Apple

Poll: will Apple launch Retina MacBook Air in 2014?

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

After transitioning its MacBook Pros to high-resolution Retina screens, the ultra-portable MacBook Air - my favorite Apple notebook of all time - has remained hopelessly stuck in the past with that normal-resolution display. I don't want to trade portability for power, but non-Retina computing just doesn't cut it for me anymore, simple as that.

I guess you could say I'm ready to upgrade to a Retina MacBook Pro, unless - unless Apple brings out a Retina Air at some point this year. Of course, it's always easy to argue that a Retina-fied MacBook Air is going to remain wishful thinking until all the technological pieces have fallen in place. After all, aren't Retina screens known as power and GPU hogs?

Yes, but fourth-generation Intel Core processors have made some great strides in power efficiency and graphics performances, as evidenced by the mid-2013 MacBook Air refresh: these systems now rock up to twelve-hour battery on the 13.3-inch model, or nine hours for the 11.6-inch version.

The bigger problem: Retina needs a powerful backlighting to push more light between those densely-packed pixels, in turn requiring a larger battery inside the Air's already ultra-thin enclosure.

Me, I'm willing to sacrifice battery performance and be back at six hours of runtime in exchange for that ultra-sharp Retina screen. Which brings me to my question of the day: is Apple going to give the MacBook Air a Retina treatment this year, do you think?

Russia’s second-largest carrier now resuming iPhone sales after 3-year hiatus

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 27, 2014

Good news for Apple fans in Russia: the country's second-largest wireless carrier has now resumed iPhone sales in the 143 million people market. MegaFon stopped selling the iconic smartphone three years ago, in 2010, citing Apple's rather stringent sales policy and volume requirements.

The company hadn't offered the device for three years. Fortunately, the two sides have now come to senses as Apple appears to have softened its stance after seeing its smartphone share in Russia drop to single-digits...

Rumor: Taiwanese companies land Apple A8 packaging orders

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 27, 2014

An Apple-designed mobile processor for this year's iPads and iPhones will be probably labeled ’A8' and supply chain rumors have asserted that the world's top independent semiconductor foundry, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), will share orders with Samsung, whose multi-billion dollar Austin, Texas plant used to exclusively churn out Apple's A-series chips.

Like the A7, the A8 is said to use package-on-package design which combines the CPU part and mobile DRAM in a single package for increased performance and optimized power consumption...

Samson launches tiny microphone for Mac and iOS devices

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Last week I told you about Zoom's compact iQ5 stereo microphone for Lightning-enabled iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices. Zoom's accessory is Lightning-only and if you've been on the lookout for a portable microphone that works with Macs and iOS devices and connects via USB, look no further than Samson's new Go Mic Direct.

Perfect for podcasting, recording interviews, capturing audio notes, voice recognition applications, video calling via FaceTime and Skype, recording sound for YouTube videos and what not, the remarkably small accessory plugs directly into your Mac/PC's USB port and works with iPads and iPhone 4s and later using Apple's Lightning USB Camera Adapter or 30-pin Camera Connection Kit...

Video of Steve Jobs’ first public Mac demonstration surfaces

Cody Lee ∙ January 26, 2014

On January 24, 1984, Steve Jobs demonstrated the original Macintosh for the first time at an Apple shareholders meeting in Cupertino. You've probably seen a video of the presentation; it's the one where Jobs is introduced by a joke-telling Mac.

But what many people don't know is that the Apple co-founder gave another presentation for the computer less than a week later at a meeting of the Boston Computer Society. And that presentation has remained largely unseen until this weekend...

With iOS 7, are we seeing a less confident, more malleable Apple?

Oliver Haslam ∙ Updated April 16, 2018

Time was once when Apple was infamous for not giving its users choice. Steve Jobs himself famously said that consumers didn't know what they wanted, and that it was Apple's job to tell them, and he was often right. It was this confidence, some may say arrogance, that made Apple so sure of its designs. So absolutely convinced that it was on the right path. And arguably, it's why it has been so successful over the last ten or so years.

But things are changing inside Apple. Since Steve Jobs' death and the handing over of the reigns to the unflappable Tim Cook, Apple has been going through something of a metamorphosis, and everyone has seen how the company has changed. Countless people have written about how Apple isn't the same company since its co-founder and visionary left it to somewhat more pragmatic minds, and the evidence that they're right simply keeps on mounting.

iTunes Radio reportedly working for some UK users

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 16, 2018

Good news for all of you folks across the pond. There have been reports coming in for the past several hours that [some] iTunes users in the UK and other countries have been able to access and listen to iTunes Radio on their iPhones.

Since its launch last fall, iTunes Radio has been limited to users in the United States. But Apple has said that it is a top priority to get the streaming music service into other countries this year, and it looks like they're preparing a roll out...

WSJ: Apple looking to push deeper into mobile payments

Cody Lee ∙ Updated December 24, 2017

The Wall Street Journal is reporting tonight that Apple is looking to develop a new mobile payment service. The outlet says that SVP of Internet and Services Eddy Cue has met with other companies regarding Apple's plans to use its iOS devices to handle payments.

With hundreds of millions of active iTunes accounts, Apple has one of the largest credit card banks in existence. And pundits have been saying for years that the company could leverage its mega user base by coming up with some sort of mobile payment system...

Password-management firm names Apple most secure out of top 100 sites

Cody Lee ∙ January 24, 2014

With high profile hacking incidents making headlines now on what seems like a weekly basis, people are starting to think more about their online security. And one of the first questions they tend to ask is: how safe is my password at [insert name] website?

Password-management company Dashlane just released a report that may help answer this question for many users. The firm has conducted a comprehensive study of the top 100 e-commerce websites, based on 24 criteria, and here's what they found out...

iFixit performs the ultimate teardown, rips apart the original 128k Macintosh

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 24, 2014

Repair wizards over at iFixit have decided to do something insanely great in honor of the 30th Macintosh anniversary - they tore apart the vintage 128K Macintosh, the original Mac system that jumpstarted the personal computer revolution.

Back then (in 1984), the Mac had an 8MHz (that's megahertz, not gigahertz like today's processors) 68000 CPU from Motorola and a nine-inch black and white CRT display sporting a very non-Retina resolution of 512-by-342 pixels, just thirteen percent more pixels than the original 2007 iPhone.

The operating system and applications purred along happily using just 128KB of DRAM. 1,024 kilobytes is one megabyte and to give you some context - 128KB is less RAM than the iDownloadBlog logo image.

Its then revolutionary Sony-made 3.5-inch floppy disk provided 400 kilobytes of total storage. Jump past the fold for a remarkable blast from the past...

Tony Fadell on Nest deal, relationship with Apple, Google data sharing, home automation and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 24, 2018

The iPod Godfather and Nest Labs co-founder and CEO, Tony Fadell, sat down with Bloomberg at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland to talk specifics of the recently announced $3.2 billion Google deal, why he sold to the search monster, Nest's relationship with Apple, the future of controlling household products and a few other topics of interests, here are your soundbites...

Apple hangs commemorative Mac posters listing all past and current employees

Cody Lee ∙ January 24, 2014

As part of the ongoing celebration for the 30th anniversary of the Mac, Apple has hung commemorative posters allover its Cupertino, California campus. There's supposedly more than 10 of these giant posters marked with a big '30.'

What's really cool about the posters though, is what you don't see. Apparently the 30 insignia (shown in the photo above) is made up of the names of people who either work at Apple now, or have worked with the company in the past...