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Twelve South announces the BookArc Stand for Mac Pro
Mac Pro owners now have another choice at how to position their beautiful cylindrical powerhouse on a desktop. Twelve South today announced the BookArc Stand for Mac Pro (US$59.99), a shiny little chrome-plated rack onto which you gently place your computer on its side. What's nice about the design is that by placing the Mac Pro on its side, it takes up only 7.5 inches of vertical space rather than 14 inches when it is placed upright. That means that you can place the Mac Pro inside a studio rack if you want, getting it out of the way, yet cradling it securely atop other gear. The BookArc Stand for Mac Pro joins Twelve South's other useful and stylish stands for the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and iPad. It's available immediately, and I'm sure that any of your friends or co-workers who own Mac Pros would appreciate a BookArc Stand for the holidays.
Hive73 Mac Pro Deck: A great way to organize your workspace
I feel sorry for the Mac Pro. Here it is, the shining example of Apple's technological prowess, and the poor thing doesn't get much love from accessory manufacturers. Well, at least one company has come out with something to keep your Mac Pro from getting too lonely. Albuquerque, NM-based Hive73 has created a sweet, all-aluminum desktop shelf called the Mac Pro Deck (US$173.00) that keeps all of your peripherals and goodies right near your favorite cylindrical computer. Specifications Dimensions (Studio Edition): 14.25 x 9.5 x 9.5 inches (362 x 241.3 x 241.3 mm) Weight: 9.2 lbs (4.17 kg) Materials: 5000 series aluminum, steel tubing for headphone hanger Design The Mac Pro Deck Studio Edition is designed to sit on your desktop next to your Mac Pro. It's about the same height, made of very solid sheet aluminum. There's an adjustable shelf held in place by four steel alloy bolts, so when you get it in place, it's not going anywhere. On one side of the Deck is a cutout that matches the curve of the Mac Pro, allowing the two to nestle together. Those steel bolts allow you to put the shelf into six different configurations, creating an amazing variety of ways that you can pop your peripherals into place. The top of the Deck is padded with a thin layer of a grippy rubber material, perfect for making sure that your iPhone or iPad don't slip off. On your desktop, the Deck takes up only 126 square inches, yet if you put something on the bottom, the shelf, and the top, it's equivalent to having 378 square inches of storage area. One other nice feature is the headphone rack. It's made of 1/4-inch steel tubing and screws into the side of the Deck, providing a nice place to hang your favorite 'phones. If you have any rack-mountable accessories, Hive73 is taking pre-orders soon for a 19-inch wide version called the Producer Edition. Think of it as a standard rack mount for your desktop! Functionality My desk is usually a very large and unruly mess, so for my testing I thought that I'd see if I could use the Deck to bring some semblance of order to it. I don't own a Mac Pro - they don't pay me that well - but my thought was that this would make a good "dock" for an MacBook Pro. I could hang my headphones on the side where they'd be easily accessible instead of buried beneath a pile of stuff, maybe even have my DSLR close at hand for taking product shots. Size-wise, the top of the Deck is almost a perfect match for a 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display, so that was a fortuitous coincidence. Installing the headphone hanger is simple and just requires a hex wrench of the right size. Once the entire Deck is ready to go, you can just start loading its up with your equipment. I have only two little niggling gripes: first, I wish they'd put the rubberized material on both the top and bottom. On a hard surface, the aluminum can slide a little bit, so either another sheet of that material or some screw-in rubber feet would be great. The other gripe is also about the rubberized material, which curled up a tiny amount at the corners, so the adhesive may have dried out a little bit. The construction of the Hive73 Mac Pro Deck is otherwise first-rate, and anyone who owns one of Apple's flagship desktop machines should seriously consider getting one of these for keeping their office organized. If you can afford a Mac Pro, then getting a Mac Pro Deck needs to be the next purchase you make. Conclusion Kudos to Hive73 for coming out with a quality "sidecar" for the Mac Pro. The Mac Pro Deck is a perfect companion for Apple's top-end Mac, with a price tag that's affordable. Rating: 3-1/2 stars out of 4 stars possible
Lock your Mac Pro to your desk with Apple's Security Lock Adapter
Macs are great computers, but they don't come cheap. The desktop Mac Pro model in particular will set you back $2,999 just for its most basic version. If you're worried about security, there's good news today. Apple has made it easier to protect your investment with the Mac Pro Security Lock Adapter. The $49 adapter lets you use a compatible Kensington or similarly styled third-party lock to attach your Mac Pro to your desk. You can attach the adapter to the computer without using any tools, or permanently modifying or damaging your computer. Beyond securing the machine to your desk the lock adapter also blocks internal access to your computer. Sadly, you have to buy your own lock on top of the $49 lock adapter and $2,999 computer, but when you've already invested so much it makes sense to keep it nailed down. The Security Lock Adapter is compatible with the following locks. You can buy it now in the Apple Store. Kensington MicroSaver Lock Kensington MicroSaver DS Keyed Lock Kensington Combination Laptop Lock (2011) Kensington Portable Combination Laptop Lock Kensington WordLock Portable Combination Laptop Lock
The TUAW Daily Update Podcast for May 27, 2014
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get some 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 has been moved to a new podcast host in the past few days. Current listeners should delete the old podcast subscription and subscribe to the new feed in the iTunes Store here.
