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Seth Weintraub

Founder, Publisher and Editorial Director of the 9to5/Electrek/DroneDJ sites.

Seth Weintraub is an award-winning journalist and blogger who won back to back Neal Awards during his three plus years  covering Apple and Google at IDG’s Computerworld from 2007–2010.  Weintraub next covered all things Google for Fortune Magazine from 2010-2011 amassing a thick rolodex of Google contacts and love for Silicon Valley tech culture.

It turns out that his hobby 9to5Mac blog was always his favorite and in 2011 he went full time adding his Fortune Google followers to 9to5Google and adding the style and commerce component 9to5Toys gear and deals site. In 2013, Weintraub bought one of the Tesla’s first Model S EVs off the assembly line and so began his love affair with the Electric Vehicle and green energy which in 2014 turned into electrek.

In 2018, DroneDJ was born to cover the burgeoning world of drones and UAV’s led by China’s DJI.

From 1997-2007, Weintraub was a Global IT director and Web Developer for a number of companies with stints at multimedia and branding agencies in Paris, Los Angeles, New York, Sydney, Hong Kong, Madrid and London before becoming a publisher/blogger.

Seth received a bachelors degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the University of Southern California with a minor in Multimedia and Creative Technology in 1997. In 2004, he received a Masters from NYU’s Tisch School of the Art’s ITP program.

Hobbies: Weintraub is a licensed single engine private pilot, certified open water scuba diver and spent over a year traveling to 60 cities in 23 countries. Whatever free time exists is now guaranteed to his lovely wife and two amazing sons.

More at About.me. BI 2014 profile.

Tips: seth@9to5mac.com, or llsethj on Wickr/Skype or link at top of page.

Does Apple's website change signal the switch from aluminum to liquid metal?

Avatar for Seth Weintraub Jan 27 2011 - 7:55 am PT
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Are Apple’s computers heading to a darker liquid metal from their now standard aluminum just like the bar on the Apple.com website (and Lion OS)?  Perhaps, we’re not sure if the new material makes a good exterior shell.  But Apple has invested into the new technology that is radio transparant and has some unique properties (like crazy bounce!).  Some have noted that the change in color change of the top bar coincides with the new material’s outward appearance:


via pedrofan

Reports have suggested that Apple would use the liquid metal in battery cases and it was revealed by Cult of Mac that Apple was already using the material as the SIM ejector tool in iPhones.


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Skype goes gold, makes group calling premium

Avatar for Seth Weintraub Jan 27 2011 - 7:43 am PT
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atvAdN9bENc&w=640&h=385]

Today Skype pulled the beta tag from its Mac client and with it the news that group video conferencing would be a paid feature (You can try it out for free for 7 days, and then purchase either a day pass starting at $4.99 (€3.49/£2.99)* or as a monthly subscription for $8.99 (€5.99/£4.99)* per month. New users receive a 7-day free trial.).

Notably, they’ve improved (or reverted) the application by going back to a smaller window which can rest on the side of the screen…
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In its last quarter of exclusivity, AT&T activates 4.1 million iPhones

Avatar for Seth Weintraub Jan 27 2011 - 6:19 am PT
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AT&T reported earnings today with a modest 2.1% year over year gain in revenue but declining profits, which did slightly beat analyst’s expectations.  In Apple land, they noted the activation of 4.1 million iPhones..

Continued Strength in Integrated Device Sales. AT&T continued to grow its base of integrated device subscribers. More than 7.4 million postpaid integrated devices were sold in the fourth quarter, including the second-largest quarterly number of upgrades in the company’s history. Integrated device sales included 4.1 million iPhone activations. More than 80 percent of postpaid sales were integrated devices. (Integrated devices are handsets with QWERTY or virtual keyboards in addition to voice functionality and are a key driver of wireless data usage.)

AT&T also said it sold 442,000 iPads and Android-based tablets combined bringing their total over the past three quarters to 1.5 million.  We’re going to go ahead an wager that most of those are iPads.
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MacBook Pros getting refreshed/updated soon?

Avatar for Seth Weintraub Jan 26 2011 - 2:50 pm PT
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Even though it is only 20% of Apple’s business, we’re particularly fond of the Mac business and particularly MacBook Pros.  Macrumors has been hearing rumblings of an impending update to Apple’s professional laptop line.  Although they don’t have any specifics, they do point to Amazon which is conveniently out of MacBook Pros for 1-2 Months.  Our own sources close to the matter have determined that Best Buy also has sold out of some models (above).

