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Apple Really Doesn’t Want To Repair Your Moist Retina MacBook Pro

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Over the years, Apple has increasingly put more and more moisture sensors inside their laptops: little stickers that tell Apple Geniuses when a device has been exposed to liquid, useful for denying you warranty coverage for the iPhone you dropped in the toilet, or the MacBook you spilled a beer on top of.

No surprise, then, that the Retina MacBook Pro has moisture sensors inside the chassis, but what is more surprising is how many it has: ten in total, two more than the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air.

I suppose it makes sense: the Retina MacBook Pro is an expensive piece of kit, and Apple doesn’t want to have to replace any more than they need to. You may want to watch out for your drool hitting the keyboard when you first check out that Retina display, though: Apple’s not going to fix that.

Source: Hardmac

Another Way Windows 8 Was Inspired By Apple: Pricing

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One thing Apple has done really well over the past few years is eliminating fragmentation in its operating systems. The install base of iOS 5 is over 75%; OS X Lion is around 50%. That’s in less than a year for both operating systems.

To put those numbers in perspective, consider this. Google’s latest operating system, Ice Cream Sandwich, still runs on just 1% of all Android devices after a year, and Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system hovers at around 50% after almost three years.

Apple’s secret is simple. They charge as little as possible for their operating systems, giving it away free if they can. It’s a good strategy that prevents Apple from having to endlessly support older OSes. And now, Microsoft’s finally going to take a page from Apple’s book.

No One Wants To Save $1000 By Buying A Virgin Mobile iPhone

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We’ve gone on record saying that getting your next iPhone through Virgin Mobile is the smartest and most value-conscious decision you can make when it comes to choosing carriers. In fact, over two years, you can save well over $1000 by choosing Virgin Mobile to be your iPhone carrier-of-choice over the likes of Verizon or AT&T.

There’s just one catch: you have to pony up $649 up front for the full, unsubsidized price of an iPhone 4S. And unfortunately, that large initial expenditure seems to have been enough to keep customers away, at least on launch day.

Apple Sued By Chinese Chemical Company Over Snow Leopard Trademark

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Are you confused by the difference between a toilet cleaning compound and the Mac's operating system?
Are you confused by the difference between a toilet cleaning compound and the Mac's operating system?

Now that Apple has paid $60 million to end a thuggish extortion attempt on the part of China’s Proview over the iPad trademark, it looks like at least one additional Chinese trademark troll is coming out of the woodwork, looking for a payday. This time, however, it’s a dispute over a product Apple doesn’t even sell anymore: OS X Snow Leopard.

Why Steve Jobs Always Announced Things In Threes

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Steve Jobs and the rule of threes.
Steve Jobs and the rule of threes.

Have you ever heard of the Rule of Threes? It’s a guideline used widely in writing and communicating that dictates your message is clearer and more effective when you can convey it in three parts.

For example, in the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote that every American had an inalienable right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Drop any one of those, and the sentence is somehow less effective.

You know who else was a big fan of the Rule of Threes? Steve Jobs.

Why Do Photos Taken With The iPhone 4S Look Like Rubbish On The Retina MacBook Pro?

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The new Retina MacBook Pro is the most pixel-loaded Apple device yet, with more than five million of the little blighters spread over 220 pixels per inch. That’s a lot of tiny dots, but believe it or not, it only translates to a mere five megapixels. And since the iPhone has had a 5 megapixel camera since 2010, pictures taken on an iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S should be able to take full advantage of the Retina MacBook Pro’s 2880 x 1800 resolution display.

So why is it that photos taken with an iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S look so crappy on a Retina MacBook Pro? That’s what Instapaper developer Marco Arment wants to know, and so do we. We have a theory though.

Use This Bookmark To Open Any Webpage In Chrome For iOS Instead Of Mobile Safari

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Here at Cult of Mac, we love Google’s new Chrome browser for iPhone and iPad… love it so much, in fact, that for many of us, we’re now using it as our default browser on our jailbroken devices using a Cydia tweak.

