David Pierini - page 29

Handy gadget gives you a grip on your iPad

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iPad accessories
The iPad is not so easy to use when you are moving on your feet. The TabStrap can change that.
Photo: Pack & Smooch

At first glance, the TabStrap looks like a bandage on the hand of a wounded iPad user. It’s not, yet the person who uses an iPad as their main source of personal computing might find it just as much of a lifesaver.

The thick, adjustable wool strap connects to a base that suctions to the back of an iPad. The hand goes through the strap, giving the user a secure grip on the iPad as they swipe, write, draw or tap apps while standing or walking.

Spotify skips Siri with new voice command feature

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Spotify
You won't have to listen to music you don't like.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Music service Spotify has added a voice search feature to its iOS app that allows users to find song tracks, albums, and playlists.

The new test feature takes Siri out of the equation. With Apple trying to grow its music streaming service, it never allowed Spotify to integrate with Siri, including with Apple’s first smart speaker, HomePod.

Rare Mac laptop rakes in more than $16,000 at auction

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Hap Plain
This early backlit Mac laptop sold on eBay for more than $16,000.
Photo: Hap Plain

An Apple prototype of an early laptop, one of only four known to exist, sold on eBay Tuesday evening for more than $16,000.

It was the second time the owner of the Apple Macintosh Portable M5126 – fully functional and with a rare-for-its-time backlit screen – tried selling the test device on the auction site. Last month, bidding closed at just over $10,000 but the buyer backed out.

Apple scores with millennials as ‘most intimate brand’

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brand intimacy
Apple takes that bond you have formed with your iPhone very seriously.
Photo: Apple

In just 24 hours, Apple went from being ho-hum in charisma to number one in brand intimacy.

What sounds like fickle middle school popularity are actual rankings based on research, data and scientific surveys of, well, fickle people.

Apple ended its workweek ranked first for brand intimacy among millennials, according to a report MBLM, a marketing firm that specializes in helping brands form said connection. Apple as a brand must have worked hard on itself over the last year because it beat out Netflix, which was tops among millennials last year.

How the iPhone accelerated the career of an unknown photographer

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iPhone photos
Little league pitcher Mone Davis, one of the subjects Luisa Dörr photographed for TIME
Photo: Luisa Dörr

We post our iPhone photos on Instagram and are often content if an image gets a few dozen likes. Luisa Dörr’s iPhone pictures got her a gig at TIME magazine. With the assignment, she landed the magazine’s cover — 12 of them to be precise.

The resulting work featuring some of the world’s most powerful women was published late last year and accelerated the career of the young unknown photographer from a small village in Brazil.

Apple trumpets its plans for fixing factories

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Terry Gou
But there's a definite chance of further delays.
Photo: Foxconn

Apple this week acknowledged it is still battling poor working conditions and environmental violations with some of its overseas supplier factories, but highlighted programs to solve ongoing issues, according to a company audit.

Apple’s annual Supplier Responsibility Report addressed conditions at 756 sites in 30 countries last year and scored facilities based on its Code of Conduct.

Bidding for rare Mac prototype starts at 99 cents

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Hap Plain
This early backlit Mac laptop sold on eBay for more than $16,000.
Photo: Hap Plain

A rare Macintosh prototype that was once rescued from the trash recently sold for more than $10,000 on eBay.

But the winning bidder backed out and now, the clear-plastic Macintosh Portable M5126 laptop is back on the auction site. Bidding started at 99 cents with no reserve.

Family blames iPhone for house fire, wants Apple to pay

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iPhone fire
A Canadian couple says this iPhone sparked a blaze that destroyed their home.
Photo: Langley Township Fire Department

A Canadian farm couple is demanding Apple pay them $600,000 because a fire they claim was caused by an overheated iPhone destroyed their home.

Ian and Cathy Finley of Langley, British Columbia, say the October 2016 fire was sparked by a three-month-old iPhone 6 left charging on a leather living room chair. Local fire investigators found a charred handset and cord and believe the device “generated enough heat to ignite” the chair.

