News - page 1809

While the new MacBook Pro’s retina display, light weight, and thin format factor were all show stoppers, the notebook’s battery is also a major feature and feat of engineering. Apple claims that despite powering all those pixels, the new MacBook Pro with Retina display has a battery will last for seven hours on a single charge and offer a full month of standby power. Unsurprisingly, much of the its internal space is devoted to the mammoth battery required for that feat.

The new MacBook Pro with Retina display isn’t the first Apple device to sport a massive built-in battery. The new iPad also sports one and the MacBook Air line has had most of its internal space devoted to its battery  for years. Each new mega-battery from Apple represents an advance of battery technology that few other companies could deliver.

This morning at WWDC, Apple unveiled a brand new Maps application, complete with a stunning 3D mode and redesigned user interface. In this video, Cult Of Mac goes hands-on with the new application. Spoiler alert: It’s awesome.

Despite delivering excellent business solutions in many of its products, there’s always a consistent refrain that Apple doesn’t understand business customers or corporate computing needs. Apple didn’t focus on many specific business uses of the new and upcoming products announced during today’s WWDC keynote. If you look closely, however, there are definite signs that Apple is designing iOS 6 and Mountain Lion,.

At today’s WWDC keynote, Apple unveiled iOS 6, which includes features like Facebook integration, a totally new Maps application, Passbook, and more. We’ve got a first hands on look at iOS 6 right here, for your viewing pleasure. Take a look at it after the break.

Apple today released a new version of iTunes for the Mac and Windows that brings compatibility for the newly-released iOS 6 developer beta. During the WWDC keynote earlier today Apple unveiled iOS 6 to the world, the first developer preview has been made available. You’ll need the new iTunes 10.6.3 before you can install iOS 6 on any of your devices.

There are some other bug fixes and improvements packed into iTunes 10.6.3, and everyone is encouraged to update now.

During today’s keynote Apple showed a slide that mentioned iOS 6 would get some “Redesigned Stores” but Scott Forstall never went into detail on what the stores look like. Now that we’ve got iOS 6 loaded up on our iPhones we’re finally able to see what the new stores look like and boy are they a great improvement over the predecessors. Here’s what the new App Store, iTunes, and iBooks look like in iOS 6:

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It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of Apple events: the secrecy, the frenetic guessing games, the lines at Starbuck’s. It’s like Christmas–before your older brother ruined Santa for you–and it happens a couple of times a year.

So Cult of Mac got the inside scoop from developer Chris Lott, who was sitting inside on this unusually warm San Francisco day with a restless crowd of developers at the World Wide Developer Conference, for his take on the keynote announcements. Lott works with Darren Murtha Design; the two currently have eight iPhone/iPad apps in the iTunes store, most of them nifty learning games aimed at the preschool set.

There have been concerns about the fate of the Mac Pro ever since Apple killed off the Xserve a year and a half ago. Although Apple didn’t say the Mac Pro was on the chopping block, the company did let it go without an update for quite some time. Although the Mac Pro didn’t get featured in today’s WWDC keynote like the MacBook lineup, which includes the new MacBook Pro, it did receive a long-needed update.

The biggest reaction to the Mac Pro’s update today is a sense of relief by many creative professionals and Mac-focused IT departments. The update proves that Apple isn’t signing the death warrant for its most powerful and most expandable Mac. That makes the updated specs a symbol of Apple’s commitment to high-end and high-performance systems in addition to being a major product update.

In less than an hour after the presentation itself, Apple has made the entire WWDC 2012 keynote available for streaming online. The video recording should be hitting Apple’s keynote feed in iTunes at any moment.

You can watch today’s keynote now on Apple’s website. For everything that was announced at WWDC today, check out our complete roundup.

I don’t “need” a new MacBook Pro with Retina display and maxed out specs, but I really want one. I want one like really really bad, and maybe you do too, but if you’re frothing at the mouth to shell out the $4,000 for the top of the line MacBook Pro you’re going to have to be really patient because right now the shipping estimates are 3-5weeks. That’s just long enough for buyers remorse to sink in.

Apple introduced updated MacBook Air and Pro models alongside a totally new MacBook Pro design today at WWDC. Every time one of the laptops was addressed during the keynote, no mention was made of a 17-inch model. Apple only talked about updates for the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Airs/Pros.

Now Apple’s new MacBook Pro listings make no mention of the 17-inch model. It looks like the largest MacBook Pro has been axed once and for all.

iOS 6 isn’t scheduled to be released until later this Fall, but if you’re a developer you can get a sneak preview of iOS 6 by downloading it from Apple’s developer website right now and installing it on your device. The iOS 6 beta just went live on the Developer Center so grab it now if you’re willing to take the plunge.