That’s all well and good if you’ve got a jailbroken iPhone or iPad, but what if you’re living on the straight and narrow? How can you make using Chrome as your default browser an easy experience when iOS wants to open every link in Safari instead?

It’s easy, with this Mobile Safari bookmarklet.

Apple Will Release A New, Thinner IGZO iPad Later This Summer [Rumor]

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First thing’s first: this report is as sketchy as it comes, and probably has no validity whatsoever. We still think the theory being presented, though, is interesting enough to discuss.With that out of the way, a Chinese newspaper is claiming that Apple will launch a new iPad later this summer, and far from being the seven-incher everyone has been expecting, it will actually be a 10-inch model that will fix everything that was wrong with the new iPad: mainly, the heft and thickness.

37 Years Ago Today, Steve Jobs & Steve Wozniak Invented Apple

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Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak
Steve Jobs (left) and Steve Wozniak (right)
Photo:

A lot of people are getting excited that today is the iPhone’s fifth birthday, ourselves included, but it’s also arguably an even important anniversary: it marks the day that Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak first got together and decided to change the world. Today is the day when two great minds first conceived not only Apple, but the PC.

Five Years Later: Where Were You When The iPhone Was Born? [Feature]

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This changed everything. Where were you when it was announced five years ago?
This changed everything. Where were you when it was announced five years ago?

Today is the fifth anniversary of the release of the original iPhone, and for Cult of Mac’s writers, it’s a particularly important birthday: not only does June 29th mark the anniversary of one of our most all-time beloved gadgets, but it’s also a day so momentous that it has rippled through every aspect of our professional lives as both Apple fans and writers.

To mark the occasion, Cult of Mac’s writers got together to talk about where we were when the first iPhone came out, what it meant for us then and what it means for us now. Check out our stories, then please feel free to hop in and leave a comment telling us where you were when the iPhone was born.

Google Chrome For iPhone & iPad Is Now Available For Download [Update]

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If you live overseas, you can now download Google Chrome for the iPhone and iPad at the link below. It’s on the Danish store only right now, but it’s obviously in the process of rolling out, so keep on refreshing, and watch for our early look and video tour of Chrome shortly after it hits the US App Store.

Update: It’s now available in the U.S. Store! Get downloading!

Source: iTunes

Google Drive Hitting iOS App Store Today

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Another big announcement to come out of Day 2 of the Google I/O conference is the announcement that Google Drive — Google’s answer to Dropbox and Microsoft Office, allowing you to store files and edit documents across multiple computers in the cloud — is coming to iOS starting today. We’ll keep you posted.

Google Chrome Is Officially Coming To The iPhone & iPad Later Today

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At the annual Google I/O developer conference, Google just announced that their famous Chrome browser is coming to the iPhone and iPad. It will work just like the Mac and PC version, syncing history, open tabs, passwords and more across all your computers using your official Google account.

According to Google, Chrome for iOS will be landing in the App Store later today, for free. And here’s where I finally stop using Mobile Safari, especially if some enterprising jailbreaker can hack in the ability to use it as my iPad’s default browser.

We’ll let you know when it’s live. Above, check out a video of Chrome for iPhone and iPad in action. Looks fantastic.

Want To Run OS X On Your iPad? The ModBook Pro Is The Next Best Thing

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Way back before Apple unveiled the original iPad, your only choice for getting an Apple tablet was to buy a ModBook: converted MacBooks with built-in Wacom digitizers that operated like the tablet PCs of old.

Of course, once the iPad debuted, a lot of the market for the ModBook dried up, but now they’re back with the ModBook Pro, which takes the 13-inch MacBook Pro and turns it into an OS X-running tablet.

Watch Stand-Up Comic Louis C.K. Be Hilarious About The iPhone & iCloud [Video]

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7d-AGMMcsQ&feature=player_embedded

It’s hard not to love Louis C.K. Behind his pale ginger flab and profanity-laced stand-up comedy is a guy with a heart of gold: a comic who knows how to temper his masturbation jokes with compassionate commentary on the family and American values. He’s an amazing guy. But he doesn’t have an iPhone.

