New details have emerged which suggest chip maker Palo Alto Semiconductor (PA Semi) might not be the hive mind behind the iPad’s “A4” processor as was widely expected. In case you missed it, the A4 is the diminutive custom silicon that lies at the heart of […] Read more »
Sometimes I have to wonder whether everyone has taken leave of their senses. The big “news” doing the rounds in the last twenty four hours is that Apple execs have admitted they are prepared to change the price of the iPad should consumer reception (read: sales) […] Read more »
Naturally, it’s important to every Mac owner that their computer behave itself and work reliably and efficiently. But if, like me, you’ve handed over the extra shekels for a Mac Pro, instead of, say, a MacBook, you don’t just expect reliability and efficiency. You expect — […] Read more »
Engadget has been digging through the iPhone OS SDK and, tucked away inside the MediaValidator.plist file, found what it believes are clues to future HD video capabilities in the next revision of the iPhone (codenamed N89). Engadget’s Chris Ziegler writes; …the maximum video width is up […] Read more »
The Wall Street Journal has reported that major textbook publishers have made deals with ScrollMotion Inc, in an effort to bring their textbooks to digital devices — including Apple’s upcoming iPad. McGraw-Hill, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt K-12, Pearson Education and Kaplan Inc are all named as ScrollMotions’s […] Read more »
Barely a week into the New Year I wrote an article entitled Magic Mouse Drains Keyboard Batteries. The clue is in the title. According to reports on the Apple Support forum, people were discovering that their diminutive Apple wireless keyboards were suddenly chewing through battery life […] Read more »
According to a report over the weekend on HotHardware.com, Apple may have more to announce at its special event this Wednesday than its mythical tablet. We have been led to believe by an inside source that AT&T will lose their iPhone exclusivity on the same day, […] Read more »
Back In October ’09 I wrote an article about a disturbing failure-rate in Apple’s Time Capsules that was starting to gain some attention in the press. An apparent design flaw in the device was causing some units to die after about 12-18 months in operation. Reports […] Read more »
I have heard it said, “If you can’t compete, sue.” Of course, I’m sure that’s not the case with Nokia’s recent complaint against Apple. Sure, it could have started litigation back in 2007 when the iPhone was first launched, but I guess the almost-three-year-delay was just how […] Read more »
I’m pretty sure that late January is traditionally that time of the year when the Apple rumor mill starts heating-up in anticipation of the impending iPhone OS update. A young tradition, to be sure, but a tradition nonetheless. This year, however, the media frenzy around the […] Read more »
When Flash appeared near the end of the last millennium it promised a bright new world of rich multimedia content creation and delivery via what would otherwise be drab old web pages. At a time when Geocities was the best the Web had to offer, Flash […] Read more »
They say the best camera you own is the one you have on you right now. So, unless you habitually carry a high-end DSLR on your person everywhere you go, your best camera is likely your iPhone. And that’s not exactly something to brag about, given […] Read more »
“Dream bigger,” Steve Jobs told a Disney executive as they discussed plans to reinvent the media company’s retail outlets. He insisted Disney develop a prototype store, much as Apple did before it launched its first brick-and-mortar outlet at Tysons Corner, Virgina, in May 2001. As the […] Read more »
So, Microsoft has unveiled a new tablet PC — a prototype made by HP, dubbed (not coincidentally) a Slate. Fake Steve Jobs suggests it ought to be called the “meh,” and he’s dead right, while the UK’s Telegraph said it could be a “major blow” to […] Read more »
So the holidays are over. The food portions are returning to healthy sizes but the damage is done. New Year resolutions you’ve been ruminating on for weeks must now be taken seriously. It’s time to get in shape. No more excuses! No more distractions. You have […] Read more »
I have a confession to make. I don’t dual boot. I don’t use Windows on my Mac. I don’t need to. There’s not a single bit of software I need that is Windows-only. And even though I have Office:Mac 2008, I open Word and Excel documents […] Read more »
Very nearly one year ago I got my hands on Apple’s cloud-based document collaboration service, iWork.com, and now that the service is about to celebrate its first birthday, now seemed a good time to take a look at what’s happened in the last 12 months, and […] Read more »
I’m really sorry. I do realize these tablet rumors are becoming tiresome, but you know, don’t you, that they’re going to get a lot worse in the coming weeks as we approach January 26 and Apple’s not-yet-officially-confirmed-but-unofficially-will-definitely-happen media event? The latest tidbits come from Fox News’ […] Read more »
Holiday spending has seen sales of Apple’s Magic Mouse soar. According to a report by NPD and covered today by AppleInsider, last month saw a twofold increase in Apple’s share of domestic mice sales. By the end of November, Apple had captured 10 percent of the […] Read more »
The iPhone 3GS has never been available in anything other than 16GB and 32GB capacity models, leaving the 8GB shoes to be filled with its older brother, the iPhone 3G. And that was just fine for a while. The problem now is that we’re just months […] Read more »
