Category: Apple

Apple Revamps The Mac Mini!

Along with the new versions of the iPad and MacBooks, Apple also launched an updated version of the Mac Mini. The new Mini’s have new processors, including quad-core models on the high end, as well as new built-to-order RAM options of up to 16GB. Pricing remains the same as the prior generation Mac Mini models. There are two standard configuration and a server configuration:

– $599, 2.5 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5, 4GB RAM, 500GB HD
– $799, 2.3 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5, 4GB RAM, 1TB HD
– $999, 2.3 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5, 4GB RAM, 2TB HD, Includes Mountain Lion Server

The first is a $599 model with a 2.5GHz dual-core i5 Ivy Bridge processor, 4GB of RAM and 500GB HDD, and second a $999 server model with a 2.3GHz quad-core i7 Ivy Bridge, 4GB of RAM and dual 1TB HDDs.

Graphics is handled by Intel HD 4000 GPU, and Bluetooth 4.0 is handling wireless devices. When it comes to ports, four USB 3.0 slots come built-in, as well as an SD card reader and HDMI out.

The new Mac Mini is available to purchase starting today!

October 23, 2012
Apple Launches new iPad Mini with a 7.9 Inch display

Apple at its iPad Mini special event has finally launched a new iPad Mini with a 7.9 inch display boasting a resolution of 1024 x 768 px. The new hardware is 7.2mm thick, .68 pounds heavy and has been manufactured with a new process with the same anodized edges as the iPhone 5. The iPad Mini has a Dual-core A5 processor, FaceTime HD camera and 5-megapixel iSight camera on the back with 1080p recording. Apple is also claiming a 10 hour battery Life. The new iPad mini will also come with a cellular LTE capable modem, basically a separate variant.

The 16GB is the smallest configuration with WiFi, priced at $329. 32GB mini is $429, 64GB for $519. $130 each additional for LTE connectivity similar to the older siblings.

Both the iPad 4th and the Mini will be up for pre order on the 26th of October, shipping 2nd November.

October 23, 2012
4th Generation iPad Launched With A6X Chip

Apple today announced the 4th generation of the iPad. It comes with the A6x Chip which doubles the CPU performance and the graphics performance. The new device comes with Apple’s new lightning connector.

The 4th generation iPad comes with a next-generation ISP display, which means the screen is going to be even better than the current retina.

It features 10 hours of battery life, an HD front-facing camera for a better FaceTime experience and expanded LTE. Also included is a Lightning to SD card cable.

The new iPad has also got HDMI out and VGA, through Lightning connector and is the same price: 16GB for $500.

Like all previous versions of the device, it comes in black and white.

October 23, 2012
Apple announces new MacBook Pro 13 Retina Display

Apple has launched a new Macbook Pro 13 Retina Display, amongst the many things the company is going to reveal. The new Macbook Pro 13 inch with retina is just .75-inches thick.” That’s 20% thinner than before”. Its also only 3.5 pounds, about a full pound lighter than before, and the lightest MacBook ever. The Macbook Pro Retina 3 inch has a 2,560 x 1,600 resolution, That’s a 4x boost from the original Macbook Pro 13 incher.

The new resolution is 2x the resolution of a 1080p display, and the display has a 29% higher contrast ratio over the previous Pro and 75% reduced glare. The usual Facetime HD camera with 720p recording, stereo mics and speakers, backlit keyboard are also found in the device.

Designed in the same way as the 15 inch with retina display, the new 13 incher has side ventilation and a dual fan system, configurable upto 768GB of flash storage, 8GB of RAM, Core i5 or i7 Ivy Bridge chips, 802.11n WiFi and Bluetooth 4. HD 4000 graphics. The Macbook Pro 13 Retina also offers upto 7 hours of battery life.

Pricing of the Retina version of the 13 inch is kept safley in the middle of them all at a $1,699 for the base model, with a 2.5GHz i5, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of flash storage. The new Macbook Pro 13 is shipping starting today from all countries with online Apple Stores.

October 23, 2012
Mac has crossed the PC market in terms of numbers, Number One in Desktop, Number One in Portables

Tim Stevens has just announced that the Mac Market has outgrown the PC market by 7 times. The Mac desktops are the number one in the world, and so are the Macbook Laptops.

More developing.

October 23, 2012
200 Million Devices Running On iOS 6 : Apple

Apple CEO Tim Cook, during his keynote presentation today in San Jose, announced that 200 million devices are now running iOS 6, which is the fastest operating system update in history.

Apple has also announced that 300 billion iMessages have been sent, 100 billion received (interesting…). There have been 35 billion app downloads, with $6.5 billion paid out to developers.

Also, the Apple App Store now has 700,000 apps.

Developing…

October 23, 2012
Apple Starts iOS 6.0.1 Carrier Testing, Releasing Soon To Fix Bugs

Apple is now apparently in the process of testing a minor iOS update, iOS 6.0.1, with carriers with the update likely to hit users in the coming weeks. The report comes from BGR who say that one of their Apple sources has let slip about the update and that numerous bugs will be fixed with the update, including enhanced Wi-Fi support and fixes for cellular data as well as the horizontal aberrations in iTunes when entering a password.

