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Dog Days of Summer: Doggy Dashboard
Yeah, there's nothing cuter than a puppy ... unless it's a puppy that is sitting on a new (in 2009) 13" MacBook Pro keyboard. This is Kevin, and his human Don Jones says: This photo is from a few years back when Kevin was a puppy. I was trying to teach him to sit beside me while I worked, but as you can see Kevin didn't like playing second fiddle. He crawled up onto my then new 13" MacBook Pro and activated Dashboard. Three Macs later Kevin is still around. If you have a Dog Days nominee to share, let us know via our feedback page (and please remember that the photo has to have some sort of connection to Apple and its products -- don't just send us a photo of your canine buddy). For security reasons we can't accept inbound attachments, so you should host the photo (Dropbox, Flickr, iPhoto Journals, etc.) and send us the link. Thanks, Don!
Twelve South introduces GhostStand for MacBook
Now here's a way to make your MacBook look almost like it's floating in mid-air: the design wizards at Twelve South have announced GhostStand (US$34.99), a transparent Lucite platform that elevates a MacBook about six inches off of the desktop for easy viewing. The two blades that make up the GhostStand have double-inlaid brushed-metal rails that are lined with silicone to both grip and protect the MacBook and desk surface. The stand is a wonderful way to elevate a MacBook screen to improve dual-monitor use, and also offers a more ergonomic arrangement for any MacBook user. As with Twelve South's previous recent addition to the family, the HiRise for iPhone 5 / iPad mini, the pricing on this attractive stand is quite reasonable. We're happy to see that Twelve South is making more affordable products that still offer beautiful design and top-quality construction. TUAW will feature a full review of the GhostStand in the near future.
It's a bag, it's a sleeve, it's the Booq Viper courier
The bag-making pros at Booq are back at it again. Just in time for back-to-school, they've introduced two new bags that are really a hybrid of the traditional computer bag and a stiff sleeve. The Booq Viper courier comes in both 13-inch (US$99.95) and 15-inch ($109.95) flavors, and we'll be giving away one of the 15-inch models later ... so stay tuned. Design It's the design of this bag that makes it different from all the rest. Most computer bags are like the one I got from the company when I hired on: they have a shoulder strap, a padded pocket for the computer (with the requisite Velcro strap to hold it in place), a couple of other pockets for papers and accessories, and the ever-popular slots for pens. For those who love lightweight and compact protection for their laptops, there are a number of manufacturers who make sleeves. Booq's contribution to the laptop sleeve market has been the Viper series, made up of the case (starting at $44.95), the hardcase (starting at $49.95), and the sleeve (starting at $39.95). This series has a semi-rigid exterior with a cloth finish, and provides extra protection for your laptop. Now the Booq folks have created a mashup of the Viper semi-rigid cases and sleeves and a more traditional MacBook bag with these two Booq Viper courier bags. The exterior of the Booq Viper courier is covered in a waterproof and organically dyed natural fibre fabric in a neutral grey color. It has a nice feel and looks quite classy. Hiding inside the Viper courier are a variety of pockets into which you can slide a surprising amount of gear. Rather than describe the functions of all of these pockets, check out the following short video from Booq: Functionality OK, so you can fit a lot of gear into the Booq Viper courier. I think that the high points of this bag are the padding around the laptop pocket and the internal iPad pocket. One other feature that Booq provides with many of its products is a serialized TerraLinq tag that is unique to your bag. If you lose the bag, the tag provides a way for the finder to hopefully get it back to you. The shoulder strap was very comfortable, even when I weighed down the bag with my 13" MacBook Pro with Retina display, a full-sized iPad, an iPad mini, charging cables, my iPhone, and some assorted papers and magazines from my desk. The other main selling point of the Booq Viper courier is how it looks; it's one of the more classy laptop bags I've seen in the recent past. I love the small touches that really add to the usability of the bag -- the cloth zipper pulls that make it easy to open the bag, the handles that tuck away if you're not using them, and the easy-to-remove shoulder strap. The Viper courier is a bag that would look equally at home on the shoulder of a college student or in an executive boardroom. It's not flashy; instead, it's understated and professional. Although the Booq Viper courier can hold a surprising amount of gear, you might need a bag that has a bit more space in it. Booq recently announced a new member of the family: the Booq Boa brief ($149.95). I personally don't think it's as nice-looking as the Viper courier, but your tastes may be different from mine. Conclusion For the MacBook Air or MacBook Pro user with a 13-inch or 15-inch model, the Booq Viper courier provides top-notch protection to your gear while looking good at the same time. Pros Comfortable removable shoulder strap Surprising amount of storage space in a relatively slim bag TerraLinq service can help you be reunited with a lost or stolen bag Fabric material is waterproof Zipper pulls provide ease of entry Special interior pocket for iPad Cons None to speak of Who is it for? Anyone who wants a classy-looking, relatively inexpensive, and well-constructed laptop case for their MacBook Air or MacBook Pro. Giveaway And now it's time for someone with a nice MacBook to win this lovely bag! Here are the rules for the giveaway: Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older. To enter, fill out the form below completely and click or tap the Submit button. The entry must be made before August 27, 2013 11:59PM Eastern Daylight Time. You may enter only once. One winner will be selected and will receive a Booq Viper courier bag worth $109.95 Click Here for complete Official Rules. Loading...