Apple smart home initiative and other news for May 27, 2014
It's almost time for Apple's annual World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC), which means that the rumor mills are working over time to mass produce ideas of what might we might hear about at next Monday's keynote address. Apple getting into the home automation market is one of the first and most intriguing rumors, so let's look at that and other news of the day: The Financial Times said yesterday that Apple may announce a new software platform allowing iOS devices to control "the Internet of Things," meaning devices like thermostats, door locks, lights, and more. The platform would be announced alongside a new initiative similar to the "Made for iPhone" program, with Apple certifying devices that work with the platform. Apple already sells a number of connected devices in Apple Stores. Apple has been granted a patent for a method of embedding displays -- including those covered with sapphire -- into Liquid Metal. The patent was applied for six years ago, but is of particular interest since Apple has exclusive rights to the "bulk amorphous alloy" through the end of 2015 and is also investing in a large synthetic sapphire manufacturing facility in Arizona. Want a Mac Pro? Finally, more than six months after the top-of-the-line Mac was rolled out, you can get one configured to order in about a week. While you're at it, buy another one and send it my way, OK?
The TUAW Daily Update Podcast for April 25, 2014
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get some 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 has been moved to a new podcast host in the past few days. Current listeners should delete the old podcast subscription and subscribe to the new feed in the iTunes Store here.
Better battery life for your iPhone under iOS 7.1.1 and other news from April 24, 2014
Have you updated your iPhone to iOS 7.1.1 yet? If you're concerned about your battery life, go ahead and hit the update button. ZDNet noticed that the newest update is bringing a drastic increase in battery life, based on internal usage. Have you noticed a difference? Let us know in the comments. Other news from Thursday afternoon includes: Want to take a look inside one of Apple's data centers? Check out this video from NBC's Today show. It took a few months, but as 9to5Mac notes, shipping times on the Mac Pro are finally starting to improve, with just a 3 to 5 week wait now. Facebook has added the Moves app to its growing family. TUAW has taken several looks at Moves, including its usage of the iPhone 5s' M7 motion data. As with other acquisitions, Moves will remain available as a standalone app. The latest updates to the eBay app take on some Pinterest influences, as Engadget notes.
The TUAW Daily Update Podcast for April 16, 2014
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get some 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 has been moved to a new podcast host in the past few days. Current listeners should delete the old podcast subscription and subscribe to the new feed in the iTunes Store here.