Users have also reported issues with the camera flash not being timed properly with the shutter, leading to accidentally dark scenes. This should be fixed in the new software version, as well as a fix for iTunes Match incorrectly using data when WiFi is in use.

Apple is also rumoured to be testing its next big iOS version, 6.1, which is expected to come by the end of the year. While one may expect the new iPad mini to come with a new version of iOS, it seems increasingly unlikely that iOS 6.1 will be ready to go by the smaller tablet’s early November release date.

October 22, 2012
13 inch Macbook Pro Retina gets Leaked in Images

What appear to be images of a Macbook Pro Retina 13 inch running Windows, yep Windows, have been found online. The possible leak shows a 2,560 x 1,600 LCD (4 X resolution than the existing MacBook Pro) there are also dual Thunderbolt ports and HDMI video that shipped with15inch variant.

No information on how the computer performs or if it runs on the Ivy Bridge platform, the images do show Windows running on it. However the macbook pro 13 inch with Retina display could be a perfect balance between a unibody and SSD design and portability.

The images are also speculated to be of a Chinese ripoff replica running windows on substandard hardware, like the macbook Air replica seen earlier.

Apple will hold a special event on Oct 23rd to launch several products including the new iPad Mini and the rumored revised Macbook Pro 13 inch with Retina Display.

[Source]

October 22, 2012
Apple Opens Largest Store in Asia Near Beijing

Apple’s largest store in Asia opened in Beijing on Saturday. The store, located in the city’s commercial street of Wangfujing, is Apple Inc’s third in Beijing.

John Browett, Apple’s senior vice president of retail, had previously said the new store is the company’s largest store in Asia, with an area of 2,300 square meters and more than 300 employees.

Big Apple events in Beijing tend to get a little rowdy, but Saturday’s opening, tightly controlled by dozens of security personnel, went smoothly. A half hour before doors opened, hundreds of employees in the company’s typical blue t-shirts lined up in formation, slapped high fives with one another and the crowd. Some even jogged around the perimeter of the store, drumming up excitement from customers. By 10 a.m., the line barricades were removed, although a steady stream of customers continued to file in.

It was reported on Thursday that Apple Senior Vice President of Retail John Browett visited the Wangfujing location to offer media a guided tour of what he called the best store Apple has built in Asia. The executive also let loose that construction of a fourth Chinese location was already well underway in Shenzhen, a city in which Foxconn and other Apple manufacturing partners run major fabrication facilities.

October 20, 2012
Apple Announces Oct 23rd Special Event- Here comes the iPad Mini

Apple has just sent out invites for a “Special Event” to be held on Oct 23rd, supposedly announcing the new iPad Mini. While its only been a couple of weeks since when the iPhone 5 was launched Apple has still got a lot more up its sleeve.

While the iPad Mini has been leaked all over the internet, there are more rumors of various other products being launched. Alongside the iPad Mini, Apple will also reportedly update the Macbook Pro 13 inch and offer a retina version of the laptop. A new Mac Mini, revised Cinema displays and iMac are also long overdue.

But its unlike Apple to announce so many products at a single event. While the iMac and revised Cinema display may have to wait, a new Mac Mini is reportedly being worked on alongside the fully confirmed Retina Macbook Pro 13. While speculations will continue to go on, we wont let down the coverage come Oct 23rd, So stay tuned.

The iPad Mini apparently has a 7.85-inch display powered by an A5 processor and 512MB of RAM, priced starting anywhere from $250 to $350, available in a week or two. It will probably come in both Wi-Fi and 3G versions, and will look like, well, a smaller iPad. The event will be held at 10am PST/1pm EST at the California Center in San Jose.

October 16, 2012
Leaked iPad Mini Pricing Shows 8GB Version Listed As Low As $249
Apple is widely expected to announce a smaller version of its market-leading iPad tablet on 23 October, although the company has not yet issued invites or given any indication that it has a product in the pipeline.

Most expectations are that it will be half the size of the existing iPad, which has a screen measuring 9.7in diagonally; rescaling would mean an iPad mini would have a screen measuring 7.85in diagonally, but with a total of half the screen area of its bigger sibling.

Over the weekend, a German blog posted what looks like an inventory list of the various iPad mini models along with their pricing. According to the screenshot, the iPad mini will be available in 16 different versions. It will come in both black and white and range in storage from as little as 8GB to as much as 64 GB. Additionally, the image indicates there will be versions of the device that can connect to cellular networks.

As per the screen cap, iPad mini will start with 8GB Wi-Fi only variants in black or white that will cost €249. You can double the capacity or add cellular networking to the same capacity for an additional €100. In other words, the 16GB Wi-Fi iPad mini will cost €349, as will the 8GB iPad mini with cellular networking. The trend continues with the top end model with 64GB storage and cellular networking priced at €649.

Given Apple’s current pricing strategy, US prices are likely to be the same i.e. between $249-$649, rather than exchange rate equivalents of their Euro counterparts.

