Continuing a new trend among senior executives, Apple’s general counsel has joined the Board of Directors at Vail Resorts, a ski resort company with locations in Colorado, Minnesota, Michigan and Wyoming. Bruce Sewell currently serves as Apple’s “general counsel and senior vice president of Legal and Government Affairs. Believe it or not, he worked as a professional ski patroller during his college years.
Imagine the scenario: you’re leisurely strolling through your local Apple Store, perhaps drooling over a Retina MacBook Pro, when all of a sudden a car crashes through the front wall and onto the store floor. Yeah, that happened.
On Sunday night a car was driven off the road and through the glass wall of the Lincoln Park Apple Store in Chicago.
An elderly man was apparently behind the wheel. Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt.
Source: The Chicago Tribune
Image: @RGR3
Facebook is holding a big press event this Tuesday, January 15th, and when it comes to what the social network behemoth has up its sleeve, speculation abounds. Rumors about a Facebook smartphone have been swirling for years, with a report from March of last year claiming that Facebook was hiring Apple engineers who had previously worked on the iPhone and iPad.
The mysterious Facebook smartphone could finally become a reality this week. Facebook is also rumored to bring its Messenger iOS app to the iPad.
Now that’s something you don’t see everyday. What could he possibly need fixed by Microsoft? Boot Camp? Office? Who knows. Cheers, you magnificent troll.
Source: Jai Definichon
Via: Gizmodo
Delta Air Lines has released a completely new iPad app for its customers, and the Fly Delta iPhone app has also been updated with numerous features in the App Store. On the iPad, you can browse, book, and manage flights. There’s an in-app flight tracker and information to help you learn about where you’re going.
On the iPhone, iOS 6 users can finally take advantage of Apple’s Passbook to store boarding passes. Support for the iPhone 5’s taller display has also been added alongside additional flight management features.
Don Melton is best known for starting the Safari browser and WebKit at Apple years ago. On his personal blog, Melton has been publishing old stories about Safari, including how the browser was almost named “Freedom” and how Apple hid Safari by pretending it was Mozilla.
In his latest post, Melton recalls the original Safari announcement at Macworld back in 2003. “There’s nothing that can fill your underwear faster than seeing your product fail during a Steve Jobs demo,” according to Melton.
Back in early December, Apple and Google joined forces to purchase a patent trove from Kodak, the once-reigning photography king. Kodak’s collection includes 1,100 imaging patents that can be used to diffuse litigation between big companies in the tech industry.
To keep bidding wars from escalating, Apple and Google teamed up for the purchase. After filing for bankruptcy, Kodak said that its patent trove was worth $2 billion, but the U.S. court approved a $527 million price tag instead.
What the companies involved with this deal plan to do with the acquired patents remains to be seen.
Source: Bloomberg
Apple issued the first beta of iOS 6.1 to developers back at the beginning of November. Since then, the software has undergone four beta revisions. The latest version was seeded on December 17th.
A new rumor from German blog iFun claims that the final iOS 6.1 GM (the same version that’s released publicly for everyone) is in the final internal testing stages, and the software is about to be released to registered devs. Apparently the iOS 6.1 GM could ship as early as today or Monday.
Rumors have been saying that Apple is gearing up to launch an iTunes music subscription service in 2013. The product has clearly been years in the making, and Steve Jobs was apparently being pitched the idea a decade ago.
Jimmy Iovine is the CEO of Beats, Dr. Dre’s bumpin headphone line. Iovine has a long history in the music industry, and he previously ran Interscope records. Back in the early days of iTunes, Iovine visited Apple to pitch his idea for a Spotify-like music subscription to Steve Jobs.
University vending machines usually dispense soda and junk food, not $1,000 MacBooks. At Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a kiosk in the library spits out MacBooks free of charge for students to borrow and return five hours later. The kiosk is part of an experiment to gauge interest and see if more MacBook and iPad dispensers should be installed around campus.
Students who don’t want to carry a laptop out of their dorm room can use the self-service kiosk 24 hours a day in the school’s Hagerty Library. A dozen 15-inch MacBooks are available and can be checked out by anyone with a Drexel ID for up to five hours. There’s a $5 late fee for every hour a MacBook is kept out longer than the allotted rental time.
If you happen to wander the courtyard of St. Petersburg’s National Research University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics (quite the mouthful), you will now find a giant iPhone. The monument stands about as tall as a fully grown man, and a huge screen displays photos, videos and text about Steve Jobs, the late Apple co-founder.
Apple has released an important software update for all mid-2012 MacBook Air models. The EFI firmware update is available now via Software Update in the Mac App Store. Today’s 2.6 update addresses issues with coloring on HDMI-connected displays, booting into Windows via a tool like Boot Camp, and a Thunderbolt glitch.
This update fixes a color issue with HDMI displays connected to MacBook Air, resolves an issue with Windows which can prevent MacBook Air from booting properly, and also resolves an issue where unplugging a Thunderbolt device may cause the system to freeze when waking from standby.
Source: Apple
Apple released iTunes 1.0 to the world at Macworld back on January 9th, 2001. The application was based on SoundJam MP, an old piece of software Apple purchased from a development company called Casady & Greene in 2000. Apple simplified the SoundJam MP interface, added CD burning, and rebranded it as iTunes.
