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This week in Cult of Mac Magazine: how some collectors are making serious money with old Macs.

Well, that and how some are discovering that it may be sentimental value that keeps the old machines humming – as it turns out for our publisher, Leander Kahney, who reminisces on the antiquated machines in his life.

And if you dream of finding an Apple 1 or coming across a Twiggy Mac and making a pretty penny, we’ll tell you what happens when those machines roar back to life and come up at auctions.

We’ll also help you figure out what to keep – and toss! – in your collection and showcase some of the coolest ways Apple lovers have repurposed those aging computer carcasses to give them new life.

Our Apple Genius dishes on how to keep your privates protected when you bring your machine in (it’s not as hard as you think) and the best way to let your technician know you’re not a total moron – so you can get your device fixed and get out as soon as possible.

Cult of Mac Magazine

Apple has today begun selling the iPhone 5s unlocked and SIM-free to customers in the United States. Customers can stick in any GSM SIM card (so that’s one from AT&T or T-Mobile) when they receive the device and begin using it immediately with their existing plan — but they’ll have to wait 1-2 weeks for it to ship.

Leander’s new book “Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products” has debuted on the New York Times Bestseller list. (Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And huzzah!)

If you want to get a feel for the book, check out this excerpt over at Medium, which is richly illustrated with sketches and photographs of some of the prototypes.

The Medium excerpt is how Leander wanted to originally write the book; illustrated with all the images leaked during the initial Samsung vs. Apple trial. We’ve seen the prototypes all over the web. What is missing, though, is the journalist’s most important tool: context. This treatment pairs the pictures with the details of Apple’s design process.

Apple’s re-trial with Samsung over patent infringement has just concluded with the federal jury ruling that Samsung owes Apple an extra $290 million for infringing on the iPhone maker’s patents.

The award is significantly more than the amount Samsung hoped to pay, though Apple’s lawyers didn’t get all the money they wanted either. Including damages awarded from the original trial, Samsung’s bill for Apple now totals $929.83 million worth damages – unless they successfully appeal of course.

Tim Cook admitted that the iPad mini with Retina display will be in short supply for the next few weeks, but while Wifi-only units seem to be in-stock at Apple Stores across the country, it looks like Apple is having a hard time keeping a steady supply of 3G/4G units rolling out to developers.

Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile are all reporting shortages of iPad mini with Retina display stock with most orders being backed up for weeks, according to a report from CNET. 

This story first appeared in Cult of Mac Magazine 

Architecture hasn’t really ever been considered too important in the brick and mortar-averse tech industry. It wasn’t all that long ago that digital utopians proclaimed physical geography dead altogether, with a vocal minority apparently pleased to leave the actual world behind them and embrace the cyberspace of William Gibson’s Neuromancer.

It is perhaps unsurprising, then, that the technological breakthroughs of Silicon Valley have advanced almost inversely to the region’s architecture. In a brave new world of lush rolling hills and the always impressive San Francisco Bay, the most that the majority of companies have managed to come up with are drab industrial parks filled with two-story, cubicle-lined buildings.

On Saturday Cult of Mac reported that a working Apple 1 failed to sell at auction in Germany, a notable result in the growing market for vintage Apple collectibles. It turns out that result was premature: the Apple 1 did sell for €246,000 ($330,000), after bidding on the item had closed.

Bigger is always better, right? That’s been Samsung’s philosophy when it comes to smartphone screens, but the latest bits of gossip from the rumor mill suggest Apple might be looking to embrace that matra with its iPad displays.

A new report claims that Apple is preparing to build a 12.9-inch iPad for release in 2014, which may sound somewhat outlandish, except we’ve heard similar claims from the WSJ and other analysts.

According to Korea Times’ sources, Apple has already asked its top suppliers to start making the 12.9-inch touchscreens screens that will be included in its 2014 iPad lineup that is  expected to improve picture quality as consumers move away from PCs and towards tablets as their main computing device:

Apple has added another two new channels to the Apple TV today in the form of Yahoo Screen and PBS. The former provides access to the Yahoo video portal, which delivers popular clips from shows such as Saturday Night Live and The Daily Show; while the latter allows users to enjoy their favorite PBS shows like Frontline.

There’s no Downton Abbey, though, unfortunately.

It was only six months ago that the White House officially went on record saying that they thought cell phone unlocking should be legalized. The statement was issued in response to a 114,000+ signature petition, which rightfully argued that if you have paid off a device on-contract, it should belong to you, full-stop.

The Obama Administration said flat-out they agreed… which is why it’s distressing to find out that they may have been misleading us. In fact, while telling the American public that it supported laws to make cell phone unlocking legal, it appears that the Obama Administration has secretly been working against it.

This morning Apple released its first major beta build of iOS 7 to developers since the release of iOS 7 in September. On the surface the update seems to be just a bunch of bug fixes and performance improvements for a number of apps, but once you dig into the new software a little more there are a couple UI changes and new features that we’ve found.

