|
12 July 2012
Posted in
Apple
Apple has copped flack for withdrawring their machines from the EPEAT registry, which had led to San Francisco officials moving to block the purchase of any product which does not meet the EPEAT requirements. Apple has since responded to their EPEAT-related criticism, saying to The Loop that many of their machines already surpass EPEAT standards in other areas — but there's a reason EPEAT exists in the first place, says The Next Web.
With the Gold Master of Mountain Lion having just been released, it has been revealed that some 64-bit Macs won't be able to run Mountain Lion. Ars Technica has more on the story, saying that the restirction seems to be purely graphics-based. Their informed spectulation says that an underlying graphics framework in Mountain Lion means that older machines just can't handle certain 32-bit kernel extensions.
Benchmarks of the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro have surfaced in GeekBench, and it should come as no surprise that it's faster than its predecessor, but the real question is: when will such a machine be released? Will it be before or after an updated iMac of the same caliber?
Finally this morning, there's Apple recruitment video direct from Apple HQ that makes for interesting watching, showing how various teams collaborate on their projects.
|
11 July 2012
Posted in
Apple
Apple has seeded a beta of the iCloud control panel for Windows. The iCloud Control Panel 2.0 beta adds support for shared Photo Streams on the Windows platform, the ability to create or respond to shared calendar invitations directly from Outlook, improved event invitation behaviour, built-in calendar notifications, and more features as pointed out by 9to5Mac.
Dropbox has doubled storage space for paid customers, meaning that if you previously had 50GB, you now have 100GB (and whatever bonus space you had earned). Dropbox is also planning to introduce a new storage tier of 500GB, but pricing has not yet been revealed. Macworld says the reason for this doubled storage is due to increased competition from other online storage and syncing competitors, such as Google Drive, Box.net, and others.
|
10 July 2012
Posted in
Apple
Yesterday morning the Gold Master of Mountain Lion was released to developers by Apple. Build 12A269 is the last of the developer-only versions of Mountain Lion, which means we should see it before the end of July, provided there aren't any further issues. Apple has also begun asking developers to submit their apps for Mountain Lion, which will features Gatekeeper to allow only certain types of software to be installed on machines.
Google was caught placing third-party cookies where they didn't belong due to a loophole in Safari's cookie-blocking policy. Now the case has been taken to the Federal Trade Comission, and it has been ruled that Google will pay out US $22.5 million, the largest penalty ever levied against one company, albeit one that is miniscule in comparison to Google's revenues.
|
09 July 2012
Posted in
Apple
There's now evidence to suggest Apple may be bringing their mapping solution as seen in iOS 6 to the Mac. A code dump has revealed certain bits of code which reference Intel processors, and while this alone isn't enough to suggest Apple is planning to build a separate maps app on OS X, it does suggest that there will be at least some kind of integration between the two, perhaps in the form of an iPhoto-like maps implementation.
CNN's Fortune 500 list has been updated, and their list of the top world's 500 largest companies sees Apple placing 55th on the list, up from their 111th placing last year. According to the list, Apple posted US $108,249 million in revenue, with US $25,922 million in profits. Pretty impressive stuff.
|
05 July 2012
Posted in
Apple
The Mac App Store is great is many ways, but because of the ways Apple sits in-between developers and end users, it often means that users are left in the dark when it comes to updates to the apps they use. Sure, in most cases you can email the developer, or follow them on Twitter, but how many users do that? Rogue Amoeba's solution to this communication issue is simple: using an in-app Developer News Window, they can push messages to users of their apps at any time.
MobileMe is gone and iWork is next, but Macworld has a few tips on migrating away from MobileMe, even if you're already very happy with iCloud thus far. But what about the services that aren't in iCloud, like iDisk sync, keychain syncing, iWeb hosting, and MobileMe Galleries? Those features can be found using third parties, as Macworld explains.
|
04 July 2012
Posted in
Apple
Apple has unveiled a new beta of the iCloud website that features a few new apps that aren't currently available to consumers on the normal iCloud website. The iCloud beta, which requires an Apple ID linked to a developer account, now has Notes, Reminders, an improved Calendar, and a revamped Find My iPhone section. The newer apps all sport similar interfaces to their iOS counterparts, and the improved Find My iPhone now integrates features announced as part of iOS 6.
