News - page 1296

We think we know a lot about the iPhone 6. How big the display is (4.7-inches and 5.5-inches). How thin it will be (really thin).What kind of processor it will be packing (an A8). And when it will be unveiled (September 9th). But do we know everything?

VentureBeat doesn’t think so. The well-respected publication says that a well-informed source has confirmed to them that in addition to all of the above, the iPhone 6 will feature 802.11ac Wi-Fi, NFC capabilities, a non-sapphire screen, and a 2.0GHz A8 processor.

I use OS X’s Dictation feature all the time while I’m working, but a new patent application published Thursday suggests that Apple’s looking to go much further when it comes to having users talk to their Macs.

The Intelligent Digital Assistant In A Virtual Environment application was filed February 4 this year, and describes a Mac-based Siri every bit as smart as its mobile iOS counterpart.

The patent application depicts a future OS X dock featuring an icon for Siri, which could be available to use for dictation or commands from inside various different programs.

The Apple Store on New York’s Fifth Ave has become nearly as iconic as the other shiny glass and aluminum beauties it sells, and now Microsoft is ready to take on Apple in the Big Apple with a Fifth Ave store of its very own.

Microsoft is in negotiations to open its first ever NYC store on Fifth Ave, reports the Daily News, which says the new shop will go up a mere six blocks away from Apple’s famous store.

Each second wasted during a 911 call could be the difference between life and death, making precise location data crucial to the whole lifesaving process, but according to the top U.S. cellphone carriers, getting that exact location to responders is just a little too expensive on 911 calls from a smartphone.

AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint are fighting back on an FCC proposal that aims to save lives by making it easier to locate 911 callers. The government proposal calls on carriers to upgrade their networks so that tracking callers indoor is easier, but AT&T says the project would be a waste of scarce resources.

Services like Lyft and Uber made summoning a ride with your iPhone a reality, and now they’re going to make sharing that ride even easier.

Both startups have announced new features that will make rides cheaper, providing that you’re willing to share a car with total strangers.

Foursquare pioneered the location check-in phenomenon that Facebook and so many others now offer. But the reality is that Foursquare just hasn’t been that popular for quite a while. It put out a flashy new check-in app called Swarm earlier this year, and that failed to catch on.

Now the main Foursquare app has received its most significant overhaul to date. Available today in the App Store, Foursquare 8.0 does away with a lot of the social aspects it had before and instead focuses on finding you just the best places to eat.

ABC News launched its live news channel on Apple TV just over a month ago, but the media giant has already made some pretty surprising discoveries about the platform, like the fact that users are more likely to watch live ABC News on their Apple TV than their Mac or iPhone.

Apple fanboys with a sense of humor and few hundred bucks to spare can own a piece of the thermonuclear history between Apple and Samsung, by throwing down on an eBay auction by the guy who had the worst name for an Apple Store specialist ever.

When it comes to expanding into new markets, or being enjoyed by customers all over the world, Apple is the definition of a multinational company.

It also makes a whole lot of money for people around the globe, as it highlights in a new post concerning the company’s commitment to job creation in Europe.

The post runs down some pretty impressive figures, such as the fact that Apple employs 16,000 people in Europe; that a further 116,000 European jobs have been created at other companies thanks to Apple’s growth; that 132,000 jobs are currently directly or indirectly supported by Apple; and that 497,000 jobs are directly attributable to the App Store.

If you love playing XCOM on your Mac or your iPad, you’ll love this. Fantasy Flight Games in cooperation with 2K Games have announced that XCOM is coming to a game chest near you. Called XCOM: The Board Game, it’s basically RISK for alien hunters. But don’t think this is just analog: you’ll need your iPad or iPhone to play.

Grovemade already makes some of our favorite wooden accessories for the iPad and iPhone, but now the San Francisco based woodworkers are entering the realm of the desktop with the Grovemade Desk collection, a gorgeous array of accessories for the wood-obsessed Mac fan.

While he was whipping up the most accurate and beautiful renders yet of what the iPhone 6 will look like when it is released next month, conceptual designer nonpareil Martin Hajek also decided to do something fun, blinging out the iPhone 6 with so much gold and encrusted gemstones that it would make a Saudi Arabian prince blush. More images after the jump.

It may dominate 80 percent of China’s high-end smartphone market, but one place Apple’s not racking up supporters or sales is in the Chinese government.

In fact, according to a new list drawn up by the country’s National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Finance, Apple products are persona non grata when it comes to high tech devices that public money is allowed to be spent on.

The reason is security concerns, in the wake of increased fears about hacking and cyberspying. “When the government stops the procurement of products, it sends a signal to corporates and semi-government bodies,” says Mark Po, an analyst with UOB Kay Hian Ltd. in Hong Kong. “The Chinese government wants to make sure that overseas companies shouldn’t have too much influence in China.”

Designed in collaboration with Steve Jobs by Norman Foster, the new Infinite Loop has Apple fans excited… but not architects. Informally polling a group of 6,000 architects around the world gathered for a South African conference, Fortune’s Philip Elmer DeWitt discovered that, by and large, the professionals he encountered hated Apple’s new Spaceship Campus.

