A few years back Seattle Rex had gone all out on a 17” MacBook Pro – spending approximately $4,500 on the then top-of-the-line machine ($5,100 including AppleCare). The particular MacBook Pro he bought turned out to be defective. The laptop’s Nvidia graphics processor started displaying symptoms of the defect shortly after his AppleCare expired. A few days later the laptop died completely – it wouldn’t even start up. At the time Rex’s laptop broke down the defect was a known and well-documented issue. Apple had even issued a tech note and was replacing defective models as they failed.
Larry Ellison acknowledged recently that Oracle considered buying RIM
One of the interesting tidbits to emerge from testimony during Oracle panent infringment trial against Google is that Oracle had considered producing its own smartphone and buying either RIM or Palm. The testimony came from Oracle chief Larry Ellison, who was a close personal friend of Steve Jobs. Ellison is, in fact, quoted as describing their relationship as “best friends” in Walter Isaacson’s biography of Jobs.
The news raises some interesting questions – not the least of which are whether Jobs knew of the plan and what impact Oracle jumping into the smartphone game against the iPhone might have had on their friendship. Jobs was obsessed with the idea that Google and its former CEO Eric Schmidt (also a former Apple board member) had ripped off Apple’s iOS design work in creating Android.
As you may know, Apple is being targeted by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for calling the new iPad “4G-capable” when Australia not only doesn’t have any LTE networks, it will never have LTE networks compatible with the new iPad.
Apple’s already changed the wording on its website in response to the complaints to make it clear that Australian customers buying an iPad WiFi + 4G are only getting HSPA+ speeds at best, but that may not be good enough. Regulators are now targeting Apple in a lawsuit over their use of the term 4G, and Apple’s already preparing its defense.
That defense? That 4G doesn’t actually refer to any specific technology, but is just a marketing term. And honestly, at this point, that’s about right?
We’ve all been there, that moment when the bill for that great mobile plan you signed up for comes in. Monthly access charges, usage charges, surcharges, taxes, governmental surcharges & fees — the list goes on… and on… and on. The FCC and others call this “bill shock,” while I call it well… we’ll save that for another day. Regardless of how we feel about these charges and fees, they are the services we signed up for and agreed to pay. Unfortunately it’s not always easy to monitor our usage and it can be very easy to incur overage charges when it comes to services like data and text messaging.
Regional carriers launch the iPhone at a $50 discount
Earlier this month, five regional U.S. carriers announced that they would begin carrying the iPhone 4 and 4S. All were offering the devices at $50 less than the standard list prices of the larger national carriers (AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint). All five carriers are in more rural areas of the country that aren’t well served by the national carriers. Two are in Alaska, for example.
Probably the most widely anticipated gaming release on the Mac scene this year is Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo III, which is due to be released — after years of buzz and a twelve-year gap since Diablo II — on May 15th.
The Diablo games are fantastically-tuned hack-and-slashes in which you explore randomized dungeons, collect loot and gelatinize waist-deep hordes of monsters, and if you’ve never played one, you either hate gaming or have been woefully deprived.
Luckily, we can right that problem easily enough. Although there’s a month left before Diablo III is available to purchase, you can play the game’s beta up to level 13 for free all weekend long.
Your iPhone’s touchscreen might look just like a single pane of living glass, but there’s a lot more going on than meets the eye. Every iPhone is comprised of multiple layers: an LCD that actually blasts the pixels out of the Retina Display, a glass substrate laye separating the LCD from the touch layer that translates your finger swipes and prods into input the system can read, and a layer of protective Gorilla Glass on top.
Obviously, Apple’s existing touchscreen tech works well, but having so many different layers has its drawbacks. A big one is that it adds to the iPhone’s thickness. But Apple may already be on the cusp of inking a deal with Sharp and Toshiba to adopt in-cell touch panel displays, which should lead to a slimmer, lighter iPhone 5.
Lots of handy shortcuts get added to your lock screen with FlashLock.
