Year: 2014

New iPhone 6 renderings based on alleged leaked schematics

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 16, 2018

A little over a week ago, Japanese magazine MacFan published alleged schematics for a 4.7-inch and 5.7-inch iPhone 6. We called the drawings 'sketchy,' as they depicted a round iSight flash (instead of pill-shaped) and other oddities, but many of the details matched up with previous information.

With that in mind, MacRumors commissioned designer Ferry Passchier to create some full product renderings of the two iPhone 6 models, based on the schematics, in an effort to bring the black and white sketches to life. And we must say, the outcome is one (or two) good-looking smartphone...

Giveaway: download this free app and enter for a chance to win an iPad mini

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated April 16, 2014

It had been a while since we'd been running one of our notorious awesome giveaways. But today, thanks to the folks at Fairway Solitaire, we're back at it, with a really cool prize for one lucky winner: an iPad mini with Retina display.

Yup, you read that right. One of you lucky cats will be able to snatch a 16GB iPad mini with Retina display in the color of your choice. Best of all, you won't even have to go to the Apple Store to pick it up, as we'll be shipping it directly to you.

Read on for the details...

Samsung takes more swipes at iPad in new Galaxy Pro ads

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 8, 2014

Samsung's back at it again. The company has aired four new ads that bash the iPad while painting its own 12-inch Galaxy Tab Pro tablets in favorable light. Samsung released these big tablets three months ago. The ads convey a few hard-hitting yet simple to grasp messages that likely won't sit well with loyal fans of the California-based company.

One ad tells the viewer that anyone can multitask like a pro on Samsung's tablets that can run two apps side-by-side. Another commercial focuses on Samsung's 'Multi User' mode allowing different people to use devices, with each person's settings, documents and apps separate of the others, a feature notably absent from the iPad.

Yet another video, titled 'Pixel Density', offers a critique of the iPad's 2,048-by-1,536 Retina display at 226 pixels per inch. Apple's "Retina thingy", the ad explains, pales in comparison with the Tab Pro's sharp 10.1-inch screen at a whopping 2,5600-by-1,600 resolution with a pixel density of 299ppi.

I've included all four ads for your viewing pleasure right below the fold...

iOS 7 adoption at 87 percent ahead of WWDC 2014

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 27, 2018

After last summer's WWDC, Apple started charting iOS adoption numbers on Dev Center, its portal for registered Mac and iOS developers.

According to data from March 24, 2014, a whopping 85 percent of the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices in the wild ran iOS 7 at the time. The figure has now grown to 87 percent device, as per latest App Store numbers.

Although iOS adoption rates are now plateauing following the software's public release more than six months ago, the two percentage-point difference in two weeks time is nonetheless a notable accomplishment.

I bet Apple's executives will highlight iOS vs. Android adoption to paint Google's platform as highly fragmented, but there's more to data than meets the eye. Read on for more context...

NBC’s iOS app now streams free shows to Apple TV

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 8, 2014

Cord-cutters are well aware that the National Broadcasting Company, or NBC, is one of the rare few broadcasters that allow for free streaming of their shows right after they've aired on television, no cable subscription required.

The company has a nice iOS application which has received an interesting little update earlier today with support for wireless content streaming to the Apple TV, via Apple's AirPlay technology.

As a result, you can now send such shows as The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Days of our Lives, The Blacklist and About a Boy to your big screen TV, through Apple's $99 media-streaming box...

iSpaceship site demolition is complete, new aerial photos reveal

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 8, 2014

After receiving unanimous approval from the Cupertino City Council for its massive Campus 2 project last October, Apple in November 2013 started demolishing the two dozen former Hewlett-Packard buildings.

As the initial set of aerial shots and subsequent high-quality photographs showed, construction workers were busy for weeks prepping the gigantic iSpaceship site (located along Ridgeview Ct.), with bulldozers flattening the terrain and excavators clearing the rubble on the site.

The demolition phase now appears to have been completed: latest aerial images show that Hewlett-Packard's former campus buildings are gone now, leaving a large expanse in the far northeast corner of Cupertino, where a massive 2.8 million square foot structure will erect by 2016...

iWatch rumors: UV light exposure sensor, August-September release

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated September 28, 2016

Apple's rumored wearable device, dubbed by the press the iWatch, is said to include a plethora of sensors to help measure not only a user's vital signs and blood oximetry levels but also stuff like the amount of harmful ultraviolet light you've been exposed to - presumably in order to ping you when you’ve had enough - according to a new research note from Barclays analyst Blayne Curtis.

This should help both folks with elevated risk of sunburn and those who are simply concerned about excessive sun exposure. And if you ask Taiwan’s Economic Daily News, Apple has been lining up suppliers for months now and is targeting a third-quarter launch, around the August-September timeframe...

Apple allegedly working on its own baseband chips for 2015 iPhones and iPads

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 8, 2014

As you know, Apple's in-house teams have been designing the engine that drives the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and Apple TV devices for years now. However, the company still sources one crucial piece of silicon from a third-party: it buys baseband modems that provide the iPhone and iPad with cellular connectivity from Qualcomm. But even that could soon change, if a new rumor is an indication.

DigiTimes, the hit-and-miss Taiwanese trade publication, is reporting that Apple is planning to form a research and development team to engineer baseband processors for iPhones fully in-house. The move would empower the firm to take an even greater control of its chip destiny.

In years past, Apple acquired several fabless semiconductor makers such as PA Semi and Intrinsity for their talent and technology. Apple now has over a thousand silicon and wireless engineers who design A-series of chips in house by licensing CPU and GPU blueprints from ARM and Imagination Technology, respectively, optimizing their designs for speed, low power consumption and iOS...

Apple poaches VP of Amazon A9′s Search Technology group

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 27, 2016

Apple has made another high-profile hire, having poached Benoit Dupin, Vice President of Amazon A9′s Search Technology group, according to the executive's professional business profile on LinkedIn.

Benoit, who brings over fifteen years of international technology industry experience within a wide range of disciplines, has left Amazon to help Apple improve search features in its own mapping service, sources speculated on Tuesday.

He isn't the first Amazon executive to have left for 1 Infinite Loop. Back in October 2012, Apple hired away another prominent Amazon search technologist, William Stasior, who is now working with the Siri team...

Let’s Talk iOS 023: Bees and basketballs

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated March 20, 2018

Episode 23: We talk about iPhone growth and what the recently revealed slide presentations may indicate about the future of Apple's flagship device. We also chit-chat about the future of the Apple TV, and what the set-top box landscape looks like going forward.

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15 Coins review: good luck collecting coins in this ultra hard arcade game

Lory Gil ∙ Updated February 5, 2018

I never got into the Flappy Bird phenomenon. I remember hearing groups of people talking about it at a restaurant only days before its untimely demise wondering why something so simple was so popular. I think I have an understanding of that now.

15 Coins is a simple arcade style game that is impossibly difficult. Similar to Flappy Bird, it makes you want to keep playing over and over, no matter how poorly you perform, just to try to get one more coin before you die…

Apple’s latest ‘Your Verse’ story is about iPad in Bollywood

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 13, 2018

You've seen how world-class mountaineers use iPad for their extraordinary climbs and how coaches use the device to help diagnose athletes’ concussions so how about some more testimonials?

You're in for a treat as Apple's just added a new story to the 'Your Verse' microsite highlighting how its popular post-PC device is being used by Bollywood choreographer Feroz Khan to capture inspiration for his passion.

So, what does it take to choreograph a vision in Bollywood?

Read on for the full reveal...