Jony Ive certainly can’t be accused of not applying his minimalist mantra to every aspect of life.
Having previously been announced as the co-designer (with BFF Marc Newson) of the Christmas tree at London’s famous Claridge’s hotel, Ive’s creation was unveiled over the weekend, and — surprise — it’s a plain tree with no decorations, set on a white background.
Really, were we expecting anything different?
Looking for some app recommendations to get you through this chilly November Sunday? Want to know which apps have been occupying our Macs and iOS devices this week — and why? Then you’ve come to the right place for our weekly roundup.
Whether you’re looking for an entertaining puzzle game or a great update for a fun fitness app, check out our recommendations below. You won’t regret it!
The tech industry appears to be nice and clean, but it has a long and toxic history of environmental damage. Silicon Valley is home to the most Superfund cleanup sites in the country.
A new film, Death by Design, takes a sobering look at the electronics industry and its toxic environmental legacy — both in the United States and in China. The film offers a behind-the-scenes look at the cost of the devices we consume in some measure of ignorance.
Apple features heavily in the film, though it’s not the only tech company implicated.
This week on Kahney’s Korner, I talk to the documentary’s director, Sue Wiliams, about Apple, pollution and Silicon Valley.
This week on The CultCast: The reviews are in! We’ll tell you what praises and complaints reviewers have about new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar. Plus: The one Touch Bar feature you’ll absolutely covet; why the new Designed by Apple in California book is an artifact Apple fans will love; Apple quietly rebuilds a library of its gadgets long past; how to get the best Black Friday deals; and we review the hawt new Mavic Pro drone by DJI, then crash it into a cliff.
Our thanks to Harry’s for supporting this episode. Harry’s super-sharp, German-made razors ship free right to your door and for way less than the drugstore razors. Learn more at Harrys.com and score a free shave set with code CultCast at checkout.
New York County District Attorney Cyrus Vance wants the Trump administration to help create federal legislation requiring Apple and Google to remove default encryption from their smartphones.
The recommendation comes from the DA office’s second report on Smartphone Encryption and Public Safety, presented by Vance at the opening of the Manhattan DA’s new cyberlab. New York County is currently sitting on 423 iPhones it can’t break into, even with a warrant, so the DA’s office is pushing for change.
Apple’s HomeKit platform is set to power an entire community currently under construction in San Jose.
Real estate development firm KB Home revealed today that its new community, Promenade at Communications Hill, will be the first ever in the US to have HomeKit technology built-in, providing a seamless experience from the foundation up.
Apple has finished unveiling its product lineup for 2016, and yet again it appears to have forgotten about the Mac Pro. The high-end desktop will be three years old next month, and although it might look pretty on the outside, it’s way past its best on the inside.
Apple won’t tell us why the Mac Pro isn’t a priority anymore, but its focus is clearly elsewhere. This is a problem for creative professionals who rely on the extra power the machine provides. For some, the iMac just isn’t beefy enough.
Some believe Apple should license macOS to third-party computer makers that are willing to cater to the pros Apple is ignoring. It’s a move Apple would never make, but is it a good idea?
Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we battle it out over whether Apple should let rival PC vendors build macOS machines!
For many ugly years, manufacturers considered industrial design an afterthought. They would outsource the task to a contractor or neglect it altogether, in an effort to get products out quickly and cheaply.
The result: hideous-looking products that didn’t work well or proved difficult to use.
Nowadays, companies like Apple are changing the game when it comes to incorporating industrial design and user experience into product engineering.
On this episode of Kahney’s Korner, I talk with Oliver Seil, senior design director with Belkin International’s Innovation and Design Group. Seil is Belkin’s Jony Ive, the top designer who overseas the company’s diverse array of products.
Belkin specializes in mobile accessories, from power packs and iPhone cases to WeMo home automation products
The iPhone 7 has barely been out for two months but the first concept designs of next year’s iPhone are ready to get you hyped for a future without bezels.
Early rumors for the 2017 iPhone have claimed Apple plans to make some major changes. The home button and bezels at the top and bottom could get the boot. And with a curved OLED display, Apple’s next phone may be the most beautiful one ever.