Shortly before Christmas, my iPhone started misbehaving. I’d get an odd little notification message popping up on the screen telling me it “Could not activate cellular data network.” Despite not usually getting odd little errors on the iPhone, I didn’t worry too much about it. After […] Read more »
So, after years of speculation, debate and rumor-upon-rumor, the mythical tablet device from Apple is, it seems, here. In a matter of weeks we expect Steve Jobs to take to the stage at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco and deliver the announcement […] Read more »
Steve Jobs is “extremely happy.” But it’s not because Psystar is dead. And it’s not because he’s been named CEO of the Multiverse or some other such end-of-year award. He’s happy because that Tablet he’s been working on almost exclusively since he returned to Apple in […] Read more »
Whaddya mean, you’re skeptical about reports regarding an upcoming Tablet announcement? When did you last hear a major publisher report exciting Tablet news from unnamed sources? Oh, wait. Earlier in the week the Wall Street Journal reported on the rumors of Apple’s forays into television content […] Read more »
Do you remember the notion we used to have that multiple carriers selling the iPhone in the same territory seemed like a golden ticket to more options, lower prices and altogether more competitive deals for customers? Well, forget it. Ain’t gonna happen. Not if the UK’s […] Read more »
You know how Michael Jackson won so many awards in his lifetime that they had to start inventing new ones to justify dragging him onstage? Entertainer of the Universe and Best Selling Artist in the New Galactic Empire spring to mind. Hey, that’s the price of […] Read more »
The Google phone, dubbed the Nexus One–an unbranded HTC-made carrier-unlocked handset running Android 2.0–looks slick. Here is why it won’t be an iPhone killer, though. Read more »
It’s hard to know where to begin. The weekend has seen a series of events unfold that manage to combine — beautifully, perfectly — into a single glorious mutually-annihilating maelstrom of silliness. On Friday the Wall Street Journal published an inflammatory piece by Randall Stross which […] Read more »
Back in November we reported on the news that some of Apple’s new 27-inch iMacs were turning up with shattered screens and dodgy “flashing” displays. At the time, the most plausible explanation for the physical damage was that the packaging designed to protect the machines during […] Read more »
In late November, Gear Diary ran a short video sneak-peek of Dragon Dictation for the iPhone, an app that, like its big brother Mac and PC counterparts, converts spoken words into written text. The teaser video begins with the words “An app that will transform your […] Read more »
It has been a long time coming. Google’s Chrome web browser has been available on Windows for over a year, while Mac users have been left with three options — take their chances with a nightly build of the open-source fork of Chrome (dubbed Chromium), use […] Read more »
Back in October, HardMac reported that Apple was busy testing Intel’s new “Gulftown” Xeon chip ahead of its inclusion in a refresh of the Mac Pro, which is slated for release early next year. The 32nm Gulftown chip is an evolution of the 45nm architecture found in […] Read more »
Apple has posted details on a new full-time position at its Cupertino headquarters for an iPhone Software Engineer who will join its newly created Maps team. On the job description web page, Apple says it wants to “…take Maps to the next level,” and “…rethink how […] Read more »
Mac OS X is a wonder. When it comes to personal information management, entertainment and the Internet, it’s got all the basics covered. Beyond that, there are a handful of “essential” apps most Mac owners install on a new machine within minutes of booting it up […] Read more »
Nearly half of the money spent in America in the last year on desktop computers went to Macs. According to NPD, and reported this week by BetaNews, Apple’s October desktop PC market share was 47.71 percent, a huge increase on the previous year’s figure of 33.44 […] Read more »
It’s finally Black Friday, and shoppers are out looking for bargains. Apple’s in-store prices aren’t so low, but there are some bargains, and good Apple product prices from other retailers. Read more »
It’s been a double-edged sword, this no-Flash-on-the-iPhone business. On the one hand, we don’t get the complete Internet. On the other hand, the web pages we do get are less likely to crash or drag-along at a snail’s pace. And really, who wants to see yet […] Read more »
iPhone Malware has been getting an awful lot of coverage lately, hasn’t it? I’m sorry to add to it, but sophos.com reports that the author of the Ikee iPhone worm has (somewhat predictably) earned himself a nice new job for his troubles. Ashley Towns is twenty […] Read more »
InformationWeek reports that a third-party MacBook power adapter manufacturer is being sued by Apple for allegedly violating one of its patent designs. On Monday, Apple filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Media Solutions Holdings in federal district court in California. Apple says that the company is […] Read more »
The iPhone has been our Golden Child for over two years and we’re much accustomed to reading how it’s setting this record, or breaking that record, or changing “the game” in some revolutionary way. I’m not complaining in the slightest — credit where credit is due […] Read more »