Cydia is home to one too many lock screen tweaks. There are classic packages like LockInfo that enhance the iOS lock screen with all kinds of handy shortcuts and features, but there’s also tweaks like LockLauncher that are messy and ugly. With that said, FastLock is a refreshingly simple take on lock screen shortcuts for jailbroken iPhones.
Popular music recognition app Shazam released a standalone music player for the iPhone back in January. The app lets you scan your iPhone’s library and play back tracks with Shazam’s lyric service, LyricPlay. You can also queue tracks and create playlists specifically for the Shazam Player.
As of today Shazam has updated its music player app for the iPad. The latest update packs LyricPlay and Retina graphics.
Valve co-founder Gabe Newell recently addressed the rumor that Apple CEO Tim Cook visited his company last week in an interview with Seven Day Cooldown. Newell flat out denied the rumor, originally published by AppleInsider, that Tim Cook visited Valve HQ.
Cult of Mac originally added to the rumor by saying that Apple could have been meeting with Valve because Apple is working on its own type of gaming console for the living room, and was potentially looking for partnering with Valve.
While it’s been revealed that Cook did not in fact visit Valve, our sources have again reiterated that Apple is absolutely continuing with its plans for a living room gaming presence regardless of Valve involvement.
The next iPhone could have faster speeds than your home's DSL.
Many have speculated that Apple’s next iPhone will have lightning fast LTE ‘4G’ networking speeds. Chipset maker Qualcomm has been experiencing incredible demand for its next generation 28-nanometer LTE chips, and industry watchers are saying that device markers are having to adjust their LTE product roadmaps accordingly for 2012.
This news could be a factor in why Apple’s sixth-gen iPhone probably won’t hit the shelves this summer if it does indeed come with LTE. Instead, analysts are predicting an October rollout, mimicking the iPhone 4S launch just last year.
iGenApps lets you create mobile web apps right from your iOS device
Puerto Rico based iGenApps showed off its signature service at the DEMO Spring event in silicon valley this week. iGenApps offers the ability to create iOS and other mobile apps with no programming knowledge and just a basic working knowledge of HTML. The service is centered around web app development, but the company claims a premium service will turn web apps into native apps for a price.
We’ve already told you about JailbreakCon, the world’s first jailbreak convention. The event will be held in the United States this September in sunny San Francisco, California. Tickets are on sale now, and we hope to see many Cult of Mac readers there this fall.
Featuring the original Apple logo designed by Ron Wayne, this iPad case is fit for kings.
Holy crap. Check out this amazing custom iPad cover Redditor 44 Oz. had made for him by Australian-based leatherworking firm High On Glue, made with premium leather, suede lining, a kangaroo leather spine and embossed with the original Apple logo designed by Ron Wayne back in 1976, featuring Sir Isaac Newton resting under an Apple tree.
I don’t usually like folio-style cases, but I’m sliming myself with thick ropes of drool here. Covetous ropes of drool. This is a thing of beauty. Beat the rush and go give High On Glue your business, they’re going to be backed-up for months after this case goes viral.
It’s been a busy day for photo sharing community 500px. They managed to launch a major update to their iPad app as well as release their first ever Android app. While Instagram is all the rage these days and has amateur mobile photographers giddy inside, 500px is a photo community built around passionate photographers and enthusiasts who discover, publish, share, buy and sell thousands of photographs every day. You won’t be snapping pictures with this app but you have the opportunity to:
When people ask why Apple doesn’t make its iPads in America, the usual explanation is that labor costs are so high, there’s no way an iPad could be made in the country for less than $1000. That answer has always lacked weight, as the manual labor of constructing an iPad is actually a very small portion of its overall build cost: building an iPad in America would cut down margins, but not double the price.
No, there’s a better reason why every iPad gets made in China, and you can find it on your local periodic table. Every iPad is made with a sizable number of rare earth metals… all of which can only be mined in China.
Apperian's app management system now let's employees help develop company apps
Mobile app management company Apperian announced two new features for companies looking to expand the use of iOS, Android, and BlackBerry apps as part of an overall mobile strategy. One feature aims to connect end users within a company with IT staff and developers for collaboration on new and existing apps. The other is designed to give employees an easy way to rate and comment on apps already in use.
