Having a hard time sending iMessages to friends recently? You’re probably one of those that are affected by the current iMessage and FaceTime outage.
Word of the outage quickly spread across Twitter this afternoon that users are experiencing outages with iMessage. A FaceTime outage quickly followed and Apple just updated its support page to acknowledge the service outage.
We’ll let you know once things are back on.
Update: Looks like everything is back up and running.
Even though it’d probably be pretty cool, we’ve concluded that a touchscreen MacBook Air or iMac probably wouldn’t be fun to use for an extended period of time, thanks to gorilla arm syndrome.
But what if Apple made an iPad/MacBook Air hybrid? It turns out that Apple has been considering the idea of it for sometime, and based on its patent filings, the iPad/MacBook hybrid would look a lot like some of the PC options that are already on the market.
There have been some absurd Apple rumors that hit the web this morning, but here’s one that actually has a chance of happening in the real world.
Apple will be updating its MacBook Air and MacBook Pro line of laptop just in time for Worldwide Developers Conference this June.
One thing that we really hope Apple adds to iOS is the ability to toggle certain settings right from the homescreen. There are a number of jailbreak tweaks that let you do it, but we’d love a Cupertino-brewed solution.
Ran Avni has a new iOS 7 concept that solves a lot of the problem with toggles. With his tweak you’d be able to adjust brightness, change songs, turn on Bluetooth or Wifi, and change your device orientation, all from a simple menu on the lockscreen. The UI isn’t perfect, but we’d love it if Apple put something similar to this in iOS 7 so we’d have one less reason to jailbreak.
Source: YouTube
Even though Apple has included Thunderbolt ports on its Mac line since 2011, the technology hasn’t really taken off yet as a go-to connection for accessory makers. Despite that, Intel is making Thunderbolt even better by doubling its data-transfer rate.
We’ve seen a lot of nutty fake iPhone prototype mockups. Most of them are based off the whims of some artsy designer, but this lastest concept is a even whackier because it’s a Photoshop rendering based off an actual Apple patent.
In the future, smartphones might look like this. I sure hope not. What’s the benefit of having a slightly curved display rather than a flat surface? Won’t videos look weird and distorted on a curved display? Plus, what’s up with the volume rocker on the edge of the display? If anything, Apple’s latest patent shows us that while some ideas might look cool on paper, the actual product would be a joke.
Source: NoWhereElse
Apple loves the idea that you get a lot of use out of your iPhone, but it doesn't want to be responsible for car crashes! This 2008 patent filing describes a Windows Phone-style "drive mode" that would use a variety of sensors or iPhone data to detect when you're operating a vehicle, and would then block certain functions that might distract you while driving.
This isn't so much a car patent as an iPhone one, but it still demonstrates that vehicular safety is a subject up for discussion in Cupertino. Could talk of self-driving cars naturally follow?
Entire ad campaigns have been created to get people to stop texting while driving. It seems like common sense – you can’t get where you need to go if you’re busy texting your friend Sheila all about how excited you are for your date tonight.
But what if you can’t get to your date because you need to check your phone’s maps? Is it ok to look at maps while you’re driving? According to the California court of appeals, no way!
Earlier today we reported that Apple mysteriously decided to pull the app discovery service AppGratis from the App Store over the weekend.
Apple confirmed that they have pulled the app from the App Store after it was decided AppGratis violates the App Store guidelines in two major ways.
True to its word, T-Mobile just pushed out an update for all unlocked iPhones on their network that enables LTE, Visual Voicemail, HD Voice and more.
Users can get the update via OTA or manually updating through iTunes. The update doesn’t change the software version on your device, so if you’re worried about losing your jailbreak, this should be safe.
Here are the official notes from T-Mobile:
For the past few decades, Microsoft has absolutely dominated Apple when it comes to the number of Microsoft devices sold versus Apple devices, but 2013 will be the year that everything changes.
A report from Gartner claims that Microsoft’s reign is coming to an end, as 2013 will be the first year that more Apple devices are purchased than Windows devices.
Sergey Brin is an odd dude. He’s also filthy rich, which allows him to embrace all that oddness by working on crazy projects like Google Glass. Brin also thinks that using a smartphone is weird and totally “emasculating.” But you know what’s not emasculating at all? Driving around in a pink batmobile Telsa with Chrome logos on your chrome hubcaps.
Ryan Mac posted this picture of the Google co-founder rolling around LinkedIn HQ earlier today, and we’re at a complete loss of words. Brin’s either got indomitable swag, or he thinks rainbow colored eyelashes for your headlights are going to become the new vogue car accessory, which kind of makes him crazy, right? It turns out the pink Tesla batmobile was just an April Fools prank, but I’m sure Brin loved it.
Source: Twitter
Apple and T-Mobile have begun pre-orders for the iPhone 5. The launch date for the iPhone 5 is scheduled for April 12th, so if you’re eager to jump the gun on the T-Mobile iPhone 5, here’s your chance.
T-Mobile is the last of the four major carriers in the U.S. to start selling the iPhone. To attract new customers, T-Mobile is selling the iPhone 5 for $99 without a cellular service contract. Although the carrier is still working to expand its LTE network as fast as possible, customer might not mind the service renovations in exchange of a cheaper monthly bill.
Source: T-Mobile
While tech experts have been eager to announce the demise of Apple and the iPhone, a different story has taken place in the U.S. as Apple has continued to widen its lead against Samsung.
comScore just released its latest report on the state of the U.S. smartphone market, and their findings show that Apple managed to widen increase its marketshare. Samsung saw some growth as well (1.0% ) but Apple grew about four times more (4%).