T-Mobile recently announced that it has finally entered a partnership with Apple, meaning the iPhone should be sold on T-Mobile sometime later this year. While the iPhone isn’t officially sold on T-Mobile quite yet, that hasn’t kept iPhone owners from joining T-Mobile’s ranks. The nation’s fourth largest carrier says that it has been adding 100,000 iPhone activations each month, and T-Mobile now serves 1.9 million iPhones total.
Since you can’t yet buy an iPhone with a contract when you walk in a T-Mobile store, these numbers mean that a signifiant number of customers are bringing over unlocked iPhones from other carriers.
This morning we told you about the Digitimes report that said Apple is planning to release a low-cost iPhone for emerging markets later this year. Now The Wall Street Journal is corroborating by saying “the device could come as soon as late 2013.”
It’s taken about 6 months, but Mozilla has managed to officially Retina-ize its Firefox browser on the Mac. A beta release of Firefox brought Retina support back in November 2012, but today’s public release of version 18 brings it to the masses.
Wouldn’t it be cool if your Mac locked and unlocked itself based on the proximity of your iPhone? A new menubar app called Keycard uses the Bluetooth sensors to detect when you walk away from your Mac. If you need to get up and, for example, take a call on your iPhone, Keycard will lock your Mac for you until you return.
OS X lets you automatically log out when your Mac is left unattended for a certain amount of time, but Keycard is all about location. The nearness of your iPhone is the key to unlocking your Mac, so you don’t need to manually enter your login password.
A new Apple corporate job listing suggests that future Macs will have ultrafast 802.11ac wireless tech, more commonly known as “5G Wi-Fi.” Apple is looking for a new System Test Engineer to “develop, design and execute tests for compatibility of Apple hardware and software projects” relating to 802.11 wireless.
It was recently reported that Apple was working with Broadcom to put 802.11ac chips in upcoming Macs. This job listing seems to all-but-confirm Apple’s plans.
While current Macs are already 802.11n compatible, 802.11ac is the next-gen wireless standard that offers nearly 3x faster speeds and 1.3 Gbps down on a triple-antenna setup. The new chips could very well make their way into Apple’s 2013 Macs and even iOS devices, but no one knows for sure at this point.
Source: Apple
Via: Apple Bitch
When you’re designing an app for iOS, you need to take into account what specific devices you’re building for, whether it be just the iPhone, iPad, or both. There are several Retina and non-Retina screen resolutions to remember, and then there are other nerdy elements like PPI and color temperature.
User interface designer Ivo Mynttinen has published an updated version of his handy iOS Design Cheat Sheet, “a collection of useful data about iOS devices and things you have to keep in mind when designing something for iOS.”
Whether you’re a novice iOS dev or a seasoned pro, this cheat sheet is a handy thing to bookmark for future reference. There’s a clean chart for all of the iOS device resolutions, display stats, icons, and common design elements.
Source: Ivo Mynttinen
John Browett didn’t last long at Apple. He was brought on by Tim Cook at the beginning of last year to lead Apple’s retail division and then he was fired 9 months later. The former Dixons CEO didn’t mesh well with Apple’s culture, and he caused unrest among Apple Store employees.
Since legendary retail guru Ron Johnson left Apple for JC Penny, Apple hasn’t been able to find the right executive to fill his shoes. Now that Browett is gone, who should Apple give the reigns of Apple retail to?
2012 was a very different year for Apple. For starters, it was Tim Cook’s first year as CEO. While much of Apple has remained the same, Cook has definitely shown that he is a different type of leader than his predecessor. Apple is evolving into something new.
Between four press events and the Worldwide Developers Conference in June, Apple announced an unprecedented slew of new products in 2012. Every single major product was refreshed to some extent, which leaves even more speculation as to what Apple has up its sleeve for 2013.
There have been key executive firings and hirings, heated lawsuits, and scandals. In the midst of everything, Apple managed to become the most valuable company on earth.
While there are many big Apple moments from this past year, we’ve gathered what we think are the 10 most notable stories. Here they are:
There have been a ton of great tweaks released for jailbroken iOS devices in 2012. Innovation in the jailbreak community is far from dead, and ideas are continuing to evolve alongside iOS itself. What makes jailbreaking great is the sheer amount of customizability it unlocks. Sometimes a simple idea gives way to a crazy amount of potential.
That’s what this top 10 list of 2012 jailbreak tweaks is about: pushing the limits of what your iOS device can do. Here are the very best quality jailbreak tweaks from the past year:
Apple has been having problems with Chinese writers suing for unlicensed eBook distribution in the App Store. After a group of writers asked Apple for 10 million yuan in damages for unlawfully distributing copyrighted works in certain Chinese apps, the court has forced Apple to pay a smaller settlement fee of 1.03 million yuan, which is only about $165,000.
Designer and photographer Andrew Kim runs a great blog called Minimally Minimal, and he recently posted a gallery of fantastic photos after one month with the iPad mini.
I love Kim’s product shots, and he graciously gave me permission to share them with Cult of Mac readers. Check out the gallery below:
Apple’s iOS devices have always been hot Christmas gifts, especially for young folks. This year was no exception. Mobile app analytics firm Distimo is reporting that App Store downloads spiked a staggering 87% on Christmas Day, and revenues went up 70%.
