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Apple's first store in Brazil opens and other news from Feb. 17, 2014
Brazil joyfully welcomed its first Apple retail store over the weekend, with more than 1,700 queueing up to be among the first to visit the Rio de Janeiro locale. In addition to this store being the first for Apple in Brazil, AppleInsider says it also is the first for Apple in Latin America overall. Other news from Monday afternoon includes: An update to iTunes Connect includes an updated user interface that offers more detail about an app's sales. And kick back with these features: The story of iOS's text selection tool and the importance of those "handles" Four weather apps, four radar experiences The best (and worst) iWatch concepts Meet Siri's great grandfather Rumor Roundup: 'The near future' The original Mac icon was inspired by Matisse, not Pablo Picasso
Tim Cook sits down with the Wall Street Journal and other news from Feb. 8, 2014
The Wall Street Journal has published an interview that Apple CEO Tim Cook gave reporter Daisuke Wakabayashi. Of course, as Cook says, the company's best days are still ahead of it. He discussed emerging markets, the perception that Apple is no longer a growth company, new products and more. He also talked about Lenovo's acquisition of Motorola and Apple's own approach at acquiring new companies. We've looked at big companies. We don't have a predisposition not to buy big companies. The money is also not burning a hole in our pocket where we say let's make a list of 10 and pick the best one. We're not doing that. We have no problem spending ten figures for the right company that's the right and that's in the best interest of Apple in the long-term. None. Zero. But we're not going to go out and buy something for the purposes of just being big. Something that makes more fantastic products, something that's very strategic – all these things are of interest and we're always looking regardless of size. Read the full article through at the Wall Street Journal. Note that the site does have a paywall. Other news from Friday afternoon included: Apple is trying to sniff out the source of an unusual odor plaguing one of its Santa Monica, Calif. stores. A foul odor made its first appearance several weeks ago, and air testing equipment was spotted in the store as Apple tried to deduce what it is. Kick back and relax with some of these features: Attack of the Clones: The Flappy Bird copies have arrived, and boy are they crappy Breaking: EVERYTHING we know about the iPhone 6 The 5 best pranks to play on anyone with an iPhone Apple's $14 billion stock buyback helps save money on dividend payments Does your iPhone really charge faster in Airplane mode?
The first Apple stores could have been built in the 1970s, and other news for Feb. 7, 2014
In another universe, in another time, the world may have had its first Apple retail stores in the 1970s. Why? According to just-released documents, that's when Apple originally considered building its own line of shops. The documents come courtesy of Silicon Valley marketing guru Regis McKenna, who gave a talk at the Computer History Museum earlier this week. During the talk, McKenna spoke of his first meeting with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in 1976. A meeting that led to a marketing plan that proposed Apple stores 25 years before the first one was actually built. As Cnet reports: The pair [Jobs and Woz] came in looking for someone to help market the Apple II. During the meeting, McKenna rubbed Woz the wrong way and hit it off with Jobs. McKenna initially turned down Apple's business and showed them the door. "Steve [Jobs] called back probably 40 times that night," McKenna said. Jobs and McKenna had dinner and talked about what the future of Apple could look like, and McKenna signed on. Eventually McKenna drafted an eight-page marketing plan in December 1976. Lo and behold, what was written under "Distribution Channels"? Apple stores. "I had actually presented this to Apple a couple of times," he said. "I had talked about putting them in different parts of the country." At first, the company's stores were to be meant for big customers, and serve as centers for corporate sales and training, located in office parks, he said. Then they would gradually move to retail. You have to wonder what a '70s Apple Store would have looked like. Instead of the white Apple logo and glass walls, would every store have had rainbow logos, wood paneling walls and shag carpets? In other news: For the next month, customers can pick up a 16 GB WiFi iPad 2 in black or white at Walmart for just US$299. That's a savings of $100. The deal is available in-store and online. The City of San Francisco has approved Apple's new flagship store in Union Square. An Apple representative told the city's planning commission that the store will be "more iconic" than Apple's 5th Avenue glass cube store in New York City. Apple's director of Federal Government Affairs has taken part in a summit on distracted driving sponsored by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. The summit explored what device makers, software developers, car manufacturers and mobile carriers could do to make driving less distracting.
