Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems ... and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
Apple's shipping so many iPhone 6 devices that it's having an impact on rival manufacturers. (Picture: Wikipedia)
The iPhone 6 may be currently filling your newsfeed, but there’s somewhere else it’s filling too: the skies.
According to several sources, Apple is currently shipping so many new devices from its factories to sales outlets that it’s causing big delays for even “top tier” rival manufacturers.
Apple shipments via FedEx and UPS are said to be “incredibly high” for the holiday season, largely based on the new iPhone 6 and iPad refresh. It was previously reported that Apple had ordered an “unprecedented” number of iPhone 6 devices — more than twice that of the initial iPhone 5 order.
Apple shareholders are suing Tim Cook for "ensnaring Apple in a multi-year anticompetitive scheme" related to e-books. Illustration: Cult of Mac
You’re most probably familiar with the expression “out of the frying pan into the fire.”
Having seemingly settled its e-book price-fixing lawsuit by agreeing to pay $450 million, Tim Cook and other top Apple execs are now being sued by Apple shareholders, claiming that the incident has damaged the company.
As per a complaint filed at the end of last week, Cook and other Apple executives were told that they should accept “responsibility for ensnaring Apple in a multi-year anticompetitive scheme.”
Samsung and LG are hoping Apple can light the way when it comes to wearables.
Apple could be less than one week away from unveiling its long-awaited iWatch, and surprisingly for an industry as competitive as tech, pretty much everyone is rooting on it to succeed.
The reason? Because once Apple cracks open a market and shows how it can be done, everyone else can dive in and make more money.
Days after China Mobile, aka the world’s largest mobile carrier, started taking preorders for the iPhone 6, rivals China Telecom and China Unicom (the second- and third-largest carriers in the country) have pointed out that they too will be selling Apple’s eagerly anticipated next-gen handset.
Referring to the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 as the “iPhone Air” and the 5.5-inch variant as the “iPhone Pro,” China Unicom has put up a pricing list for the devices, showing how cost will vary according to storage capacity and form factor.
Could this be what Apple has in mind for its long-awaited iWatch? (Picture: Fuse Chicken)
From alleged wireless charging to circuit boards the “size of a postage stamp,” there are plenty of rumors about the features Apple is supposedly cramming into its eagerly-anticipated wearables debut, the iWatch.
Unlike the iPhone 6, however, which has seen enough leaked parts that you could practically build your own working model, the lack of clues regarding the actual design of the iWatch has left everyone none the wiser.
That’s why talented graphic designers are stepping into the breach, to show us what they at least hope Apple has up its sleeves.
One such designer is Fuse Chicken‘s Jon Fawcett, whose concepts blur Pebble-style notifications and health tracking with a classic rounded watch face.
I’m a massive fan of nostalgic 2-D platformers, so the sight of Goblin Sword has me buzzing. An entirely new iOS action platforming game, the title nonetheless borrows its inspiration from classic 8-bit platformers of the NES era of gaming, with cartoony sprites and highly detailed pixel-rendered backdrops.
Frankly it looks gorgeous, and the promise of a whopping 48 levels, 6 bosses, multiple weapons and suits of armor, and (arguably best of all) utter lack of in-app purchases just makes it sound all the more promising.
The QuickType/Predictive typing feature found in iOS 8 has made its way to OS X Yosemite.
Although a similar feature has been used in OS X since at least Snow Leopard, accessible by hitting the ESC key, this ups the functionality by not just offering an autocomplete/autocorrect feature, but actually suggesting entire untyped words which can go on to write complete sentences.
This is the new sapphire glass that will front the iPhone 6. This picture was sent to the repair shop owner from his suppliers in China. He hasn't tested the screen for strength but sincerely hopes it can be broken. "More business for me," he said.
According to a new report from Digitimes, U.S.-based GT Advanced Technologies will be supplying sapphire screens for the eagerly anticipated 5.5-inch iPhone 6.
Based on Digitimes’ research, GTAT has 2,500 crystal-growing furnaces and mature crystal-growing processes that would allow them to produce enough sapphire to produce 45 million 5.5-inch covers in 2015. Cost-wise these are likely to come in at around $30, which Digitimes suggests will be a competitive price for a 5.5-inch sapphire cover in 2015.
Another Apple supplier is facing accusations concerning violations of labor rights and lapses in workplace safety.