Crowdfunding Project News: All Kickstarter this week
Every week, TUAW provides readers with an update on what new or significant crowdfunded Apple-related projects are in the news. While our policy is to not go into detail on items that haven't reached at least 80 percent of their funding goal, this update is designed to give readers a heads-up on projects they might find interesting enough to back. This week, we're taking a closer look at seven fascinating Kickstarter projects: The first pick of the week has already reached funding with a month to go, and it's not surprising. Dart is advertised as the world's smallest laptop power adapter, and it definitely will leave a lot more space in your computer bag. Imagine using one power "brick" to run your MacBook Pro and charge your favorite iOS devices -- that's what this project is all about. Right now you'll have to pledge $168 or more to get one of the MacBook Darts, but you'll be one of the first people in the world to get one of these diminutive power adapters. Probably the coolest project this week is a tiny little printer you can take with you anywhere. Instead of putting paper into a printer, you put this printer onto the paper and it moves around. At this point the ZUtA Pocket Printer Mini Mobile Robotic Printer is almost 94 percent funded with a little over three weeks to go, so it looks like it's going to make it to market. I wouldn't go so far as to say that this is the most practical or affordable printer -- it's rather slow and currently the least expensive pledge is $200 -- but when it comes to a technology that can finally change printing once and for all, this is it. What the world needs now is a USB wall charger with a wood grain finish! That's the concept behind iWoody, which looks a lot like the traditional iPhone/iPad charger but uses a water-transfer wood design to give it a unique look. iWoody might not make it to market -- it's only 2.5 percent funded with three weeks to go -- but if you're looking for an additional USB wall charger, you can pledge as little as $15 and get one. Charging of your electronic toys seems to be on the minds of a lot of Kickstarter inventors this week. The Juice is a beautiful aluminum on-wall iPad charging dock that would be perfect for home automation fans. It's gorgeous, it's sleek, and it's designed by a pair of German designers. And did I mention that it's made of Jony Ive's favorite material, al-you-minnie-yum? Check it out here. TUAW buddy Hal Sherman provided us with a couple of picks this week. The first is the Iron Brick Safe, which is the perfect accompaniment to an Apple laptop for a college student. It'll let them keep their MacBook nicely locked away in a dorm room. Of course, this thing has only $461 of funding for a $23,500 goal so far, with about three weeks to go, so the old "slide the MacBook Air under the mattress" trick might have to suffice for a while. Hal also provided us with a tip on the Mode Mount, a rack mounting system for the new Mac Pro. Unfortunately, this project also seems to be moving slowly in funding -- $433 pledged with a $50,000 goal -- so it might not make it to production. Insert comment here about Hal really being able to pick 'em... (just kidding, Hal) Our final entry this week is for the "Frog" Dolly, touted as a "portable and versatile 3D printed camera dolly". So what does that have to do with Apple? Well, one of the models of this cool filmmaking tool is app-controlled, so you'd be able do full motion control filming with your favorite 4K camera installed on the Frog. The Frog Dolly is already in production; this Kickstarter is to help reduce the cost of the devices so that more filmmakers -- pro and amateur -- can have access to an incredible tool. It's at about 13 percent funding with a little over three weeks to go. If you're aware of any other crowdfunded Apple-related projects, be sure to let us know about them through the Tip Us button at the upper right of the TUAW home page for future listing on the site. Just make sure that they actually have a valid reason for existing, OK?
8G iPhone 5c debuts in more countries and other news for April 16, 2014
That Mac Pro is still taking its sweet time getting to customers, and the 8 GB iPhone 5c reaches new countries in this morning's news roundup. Apple is now offering the 8 GB iPhone 5c in fourteen countries. Now customers in the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, Sweden, Poland, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Portugal, Austria, Spain, Norway, Finland, Denmark, and Switzerland can pick up the bargain device. The Mac Pro is still seeing significant shipping delays. As of this writing, those buying a new Mac Pro from Apple's online store can expect the device to arrive in four to six weeks. As Computer World points out, the Mac Pro was announced four months ago. The 2012 iMac had similar problems, but its delay was trimmed to one to three days after three months of availability. Apple has agreed to make the CTIA's request for a "kill switch" on its iPhones a reality. Apple won't have to do much work beyond what Find My iPhone already does to reach compliance. The switch, if you will, renders a lost or stolen iPhone useless remotely.
A rack mount for the Mac Pro and other news for March 27, 2014
It's been a rather quiet morning, but here are three stories we found for you. Sonnet Tech has announced a 4U rack mount for Apple's cylindrical Mac Pro. The so-called xMac Pro Thunderbolt 2 PCIe Enclosure rolls off the tongue and includes three PCIe single-width expansion slots; Thunderbolt 2 compatibility, as the name indicates; and hardware for mounting additional storage. The whole thing comes with a 300W power supply and a 75W PCIe power connector. BusyMac Software has announced new software BusyContacts. They call it a "complete replacement" for Apple's built-in Contacts app and its design resembles that of iTunes. BusyContacts offers sync support for iCloud, Google Contacts, Exchange, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. A public beta is now open. Mavericks adoption is chugging along at a nice pace. The folks at Chitika note that Mavericks now generates nearly 40% of all North American OS X-based web traffic. They also note that Mountain Lion was at 26.8% after seven months. It's important to note here that Mavericks is free, of course.