Check out this amazing re-imaging of the Apple Store and other news from Jan. 30, 2014
While not news, this is just fantastic. Amber Creative, based out of the UK, developed a crazy, cool, unofficial redesign of Apple's online store. The website is responsive, showcasing the best of Apple's products in a slick packaging that makes the current official site look obsolete. Sebastiano Guerriero with Amber posted on Dribbble that the first glimpse of the project a couple weeks ago went viral. The Amber Creative team posted different takes of the project on Behance. As the project description states: "We built this concept on top of a modular UI/UX approach; we used bigger images and less text, thus letting the user attention to focus on the products." What do you think? Would you like to see the Apple Store resemble this concept? Other news from Thursday afternoon includes: A federal judge is furious that the particulars behind a patent-licensing deal between Apple and Nokia wound up in the hands of Samsung executives. The agreement was given to Samsung's outside legal counsel with the stipulation that Samsung itself would never see it. CNNMoney/Fortune posted a list compiled by a reader of similar wrongdoings that Samsung has done since 2004. Apple has released the latest beta of OS X Mavericks 10.9.2 to developers. AppleInsider says that the build continues to focus on Mail, Messages and VPN. Facebook will be launching its latest standalone app, Paper, on Feb. 3 as an iOS exclusive. Paper is an optimized version of your news feed that is viewed through story cards. It'll be interesting to see how those requests to play Candy Crush Saga will be rendered. The mobile personal assistant app Donna is headed for the app graveyard, as members of the team have moved onto Yahoo. Donna had hit the App Store last year and recently underwent a significant redesign, with a price drop to free. The service will shut down once the acquisition is complete. Apple is making sure no .guru address related to its interests fall into the wrong hands. The company has licensed apple.guru, iphone.guru, ipad.guru and mac.guru. Don't be surprised to see these URLs be tied into Apple Genius-related services at some point. Kick back and relax with these features: Rumor Roundup: Still doomed after all these years Equip your virtual soldier with TUAW gear in The Collectables Awesome Safari tip in iOS 7 you probably weren't aware of How to upgrade the memory of the Mac mini (Late 2012)
SteelSeries Stratus iOS 7 gamepad launches for $20 less than its pre-order price
SteelSeries' Stratus controller, the first wireless iOS 7 game pad, is now available at Apple stores and on Apple's online store. Since the Stratus went up for pre-order earlier this month, SteelSeries opted to change its price from $99.99 to $79.99 (79.99 euro). The peripheral manufacturer said it will honor the Stratus' new launch price for all pre-orders its taken. The Stratus has two analog sticks, four pressure-sensitive "A, B, X and Y" buttons, four shoulder buttons and a d-pad. SteelSeries claims the controller can withstand 10 hours of play on a single charge via USB. It is supported by games like GTA: San Andreas, Limbo, Call of Duty: Strike Team and Bastion.
The 5 most gorgeous Apple Stores in the world
For many Apple faithful, going to an Apple Store is a bit of a ritual. Apple feeds this idea by making its retail outlets some of the most aesthetically pleasing on the planet. But while many of Apple's stores are whitewashed blocks of mall real estate, there are some downright breathtaking Apple Stores out there. Here are the five most drool-worthy examples so far. 1. Fifth Avenue, New York The entrance to one of New York's most popular Apple Stores is encased within massive glass walls. Walk in and down into the store itself and you're treated to a huge, open layout with Apple devices as far as the eye can see. 2. Opéra, France When Apple took over this gorgeous location it left the architecture almost completely intact, preserving the look and feel of the building while giving it the Apple vibe customers crave. "Elegant" doesn't even begin to describe it. 3. IFC Mall, Hong Kong The most striking thing about this Apple Store is its open design that puts customers face-to-face with the traffic below. Calmly browsing for a new iPad while rush hour traffic rumbles away below your feet is a pretty awesome way to shop. 4. Pudong, Shanghai Like a portal to another world, a glass cylinder protrudes from its surroundings and brings you down into an Apple lair. Awesome. 5. Grand Central, New York I really didn't want to include two Apple Stores from the same city in this list, but there's just no denying the majesty of the Grand Central Apple Store. It's hard to believe that an electronics store could look like it "belongs" among the stone construction of the terminal, but Apple pulled it off with flying colors.
