Apple

Update: iGen.fr notes that Marseille, the second largest city in France, has also just received Flyover coverage.

Apple has been adding a lot of new imagery in its Maps app for the 3D flyover mode that initially launched in just a handful of countries. Over the last year it has added coverage for a ton of new locations in the US, UK, France, and Canada, and over the last week readers have reached out to note the addition of two major cities for the feature: Cape Town, South Africa and Helsinki, Finland.

Apple’s list of supported cities on its website hasn’t been updated in a while, but over the last year the company has added coverage in Paris, new areas in California, and other cities in the US, France, Spain, and the UK. Let us know in the comments below if 3D Flyover coverage has showed up for your city.

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Review: Lacie Fuel, the wireless portable drive for all your iDevices

Ben Lovejoy Jan 15 2014 - 5:36 am PT

16 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9HTQybOxcI]

Wireless drives have been around for a little while now. There’s the Seagate GoFlex Satellite, and the Kingston W-Drive SSD, for example. They generate their own wifi networks, and you can then stream content from them to either a Mac or, more usefully, an iOS device.

Lacie has taken that concept a stage further, by adding the ability to upload content from iPhones and iPads also, and with 1TB capacity, you’re unlikely to find yourself running short of space.

I tested it with a MacBook Air, iPad and iPhone, and was generally impressed …

Tim Cook calls China Mobile launch ‘a beginning’ as Chairman says ‘multi-million’ iPhones ordered

Mark Gurman Jan 14 2014 - 7:27 pm PT

(Image via Getty Images)

Ahead of the launch of the iPhone on China Mobile on January 17th, Apple CEO Tim Cook sat down with the Wall Street Journal and other publications for a brief interview. Cook hints that this iPhone deal is only the beginning of a longer-term partnership between Apple and China’s largest mobile carrier:

Speaking in a small media briefing to Chinese media and The Wall Street Journal, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said he is “incredibly optimistic” about the outcome of the cooperation with the Chinese carrier.

“We’ve gotten to know each other….today is a beginning, and I think there are lots more things our companies can do together in the future,” Mr. Cook said.

Cook is likely referring to future generations of the iPhone, and other products such as the iPad, appearing on China Mobile’s network in the future. Cook also shares that half a million of the App Store developers are from China:

Mr. Cook said Apple wants to reach as many Chinese consumers as possible by offering iPhones through China Mobile, and added that the country has more than half a million people writing apps for the U.S. company’s iOS operating system.

“Apple has always been about making the best products, not the most products, so that’s always our North Star and that’s not going to change ever,” said Mr. Cook.

“Multi-millions” of iPhones have already been pre-ordered through China Mobile, according to a statement from China Mobile’s Chairman in the same interview. Earlier today, the WSJ reported that over one million iPhone 5s units were shipped from Foxconn to China Mobile.

Iron Man lives again as Black Sabbath’s 1970s albums come to iTunes

Michael Steeber Jan 14 2014 - 7:11 pm PT

For the first time, eight of Black Sabbath’s early studio albums, and three compilations will be available exclusively on iTunes. According to the New York Times, the window of exclusivity will be short, however, with the band’s music arriving on streaming services very soon.

It’s worth noting that some of Black Sabbath’s later music was already available on iTunes, but many of their early tracks are first making their digital debut today. The list of holdouts from iTunes continues to shrink, with AC/DC arriving in 2012, and The Beatles in 2010.

Horizon for iPhone always records landscape video, independent of device orientation

Benjamin Mayo Jan 14 2014 - 2:07 pm PT

6 Comments

Horizon is a new app for the iPhone (currently on sale for just $1) making the rounds today that attempts to eliminate a major annoyance of modern society — portrait videos.

Horizon uses the iPhone’s motion sensors (the accelerometer and gyroscope) to automatically scale and rotate input from the camera to generate videos that are always in landscape, no matter how the phone is actually being held.

Stylish screensaver recreates the iOS 7 lock screen experience on your Mac

Benjamin Mayo Jan 14 2014 - 1:18 pm PT

13 Comments

Want to bring iOS and OS X even closer together than they already are?
Christian Heudens has recreated the iOS 7 lock screen to your Mac as a free downloadable screensaver. The thin fonts look great on a Retina Display. It’s a neat way to give your Mac a bit of individuality and make your experience across your Apple devices even more consistent.

The developer has done a good job of replicating the feel of iOS 7, using the same starry wallpaper by default and font style. The screensaver adds a zoom effect to the background too, which is a sophisticated yet subtle addition.