Haunted Empire: An unflattering and misguided look at the Tim Cook era
I really wanted to like Yukari Iwatani Kane's new book about Apple, Haunted Empire: Apple After Steve Jobs. Based on over 200 interviews with current and former executives and other industry insiders, I was anticipating an intriguing look behind the secretive walls of 1 Infinite Loop. More so, I was hoping to gain a more nuanced view as to how Apple has in fact changed with Tim Cook at the helm. To my dismay, the book failed to deliver on all counts. It's overwhelmingly clear that Kane starts with the pre-conceived conclusion that Apple's best days are behind it and cherry-picks facts and anecdotes to support her thesis. In doing so, the book is rife with bizarre leaps of logic, misleading claims, and what I can only imagine were purposeful omissions of fact. The end result is a disjointed read without a whole lot of meat or new information. The book spends a disproportionate amount of ink discussing stories and events that don't really weigh heavily on the current state of things at Apple, such as working conditions at Foxconn, early Siri mishaps, Apple's e-book trial, the company's tax situation, and yet another retelling of Apple's legal squabbles with Android. For a book that sets out to describe Tim Cook's Apple, there's an awful lot of filler regarding issues that either pre-date Tim Cook's tenure as CEO or are wholly irrelevant to a cogent discussion on Apple's ability to remain a influential tech player in the future. But what really bothered me most about the book were the sheer number of misleading inferences Kane subtly presents in an effort to factualize what were ultimately her own opinions. I frankly was expecting more from an author with Kane's journalistic pedigree. Ultimately, Kane's anti-Apple bias is so prevalent that it works to taint the entirety of the book. Below are a few representative examples of logic-gone-wild which illustrate why many of the conclusions Kane presents about Apple are hard to take seriously. Kane puts a negative spin on EVERYTHING For those not familiar with Apple, Kane's book would have you believe that Apple is wandering aimlessly from one mistake to the next. Particularly puzzling is Kane's attempt to frame most everything Apple has done over the past two years in a negative light. Even Tim Cook's performance at last year's All Things D conference wasn't safe from scrutiny, with Kane writing that Tim Cook came across as "delusional" and painfully out of touch. 1) Tim Cook as a demanding boss is worrisome Following the dismissal of former retail chief John Browett, Kane writes the following regarding Cook coming into his own as Apple CEO: By this time, Cook's management style was becoming more apparent. Cook delegated responsibilities and rewarded his executives as long as they did well. But if they made a mistake, he came down on them hard. The danger with that approach was people becoming risk-averse and stifling innovation. All of these considerations raised the question: Was cook the best choice to chart Apple's future? So let me get this straight; Tim Cook, as a CEO with high expectations, and as a CEO who holds employees and executives accountable, is actually working to stifle innovation? Umm, okay. 2) Tim Cook as a respectful boss is worrisome Meanwhile, Kane also writes that whereas Steve Jobs would routinely call back employees from vacation, Cook is more respectful of employee personal time. But, of course, this comes at a cost because Kane writes that "with more flexibility, people began taking vacations more freely." Why might this be worrisome? Because what Apple employees under Tim Cook "gained in happiness, they lost in intensity." So Kane essentially argues that Cook may not be the best fit as Apple CEO because his high expectations stifle innovation at the same time that his respect for his employees creates a sense of complacency. Put differently, Cook as CEO is a questionable choice because he's too demanding while also being too lax. 3) Apple employees are in it for the money Kane also smells trouble at Apple because long-time employees who saw their stock options make them millions now "didn't need to work as hard anymore, especially if they couldn't see a further upside." Compounding matters, Kane writes that newer employees at Apple now had no incentive to stay at the company because they had "joined too late to benefit from the huge run-up in stock price over the last few years before the decline started." This is nothing more than pure conjecture without any facts, details, first-hand accounts, or examples to stand on. There's no denying that shares of Apple are down significantly from their all-time high of $700, but Apple's share price today (in the $530 range) is still about 44% higher than it was at the time of Jobs' death. 4) Apple beat Samsung in court, and that's also worrisome Particularly bizarre is Kane's attempt to spin Apple's legal victory over Samsung as a defeat because the ruling was unlikely to "convince more consumers to buy iPhones and iPads." Kane further writes that Apple's legal victory came at a cost because it "validated" Samsung as a worthy competitor while also providing the Korean tech giant with free advertising. In truth, Samsung is a worthy competitor because it sells millions upon millions of smartphones and tablets, not because Apple decided to take them to court. Kane adds: Apple's win also put an uncomfortable spotlight on its motivations. Why was the company wasting so much time, money, and energy protecting its older technologies if it had game-changing products up its sleeve? Could it be that there was nothing more in the pipeline? Steve