Looking for a data center tech job? Apple's hiring: News from Jan. 10, 2014
Good evening! Here's the Apple news for Jan. 10, 2014: Apple has posted additional positions for its Oregon-based data center, including data center maintenance techs and a chief engineer for the center. As MacRumors notes, Apple has been seeking that engineer since last year. The story also notes that a land acquisition Apple explored last fall seemed to be geared toward building a solar farm. Apple will open its fourth flagship Beijing store on Saturday. The newest addition to the Apple Store family will be in the Chaoyang district's China Central Place. It's the 10th Apple Store in China. A U.S. appeals court said that Apple did not any of Motorola Mobility's patents in the production of the iPhone, upholding a decision originally handed down in April by the International Trade Commission. Motorola Mobility, now owned by Google, had accused Apple of infringing on six patents that ranged from the proximity sensor to reducing signal noise. NTT Docomo's acquisition of the iPhone helped it surpass the competition for the first time in two years, gaining far more new subscribers than its two biggest rivals thanks to the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c. "From now, the ranking of the companies will be switching because Docomo offers the iPhone," Satoru Kikuchi, an analyst at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. in Tokyo told Bloomberg Businessweek. "The iPhone strengthens Docomo's foundation." Path has managed to obtain $25 million in Series C funding, Re/code reported late Friday in an exclusive report. The largest of the backers this go-around is Bakrie Global Group out of Indonesia. Kick back and relax with some of these features: Romo: The cute robot with an iPhone for a brain Wearable tech shows promise but has a long way to go The strange, shady world of $1,000 iOS apps
Morning news roundup for January 2
Good morning, Apple fans. It's only the second day of 2014 and here's the early morning news. MacNN reports that the Mac Pro won't hit Apple Stores until March or April. It looks like you'll be ordering online for the foreseeable future. "Lucky Bags" go on sale in Japanese Apple Stores. This New Year's tradition lets customers buy bags of secret items for 36,000 yen, or about US$345. Contents vary, but one configuration includes an 11-inch MacBook Air with a Power Support Air Jacket, an Apple Magic Mouse and a Beats by Dre Pill Bluetooth speaker. 4.6 million Snapchat numbers and usernames have been leaked. Website SnapchatDB, run by an anonymous person(s), lists details of users and their locations. Gibson Security has said that the data was acquired through "a recently patched Snapchat exploit." Google shutting down Bump and Flock. Oh, how we hardly knew ye. According to developer David Lieb's blog, both Bump and Flock will shut down so that Lieb can focus on other Google projects. Both iOS apps will be available until Jan. 31, and users have until then to download their data via an in-app export link.
Afternoon news roundup for December 27, 2013
Good afternoon! Here's what's going on in the Apple world since our morning roundup: On the second day after Christmas, Apple's 12 Days of of Gifts has given to us... Rovio's Little Thief for iOS! It's free until tomorrow, when day three's gift goes live. Other World Computing has already gotten its hands into the new Mac Pro and revealed that the Intel Xeon E5 processor is removable. This opens the door for future upgrades to the Mac Pros, as the machines use a standardized LGA 2011 CPU socket. Apple's Coquitlam Centre store in British Columbia was briefly closed after a smoke bomb went off just before 2:45 PM on Thursday. Police told The Province that they believe the incident was a prank, and there were no injuries. Poor Vdio. It barely had a chance to get off the ground. The service that was launched in April won't even make it to 2014, as Rdio announced the service is shutting down. Those who purchased items through Vdio or have unused rentals will be compensated with Amazon gift cards.
Daily Update for December 27, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio podcast format. You'll hear some of the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the player at the top of the page. The Daily Update moved to a new podcast host in the past few weeks. Current listeners should delete the old podcast subscription and subscribe to the new feed in the iTunes Store here.
Morning news roundup for December 27, 2013
Good morning, Apple fans. Here's a look at the news this AM. Nokia pulls Here maps app from iOS App Store. Oh, boy. A Nokia spokesperson has noted that iOS 7 harms "the user experience" of his company's app. "iPhone users can continue to use the mobile web version of Here Maps under m.here.com," said the spokesperson, "offering them core location needs, such as search, routing, orientation, transit information and more, all completely free of charge." OpenEmu for Mac is a nice game emulator. Vintage gaming, baby! OpenEmu for Mac lets you play classic titles from the NES, SNES, Genesis, Sega 32X, Sega Master System and TurboGrafx-16. Not to mention old-school handhelds like the Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Game Gear, NeoGeo Pocket and the Virtual Boy. Game on! Apple again requests US ban on Samsung products. This is the legal case that will not end. Way back when this all started, Judge Lucy Koh denied Apple's request to halt Samsung from selling its Galaxy line of smartphones. Now, Apple has renewed its bid for a US ban, asking that a separate injunction trial be held on January 30. Apple Store glass door falls, injures passerby. The front door to a Bethesda, Md., Apple Store came unhinged and fell onto a sidewalk, injuring a pedestrian who was walking past the door. Store employees say the 275-pound door had recently been reinstalled. We wish a speedy recovery to all involved. Stay tuned for more news as the day goes on.