I’d like to take this time to point out that my dream machine is a 15-inch MacBook Pro-Air with 1080P ‘Retina’ (my words, not real) display.  Said notebook would also not cost a fortune.
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Verizon iPhone hotspot will run you another $20

Avatar for Seth Weintraub Jan 25 2011 - 2:46 pm PT
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Macworld reports that Verizon will offer iOS’s hotspot feature for an additional $20/month which will include an additional 2GB of data.  Since most users will be getting unlimited data plans, we’re not sure how useful that 2GB will be.

While not as cheap as jailbreaking, it is the same price that AT&T charges for tethering without offering extra data.  Also, you can connect your iPad, your MacBook and your friends’ devices to the soon to be crippled Verizon network.
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Verizon to offer $30 unlimited iPhone data plan? (Update: for a limited time)

Avatar for Seth Weintraub Jan 25 2011 - 7:08 am PT
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Getting kinda cocky with our network are we now Verizon?  The Wall St. Journal reports their conversation with Lowell McAdam the incoming Verizon CEO:

“I’m not going to shoot myself in the foot,” he said. Not offering an unlimited plan would put up a barrier for customers who might otherwise switch from AT&T, he said. The country’s No. 2 carrier still has millions of subscribers grandfathered into unlimited plans they signed up for before AT&T switched to tiered pricing last summer.

Verizon has been having some blips with its network over the past month in anticipation of the iPhone.  Looking at this chart, they could be in for a huge data tidal wave.  It will be interesting to see if they can hold up.  Verizon is also charging $50 more for the iPhone off plan than AT&T, something its current customers might have to deal with.

Update: But you’d better act fast. Speaking later Tuesday morning, Mr. McAdam said the iPhone unlimited plan will be a temporary offer and that the carrier will follow AT&T’s move to tiered pricing in the not too distant future.

Also of note: Subscriber growth slowed on Verizon in anticipation of the iPhone (at least that is what is implied).  
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HP/Palm's strategy: Build a plastic iPad

Avatar for Seth Weintraub Jan 24 2011 - 10:02 am PT
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If some of these HP/Palm Topaz specs look familiar, that’s because they pretty much line up point for point with Apple’s iPad.

Oh, you noticed a camera and micro USB port?  We’ve heard things.  The Topaz will have double the current RAM and a faster GHz processor but we’re expecting the iPad 2 to have at least 512MB of RAM, if not 1GB and a new CPU as well.

Also, check below.  Even side buttons seem to be ‘strategically aligned’.


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Tim Cook's Auburn Commencement: Joining Apple best decision he ever made

Avatar for Seth Weintraub Jan 23 2011 - 7:44 pm PT
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEAXuHvzjao&w=640&h=505]

Earlier this year, Apple COO and acting leader Tim Cook addressed his Alma Mater at their commencement.  Cook talking about Apple starting at 3:45 and the bulk of his speech is about his decision to move to Apple even though it made little sense on paper. I think there is more here on Cook than I believe we’ve heard from any third party source.

An interesting takeaway: Against everyone’s advice and his analytical mind, he trusted his intuition and five minutes into his interview with Steve Jobs knew he’d leave Compaq for Apple in 1998.  Jobs can be convincing.

Jobs’ commencement address at Stanford is certainly more inspiring overall, but this one gives us a look into the background of Tim Cook which certainly interesting at this point in time.

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'Two is Better than One' iPhone commercial hits airwaves

Avatar for Seth Weintraub Jan 22 2011 - 2:55 pm PT
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOyO-Q3jImU&w=640&h=385]

Apple has posted a new commercial advertising the upcoming Verizon iPhone 4. They make the point that both the Verizon and AT&T versions of the device do the same thing. They seem to get along nicely in the commercial but Apple neglects to mention that the Verizon version costs $50 more when purchased at the full retail price (no contract).


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Why the iPad doesn't need to double the pixels

Avatar for Seth Weintraub Jan 20 2011 - 9:38 am PT
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You hold a smartphone a foot away from your face.  That’s why a “Retina Display” at 1 foot away has to be >300 PPI.  But few of us hold the iPad a foot from our face.  In fact, Steve Jobs made a point of showing it being used in his lap at the iPad intro event.  That’s 2-3 feet from your eyes.  At 2 feet away, “retina” becomes somewhere between 150 PPI see chart (via) below.

iPad is currently at 132 PPI which would be pretty close to “Retina” at a little over two feet away.  The current Macbook Air is 11.6″ (Widescreen) 1366×768 is 135 PPI by comparison.  Doubling the screen resolution to 2048×1576 would put the screen resolution way into the invisible range at 2 feet.  That doesn’t make a lot of sense, does it?

Perhaps I’m wrong on the 2 feet thing?  Does anyone use the iPad at 1 foot from eyes?

Update: A lot of commenters are 1 footers.  Who knew?

Thanks Dennis D from Rotterdam
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