Jobs was famous for never looking back. But perhaps the company now had too much to lose. These types of logical leaps really strain the book's credibility, especially considering that it was Steve Jobs, and not Tim Cook, who spearheaded Apple's initial legal battle with HTC and Samsung. Was it not Steve Jobs who famously declared that he was prepared to go thermonuclear on Android? In yet another example highlighting the book's aversion to providing a complete story, Kane is gutsy enough to write that Samsung was handed "another advantage" when Judge Lucy Koh struck down $450.5 million from Apple's $1 billion judgement on account of a jury miscalculation. This, Kane explains, was another setback for Apple because collection on the judgement was postponed. What's more, Kane writes that it was a success(!) for Samsung insofar that they "had been remarkably effective at pushing the narrative that the jury had no idea what it was doing and Apple didn't deserve the magnitude of the win that it scored." Not quite. Ultimately, Apple was awarded $929 million instead of $1.05 billion, not exactly the black mark Kane would otherwise have you believe. Irrelevant facts to back up assertions abound Throughout the book, Kane relies upon flimsy facts that don't quite align with the points she's trying to make. In detailing Apple's executive team, for example, Kane describes Apple's Senior VP of Marketing Phil Schiller as a bombastic fellow who relishes his grip on power. But rather than providing detailed examples, aside from Schiller being wary of new executives until they prove themselves, Kane instead focuses on the music Schiller enjoys and his favorite hockey team. Even in his personal life, he projected bold tendencies. He was a fan of the San Jose Sharks hockey team and owned a Lamborghini. A former percussionist, he favored music with aggressive, driving drum tracks like Led Zeppelin's "Good Times. Bad Times." I suppose if you can't source detailed behind the scenes info, you sort of have to focus on immaterial facts like favorite sports teams and personal music preferences. This type of spotty narrative unfortunately permeates many of the book's chapters. Apple may have tried to embarrass Woz.. Say what?! Somewhat indicative of most of the book, Kane casually suggests that Apple may have purposefully tried to embarrass Steve Wozniak by having video monitors pan to him after Phil Schiller introduced the Mac Pro at WWDC 2013. Why would Apple do this, you might ask? Because Woz had previously made statements about Apple potentially losing its creative edge. Was it a flourish of choreographed revenge, a staged dose of instant karma aimed at embarrassing Wozniak? To his credit, Wozniak did not give his attackers any satisfaction. When the camera closed in, his face betrayed only mild interest. One blogger, watching the live feed, thought Woz looked sleepy. Wow, masterfully played, Woz! I can only wonder who tipped him off to the fact that "attackers" had invited him there with a grand plan to embarrass him. Incidentally, you can check out Woz's neutral reaction to the announcement here. Again, it's passages like this that really undermine the book's credibility as a whole. Instead of say, oh I don't know, actually asking Woz for his initial thoughts on the Mac Pro, Kane crafts a story about Apple potentially engaging in a bit of "choreographed revenge." Conveniently, Kane neglects to mention a rather easy to find June 2013 video interview Woz did with Slashgear where he addresses his demeanor during the WWDC announcement. Incidentally, it's the first hit that comes up when you Google, "Woz on the Mac Pro." In some one-to-one time, we asked the Apple co-founder what he thought of the new Mac Pro also shown at WWDC, and in particular its design. Wozniak told us that he really likes the drastic change in aesthetic, and that it reminds him of the older Power Mac G4 Cube, which also sported a smaller form-factor like the 2013 Mac Pro. As for his much-commented-on expression during the keynote when the Mac Pro was being detailed, there have been suggestions that he looked less than impressed, but he argues that people are mistaken. The look on his face during the applause while everyone else was clapping, he says, was simply him "just thinking". Unlike a lot of people, he pointed out, Wozniak prefers to carefully evaluate products and situations first before arriving at a conclusion, so as to not make a rash opinion. In fact, he was mentally comparing the Mac Pro to HP's workstations, which he believes are now the best on the market. So instead of doing a simple Google search or perhaps reaching out to Woz for clarification, we're presented with a spotty and misleading story about an Apple co-founder remaining unimpressed with innovation at Apple. While Kane's telling of the story aligns with her overarching narrative -- namely that Apple has lost its luster -- it's also quite misleading. Siri? Really? Kane spends an inordinate amount of time talking about Siri, never mind the fact that Siri was purchased and developed as an iOS feature while Jobs was still alive. Measuring the Tim Cook era by examining initial launch issues with Siri is far from instructive, and perhaps speaks to Kane's inability to truly attain much information about Apple post-Steve Jobs. Kane even adds that "Siri's rocky start wasn't Tim Cook's fault." Okay, that's fair, but then why spend so much time detailing Siri's history, Siri advertising efforts, and Siri's launch-day shortcomings? For a book that promises to provide an "illuminating portrait of Apple today that offers clues to its future", why is there no discussion whatsoever centering on how Siri