Why iPhone X fails to win some Apple loyalists

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iphone x
The iPhone X is the new Apple flagship. But some like their old iPhones just fine.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

A Piper Jaffray survey of iPhone users who did not upgrade to the iPhone X came to a predictable conclusion: Most were satisfied with the performance of their current model and many find the X too expensive.

However, the financial services firm predicts Apple will coax some upgrades out of these users with a line of new iPhone models this fall, one of which is expected to be more affordable.

iPad magician wows Oscars crowd

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Simon Pierro
The iPad magician liked this woman's outfit, so he gave her an Oscar out of his iPad.
Photo: Simon Pierro/YouTube

Simon Pierro presented an Oscar for a new category: best reaction to a magician pulling an actual golden statuette from an iPad.

Pierro, who travels the world as the iPad magician, capitalized on the buzz leading up to Sunday’s Academy Awards by strolling the Walk of Fame performing tricks for dumbfounded onlookers.

Apple is now Warren Buffett’s second biggest investment

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Buffett
Warren Buffet is Apple's biggest investor.
Photo: CNBC

Warren Buffett doesn’t use an iPhone, yet it is one of the big reasons he invests so much money in Apple stock.

Buffett told CNBC on Monday that his Berkshire Hathaway Inc. bought more in Apple than any other stock over the last year, making it the second-biggest holding for the company.

Vintage Apple camera gets an unboxing straight from 1994

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Unboxing video
Apple's QuickTake may have been ahead of its time.
Photo: LGR/YouTube

In order to appreciate one of Apple’s most successful products, the iPhone, you have to respect one of the company’s biggest failures. The QuickTake digital camera was not a threat to the camera market the way today’s iPhone is.

The sensor was 0.3 megapixels. Shaped like a set of binoculars, the QuickTake 100 could only hold eight pictures, most of which were fuzzy, washed out and with funky colors that convinced photographers of the time that film photography was not in danger.

But as the retro-computer YouTube channel, LGR, points out, the QuickTake does not deserve to be bashed as a failure. It should be lauded as a pioneer of digital photography.

Sleek USB-C travel charger juices 4 Apple devices at once

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USB-C
The Type-C 75W Multiport Travel Charger is a handy accessory for business travels.
Photo: Satechi

CES 2018 bug Satechi is doing its part to ease our move to USB-C. The consumer electronics company’s latest device is a 75-watt USB Type-C travel charger smaller than a deck of cards.

The space gray charger, which made an appearance at this week’s CES in Las Vegas, can charge up to four devices at once. It packs four charging ports: one USB-C, two USB-A and one Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0.

Bizarre HomeKit remote looks like a D&D die

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Nanoleaf HomeKit Remote
Can you find the HomeKit remote on this table?
Photo: Nanoleaf

CES 2018 bug The device is called The Remote, but those familiar with the company behind it probably could have predicted it would not look anything like a remote control.

Nanoleaf, creators of smart light-panels that give any room a futuristic glow, unveiled a 12-side geometric table-top object at CES Tuesday that will work with Apple HomeKit-enabled smart home devices.

Stylish dock lets you charge Apple devices two at a time

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Smart Dual Charging Station
The Smart Dual Charging Station will be available this spring.
Photo: Satechi

CES 2018 bug Tech accessories brand Satechi is using CES this week to show off a new dual charging station that will create the appearance you’re trying to show off your iPhone and Apple Watch.

The Smart Dual Charging Station props up your iPhone and Apple Watch on a stylish stand of silver or space gray brushed aluminum that neatly organizes your charging cords. The station is customizable and can also work with other Apple accessories, such as the Apple Pencil and Siri Remote.

Speck iPhone case will mount to magnetic holder

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Presidio MOUNT
Speck's Presidio MOUNT case for iPhone pairs nicely with Scosche's MagicMount
Photo: Speck

CES 2018 bug Speck and Scosche have teamed up for a new iPhone case with magnetic mounts so users can engage their phones hands-free.

