Apple

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...

Download Apple’s custom font to use these beautifully designed Mac model icons

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 24, 2014

We're still discovering the many ways Apple has celebrated the Mac’s 30th anniversary. The multi-faceted festivities include a prominent section on Apple's homepage providing a visual timeline of all Mac models since 1984, a nice ‘Happy Birthday, Mac’ section on the Mac App Store highlighting apps and games that capture the spirit of what makes the Mac a Mac, aptly-themed Apple Store window displays and commemorative posters at Apple's HQ listing all former and current Apple employees, to name a few (bonus: MacWorld and ABC interviews).

This one tidbit comes from iOS developer Greg Barbosa who discovered a charming font on Apple's servers which contains pictograms of various Mac models. I suggest installing the font ASAP as Apple could pull it at a moment's notice...

Zoom launches compact iQ5 stereo mic for Lightning-enabled iDevices

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 12, 2018

Announced at the National Association of Music Merchants trade show yesterday, Zoom's new high-fidelity microphone for Lightning-enabled iOS devices - the iQ5 - not only has the looks, it brings studio-quality 16-bit audio capture at 44.1kHz audio resolution to your iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

Filed as the first stereo microphone for Lightning-enabled iPad 4 or later, iPhone 5/5s/5c and the latest iPod touches, the iQ5 features an analog-type mic gain wheel for precision adjustment of input levels.

That's just scratching the surface as the mic comes with a dedicated headphone jack, three auto-gain levels, built-in timing, automatic recording and other handy features.

If you're serious about podcasting, recording interviews or capturing audio notes on the go, this nicely done, compact accessory could turn your iDevice into a professional-quality stereo recorder...

iPhone with sapphire glass display allegedly in trial production

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 24, 2014

According to a new rumor by Taiwan's Apple Daily, Apple's favorite contract manufacturer, Foxconn, has ostensibly commenced trial production of the next iPhone, using sapphire as a display glass cover. The initial production run has been pegged at 100 units.

This doesn't mean that the next iPhone will in fact ditch Corning's Gorilla Glass for sapphire-strengthened display, mind you. Apple currently uses sapphire to protect iOS device cameras and Touch ID fingerprint sensor on the iPhone 5s from scratches and dings.

Earlier today, a video excerpt from ABC's upcoming interview with CEO Tim Cook and other Apple executives brought the official confirmation of Apple's plan to exclusively produce sapphire crystal glass components at its new facility in Mesa, Arizona...

Mac App Store highlights apps and games that ‘capture what makes Mac so extraordinary’

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 27, 2019

Unless you haven't been following news today, you're by now aware that this Friday marks the Mac's 30th anniversary. Apple is celebrating the occasion by taking over its own homepage with a nice interactive timeline of all Mac models, along with a cool poll and a heartwarming video to go with it.

The company's Apple Stores are also taking part in the festivities with Mac-themed window displays.

And now, a store of another kind, the Mac App Store, has joined the celebration with a brand new 'Happy Birthday, Mac' section highlighting a cherry-picked selection of free/paid apps and games that "capture the spirit of what makes this computer so extraordinary"...

Tim Cook confirms sapphire Mesa plant, dodges questions on iTV, iWatch

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 20, 2016

As we told you yesterday, ABC News will broadcast a rare interview with CEO Tim Cook and other Apple executives this evening. And as Apple celebrates the Mac's 30th anniversary with a nice interactive timeline and video on Apple.com, the ABC interview is expected to offer some insight into the company's culture of secrecy, the Mac's importance to Apple's bottom line and more.

An excerpt from the interview was played Friday morning on Good Morning America, offering a taste of the full interview scheduled to be aired later today at 6:30PM EST on World News with Diane Sawyer...

Apple removes Keynote Remote from the App Store following Keynote 2.1 for iOS update

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 24, 2014

Following yesterday's slew of updates to Pages, Keynote and Numbers on iOS and OS X, Apple has removed a standalone Keynote Remote application for the iPhone and iPad from the App Store.

Attempting to download Keynote Remote using the old iTunes link yields the message saying that "the item you've request is not currently available in the U.S. store". As the app's functionality is now folded into the latest Keynote for iOS/OS X update, Keynote Remote is no longer needed...

Tomb Raider reboot hits the Mac App Store

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 12, 2018

Feral Interactive today released a Mac version of last year's Tomb Raider reboot for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The game is available exclusively on the Mac App Store starting today and will be coming to Steam on January 30.

A young Lara Croft gets shipwrecked on an uncharted island and... Well, you know the drill. You'll be scavenging the island's vital resources, upgrade Lara’s gear, improving her exploration, combat and survival skills and what not.

In terms of game mechanics, expect a lot of jumping and climbing through dense forests, mountains and WWII bunkers "to discover how an ordinary young woman became Lara Croft"...

Apple celebrates 30 years of Mac innovation with gorgeous timeline, video and interactive poll

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 19, 2018

On this day thirty years ago, Steve Jobs presented the new Macintosh to a roomful of Apple investors.

Apple's computer would go on to put the power of technology in everyone's hands, all the while changing the face of personal computing for decades to come, upending whole industries, challenging the status quo and eventually leading to the iPod, iPhone and iPad.

Today, the company has taken over its own homepage with a gorgeous visual timeline of the thirty years of Macintosh innovations, paying tribute to the computer with a nicely done video, an interactive poll and other goodies...

Samsung profits drop as the company faces fierce competition in both low and high end markets

Sébastien Page ∙ January 23, 2014

Things are not happy and beautiful any longer for Samsung, the world's number one smartphones manufacturer. As reported by Bloomberg, the Korean giant has posted its slowest growth since 2011.

Who's to blame for the slow growth pace? For one, there is Lenovo, Huawei and other makers of cheap smartphones who've been flooding the markets in many areas, especially in Asia, a strong ground for Samsung. Apple is also partly responsible from Samsung's decline as the fruity company has been luring high-end customers away from the Galaxy line maker...