MacBook Air - page 25

No matter how many updates Microsoft makes to its Surface tablets, it just hasn’t been able to live up to its promise of killing the iPad and MacBook Air in one swoop, but now Redmond is ready to try another tactic — buying you out.

Microsoft announced that starting today, MacBook Air owners can walk into any Microsoft retail store and trade-in their Apple machine for $650 of store credit toward the purchase a Surface Pro 3, which Microsoft swears can replace your laptop, because you know, it’s got Office.

I’ve tried a lot of cases for my Mac notebooks over the years, from a dorky aluminum briefcase for my white “icebook” iBook through cheap, zip-up neoprene sleeves and on to bulky, custom-fitted, shock-absorbing monsters. But the elegant, simple and beautiful Castello Davarg York, cut from a single piece of leather, is the only one that makes any sense for my MacBook Air.

Like the MacBook Air inside, you can’t help but finger and fiddle with the York case. It’s cut from 5-ounce, full-grain leather that’s folded and then hand-stitched along two sides before finishing the edges and … well, that’s almost it. The case has no fastening or closure, and lacks a lining or padded interior, but it is shaped perfectly to fit the MacBook Air. (I tested the 13-inch size, but it also comes for the 11-incher.) It even has a little cutout on the top edge that mimics the one found on the lid of the MacBook itself.

Scoring a sweet deal on an iPhone directly from Apple is nearly impossible. Luck for us, a bunch of Cupertino’s retail partners aren’t afraid to cut some dinero off its price-tag to try to get you in the store. But which store is best for Apple deals?

To locate the top places to get deals on Apple products, DealNews tracked several years worth of deals for the iPhone, iPad, and 11-inch MacBook Air and discovered that certain retailers offer consistently better deals on one specific product. Many of the big name retailers are great for iPhones deals, but you might be the surprised where to look for the best iPad and MacBook Air bargains.

Here are the best places to score a deal for each Apple product:

This week: two awesome Apple artifacts hit the auction block; Oompa-loompas leak pics of a super-sized iPad; forget headphones, the Beats acquisition could be all about video; Woz sets the FCC straight on net neutrality; iPad is where the Gov-er-na-tuh stores his shirtless selfies; a popular travel app you should definitely download, like, right now; and, is Apple building out their own content delivery network?

Heartily guffaw your way through each week’s best Apple stories! Stream or download new and past episodes of The CultCast now on your Mac or iDevice by subscribing on iTunes, or hit play below and let the audio adventure begin!

Our thanks to Smile Software for supporting this episode! If you haven’t tried TextExpander from Smile software, you’re missing out on one of the most useful apps available for the Mac. TextExpander saves you time and effort by expanding short abbreviations into frequently-used text and pictures, and it’s an application Erfon uses every single day. Try it out yourself for free at smilesoftware.com/cultcast.

Click on for the show notes.

iPhone 6 case leaks have been sprouting up like spring flowers this May, and while we still have a long wait until Apple reveals the date of its iPhone 6 event, its retail stores might already be prepping for a Fall launch.

Apple retail stores have started blacking out vacation dates for employees in September, pointing to a probable September launch for Apple’s bigger screened iPhone.

A week full of news has passed and your host Joshua Smith is here to give you a wrap-up on some of the biggest features. Warrants to search cell phones, leaked iPhone cases and the latest Snapchat update are among just some of the featured stories in today’s rundown. Take a look at the video and be sure to return next week for another.

Subscribe to CultOfMacTV on youtube.com to catch new episodes of the roundup and other great video reviews, how-to’s and more.

As expected, Apple has introduced its refreshed line of MacBook Air models this morning. The updates don’t bring any major changes, but sport faster versions of Intel’s Haswell processors, and are $100 cheaper than their predecessors.

A lot of rumors are swirling that Apple plans on radically updating its MacBook Air line-up this year. Impressively, Apple is said to be readying a thinner, lighter, 12-inch MacBook Air with Retina Display for release later this year.

Now a new report suggests that Apple will be releasing new MacBook Airs as early as next week. Could this be the 12-inch Retina model everyone’s been anticipating? Sadly, no. We’re going to have to wait a few months yet for that.

We’ve descended upon San Francisco for Macworld 2014! Join us for our show expectations, plus plenty of news, rumors, and discussion on: why 2014 might be the year for Retina Macbook Airs; Apple’s plans for a streaming TV service with Comcast; Office coming to iPad; the problem with emojis; and why iTunes needs to be more like Spotify.

Snicker your way through each week’s best Apple stories! Stream or download new and past episodes of The CultCast now on your Mac or iDevice by subscribing on iTunes, or hit play below and let the uproarious good time commence.

And thanks to Lynda.com for sponsoring this episode! Learn at your own pace from expert-taught video tutorials at Lynda.com.

It’s been almost two years since Apple announced the Retina MacBook Pro, and it’s still the only Mac with a Retina display. But according to sources in Apple’s supply chain, that’ll change this summer when the Cupertino company finally unveils the Retina MacBook Air.

