Apple’s future notebooks could be even thinner as Intel works to “significantly” reduce the power consumption of its future Ivy Bridge processors. The company’s existing chips — like those installed in today’s MacBook Air — are rated at 17 watts, but sources say the new version will be well below this.
JLab’s brand new Bouncer is a Big JamBox competitor with a Big Jambox competitor’s price-tag: $250 (the BJ is $300). Inevitable comparisons aside, this looks to be a decent portable patio speaker, and it certainly looks the part.
When Samsung lost this summer’s $1.05 billion trial against Apple, we knew Samsung would try any means within their power to get the ruling overturned. And who can blame them for wanting to keep a billion dollars in their bank account?
Since the verdict was read, Samsung has learned that the jury foreman, Velvin Hogan, withheld key facts, like how he was sued by Seagate Technology and went bankrupt because of it. Seagate is partly owned by Samsung, so it could have been that Hogan had an axe to grind against them. Samsung thinks Apple knew all about Hogan, so Apple had to disclose everything they know about Hogan and when they knew it.
One of the better Yuletide traditions is the venerable holiday Advent Calendar, in which each day of December leading up to Christmas is marked off on a special calendar by opening its corresponding door to find a small gift, toy or chocolate squirreled away inside.
This year, we here at Cult of Mac decided we wanted to give our readers their very own Apple-themed advent calendar, filled with the year’s best apps, gadgets, stories and other curios. So each day in December, we’re going to lovingly peel back the door on the Cult of Mac 2012 Advent Calendar to reveal another delicious morsel, something really special that came out this year that we think every one of you should enjoy.
We’re running a little behind, so playing catch up today by posting our first and second day picks along with our choice for December 3rd.
Our Day 1 choice? FitBit, an awesome iOS accessory that can help you get healthier and more fit in no time.
An iPhone case has never “felt” this good (#rimshot). OK, I’ll stop with the puns already. This case for the iPhone 4 from Studio Credence is fashioned from merino wool felt with a leather pocket (and strap, depending on the model). It comes in a variety of tasteful colors, and looks both tough and useful enough to be a permanent iPhone case, even for the committed bareback user.
I’ve been on the lookout for the perfect iPhone 5 dock, and I think I’ve found it in the OCDock. Built from high-grade aluminum and designed to seamlessly integrate itself beneath your iMac or Thunderbolt Display, the OCDock stays out of your way and keeps your desk free from clutter. It also appears to be completely wireless.
I love everything about Foldify, except that fact that it isn’t available yet. I love the name, the promo video, the only-possible-on-an-iPad interface, and even the icon (or maybe, especially the icon). Foldify is an app that lets you design and print 3-D papercraft models, but that description makes it sound a lot lamer than it really is.
Apple’s iPhone penetration strategy is to not release a lot of conflicting models, but to drop the price on previous iPhone models every time the new one comes out.
Right now, for example, Apple sells the iPhone 5 starting at $199 on contract, the iPhone 4S starting at $99 on contract, and the iPhone 4 with a two-year contract. In this way, Apple can sell an iPhone to anyone, regardless of their income level.
This strategy might be leading to negative repercussions for Apple, though, at least according to a new report, which suggests that Apple is proportionally selling considerably fewer iPhone 5 units during launch than they sold iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 units during their launch window.
News Corp. has announced that it will cease publication of The Daily on December 15, less than two years after the iPad-only newspaper made its debut. The company has said that “technology and other assets from The Daily, including some staff,” will be folded into its New York Post tabloid.
iTunes 11 has a new feature called Up Next. It’s a way to let you know what is going to play next, of course, which is cool when you’re shuffling iTunes tracks, but it’s also a way to set up a playlist of sorts, letting you manage what songs come up at a party, for example.
There are a couple of different ways to add songs to the Up Next queue as well. Here’s how.
Apple has announced today that the iPhone 5 will be launching in South Korea on December 7, followed by 50 additional countries throughout the month, including Brazil, Russia, and Taiwan. Add that to the 47 countries where it’s already on sale, and Apple’s latest smartphone will be in 97 markets by 2013.
In Russia, you don’t buy music… you pirate it, along with pretty much everything else digital. That could soon change, though, as Apple is apparently now inviting a small group of Russians to an iTunes event scheduled to take place in Moscow tomorrow, December 4.
Samsung has once again taken the top spot for mobile market share in the United States after attracting more than a quarter of mobile subscribers. The Korean company claimed 26.3% of the market as of October 2012, but rival Apple is quickly catching up. The iPhone maker saw the highest level of growth among cellphone manufacturers, and managed to overtake LG to take second place.
When you open up a new Apple gadget — whether it be a new MacBook Pro or an iPhone 5 — the packaging will almost always tell you it’s been “designed by Apple in California” and “assembled in China.” But Apple’s new iMacs are an exception to that, because some of the all-in-ones are being assembled in the good old United States of America.
