Cult of Mac

AT&T customers can call and text Japan for free through March 31st, the company said on Monday.

The offer extends to customers in the United States and Puerto Rico, and is in reponse to last week’s earthquake and tsunami.

AT&T also said wireless customers will not be charged for international long distance calls or texts to Japan that were placed after March 11th.

And AT&T landline customers can apply for 60 minutes of credit for calls to Japan from March 11th to March 31st.

Here’s the details from AT&T’s press release:

The consensus on Wall Street is that Apple had a gangbuster weekend, some estimating the Cupertino, Calif. tech giant sold up to three times as many iPad 2 units as the first-generation tablet.

“We would not be surprised to see Apple sell closer to 1 million iPad 2s in the opening weekend,” Wedbush Securitities’ analyst Scott Sutherland (no relation to this reporter) told Reuters Monday morning. Sunday, Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster estimated between 400,000 to 500,000 of the new tablets were sold by Sunday night.

Want to grab an iPad 2 but didn’t manage to get one over the weekend? Word on the street has it that Apple will be opening its Retail Stores one hour early on Tuesday to sell people a new shipment of iPad 2s.

The report comes from Apple Bitch, who says:

While no official announcement has been forthcoming from Apple, anecdotal reports from shoppers across the country trying get an iPad 2 this morning, say they were told by retail staff that even if the Apple Stores were re-stocked today, the iPad 2 would not be sold until tomorrow and for this reason, the Stores would open early for dedicated iPad 2 sales.  We have confirmed this with three retail stores.

In other words, if you want an iPad 2, it sounds like it’s a fool’s errand to spend a lot of time running back and forth between Apple Stores today, looking for a new shipment. Instead, prepare to wait in line first thing tomorrow morning. Could we have a mini repeat tomorrow morning of the long lines we saw on Friday?

The iPad 2 might cost the same as the first-gen tablet… but several components used to make it have actually increased in price: most notably, the price of the iPad 2’s touch display and the cost of manufacturing its new, dual-core A5 SoC.

The biggest component cost increase is for the touch display, which shot up almost $32 in price to $127, compared to the first-gen iPad’s $95 touch display.

John Gruber over at Daring Fireball said something recently that made a lot of Apple’s more seemingly incredible business decisions make sense to me: Apple wants to cut out the middle men by becoming the only middle man anyone using an iOS device needs to go through.

If you keep that in mind, it makes today’s latest news about Apple’s NFC ambitions make more sense. Reportedly, Apple has told carriers that the iPhone 5 won’t have NFC, as Apple is reportedly “concerned about a lack of a clear [NFC] standard.”

If you are a recent Mac switcher and were a fan of Aero Peek on Windows 7, you way be concerned that you are going to be missing out on some handy features in OS X. Well, fear not. Mac OS X has a easy to use feature as well, called Exposé. Exposé brings many of the features you may know from Aero Peek, and integrates them with Mac OS X. In this video, I’ll show you how to use Exposé.

Vito Technology, developers of the wildly successful iOS astronomy app Star Walk celebrates the company’s 10th birthday this week with an update to its more recently released geography app, Geo Walk 3D World Factboook — and especially for Cult of Mac readers — an iPad2 giveaway.

Geo Walk is one of those apps that, while engaging and interesting enough on the smaller iPhone screen, finds new life and greater dimensions of engagement when used on an iPad.

Just marvel at the engineering behind the iPad 2’s Smart Covers. Between them, the iPad 2 and its Smart Cover contain an incredible 31 magnets.

Apple has made extensive use of magnets in the past – to hold a remote control to the iMac, for example, or keep the lid of a MacBook closed. But it has never used so many magnets in a product, or so elegantly.

The 31 magnets in the iPad 2 and the Smart Cover:

• clip the Smart Cover to the side of the iPad
• Keep the Smart Cover attached to the screen when closed
• ensure the Smart Cover retains its triangular shape when folded into a stand
• instantly wake the iPad and put it to sleep when opened and closed

It’s really quite mind-boggling. iFixit has the details.

Did you get an iPad 2 after waiting in line Friday and Saturday? A prominent Apple analyst reported Sunday night New York City and Minneapolis Apple fans found only empty shelves. For those Apple tablets sold, the majority – 70 percent – went to new iPad owners.

“We believe this shows Apple is expanding its base of iPad users, which is critical to maintaining its early lead in the growing tablet market,” Piper Jaffrey analyst Gene Munster said. Munster, who directed surveys of 236 line-waiters, estimates Apple sold 400,000 to 500,000 iPad 2 units – almost all in one day. That compares with the 300,000 first-generation iPads sold over its first weekend in 2010.