Report: Apple ships 1.4 million iPhone 5s units to China Mobile ahead of Jan. 17 launch

Jordan Kahn Jan 14 2014 - 7:20 am PT

The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple has shipped approximately 1.4 million iPhone 5S units to China Mobile in preparation of the carrier’s iPhone launch on Jan. 17. The report notes it likely doesn’t present sales for the full month of January with preorders having kicked off under three weeks ago, but it is a good indication of how many new iPhone customers Apple could potentially get on a monthly basis through the deal:

“Shipping one million or more iPhones to a single carrier per month is substantial. But we have limited visibility beyond this month as Apple hasn’t informed Foxconn of the volume for the next shipment to China Mobile,” said the person.

Apple finally made things official last month when it announced in a press release that it had struck a deal with China Mobile to begin selling the iPhone 5s and 5c, marking the first time the iPhone would be sold through the carrier’s retail stores. China Mobile, the world’s largest carrier with over 760 million subscribers, started taking preorders for the device on December 25 following Apple’s announcement. No word on estimates for iPhone 5c shipments, but China Mobile is set to begin selling that device too starting Friday.

Total Apple device sales will equal Windows PCs this year, predicts analyst

Ben Lovejoy Jan 14 2014 - 5:40 am PT

13 Comments

The total number of Apple devices sold will equal the number of Windows PCs by some point this year, predicts Asymco’s Horace Dediu in an interesting piece of analysis.

The dark shaded area compares all Apple hardware – Mac plus iPad plus iPhone – with Windows PCs, and shows that by last year there were only 1.18 more Windows PCs than Apple devices. It’s of course a somewhat artificial comparison, as Dediu is including iPhones while excluding Windows Phones and tablets, but given the very limited success of Windows mobile devices to date, correcting that wouldn’t change the patterns too much.

What’s particularly interesting here, as John Gruber notes, is that the dramatic reversal kicked in well before the launch of the iPhone. Dediu and Gruber between them put forward a number of theories for this, and of these I think three are likely key …

DOJ responds to Apple’s request to replace attorney in ebooks case (Update: Court denies Apple’s request, too)

Zac Hall Jan 13 2014 - 11:59 am PT

Following Apple’s formal request last week that Michael Bromwich be removed from his role in ensuring the Cupertino company meets compliances set by the anti-trust ruling in last year’s ebooks trial, the Department of Justice has pushed back (via GigaOm) with a denial letter accusing Apple of ‘character assassination’.

Regrettably, it is now clear that Apple has chosen a campaign of character assassination over a culture of compliance. Apple could have been spending the past months working with the External Compliance Monitor with the ultimate goal of reforming its policies and training, and in the process change its corporate tone to one that reflects a commitment to abiding by the requirements of the antitrust laws. Instead, Apple has focused on personally attacking Mr. Bromwich, and thwarting him from performing even the most basic of his court-ordered functions.
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Poll: What do you think about Apple’s “Your Verse” iPad Air ad?

Zac Hall Jan 13 2014 - 9:57 am PT

6 Comments

Continuing its “Life on iPad” campaign, Apple released its new “Your Verse” iPad Air ad yesterday featuring a motivational voiceover of Robin Williams from the film “Dead Poets Society”. While the ad has been largely received well, it has not been without some criticism by many citing its tone and some extreme use cases for the iPad. What do you think? Does the “Your Verse” ad inspire you to do more with the iPad? Does it miss the pitch by using extreme edge cases or does it fall flat altogether? Let us know in our poll below:

Nearly a fifth of all grand larcenies in NYC involved Apple products

Ben Lovejoy Jan 13 2014 - 4:41 am PT

4 Comments

Thefts of Apple products made up 18 percent of all grand larcenies in New York City last year, reports the WSJ, citing NYPD figures. Of the 47,000 grand larcenies occuring in the city last year, 8,465 involved Apple products.

Many of the thefts happen on public transportation, where most people are buried in their devices and aren’t paying attention to their surroundings, said Joseph Giacalone, a retired New York Police Department detective. “It’s easy pickings,” he said …
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“What a backstabber,” jokes Scarlett Johansson, after Siri diss

Ben Lovejoy Jan 13 2014 - 3:59 am PT

Scarlett Johansson, who plays a Siri-like virtual assistant in the movie Her, jokingly hit back at Siri’s dismissive remarks in an interview with Vanity Fair. The magazine noted that when Siri was asked “Are you Her?”, it responds with a variety of snarky remarks, including “Her portrayal of artificial intelligence is beyond artificial.”

“Oh. My. God,” Johansson responded, playfully hurt. “I feel like I’ve been betrayed. The other day I asked Siri how I looked and she said, ‘You’re the fairest of them all.’ So she’s obviously playing both sides … What a backstabber, man.”

