Apple and other tech companies have come under fire for taking all their manufacturing to China, but iPhone-maker Foxconn is looking to turn the tables a bit with its announcement that it plans to build a new $30 million high-tech manufacturing plant in Pennsylvania.
Think you got enough Apple stuff? Cult of Mac’s resident vintage expert Adam Rosen has collected so many Apple products over the last three decades, he converted part of his house into a museum to showcase them all. (Read on to see what he thinks you should keep or toss, too.)
Assembling your own collection of Mac gear isn’t easy, but the Vintage Mac Museum has managed to get its hands on some really neat – and odd – items, like a cutaway Mac Plus, a rare black Mac and more Apple memorabilia than any sane person should own.
Here’s a look at incredible assortment of Apple products at the Vintage Mac Museum:
The rare items wall, including a clear-sided Mac Plus, old PowerBooks, and a Macintosh Picasso dealer sign. Mona Switcher Ellen Feiss gazes down from above.
Here’s a Mac Plus where the back and one side have been replaced with plexiglass to show off a hard drive upgrade. This is like a working “cutaway drawing” of the Macintosh.
A rare black Mac, combining a color Mac with a TV tuner and video input. This is a good example of a market dud that makes a desirable collectable. A LaserWriter IINT lurks below.
The first portable Macintosh was known as the “Mac Luggable,” weighing in at 15 pounds with included lead-acid battery. And you thought your laptop was heavy!
The Lisa predated the Macintosh and introduced the world to the GUI. The Newton predated the iPhone and introduced the world to the PDA. And beige and green go well together, colorwise…
The iMac corner. Three iMac DV models run early versions of Mac OS X – Cheetah 10.0, Puma 10.1, and Jaguar 10.2. An Airport Extreme base station hovers above.
The Mac IIci was one of the most popular 68k Macintosh models. The 13-inch Apple RGB display doubled as space heater for small rooms. Mini Steve Jobs is an added bonus.
The PowerMac G4 Cube was the father of the Mac Mini, and grandfather to the upcoming Mac Pro. Beneath that, boxed Macintosh software from System 7 to Snow Leopard.
Apple is still facing supply constraints on the 3G/4G units of the iPad mini with Retina display, but it looks like customers can finally walk into an Apple Store and purchase a Retina iPad mini without ordering online first.
Following last week’s first beta of OS X 10.9.1, Apple has seeded a new version of the beta – Build 13B35 – to developers this afternoon.
The new build of OS X 10.9.1 packs a couple of bug fixes for Gmail integration in the OS X Mail app. There are also some fixes for an emoji bug and improvements to Safari’s sharing capabilities. Developers can grab the new beta from the Mac Dev Center.
Apple also released second beta builds of Safari 6.1.1 and Safari 7.0.1 along with some firmware updates for the AirPort Extreme and AirPort Time Capsule base stations.
Source: Apple
Apple’s re-trial with Samsung over patent infringement has just concluded with the federal jury ruling that Samsung owes Apple an extra $290 million for infringing on the iPhone maker’s patents.
The award is significantly more than the amount Samsung hoped to pay, though Apple’s lawyers didn’t get all the money they wanted either. Including damages awarded from the original trial, Samsung’s bill for Apple now totals $929.83 million worth damages – unless they successfully appeal of course.
This week’s editors choice app in the iOS App Store features the release of Clumsy Ninja, which is notable because for one, it took these guys a really long ass time to get their game into the App Store, and two, Apple’s promoting the app with a special new video trailer in the App Store.
Clumsy Ninja is the first app to get a video trailer in the App Store – a feature long requested by third party developers. Right now it looks like the trailer is only viewable on an iOS device, as the app’s page in iTunes only shows a couple of image previews.
This story first appeared in Cult of Mac Magazine.
Rather than slogging through a lake of reviews to find something you’re just going to put down after 30 minutes, Cult of Mac has once again waded through the iTunes store to compile a list of the best new movies, albums and books to come out this week.
Enjoy!
Tim Cook caused quite a stir in the worlds of both tech and fashion earlier this year when he announced that Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts would be leaving the famous trench-coat maker to head up Apple’s retail divisions.