Ars Technica has a good analysis and explanation of why Thunderbolt cables with continue to be expensive for the foreseeable future, at least until 2013. At the end of the day, it comes down to the quality of the cables required for bi-directional 10Gbps communication — Apple is using the very best parts in their cables, and that's why they're so expensive compared to USB cables or similar.
|
03 July 2012
Posted in
Apple
Last week, Apple announced Bob Mansfield, current Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering is retiring. The role will be transitioned to one of Bob's key lieutenants, Dan Riccio, who has served faithfully under Mansfield for many years, and who currently holds the title of Vice President of iPad Hardware Engineering. Also news in Apple execs is Bertrand Serlet, who seems to have joined a startup that consists of former employees of various big-name Silicon Valley companies, and they hope to build the future of the cloud.
The Retina MacBook Pro hasn't been released for all that long, and we're already seeing lots of updates to apps to be compatible with the new Retina display. Twitterriffic was one of the apps that were compatible from day one, and now VLC and Sparrow have both released updates that make them compatible with the Retina display — VLC's update also removes the font cache, while Sparrow's update also includes support for Mountain Lion.
|
01 July 2012
Posted in
Apple
Now that June 30 has come and gone, MobileMe is no longer. Indeed, a message posted to me.com says exactly that. However, for a limited time it seems Apple are still oferring users the chance to move their account to iCloud, download photos from their MobileMe Gallery, and download their files from their iDisk. Users who aren't currently running iOS 5 or OS X Lion are still able to find a lost device from the now-defunct me.com homepage, but that's pretty much it.
If your new MacBook Air is suddenly crashing, then Google Chrome might be the likely culprit. Google has confirmed the issue, saying the kernel panics users with the new MacBook Air were seeing were the result of some kind of conflict between Chrome and the new Intel HD 4000 graphics chip found on this year's MacBook Air. Google has since disabled some of Chrome's GPU acceleration via autoupdate, and they're actively working on a fix.
|
28 June 2012
Posted in
Apple
Bloomberg has stated an iTunes overhaul will be happening later this year. The new update will encompass features such as enhanced music sharing for better music discovery, including a feature where users could listen to their friends' shared songs for free. Also included in the overhaul will be deeper Twitter and Facebook integration, and if that wasn't enough, Apple is also expected to bring better iCloud integration to iTunes.
Apple has posted an FAQ that explains the different options afforded on MacBook Pro with Retina display with regards to scaling, and other options that look like different resolutions. For the uninitiated, the Retina display on the MacBook Pro means you can scale the entire display so that text either looks bigger (and you have less "space"), or you can scale things down so text looks smaller.
|
27 June 2012
Posted in
Apple
Holiday and accomodation website Orbitz has been caught in the act of showing more expensive holiday destinations and accommodation to Mac users than PC users, says Ars Technica. In a case of targeted advertising at best, Orbitz identified Mac users were willing to spend higher amounts of money on hotels than fellow PC users, and subsequently showed them higher-priced hotels and accommodation. Of course, this has resulted in an outburst from several Mac websites, even though Orbitz wasn't always showing higher-priced accommodation to Mac users. .
A local paper in Reno, Nevada has reported that Apple are planning to spend US $1 billion on a data center and other facilities in Reno. The $1 billion figure is to be spent over the next ten years, building a data center that is planned to become operational later this year, with an Apple spokesman saying that they were committing to a 30-year relationship.
Andy Ihnatko has a few things to say about the apparent disconnect between iCloud and the Mac App Store, and he also compares it to the iOS App Store for good measure. He says apps and developers are being forced into a corner, because apps that aren't in the Mac App Store don't gain iCloud features, whilst apps in the Mac App Store also require sandboxing.
OS X Daily shows you four ways to run your MacBook Pro with Retina display at its native resolution. You'll need to download an app to make it happen, but 2880x1800 has to be seen to be believed.