As the fifth generation full-sized iPad, users likely know what to expect from the newly-released iPad Air. And while the device doesn’t try and reinvent the wheel by radically altering the iPad’s genetics in either abilities or form factor, the mere fact that Apple has proven able to further hone what was already a winning concept — by decreasing the size and weight, upping the speed and power, all while maintaining battery life — is reason enough to mark down the iPad Air as an assured winner in the tablet category. This verdict is more than backed up by the reviews which have begun flooding in over the past 24 hours, with reviewers now having had around a week to test Apple’s newest tablet.

Last week at Apple’s iPad keynote, Phil Schiller finally unveiled the baseline price for the Mac Pro will start at $2999, to the surprise of many. Keep in mind that’s only for a quad-core unit and the six-core units start at $3999. However, Apple announced 12-core units will also be available as a customized option, meaning that baseline price is just the tip of the iceberg for how deep Apple will reach into your pockets for a maxed out Mac Pro.

Apple still hasn’t announced official pricing for those hefty upgrades, but pros should expect to pay upwards of $10,000 for a top notch Mac Pro. According to the estimations of Unbox Therapy, a top-of-the-line Mac Pro with max upgrades will probably cost around $14k!

Watch Unbox Therapy break down the numbers in the video below:

Apple’s product announcements used to be the most exciting events in technology. Nowadays they’re boring, awkward and cringeworthy.

What happened? 

Phil Schiller just got done revealing Apple’s new line up of MacBook Pros that promise bigger performance in a smaller package. One thing Schiller didn’t mention though is that Apple has decided to kill the 15-inch MacBook Pros with optical drives that the company has continued to offer to customers.

Over the last few years Apple has stripped optical drives from the MacBook Pro and iMac to allow for smaller device profiles, but continued to offer the 15-inch MacBook Pro with an optical drive for professionals who still need to burn DVDs and CDs. If you still want a machine with a DVD drive, Apple hasn’t done away with all of your options just yet. The Apple Store Online still offers the 13-inch MacBook Pro with a SuperDrive starting at $1,199.00.

Apple CEO Tim Cook took the stage today at San Francisco’s Moscone Center to kick off the special keynote event that we’ve dubbed here as the iPad Event.

Cook began his presentation with some numbers, including the nine million new iPhone 5s and 5c models that were sold over the first weekend of availability. Cook called it the biggest iPhone launch, ever, and showed a video to underline his point.

After announcing new MacBook Pros, Apple’s Phil Schiller turned everyone’s attention to the Mac Pro. The all-new Pro was originally teased at WWDC in June, and today Schiller called it Apple’s “vision of the future of the pro desktop.” Schiller also revealed that the Mac Pro will be assembled entirely in the U.S, as was previously rumored.

After months of waiting, Schiller finally unveiled the machine’s base price: a hefty $2999. An exact release date has still not been announced, but Apple says it will be available for purchase before the “end of the year.”

Ever since Phil Schiller admitted that Apple considered making a standalone camera at one point, we’ve wondered what the results would look like if Sir Jony Ive’s obsessive attention to detail was applied to a full-framed camera. As part of Bono’s charity auction for Project (RED), Leica unveiled The Leica M for (RED) designed by Jony Ive and Marc Newson that will be auctioned off at Southeby’s on Nov. 23rd to fight AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis.

Jony and Marc redesigned the Leica M by going through a total of 561 models and nearly 1000 prototype parts over 85 days to create the one of a kind camera that features a laser machined aluminum body, and an anodized aluminum outer shell to go with the full-format CMOS sensor inside.

Get a glimpse of all the impeccable details in the gallery below:

How good is the iPhone 5s camera? Good enough for National Geographic. And Apple’s own Phil Schiller is getting braggy about it on Twitter.

Apple and Samsung are headed back to San Jose on November 12 to clash again over the retrial of their billion-dollar patent lawsuit that Apple won in 2012, and it looks like Scott Forstall might be coming back to testify as a witness for Apple.

The jury originally rewarded Apple $1.05 billion in damages, but after finding some errors in the awards, Judge Lucy Koh has cut $450 million from Apple’s award. Samsung and Apple filed a joint pretrail statement that listed the potential witnesses that might be called and both Scott Forstall and Apple’s marketing chief, Phil Schiller appeared on the list after both were witnesses at the orignal trial, before Forstall was fired. 

Earlier this morning in the Cult of Mac chatroom, Killian told me that “iOS 7 as a whole is little more than a lick of paint.” He was baiting me of course (I hope so anyway, or I have some punishment to administer), but it’s a common enough view. However, as we shall see, there’s plenty going on under the hood too.

Exhibit A: Mail app now lets you look right inside ZIP attachments and open the individual documents direct.