may factor into Apple's future plans for the iOS ecosystem? As a final point, I was covering Apple extensively when Siri launched and don't recall it being the big fiasco of a flop that Kane makes it out to be. Sure, people enjoyed posting Siri missteps, and sure, Apple's Siri servers were sometimes overwhelmed , but I don't believe the Siri launch is heralded as a big black eye in Apple history. It certainly didn't garner the same level of negative attention as Apple Maps or Antennagate. Tim Cook: A happy #2 or a man with with grand ambition? One last example. Kane writes that Tim Cook was able to excel at Apple because he lacked an ego. Content at playing an important role behind the scenes, Kane articulates that Cook was okay with letting stars like Steve Jobs and Jony Ive garner much of the press attention because he was happy to be "second-in-command." But just one paragraph later, Kane writes that there were hints of grand ambition with respect to Cook ascension to the CEO position. But underneath the demure denials were hints of grand ambition. One of Cook's favorite quotes was one from Abraham Lincoln. "I will prepare and someday my chance will come." ... He had prepared and waited with seemingly infinite patience. Now his moment had arrived. The quote Kane cites was originally made by Cook during his 2010 Auburn Commencement address. Looking at the quote in context, It wasn't a statement that shrouded any grand ambition on the part of Cook, but rather a quote meant to instill in students the notion that if they work hard, opportunities will come their way. The notion that Tim Cook has long had a "grand ambition" to be Apple CEO would be incredibly interesting if there were facts or interviews to back it up. But if all we're presented with is an out-of-context passage from a college commencement address, why bother including it at all? As Charles Arthur noted in his own review of the book: I found the bizarre attribution of meaning to events which didn't seem to have meaning more and more intrusive. Wrapping up Overall, the book provides a simple rehashing, albeit with a negative slant, of Apple news stories over the past two years. What the book doesn't provide is any true insight into how Apple operates differently under Tim Cook than it did Steve Jobs, at least in any ways that are important. The book's back cover reads in part: Hard-hitting yet fair, Haunted Empire reveals the perils and opportunities an iconic company faces when it loses its visionary leader. If only that were true. Again, I really wanted to like this book but found it no more compelling or insightful than Kane's somewhat strange New Yorker article wherein she criticized Apple's '30 years of Mac' celebration. The inherent challenge in writing any book about Apple is that the company is notoriously closed off. Even former employees are unusually loyal and tend to shy away from discussing their tenure at the company. Consequently, authors in Kane's position are often forced to craft their own narrative and work backwards from there. The end result, in this case, is a book that undermines its own premise. By blindly presenting opinions as facts and spending too much time rehashing issues of no consequence to Apple's future innovative prospects, we're ultimately left with a book that fails to present an intriguing and informative look at the Apple empire that Kane would desperately have us believe is "haunted" by Steve Jobs.
For sale: One Power Mac pyramid, lightly used
Yeah they're all "old" now, but I'll always have a soft spot for these big, weird aluminum cubes. [Photo credit: JPL]
Crowdfunded Project News: The best of Kickstarter, Indiegogo and the rest
Every week, TUAW provides readers with an update on what new or significant crowdfunded Apple-related projects are in the news. This update is designed to give readers a heads-up on projects they might find interesting enough to back. Note that we're not covering those "projects" on Indiegogo where people are trying to get someone else to cough up money for a new computer or tablet... If a project reaches at least 80 percent of total funding and provides us with review material, we may choose to write a detailed post about it. Here are some of the fun and fascinating products we're following this week. From Kickstarter: Oscar is no longer a grouch. Now, he's an Open Screen Adapter, designed by a group of engineering students from the University of Southampton with software support from a Joint Mathematics and Computing student at Imperial College London. OSCAR is marketed as a "super high resolution 9.7" LCD panel with an Arduino-compatible adapter that connects to your computer." Think of it as a small Thunderbolt Retina display that you can connect to your Mac, and you've got the picture. I could envision using one of these as a portable side display to a MacBook Pro with Retina display. At this point, the team really needs your support -- they're at 52 percent funding with eight days to go. While this idea isn't in Kickstarter yet, it's something that makes a lot of sense. Those little Mac Pros are just packed with power and would make excellent Mac-based servers, but the cylindrical design keeps them from being mounted in racks in server rooms. The ModeMount Mac Pro Rack Mount can hold the device in 4U of rack space when mounted horizontally (what I think of as a "wine barrel" mount), and can also be positioned vertically. The design is open on both ends for optimum cooling of the Mac Pro. You can sign up to be notified when the company's Kickstarter campaign begins. Remember the Carbon, a solar charger that looks like a wristwatch? Well, I was kind of dubious about it, since