News - page 1826

Ever fantasized about owning your own Apple Store so you could do whatever the hell you want inside? Maybe you’d throw a cool party, dress up as Steve Jobs and chill with Vanilla Ice and Johnny Ive while crashing through the iPod tables playing a drunken game of Red Rover. I don’t know what you’d wanna do inside, this is your fantasy.

If you’re in the market to buy a pristine, almost-genuine Apple Store, my local third-party Apple retailer, The iStore, has sadly closed its doors after 17 years of business and is liquidating all their furniture. You can buy all the signage, fixtures, displays, and Genius Bar for only $38,500. Think about that for a second – for less than $40k you can have your own Genius Bar. Admit it, you want one.

Here’s some pictures of the Apple Store goodies your $38.5k will get you:

While the threat of the Flashback trojan has seemed to largely subside, Apple has released a tool for removing Flashback from older Macs running OS X 10.5 Leopard. A Flashback removal tool was released for Lion and Snow Leopard users a month ago, and now Leopard Macs can get in on the action. Yay for antivirus software!

Apple has also released a Leopard security update that automatically disables outdated versions of Adobe Flash player.

Today has been a huge news day for the MacBook Pro, but the rumormill isn’t done churning just yet. A new report is claiming that Apple will release updated MacBook Pros this summer and that they will make the switch from using AMD GPUs to Nvidia graphics.

Late this afternoon The Verge confirmed Joanna Stern’s report that the new MacBook Pros will feature new Nvidia graphic chips. The report cannot confirm which specific chip will be used, but it is believed to be similar to the 28nm GeForce GT 650M – a chip that provides similar power and performance efficiency to the 28nm GeForce GT 640M.

Rumors surrounding Apple’s new lineup of MacBook Pros have been picking up steam over the last couple weeks, with several reports over the last several days revealing more and more details surrounding the next-gen notebooks.

According to a new report from Bloomberg, Apple will announce its new MacBook Pros at its Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) on June 11th. The new MacBook Pros will feature super hi-res ‘Retina’ displays, Intel’s Ivy Bridge processors, and solid-state drives. We can also expect more announcements at WWDC regarding OS X Mountain Lion, iCloud, and iOS 6.

May is Mobile Management Month at Cult of Mac, where we will be profiling a different mobile management company every weekday. You can find all previous entries here  and read our Mobile Management manifesto here.

MobileIron was one of the first companies to launch support for Apple’s mobile management framework. The company has a rich experience of helping organizations of all kinds manage iOS and mobile device deployments. MobileIron’s team has experience solving mobile management issues in business, healthcare, government ,and education markets. The company focuses on developing an integrated solution using its cloud technologies and existing business/enterprise systems and infrastructure. At the same time, MobileIron focuses on making initial deployment and ongoing management as efficient as possible while still providing effective device and network security. The company also offers a range of monitoring feature that go beyond security including tracking of device and app use, network performance, and mobile expenses – all under the moniker Mobile Activity Intelligence .

iMessages is really cool, and apparently it gives AT&T’s CEO bad dreams of happy customers because it gives us sweet little SMS messages for free. For the most part, iMessages works really well, except there are times when messages get all delayed you miss some important conversations between friends. Brian Chen at the New York Times’ and a number of other iMessage users have been experiencing frequent delays lately with their messages, but here’s a quick way to fix it.

As AT&T continues to roll out its LTE network across the country, some markets are getting markedly lower speeds for LTE iPads and other devices. In fact, two of the company’s largest markets are getting speeds below the national average for AT&T’s LTE service and below Verizon’s LTE service in those areas. Those two markets are Los Angeles and Chicago – but several other cities may be in for the same issues as AT&T expands its LTE service in the coming months

Intel may be the biggest world’s biggest chip maker, but the company failed to cash in on the mobile technology craze. Staying focused on desktops and laptops where it had a near lock on general computing market, Intel missed out taking the lead in smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices.

Now trying to play catchup, Intel has introduced its own ARM-competing tablets. The company is so confident (or arrogant) that it thinks it can make chips so compelling that Apple “can’t ignore” them for future iterations of the iPhone and iPad.

Facebook has begun rolling out an improved photo layout for its news feed across its mobile web, Android, and iOS apps. The update addresses the way a series of photos are displayed in a feed, making it hard to see each small thumbnail. Thanks to the new design, album photos will be displayed more elegantly in a collage-like view. You should start seeing the new look across Facebook’s mobile apps today.

We all remember the Zune. Microsoft’s failed attempt at an iPod competitor gained about as much traction as Windows Phone 7 has during the last two years. Apple already had its hands around the music industry’s neck with the iPod and iTunes — there was no room for something like the Zune. It wasn’t that the Zune was a bad product, it was just too late to the game.

Former Microsoft executive Robbie Bach was in charge of the Zune division, and in a recent interview he acknowledges that Microsoft made a mistake releasing the Zune in the first place.

Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) will be the source of many new announcements from the Cupertino company in the coming weeks. iOS 6 is widely expected to be demoed for developers, and there are whispers that we may even see some new hardware. Expect June to be a crazy month.

A new report from The Wall Street Journal says that Apple is planning significant upgrades to iCloud that it will announce at WWDC. New photo sharing features for posting and commenting on pictures in iCloud will be announced alongside the ability to wirelessly upload and sync videos across iOS devices.

You probably hate cable just as much as I hate cable, right? There’s like five shows on this planet that I want to watch, but I have to wait around for them to air or record them to my DVR, and I can’t take them with me unless I want to be naughty and download them illegally. Getting video wherever, whenever you want it should be a staple of the 21st century but cable companies aren’t making that easy because they refuse to embrace new technologies like Apple’s AirPlay service.

