When the clocks go forwards or back, people from New Zealand to New York miss their appointments because their iPhone alarm does not go off on time. Every time I complete a 10km run using my iPod nano, TIger Woods congratulates me on having completed another 500km. And as you read this, thousands of backups are failing because Time Machines are freezing in time.
What do these seemingly disparate events having in common? They’re all presumably the handiwork of Apple’s “B-team”.
For some people, getting the chance to work for Apple seems like one of the coolest jobs on the planet. Being surrounded by everything Apple. Super discounts on iMacs. Talking to customers about how incredibly magical the products are. If that all sounds awesome to you, then go ahead and disregard the fact that it’s easier to get into Harvard University than to get a job at Apple.
Here is Cult of Mac’s first-hand look at how the Apple hiring process plays out.
The Apple iPad turns one year old today. The first day the iPad was available was April 3, 2010. That was the day that I had the Wi-Fi only model in my hands. It wasn’t until near the end of April 2010 that I finally got a hold of the Wi-Fi + 3G model. My life and the life of countless others hasn’t been the same since.
The iPad was met with some skepticism when it was announced in early 2010. The “magical and revolutionary” device was ridiculed, laughed about, and even mocked. People cried about it and the impact it would have on their businesses and Adobe cried about it. However, all that ended when people and developers got one in their hands.
Initial reviews like the one from Cult of Mac’s very own Leander Kahney were very positive and even first impressions were good. People loved it so much one of them even wrapped it in chocolate — only to give it away again to someone they loved.
The iPad proved itself again and again finding niche and mainstream applications for it at home and at work. The iPad may very well be the most popular Apple computing device in this decade. Although the iPhone may give it a run for its money. We’ll see. Maybe there will be a tie for that title.
The introduction of the iPad 2 last month will keep the iPad juggernaut moving along well into the 21st century. Frankly I cannot wait to see what Apple comes up with next!
Happy Birthday iPad! Congrats Apple.
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFJxt8lZQjg
Jason Bradbury, the self-proclaimed Apple Expert, has discovered a simple hack that allows owners of the iPad 2 to take X-Ray style photographs through clothes. By applying a filter after blasting a subject with infrared light, the iPad 2’s camera can see through clothing. The best part of the hack is that you don’t need any type of training in radiology as it is incredibly simple and utilizes everyday household objects (infrared light and cellophane) to make it work.
The steps are quite simple:
1: Flood a subject with infrared light. Bradbury recommends using a digital camera with a night vision mode, or a children’s toy that uses infrared light. The infrared light penetrates the clothing and will be able to be picked up with the right filter.
2: Cover the camera on your iPad 2 with two layers of cellophane. The cellophane acts filters out the natural light enough to wear the infrared light comes in stronger and is picked up by the iPad 2’s camera lens.
3. Start snapping pictures. With your infrared source in place and your filter setup you are now ready to start taking some amazingly cool photos.
In what appears to be an effort to persuade users to not switch over to Verizon, AT&T is sending out marketing materials elaborating why their network is the perfect match for your beautiful iPhone.. Have the recent estimates that Verizon has snagged 10% of the US iPhone market-share after only a few months gotten AT&T a little bit worried that a lot of users will switch networks once the iPhone 5 comes out? Coupled with their recent gift of 1,000 free rollover minutes to customers, maybe AT&T is finally trying to put forth some legitimate efforts to satisfy their customers after years of complaints. I’ve been an AT&T subscriber since June 29th, 2007 (the day the first iPhone was released). Never once has AT&T decided to send me their seasonal magazine title “AT&T Magazine.” Yet for some reason I was greeted by their 12-page mag when I received my mail today.
The reasons AT&T says you should stay with their network are as follows:
AT&T’s proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile would result in new efficiencies and economies of scale. It would enable the provisioning of more and better services at lower cost than the two companies could achieve separately.
And that’s exactly why the Obama administration may block it.
I know everyone is interested in purchasing an iPad 2, but you are not sure about whether your local Apple store has any in stock. What we need is an Apple iPad availability Web tool like the one we had before for the iPhone 3GS in 2009. Back then that page declared:
The Apple Retail Store likely has your iPhone 3GS in stock. You can check the most up-to-date availability right here. Shipments of iPhone 3GS arrive most days, and availability is updated hourly. The 8GB iPhone 3G is currently available in all stores.
You could access the tool to check the availability of an iPhone 3GS in your state. I checked and the URL no longer works — even when you substitute the word iPad in it for iPhone in the old URL.
I think that Apple would probably re-launch this tool again if they had better inventory availability, but with the iPad 2 selling out and screen manufacturing problems they probably don’t really need this tool right now.
Hopefully all that will change soon and a site like this will re-launch for the iPad 2. Then you won’t have to stand in ridiculous iPad 2 lines any more.
Steve Jobs famously once quoted Picasso as saying: “Good artists copy; great artists steal.” And by that metric, Apple is a lousy artist.
