Apple

Poll: which one’s a better buy – $1,099 iMac or MacBook Air?

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 18, 2014

Apple is taking some heat over its $200 cheaper baseline iMac, which released this morning. See, in order to bring the price down to an attractive $1.099, the iPhone maker has sadly skimped on the specs.

This $200 saving translates into half the hard drive storage and a slower Intel CPU/integrated graphics.

Specifically, the entry-level 21.5-incher packs basically the same dual-core 1.4GHz Intel Core i5 processor and integrated Intel HD Graphics 5000 as the MacBook Air family. And with recent MacBook Air price drops, choosing between the all-in-one and one of ultra-portable Airs is anything but trivial.

That's why I've created a quick poll, so we could learn from your opinion. Tell us which one, in your opinion, is a better buy: a $1,099 iMac or a $1,099 MacBook Air...

Apple TV rumored to receive Continuity integration with iOS 8 and Yosemite Macs this Fall

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 18, 2014

iOS 8 and Yosemite come with Handoff, a particularly useful feature for completing tasks across multiple devices and seamlessly moving from one device to another. Part of the broader Continuity capability, Handoff relies on proximity sensing via power-sipping Bluetooth 4.0 to detect nearby devices which then broadcast user tasks.

Handoff lets you easily create an intelligent Instant Hotspot on your mobile device, start writing an email on your iPad and continue right where you left off on a Mac, receive and make phone calls and handle text messages on Macs and lots more.

According to one blogger, Apple will be bringing Continuity to its Apple TV media-streaming box when iOS 8 launches this Fall, resulting in a much tighter Apple TV integration with Mac and iOS...

Apple drops Mac mini prices across Europe, too

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 18, 2014

Apple is on a roll today. First it announced a $200 cheaper baseline iMac model, then we heard about slight Apple TV discounts across Europe and a lot deeper price cut on refurbished Time Capsule wireless base stations and now comes word that Cook & Co. have dropped prices of Mac mini models across key markets in Europe.

That's right, our fans in Europe can now pick up a Mac mini for anywhere between €30 and €60 less (translates to approximately $40 and $82, respectively), depending on the country and model...

Refurbished previous-generation Time Capsule now just $149

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 27, 2016

I'm a huge fan of Apple's wireless appliances and a longtime Time Capsule user. I have my first Time Capsule model lying around the office somewhere and my wallet still hurts remembering that I paid a whopping $600 for it some five years ago.

If you don't mind jumping on the previous-generation pre-owned hardware, the Refurbished Apple Store has now brought the price of the 2TB/3TB mid-2011 Time Capsule down to $149/$299, respectively...

Asphalt 8: Airborne introduces new Fuel system, extra tank and additional cars

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 18, 2014

France-based games maker Gameloft has released a fuel-injected update to its freemium Asphalt 8: Airborne racing game for the iPhone and iPad, its fifth major content update thus far.

Now live in the App Store and labeled with version 1.4, the game offers several new features while ditching the dreaded rental fee for events. Instead, you now enter time-limited events using a brand new Fuel system.

Jump past the fold for full details...

Apple drops Apple TV price to €99 in Europe and £79 in the UK

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 18, 2014

Boy, Apple surely seems laser-focused on making its products more price-competitive. Minutes after releasing a $200 cheaper baseline 21.5-inch iMac model, now starting at just $1,099, word comes that its set-top box, the Apple TV which retails for $99 in the United States, has been discounted in the United Kingdom and across the European Union markets....

Apple brings entry-level 21.5-inch iMac down to just $1,099

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 18, 2014

Apple's online store went down briefly this morning as the company has refreshed its iMac family of all-in-one desktops. The baseline model now starts at $1,099, a full $200 cheaper over the previous model.

Only the entry-level 21.5-inch iMac has been refreshed with what's apparently a significant specs downgrade.

The $1,099 configuration comes with a low-end 1.4GHz dual-core Intel i5 processor with three megabytes of L3 cache, a 5,400rpm 500GB hard disk drive, 8GB of RAM and integrated Intel HD Graphics 5000...

How to enable Yosemite’s somewhat functional dark mode

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 17, 2014

There were lots of oohs and aahs in response to Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi showing off a new dark UI mode in OS X Yosemite at WWDC two weeks ago. It basically alters the appearance of the menus, sliders, buttons, windows and other UI elements.

The gorgeously subdued look is inspired by the dark appearance of Apple's pro software such as Aperture and Final Cut Pro. In fact, I like it so much that I enthusiastically tweeted right after the keynote that I was very much looking forward to using it on a permanent basis come this Fall.

However, dark mode was notably absent from the first beta of OS X 10.10 and is nowhere to be found in the just-released Beta 2. For a good reason, too, as it's unfinished and very much work in progress so not really ready for prime time yet.

If you're a type of person who can't wait to see it in action, you can enable Yosemite's dark UI using just a simple Terminal command...

Snapchat rolls out new Our Story feature

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 18, 2016

Facebook has just rolled out its would-be Snapchat killer, but Snapchat is unfazed. In fact, after introducing a photo sharing feature called My Story earlier in the year, today the startup rolled out a similarly conceived Our Story feature for groups of people.

In a nutshell, Our Story uses your location to allow fellow Snapchatters who are at the same event location to contribute snaps to the same Story.

Whereas Our Story is for communal snap at events, My Story is still available when you and only you want to add multiple images to a single album, without other people contributing to it...

Facebook launches Slingshot, its would-be Snapchat killer

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 12, 2018

The social networking giant Facebook could be poised to take a significant chunk of the ephemeral messaging market with the formal release of Slingshot, its new and long-rumored iPhone application that just surfaced on the App Store after briefly appearing yesterday.

The free download offers features you'd normally associate with Snapchat, which has popularized the trend of so-called disappear apps where message and media exchanges between participants get automatically deleted after a predetermined period of time...

Out now: iOS 8 Beta 2, Yosemite Developer Preview 2, new Xcode and Apple TV software

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated June 11, 2025

Two weeks after releasing the first beta of iOS 8, Apple today seeded it developers with the second beta of both iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite.

The Yosemite Developer Preview 2 (Build 14A261i) for Macs and a pre-release version of iOS 8 Beta 2 (build 12A4297e) for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices are available for download through Apple's Dev Center.

The betas are available standalone or as over-the-air downloads via the Software Update mechanism...

Rumors: power draw issues plaguing iWatch, sapphire screen exclusive to 5.5″ iPhone 6

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 30, 2017

It was just yesterday that analyst Matt Margolis speculated that Apple and its manufacturing partner GT Advanced - which operates a sophisticated sapphire plant in Arizona - can produce enough sapphire glass for both iPhone 6 models and now comes word that's not really the case.

Taiwan's Economic Daily News is out with a report claiming that only the larger 5.5-inch iPhone 6 model incorporates a sapphire-strengthened screen as Apple and GT continue to cope with yield issues and production limitations. As for Apple's rumored iWatch, the paper says current prototypes of the wearable device are plagued with energy consumption issues related to its OLED screen...