Dog Days of Summer: The MacBook Pro chew toy
There probably isn't a day that goes by that Rory's human Dave Moczulski doesn't silently thank Jony Ive for deciding to make the MacBook Pro out of aluminum instead of rubber or rawhide... If you've got a Dog Days nominee to share, let us know via our feedback page (and please remember that the photo has to have some sort of connection to Apple and its products -- don't just send us a photo of your canine buddy). For security reasons we can't accept inbound attachments, so you should host the photo (Dropbox, Flickr, iPhoto Journals, etc.) and send us the link. Thanks to TUAW reader Dave Moczulski for this photo of his pup Rory!
Best Buy begins huge sale on Mac laptops and iMacs
If you're in the market for a new Mac, you'll be happy to hear Best Buy has just slashed prices on all iMacs, MacBook Pros, MacBook Airs, and MacBook Pros with Retina display. Prices are anywhere from US$50 off to $155 depending on what unit you buy. Additionally, if you're a student who registers with your school ".edu" email address on Best Buy's Student Deals site you'll get another $100 off the sale price of the above iMacs and Mac laptops, which brings the discount to anything from $150 to $255. Act fast though, as the sale only runs from today until July 27th. [Via AllThingsD]
The Daily Roundup for 07.09.2013
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Haswell-equipped 15-inch MacBook Pro appears in Geekbench report
It's hardly a matter of "if" -- it's simply a matter of "when." Now that Intel's Haswell CPU has found its way into the MacBook Air line, it's a given that Apple engineers are actively looking for ways to cram that very silicon into the rest of its laptop range. If a newly uncovered Geekbench report is to be believed, it looks as if the 15-inch MacBook Pro could be next in line. The report (pictured in full after the break) details a machine packing a 2.4GHz Core i7-4950HQ and 16GB of RAM, and while there's no discrete GPU shown, Primate Labs' John Poole has informed MacRumors that the benchmark may have simply missed it during testing. At any rate, the score itself isn't anything to write home about -- it's pretty much in line with the existing generation of MBPs -- but the real magic is apt to reside in the eventual battery life claims. If the next-generation Pro follows the Air, we'll see similar performance and nearly twice the longevity. Mission accomplished.
Friday Favorite: How iStat Menus saved my MacBook Pro from burning up
Early last week, my 2011 MacBook Pro started acting up. The fan was spinning wildly and the aluminum case was hot to the touch. So hot that it left red marks where it was resting on my legs and the laptop shut itself down. I fired it back up again, shut down some of the extra apps that usually run in the background and kept working. Things cooled down inside my MBP, so I just brushed it off as an unusual combination of warm weather and excess apps. I was wrong -- the next morning and again the next evening I experienced the same overheating. To help diagnose the problem, I turned to iStat Menus from Bjango to see what was going on underneath the hood of my Mac. iStat Menus is perfect for diagnosing problems as it tracks a wide variety of statistics for your Mac. The app sits in your menu bar and can track your CPU & GPU usage, memory usage, disk activity, network activity, battery level and sensor readings like temperature. I picked iStat Menus because it was the first one I found that measured hardware as well as software. I was interested in fan speed, which is measured by iStat and not by built-in tools like Apple's Activity Monitor. My previous laptop overheated due to a bad CPU fan, so I initially thought I was dealing with a hardware problem again. I was able to put CPU die temperature (which once climbed to 99°C before my MBP shut down), CPU proximity temperature and exhaust (fan speed) in my menu bar and monitor them simultaneously. This let me watch the fan speed ramp up as the temperature went up, so I knew something else was awry. I then watched the CPU usage using iStat Menus and in just a few minutes, I was able to determine it was a software issue. I singled out TweetDeck as the culprit that was maxing out my CPU and driving my temperature upward. As soon as I force quit the Twitter client, I watched my MBP CPU temperature fall back down to a comparatively cool 50°C. My problems started soon after Tweetdeck was updated on June 14, 2013, but I can't lay the blame on Tweetdeck as I am running OS X Mavericks. I expect wonky behavior like this when I am using beta software. For a few days, I stopped using Tweetdeck and started using it again when OS X Mavericks beta 2 arrived. I am happy to report that this latest build of OS X is Tweetdeck-friendly, and my MBP is now running like a champ again. iStat Menus is available for US$16 from Bjango's website. There is a free 14-day trial so you can check it out before you buy it.
