Cult of Mac

“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

– Steve Jobs at the Stanford University commencement address in 2005

Beautiful. Here’s the video:

Image: Ryan Katsanes

Bill Gates offers his condolences:

I’m truly saddened to learn of Steve Jobs’ death. Melinda and I extend our sincere condolences to his family and friends, and to everyone Steve has touched through his work.

Steve and I first met nearly 30 years ago, and have been colleagues, competitors and friends over the course of more than half our lives.

The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come.

For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it’s been an insanely great honor. I will miss Steve immensely.

[via AllthingsD]

Steve Jobs has been survived by his wife Laurene and three children. They have released this beautiful, terse statement.

“Steve died peacefully today surrounded by his family.

In his public life, Steve was known as a visionary; in his private life, he cherished his family. We are thankful to the many people who have shared their wishes and prayers during the last year of Steve’s illness; a website will be provided for those who wish to offer tributes and memories.

We are grateful for the support and kindness of those who share our feelings for Steve. We know many of you will mourn with us, and we ask that you respect our privacy during our time of grief.”

Robert Scoble snapped pics of the Cupertino campus with the flags flying at half mast today in honor of co-founder Steve Jobs’ passing.

You can see more of his photos here.

Via Foursquare

Tim Cook’s email to Apple employees regarding the passing of Steve Jobs is below:

Team,

I have some very sad news to share with all of you. Steve passed away earlier today.

Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.

We are planning a celebration of Steve’s extraordinary life for Apple employees that will take place soon. If you would like to share your thoughts, memories and condolences in the interim, you can simply email [email protected].

No words can adequately express our sadness at Steve’s death or our gratitude for the opportunity to work with him. We will honor his memory by dedicating ourselves to continuing the work he loved so much.

Tim

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rwsuXHA7RA

Before I get any further, I readily admit that what follows is going to be indulgent. I can’t call it self-indulgent, because my hope is that it will be far more about my hero Steve Jobs and the millions upon millions he inspired than it is about me. Consider this one Machead’s experience, nothing more. And though I knew this day couldn’t be too far into the future, I also never expected I would be forced to reflect on his life, past tense, so soon. This has been a difficult hour. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and those who had the privilege to know him well.

CBS News called the 56-year-old co-founder of Apple the “Edison” of our times.

Apple has started an email address for people to share your thoughts, memories and condolences on the death of Steve Jobs:  [email protected]

How will you remember Steve?

Follow @nmar

Apple has announced that Steve Jobs the co-founder of Apple, has died. He was 56 years old.  Apple made the announcement this afternoon and we’ll have more updates on this breaking news throughout the evening.

If you would like to share your thoughts, memories, and condolences, please email [email protected]

At least three of Apple’s Cupertino Campus buildings and Hewlett-Packard’s headquarters were shut down as police chase the suspect of a multiple homicide.

Radio station KQED’s extensive reporting during the day has it that suspect Shareef Allman, an employee of  a Cupertino quarry, was at an early work meeting this morning attended by around 15 employees.  Allman left the meeting, returned with an automatic rifle and a handgun then shot eight people, killing  three, wounding seven others.

Next time you’re in San Francisco with your iPhone taking pictures of the monuments, try Time Shutter for a blast in the past.

It offers 246 shots of the City by the Bay snapped 100 years ago. Thanks to a geo-coded map, you can find the points of interest on a walking tour and see how things have changed.

Apple unveiled “Siri” yesterday. The revolutionary technology is integrated into the iPhone 4S to bring you dictation and voice recognition capabilities that will knock your socks off.

We gave you a breakdown of how Siri compares to Google’s similar “Voice Actions” technology for Android, and Apple’s approach is leagues ahead of the competition.

If you’d like to know exactly what Siri can do for you on the iPhone 4S, an extensive list of compatible voice commands has surfaced that lets you know what Siri is capable of. Check inside for the details.

Apple sells an unlocked iPhone 4, so it stands to reason they’ll do the same for the iPhone 4S. Even so, we’ve yet to get any direct confirmation that Apple’s got an unlocked model planned, which is sort of a bummer, since an unlocked world phone iPhone is seriously tempting.

It does seem, though, that Apple may have an unlocked iPhone 4S in the pipeline, based on info found by selecting an iPhone 4 on the Apple Online Store and then clicking the link titled “About the unlocked iPhone.”

What’s weird is the text says the iPhone 4S won’t look on CDMA-based carriers, which is just bizarre, since the hardware should surely allow it. I’m guessing this is just hastily updated boilerplate that will be refined over time, but it’s still pretty strange.

[via MacTrast]

Lots of people are scratching their heads over Apple’s iPhone 4S announcement. Did Tim Cook and co. drop the ball? Or is the outlandish iPhone 5 rumor mill to blame for such high expectations?

Regardless of the what you think about the iPhone 4S, Apple certainly knows what it thinks. In fact, you can see exactly how Apple retail employees are being instructed to pitch the iPhone 4S to customers.