Apple is stolen from by just about everybody. Microsoft and other companies steal design and interface ideas from Apple’s OS X. Cell phone handset makers steal Apple’s iPhone design elements. The new tablet market is essentially Apple’s iPad plus the tablets that steal ideas from the iPad. Everybody has stolen Apple’s approach to app stores.
There’s a difference between stealing ideas and stealing intellectual property. Stealing winning general approaches to doing things like multi-touch gestures on a tablet device is good. Stealing the code to do that is bad.
Microsoft has long been accused of stealing Apple ideas in the many designs of Windows that have occurred over the years. Windows has tended to be more challenging to use than OS X over the years, and Windows products tend to be less elegant. Because of all this, Apple fans often dismiss Microsoft as a company without innovation.
In fact, the opposite is true. Microsoft’s research wing is an under-appreciated engine of invention, in my opinion. And while Microsoft fails to productize some of its best inventions, it’s also occasionally successful at implementing new ideas in real products.
I’ll go further. Apple and its customers would benefit enormously if Apple were to steal the following five key ideas from Microsoft.
There’s long been a number of urban legends about how Apple came up with its iconic logo.
There’s the idea that the bite symbolizes knowledge, or that the overall image is a tribute to mathematician Alan Turing, who committed suicide by taking a bite of an apple laced with cyanide.
But here’s the real story.
In case you missed it, Apple stole the spotlight this year at SXSW by launching iPad 2 in a temporary popup shop right in the heart of Austin.
I had heard that Apple was opening a popup store at a secret location during SXSW, but the location wasn’t a secret for long.
Long lines, big signs, high fives—even dancing ensued once the twitterverse got wind of the popup’s location. It was a crazy fun time, so if you haven’t seen it yet, check the video and let your eyes behold the insanity of this brilliant iPad launch.
PS, excuse the video’s abrupt ending, my camera ate some of my video bytes.
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2WHnDE3i7U
Months of anticipation. Hours of physically waiting. Finally, I got my claws on the iPad 2. First impressions: It’s amazing. It’s a lot like the original iPad only anorexic, sports two cameras, and packs beefier processing power. Apps are fast just like everyone is claiming. Photobooth is a lot more fun to goof around on that I thought it would be. It feels a little bit heavier than I expected, but not in a bad way. It’s solid. My only gripe so far is that the Smart Case doesn’t stay totally flush with the iPad’s casing when you flip it around the back of the iPad when using it. Stay tuned for our in-depth review coming soon.
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3wKYDkCrMs
Almost shamefully, I’ve waited in line on launch day for every iPhone and iPad. Each waiting experience has had it’s highs and lows. All have definitely been memorable, but today’s takes the cake. Waiting in line at Apple’s Store at Biltmore Fashion Park in Phoenix, I was surprised to run into Phoenix Suns basketball player Mickael Pietrus waiting at the front of the line to get his hands on the iPad 2.
The only way to ensure that you have an iPad 2 today is to buy one from one of the many retail outlets. However, all retailers are not treated equally, so I’ll be giving you the run down on the best places to purchase your iPad 2 from.
Your best, hassle-free bet is to pick one up from an Apple Specialist. Here’s why:
It’s almost too easy to make a parody video of Apple and its products these days. The company follows an easily discernible regularity in its product launches and despite growing popularity and marketshare for all of its products over the last decade, Apple’s “image” is tagged with the weight of a certain “hipster cred” that tends to make for easy pickings when it comes to ridicule.
Director Dan Dobi and writer Steve Rogowski skate pretty close to several uncomfortable lines in this one, however, which, presumably is intentional.
After all, parody and sarcasm are about getting people talking, right?
When the Apple Store came back online yesterday after the announcement of the iPad 2, customers were a bit shocked to find out that Apple is not taking any pre-orders for the device until March 11th, the same day the product hits store shelves. Apple has always had a great track record of taking pre-orders on products after they’ve been announced, so we’ve been wondering just why they’ve changed policy this time. Could it be that they’re afraid they’re not going to have enough initial stock to satisfy store orders as well as online orders?
Rumors were flying around the web days before the event that Apple has been facing supply constraints for the iPad 2 and that the product was facing the serious possibility of being delayed until April or May. When Steve Jobs took the stage yesterday, he went out of his way to adamantly state that the iPad 2 would be launching worldwide in March, and not April or May. Is the move to eliminate pre-orders an effort to increase the lines at stores and build even more hype around the excitement of the launch? That could possibly be the answer but I think it’s a bit unlikely.
Apple just posted the full length video from this morning’s keynote. Users wanting to view the event can now stream the entire 72 minute video of Steve Jobs unveiling the iPad 2 by going to Apple’s website (click here for video). Also, if you’d like to download the video it’s been made available on iTunes (click here for iTunes download).
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_I9OEV6_Ak
Here’s the latest video that Apple has released on the iPad 2. Six minutes in length, it features Johnny Ive, Scott Fortsall, and few other Apple employees talking about the design and user experience of the new iPad 2.
update: here’s the video for the new Smart Cover in action
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCb4BOd8iXQ
Did you guys hear that the iPad 2 was announced today? Steve Jobs, in living legended status, even did the unveiling. Here’s everything that you need to know about what went down today at the Apple Keynote.
