MiniUsage is a clever little menu bar app for Mac OS X 10.5.8 or later. It allows users to see what’s going on within their system, from memory to CPU to disk access, right from the OS X menu bar. It’s also compatible with AppleScript, so savvy users can geek out a bit and customize the behavior of the app.
Several reports that surfaced during the days preceding Apple’s latest iPad event suggested that while the U.S. would get LTE connectivity in the new device, it would be stripped out for those in Europe, where LTE networks are yet to launch.
To everyone’s surprise, Apple left the LTE chip in for us Europeans. But the problem is it won’t support European LTE networks.
Does the idea of an Apple TV with Siri functionality make the insides of your toes tingle with excitement? We’re there with you, and we totally want to know what it would be like to have Siri in our living room whispering us sweet nothings. Apple didn’t announce a new iTV with Siri functionality yesterday, so we’ll have to wait a little while longer to see what the future holds, but to hold us over till that day comes, Tripp and Tyler made a new video to show us what a Siri TV would be like.
It is absolutely breathtaking.
I’m amazed at how well Apple is managing to meet demand for the new iPad so far: 16 hours after the pre-order page went live, you can still order an iPad for March 16th delivery. That’s a herculean feat, given how many people want one, but Tim Cook’s been complaining for the last year that they would “sell more iPads if they could build more”… obviously he’s since gotten his house in order.
Never the less, it looks like Apple is finally starting to run out of pre-order units. Specifcally, as of writing, delivery estimates for the white iPad LTE on AT&T have slipped to March 19th, although you can still get any of the models on March 16th in black, and Verizon and WiFi-only models are still unaffected.
The moral? If you want a new iPad, it’s time to pre-order now. My guess is that before the day has passed, the delivery estimates are going to start slipping across the board.
What does it take to make a 3-D photobooth, one capable of spitting out the amazing Instagrammatical animated GIF seen above (without the animation, thanks to the Cult of Mac’s JPG-only policy)? If you’re design company Digital Kitchen, it takes three Canon 5D MKIIs, four MacBook Pros, a Sony HD projector and a whole lot of glue and paint. It’s called the Protobooth
You just can’t keep the Dev Team down. Just hours after Apple officially released iOS 5.1, it’s already been jailbroken. But as usual with these 0-day jailbreaks, there are some caveats.
Here is the new Pages for iOS, as announced by Apple last night.
Not a huge amount has changed here, to be honest, but there are one or two nice additions, stuff that help Pages retain its top spot in the small world of word processing on iOS.
The new iPad’s Retina display “will have a huge impact on games”, one developer told Cult of Mac this morning.
Tim Cook kind of rushed past the Apple TV update yesterday. On the surface of things, not much changed: 1080p was the only real new feature, as the new iOS-like interface and Netflix sign-up are also available on older Apple TVs via update. But under the hood, the little black box is powered by a custom single-core A5 chip.
During Apple’s iPad keynote yesterday, Phil Schiller, its senior vice president of worldwide marketing, claimed the tablet’s new A5X processor offers 4X the graphics performance of NVIDIA’s quad-core Tegra 3 chip.
NVIDIA says that while it was “certainly flattering” to be called out by the Cupertino company, it will be performing its own benchmarks on the new iPad to see if Apple’s claims are really accurate.
Apple is getting really serious about using the iPad in large organizations. School and workplace admin people are going to be very pleased with Apple Configurator, a new Mac app which lets you — surprise! — configure multiple iPads at once, all from the comfort of your own computer screen.
The curtains have barely drawn to a close after Apple’s new iPad keynote, but the spotlight is still shinning on Cupertino, only this time in a negative way. A new report by the Wall Street Journal claims that Apple’s E-Book pricing has come under scrutiny of the U.S. Justice Department who is threatening to sue Apple for allegedly colluding to raise the price of electronic books.
Following the release of iOS 5.1 and the long-awaited ability to delete individual photos from Photo Stream, a new version of iPhoto for Mac has been released with the same feature. You can now delete photos from your iCloud Photo Stream on all of your Apple devices and have your changes synced instantly.
Disappointing news for those of you that haven’t pre-ordered a third-generation Apple TV already: the shipping estimate just fell to 1-2 weeks instead of guaranteed delivery to your doorstep on Friday, March 16th.
The new Apple TV set-top box streams 1080p HD video and features a revamped user interface. Tim Cook wasn’t kidding when he said we should all pre-order the thing as soon as possible during today’s keynote.
Thousands of Apple fans let their jaws hit the floor earlier today when Apple announced “the new iPad.” There was no “iPad 3,” no “iPad HD,” no “iPad Epic Pro Super X 4G LTE Touch.” Just iPad. Apple broke the numbering scheme and went back to the basics.