We’re just waiting for Vanity Fair to interview Siri, to get her take on Johansson’s remarks …

Apple touts iPad’s abilities in new poetry-themed ad, ‘What will your verse be?’ website

Mark Gurman Jan 12 2014 - 10:44 am PT

24 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiyIcz7wUH0]
Apple certainly isn’t shying away from using the iPad as a camera anymore.

Airing today is a brand-new TV advertisement touting the abilities of the iPad. The ad is in a serious tone and is voiced over by a quote from the film Dead Poet’s Society. Re/Code has the text from the advertisement:

We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering — these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love — these are what we stay alive for.

To quote from Whitman,

“O me, O life of the questions of these recurring.
Of the endless trains of the faithless. Of cities filled with the foolish. What good amid these, O me, O life?
Answer: that you are here. That life exists and identity. That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.”

“That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.”

What will your verse be?

To go along with the TV ad, Apple has also posted a new webpage with the ad’s theme. This new page shares stories of the iPad being used in film-making, sports, and education. Original from movie below:

Apple now shipping the Mac Pro to Europe once again, after EU ban of old model

Benjamin Mayo Jan 12 2014 - 6:10 am PT

<a href="http://www.macg.co/mac/2014/01/premieres-expeditions-des-mac-pro-pour-leurope-79176">via MacGeneration</a>

Since March, the old Mac Pro has not been available to buy in Europe as changes in regulations meant that the old Mac Pro no longer complied with EU law. In particular, the large exposed fans of the Mac Pro were the main reason behind the ban — the amendment required fan guards and minor changes to electrical ports.

With the design of the new Mac Pro, Apple once again complies with regulatory requirements. Via MacGeneration, customers in Europe are now receiving shipment notifications with delivery as early as January 14. According to Apple’s online store, customers ordering today should receive their Mac Pro in February.

Opinion: What “three revolutionary devices” will the iWatch be?

Ben Lovejoy Jan 12 2014 - 4:17 am PT

110 Comments

Concept image: Stephen Olmstead

When Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone seven years ago last week, he described it as “three revolutionary devices” in one: touchscreen iPod, mobile phone and Internet communicator.

The iPhone wasn’t the first touchscreen smartphone. It wasn’t even close: Handspring launched the Treo 180 a full five years earlier (I know this because I owned one). Same with the iPod before it, launched three years after the MPMan (yep, I owned one of those too).

Apple has never been interested in being first to market, so no-one should be remotely surprised that others launched the smartwatch first. The company’s USP is its ability to take a relatively crude piece of technology being used exclusively by geeks and turn it into something so slick, beautiful and cool that mass-market consumers will find irresistible …
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Bluetooth portable conference speakerphone smackdown: Philips WeCall vs. Logitech P710e

Seth Weintraub Jan 11 2014 - 10:28 am PT

5 Comments

Update: Check out the Harman Kardon Esquire which we reviewed in December 2014

As we begin to rely on our mobile devices for more and more of our business needs, I found myself needing a “portable Polycom” which would allow me to make quality speakerphone calls from my Mac or iPhone. Sure, the built-in speaker and mic are top notch on Apple products for their size, but I’d often have a hard time hearing what was on the other end of the line. Even more importantly, people couldn’t understand what I was saying, especially as I moved around.

I’ve decided to take a look at two similar solutions: Philips WeCall ($150) vs. Logitech P710e ($140) pictured above…
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CES 2014: iPhone/iPad Bluetooth accessories for the home & body dominate the show

Jordan Kahn Jan 10 2014 - 2:55 pm PT

While it’s been years since Apple made an appearance at CES in any official capacity, accessories that pair with its iOS devices have for several years dominated the show floor. This year was no different with most of the big trends– fitness and health tracking wearables, Bluetooth controllers, and home automation products– all designed and developed with the iPhone, iPad, and Mac in mind. Below we’ve put together a roundup of the most interesting wearables, cases, controllers and more that we found for iOS devices.
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New flagship Apple Store in Brisbane, Australia set for Jan. 17th opening

Mark Gurman Jan 10 2014 - 1:08 pm PT

Apple has announced on its retail website that the forthcoming flagship Apple Store in Brisbane, Australia will have its grand opening on Friday, January 17th. The store will open at 10 AM on that date, with regular business hours beginning at 9 AM Monday through Saturday. The store will always open up at 10 AM on Sundays. The closing hours are shown in the image above from the store’s official website. Late last year, Apple teased the opening of this store with a Twitter hashtag and colorful barricades.

Apple did not violate Motorola patent, appeals court rules

Zac Hall Jan 10 2014 - 9:13 am PT