A common complaint by Android users is that iOS isn’t customizable. Well, jailbreaking removes that “issue,” and opens up a whole new world. Once jailbroken, users get access to thousands upon thousands of beautifully designed themes, a lot of which are being converted to an “HD” version for retina display support. A lot of recent themes feature HTML5 lockscreen animations, which are really quite spectacular. Hit the jump to check out 15 really cool themes.

One of the first things I wanted to try out on the iPad 2 was the cameras. I found them to be nice to have for convenience and Facetime calls, but less than adequate for photography. Let’s face it they suck at photography when compared to my iPhone 4 and Canon G12.  The iPad 2 won’t be replacing either of these anytime soon. I think that is okay, because I don’t see myself wandering around trying to catch that special moment in time wielding an iPad 2. After all it is kind of big, right?

However, the cameras are there and I might as well make the best use out of them that I can. So I launched iTunes and I looked at the iPhone and iPod touch camera apps within my app library and installed some of them onto my iPad to test.

Here are the results.

Well that was fast! Just 2 days ago, the iPad 2 was released, and it’s now jailbroken. In the picture above, you can see a white Verizon WiFi+3G iPad 2 running Cydia. The jailbreak itself comes courtesy of @comex, the man behind JailbreakMe.com. Continue reading for more information!

Everyone out there that wants a white iPhone it looks like you can keep all your hopes and dreams alive, because Phil Schiller from Apple, Inc. says that you’ll be able to get one soon.

Eric Anderson, asked Phil, via Twitter about how he could obtain a white iPhone and Phil replied, “The white iPhone will be available this spring (and it is a beauty!). ”

What kind of iPhone? iPhone 4? iPhone 5? Will it work on GSM or CDMA networks?

It seems peculiar that Apple would release a white iPhone 4 model with the iPhone 5 allegedly around the corner. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Are you going to buy one?

[via Twitter]

Couldn’t get an iPad 2 this Friday? Don’t want to wait 3-4 weeks for shipping? Money not an object? A black 16GB WiFi iPad 2 is currently – and honestly – listed on eBay as “the world’s most expensive iPad 2” for a mere $199,999.99 (with Free Shipping). Best offers accepted. Better act fast!

A quick search on eBay revealed that more common upper end end prices for the newest iWonder seem to be between $2,000-4,000. Similar models are available on craigslist in Boston and New York with prices topping out at between $1,500-2,000.

Less exorbitant resale prices are also available, so be sure to shop around. If you do spend several orders of magnitude more on your iPad than it’s worth, be sure to get a Swarovski Crystal iPad Case to match!

If you’re like me, and want to keep your Apple investments protected, then this early iPad 2 case by Griffin is just for you. It’s similar to the original and official Apple iPad case in terms of functionality, but it’s made of some pretty decent leather with a suede inner lining. It retails for $39.99, and it’s a perfect buy (considering the iPad 2 was only launched just yesterday). Continue reading to check it out!

If you have an iPad (any model) running iOS 4.3 then you can easily add additional four or five-finger multi-touch gestures to your iPad. It will take only a few minutes and you don’t have to jailbreak your iPad to get them.

The only requirement is that you’ll need a copy of Xcode 4 and if you don’t already have a copy you can purchase it for $4.99 in the Mac OS X App Store. Registered Mac OS X or iOS developers in the paid development programs for either operating system can download a copy of Xcode 4 at developer.apple.com after logging in with their developer credentials.

However, you don’t need a developer account to activate these gestures either — at least for the time being. I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple changes this later.

If you are using Windows you are out of luck that is unless you can find a friend with a Mac to help you out. Xcode doesn’t run on Windows.

Here are the steps.

Keyboard shortcuts are a handy thing to know when working on your Mac. They can save a ton of time and make your workflow much smoother. If you are used to using a PC and have recently switched to a Mac, you will have probably noticed that none of the keyboard shortcuts are the same. If you are confused, look no further. In this video, I show you the top Mac OS X keyboard shortcuts.

It looks as though early iPad 2 adopters are being hit by a previous problem with Apple displays on the iPhone 4  that had yellow tinting appearing on the LCD or backlight bleed through.

These problems are being reported on various news sites and I’ve experienced one of them myself. My own iPad 2 Wi-Fi-3G 64GB AT&T model is displaying some LCD anomalies on the portion of the display closest to the Home button.