Take a closer look:
A bug in macOS Sierra is incorrectly telling some users that their MacBook Pro just got a nice graphics upgrade.
Some 15-inch units are packing Intel Iris Pro 580 graphics, according to the built-in System Information report. But in actual fact, they have Intel Iris Pro 530 graphics instead.
Earlier this week, Apple debuted its pricey $200-$300 Designed by Apple in California coffee table book — and, boy, has it already garnered a ton of publicity. Not all of it favorable.
In a fake ad which debuted on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the Apple book is ridiculed for, well, basically being an insanely expensive book.
Check it out below.
Apple has hired a former Wall Street Journal correspondent from China to assume the post of PR Director for its Shanghai office.
Given that Apple shows such a mastery of the press, it’s no surprise to hear that it’s used to picking the cream of the tech-reporting media crop to work in its PR roster. Wei Gu falls into this category — even if her new role comes at a challenging time for Apple in China.
Apple has finally responded to the “touch disease” issue plaguing older iPhone 6 Plus units. The company this week launched a new repair program that gives users the option to get their handset fixed for a flat fee of $149.
Increasingly, some Apple fans think Jony Ive has lost it.
He’s killing ports and headphone jacks left and right. The latest MacBooks value form over function. He’s designing gold watches for the 1 percent.
And now his glossy new photo book, Designed by Apple in California, looks like a $300, linen-bound ego trip.
The indie rock band Airplane Mode does indeed get its name from the feature on an iPhone that shuts off wireless transmission.
The name and the resumes of three of the band’s musicians — well-established iOS designers — have led more than a few people to assume they have found a source of cute parody music about Apple culture.
In fact, you won’t find any iPhones, iMacs or odes to Steve Jobs in the lyrics of the tight, hard-charging synth-driven music. However, the band’s roots in Apple culture permeate everything else, from its use of technology and understanding of social engagement to its start-up energy.
And there is one other way: Airplane Mode is making money.
The new MacBook Pro finally lands in stores this week, and an awesome new Apple ad celebrates the arrival.
In the new spot, called “Bulbs,” Apple links the invention of fire, the wheel, plow and more to the creation of the Touch Bar, the thin OLED strip that completely changes how you interact with your Mac.
A secret team of Apple employees are working on a project that will turn iPhone cameras everywhere into a portal for augmented reality.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has said he’s bullish on the future of AR, and according to a new report the company is working on a total game changer.
Cord cutters rejoice — Sony revealed today that it is bringing its popular streaming service, PlayStation Vue, to Apple TV.
Apple will reportedly slash its 30 percent App Store fee in half for video services that support its upcoming TV app, according to a new report. The incentive should persuade more providers to support the app, which is set to be released next month.
The dual-lens camera on the iPhone 7 Plus is set to get a big stabilization upgrade next year.
While Apple only added optical image stabilization to the wide-angle lens on the camera this year, a new report claims that Apple plans to bring the feature to the telephoto lens in 2017.
Black Friday is still a week away, but that doesn’t mean the savings are: Best Buy is already offering its Black Friday price on a MacBook Air. That, plus iPad keyboards, a Time Capsule and a MacBook Pro are in this week’s best Apple deals.
The iPhone may soon be made in the USA.
Donald Trump claimed during his campaign that he would force Apple to move production of its products back to America. According to a new report, Apple has already started looking into whether that would be possible.
Some rumors have warned that we might have to wait until the new year for AirPods to arrive, but a number of retailers expect them to arrive much sooner. According to one, they’ll start shipping before the end of the month.
Hackers have discovered a new method to unlock photos and messages on any iPhone, thanks to an iOS security flaw that utilizes Siri and VoiceOver.
iPhones running iOS 8 software and newer are vulnerable to the flaw, which was discovered by EverythingApplePro and iDeviceHelp. The group revealed the hack in a new video that shows you don’t need any coding experience or special hardware to pull it off. All you need is a few minutes alone with a victims iPhone and some help from Siri.
Apple receives user call histories when iCloud is enabled, claims a new report from Russian digital forensics firm Elcomsoft.
The logs include information about calls made and received on an iOS device, along with phone numbers, dates, times, call duration, and even missed and bypassed calls — for both regular and FaceTime calls.