Why? Apple VP of Worldwide Product Marketing Phil Schiller revealed the answer after today’s keynote.
A very interesting factoid has been revealed in the newly-released iPhoto for iOS: Apple isn’t using Google Maps. More specifically, Apple is using its own mapping technology to provide map tiles in its brand new photo editing app.
There have been rumors for many months saying that Apple is working on proprietary mapping technology to replace Google Maps, and it looks like the rumors are true.
The announcement of today’s new iPad with its retina display has undoubtedly propelled technology a few years into the future. The amount of features packed into the new iPad and its accompanying software is pretty mind blowing when you slow down and take a minute to think of our progress over the last 40 years. Mankind has been dreaming of such a device for over 75 years. In the April, 1935 issue of Everyday Science and Mechanics, this crazy contraption above was their dream version of the iPad.
Apple has officially released its new TV ad simply entitled “the new iPad.” The 30-second commercial only features the tablet’s gorgeous Retina display. It’s simple and elegant.
“When a screen becomes this good, it’s simply you and the things you care about.”
Today’s keynote is available for streaming online and there are other videos for the new iPad on Apple’s website.
There’s a nice refinement to the iOS lock screen in the 5.1 update released today: now, your iPhone’s camera lurks just beneath the lock screen, and you can jump straight into it with an upward swipe.
Previously, it was possible to toggle a button that appeared in the same position, and took you to the camera when tapped. In iOS 5.1, that button becomes a handle for swiping, and seems to be permanently in place.
UPDATE: Experimenting with this today, I discovered that if you swipe up to show the camera from the lock screen, you can swipe down again from the top of the screen to put the camera away and lock the phone again. The downwards swipe won’t show Notification Center.
Apple has noted that iCloud can now be used to re-download movies and TV shows that have been purchased from the iTunes Store. During today’s keynote, it was revealed that the third-gen Apple TV would support 1080p HD video, and Apple gave its iTunes video catalog a 1080p facelift to match. On top of that, iCloud will now let you access your purchased video content on all of your devices as many times as you want.
The new feature is welcomed, but there are a couple major Hollywood studios that have not made their content available on iCloud. Universal and Fox haven’t been able to ink a deal with Apple yet.
In the slew of software updates Apple has released today, version 5.0 for the Apple TV brings the new user interface that was demoed during today’s keynote. The new icon-based interface harkens to the feel of iOS with “channel” hubs for content providers like Netflix and MLB.com.
5 app-like icons are displayed for each row under the interface’s top marquee. Apple’s cloud-based iTunes Match service can be used to access your music library on the Apple TV, and iTunes Home Sharing can be used to access libraries locally stored on your network. You also have direct access to Netflix, MLB, NBA, NHL, Apple’s own Trailers app, Wall Street Journal Live, YouTube, Vimeo, iTunes Podcasts, Internet Radio, Photo Stream, and Flickr.
Netflix was a big part of the new Apple TV presentation today, and almost like an afterthought, the streaming video king has an announcement of its own: Netflix is getting enhanced integration with iTunes and the Apple TV.
Naturally, the biggest upgrade to Netflix on Apple TV is support for 1080p video an Dolby Digital 5.1 audio, but Netflix has also announced that users will now be able to sign up for Netflix directly on the Apple TV and even pay using their iTunes account.
That’s a big coup, but it also implies Netflix is giving Apple a 30% cut of every sign-up. Given how many studios are fleeing them lately, seems to me like Netflix could use all the money it can get.
The new iPad comes equipped with LTE 4G networking on AT&T and Verizon in the United States, and data plan prices for the nation’s largest carriers can now be compared. As you can see, AT&T offers the cheapest option with a $15/month for 250MB option.
Like always, these iPad data plans can be purchased month-to-month on either AT&T or Verizon with no long-term commitment. The new iPad offers Personal Hotspot for creating a WiFi network out of your 4G connection. LTE 4G will get you up to 72Mbps when available, but the iPad also supports HSPDA 3G for speeds up to 42MBps. Regular 3G will be used when nothing else is available.
Our awesome Twitter follower @presstopher was one of the first to get iOS 5.1 downloaded on his iPhone and noticed an odd update – his AT&T iPhone 4S (that runs on the 3G network) is now lying, claiming that it is running on a 4G network. iOS 5.1 changes AT&T iPhone 4S to show that they are using a 4G network. It’s complete malarkey and we’re stunned that Apple and AT&T have made this move.
We told you that Apple announced the stunningly beautiful iPhoto for iPad today during the keynote, and it’s already available for download in the App Store! The $5 app is actually a universal download for the iPhone and iPad, so you get even more bang for your buck!