It looks like the Apple Japan store has posted a message about the earthquake  — if you can help us translate it (they’ve posted it as an image, so there’s no way to copy and paste it for a robot-translation) we’d be much obliged.

Here’s a translation sent in by Cult of Mac readers @nick_gmit,  @Sugarless_GiRL_ , @Ignignokt:

“To those who have been affected by the earthquake and tsunami, we send sympathies from our heart – In this deep …sadness, we are praying for the victims and their families.”

While we’re on topic,  Apple also set up donations through iTunes for the Red Cross to help victims of the earthquake and tsunami, as it did after the earthquake in Haiti.

Apple has waived their usual 30% cut and donations start in increments of $5.

Early benchmark tests of Apple’s new dual-core A5 chip featured in the iPad 2 have revealed that each processing core is actually clocked at a slower speed than the previous A4 chip, which features in the original iPad, iPhone 4, and the latest iPod touch.

Tests performed by iOSnoops show that overall, each of the A5’s cores runs at least 10% slower than the single core featured in Apple’s A4 chip, running at around 890 MHz in comparison to the 1 GHz A4. The speed of the A5 fluctuates depending on the applications it’s running however, with its lowest speed clocked at 861 MHz and its highest at 894 MHz.

Like we said, the iPad 2 is one slim sexy slab of computing awesomeness. Most of the tech press has yawned at the iPad 2 because it doesn’t seem like there’s a ton of new features. But it’s the small changes — the thinness, the speed, the cameras – -that make all the difference. The iPad 2 is the tablet done right — finally.

For regular consumers, the iPad 2 is irresistible. Look around: the whole world is going iPad bonkers. Did you see the lines at the stores yesterday? There was nowhere near enough stock. A lot of people went home disappointed. And that was just the early adopters. There’s a lot of mainstream consumers lusting for the iPad 2. For weeks, I’ve been taking calls from friends and family of all ages and walks of life, from kids to grandparents. There’s a ton of non-nerds planning to get an iPad in coming months.

Are they right? Is this the iPad to get? What about the rumored iPad 3 in the fall? Should you wait?

Heck no! Take the plunge with the iPad 2. Read on for the details:

If you weren’t fortunate enough to order your iPad 2 through the Apple online store yesterday, you may want to try third-party suppliers and Apple specialists if you want one anytime soon, as shipping time for the second-generation tablet has today increased to 3-4 weeks through Apple.

When the iPad 2 launched yesterday, shipping times started at 3-4 days. They then increased to 5-7 days shortly afterwards, before rising again to 2-3 weeks. Now you could face a month-long wait for that skinny new Apple tablet, while the company seems to be struggling with demand once again.

It hasn’t yet been revealed by Apple how many iPad 2s it sold on launch day, however, industry analysts have predicted that a staggering 600,000 of the devices will be sold during its first weekend. Supply shortages across Apple retails stores, third-party resellers, and now the Apple online store, certainly strengthen these predictions.

[via 9to5 Mac]

Here’s some great news! If you are an iPad Wi-Fi + 3G owner on the AT&T network you are in luck.

You can remove the SIM card from your old iPad and insert it into the new one. Viola! You’ll have instant access to your current AT&T data plan, account, etc.

Apple representatives explained to me that all iPad 2’s are sold — unlocked. You can use any carrier compatible SIM card in the AT&T version of the iPad 2 (or actually any iPad).

So my AT&T 3G connection on my new iPad 2 was up and running instantly with my old iPad’s SIM card. I’ll end up giving the unused SIM card to the person buying my older iPad.

Here it is the iPad 2. After spending long grueling hours in the iPad 2 line at the Apple Store inside of Baybrook Mall in Friendswood, Texas just outside of Houston — I’m worn out!

However, I thought you’d like some photos of the iPad 2 being unboxed before I head off for some grub and well deserved R&R.

So click the read link below and enjoy!

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2WHnDE3i7U

Months of anticipation. Hours of physically waiting. Finally, I got my claws on the iPad 2. First impressions: It’s amazing. It’s a lot like the original iPad only anorexic, sports two cameras, and packs beefier processing power. Apps are fast just like everyone is claiming. Photobooth is a lot more fun to goof around on that I thought it would be. It feels a little bit heavier than I expected, but not in a bad way. It’s solid. My only gripe so far is that the Smart Case doesn’t stay totally flush with the iPad’s casing when you flip it around the back of the iPad when using it. Stay tuned for our in-depth review coming soon.

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3wKYDkCrMs