Ahrendts new position at Apple alone wields great power, but when you combine it with her incredible turn around of the Burberry brand, its no wonder many are starting to consider her one of the most powerful executives in the world, which is exactly why Fortune placed Ahrendts at #4 of its annual list of the top people in business.
She doesn’t take over at Apple until Spring 2014 but Ahrendts received the nod from the business mag for her work redefining Burberry’s brand and the subsequent 29% bump in the company’s stock price.
Here’s Fortune’s praise for Ahrendts:
Tim Cook admitted that the iPad mini with Retina display will be in short supply for the next few weeks, but while Wifi-only units seem to be in-stock at Apple Stores across the country, it looks like Apple is having a hard time keeping a steady supply of 3G/4G units rolling out to developers.
Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile are all reporting shortages of iPad mini with Retina display stock with most orders being backed up for weeks, according to a report from CNET.
The worldwide leader in sports announced today that it is rebranding its ScoreCenter app for iOS and Android into an all-new, totally supercharged SportsCenter app that comes with a sleek iOS 7 design scheme to go along with some speed enhancements and a host of other new features.
The new SportsCenter app makes it easier than ever to track your favorite teams with the “Clubhouses” feature that brings in content focused for your favorite teams in the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, NCAA and more. A new Favorites tab also lets you keep tabs on your teams’ scores along with the new Inbox feature that becomes your hub for alerts on personalized news and scores.
Here are the full release notes:
iOS users that long for something other than Safari will be delighted to know that Google has released a free update for Chrome for iOS.
The new updated includes an Autofill feature that lets users complete forms with just a few clicks, similar to the autofill feature Apple introduced in iOS 7 with iCloud Keychain. Along with some stability enhancements and bug fixes, Google has also improved image searches by adding the ability to long press on an image to search for related images.
Here are the release notes:
Apple’s new glass plant in Arizona has finally received the official seal of approval from the local government and some newly released documents reveal that in order to lure the tech behemoth to the Valley of the Sun, the Arizona Commerce Authority sweetened the pot by offering Apple a $10 million grant, plus some tax incentives.
The Gilbert Public School Board was the last of eight entities to approve the tax breaks for Apple, who plans to build a high-tech glass manufacturing plant in Mesa that will bring over 700 jobs to the area plus an additional 1,300 construction jobs while the plant is being built. According to one third-party economic study, Apple’s investment is estimated to generate more than $102 million in tax revenue over five years.
Apple and the city of Cupertino have reached an agreement that will see the tech giant paying more taxes to the city as part of the deal for its new Apple Campus 2 project.
The new deal is up to receive final approval Tuesday night. If approved, Apple’s tax increase will actually come from a reduction in the percentage of the tax rebate the city gives Apple each year, according to a report from the LA Times.
Under its current deal with the Apple, the city of Cupertino gives back about 50% of the sales taxes it receives from Apple-related purchases. From now on that number will only be about 35% of sales taxes.
Here’s what Cupertino Mayor Orrin Mahoney had to say about the new tax agreement:
FiftyThree, the team of software developers behind the popular iPad drawing-app ‘Paper’ are moving beyond the digital wares with their first piece of hardware – a Bluetooth rechargeable stylus dubbed ‘Pencil,’ that’s customized to work in tandem with the Paper drawing app.
The new stylus comes in the form of a carpenter pencil with two different color options – walnut and graphite. One of the unique features of Pencil is the eraser end that artists can use to carve away errors without having to switch tools inside the app. Pencil features a lithium-ion battery that can be charged via USB in 90 minutes and last a month and to pair the device to your iPad you simply press the tip to the screen and Bluetooth Smart wireless does the rest of the work.
Here’s a video of Pencil in action:
Bigger is always better, right? That’s been Samsung’s philosophy when it comes to smartphone screens, but the latest bits of gossip from the rumor mill suggest Apple might be looking to embrace that matra with its iPad displays.
A new report claims that Apple is preparing to build a 12.9-inch iPad for release in 2014, which may sound somewhat outlandish, except we’ve heard similar claims from the WSJ and other analysts.