The supplier in question is Taiwanese company Catcher Technology, which produces the metal casings for iPads as well as parts for the iPhone, plus components for other tech companies. The allegations concern a factory in the Chinese city of Suqian.
Among the accusations raised in a Thursday report by environmental nonprofit Green America and workers’ rights group China Labor Watch are the fact that employees are made to work excessive overtime hours, and handle toxic chemicals without the proper protective clothing.
With franchises like The Hobbit and The Hunger Games continuing to tear it up at the box office, the sci-fi and fantasy genres are booming. But while the movies don’t show any signs of slowing down in terms of their impending arrivals, there are still a veritable ton of classics waiting to be given the big screen treatment.
The superintendent behind the abandoned $1.3 billion school iPad deal should go to "teacher jail," says union.
Los Angeles teachers union president Alex Caputo-Pear has called for L.A. Schools chief John Deasy — the man who helped orchestrate the ill-fated $1.3 billion tech deal designed to give an iPad to every student — to report to “teacher jail” while the program is under investigation.
“Teacher jail” refers to district offices which house instructors who are facing allegations of misconduct.
In Deasy’s case, the alleged misconduct relates to apparent inappropriate dealings with Apple and education publisher Pearson that may have influenced the bidding process for the massive deal, which has now been abandoned. Deasy claims there was nothing inappropriate about his relationship with either company.
Apple's new patent application shows how Apple might further strengthen its sapphire crystal using an "ion implanting" method.
Whether or not the upcoming iPhone 6 will sport a sapphire crystal display or not is something we’ll have to wait to find out for sure, but the ultra-strong material used by many high end watch manufacturers is certainly something Apple has spent a lot of time investigating.
Some of those investigations have led to a new patent application published today, revealing how Apple plans a technique for strengthening glass by using an “ion implanting” method as opposed to the kind of chemical coatings used for, say, Corning’s Gorilla Glass.
According to the application, the reason for this is that the kind of traditional chemical strengthening techniques used on glass screens might not be effective when used on materials like sapphire.
Apple has been praised by Greenpeace for its proactive role in leading the sustainability drive. Samsung? Not so much.
Considering that just a few short years ago Apple was scoring dead last on Greenpeace’s report on green-friendly data centres, the company has made amazing strides in order to turn around its reputation.
In a new September report from Greenpeace, entitled “Green Gadgets: Designing the Future,” the global environmental organization says that Apple is doing more than any other manufacturer to reduce the damage it does to the environment. The report notes that Apple has kept its promise to eliminate use of hazardous materials including Polyvinylchloride (PVC) and Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) in its products.
Cortana may be working for Microsoft, but apparently her free time belongs to Apple. (Picture: @supertino)
Microsoft may enjoy bragging about the perceived superiority of its Windows Phone virtual assistant Cortana over Apple’s Siri, but the actress who voices Cortana apparently isn’t so convinced.
In a recent tweet, actress Jen Taylor (@jentaylortown) tweeted the message “Oh my geez Seattle is beautiful” via iOS, suggesting that while Microsoft may be helping bring in the paychecks, that money is going on Apple products.
Apple has sold 1 million iPhones in India this fiscal year, representing a major milestone for the company. Illustration: Cult of Mac
While China is where a lot of Apple’s focus has been in terms of expanding into new territories, India is also a fast developing smartphone market where the Apple brand is doing very well.
According to a new report, Apple has sold more than 1 million iPhones in India since the start of the current financial year — representing a significant milestone for a company that wasn’t considered to be a serious contender in the South Asian market until relatively recently.
Although the sales data was not released, research agencies put the figure at 1.02 million between October 2013 and August 2014, with a total of 1.1 million units projected by the time the fiscal year ends on September 30.
In a video posted to Conan’s “Team Coco” YouTube account, O’Brien imagines what it might be like to hire a team of computer experts to hack the iCloud account of the person responsible for doing the hacking. The result is a series of amusing images showing a variety of NSFW activities, including naked bullwhip sessions, lewd acts featuring a Super Nintendo, and begging former celebrity Jon Gosselin for an autograph.
New App Store guidelines are in place to protect user data.
Apple is constantly looking to improve the App Store experience, and ahead of the long-awaited release of the iPhone 6 and public version of iOS 8, it is doubling its efforts.
With these two landmark events coming up rapidly, the company has updated its App Store review guidelines to add all-new sections dealing with features such as HealthKit, HomeKit and TestFlight, extensions and more.