Today an AT&T customer service representative (CSR) lays the blame for the current upgrade pricing squarely on Apple, inc. According to the AT&T CSR we spoke to this morning upgrade eligibility dates and the pricing models are all dictated by Apple, Inc. and they cannot be changed.

If you’ve had an iPhone long enough you’ll recall a similar customer service fiasco a couple of years ago with the iPhone 3GS.  If you missed the last time early adopters weren’t able to upgrade and extend their contracts take a look at Apple and AT&T Royally Screw Loyal iPhone 3G Customers it wasn’t pretty.

If you stood in line last year to buy an iPhone 4, the year before that for an iPhone 3GS, etc., and count yourself a loyal Apple customer? Well, we’re all idiots, because Apple and AT&T just screwed us royally and now it looks like history is repeating itself.

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHE6IYKhIUE&feature=player_embedded

After showing off the sequel to their elegiac App Store masterpiece, Epic Games has now released the first teaser trailer for Infinity Blade II… and it looks just as incredible as it ever did. You can expect to get your hands on the app on December 1st.

In the mean time, Epic and Chair have also released another free content update to Infinity Blade, as well as a new ebook.

Author Jonathan Zschau, writer of Buying and Owning a Mac: Secrets Apple Doesn’t Want You To Know says the top reason why Apple is so successful may be that it is just so darn easy to buy stuff from the Cupertino, Calif. company. “The phrase ‘eyes bigger than one’s stomach’ comes to mind here,” he writes.

Don’t be fooled by the fact that the iPhone 4S looks identical to the iPhone 4. Deciding which iPhone to buy this year is more complicated than it ever has been, and there’s a lot more variable to consider now than there ever have been in the past.

Should you buy an iPhone 4S, iPhone 4 or iPhone 3GS? Should you get one in white or black? Should you get one with 8GB, 16GB, 32GB or 64GB of storage? Should you sign up with AT&T, Verizon or Sprint?

Those are big questions, and the answers will vary from person to person. Still, Cult of Mac has given this a lot of thought, and for most people, we recommend buying the 16GB Sprint iPhone 4S in White.

Below you’ll find our logic, but if you disagree, pipe up in the comments and explain why. We’re going to take the reader consensus and turn it into another post. We can’t wait to hear which iPhone the hive mind will choose.

Are you one of the Apple fans disappointed the iPhone 4S didn’t live up to the months of hype over the “iPhone 5”? Don’t worry, the hype train is still chuggin’ along, this time it’s load is full of rumors about — guess what? — yes, the “iPhone 5.”

Meet Julie Summers. She’s a “street worker” (prostitute) who is dragging her industry into the 21st century. Julie is the first — certainly that I know of — who doesn’t just accept cash, but will also take card using the Square service on her iPhone.

While there’s a lot more to a camera’s quality than megapixels, Apple’s initial batch of images taken with the iPhone 4S’ backlit 8MP camera are impressive. Really impressive.

Here’s the caveat, though: these are all images taken by professionals using absolutely perfect light conditions, likely with tripods. The pictures you take with your iPhone 4S in a pitch black club after you’ve had one too many Snake Juices are likely to vary wildly.

Check out Apple’s incredible photos after the jump.

Many Mac users have multiple systems of varying ages, and often several different copies of their iTunes and iPhoto libraries. Here’s how to get them all in one place:

Your post today about sharing libraries made me wonder whether you have addressed importing/merging libraries across two Macs. My wife has a desktop PowerMac G4 Cube and a newer MacBook. She wants to import both her iPhoto and iTunes libraries to the MacBook, but I’m not sure how to accomplish this. Also, because the Cube has slow USB and the MacBook has no Firewire, I’m not even sure how to get the data over to the MacBook without it taking eons. Any thoughts would help.

Thanks! Rik

Wall Street analysts, after watching disappointed investors sell-off some Apple shares, Wednesday attempted to remind consumers that the iPhone 4S maker is still a rock star, pulling in profits like nobody else on the planet.

If you’re eager to get hold of an iPhone 4S, but you only splashed out on an iPhone 4 12 months ago, then you’ll be pleased to hear that Apple will buy back your unwanted device for up to $200 via its Reuse and Recycle program.

Mac OS X Lion brought about changes to some of the gestures in Mac OS X. If you prefer the way the gestures worked in Mac OS X Snow Leopard you can bring some of them back. The trick to go back in time is just one key away.

Case company Hard Candy sold thousands of cases for a mystery Apple device that it believed Tim Cook would unveil yesterday.

Customer’s were so excited by the prospect of a jumbo iPhone with a 4.44-inch diagonal screen, they pre-ordered a couple of thousand cases based on the rumor.

“Crazy day,” said Hard Candy CEO Tim Hickman after the Apple event. “We have to cancel a few orders. Two thousand cases were ordered since you ran your story. That’s bad ass! Apple consumers love, love, love to play in this world.”