According to Korea Times’ sources, Apple has already asked its top suppliers to start making the 12.9-inch touchscreens screens that will be included in its 2014 iPad lineup that is expected to improve picture quality as consumers move away from PCs and towards tablets as their main computing device:
This morning Apple released its first major beta build of iOS 7 to developers since the release of iOS 7 in September. On the surface the update seems to be just a bunch of bug fixes and performance improvements for a number of apps, but once you dig into the new software a little more there are a couple UI changes and new features that we’ve found.
Here are the new changes to iOS 7.1 that you might actually notice:
Along with the iOS 7.1 beta, Apple has also released a new beta for Apple TV to developers today. According to the installation guide, the new Apple TV Software beta “enables users to mirror content of an iPad to an Apple TV using AirPlay.”
Developers can find the Apple TV Software beta in the iOS developer center, Apple notes that the beta is being provided to test the latest AirPlay functionality with your iOS apps and websites. We’re downloading the software now and will let you know what’s inside.
Stay tuned. More to follow.
Apple has just seeded the first beta for iOS 7.1. Registered developers can grab the update from the Developer Center. The beta release comes just four days after Apple published iOS 7.0.4 to the public that included a fix for failed FaceTime calls.
We’re still waiting for more info on the new goodies, but we’ll update you on new features once we’ve got it downloaded.
According to the release notes iOS 7 beta 1 includes a number of performance enhancements and bug fixes.
Here are some of the new things we’ve found so far:
Rather than slogging through a lake of reviews to find something you’re just going to put down after 30 minutes, Cult of Mac has once again compiled a list of the best new movies, albums and books to come out this week.
Enjoy!
Man of Steel
Superhero movies are a dime a dozen now, but “Man of Steel” takes action fans back to where it all began: Superman. From Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures comes “Man of Steel” starring Henry Cavill in the role of Clark Kent/Superman, with the special visual direction of Zack Snyder. The film opens with the story of Superman’s homeworld, Krypton, and how it was destroyed. Safely evacuated to Earth as an infant, Superman is raised by Kevin Costner in Smallville while coming to grips with extraordinary powers that are not of this world. As a young man, he journeys to discover where he came from and what he was sent here to do. But the hero in him must emerge if he is to save the world from annihilation and become the symbol of hope for all mankind.
Red 2
A very safe sequel bet with a cast of friendly, recognizable, and bankable stars, “RED 2” is a breezy romp of global espionage and superhero superspies where the wealth of violence is played for laughs and the sly grins stay firmly planted on the faces of everyone involved. As fans of 2010’s RED will fondly remember, the hero characters are from the AARP generation, which is also what drives the primary conceptual joke and defines the title acronym: Retired, Extremely Dangerous. In round two, former secret agent Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) is drawn out of retirement (again) by his former cohort Marvin (John Malkovich, acting Malkovich-crazy and loving it) to service a plot that involves a Cold War-era nuclear bomb hidden in Russia and the international effort to retrieve it.
Best Kept Secret
This documentary takes you into the lives of students at JFK High School in the middle of a run-down area in Newark, New Jersey. The public school is designed for all types of students with special education needs, ranging from those on the autism spectrum to those with multiple disabilities. Janet Mino has taught her class of young men with autism for four years. When they all graduate in the spring of 2012, they will leave the security of the public school system forever. “Best Kept Secret” follows Mino and her students over the year and a half before graduation. The clock is ticking to find them a place in the adult world – a job or rare placement in a recreational center – so they do not end up where their predecessors have, sitting at home, institutionalized, or on the streets.
Blood Orange
“Cupid Deluxe”
Singer, songwriter, and producer Dev Hynes’ follow-up to “Coastal Grooves” is a mix of hazy electronica, treading bass lines, and waves of stirring Prince-inspired vocals. From the stark mid-tempo rapping on “Clipped On” to the blog-buzzing harmonies of “Chamakay,” “Cupid Deluxe” is dimensional, hypnotizing, and amorphous. With contributors ranging from Chairlift’s Caroline Polachek to Dave Longstreth of Dirty Projectors, “Cupid Deluxe” is a distinct and mesmerizing album that proves Hynes is as talented at a soundboard as at a microphone.
Lady Gaga
“ARTPOP”
Lady Gaga’s music is fueled by wild creativity and artful provocation. With her third studio album, “ARTPOP,” Gaga reunites with Born This Way co-producer Madeon. T.I. Too $hort & Twista work out alongside her with “Jewels N’ Drugs” and R. Kelly can “Do What U Want” in no uncertain terms.
