Mobile menu toggle

News - page 2033

New Sandy Bridge Mac Pros And MacBook Airs Will Arrive On Thursday, Right After Lion [Rumor]

By •

MacBook Air and Mac Pro

We’ve been hearing that Apple’s next desktop operating system, OS X Lion, will be released on July 14th. Alongside Lion, there have also been rumors that Apple will release a new MacBook Air and Mac Pro model at the same time.

Apple is reportedly set to release new machines with Intel’s Sandy Bridge chips. The new MacBook Airs aren’t expected to have an exterior design change, but instead focus on improved internal hardware. The updated Mac Pros are rumored to have a rack-mountable, narrower enclosure.  

New Assistive Touch Feature On iOS 5 Beta 3 Is Really Useful

By •

ssistivetouch

This is included in our what’s new in iOS 5 Beta 3 post, but its so cool we thought it deserved separate highlighting.

In the new beta, Apple has activated the “Assistive Touch” settings pane for the iPad (but not on the iPhone or iPod Touch). Update: This works on the iPhone 4, but not my iPod Touch third-gen.

The new feature allows you to activate a menu overlay on the iPad by pressing on a designated corner of the dock after clicking the Home Button twice. This menu then allows you to trigger all of the iPad’s functions just by tapping an icon.

Parallels Announces Enterprise Edition For Better Corporate Mac Integration

By •

parallells

Today Parallels announced the release of Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac Enterprise Edition. The new version of the popular Parallels Desktop 6 virtualization program gives enterprise IT departments support for deploying Windows-based business applications for Mac users. It is a configurable policy compliant solution that easily fits into existing business processes.

Apple Wants To Starve Samsung Out of the Smartphone Business [Report]

By •

Apple and Samsung side-by-side
Photo by T-Kim - http://bit.ly/oJaSJz

As you probably know, Apple and Samsung have been battling each other in court over a heated “copycat” lawsuit for awhile now. Apple accused Samsung of stealing the iPhone’s design for Samsung’s own series of smartphones, and Samsung has been retaliating with counterclaims.

Pretty standard stuff. What makes the legal battle between Apple and Samsung more interesting is that Apple has been using Samsung as an internal parts provider for the iPhone. Now that’s about to end. In the midst of this copycat legal battle, it appears that Apple is looking to give Samsung a swift kick to the gut by taking its $5 billion/year parts order business elsewhere.

iOS 5 Beta 3 Now Available For Download!

By •

Screen Shot 2011-07-11 at 1.31.29 PM

Apple has just released the third beta of iOS 5 to registered developers, known as Build 9A5259f. We’re downloading and installing now, but in the mean time, if you’re a registered developer, get downloading at the iOS Dev Center.

Noticed anything new in Beta 3? Drop us a line in the comments below! Here are the release notes.

Analyst: LTE Would Make Next iPhone As Bulky And Inefficient As An Android Phone

By •

A simple new circuit could double iPhone data speeds. Photo: Apple
A simple new circuit could double iPhone data speeds. Photo: Apple

There are a lot of reasons why it’s unlikely that the next iPhone won’t boast true LTE speeds. For one thing, the national coverage for LTE is virtually non-existent. For another, first-gen LTE chipsets are by Apple’s own estimation far too juice hungry to go into the iPhone.

If you needed any more cold water dashed on your hopes of an iPhone 4G in September, though, consider iSuppli’s latest report. They say that an LTE chip in the iPhone would make it the bulkiest and most expensive iPhone yet.

OS X Lion Kills Rosetta PowerPC Support, Here’s What To Do About It

By •

RosettaTombstoneapp

It isn’t a secret that Apple is killing support for Rosetta in OS X Lion 10.7 the first version of OS X that won’t support the PowerPC platform and apps designed to run on it.  All applications requiring Rosetta support turn into “tombstones”  that can no longer be executed after upgrading to OS X Lion. Here’s what they look like and information on what to do about it.

Why Facebook and Google+ are the iPad’s ‘Killer Apps’

By •

Google+

Remember the old “killer app” concept? The idea is that an application becomes so desirable that it guarantees massive sales of the hardware platform it runs on.

The Wikipedia has the best definition I’ve seen: A killer app is “any computer program that is so necessary or desirable that it proves the core value of some larger technology, such as computer hardware, gaming console, software, or an operating system. A killer app can substantially increase sales of the platform on which it runs.”

The best examples are VisiCalc on the Apple II and Lotus 1-2-3 for the IBM PC. Don’t laugh. Without those early “killer apps,” you may never have even heard of the Mac or Windows. (“Cult of Commodore,” anyone?)

Right now, everyone thinks the iPad is successful, and it is. But the number of iPad users sill pales in comparison with, say, the number of Windows users or the number of Facebook users (each boasting well over half a billion users). As much as we love our iPads, we must admit that so far the tablet is an optional toy for rich young people. The iPad dominates tablets, but tablets are on the fringe. The iPad, and the tablet, have not yet found their “killer app.”

But they will. And soon. Both Google and Facebook are both about to release their first-ever iPad apps for social networking. And I think the experience will be so compelling that it will drive millions of new users to get iPads, just for social networking.

Sponsor Leander On His 130 Mile Death Ride And Help Cult of Mac Raise Money To Fight Blood Cancer

By •

deathride

Cult of Mac needs your help to raise money to help fight blood cancer. And we need it ASAP!

This morning, Leader will be up in the California Alps, where he will be undergoing The Death Ride, an extremely challenging 130-mile bicycle route that goes up and over five mountain passes in the awesome Sierra Nevada. Leander is doing all of this to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training Program.

The Death Ride? As its name suggests, it is absolutely fricking insane. It amounts to 15,000 feet of climbing in one day, most of it between 6,000- and 9,000-feet above sea level, where the air is pretty thin. Here’s the elevation map. For an idea of how high that is, see this amazing infographic. It’s a masochistic ordeal.

With just a few hours until the Death Ride starts, Leander is still short $250 of the minimum $3500 pledge he needs.

Please, if you’ve got any money to spare, consider pledging it to Leander. I don’t know if you’ve seen Cult of Mac’s Editor-in-Chief, but he’s not exactly in what you would call peak physical conditioning. Most of the time, he’s really more martini than man. That Leander’s going to ride 130 miles up and down mountains today until the meat sloughs off his bones is an awesome enough feat for him to accomplish without him having to pay $250 out of pocket to do it.

Here’s the link to support Leander. All donations are tax deductible. Help Leander out, would you? This really is for a very good cause.

Tips from a Journalist on Recording, Editing with your iPhone

By •

Picture 3
VeriCorder's iPhone editor

The iPhone is a powerful reporting tool, so much so that the BBC is creating an app that will help reporters make the most of it in the field, replacing more expensive and sometimes less reliable equipment like satellite phones.

Many other mobile journalists are using them in the field. Their tips for recording and editing audio and video can come in handy for any iPhone user who wants to capture a lecture, conference or family moment — then edit and send with minimum hassle.