Here are the new changes to iOS 7.1 that you might actually notice:

Apple is close to buying PrimeSense, the company that invented the 3D motion tracking technology used in the original Xbox Kinect. Whispers of the acquisition were first reported by an Israeli publication called Calcalist back in July, and the site is now reporting that Apple has a deal in place with PrimeSense to the tune of around $345 million.

While Apple’s mysterious ‘iTV’ product seems like an obvious reason for the acquisition, PrimeSense has also developed a smaller 3D sensor called Capri that’s more suited for mobile.

UPDATE: Cult of Mac has learned that the Apple 1 did sell after the auction closed. Read more here.
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Markets rise and markets fall – that’s true for stocks, real estate, tulips, etc. That’s also true with vintage computers – though even in a down market there’s still some money to be made.

At an auction in Germany held on Saturday November 16, a working Apple 1 – from the first batch of 50 units made – did not receive any bids. Nor did a restored Lisa 1, with dual Twiggy floppy disk drives. But a prototype Twiggy Mac, one of only two known working units, sold for €25,000 ($33,725), quite possibly the highest price ever paid for a vintage Macintosh.

The smartphone industry is dominated by two companies: Apple and Samsung. Absurdly, Canaccord Genuity recently reported that Apple and Samsung earn 109% of mobile industry profits.

(That impossible percentage results when the losses of competitors are factored in.)

Specifically, the research firm estimates that Apple earns 56% of industry profits and Samsung 53%. (Apple is actually further ahead of Samsung in profits than these numbers show, because some companies count tablet profits and others don’t.)

BlackBerry makes -4% of the profits (that’s negative four percent), Motorola -3%, and Nokia, LG and HTC each had -1%.

They’re weird numbers that don’t add up. But the point is that once again we learn that Apple and Samsung are making nearly all the money, some companies are making zero money and other companies are losing money.

But one of the dominant companies — Samsung — has a creepy approach to business, which is that they steal, cheat and lie apparently because the penalties of being unethical are far less than the rewards.

We’ve dedicated this issue of the magazine to Sir Jony Ive, the Apple designer whose imagination brings us all the gadgets we love.

Inside, you’ll find an exclusive excerpt from publisher Leander Kahney’s brand-spanking-new book “Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products” along with the story of how Leander met Ive for the first time. (It turns out Jony is nice, especially to forgetful reporters.) The book excerpt takes you back to where it all began: in the UK where a young Jony started working with his father in the garage.

As we do every week, we also bring you the best in new apps, picks from what’s worth your while in books, music and movies in iTunes and our exclusive Apple genius column delves into getting hired and what to do if you happen to find love while getting your iPhone repaired.

Keep the feedback coming — we’re listening!

Since Apple won a $1 billion lawsuit against Samsung for patent infringement last summer, both companies have been fighting to determine how the ruling will actually unfold. In March of this year, the presiding judge for the case subtracted $450 million from what Samsung owed Apple due to the jury’s miscalculations for damages.

The Apple vs. Samsung retrial kicked off earlier this week in California court, and Apple requested an additional $380 in damages from Samsung on top of the $600 million already owed. Samsung believes it should only have to pay Apple $52 million for infringing on five patents related to the iPhone.

Today Phil Schiller, Apple’s head of marketing, took the stand in court to talk about the iPhone’s importance to Apple, calling it a “bet-the-company” product. He also got pretty snarky about Samsung copying Apple.

Schiller began his testimony by recounting the original iPhone’s launch and the product’s success to date. He expressed frustration that Samsung started making phones that looked just like the iPhone after Apple started seeing success in the smartphone market. Schiller said he was “quite shocked” when he first saw the Samsung Galaxy. “My first thought was, ‘They’ve copied the iPhone.'”

These first few years of the iPhone’s existence have been “an incredibly important time” for Apple, said Schiller. And Samsung’s infringement has made it “harder for us to get new customers and bring them into our ecosystem.” The iPhone is Apple’s biggest money-maker by far. “At this point, it’s fair to say that most everyone at Apple works on iPhone,” said Schiller from the stand. “It’s our biggest product.”

While being cross-examined by Samsung’s lawyers, Schiller gave off a little Jobsian snark with his responses:

Schiller on Samsung gaining while other android makers lost share. “One is copying. the other are not copying… as much.” #icourt

— Ina Fried (@inafried) November 15, 2013

Samsung atty shows Schiller a Samsung device and Schiller says – “I can’t tell from here. It looks like an iPad to me.” #icourt

— Shara Tibken (@sharatibken) November 15, 2013

The retrial is expected to close next week.

Via: CNET

Image: AP

An official Google Play Music app is finally available on iOS, bringing Google’s All Access music streaming service to your iPhone. Users can listen to millions of tracks on demand and enjoy custom radio with no limits, as well as access to the music they’ve uploaded to Google’s cloud-based storage service.

Continuing its slow purge of felts, leathers and woodgrains the UI of iOS 7, Apple released an iBooks for iOS update today that finally dismantles the woodgrain shelves championed by former iOS Cheif Scott Forstall, and tosses them in the woodchipper.