Apperian provides app management and deployment services for business and enterprise customers. The company’s EASE platform allows IT to create internal app stores showcasing both internal apps and public apps that are available through the iOS App Store. The company also provides a range of related services including the ability to push out apps and updates to devices over the air.
With the right iOS tools, IT pros can manage a datacenter from anyplace
The iPhone and iPad are great mobile work solutions for many professions and IT is no exception. With the right collection of apps, virtually every IT job role can become mobile. Systems administrators, user interface designers, and even help desk agents can use their iOS devices to keep tabs on the technologies that they manage and resolve problem at any time from almost anyplace.
IT tools for iOS cover a wide range of ground from basic remote access to network diagramming. Here are a set of tools that no IT department should be without.
Continuing with their 12 city rollout, AT&T has added three new cities to the LTE club today. Those living in Akron, Ohio; Canton, Ohio; and Lafayette, Ind will now be able to take advantage of the fantastic speeds LTE has to offer. While AT&T doesn’t come close to having the LTE coverage that Verizon does, they certainly have the speed — as shown by PC World’s independent testing.
There are few photo editing apps on for the iPad that are as versitle and easy to use as Snapseed while also giving users some great tools to make photos look better. It’s the best photo editting app on the iPad, but earlier today Snapseed released a new update for the app that makes it even better.
We may start seeing more viruses make their way to the Mac.
The Flashback trojan has been making the news after it was discovered that 600,000 Macs had been infected with the malware. Apple released security patches to combat the update, and a recent update from Norton Symantec indicated that the number of infected Macs dropped to 140,000 4 days later.
Now another statement from Russian security firm Kaspersky reveals that the number of infected Macs has plummeted to 30,000. According to Kaspersky, Mac users should start being more wary of malware when surfing the web.
Like pens, Aviiq's Ready Clips won't tangle, and are hard to lose
When traveling, I achieve tangle-free gadget nirvana with Griffin’s stubby little USB cables, a set of short, stiff connectors which are impossible to tie a knot in, let alone get twisted up with each other. But Aviiq’s new Ready Clips (slogan: “They bend over backwards for you”) go one better. Not only are they stiff yet pliable, they also have a built-in clip for securing them into a pocket.
Think Apple's software is free from vulnerabilities? You couldn't be more wrong.
Apple’s operating systems and its software are generally believed to be the best available in terms of security and stability, but a new report from Trend Micro reveals that’s a huge misconception… at least in recent months. In fact, the Cupertino company suffered more vulnerabilities during the last quarter than rivals like Oracle, Google, Adobe, and even Microsoft.
This is the default signature on AT&T’s new Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket. Sorry. Rather, what I meant to say was, this is the default signature on the Samsung Galaxy SS™ II Skyrocket™, an AT&T:P 4Gℌ LTE℞ smartphone℃!!!!!!
Even though I’m on a computer like 10 hours a day, I still suck at a lot of computer things. Like making a resume that looks worthy of distribution. Apple’s Pages app is one of the best word-processing tools available, but people like me need some extra help to make high quality documents without the fuss of complicated interfaces. The guys at Emendo Media saw that problem and have come out with an awesome new app to help iOS users create gorgeous, well designed documents through Pages using their iOS app Templates For Pages Pro.
Templates for Pages Pro is the best way to create professional looking, high quality and polished documents with Apple’s Pages application on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. With more than 222 different templates divided into 20 different categories, the app significantly expands the possibilities of Pages creating all kinds of trendy, functional, and time-saving documents. The app makes it super easy to create letterheads, invoices, resumes, coupons, newsletters, flyers, and so much more that look like they were touched by a professional designer.
Today, we’ve partnered up with Emendo Media to give 10 free copies of their amazing app to our readers. Even if you don’t use Pages a ton, you’ll want to keep this app in your back pocket for those times that you do. Entering the contest is easy, but you have to play to win.