Morning news roundup for December 23, 2013
Here's a look at what's going on in the Apple world as of this morning, December 23. A new Mac Pro, an iffy iOS jailbreak and a doomed Opel Corsa are just a few highlights. Let's begin, shall we? fcp.co spends 24 hours with Apple's Mac Pro and Final Cut Pro 10.1. The notably quiet Mac Pro (the sound of an air conditioner drowns it out) feels "silky smooth" while editing 4K with Final Cut Pro 10.1. Just watch. Also note that there's no security slot in the Mac Pro, which is odd for such a small machine that could easily fit into a backpack. Tim Cook has sent an email to Apple's employees, thanking them for the work the company completed in 2013. The best bit for us customers comes at the end: "We have a lot to look forward to in 2014, including some big plans that we think customers are going to love." There's an untethered jailbreak for iOS 7, but it's not without problems. Cydia creator Jay Freeman noted the included version of Cydia is unofficial and untested. Also, this release included a Chinese App Store called Taig (only installed if the phone's default language is Chinese). Unfortunately, it was found to include pirated apps. The Evasi0n team responded quickly with a statement: "We are very upset that despite our agreement and review by their team, piracy was found in the store. It was not acceptable and they have been strenuously working to resolve the problem in good faith, and have removed all instances of it that we have brought to their attention." Meanwhile, in Berlin, some thieves tested the airbag deployment of an Opel Corsa by ramming it into a window of the Kurfürstendamm Apple Store. They got away with some display iPhones, iPads and Macs before fleeing the scene in two Audis (the poor Corsa was going nowhere). The poorly timed attack means that store is badly damaged just as the holiday shopping season wraps up.
US Apple Stores holding different holiday hours
If you've got last-minute holiday shopping to do at the Apple Store, it's typically best to get it done before Christmas Day. Apple Stores will be closing at 6 PM on Christmas Eve, with the exception of the King of Prussia store in Pennsylvania, the San Francisco store, the Stoneridge California store and the Lincoln Road, Fla., locations. You'll be able to snag iPads at those locations until 7 PM. Most stores will be closed on the 25th in honor of being reasonable to people with families. But not everywhere, as the recently released holiday hours for Apple Stores show. One single Apple Store, the Fifth Avenue store in NYC, will be up and running on Christmas Day. The others will be closed until the 26th, when special holiday hours for the 26th take effect. But don't you worry, fellow Americans. US stores will open at 8 AM on the Dec. 26. IFO Apple Stores has written a wonderful rundown of the hours international Apple Stores will be operational. We highly recommend our German, Chinese, Italian and Australian readers pop over there for a quick rundown of what they can expect this holiday season.
Ship date for built-to-order Mac Pro slips to February; fully loaded config tops $18K
' Three words: pent-up demand. That is what's behind the quick jump from a label of "shipping in December" to "shipping to February" if you're trying to order a Mac Pro configured to your specifications on the Apple online store. The way the backlog has increased in just a few short hours has us believing that the ship dates may slip even more. If you want one of these towers of power soon, heading to your local Apple Store with credit card in hand may be your best option. Speaking of configuring a Mac Pro to order, a quick calculation using the online configurator tool showed that selecting the "power user's" option for every item that can go into one of the little cylinders can add up quickly. Grabbing a six-core and dual-GPU model and then tricking it out with 12 cores, 64 GB of memory, 1 TB of flash storage, dual AMD FirePro D700 GPUs with 6 GB of VRAM, a 32-inch Sharp 4K display, a Magic Trackpad, an Apple Wireless Keyboard and an AppleCare Protection Plan will set you back US$13,581. While you're at it, you may as well add on a black 2.0 meter Thunderbolt cable and a PROMISE Pegasus2 32TB Thunderbolt 2 RAID system. Now you're up to a cool $18,219. Fortunately, many creative professionals have been saving their pennies for this day and can write off the equipment purchase as a business expense...
Apple's new Mac Pro now on sale, will ship by December 30th
After months of waiting, Apple's new Mac Pro is now available to order through its online store. Coming just a day after the company announced the availability of the trashcan-shaped desktop, the quad-core and six-core models start at $3,000 and $4,000 respectively. Should you order today, Apple says it'll ship your new Mac Pro by December 30th. That base model will get you a 3.7GHz quad-core Xeon CPU, 12GB DRAM, two AMD FirePro D300 GPUs, and a 256GB SSD. However, if you max out every setting, you're looking at around $10,000 -- and that's without a mouse or a keyboard.