Gaga explains in interviews that she’s seeking “the reverse of Warhol,” where she brings high art to pop music, where once Warhol brought a pop sensibility to high art. Lady can theorize all she wants, but she also knows that it don’t mean a thing it if ain’t got that swing and “ARTPOP” is loaded with hyperactive beats and hyper-caffeinated compositions like “G.U.Y.” (Girl Under You – yhatzee!), “Manicure” and “ArtPop” where even when she’s tributing Versace in “Donatella,” she kinda means herself, too. How much “art” is delivered is debatable, but she’s certainly not shy delivering her truth. Ten of the album’s 15 tracks come with an “explicit” tag. Now outrageousness is something we expect from Lady Gaga.
Jhene Aiko
“Sail Out”
“Sail Out” is the debut extended play (EP) by American recording artist Jhené Aiko, released through Def Jam Recordings. The trippy RB fueled EP features 7 haunting tracks with special appearance from some of the biggest names in hip-hop, such as Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino, Ab-Soul, and Vince Staples.
“The Essential Calvin And Hobbes”
by Bill Waterson
Bill Watterson hasn’t put out a new “Calvin and Hobbes” comic strip in nearly 20 years, but every kids’ favorite troublemakers have made it to iBooks for the first time ever.
The strip follows the richly imaginative adventures of Calvin and his trusty tiger, Hobbes. Whether a poignant look at serious family issues or a round of time-travel (with the aid of a well-labeled cardboard box), “Calvin and Hobbes” will astound and delight you.
Beginning with the day Hobbes sprang into Calvin’s tuna fish trap, the first two Calvin and Hobbes collections, Calvin and Hobbes and Something Under The Bed Is Drooling, are brought together in this treasury. Including black-and-white dailies and color Sundays, “The Essential Calvin and Hobbes” also features an original full-color 16-page story that will transport you back to the very first time you fell in love with Calvin and his stuffed tiger.
“Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products”
by Leander Kahney
Did I include my boss’ new book in the weekly roundup just because he’s the dude writing my checks? Maybe. It never hurts to get on el jefe’s good side, but Leander’s book is also packed with some of the most insightful Apple revelations about Apple’s design processes since Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs bio. “Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products” is well worth a read for any Apple fan who wants to know all about the guy who crafted the iPod, iPhone, iPad, iMac, MacBook Air, and every other major Apple product you’ve fallen in love with over the past two years.
“Furious Cool: Richard Pryor and the World That Made Him”
by David Henry & Joe Henry
Richard Pryor was arguably the single most influential performer of the second half of the twentieth century,and certainly he was the most successful black actor/comedian ever. Controversial and somewhat enigmatic in his lifetime, Pryor’s performances opened up a new world of possibilities, merging fantasy with angry reality in a way that wasn’t just new—it was unthinkable.
His childhood in Peoria, Illinois, was spent just trying to survive. Yet the culture into which Richard Pryor was born—his mother was a prostitute; his grandmother ran the whorehouse—helped him evolve into one of the most innovative and outspoken performers ever, a man who attracted admiration and anger in equal parts. Both a brilliant comedian and a very astute judge of what he could get away with, Pryor was always pushing the envelope, combining anger and pathos, outrage and humor, into an art form, laying the groundwork for the generations of comedians who followed, including such outstanding performers as Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, and Louis C.K.
Now, in this groundbreaking and revelatory work, Joe and David Henry bring him to life both as a man and as an artist, providing an in-depth appreciation of his talent and his lasting influence, as well as an insightful examination of the world he lived in and the influences that shaped both his persona and his art.
iWork for iCloud is technically still in its beta phase, but Apple pubilished an updated to its suite of productivity apps this afternoon that will certainly make it more appealing for those looking for a Google Docs alternative.
The new iWork for iCloud update includes a number of features that focus on giving users more tools to collaborate with each other – many of which we heard about at Apple’s iPad keynote. The update includes new features for both Pages, Numbers, and Keynotes that come with some of the same features including the ability to see cursors and selections for everyone in a spreadsheet, as well as an option to view a list of collaborators working on a spreadsheet.