True to the rumors, Apple found quite a bit of things to update and tweak on the iPad:
They boosted up the processor considerably, switching from a 1GHz A4 processor to a 1GHz dual-core A5 processor. Along with the faster processor, Apple claims they’ve cranked up the graphics and are pumping out 9x the graphics performance, although there was no specification given on what they did to improve on the PowerVR SGX 535 graphics processor of the first unit.
In a move to clear existing inventory of original iPad units, Apple has slashed prices on the iPad. You can purchase a refurbished 16GB Wifi iPad for only $349. Pretty stellar deal considering that the original iPad still matches up extremely well in comparison to the competition and should be a viable machine for another year. If you’re leery about getting a refurbished unit but still want a cheaper magical experience, Apple has knocked $50 off the original price for brand new units.
The Apple Store is back online and updated with the new iPad 2. Apple won’t start selling the iPad in stores until 5pm on March 11th. Tragically, as our colleague John Brownlee noticed, there isn’t an ability to pre-order the iPad 2, as orders aren’t going to be taken until March 11th. Guess if you want an iPad on March 11th you’ll have to wait in line at the store with all the other crazy and deranged fans.
With the announcement of the iPad 2, Apple has refreshed the iPad 2 page on their website to reflect the new product, complete with videos and lots of information on the new iPad 2. Click over on the link for all the action. More
You’re sitting there waiting for the iPad 2 to be announced. After waiting for months you’re chomping at the bit and know that you’re going to buy one even if you’re not totally sure what all of it’s features are gonna be. One thing to consider is how you’re going to pay for the upgrade. While you can certainly deal with the hassle of selling your old iPad on Craigslist or Ebay, you might want to consider using NextWorth.com to trade in your iPad for cash.
NextWorth, is offering high trade-in values for the first generation iPad to help subsidize the cost of an upgrade. Apple products tend to retain value more than other brands, and the iPad is no exception. Current trade-in values on NextWorth for iPads with Light Wear (as of 2/23/11) are:
iPad 16G Wifi: $255
iPad 32GB Wifi: $285
iPad 64GB Wifi: $310
iPad 16G Wifi + 3G: $298
iPad 32G wifi + 3G: $350
iPad 64GB Wifi + 3G: $390
One of the nice things about NextWorth is that they’re partnered with Target to offer an in-store trade-in option. With over 900 participating Target stores (and 500 being added in the next three months), consumers receive either credit toward a purchase, or a prepaid Target card for the value of the trade-in that can be used for any item sold at Target. Via the NextWorth.com website customers are given the options of cash or a giftcard when they trade-in. NextWorth also provides free, fully-insured UPS shipping service to all online customers.
If you’re looking for a quick way to come up with the cash for an iPad 2 their service is definitely worth a look. It’s a lot quicker than coordinating a sell yourself online, and in some cases they’re offering about 65% of the original value for the iPad during trade-in.
The Apple universe is all a twitter on the day before the Cupertino company tells media what “2011 will be the year of.”
The folks at bookmaker.com are wagering that we’ll see three versions of the iPad 2 (96%), a front and rear-facing camera and a non-smudge screen & gyroscope (96%).
Less likely, they speculate, are a USB port (83%), flat back (61.7%) and a 7-inch version (160%) . (Yep, that’s over 100%. For once, the fuzzy math isn’t mine, that’s how betting odds work).
Take our poll and let us know what you think. Or what you hope for.
As the fervor surrounding tomorrow’s big announcement builds, fanboys and fangirls are eagerly sitting around their computers gulping down all the latest iPad 2 rumors that the Internet has to offer. One of the popular rumors out there is that tomorrows iPad 2 unveiling will be a disappointing spec bump and that the real grand daddy of tablet computers, the iPad 3, will be unveiled later in the year (possibly in September if Gruber and others are correct).
Cult of Mac has published a number of articles supporting the idea that Apple will be releasing two iPads in 2011. While there have been a significant amount of doubters to this theory of two iPads being launched, one must take into account that such a move wouldn’t be completely unprecedented. I’m referring to the iPod Mini 2G vs. the iPod Nano in 2005.
Who’s to blame for the disastrous roster of health, safety and environmental problems chronicled by Apple’s recently published “Supplier Responsibility 2011 Progress Report“?
In the past year, and especially in the past month, Apple has become associated with the many problems of Chinese manufacturing for two reasons.
First, a string of high-visibility suicides by employees of the Taiwanese contract manufacturing firm Foxconn were universally reported in the media as having occurred “at factories that make iPhones” and other such associations (even though those factories typically make products for many different companies).
And second, Apple’s “Supplier Responsibility” report generated enormous news coverage, and most of it overemphasizing Apple’s role and de-emphasizing the role of other parties.
Media aren’t the only ones associating Apple with Chinese factory problems.