WWDC 2013: the rumor roundup
It's that special time for Apple devotees: WWDC 2013 is next week, and that means a customary glimpse of where iOS and the Mac are going next. However, we're getting everything but business as usual this year. The crew at 1 Infinite Loop has shaken up its software strategy, putting much of its emphasis on Jony Ive's design chops and tighter collaboration between teams. Is Apple about to deliver major OS refreshes that some say are long overdue? And what about hints of new hardware introductions at the same time? We've gathered together some of the more notable rumors to help understand what Apple may introduce on June 10th -- and what's likely to remain wishful thinking.
Caturday: The cute, it burns us, precioussss.....
Surgeon General's Warning: The picture above is too cute. Avert your eyes quickly, and move on to other TUAW posts before you get the urge to rub this kitten's cute little belly and pink feet, warm from snoozing on his owner's MacBook Pro. If you've got a Caturday nominee to share, let us know via our feedback page. For security reasons we can't accept inbound attachments, so you should host the photo (Dropbox, Flickr, iPhoto Journals, etc.) and send us the link. Thanks, dborup!
Apple cuts education price of non-Retina, 13-inch MacBook Pro
Earlier today, Apple quietly introduced a revamped iPod model at a lower price point. Just as quietly, Apple also lowered the price on its 13-inch non-Retina MacBook Pro for educational customers. Apple, under the new pricing matrix, chopped US$100 off the price of both non-Retina MacBook Pro configurations, bringing the lower end model down to $999 while the higher-end model now checks in at $1,299. At the $999 pricepoint, you can pick up a MacBook Pro with a 2.5 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, 4 GB of RAM and a 500 GB hard drive. For $300 more, you can upgrade to a MacBook Pro with a 2.9 GHz Intel Core i7 processor, 8 GB of RAM and a 750 GB hard drive. With the new price cut, both configurations of the non-Retina MacBook Pro are now $200 cheaper than what you'd otherwise have to pay retail. Individuals able to take advantage of the educational discount include college students, home-school teachers, staff workers at K-12 schools and parents buying a computer for a college student.
ECBC Dart Laptop Tote review and giveaway
There's nothing quite like the abrupt ending of a three- or four-day weekend to slap you back into reality, and that's what a lot of TUAW readers here in the US will experience this morning. One thing that might soften the blow of heading back to work would be a new laptop case courtesy of ECBC and TUAW. The case in question the new ECBC Dart Laptop Tote (US$79.99), a sleek and lightweight bag that's perfect for carrying your 11- or 13-inch MacBook Air or MacBook Pro in style, while leaving enough extra room for an iPad, a boarding pass, and your passport. Design If you read our earlier review of the ECBC Poseidon Messenger Bag, then you'll know that ECBC does a great job of designing and constructing top-notch computer bags. The Dart Laptop Tote is made at the same high quality level. The body of the case is made of 840 denier HD ballistic nylon, while the bottom gets double the density with 1680 denier material. Inside, the Dart is lined with a soft and silky 210 denier double diamond ripstop. The Dart comes in two colors -- black and grey -- and the material is coated with water repellent to keep your stuff high and dry when it's raining outside. The Dart is nice and small, not adding a lot of weight to your commute. It's just 14.75" x 11.1" x 3", and weighs a featherlight 1.52 pounds. Inside the Dart you'll find a lot of room, though. The main computer pocket is perfect for that 11-inch MacBook Air, but if you have a 13-in MBA or MBP, just pull out the modular insert that's Velcroed into the bottom of the pocket and you're set. %Gallery-189520% The other pocket is designed to hold your iPad, iPhone, a bunch of pens, and anything else you want to throw into it. All of the little items have their own pockets to go into, keeping your iPhone from getting scratched by your favorite pen. On the back side of the case is a luggage trolley handle pass-through -- this means that when you've got a rollerbag that is carrying your clothes for that business trip, you can slide the Dart over the handle and have one less thing to weigh you down. That pass-through is padded; perfect, since it's the side that normally would press against your body if you're carrying the case with the padded shoulder strap. There's also padding on the handle if that's the way you roll. There's one more pocket on the Dart in the front, designed for your boarding pass (provided