Cult of Mac

Since the iPad first shipped in April of last year, the tablet has been slammed by critics as a content consumption device, a feature-limited Tablet PC and a pointless plaything for rich yuppies.

Apple itself positioned the iPad as a living room knee-top device, something for mindlessly flipping through apps or games while watching Comedy Central. Steve Jobs even introduced the iPad while sitting on a padded living room chair.

All this spin makes our friend, the iPad, come across like some kind of lazy slacker. In fact, the iPad has become a hard-working professional. But why? 

For those who love their iPads but miss the warm, muted sounds of a 78rpm phonograph, feast your eyes on the iVictrola iPad dock. A successor to the iVictrola iPhone dock a few years ago, this acoustic amplifier uses the speaker outputs of your iPad and an antique Magnavox phonograph radio horn to playback anything from Bix Beiderbecke to Lady Gaga – no electricity required.

There has been a plethora of reports about leaked next generation iPhone parts that are allegedly for either an iPhone 4S or 5 model. Now we are seeing an equal number of rumors about iPhone 4S/5 case designs. Most of these new case designs probably started after an alleged next generation iPhone design document leaked earlier this summer. Indications are that case vendors are taking this leak seriously and producing cases based on the information they have received.

MacRumors previously commissioned a set of renderings trying to decide what the next iPhone will look like. Later they analyzed the existing third-party cases to help decide what that device might look like. The results they were left with are a bit puzzling.

I went to the local Apple Store today in Friendswood, Texas at the Baybrook Mall to grab something and I came home with another unofficial Apple accessory from a Mall kiosk.

Global Cell, Inc., a cell phone accessory store sitting just outside the Apple Store, sold me an iPhone 5 rubber case for $19.95 plus tax.

We told you yesterday that Apple had allegedly lost a next gen iPhone prototype in a San Franciscan tequila bar. Through a string of events, it was uncovered that Apple had purportedly tracked the prototype device to an apartment in Bernal Heights and sent a private security team on a recovery mission.

The San Francisco Police originally said that it had no knowledge of such an investigation, and it was believed that Apple’s security team could have posed as police for the purpose of searching the apartment of Sergio Calderón. Now, the SFPD is saying that officers did in fact help Apple in the attempt to recover the mysterious iPhone prototype.

With the news that HP is seriously reevaluating the longevity of the webOS platform, it looks like another mobile OS has fallen by the wayside.

After being largely abandoned by Nokia for Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS, Intel has announced a ‘temporary’ halt on development of Meego. The company will reportedly focus on hardware development for either the Windows Phone OS or Android.

Amazon’s rumored tablet is very real, according to MG Siegler of TechCrunch. The ‘Amazon Kindle’ tablet runs a fully-customized version of the Android OS that “you’ve never seen before.” The device will sell for half the price of the entry-level iPad, and it’s expected to ship in November.

Rumors have been that Apple will introduce enhanced voice recognition features in iOS 5. While such features have remained hidden in the developer betas of iOS 5, some have managed to dig into the software’s SDK and find evidence.

Now, it has been confirmed by an unnamed Apple employee that Nuance-based speech-to-text functionality in iOS 5 is very real, and it’s being tested at Apple right now.

It’s widely believed that Apple will unveil two iPhone models at once at its next event. One model has been dubbed the ‘iPhone 4s’ while the other device is rumored to be the iPhone 5. The 4S will supposedly be a cheaper, re-tooled version of the iPhone 4, while the iPhone 5 will consist of noticeable upgrades, like a faster processor and better camera.

The iPhone 4S is supposedly codenamed the ‘N94’ prototype internally at Apple, and the newly-released iOS 5 beta 7 gives some more details about the mysterious device.

With the last iOS 5 Beta released just a couple days ago to patch up that iTunes Match streaming thing, we won’t see another beta seeded until at least next week… but devs still have something to look forward to playing with this weekend, as Apple has just seeded a new build of OS X Lion 10.7.2 (build 11c48) to developers, as well as the 10th beta of iCloud for Mac.

This one’s nuts. Remember how there were no police reports about the missing iPhone 5 prototype, even though CNet reported that police offices had actually searched a man’s house looking for it? The guy whose home was searched in search of that lost iPhone 5 prototype says the officials weren’t actually police officers… they were Apple employees impersonating them.

The implication is that the officials, who appear to be members of Apple’s security team, were impersonating police, a crime punishable by up to a year in jail in California.

Did Apple really lose an iPhone 5 prototype in a San Francisco tequila joint? It’s starting to look doubtful.

Either way, though, Apple wants to be better safe than sorry. That’s why they are looking for managers for their unreleased products security team.

Apple Stores are no stranger to London City,with the Covent Garden and Regent Street stores already serving the area, but no town can have too many Apple Stores, which is why the proposed Apple Store development at 100 Cheapside would be such a boon for the area.

The only problem? It might not happen, and the reason might surprise you: neighbors claim it would block out too much sun.

Earlier this week, CNet surprised everyone by reporting that Apple had lost yet another iPhone prototype at a San Francisco bar. We were so intrigued that we stopped by to talk to the manager but he didn’t know jack about it.

You know who else has never heard anything about a lost iPhone 5 prototype? The San Francisco Police. Which is weird, because according to CNet’s story, they were called out to investigate.

AT&T expected it would have more time to argue its case for the $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile USA. However, just one hour after CEO Randall Stephenson expressed confidence the buyout would be approved in early 2012, Justice Department lawyers announced an antitrust lawsuit blocking the deal.

Back in October of last year, Steve Jobs wrote someone asking him why USB 3.0 wasn’t in Macs and said: “We don’t see USB 3 taking off at this time. No support from Intel, for example.”

It’s pretty clear that Steve Jobs was saying this in light of his work with the Thunderbolt standard, which leaves USB 3.0 in the dust. But now that Intel is planning on supporting USB 3.0 come 2012 as part of their Ivy Bridge CPU refresh, will USB 3.0 ports come to Macs to complement Thunderbolt?

If its Friday, it must mean another headline-grabbing patent lawsuit against Apple. Wi-LAN, which has a penchant for patent dustups with high-profile tech companies, is suing Apple over Wi-Fi and other wireless transmission technology.

Think Steve Jobs hasn’t done enough with his fortune for charity? U2’s Bono would like to disagree with you. The lead singer of Dublin’s most famous band has written a wonderful letter to the New York Times, praising Apple’s CEO for his work fighting AIDS in Africa.

Never heard of that work before? Sure you have: it’s in every (Product)RED Apple product you buy.

We’ve all heard that the iPhone 5 will have a thinner design than the current model, but how much thinner are we talking about? If any of these Chinese iPhone 5 cases leaking out of Hong Kong are anything to go by, about half as thick, but quite a bit larger.

Check out this full gallery on Macitynet.it, as they plug an iPhone 4 and fourth gen iPod Touch into an iPhone 5 case to contrast sizes. It’s illuminating.

[via 9to5Mac]

People can spend a lot of time surfing the web in Safari and sometimes we get to a page that we cannot read. The reasons you cannot read the page might include having misplaced your reading glasses or perhaps you just want a better look at some fine print before buying something online then this tip is for you.

They’re running through the entire playbook over at Pogoplug for a touchdown (yeah, guess I’m jonesing for the football season to start). Their latest move is the Pogoplug Mobile ($80), out today.

Final Cut users rejoice! Apple has resurrected Final Cut Studio!

After receiving tons of criticism from industry professionals, Apple has decided to offer Final Cut Studio once again to customers. 

Your mom or tween daughter might not recognize them, but Tim Cook and Jonathan Ive are both more influential than Lady Gaga, according to Vanity Fair.

The iconic Conde Nast mag just released its 2011 New Establishment list, and this year it is dominated by people who can still probably go to the mall without being asked for autographs.

Each iDevice has a unique device identifier number. You can need your UDID for multiple reasons, including the beta testing of apps and other diagnostic processes.

We’ll show you how to quickly find your UDID.

While Ashton Kutcher’s high-end Ooma gets all the sexy VoIP publicity and some people remain intrigued by the incomprehensible magicJack, for those looking to seriously leverage telephone calls using voice over IP, the OBi110 and OBi100 adapters from Obihai Technology continue to impress with their feature range and flexibility.