In a telling interview, Time Warner Cable’s CEO, Glenn Britt, admitted he doesn’t know what the heck AirPlay is, and thinks it’s too hard to get video from your computer to play on your TV.

I have a love/hate relationship with destruction videos. Love because, well, who doesn’t love seeing how tough our gadgets really are? And hate because smashing up perfectly good items shows everything that is shameful and bad about our wasteful modern society.

So it is with mixed feelings that I bring you Kai W of DigitalRev TV and his series of ever-more-cruel ordeals for the Canon 7D SLR.

Last week, Adobe created a firestorm of user unrest when it issued a series of security bulletins impacting three applications of its Creative Suite and said that users must pay to upgrade to the latest versions of the apps if they wanted patches that would close the vulnerabilities.

The company was quickly besieged by users, technology professionals, and security experts demanding that it reverse course and offer security patches to users who couldn’t afford the upgrades (or didn’t want to spend the money). Even though company quietly backpedaled and announced it would offer security updates without acknowledging the reason for its about face or offering an apology, the gaffe raises concerns that Apple’s yearly OS X release cycle might lead it down a similar path.

Remember when Siri was saying that Nokia’s Lumia 900 was the “best smartphone ever?” Obviously it wasn’t Apple that programmed such an answer; Siri uses WolframAlpha to those kinds of questions. In this instance, it was a case of out-of-date information and poor review ranking.

Now that the whole fuss is over, you can ask Siri “What’s the best smartphone ever?” and get the correct result. Looks like Apple changed the answer. Who would have thought our iPhones would have their own egos in the year 2012.

Last week a Chinese news site called ChinaDaily published a report saying that Foxconn CEO Terry Gou said his company was “making preparations for iTV, Apple Inc’s rumored upcoming high-definition television.” The statement was then turned into a whirlwind of Apple iTV/HDTV “confirmed by Foxconn CEO” stories that made the rounds.

Foxconn is now saying that its CEO did not confirm Apple’s rumored television set in any way.

The federal government along with U.S. wireless providers will be rolling out a new Emergency Text Alert System this month. The service will be free and will provide geographically targeted wireless emergency alerts for life-threatening events such as: tornadoes, flash floods, hurricanes, typhoons, tsunamis, dust storms, extreme winds, blizzards and ice storms. The text alerts will be brief and will inform consumers to seek additional information or immediately seek shelter if necessary. You may have experienced such alerts via third party weather application or private services but this will be the first national service by the federal government and the wireless industry.

If you still think your Mac is immune to malware and malicious infections then it’s time to stop kidding yourself. The recent Flashback trojan has proven that these a real issue for Apple’s desktop operating system, and as long as Mac OS X continues to grow, so will its infections.

But Apple is now working to prevent them. It issued a fix for the Flashback infection after it became apparent just how huge it was, and the Cupertino company is now teaming up with security specialists Kaspersky to identify other vulnerabilities.

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak recently made some comments concerning Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook’s upcoming IPO. In an interview with Bloomberg, Woz said that Zuckerberg was a combination of himself and Apple’s other co-founder, Steve Jobs. Woz cited Zuckerberg’s shrewd business sense combined with his passion for engineering and tinkering, with the latter set of qualities embodying Woz’s expertise.

Not only did Woz praise Facebook for its upcoming IPO valued at $96 billion, but he also said that he would invest in Facebook regardless of the opening price.

Apple made it into the top 20 companies on the Fortune 500, nabbing 17th place – an impressive feat for a company that ranked at number 71 just three years ago. When it comes to ensuring a happy workforce, however, Apple didn’t measure up to Fortune’s standards.

Fortune’s list of the 20 best employers drawn from its list the 500 top companies was published over the weekend. Apple didn’t make the list, though some of its competitors did. One of them actually topped the list – Google.

Does the name of the day contain the letter “y”? Then it must be time for a new Kickstarter project. This time we bring you the Day Maker, a rather ingenious toaster-like alarm clock which pops up your iPhone when it’s time to get your lazy ass out of bed in the morning.

DigiTimes reports that Apple’s manufacturing partners in Taiwan are said to be bending over backwards to secure orders for the company’s latest devices by constructing specialized plants that will be dedicated to producing parts and components for the iPad mini and the next-generation iPhone.

The hacker known only as pod2g has been working an a new untethered jailbreak for iOS 5 that’s been in the works for several months. Pod2g’s jailbreak was originally set for iOS 5.0.1, then 5.1, and now it’s been confirmed that it will work on the newly-released iOS 5.1.1. The only catch is that the third-gen iPod, iPhone 3GS, and third-gen Apple TV won’t be able to install the untethered jailbreak while running Apple’s latest version of iOS.

Pod2g has posted a short FAQ detailing some more info about the upcoming jailbreak.

The iPad’s design and capabilities have always made it intriguing option for doctors and other healthcare providers. Shortly after Apple launched the iPad two years ago, technophile doctors began bringing them into their offices and a number of hospitals began launching pilot programs centered around it.

That initial burst of interest and enthusiasm hasn’t slowed in the slightest according to a new report from Manhattan Research. In fact, iPad use by U.S. doctors has nearly doubled in the past year and adoption is set to continue at a meteoric rate over the next twelve months.

Leica seems to be on a roll, at least when it comes to making up crazier and crazier prices for its cameras. And nothing screams “overpriced” more than a special edition. Well, nothing except a special edition with “Hermes” in its name.

OK. There is one thing more expensive, a special edition Leica, with “Hermes” in its name, and with the whole thing written in French. Behold: the “Leica M9-P ‘Edition Hermès Jean-Louis Dumas’,” a camera that costs just $50,000.