Users can access the new features for free over at iCloud.com and will also find a new option to print docs directly from the Tools menu and the ability to organize documents in folders.
Here’s a full list of what’s new:
To ease the minds of millions of Americans worried about their health insurance, Obama held a press conference today and admitted that his administration fumbled the launch of Healthcare.gov. Continuing his speech with optimism, Obama then turned to his favorite tech company – Apple – as an example, saying everybody needs to chillax and that buying health insurance won’t ever be as easy as purchasing a song from iTunes.
The Obama Administration has been under heavy fire the last few months thanks to the disastrous rollout of Healthcare.gov and has pulled a couple Apple metaphors out of his hat to cope with the mess.
Obama’s not the only one in Washington looking to Apple for inspiration with the Healtcare.gov mess though. The GOP released a series of attack ads that spoof Apple’s famous “Mac vs. PC” campaign. Take a look:
Continuing its slow purge of felts, leathers and woodgrains the UI of iOS 7, Apple released an iBooks for iOS update today that finally dismantles the woodgrain shelves championed by former iOS Cheif Scott Forstall, and tosses them in the woodchipper.
The update features the same minimalist UI that Apple has embraced throughout iOS 7 and its other apps, though it doesn’t look like Apple actually added any major new features. Apple also released an update for iTunes U today with an all-new look and feel. Both app updates are available for free in iTunes now.
Source: iTunes
A lot of fuss has been made about the iPhone’s lack of repairability ever since it debuted in 2007 without *gasp* a removeable battery. Six years of design updates later and the iPhone is still as hard to tinker with as ever, unless of course you work at Apple.
Yesterday, Cult of Mac revealed a few pictures of the new tools Apple created to make iPhone 5s and 5c repairs easier than ever for Geniuses. Now our tipster is back with a bunch of GIFs of Apple’s fancy new toys in action, straight from Apple’s official iPhone 5s and 5c repair training videos.
Along with detailed animations of the new iPhone 5s and 5c components, the exclusive shots below show the exact methods Apple staff use to repair broken iPhone 5s, thanks to an array of tools created to make the process more efficient, including a new Universal Display Removal Fixture and an iPhone Battery Fixture Apple keeps hidden in the back of Apple Stores.
Want to know how fix your iPhone the Apple way? Study the GIFs below and you’ll be swapping out batteries like a Genius in no time:
Apple likes to keep its secrets close to the chest, but Cult of Mac has grabbed an exclusive look at some behind the scenes video of Apple iPhone 5s repair processes. A tipster behind the Genius Bar has shown us portions of Apple’s official iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c repair videos that showcase the emphasis Jony Ive and the design team placed on repairability when creating the latest iPhones, as well as the crazy little repair tools Apple uses to ensure quality repairs.
Despite launching to record breaking sales numbers in September, Apple’s iPhone lineup has come under fire again and again for its apparent lack of repairability. Catherine Rampell at the the New York Times went on a bullshit parade two weeks ago claiming Apple tries to make your iPhone break so you have to buy a new one. Even Apple fans like our pal Kyle Weins, at iFixit, bemoaned Apple for not making the iPhone 5s more repairable for users.
To consumers, the locked enclosures of the iPhone 5s may seem like a guarded unfixable fortress, but the truth is that the iPhone 5s is one of Apple’s most repairable devices ever, you just have to be a Genius to get the right tools for the operation.
The segments of the 12 training videos we saw provided detailed animations of the iPhone 5s and 5c internal components, as well as guides on how to access and swap six components on the device – speaker, receiver, vibration motor, iSight camera module, battery, and sim ejector tool.
Here’s a picture from Apple’s training guide of the five specialized tools required to swap out iPhone 5c components:
The iPad mini with Retina display is finally here now that Apple managed to surprise us all by making units available to the Apple Store Online last night. The launch comes sooner than many expected, but if you’re hoping to run down to the Apple Store and pick up a new Mini you’re sure to be disappointed.
Apple sent out an official press release this morning to announce the immediate availability of Retina iPad mini units and also clarified that units will only be available for purchase from the Apple Store Online, or via the Personal Pickup option that allows users to check if local Apple Stores have available units on hand to pick up after ordering.