the last thing I want to put on my wrist is a big solar charger that doesn't do anything but charge my gear. Well, the company did something that I think makes it quite worthwhile -- they've added an analog watch display to it so it's actually a working watch and a solar charger. EnergyBionics, the team bringing Carbon to life, still needs your support. With 18 days to go, they're at 27.2 percent funding. TUAW reader Hal Sherman is always looking out for Kickstarter and Indiegogo projects for us to cover, and this week he found the Prescient AudioCase for iPhone 5/5s. This one has a long way to go, at only 3 percent of its funding goal with about five weeks remaining. The idea? A smartphone case that's also a speaker -- no more carrying around a Bluetooth speaker when you have a speaker protecting your phone. This one got my attention very quickly -- an app-controlled winemaking set up called The Miracle Machine (it turns water into wine...). The description says it all: "The Miracle Machine is the world's first affordable accelerated winemaking device for the home that reproduces great wine with minimal effort and within days." You can sign up to be notified when the Kickstarter campaign goes live. The Miracle Machine is expected to retail for $499. And now, some Aussies want you to clean up your desktop with DeskPal, a beautiful wood desk accessory that holds pencils, wristwatches, keys, and -- unsurprisingly -- acts as a smartphone or tablet dock as well. It's already funded with a month to go, but you can get some of the action starting at AUD$30. On Indiegogo this week: SunSprite is a funded (110 percent with 24 days left) project that is a wearable, solar-powered light tracker. It tracks how much light you're exposed to, letting you boost your energy (most people don't get enough sunlight), improve your sleep, or avoid high UV intensities. Of course, there's an app for that -- developed by the same team that wrote the RunKeeper app. You can pre-order one at a 34 percent discount for US$99, with June delivery planned. And some other crowd funding favorites from outside of the Kickstarter/Indiegogo world: Hey, guys -- if you're going to make a Star Trek: The Next Generation communications badge, at least make it look futuristic. The CommBadge is a $89 Bluetooth 4.0 speakerphone that you can wear, avoiding the dreaded Bluetooth headset while giving you hands-free access to your phone and Siri. Here's video showing why you apparently need one: Our last entry this week is Plink, which isn't the garbage disposal cleaning tablet you're thinking of. This Plink is "an iOS app that lets you upload images and insert them into your blog posts using Markdown or HTML. You can help me build it." Right now the project is 41 percent funded with 16 days to go. If you do a lot of blogging, you should check out Plink and help provide funding starting at just $10. If you're aware of any other crowdfunded Apple-related projects, be sure to let us know about them through the Tip Us button at the upper right of the TUAW home page for future listing on the site.
Flickr find: The world's most ridiculous and expensive Mac mini stand
Today's Flickr find is from Stephen Hackett, who has created what he calls "the world's most ridiculous Mac mini stand", and we would have to agree. Not only is all that aluminum stunning, it's also a vintage rig now that the Powermac G5 is will past its prime. As far as expensive, the latest Mac Pro would make a heck of a stand now that it comes packaged in much smaller and much blacker form factor. You can contribute to our Flickr pool here. We'd love to see your photos.
Apple details the security behind the Touch ID, and other news for Feb. 27, 2014
Apple has posted a document to its business site detailing the security features behind the Touch ID that was introduced on the iPhone 5s. This is the first time Apple has publicly revealed security features of the Touch ID, which could point to the fact that Apple may be considering opening up the fingerprint scanner to third-party developers at this year's WWDC. It's better to educate people beforehand on just how secure the technology is so that users will feel more comfortable when developers have access to it. The highlight of the Touch ID security features appears to be the "Secure Enclave," which is a coprocessor in the A7 much the same way the M7 is a coprocessor. As MacRumors notes: Secure Enclave is a coprocessor within the A7 chip that uses a secure boot process to ensure that its separate software is both verified and signed by Apple. All Secure Enclaves can function independently even if a kernel is compromised and each one contains a unique ID inaccessible to other parts of the system and unknown to Apple, preventing the company or any other third parties from accessing data contained within.... Fingerprint data collected from Touch ID is stored within the Secure Enclave, which is used to determine a match and then enable a purchase. While the A7 processor collects data from the Touch ID sensor, it is unable to read it because it is encrypted and authenticated with a session key built into Touch ID and the Secure Enclave. Given that the Touch ID seems much more secure than many thought, here's hoping Apple opens it up to third-party developers...just as Samsung has done with the new Galaxy S5. In other news: Apple has released a firmware update for the Mac Pro which allows the machine to enter Power Nap mode without running the fan. Apple has made sweeping changes to its iOS device management tools for Enterprise And Education. iOS 7.0.6, the version that fixed the SSL bug, has already been installed on 25% of iOS devices after just four days.
