News - page 1823

So, a mere two days after Apple quietly released an update for its brand-spankin-new MacBook Pro, the magical company is doing it again. This time, the as-yet-released MacBook Air is the target of a new software update.

From the Apple Support site:

About MacBook Pro (Mid 2012) Software Update 1.0
This update is recommended for MacBook Pro (mid 2012) models.

The update includes fixes that improve graphics stability, external display support, and USB 3 device support.

Sound familiar? That’s because these are the same fixes that Apple reported for the MacBook Pro model. Sounds like someone announced these babies just a bit before they were totally ready? Ah, well, at least it’s all fixed. Right, Apple?

Via: MacNN

Walter Isacson’s biography painted the 1970s version of Steve Jobs as a true hippy who didn’t like to take showers or wear shoes. Looks like Ashton Kutcher’s wardrobe team on the set of jOBS has really embraced that ethos and dressed Ashton in a nappy polo shirt and tussled hair while filming at Steve Jobs’s home where Apple was invented.

Making sure you know just how serious he’s taking this role, Kutcher’s rocking the facial expression of a tortured artists whose soul you could never hope to comprehend. Photos were also snapped of Josh Gad in his Woz costume and it looks like the director skinned a baby lama and superglued it to Gad’s scalp. Take a look :

Shortlt after Apple announced Mountain Lion would be shipping next month, Cult of Mac reported that Cupertino had already begun preparation for the operating system by pulling the Messages for Mac Beta from their official site. The app allowed users of OS X Lion to send iMessages to iPhones, iPads and other Macs, but since it’s a headlining feature of the $20 Mountain Lion operating system, it stands to reason they’d want to start curtailing access to the service for Lion users.

That’s not all Apple’s doing, however. According to a new report, Apple is actually forcibly disabling the Messages Beta for OS X Lion users. They really want you upgrading if you use Messages,

One of the longest running problems on the iOS App Store has been discovery of apps.

Since its launch in 2008, developers and users alike have been asking Apple for better ways to both promote and discover great new apps. With over 650,000 apps currently on the App Store, the current system of finding new apps is clearly being pushed beyond what it was intended for.

According to Apple’s senior vice president of world-wide product marketing, Phil Schiller, Apple is doing a “tremendous amount” of work to make sure that best applications on the App Store get promoted and receive the attention they deserve.

The official Apple Store app has just gotten an incremental update, which now makes it easier than ever to give Apple your money.

The big new feature is Express Checkout, which like Apple’s official website, lets you buy items with your default billing and shipping information with just a tap.

The other feature — exclusive to the iPhone 4S — is a geolocation feature that alerts local Apple Store employees when you’ve arrived to pick up an order. This should make it a lot quicker to pick up your new MacBook Pro than flagging down a random specialist when you arrive, then waiting for him to go in back and find your item.

You can download the new update through the App Store.

Source: ITunes
Via: Macstories

Since its introduction, the iPad has been missing some of the iPhone’s built in applications, such as Weather, Stocks, and Calculator. Until now, there’s been no sign of these apps making it to the iPad. With the introduction of iOS 6, though, it appears that Apple may finally be thinking about bringing the remaining iPhone apps over to the iPad.

As a user with multiple iOS devices, I have hated iOS 5’s handling of notifications across multiple devices with my very bones. Get a notification and read it and clear it on your iPhone? It’ll still be waiting for you on your iPad and your iPod touch. Someone call the Department of Redundancy Department. It’s just irritating.

Luckily, with iOS 6, Apple seems to have figured it all out. Now, as long as it’s an iOS 6 stock app, if you read a notification on one device, it’ll be whisked off your other devices magically, presumably through iCloud. Which is an interesting point in and of itself: will Apple soon be oiffloading all of their Push Notifications to iCloud?

Via: Apple ‘N’ Apps

The best podcasting app on iOS (alibeit one with a wonky and controversial pricing structure), Instacast has just gotten a huge update making it even better.

We know that you Cult of Mac readers are also a bunch of photo nerds, so we thought that this week’s best-of list could be about cameras. You’re iPhone might be great (and even makes it into this list) but sometimes you need something more powerful, more rugged or just plain better. Here’s our list of the best cameras out these.

Before Apple created the Notification Center for OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, most of us depended on Growl as the most popular way to get app notifications. Growl has been the best way for developers to display notifications in their apps and was probably one inspiration behind Apple’s Notification Center.

Now that Apple is building notifications into Mountain Lion, many developers have feared the fantastic customizable powers of Growl notifications will become a dead relic. However, a recent post by the Growl team is laying those fears aside, announcing that Growl 2.0 will support Notification Center so that developers have even more options.

We’re super excited for iOS 6. Although it isn’t the complete iOS overhaul many users were hoping for, it does deliver a whole host of new features — like a new Maps app, user interface enhancements, improvements to stock apps, and Siri support on iPad — that we’re certainly looking forward to.