But DeWitt reminds us all that Steve Jobs is no newcomer to architecture. He designed Pixar’s headquarters personally, and it’s a design that has resulted in some of the most creative cinema to come out of Hollywood in the last generation.

While everyone’s focused on which virtual assistant can provide the best automated response, the company behind storage solution iDrive has come up with a different idea: Why not hand the job over to humans?

Asking if users are “tired of trying to explain to a computer program what [they’re] searching for,” or are “sick of getting answers that have nothing to do with what [they] need” OOLOO is a free-to-download iOS app, which connects you to real people 24/7, able to give you the kind of personalized answer that you’re unlikely to get from a tool like Siri.

It’s unheard of that you get to watch an Apple product being developed before your very eyes, but that’s exactly what’s happening with Apple’s new mothership headquarters — which we once referred to as the biggest Apple product ever built.

Despite not touching down officially until 2016, we’ve seen a steady stream of new images of Apple’s new campus during construction, many courtesy of the aerial photography of Bay Area traffic reporter Ron Cervi.

In new images posted to his Twitter account, Cervi shows how the HQ is slowly taking shape, with concrete and rebar work continuing, alongside the digging of tunnels, ready for the foundation and retaining walls of the new structure.

It’s another episode full of story set up and a ton of talking this week on True Blood, the HBO vampire romance-drama that’s now seven episodes into it’s final season.

The plot moves inexorably on toward some sort of conclusion, but seems to be more of an exercise in arranging characters so that they can fall in love and have sex with each other. Eric and Pam continue their search for Sarah Newland, Holli and Andy keep looking for Adilyn and Wade, Sookie still holds out hope that there will be a cure for Bill, who she infected with the Hepatitis-V virus her own darn self.

Here’s hoping that the endless plot devices slow down and merge into a series finale we can all be excited about in the next three episodes before it’s all over and done with.

Keep reading to see all the spoiler-y detail of this week’s episode of True Blood.

Conceptual designer Martin Hajek has no peer when it comes to turning the latest Apple rumors into blisteringly sexy 3-D renders, and with the iPhone 6 just around the corner, he’s already made a number of mockups imagining what it will look like according to the latest rumors.

But with the iPhone 6 now set to be unveiled on September 9th, Martin Hajek has re-examined all of his old renders and every rumor and part leak for the iPhone 6 so far, to come up with the most realistic and accurate iPhone 6 renders yet, right down to a gorgeous exploded view of what all the components look like inside.

If the real iPhone 6 looks even half this good, it’ll be one of the most beautiful consumer objects ever released. Check out some more renders after the jump, and prepare to be absolutely astounded.

Battery life is one of the perceived iPhone weaknesses that rival manufacturers have often used to beat Apple over the head with — with both Samsung and BlackBerry dismissing iPhone owners as “wall huggers” because of the so-called short battery life of their iOS devices.

That may be about to change, however, with ESM-China analyst Sung Chang Xu (the same person who suggested that the iPhone 6 would come with a range of new sensors) claiming that the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 will sport a battery with a 2,100 mAh capacity, instead of the meagre 1,810 mAh unit previously reported.

Apple and Samsung have decided to drop all patent litigation in courts outside of the U.S. The decision ends cases that are open in Australia, Japan, South Korea, Germany, Netherlands, the U.K., France, and Italy.

Disputes over intellectual property related to the iPhone and Samsung phones will continue stateside, and neither party has agreed to a licensing arrangement of any kind.

Sprints is giving up on its dream to buy T-Mobile and merge into a mega-carrier powerful enough to take on AT&T and Verizon, after months of pursuing a multi-billion acquisition of the magenta-hued UnCarrier.

Winning approval from regulators was deemed to big an obstacle for the merger to overcome, and according to the Wall Street Journal, Sprint has decided to end acquisition talks altogether.

There are really only two players in the smartphone race: Apple and Samsung. According to new data from Canadian investment firm Canaccord Genuity, Apple and Samsung command a whopping 108% of smartphone profits combined.

The above chart is for the second quarter of 2014. Apple’s cash cow has been the iPhone for years, and it’s easy to see why; no one comes close to raking in the same kind of profit off hardware.

Over the years, one of my favorite Mac apps has always been iStat Menus by Bjango. In anticipation of OS X Yosemite launching, version 5 was released today with a completely new design and some cool feature additions.

The main purpose of iStat Menus is to show you everything you need to know about your Mac’s system from the menubar. Everything from available disk space to battery charge cycles to GPU activity is available in a clean, attractive interface.

It’s hard to believe it’s only been four years since the reveal of the original iPad. Over the years the iPad has gone from “just a big iPhone” to becoming a common staple in the household, the office and everywhere in between. With four years behind us, four different iPad models and a new mini generation, this fall calls for yet another addition.

Take a look at today’s video where we rundown all the latest leaks, rumors, and other iPad Air 2 tidbits, to give you an early glimpse at the design, possible specs, and more.

Watch our full report above and subscribe to Cult of Mac TV on YouTube to ensure you don’t miss any of our newest videos.