News - page 2023

If you walk into an Apple store these days you will find tons of iPads on display. No, we aren’t talking about the iPads that are actually available for purchase, but instead the ones that sit next to each and every Apple product with descriptions, details and interactive elements.

These iPads run an internal Apple app called “Smart Sign,” and the app is meant to help connect you with Apple store employees and show you information about products. If you’ve ever wondered what these iPad “Smart Signs” are actually made of, someone has been able to see what’s going on under the hood of one of these iPad displays. Let’s just say, it isn’t your typical iPad.

Hot on the heels of the new MacBook Air, Apple looks to already be working on a mysterious, “ultra-thin” 15-inch Macbook to add to the mix.

Not much is known about what this upcoming notebook from Apple will be like, but the MacBook Pro line hasn’t seen a refresh since February. Could it be an Air-style MBP?

The Geniuses at your local Apple Store are trained to be some of the most confident and unflappable retail employees in the biz, but how far can you push it? Can you order a pizza in an Apple Store? Can you take your wife on a date to one? Can you get your iPhone repaired dressed as Darth Vader? Can you bring your pet goat into the store?

Prototype case designs coming out of Chinese accessory makers based upon leaked Foxconn intelligence are painting a dramatic picture of the next iPhone. If these leaks are right, the iPhone 5 won’t be a mere iPhone 4S, but rather a radical new device that not only boasts a curved, more ergonomic design and a larger display, but also revolutionizes one of the core aspects of the iOS experience… it totally gets rid of the Home button.

Can we talk? That’s the message coming from executives at Android-handset maker to Apple. HTC’s finance chief wants to “sit down” with the Cupertino, Calif. tech giant flush from a patent win that could be costly for companies touting Google’s mobile operating system.

See anything interesting in the image above, plucked right from Apple’s own website? Say, the iPod Touch with the 3G icon in the top left? Did Apple just out a web-connected iPod Touch coming in September?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vN1yw67hyc&feature=player_embedded

TwelveSouth is famous for its selection of beautiful products that lovingly accompany our favorite Apple gadgets. Just recently we reviewed the elegant BookBook case for the MacBook Air, and now there’s an iPhone 4 case to match.

Ah, the marketing sleight-of-hand, it’s something to behold. On one hand, Android sales are thundering past the iPhone. Yet, on the other hand, buyers are finding Android isn’t as easy-to-use as iPhone, resulting in returns of 30-40 percent.

OS X Lion is being hailed by many as the most secure operating system yet, not just from Apple, but in total. In particular, its FileVault encryption rewrite is being widely hailed as one of the most secure, low-overhead ways yet to keep your data safe.

But behind all the talk, there’s a huge security hole in OS X Lion that has been present at least since Snow Leopard. Any Mac with a Firewire port is vulnerable to it, and it’s so easy to exploit that any hacker with physical access to your computer can get your password within minutes.

Although not the smallest, Apple’s planned store in New York City’s Grand Central Terminal could be the tech giant’s cheapest Big Apple location. The backdrop of countless movies, the cavernous Grand Central turns out to be less expensive than your average Manhattan store front.

The latest patent to surface from the Cupertino camp shows Apple has been working on a physical keyboard that does away with physical keys. That’s right — a keyboard, much like the one you might have in front of you now, but without keys. Instead, you’ll use piezoelectrics, haptic feedback and acoustic pulse recognition to type.

It was revealed yesterday that the long-awaited Facebook app for iPad was already here — not in the App Store, but hidden away inside the Facebook app for iPhone. We published details on how to install the app on your iPad, but soon after the news spread, Facebook decided to block access to those using the app before its public release.

Fortunately, as is often the case with these things, jailbreakers have provided a workaround — a new tweak called FaceForward that reactivates the official Facebook app for iPad.

The staggering success of Apple’s iPad has inevitably spawned a myriad of wannabe devices from a large number of electronics manufacturers. While many of these tablets are yet to really compete with Apple’s tablet, the Cupertino company is still preparing itself for a worthy adversary by “adjusting the cost structure” of the iPad 3.

Amazon’s Kindle app for iOS was updated yesterday in order to comply with Apple’s latest in-app purchase terms and secure its place in the App Store. In addition to removing the link to its external Kindle store, however, did you notice that the update introduced more than 100 magazine and newspaper subscriptions to iOS?

Apple’s latest iOS 4 update dropped yesterday, which “fixes a security vulnerability with certificate validation.” Jailbreakers were initially advised not to update to the latest firmware, but as long as you’re happy with a tethered jailbreak for the foreseeable future, you’re safe to go ahead and update your device and then jailbreak with the latest RedSn0w release.

I’m not sure whether this guy over on the Apple Support forums is genuine, or whether he’s set up this thread purely for fun, but either way it’s hilarious. Having recently purchased an iPad 2, ‘Michael K. W’ is seriously considering returning his device to the Apple store because he cannot get his CDs inside.

Judging by the name “VooMote One” — the name German-based Zero1.tv came up with for its just-launched VooMote One app-enhanced universal remote for iPhone — German words sometimes don’t translate too well into English. Hopefully its super-customizable app will do all the talking.

There’s no shortage of covers for the iPad out there — but there aren’t many that many with Booq’s new Viper Slider’s executive panache at this price point.

Ever since we drooled over Griffin’s StompBox at CES, the more musically intrigued members of our gang have been eagerly waiting for the jazzed-up, four-switch pedal box to actually arrive (I’m pretty sure our Lonnie Lazar has been sitting there, forlorn and imploring, like some lost, guitar-wielding puppy). Wait’s over, Lonnie — it’s here.

We all know that Macs are easy to use, but this just takes the cake. Notice the instructions for setting up Mac.. er McDonalds free Wi-Fi on Windows and the Mac.

As John Gruber notes, “There is no step four.”

If you haven’t already, stop reading this and check out Buster’s awesome review of the new MacBook Air. The machine is absolutely gorgeous. And powerful, too.

One of the MacBook Air’s main draws is its lightning-fast solid-state hardrive. An SSD outperforms traditional hardrives because all storage and data transfers happen virtually, instead of having to travel across a physical platter.

Apparently, Apple is shipping some of these brand new MacBook Airs with the same SSDs from older notebook models.

Apple has pushed out an update for you retro folks that are still on OS X Snow Leopard. A new supplemental update for 10.6.8 addresses some issues when migrating your Mac from Snow Leopard to Lion, as well as a few more bug fixes.

Facebook apparently likes to play hardball. This morning, we told you about the hidden, iPad-optimized Facebook app that was secretly nestled in the current, iPhone-only app.

Looks like Facebook didn’t like its secret creation getting leaked out for the world to see, and it appears that the Facebook for iPad workaround has already been blocked.

Following over a year of rumors and anticipation, Apple is finally set to build its largest retail location ever right in the heart of Grand Central Station, New York.

In classic Apple retail tradition, the new store is expected to be a crown jewel among architectural achievements. A beautiful rendering of “Apple Store, Grand Central” shows just how incredible the new flagship store will be for Apple and Grand Central commuters alike.

Editor’s note: This code in this post has been updated from the original to reflect a more targeted animation-disabling conmand line defaults write string.  Thanks to reader Phillip Ridlin for the alert.

Are you running Lion on your desktop and finding the new window animation functionality in Mail.app annoying? You’re not alone, apparently.