Heartwarming Apple story of the month
This is an absolutely heartwarming story about a kid named Bennett who recently had one of his dreams come true. Bennett was born a few weeks premature and, as a result, is visually impaired to a degree. Sadly, Bennett's vision will become progressively worse with time, so his parents were encouraged "to give him lots of visual memories before he loses more eyesight." And so, Bennett came up with a list of things he wanted to see, and lo and behold, an Apple retail store made the list. So Bennett's parents arranged for him to visit a local Apple retail store and the result was nothing short of incredible. We had mentioned his wish on Facebook because we thought it was so funny and to our surprise learned – wait, apparently we know some people who have Apple connections! They contacted us and asked some questions and started making some plans and were absolutely fantastic every step of the way. While we were hoping to just visit the store and let Ben play at the kid table, the Apple folks had so much more in mind. And what Apple had in mind was truly inspiring. And what was happening there? Rows of people all dressed in red clapping and cheering and welcoming our family. As you can see in the photos, Ben's face just LIT UP when he recognized the store. When he realized he was allowed to go inside??? He was stunned. When they greeted him by name? SHOCK! He got a bit bashful as he passed so many people cheering for him. (He later said he felt like a celebrity and wanted to know how they knew his name???) They did a mini tour & he was allowed to stand behind the Genius bar, which was so impressive to him. Then he asked me if he could play on one of the iPads at the little table like the kids were doing before we left. We sat down and explained not only could he play on one – but the one they had just shown him was FOR HIM. There's a whole lot more in the full article that's well worth checking out in its entirety. You'll be hard pressed to find a more heartwarming story.
Apple adds Sharp 4K monitor to EU Apple Online Store, then yanks it
For a short time over the weekend, it was possible to purchase a 32-inch Sharp 4K LED monitor via the Apple Online Store in various EU territories, but it has since been removed across the board. The massive display was priced at £3,499.00, which is roughly in line with the product's price elsewhere. The monitor never made an appearance on the US version of the store. As we inch closer to the debut of the new Mac Pro, whispers of Apple's plans to embrace desktop 4K displays has grown louder, and for a moment it appeared as though the company might have been offering a third-party alternative as a stopgap. The brief debut and almost immediate removal of the Sharp display could have been a simple error, or it could mean an Apple 4K display is closer than we think. We'll be watching our crystal ball for further hints. [via Macworld]
Apple stores taking part in Hour of Code to teach people to program
December 9-15 is Computer Science Education Week and as part of it, Code.org, a nonprofit supported by Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and other tech leaders, has announced the "Hour of Code," a campaign to teach people the basics of coding in an hour. For its part, Apple has announced that it will be taking part in the "Hour of Code" campaign by hosting an hour-long introduction to a computer science workshop "designed to demystify code and show that anyone can learn the basics of programming" at its retail stores. The workshops will be open to children and teens at Apple Stores throughout United States on Wednesday, December 11. Interested parties can check out the schedule of "Hour of Code" coding workshops at their local Apple retail stores here.
iPhone 5s supply is strong for the holiday shopping season
Just in time for the holiday shopping season, the supply of the iPhone 5s is catching up with demand. Both in the US and other stores in Europe, the ship times for the iPhone 5s has dropped to one to three days. This is the lowest ship time since the handset launched earlier this year. Even the coveted gold model, which was scarce at launch, is now readily available. If you plan to buy a new iPhone for a loved one this holiday season, you should be aware of Apple's shipping deadlines. All configurations of the iPhone 5s and the 5c must be ordered before December 18 if you want the phone to arrive on or before December 24. Apple is also offering free shipping on all orders. [Via Electronista]
Apple now using iBeacon technology in its US retail stores
Apple is rolling out iBeacon technology to all its 254 US Stores starting today, December 6, says a report from the Associated Press. The technology will allow customers to receive messages about products, events and discount offers as they walk through a store. It will also alert customers when an order is ready to be picked up. Apple demoed the technology at its Fifth Avenue store in New York City earlier this week. The store has 20 iBeacon transmitters, some of which are iPhones and iPads that utilize this iOS 7-based technology. The iBeacons will connect to your iOS device using Bluetooth, and the connection is optional for the user. You don't have to be pinged about upcoming events if you don't want to. The iBeacons offer a distinct advantage over GPS, which doesn't work well indoors and lacks the sensitivity to detect movement around a store. iBeacon is also being rolled out at Macy's and select Major League Baseball parks in the US. [Via Engadget]