Apple announced a lot of things from the stage at WWDC today, but there was nothing said about the future of the Mac Pro. Rumors speculated that Apple would be updating the two-year-old workhorse today, and the 2012 Mac Pro has just appeared on Apple’s website.

While the physical design of the machine has stayed the same, Apple has upgraded the Mac Pro’s specs: 3.06GHz Intel Xeon X5675 processors, new ATI Radeon HD graphic cards, four 3.5-inch drive bays for up to 8TB of storage, and 2 SuperDrives. A big disappointment is that Apple hasn’t added Thunderbolt I/O or USB 3.0 to the 2012 Mac Pro.

Holy smokes the Apple Store just came back online and we can all flood it with our purchases of the new MacBook Pro with Retina display. Hurry!

Mac gaming, long the red-headed-stepchild of the computer gaming scene, just stepped up its, well, game. Today’s World Wide Developers Conference in San Francisco saw several announcements from Apple regarding gaming, including the fact that the hot new MacBook Pro will have Retina graphics capabilities.

When Game Center was announced for iOS 5, some folks were skeptical. They didn’t really see the value in Apple taking on the leader board scene with already established players like OpenFeint, Plus+, Crystal, Gameloft Live, and others.

Those very same people would surely have to eat their words when they heard today at the WWDC in San Francisco that Game Center has over 130 million people using it and those folks submit 5 billion scores every week.

And now? Game Center is coming to the Mac.

New products and announcements keep rolling out from Apple. The Cupertino company has lifted the curtain on a new iPad accessory called the Smart Case. Instead of the Smart Cover’s flimsy screen covering, the new Smart Case fully encloses the iPad in a polyurethane coating.

The iPad Smart Case covers your iPad — both front and back — yet still retains the thin, light design of iPad. Like the Smart Cover, it folds easily into a stand for reading, typing, and watching video. And it automatically wakes and sleeps iPad on open and close. Made from polyurethane, it’s available in six bright colors. And you can personalize it with free laser engraving on the Apple Online Store.

Looks nice. You can pick one up for $50.

If you weren’t at WWDC today to see the video of Johnny Ive and Bob Mansfield introducing the new MacBook Pro with Retina display, don’t get sad, Apple’s already posted the video on their website. You can watch it right here.

Following Apple’s WWDC keynote today, a new AirPort Express has surfaced in Apple’s online store. The new router sports simultaneous dual-band 2.4GHz and 5GHz 802.11n Wi-Fi, but oddly hasn’t been upgraded from USB 2.0 to 3.0.

The new AirPort Express costs $99, like the previous model.

Wow! Apple just unleashed a thunderstorm of new products and software on the world. Our heads are still spinning trying to keep up with all the new awesome features but we’ve managed to compile a list of everything Apple just announced at today’s WWDC keynote so you know all about the goodies coming your way. Take a look and see what you might have missed.

As expected, iOS 6 will be available to developers today in the first release preview. Stay tuned for our first look.

It’ll work on the iPhone 3GS and later, iPad 2 & iPad 3, and iPod touch fourth-gen.

It’s coming this fall, along with the iPhone 5.

Image: GDGT

Apple announced a lot of cool features in iOS 6 today, but here’s some of the stuff they didn’t show worth noting:

• Improved privacy controls.
• Redesigned stores
• Lost mode: if you’ve lost or misplaced your iPhone or iPad, you can send a phone number directly to that phone
• Game center challenges
• Per-account Mail signatures
• Voice-Over imrpovements
• Personal dictionary in iCloud
• Tons of new APIs for Devs, including Pass Kit, in-app contrent purchases (sell iTunes music right through your apps), transit apps

Image: Ars Technica

Verifying the rumors we’ve been hearing for months, Apple has officially unveiled its totally new Maps application for iOS 6. Scott Forstall demoed the app onstage today at WWDC. “In iOS 6, we’ve built an entirely new mapping solution from the ground up, and it is beautiful,” said Forstall. “We’re doing all the cartography ourselves. This is a worldwide effort. We’re covering the world.” This includes 100 million business listings worldwide.

It looks like Google Maps has indeed been kicked to the curb.

Among the new backend, the new Maps app will feature an integrated traffic service, turn-by-turn navigation, Siri integration, an enhanced 3D view called “Flyover.”

Apple has just unveiled a major new app: Passbook. And it looks like it could be the groundwork for the famed iWallet.

The idea here is simple: a single repository for all of your passes. Plane tickets, movie tickets, store cards, you name it.

Passbook even has QR code support. And any pass stored in it has live information displayed alongside it: for example, if you have a ticket pass, the time until departure is then shown inside of the app.

And, of course, all of these cards and passes are accessible at your local business with just a wave. Boy, all they need to add is credit card support and Apple’s got its NFC approach squared away, don’t you think?

Image: GDGT