has a nice radio interview with him talking about his “eureka” moment as he made the logo…
Spotted this yesterday in Milan: a small stool with a faux-Apple logo, missing the bite and a few colors but unmistakably inspired by the iconic rainbow.
Wonder who, for about $17 (€12.90), would want to sit on it, PC people?
Fully aware that this probably maxes out the cute quotient for the week (at least), but these iPhone, iPod clickwheel designs for kids onesies and T-shirts are, well, adorable.
You can get them at an all-Apple baby apparel store, or if you’re feeling a little more crafty, make them using a iron-on transfers like one Japanese Apple Fan did.
If you have to dress up your kid in Apple gear, these are probably preferable to the other, more scatological ones we’ve written about in the past.
Via Blog! NOBON
Stumbled upon this lovely, lit-up Apple logo carved into a real Apple by Flickr user Evelina.
How did it come about?
She tells us: “I belong to a group, where we set a ‘scavenger hunt’ for each month and the theme for January was trademarks. I like to think a little outside the box… a shot of a MacBook or i-Phone was too simple, so I played in the kitchen with an apple, my daughter and a craft knife!”
Its another variation on actual apples getting the Apple logo, but to make this one you won’t have to wait a month while the apples “tan” in the sun.
If you have other cultish photo projects, let us know!
Image used with permission.
Last month, the Texas LEGO User Group included a model Apple retail store on main street for the Austin Maker Fair. You can also take a look inside the store, though Lego for Lego, we prefer the interior of this mini Apple store, though the logo roof on the Texas model is pretty sweet.
Via TUAW
These apples with Apple logos and products are the handiwork of a Japanese Apple fan (more pics on the site) who covered Fuji apples with custom Apple stickers, then waited a month them for to mature.
For the finishing touch, they added a leaf in afterwards in graphics. Wonder if these would be ripe for copyright infringement…
Via Teche Blog