The MacBook Air already feels impossibly thin and light, but it’s set to get even thinner and lighter if a rumor out of Asia is to be believed.

As laptop speakers go, those built into Apple’s MacBooks aren’t bad — particularly if you have a MacBook Pro. But they can be so much better. Plug Twelve South’s BassJump 2 into one of your USB ports and you have a mini sound-system that dramatically improves your MacBook’s audio performance.

Whether you’re listening to music, watching a movie, or just enjoying a podcast, the BassJump 2 subwoofer gives you significantly richer and fuller sound that you won’t believe is coming from your MacBook. There’s no need for expensive external speakers that take up too much room in your bag, or headphones that limit the experience to just one person.

The BassJump 2 is priced at $69.99, and Twelve South calls it “an essential road tool for listening to and editing tracks on the tour bus, hotel room or anyplace else your music takes you.” Now, I’m no musician or music producer — but I definitely agree.

It seems like we’ve been crowing for years about the promise of IGZO — a display technology that radically improves power efficiency, allowing for thinner, lighter, longer-lasting devices — for ages, but with the iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina Display, Apple finally started actually delivering on that promise.

But what now? A new job application suggests that the next generation of Mac laptops might get IGZO too, paving the way for new design possibilities.

The Retina MacBook Pro comes in both 13-inch and 15-inch varieties, but when will the MacBook Air go Retina? Analyst Daniel Matte speculates that it could happen soon, and when it does, there will be three MacBooks with Retina Displays: the 13-inch and 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro, and a 12-inch MacBook Air with Retina Display. Twelve?

Ok, sure, this is more of a tip for those with a Macbook Pro or Air, or any other Apple laptop in the last few years with the fantastic tiny power brick design to it.

I know that I’ve struggled for years on the best way to tuck the two pieces of the power cable away. I’ve generally settled on wrapping the thin part of the cord around the included flip-out handles and then wrapping the larger cord around my hand. Sometimes I separate the two cables and do the same thing, so they fit better in a flatter bag or backpack.

This new tip, though, from Twitter user J Cornelius, just plain astonished me when I saw it. Why didn’t I think of that?

While Android hardware manufacturers were busy trying to pack as many cores as they could into their smartphone and tablet processors, Apple took a different route and decided to go 64-bit instead. It’s a move that makes the iPhone 5s and the latest iPads some of the fastest mobile devices on the market, and so it’s no surprise that its rivals are getting ready to follow suit.

Intel has promised that you’ll be able to buy Android-powered tablets with 64-bit “Bay Trail” processors next year.

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:

Tesla Motors announced this afternoon that it has managed to snatch up Doug Field who has been serving as Apple’s Vice President of Mac Hardware Engineering for the past five years. Field is joining the Tesla as its new Vice President of Vehicle Programs and will be responsible for developing new electric vehicles for the company.

Before joining Apple in 2008 to help make the new MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and iMac, Field worked at Segway for nine years, but he actually started off his engineering career at Ford Motor Company. Elon Musk released the following statement regarding the company’s newest addition:

Apple packed a lot into one hour and 20 minutes today, with announcements about OS X Mavericks, Macbook Pro, Macbook Air, Mac Pro, and the stars of the show: iPad Air and Retina iPad mini. We think that this is about an hour and 18 minutes too long to watch, though, so we’ve condensed it to around 90 seconds.

Here is the Apple iPad Air and iPad mini keynote, right from Yerba Buena, in just 90 seconds:

Apple CEO Tim Cook took the stage today at San Francisco’s Moscone Center to kick off the special keynote event that we’ve dubbed here as the iPad Event.

Cook began his presentation with some numbers, including the nine million new iPhone 5s and 5c models that were sold over the first weekend of availability. Cook called it the biggest iPhone launch, ever, and showed a video to underline his point.

Apple has recalled 64GB and 128GB flash storage drives that were used in the previous generation MacBook Air. The systems were sold during June 2012 and June 2013, and those affected qualify for a free flash storage drive replacement at their local Apple retail store, or authorized service provider.

Apple just released a new firmware update for mid-2012 MacBook Air owners. The release notes say that Apple recently discovered that a small percentage of flash storage drives in these models may have an issue that could cause data loss.

The update, available here, tests your drive and should, if there’s a problem, install new firmware to prevent the issue from happening to you.

If your drive can’t be updated, Apple will replace it free of charge. That’s big news.

NPD DisplaySearch is one of the more reputable sources of supply-chain chatter there is, and they are currently making some bold predictions when it comes to Apple’s future iOS device line-up, from the iPhone 6, Retina MacBook Air, Apple HDTV and iWatch. Not only do they say that Apple is intending on announcing a retina iPad mini later this month (fingers crossed), but they say a larger iPhone is a certainty. In fact, they think every Apple display will improve across the board.

Apple just released two firmware updates to address some rare battery issues with the Macbook Pro and Macbook Air lines Tuesday. The firmware can be downloaded directly from Apple’s support website.

The firmware for both models fixes some rare issues with the battery, one of which will shut your Macbook Air down after 1000 charges.