Following its acquisition of Instagram earlier this year, Facebook is said to be eyeing up another popular service. Cross-platform messenger WhatsApp could be the next item on the social network’s shopping list as the company looks to extend its mobile presence, according to sources close to the matter.
Shipping times for the iPhone 5 have improved again as Apple continues to catch up with the handset’s initial demand. Just 7 days after shipping times dropped to one week, the Apple online store now states that new iPhone 5 orders will be dispatched in just 2-4 business days.
One of the highlights of The iStack Mac Bundle 2.0 is Camtasia 2 for Mac. This app gives you flexible recording options, professional – and yet easy-to-use – editing tools, along with web and mobile sharing capabilities so that you can show incredible video screencasts to the world.
Now there are several other options out there that you can choose from when it comes to screen-capturing apps (I even did a comparison of the original Camtasia for Mac with its chief competition last year here at Cult of Mac), but by including it in this Cult of Mac Deals offer you are getting some serious savings.
Fantastical — the incredible calendaring app from Flexibits — is kicking off this week’s must-have apps roundup, and it’s accompanied by KitCam, a great new photography app that gives Tap Tap Tap’s Camera+ some real competition. We also have some big updates to Apple’s Remote app and Vimeo.
It’s back by popular demand.! You have a chance to win $580 worth of stellar productivity apps from The Omni Group for your Mac thanks to Cult of Mac Deals.
If you’ve been on the lookout for some of the best productivity Mac apps on this planet, Cult of Mac Deals has got you covered. One lucky winner is going to take home 5 of The Omni Group’s top-notch apps that will level up both your home and work life.
The new iMac went on sale in the Apple Store yesterday morning, and initial demand has already caused shipping estimates to slip from 1-3 to 7-10 business days. The base 21.5-inch model is now shipping in 7-10 days, while the faster model still ships in 1-3 days. The 27-inch iMac won’t be delivered for 3-4 weeks, meaning many orders probably won’t arrive in time for Christmas.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has noted that new iMac supplies will be constrained for awhile due to the complicated manufacturing process overseas.
Source: Apple
Apple’s new iMac went on sale yesterday, and like clockwork, the folks at iFixit have performed a thorough teardown. Given Apple’s track record, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the 2012 iMac is incredibly difficult to repair. The razor-thin LCD is glued and fused onto the frame, and accessing the RAM and hard drive is like cracking open a vault.
The new iMac scores pretty low on iFixit’s repairability scale, but the machine’s innards are still quite an impressive feat of modern engineering.
Today is December 1st, which means that it is World AIDS Day, “an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV, show their support for people living with HIV and to commemorate people who have died.” Apple has been a longtime partner with the Global Fund and (RED), and today Apple Stores around the world are honoring World AIDS Day by literally going red. Many Apple retail store logos have been colored red to raise awareness.
Apple has also added a banner on its heavily trafficked homepage that encourages customers to donate towards AIDS research.
iPhone cases come in all shapes, sizes and purposes. This has been the case, so to speak, since iPhones first hit the market in 2007.
But the somewhat recent explosion in crowd-funding iPhone case projects has radicalized the available offerings.
Some cases offer aesthetics. Others focus on protecting the phone. Still others extend battery life.
One phone, for example, does it all. The AQUA TEK S for iPhone, a Kickstarter project that has already far exceeded its fundraising goal, makes your phone water-proof, shock-proof, dust-proof and, the piece de resistance, die-proof — it has a solar panel to charge to charge the phone!
One of the coolest or craziest categories of iPhone case, depending on your perspective, is the kind that provide personal self defense. These cases turn iPhones into a deadly weapons.
And almost all these phones do at least one other useful function besides self defense.
So why is an iPhone case a good place to build self defense? It’s simple: You carry your phone everywhere. So anything you want to make sure you have all the time no matter what, you need to attach it to the phone. So if you want to always have a way to defend yourself, build that defense into the iPhone case and you’ll always be prepared.
Don’t try to take these cases on an airplane, though. None of these cases is likely to make it past airport security.
Here are the five best iPhone cases for self defense:
Kicking off this week’s list of must-have iOS games is Dreamcast classic Jet Set Radio, a terrific skating game in which you rollerblade around a fictional city and tag buildings, rival gang members, and more with spray paint. It’s accompanied by Pong World, the first official Pong game for iOS; a massive update to FIFA 13, and more.
The jury’s still out on what effect the firing in August of some key players at Hipstamatic will have on the app itself — but the toy-camera simulator is still pumping out the FreePaks, those cute virtual lens-and-film pairings that often tie in with some pop-culture reference. This time it’s based off the star-stuffed Gangster Squad flick, set to be released early next year. Oh, and they’re giving away a Canon 5D Mk III in a contest, if you’re interested.