On a recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Louis C.K. explained why, saying that he got rid of his iPhone because he was too immersed in it. “It’s like having a pencil you can $@%!,” Louis C.K. told Kimmel, going on to jokingly express his concerns about geo-location and the Cloud, which he ultimately sees giving us all wafer thin devices that, apparently, will allow you to smear Tom Cruise all over your face.

Hilarious, but Louis C.K. always is. This is a comic at the top of his game. If you haven’t already, buy some tickets to see him on his next tour: he’s cutting out all the middlemen and selling them directly to fans, effectively doing his best to cut out the scalpers and the extortionists like Ticketmaster. This is a guy who deserves your money.

Source: FunkySpaceMonkey

John C. Dvorak: Why I Said The iPhone Was Going To Bomb

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Tech journalists make bad calls all the time, but few tech writers have made such a blisteringly bad call as seasoned columnist John C. Dvorak, who famously predicted back in 2007 that “Apple should pull the plug on the iPhone… [because it is just] going to be another phone in a crowded market.”

D’oh. $150 billion in revenue later, the iPhone is the biggest success Apple has ever had, and revolutionized pretty much every single aspect of the smartphone and even telecom business. That’s quite the missed prediction, even by tech journalist standards.

So what does Dvorak have to say to explain himself? Was it just a brain fart, or what? Five years later, Dvorak has explained why he said the iPhone would be a dud, and his excuse is fascinating: he claims he got it wrong because of a conspiracy against tech journalists like him who were too honest about Apple for their own good.

This Incredible New 3D Tech Could Finally Give You A 1+ Terabyte iPad

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SSDs are great! They make your computer run as if they were filled with greased lightning. That spinning beach ball stops spinning quite so much, and those apps struggling to load quit doing so much bouncing. Your computer gains instant-on functionality, better battery life, and ridiculously quick boot times. Win-win!

There’s only one problems: SSDs (like those found in the Retina MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iPhone or iPad) don’t have the same high capacity as physical spinning drives. That’s a problem if you’re the kind of user who carries around a terrabyte of media with him at all times. Luckily, it looks like SSDs limitations when it comes to capacity sizes is about to change.

Can Apple Beat Google’s Mapping Army?

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With iOS 6, Apple is finally ditching Google as a maps partner and releasing their own custom maps solution, built upon partnerships with companies like TomTom and using their own technology acquired from companies like C3.

How costly would it be for Apple to compete with Google Maps head-on, though, by building their own mapping system from the ground-up without any outside deals? More than you might think: in fact, Apple might have to increases its global workforce by 50%.

iOS 6 Beta Hints That Apps Might Be Coming To Apple TV Soon

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Hey, lookie hear: in the new iOS 6 Beta, you can rearrange the interface app icons on an Apple TV. A small but nice little customability update, but is there more to this than meets the eye: say, some groundwork being laid for an Apple TV app store coming to iOS 6 later this year? After all, why worry about rearranging apps unless you’re going to suddenly need to manage more than one screen’s worth of them.

Rumor had it that Apple was going to announce an official Apple TV SDK at WWDC 2012, but that didn’t pan out. Could we see a similar announcement at the September event instead?

Via: MagMagazine

The Official iOS Facebook App Is About To Get A Blistering Fast Speed Update

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Ever wondered why Facebook’s iOS app is so slow? We’ve explained it all before, but what it comes down to is that the app is an Objective C wrapper around a UIWebView component loading Facebook’s raw HTML data.

Why’s that so slow? Well, UIWebview isn’t very fast, and it has terrible caching, which requires the Facebook app to redownload your entire wall every time it needs to do an update, instead of the chunks it needs.

According to The New York Times, though, that could soon change, and Facebook could ditch the UIWebview bottleneck once and for all.