you're still printing it out instead of using Passbook), passport, and any other travel papers you might need to carry. Functionality I am frankly surprised at how much I was able to cram into this bag without it bulging! For my tests, I filled it with a 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display, a third-generation iPad, a Quirky PowerCurl with the MacBook power cable wrapped around it, an AC adapter and charging cable for the iPad, my iPhone, and some random papers that I pulled off of my desktop. The shoulder strap is not only padded, but also has a grippy material on it so it won't slide off your shoulder. That's something that is frequently overlooked on other bags and another feature of ECBC's products that I love. With its svelte lines, the Dart isn't a replacement for one of those big bags that can hold a change of clothes as well as your computer gear. But it's perfect for the person who just needs to carry a small laptop to and from work or on a business trip. Conclusion ECBC continues to make well-designed and sturdily built laptop bags, and the Dart Laptop Tote is perfect for the 11- or 13-inch MacBook Air or Pro owner who wants a lightweight bag. Pros Lightweight, yet sturdy Water repellent exterior is perfect for rainy climes Smooth interior material keeps your MacBook from being scratched Well-padded Perfect for accompanying a rolling carryon bag on a business trip Cons Not a TSA-compliant laptop bag, so you will need to put your laptop into a bin Who is it for? The owner of an 11- or 13-inch MacBook Air or Pro who wants a sturdy, well-padded, and lightweight bag for a daily commute or business travel. Giveaway One lucky TUAW reader is going to end up with a Dart Laptop Tote courtesy of ECBC. Here are the rules for the giveaway: Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older. To enter, fill out the form below completely and click or tap the Submit button. The entry must be made before May 31, 2013 11:59PM Eastern Daylight Time. You may enter only once. One winner will be selected and will receive an ECBC Dart Laptop Tote valued at US$79.99 Click Here for complete Official Rules. Loading...
Hands-on with the Kensington USB 3.0 Docking Station with Dual DVI/HDMI/VGA Video (Giveaway!)
The popularity of Apple's MacBook Pro and Air laptops is one of the reasons that Mac sales have increased while PC sales are waning. But if there's one thing that the laptop experience is lacking, it's a plethora of USB 3.0 and video ports. Kensington's USB 3.0 Docking Station with DVI/HDMI/VGA Video (Model sd3500v, US$199.99) has been around for a while to help out PC laptop users; the recent availability for OS X drivers for the DisplayLink hardware inside the unit now gives MacBook owners a piece of the action. Design The Docking Station is a slim vertical black tower that's unobtrusive on any desktop. On the front of the unit are a pair of SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ports as well as connectors for a pair of headphones and a microphone (or headset). Like many a good bar, all the action is in the back -- there are four USB 3.0 2.0 ports, a gigabit Ethernet adapter, a DVI port that can be used for VGA or HDMI output with included adapters, and a separate HDMI port. All of this port activity requires some power, so there's also a 5V AC adapter included that plugs into the back of the unit. The unit has a good, solid feel. Since it's made by Kensington, there's a standard Kensington lock port on one side as well so the dock won't "walk away" from your desk over a weekend. Functionality The best way to test a multi-port docking station of this type is to hook it up and play with it. Prior to connecting, Mac users will need to download and install the free DisplayLink USB 3.0 for Mac OS X driver. Plugging the docking station into power turns on a blue indicator light on the front of the tower, while connecting a USB 3.0 cable from your MacBook to the dock illuminates a small green USB indicator light. From this point on, you can start plugging in your choice of devices. I tested the docking station with a VGA connection to an external monitor, and was able to drive that monitor at 1920 x 1080 while my MacBook Pro happily supported its own Retina display. For even more fun, I plugged in an old VGA monitor while driving the external monitor via HDMI. The three displays (built-in, HDMI, VGA) all worked properly, although resolution on the old, cheap VGA monitor was a bit off -- that's more of an issue of the monitor and not the docking station. I plugged in a variety of USB 3.0 and 2.0 devices -- hard drives, flash drives, even a printer -- and all worked like a champ with the docking station. If you need one less video