However, it’s hard to ignore the fact that iOS 6 still has some things missing. Things we’ve been waiting for for some time. Here are seven of them.

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Back in August of last year, famed jailbreak hacker Comex — the mind responsible for the famed JailbreakMe exploit — hung up his old hacker hat and went to work at Apple as an intern.

Here’s a coincidence then. In iOS 6, the top secret, much guarded exploit used by developers to root their devices — first founded by Comex! — has suddenly been closed after being open for two years, as recent jailbreak superstar pod2g just made note on his Twitter account.

When opening up his new MacBook Pro, an Apple customer recently found the laminated card pictured above that was probably lost in the packaging by some worker at the Foxconn factory. Obviously it’s in Chinese, which adds a bit of mystery to the card because most of us Americans can’t read it. Does the card contain Apple’s secret plans for world domination? Maybe it’s an invitation to a top secret party?

I suppose that product meeting for the V-Moda Vamp went something like this:

Designer: Here it is! The Vamp case. It’s a metal case for the iPhone.

Boss: What the hell is wrong with you? That thing is huge. It’s an embarrassment to the good name of V-Moda. My god. With a box that size you could fit in literally anything. ANYTHING!

(Light bulb goes off over designer’s head)

Samsung’s a company of shameless copycats. They’ve ripped off the iPhone. They’ve ripped off the Mac mini. They’ve ripped off  the iPhone 3G. They’ve ripped off the iPad Smart Cover. Heck, they’ve even ripped off Apple’s commercial actresses.

So it’s kind of nice to see Samsung ripping off someone else for a change. That all said, this is beyond parody: Samsung is now looking to create its own social network, and their top-super-secret codename for the endeavor? “SAMSUNG FACEBOOK.” You can’t make this stuff up.

Amazon is said to be in the final stages of negotiations with record labels over licensing deals that would allow the online retailer to launch a competitor to iTunes Match. It has reportedly reached agreements with Universal Music Group and EMI already, and is now close to wrapping up deals with Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Bros. as well.

iFixit has described Apple’s new MacBook Pro as the “least repairable laptop” it has ever opened up, and subsequently gave the device a repair score of 1/10. However, just like the MacBook Air, you’ll be pleased to know that it is possible to upgrade the new MacBook Pro’s solid-state storage yourself.

Man, is the Diff case a neat little iPhone case. It starts out as a tough case with a tripod mount (Zzzzz) but quickly picks up thanks to a clever cover and a pro-level lens mount.

Right now, if you want to learn more about, say, the iPhone, you go to apple.com/iPhone. Pretty soon, though, you will just type in iPhone.apple and your browser will immediately whisk you there instead.

Before the vast majority of us have even had the pleasure of signing for our new MacBook Pro delivery, iFixit has torn the notebook apart to reveal its internals. Although this is undoubtedly Apple’s best portable yet — what with its stunning Retina display, super speedy solid-state storage, and Intel’s latest Ivy Bridge processors — iFixit describes it as “the least repairable laptop” they’ve ever taken apart.

“Apple has packed all the things we have into one beautiful little package.” For consumers, this means incredible expensive repair bills, and little to no upgradeability at all.

Like all of Apple’s popular products, the MacBook Pro suffered a shipping delay soon after it went on sale on Monday. It first appeared in the Apple online store with a 5-7 day wait, but it didn’t take long before than turned into 7-10 days. On Tuesday the delay slipped again to 2-3 weeks. And this morning that situation has only gotten worse.

Apple is renowned for its obsession with detail and making even the slightest things — such as internal components — just as beautiful as the devices that house them. That’s why, during his recent WWDC keynote, Tim Cook said Apple’s new MacBook Pro was more beautiful on the inside than rival machines are on the outside.

This attention to detail is evident in iOS 6, where the slider reflections change as you tilt your device.

Imagine for a moment that your three year old daughter has a disability that stops her from using her voice to communicate. Then imagine that a combination of an iPad and a specialized app gave her the ability to talk to you, requesting things, express her needs, and even say, “Daddy, I love you.”

I don’t know about you, but I’d see that iPad and app as some sort of technological miracle.

Now, imagine that the app was pulled from the app store.

Introducing the radical new MacBook Pro. With breakthrough performance, stunning Retina display and an impossibly thin design, it’s innovation in every dimension.

Apple has aired its first ad for the new MacBook Pro with Retina Display. “Every Dimension” has hit the airwaves, and the 30-second spot has also been uploaded to Apple’s YouTube account.

The ad features the MacBook Pro performing ‘pro’ tasks like intense photo and video editing.

To compliment the new MacBook Pro, Apple has also uploaded a 5-minute video detailing OS X Mountain Lion’s new features.

Poor Ping. Apple’s failed iTunes social network experiment just hasn’t caught on. Ping didn’t get off to a good start when Apple was unable to partner with Facebook years ago, and the service has become a running joke amongst the Apple fan community.

According to a new report, Ping will be killed once and for all later this year when Apple debuts the next major version of iTunes.