Announced Monday ahead of the big CES show in Las Vegas, the Speck Presidio Mount is designed to work with Scosche’s MagicMount, a smartphone/tablet mount designed for vehicle or office use.

GoPro grounds its drone business

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Karma out
GoPro discontinues the Karma and its drone business.
Photo: GoPro

While consumer drone leader DJI makes headlines at this week’s CES with new products, GoPro announced Monday it would pull out of the drone business after it sells its remaining stock of Karma drones.

The news comes after word leaked last week that GoPro was about to lay off more than 250 workers from its aerial division. The layoffs and Karma kill-off comes amid estimates that GoPro’s fourth-quarter revenues will fall more than $100 million short of projections.

Upgrades to iMac Pro? Major disassembly required

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iFixit
iFixit carefully tore open an iMac Pro.
Photo: iFixit

You wouldn’t dare crack open your new iMac Pro, the one you paid $5,000 for, just for a peek under the hood.

But the teardown team at iFixit happily and fearlessly disassembles devices just to sate your curiosity and maybe entice you to fix or upgrade your own machines. The wiki-based repair resource wasted no time in the new year to tear open Apple’s long-anticipated and rather expensive next-generation iMac.

New Apple Park video highlights greener spaceship

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drone video
Matthew Roberts' latest drone video shows a greener Apple Park.
Photo: Matthew Roberts/YouTube

Drone pilot Matthew Roberts might know the layout of Apple Park better than the builders and architects.

In Roberts’ 22nd drone flight and video of the evolving Apple campus, his 4K camera shows off new sod and near-finished landscaping around the inner circle of the giant spaceship HQ.

Apple shrugs off recent bugs as ‘one bad week’

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Phil Schiller said Apple won't release the HomePod till it's satisfied with the quality.
Phil Schiller said Apple won't release the HomePod till it's satisfied with the quality.
Photo: Digital Trends

Apple fans and enthusiastic gadget reviewers will ultimately remember 2017 as the year of a reinvented iPhone. But as the year draws to an end, Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller has a few other things on his mind, such as delays in releasing the company’s first smart speaker and a “bad week” of software bugs and security holes.

Steve Jobs had a thing for ‘Billie Jean’

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Jobs
Steve Jobs was a fan of Michael Jackson's music, especially Billie Jean.
Photo: Esther Dyson/Flickr CC

There was a time in the 1980s when Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” was a balm that could sooth the prickly nature of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

His former publicist remembers having to play the song over and over again because it was the only way he got through a particular photo shoot.

Rare working Apple Lisa-1 sells for $50,000

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Take a sneak peek at upcoming Apple Lisa documentary
The Lisa was one of Apple's more notorious flops.
Photo: Auction Team Breker

If you feel foolish for having spent $10,000 for an Apple Lisa-1 computer in 1983, you hopefully kept it.

A working model recently sold for more than $50,000 at auction.

One of Apple’s biggest commercial failures is now one of the most coveted pieces of vintage tech. The steep price, clunky performance, and unreliable Twiggy floppy disks led to poor sales. Apple made improvements and dropped the price on the Lisa-2, but the launch of the Apple MacIntosh pretty much ended Lisa’s life.

Cops want Texas church shooter’s iCloud data

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Texas mass shooter's iPhone
This picture of Devin Patrick Kelley's iPhone SE was filed in court with a search warrant request asking Apple to retrieve iCloud data.
Photo: San Antonio Express-News

Texas Rangers served a search warrant on Apple in hopes of getting data from the iPhone of Sutherland Springs mass shooter Devin Patrick Kelley.

Rangers obtained search warrants on Nov. 9 for files stored on Kelley’s iPhone SE, which was found with him after he took his own life following a high-speed chase. The warrant also requests any files stored on Kelley’s iCloud account.