This is apparently the complete line-up of iPad minis that we’ll see upon release next month:
- 8GB iPad mini Wi-Fi in Black – $249 / €249
- 8GB iPad mini Wi-Fi in White – $249 / €249
- 16GB iPad mini Wi-Fi in Black – $349 / €349
- 16GB iPad mini Wi-Fi in White – $349 / €349
- 32GB iPad mini Wi-Fi in Black – $449 / €449
- 32GB iPad mini Wi-Fi in White – $449 / €449
- 64GB iPad mini Wi-Fi in Black – $549 / €549
- 64GB iPad mini Wi-Fi in White – $549 / €549
- 32GB iPad mini Wi-Fi + Cellular in Black – $549 / €549
- 32GB iPad mini Wi-Fi + Cellular in White- $549 / €549
- 64GB iPad mini Wi-Fi + Cellular in Black – $649 / €649
- 64GB iPad mini Wi-Fi + Cellular in White- $649 / €649
If accurate is the iPad mini priced low enough for you to consider?
October 16, 2012
Vector based Google Maps App for iOS 6 leaks out in blurry images

If you are as upset as the rest of the world using an iDevice on iOS 6, Google just might come to your rescue with a Google Maps app for iOS 6. San Francisco-based software developer Ben Guild has posted some details about Google’s upcoming maps app, including some super low res blurry a$$ images if we have seen any. Guild says the app will be “ vector-based,” will feature “two-finger rotation for any angle” and will be formatted for the iPhone 5?s four-inch display.

Looks like iPhone 5 users, along with other iOS 6 users will be happy after all, now that they can navigate to their favorite Starbucks. Oh wait, we still don’t have those in India!

[Source]

October 15, 2012
Swiss Photographer Sues Apple Over the Use of Her Photo to Promote the Retina Display

Swiss photographer Sabine Liewald has filed suit against Apple in a US District Court in New York, alleging that Cupertino’s marketeers used one of her photos without her permission in its MacBook Pro with Retina Display flack attack.

“Despite representing that it did not intend to use the photo and knowing that it had not obtained a license,” the lawsuit, filed this Wednesday, claims, “Apple proceeded to copy, publish, and exploit Plaintiff’s ‘Eye Closeup’ photograph, including in its MacBook Pro advertising campaign, keynote address, and related advertising materials without permission or compensation.”

Liewald claims that when Apple approached her agency (Factory Downtown) to request a high-resolution version of the photo, the company had said the image would only be used for “layout purposes” (AKA “comping“) and not in any advertising campaign.

The photographer was then surprised when Apple did exactly what it said it wouldn’t do. When the company’s keynote address was held last year to introduce the new portable computer, the photograph was featured prominently in the promotional images.

In addition to statutory damages for copyright infringement, Liewald is also demanding “actual damages including defendant’s profits.” Apple is the most valuable company in the world, and its profit figures come with quite a few zeros; the photographer is going for serious money here.

Via Peta Pixel

October 14, 2012
Rumour : Apple Rethinking Samsung Chip Partnership Amid Strained Relations

New reports online are claiming that Apple is looking to move away from Samsung when it comes to the chips for its products by moving to processors provided by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd.

Every single iOS device has had Samsung-produced processors. Reports says that TSMC will provide Apple with quad-core processors fit for future iPads, the long-rumored iTV, and MacBooks that will use a 20 nanometer processor over Samsung’s 32 nanometer processors. The rationale is that Apple has already verified TSMC’s 20nm chips in August and might begin production in November to prepare for devices in 2013.

As for iPhone processors, it is rumoured Apple will stick to dual-core processors for future models because of their “low-power consumption merit.”

Apple’s reported efforts to marginalise Samsung comes following a long courtroom battle, which has left extremely bitter feelings on both sides of the Pacific Ocean.

One industry source told CNET that the relationship between the two companies has effectively broken down and will result in the two companies parting ways at the end of existing agreements.

October 14, 2012
Apple Pays for Swiss Railway Clock Design

Apple may be willing to spend millions in court over some copyright fights, but it has learned the lessons of history and has decided not to mess with the Swiss.

Last month, Switzerland’s railway operator SBB took Cupertino to task for stealing the design of its clock for iOS 6’s Clock app. Now the world’s favorite fondleslab manufacturer has agreed to pay up and license the design from SBB, rather than risk the wrath of the Swiss railways.

The iPad Clock app, according to an SBB spokesperson, was “an unauthorized use by apple,” and thus they needed to work out a “legal and financial” resolution to the issue in order to prevent copyright infringement. However, SBB later admitted that it was “rather proud that a brand as important as Apple is using our design,” to clarify that they weren’t simply taking money for the use of the design. SBB already does in fact license the clock’s design to other companies, including the watchmaker Mondaine, so it can be assumed that Apple did pay to use the design.

According to SBB, the railway clock, which was originally designed by Hans Hilfike in 1944 has become “a symbol of innovation and reliability.”

October 14, 2012