The update features the same minimalist UI that Apple has embraced throughout iOS 7 and its other apps, though it doesn’t look like Apple actually added any major new features. Apple also released an update for iTunes U today with an all-new look and feel. Both app updates are available for free in iTunes now.

Source: iTunes

If you’re looking to gain an insightful perspective as to how Apple has become the most valuable brand in the world you’ll get that and so much more with these two genius titles written by Leander Khaney.

Leander has been a technology writer and author for decades and has been following Apple since before Steve Jobs’ return. He was a former managing editor at Wired News and now’s he’s moved onto running his own successful Apple-centric blog – the very one you’re reading right now – Cult of Mac. He’s written these two books to help us all gain a better understanding of how Apple’s dynasty has been created and he does an excellent job at doing so. And now you can get both of them for just $19.57 during this limited time offer from Cult of Mac Deals.

Once I started iSpying in the crowded, bustling streets of Hong Kong, it was hard to stop. (Also, the IP lawyers must be seriously busy in these parts.)

These are some of my favorite finds of Apple-esque products and signs — minus the pics that didn’t turn out because my travel companions were trying to stop me from lagging behind or getting run over.

We’ll have more reporting from Hong Kong soon; a special thanks goes out to Truman Au for showing me around.

I ordered a Retina iPad mini (128GB, LTE, silver if you’re asking) barely 30 minutes after I noticed Killian had posted about it. And yes, I have to wait 5–10 days, but so does everyone else. Even those hippies on the West Coast who sleep in ’til noon every day before making their mango smoothies.

Which is to say that I agree with Ed Dale’s smart take on Apple’s weirdly quiet launch of the Retina mini: that it was designed to keep folks happy.

Hartmut Esslinger, Apple’s first celebrity designer, is coming to the Jony Ive book launch party on Thursday!

This is super exciting. Esslinger is giant of the design industry. He was hired by Steve Jobs in the mid-1980s to bring world-class design to Apple. Jobs wanted to make Apple “the Olivetti of Silicon Valley,” a world leader in design. He succeeded amazingly well. Esslinger was responsible for Snow White, a distinctive design language that dominated the entire computer industry for more than a decade, and other industries too.

A lot of fuss has been made about the iPhone’s lack of repairability ever since it debuted in 2007 without *gasp* a removeable battery. Six years of design updates later and the iPhone is still as hard to tinker with as ever, unless of course you work at Apple.

Yesterday, Cult of Mac revealed a few pictures of the new tools Apple created to make iPhone 5s and 5c repairs easier than ever for Geniuses.  Now our tipster is back with a bunch of GIFs of Apple’s fancy new toys in action, straight from Apple’s official iPhone 5s and 5c repair training videos.

Along with detailed animations of the new iPhone 5s and 5c components, the exclusive shots below show the exact methods Apple staff use to repair broken iPhone 5s, thanks to an array of tools created to make the process more efficient, including a new Universal Display Removal Fixture and an iPhone Battery Fixture Apple keeps hidden in the back of Apple Stores.

Want to know how fix your iPhone the Apple way? Study the GIFs below and you’ll be swapping out batteries like a Genius in no time:

Intro

After the recent Everpix shutdown, I moved all my photos to Flickr. If you read my roundup of Everpix alternatives, you’ll know that Flickr wasn’t my first choice, but it turns out that neither is it my only choice. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Everpix was great because it just sucked in all your photos, whether you kept them in iPhoto, on your iPhone, in a weird beardo folder structure on your Mac, or even if you took all of your photos using Instagram. It was far from perfect, but it was the best. And then it went away.

Apple likes to keep its secrets close to the chest, but Cult of Mac has grabbed an exclusive look at some behind the scenes video of Apple iPhone 5s repair processes. A tipster behind the Genius Bar has shown us portions of Apple’s official iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c repair videos that showcase the emphasis Jony Ive and the design team placed on repairability when creating the latest iPhones, as well as the crazy little repair tools Apple uses to ensure quality repairs.

Despite launching to record breaking sales numbers in September, Apple’s iPhone lineup has come under fire again and again for its apparent lack of repairability. Catherine Rampell at the the New York Times went on a bullshit parade two weeks ago claiming Apple tries to make your iPhone break so you have to buy a new one.  Even Apple fans like our pal Kyle Weins, at iFixit,  bemoaned Apple for not making the iPhone 5s more repairable for users.

To consumers, the locked enclosures of the iPhone 5s may seem like a guarded unfixable fortress, but the truth is that the iPhone 5s is one of Apple’s most repairable devices ever, you just have to be a Genius to get the right tools for the operation.

The segments of the 12 training videos we saw provided detailed animations of the iPhone 5s and 5c internal components, as well as guides on how to access and swap six components on the device –  speaker, receiver, vibration motor, iSight camera module, battery, and sim ejector tool.

Here’s a picture from Apple’s training guide of the five specialized tools required to swap out iPhone 5c components: