Cult of Mac

“I just bought this iPad, but I’d like to return it.” OK, the Walmart clerk must have thought.

Duh. Who would buy an iPad, then return it a few minutes later?

The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), founded in 1901 as the nation’s first federal physical science research laboratory, launched a pilot program for the iPad 2.

Review by Jordan Trimas

The Arctic P311 Bluetooth headset ($40) is an excellent option for those desiring a pair of über-comfortable Bluetooth stereo headphones without having to hock a family heirloom to afford them. My first impression, naturally, was that I probably wouldn’t get a top-performer for $40, so expectations weren’t high. But it was love at first listen when the P311s emerged from their packaging.

Apple’s no stranger to lawsuits, but this one’s a bit bizarre: a New York photographer is suing Cupertino for using one of her copyrighted photos in an iPhone advertisement. But does she have a case?

Remember a time when people still talked about an Apple tax with a straight face? It’s been laughable for years, but with the debut of the iPad, became a self-evident joke: if Apple overprices their hardware, why the heck can’t the competition make an equally specced, sub-$500 tablet?

The disparity between what Apple can make and sell a product for and what the competition can has only grown more pronounced since the debut of the $999 MacBook Air.

It’s such a big disparity that Intel has launched what it calls the UltraBook initiative to help laptop makers release capable MacBook Air competitors… but even with Intel’s help, it’s looking increasingly unlikely that any first-gen UltraBooks will be able to beat the MacBook Air in price.

According to Digitimes:

The sources pointed out that Intel’s ultrabook concept is not a brand new innovation, but a design to allow first-tier notebook players to quickly catch up with Apple’s advances in the ultra-thin segment and help the notebook industry recover from the impact of tablet PCs. The sources pointed out that the new MacBook Airs are priced at about US$999-1,599 with rather strong demand in the US; however, designing an ultrabook based on Intel’s technical suggestions will still be unable to reduce the machine’s price level to lower than the MacBook Air’s unless Intel is willing to reduce its prices, which already account for one-third of the total cost. If Intel does reduce its prices there is a chance for vendors to provide pricing below US$1,000.

So the so-called Apple Tax, in the case of the MacBook Air, is actually an Apple Discount: they’ll sell you a $1299 top-of-the-line ultraportable with unparalleled build construction for $300 cheaper.

Expect this disparity to only get worse as time goes on: Apple’s using its cash hoard to build up a portfolio of future products that the reactionary competition can’t even hope to touch.

This year’s MacTech Conference will open with Guy Kawasaki in Los Angeles from November 2 to November 4. The event will feature sessions from more than 30 speakers, and if you register your place nice and early, you’ll save $200 off your booking fee.

Believe the rumors that we’ll be seeing a Retina Display iPad 2 HD in October of this year? Don’t believe those rumors, but still think Apple’s bound to put a Retina Display in the iPad 3?

It might be time to think again: it’s looking unlikely that Retina Display panels suitable for the iPad will be produced in sufficient quantities until the iPad 4.

This video by the self-declared Final Cut King probably goes on a bit too long, but some of the imagery I could see Apple, in a more whimsical mood, adopting to emphasize just how light, portable and wafer-thin the MacBook Air actually is to people who have never picked one up… although I think it’s more likely that one of Apple’s competitors will just steal this idea to advertise their so-called Ultrabooks.

The iPad is being trounced in the enterprise. Good news for Apple, the iPad’s rival is another Cupertino product: the iPhone. The competitors are single-digit cellar-dwellers, according to a new study of business-oriented mobile devices.

We’ve seen a lot of iPhone accessories here at Cult of Mac, but it’s rare that one leaves us absolutely speechless. Yet when I consider the Hand iPhone Case by Rakuten, my eyes bulge a little, my mouth goes dry, my tongue seems to swell and all I can do is mouth the consonants “W….T…..F……” to myself.

As you can see, the Hand iPhone Case is a disembodied hand… lopped off with an axe, cloned from latex and grafted onto the back of your iPhone, like a human ear growing on the back of a mouse. And hey, if that’s not utterly weird and creepy enough for you? You can pick up a version that pastes a child’s severed hand on the back of your iPhone instead of an adult’s, no additional charge!

Following this morning’s story that reveals Apple’s plans to launch a movie streaming service called iTunes Replay, one analyst believes that Apple has something more spectacular up its sleeve — a service that will take on Netflix.

Now that Lion on your Mac looks just like iOS on your mobile device, Apple is now considering dropping its desktop and laptop software in favor of a single OS platform based on apps and the cloud. The idea has so many advantages, an OS merger is likely to begin next year.

Fresh from its purchase of the Nortel patent cache, Apple is in the hunt to purchase mobile technology owned by InterDigital. Cupertino “frenemies” Google and Samsung are also bidding, hoping Apple won’t lay claim to another piece of technology that Android is dependent upon.

Twitter’s mobile site for the iPhone was overhauled to sport a fancy new interface earlier this year, but the larger mobile site for iPad users was left behind. This week, however, Twitter is rolling out the much-improved new look to the iPad site as well.

Apple has introduced a new feature in Mac OS X Lion called Resume. Resume will automatically reopen all the windows you had open the last time you used an app after you relaunch it.

Not a bad trick for some apps, but for some others it can quickly be really annoying. Here’s a tip on how you can permanently avoid it altogether.

Apple is getting set to launch a brand new service that will compliment iCloud called iTunes Replay. The service will allow users to re-download and possibly stream movies they have previously purchased through iTunes, and could go public within the coming weeks.

It’s increasingly beginning to look like that rumor claiming the iPhone 5 won’t launch until October was incorrect. Not only has Apple reportedly sent the fifth-generation device for carrier testing — a step taken only weeks before a scheduled launch — but according to DigiTimes, the company has ordered 10 million iPhone 5 units expected to begin shipping in September.

Mission Control is one of the big new features in Lion, and like most new features it brings with it some new keyboard shortcuts. One of these is Command+Left Arrow or Command+Right Arrow to move swiftly between spaces.

It’s a sensible shortcut, but on my machine it conflicted with the shortcut I use dozens of times a day to jump to the end of a line of text. If you’re in a similar position, and you’ve found that Command+Right or Left Arrow no longer does what it used to do, here’s how to fix it.

I have a friend I once queried about the contents of his PC gaming library. He looked at me a little quizzically, then replied that he had the only game one ever need play: Civilization. In that instance, it happened to be Civilization 4, Civ 5’s immediate PC predecessor, arguably considered the finest version of the series since Sid Meier’s original 1991 masterpiece.

He’s not alone. Press any gamer for a name that defines the category of turn-based strategy, and the answer will almost invariably be “Civilization.” Intelligent, beautifully crafted, incredibly detailed with finely honed gaming mechanics, the  games are as much a beauty to behold as they are immensely satisfying to play.

The latest installment, Civ 5 ($40), released for the Mac late last year and recently added to the Mac App Store, is the biggest departure from the series since the original.

Apple just released two new commercial ads for the iPhone, and they both play off of the “If you don’t have an iPhone…” pitch we’ve been hearing for awhile.

The first add highlights the iPod + iTunes on the iPhone, while the second features the App Store.

Steve Jobs has always been considered the heart and soul of Apple. He’s the man that has brought us Apple’s most successful products of the last decade, including the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad. He’s been the face of Apple for years, and he’s seen as an industry innovator and pioneer.

Since his third medical leave of absence in January of this year, Jobs has begun to slowly let go of the reins at Apple. He’s still very much in control, but the ‘Age of Jobs’ is drawing to an end.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8KVz0CKbwU&feature=player_embedded

iPhone 5 knock-offs are already available in China, even though the real thing doesn’t even have a solid ship-date yet. Even in white!

All the senators in the West Virginia Legislature will tote iPads in a move to make them more efficient politicians.

OS X Lion Server hasn’t gotten much attention since its release alongside the standard version of Lion, but users will be happy to know that you can actually manage your iOS device’s settings straight from OS X Lion Server.

The main purpose of such a feature seems to be geared more towards system admins and those dealing with multiple iDevices that require similar setting configurations.

Apple’s main mobile competitor, Android, isn’t exactly known for being the most secure platform. While Google’s ‘open’ mentality has proven beneficial in many ways for the Android OS, a non-curated system often leads to compromises in security.

We’ve already seen numerous malware programs surface on the Android OS, and the latest one is particularly villainous.