Wellograph's iWatch can monitor your heartbeat. (Picture: Wellograph)
There have been numerous companies, from Samsung downwards, willing to leap onto the smart watch bandwagon to try and beat it to market. Wellograph’s new smart watch, however, perhaps comes the closest to what many users are expecting to see from Apple — with the world’s first wellness-focused smart watch sporting a sapphire crystal display.
The 1.26-inch LCD display watch is available to ship now, and comes with various smart functions, including a Tri-LED heart rate sensor, which replicates the action of a doctor using their fingers to feel for a pulse and provides real-time readings of heart signals.
Apple's next generation iPad will apparently feature a thinner profile, improved Touch ID, and faster processor.
Supply chain sources speaking to Digitimes claim that component production is ramping up for Apple’s next generation 9.7-inch iPad. According to the report, the tablet will be unchanged when it comes to size and resolution, but will sport an even thinner profile, enhanced processor, and improved Touch ID fingerprint recognition technology.
Reddit's official AMA finally brings its hugely popular Ask Me Anything threads to iOS. (Picture: Reddit)
Reddit AMAs (Ask Me Anythings) are everywhere, attracting even the likes of President Obama (who answered his questions on a MacBook) to respond to questions fielded by users from around the globe.
Up until now there have been some pretty great apps for viewing Reddit AMAs, such as Interviewly, which takes AMA threads and polishes them to look more like a Sunday newspaper feature than an online forum. However, to date there has been no official AMA app available on iOS.
The 5.5 iPhone could boast Apple's most powerful iPhone battery yet. (Picture: Nowhereelse.fr)
While the number of leaks regarding the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 means a lot of people aren’t expecting to be surprised come September 9, the larger 5.5-inch phablet iPhone remains something of a machine of mystery.
A new component uncovered by French Apple website Nowhereelse.fr, however, purports to show a 2,915 mAh capacity battery from the lesser-seen 5.5-inch model iPhone 6.
Provided that the part is legitimate, it represents a considerable increase from the 1,570 mAh battery included in the current generation iPhone 5s.
As the iPhone 6 and public launch of iOS 8 gets ever closer, a number of products offering full integration with Apple’s new HomeKit platform have started popping up on a regular basis.
The latest of these is Elgato’s new line of “Eve” connected home sensors, which debuted at the IFA 2014 trade show in Berlin, Germany. The range of Bluetooth accessories are able to monitor air quality, detect smoke, and track humidity, energy used, air pressure and water consumption — then feeding all of this data back to your iPhone or iPad.
The iWatch may not be unveiled September 9 claim supply chain sources.
The world may be buzzing to get a glimpse of Apple’s eagerly-anticipated iWatch, but according to sources from the “upstream supply chain” the company is unlikely to unveil its take on the smart watch Apple’s September 9 press conference.
The report, from Digitimes, also notes that despite various iWatch components already entering production, the wearable device itself is still in what is termed the engineering verification testing (EVT) stage.
What needs to be done to restore the iPad to its former glory?
With all the excited chatter about the iPhone 6 and the iWatch, the iPad is starting to look like a relic from the past — and the sales back this up.
Across the board, tablet sales have flatlined. On the back of another lower-than-expected tablet quarter, research firm IDC recently slashed its 2014 forecast for worldwide tablet shipments from 260.9 million units all the way back to 233.1 million. With Apple’s leading position in the market, even Tim Cook has had to admit that this has represents a bit of what he calls a “speed bump”.
The iPad took a crack at disrupting classrooms, cash registers, hospitals and airplane cockpits, but sales nonetheless slumped 10 percent from the same quarter last year. Simply put, Apple’s once white-hot tablet brand has cooled off. Relegated to a second-tier product, it just doesn’t seem as exciting any more.
“I own an iPhone, a Mac and an iPad, and out of these I use the iPad the least,” says Michael Grothaus, a former Apple employee, and the entrepreneur behind SITU, an iPad-enabled set of smart kitchen scales. “It occupies a bit of a no man’s land. As much as I love Apple products, recently I’ve been looking around at other tablets on the market to see what’s out there.”
Here’s what the top developers we talked to said might make the iPad a game changer again.
As if the constant shots from Samsung weren’t enough, Microsoft has just unleashed a new ad pitting its Cortana virtual assistant against Apple’s Siri. The ad, for those who can’t view it, begins with Siri ‘singing’ “I feel pretty, oh so pretty” into a mirror, only for the HTC One M8 with Windows to turn up, apparently dazzling the iPhone 5s with its superior size.