Apple fans looking for some nerdy decor will love these Apple I and Apple II schematic prints from City Prints. They’re printed on heavy stock at 12×16-inches, with a bit of shine to make the schematics pop. Just think of all the hours you can waste, marveling at Woz’s magical craftsmanship.
The prints only cost $40 a piece, but if you want to get a frame for it too, you’ll have to pay $180. Either way, the frames look awesome as a piece of decoration, while also acting as a shout out to your first favorite computer.
Source: City Prints
Via: Gizmodo
Earlier this morning we found out that Best Buy is selling Retina display iPads for $30 off, and it looks like Walmart may have a similar deal on the iPad mini.
Depending on the zip code you live in, Walmart is offering the 16GB iPad mini Wifi-only models for $299. That’s 30 bucks cheaper than buying it directly from Apple. Walmart’s offering both standard shipping and in-store pickup depending on the availability of units in your area. If you’ve been on the fence about embracing the iPad mini, this is the lowest price on new units that we’ve seen so far.
Source: Walmart
Via: DealNews
It seems like we’ve been using iPads forever now, but the greatest tablet computer ever made is still an incredibly young piece of gadgetry. In fact, it’s celebrating its third birthday today.
What other three year old do you know who has changed the world like the iPad has?
A ton of tech luminaries and pundits thought the iPad wouldn’t even make it this far, but boy, were they wrong. Over the the last three years the iPad has become a cultural phenomenon.
Here are 25 ways showing how the iPad has taken over the world in just three years.
There’s a great discussion unfolding over on Branch between some Apple reporters about the future release date of iOS 7.
According to the sources of those involved in the discussion, Jony Ive’s fingerprints will be all over iOS 7, the only problem is it’s taking longer to develop than originally planned. In fact, Apple might have even pulled engineers away from OS X 10.9 to work on it.
In two days, Facebook will gather a bunch of people into a room and Mark Zuckerburg will tell them all about Facebook’s new smartphone. It’s made by HTC. It’s got a custom build of Android, and tons of Facebook integration. And it looks pretty boring.
Evleaks just posted a picture of what is probably Facebook’s smartphone. It’s called the HTC First, and it looks like millions of other Android handsets on the market. No details on the specs, but I’m sure Mark will give us an ear full on Thursday.
Source: Evleaks
Music streaming services like Spotify and Rdio are great because you get to listen to as much music as you want, without having to pay for it. They’re especially great on roadtrips, and if you have a car with Ford’s SYNC AppLink platform you can now keep the tunes cranking on your drive without touching a thing.
Spotify just updated its app to include Ford SYNC AppLink support. To get Spotify in your Ford all you have to do now is log into your premium account on your iOS device and connect to SYNC AppLink. You can manage all your music and playlists with SYNC’s voice-controls so you won’t get distracted while thumbing through albums in search of that new JT album.
The only way to get an iPhone on T-Mobile the past few years was to go out and buy an unlocked iPhone and put a T-Mobile SIM card in it. Now that T-Mobile has become an official carrier, a lot of iPhone users that are already on the carrier want to be able to use LTE but can’t.
To make things better, T-Mobile says they’re going to rollout an update for all unlocked iPhones on the network starting April 5th. The update will flip the switch on features that aren’t currently available, like LTE and Visual Voicemail.
We’ve heard rumors that Apple will unveil the iPhone 5S in June of this year, and it turns out that there might actually be some truth to the rumors.
The Wall Street Journal reported today that Apple plans to begin production of the next iPhone in Q2 of 2013. The new iPhone will have the same shape and 4-inch screen as the iPhone 5S and will probably launch this summer.
Despite all its problems with the ‘iPhone’ trademark in Brazil, Apple is trying to get its devices in as many Brazilian hands as possible by slashing prices on the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S.
iPhone theft has become a huge problem in places like New York City and San Francisco. District Attorney George Gascón is on a mission to curb smartphone theft by having manufacturers implement a kill switch once a phone has been reported stolen, but that’s proven more difficult than Gascón imagined.
During his crusade to get answers from manufacturers, Gascón talked with Apple’s government liaison about getting a kill switch added to the iPhone, but was told that might not be possible because the next two iPhones were developed while Steve Jobs was still CEO at Apple.
With Google Reader set to close up shop on June 3oth there have been a number of apps competing to replace the dying RSS service. Digg and Reeder have emerged as popular replacements, but Feedly has seen tremendous growth thanks to Google Reader’s death.
Since Google’s announcement that it’s killing Google Reader, Feedly has seen more than 3 million new users joined the service. To make things even better, Feedly just released a big app update for iOS that includes a new discovery engine, better sharing, and a must read section. With the new update and the development of a Google Reader API clone called Normandy, Feedly is looking like it will be one of the best replacements for Google Reader.
Here are the release notes on what’s new in Feedly version 14:
After Judge Lucy Koh decided to invalidate $450.5 million of the original damages owed to Apple in its trial against Samsung, most of the press believed this meant Apple wasn’t going to get anywhere near the original $1.05 billion owed to it by Samsung. Turns out everyone was probably wrong.
Even though Judge Koh ordered a new trial to determine the proper damages to award Apple for 14 of the 28 infringing Samsung devices, Apple could actually get more than the original $1.05 billion figure.