Pixelmator gets 16-bit image support for Mac Pro, and more news for January 23
Mac image and graphics editor Pixelmator has just dropped a big update to its software that further sees the app move in the direction of becoming a legitimate replacement for Photoshop. Pixelmator 3.1 "Marble," released today, adds a host of new features, the biggest of which is 16-bits-per-channel color image support when running the software on the new Mac Pro. The software also takes advantage of the Mac Pro's dual GPUs, so everything you do on it in Pixelmator is faster and smoother. Here's a list of all the optimizations for the new Mac Pro: • Both GPUs are used simultaneously when applying effects: one for computing the effect and the other one for composition rendering. • 16-bit per channel color images are supported. • The image auto saving is computed in the background while image composition is being rendered. • Optimizations made for all 4-core, 6-core, 8-core, or 12-core Intel Xeon processors for better zoom out handling and faster bitmap layer duplications. • GCD Dispatch I/O technology and PCIe-based flash storage makes opening and exporting high resolution images faster. • Increased memory bandwidth is fully utilized for Pixelmator operations. Besides the new Mac Pro features, Pixelmator 3.1 adds the ability to order prints right through the app, offers a number of layer style improvements and brings a ton of other little improvements such as bringing back more than 10 effects to the app and more. Pixelmator 3.1 is a free download to existing owners of the app. Everyone else can buy it via the Mac App Store for US$29.99. In other news: Speaking of the Mac Pro, those hoping to get one will have to wait until March now, as Apple's latest desktop shipping estimate has slipped back from February. Apple has released Apple releases iTunes 11.1.4. The updated iTunes adds the ability for users to view their Wish List while browsing their iTunes library. It also includes improved Arabic and Hebrew support and stability and bug fixes. A research report from JDSU says owners of the iPhone 5s are using 20 percent more cellular data, on average, than their iPhone 5-owning counterparts. Finally, Carl Icahn has tweeted that he's unhappy with Apple again... but he's buying a boatload of more stock. Icahn tweeted, "We feel $APPL board is doing great disservice to shareholders by not having markedly increased its buyback. In-depth letter to follow soon," right after he tweeted, "Having purchased $500 million more $AAPL shares in the last two weeks, our investment has crossed the $3 billion mark yesterday."
Mac Pro shipping estimates slip and other news from Jan. 20, 2014
Today was a holiday in the U.S., but there was some news to make the rounds. Apple has released beta 4 of iOS 7.1 to developers, which includes new animation for the slide to unlock function and a new Siri voice for UK iPad users. Douglas Adams' last online post in his forum dealt with his excitement over OS X. "I think it's brilliant," he said. "I've fallen completely in love with it." Looking to get a Mac Pro? Unfortunately, you're going to be waiting until March. Check out the 25 worst passwords of 2013. Some of the gems? 'iloveyou' and 'trustno1' Kick back and relax with these features: FTC focuses on Apple's App Store while ignoring similar issues with Google Play Your iPhone replaces the roomful of equipment found in this 1991 Radio Shack ad The payphones of the future Ridiculous moments in Apple development Weird and amazing Macs that aren't exactly Macs
Mac Pro shipping window pushed back to March
In what's becoming an unfortunate trend for newly released products, it seems that Apple is having trouble keeping up with demand for the newly released Mac Pro. I suppose, though, that not being able to manufacture a product fast enough to keep up with consumer demand is a problem that most other companies would love to have. If you take a look at Apple's online store, you'll notice that the shipping window for the Mac Pro has been pushed back to March. Previously, the shipping estimate for Apple's new speed demon was February. This past December, Apple issued a statement to Forbes addressing the supply/demand imbalance. "Demand for the all new Mac Pro is great and it will take time before supply catches up with demand," an Apple spokesman said. You might recall that Apple's revamped iMac also experienced supply shortages for the first few months after it was released in late 2012.
Daily Update for January 15, 2014
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get some 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 has been moved to a new podcast host in the past few days. Current listeners should delete the old podcast subscription and subscribe to the new feed in the iTunes Store here.
