| Cult of Mac

Apple Amsterdam reopens October 24 with pro filmmaking sessions

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Apple-Amsterdam
Just over one week to wait.
Photo: Apple

Apple will reopen its flagship retail store in Amsterdam on October 24 following months of extensive renovations.

The redesign will feature a Forum and video wall for Today at Apple events. Visitors will also get the opportunity to take part in professional filmmaking sessions to celebrate the store’s reopening.

What’s Your Favorite New Feature Of iTunes 11 [Let’s Talk]

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itunes11ishere

iTunes 11 was finally released today and it’s actually pretty great. The user interface has been streamlined so that superfluous crap gets out of the way when you don’t need it, and there are some genuinely cool features and tricks in the update. It’s a step in the right direction and I’m pretty surprised that I want to start using iTune again thanks to this update.

Now that you’ve had a little bit of time to play with iTunes 11, what’s your favorite feature? Up Next is pretty awesome and I’m digging the album view even though I prefer browsing via artists instead. How about you? What’s surprised you about iTunes 11 so far? What do you love about it? What do you hate? Come over to the Cult of Mac Forums and give us your thoughts on the newest version of iTunes.

Click here to go to the Cult of Mac Forums and tell us what you think of iTunes 11

What Are Your First Impressions Of The iPad Mini [Let’s Talk]

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You new iPad mini's display could look ancient in 12 months.
You new iPad mini's display could look ancient in 12 months.

By now you’ve had enough time to run to your Apple Store, buy an iPad mini and bring it back to your house in a loving embrace. If not, well you’ll get one later today, or whenever the delivery man finally makes his way to your house. We just posted our thoughts on the iPad mini, but we’d love to hear from you guys about what you think.

What are your first impressions of the iPad mini? Is it worth the price? Is the display really as bad as some people are saying? Does portability make a huge difference for a tablet? Come over to the forums and let us know what you think are the most important aspects of the iPad mini.

Click here to go to the Cult of Mac Forums and share your first impressions of the iPad mini with us

Which Tech Company Should Hire Scott Forstall? [Let’s Talk]

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Forstall
Will Apple regret saying goodbye to Scott Forstall?
Photo: Apple

Even though he was fired from Apple yesterday, Scott Forstall will still be an Apple employee until some point in 2013 and work as an advisor to Tim Cook. His new position is really just to prevent him from jumping ship quickly and going to another company, but Apple can’t keep him forever. At some point in 2013, Scott Forstall will be free to join any company he chooses. So which company should he go to?

Forstall’s brother works for Microsoft, but Scott’s penchant for skeuomorphic software might not fit well with Microsoft’s Metro UI. Google and Samsung are two other obvious choices because they’re big competitors with Apple. Or Forstall could choose to create his own company like Tony Fadell did with Nest after he left Apple. What company do you think would be the best fit for Scott?

Click here to go to the Cult of Mac Forums and talk about possible destinations for Scott Forstall

Sight Unseen, Would You Buy An iPad Mini? [Let’s Talk]

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Will the iPad mini become the first iOS device with an IGZO display?
Will the iPad mini become the first iOS device with an IGZO display?

The iPad mini hasn’t even been officially announced yet, but we all know it’s coming, right? But here’s the bigger question of the morning – are you already planning on buying an iPad mini even though you don’t really know what it’s going to look like or how much it will cost?

The smaller form factor of the iPad mini is really appealing to me, so I’m already thinking I’ll ditch my iPad 3 for the iPad mini, but is it lunacy to plan to buy a gadget you know so little about? Is anyone here in the same boat? We want to hear about your iPad mini purchasing plans this morning, so come on over and let’s talk.

Click here to go to the Cult of Mac Forums and tell us if you’re already planning to buy an iPad Mini

How Would You Fix iTunes To Make It Useable Again? [Let’s Talk]

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itunesredesign

No one uses iTunes anymore. iTunes is like that one cool guy from high school who used to be a lot of fun to hang out with, but then everyone grew up and he’s still out there prowling the streets of your hometown, getting drunk, attending local football games and hanging out with high school kids. He just failed to grow up like everyone else, and that’s kind of what’s happened to iTunes. It’s antiquated and bloated. People dread using it and even though iTunes 11 is supposed to drop this month, we don’t think that’s going to change much.

What can Apple do to fix iTunes? Is there even a way to do it?  It’s an ugly and slow app but it’s still important, so it’s not like Apple can just nuke it altogether and start over. Should Apple divy up the functionality of iTunes to other OS X apps the same way they do with iOS? We haven’t played with iTunes 11, but the demo at last month’s keynote didn’t make us too hopeful. We’d love to hear your thoughts on what Apple should do to fix iTunes.

Click here to go to the Cult of Mac Forum and tell us what you would do to make iTunes useable again.

Are You More Excited About The iPad Mini Or 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro? [Let’s Talk]

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The iPad mini could be in your local Apple store on November 2.
The iPad mini could be in your local Apple store on November 2.

 

According to the latest round of rumors, Apple will unveil the iPad Mini and a 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display on October 23rd. Both aren’t radically new products, they’re just smaller versions of the iPad or 15-inch MacBook Pro.

So which one is more lust worthy? I’ve been using a 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro for a few months now and it’s beautiful, but too bulky compared to the 11-inch MacBook Air I had been using for the last year. A smaller MacBook Pro with a Retina display would be perfect. As far as the iPad Mini goes, I don’t play a lot of games on my iPad, and a smaller screen would make it more portable and better for reading in bed. I can’t decide which one I should want more though. What do you think?

Click here to go to the Cult of Mac Forums and tell us which new Apple device you’re most excited for

Users Complain Of ‘Green Glow’ Plaguing iPhone 5 Display

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iphone5
Does your iPhone 5 display glow green?

The iPhone 5’s been on sale for three weeks now, and as is always the case with a device this popular, a long list of defects is already building up. There’s Maps, of course — though that’s not really exclusive to the iPhone 5 — the purple haze that sometimes appears in photos, and the black model is susceptible to chips and scratches.

And now some users are reporting that an odd green glow, described as “plasma bleed,” is plaguing the handset’s display.

Did Tim Cook Need To Apologize For Apple Maps? [Let’s Talk]

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"I know there have been rumors about order cuts..." - Tim Cook

Apple doesn’t have a rich history of apologizing for their errors, big or small. When AntennaGate shook the web, Apple held a conference but they never said they were sorry. They just told us that antennas suck sometimes but they’ll give us a free bumper to be quiet. In fact, I can’t remember many times at all where Apple came out and publicly admitted a mistake.

Tim Cook’s apology this morning was a great gesture. It was almost a first for the company. Admitting that Apple’s not perfect and made a mistake isn’t easy, but did Tim Cook need to apologize to satisfy Apple customers? Could they have done something else to resolve the situation? We’d love to hear your ideas, so come over to the forums and talk to us about it.

Click here to go to the Cult of Mac Forums and talk about Tim Cook’s apology

iOS 6 Users Experiencing Wi-Fi Connectivity Problems On iPhone 4S, New iPad

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ipad-wifi
Struggling to turn this on? You're not the only one.

It seems Apple’s new Maps app isn’t the only thing frustrating iOS 6 users right now. A 91-page thread on Apple’s Support Communities forum is full of users who are also complaining about Wi-Fi connectivity issues, which are said to be plaguing the iPhone 4S and the new iPad after upgrading. It’s not just that Wi-Fi performance is poor; some users can’t enable it at all.