port (for instance, you may already have a mini-DisplayPort to HDMI or VGA adapter that you want to use), Kensington also sells a model (sd3000v) that has a single DVI port and adapters for VGA or HDMI priced at $169.99. Conclusion For MacBook Pro or Air owners looking for a way to easily connect an array of monitors and USB devices to their laptops with a single plugin, the Kensington USB 3.0 Docking Station with Dual DVI/HDMI/VGA Video is a compact and high-functioning peripheral. Pros Compact vertical design takes up very little desktop space Two SuperSpeed USB 3.0 and four "regular" USB 3.0/2.0 ports provide a lot of expansion capability Theoretically, using the two ports on this device as well as the two Thunderbolt ports and HDMI-out on the MacBook Pro, you can drive up to five external monitors (note, this was not tested...) Cons None to speak of Who is it for? Owners of USB 3.0-equipped MacBook Pro or MacBook Air notebooks who want a fast way to connect multiple monitors and devices Giveaway Our review unit is up for grabs for one lucky TUAW reader. Here are the rules for the giveaway: Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older. To enter, fill out the form below completely and click or tap the Submit button. The entry must be made before May 28, 2013 11:59PM Eastern Daylight Time. You may enter only once. One winner will be selected and will receive a Kensington USB 3.0 Docking Station with Dual DVI/HDMI/VGA Video valued at US$199.99 Click Here for complete Official Rules. Loading...
Uncover gives your MacBook's lid a new, Apple-less kind of glow
Etsy stickers adorning your MacBook's lid, oft making a cute play on the presence of that glowing Apple? That's so 2012. Uncover, a Dutch company showcasing its talents here at The Next Web Conference in Amsterdam this week, has crafted a new method of customizing one's MacBook lid. And, perhaps most importantly, it involves the seamless removal of the Apple logo altogether. In essence, these guys use a specialized laser cutting process that can etch out anything your brain can muster -- from band logos to company mantras. And, as you'll see in the gallery below, the Apple logo doesn't have to be a part of the equation. The outfit will take in any aluminum-faced MacBook from around the world, and once it lands in Holland, you'll typically see it headed back to your domicile within four to five days. If you're selecting one of Uncover's designs, you can have your machine tweaked for as little as €249 (around $325), while completely custom work starts at €599 ($780). (And yes, you can just buy a totally new Mac from Uncover as well.) We spoke to Jasper Middendorp, the company's CEO, and he confessed that only MacBooks are being accepted due to Apple's unique backlighting arrangement. They're obviously keen to offer similar work for PCs, but to date, every one he has seen blocks or covers the backlight in some way. For those looking to get it on the fun, allow the source link below to be your guide. %Gallery-186923%
MacBook Pro tops on best-performing Windows laptop list
Soluto has ranked a few different brands of Windows laptops based on their performance against trouble and crashes, and here's a fun twist: Apple topped the heap. That's right, on a list of laptops that included Acer and Dell, an Apple MacBook Pro running Windows via Boot Camp got Soluto's best rating, the lowest score based on "a combination of crashes, hangs, BSoDs, boot and background processes." Soluto says the reason Apple scored so well is probably because this was a "clean" Windows installation, which means that it didn't have any of the crapware that PC manufacturers usually have to install on their sold devices to try and turn a profit (buying a computer with something installed on it that you don't want -- can you imagine?). But Soluto also says there are obvious issues with running Windows on a Mac, first and foremost that drivers for any accessories (customized keyboards or mice) may not work correctly. Still, if you want a trouble-free Windows experience, Soluto says running it on a Mac is the way to go. Apple showed up on the list twice, once for the 13-inch MacBook Pro and also for the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display. The 15-inch model boasted slightly more crashes than the smaller model -- maybe because of the display? At any rate, it's a sad situation for PC manufacturers when Apple claims two of the industry's most trouble-free spots. [via Lifehacker]
OGIO's gorgeous 13-inch Covert Shoulder Bag: review and giveaway
Apple's smaller notebooks -- the 11" and 13" MacBook Air and the 13" MacBook Pro -- are incredibly popular, so it's not surprising that accessory manufacturers are now turning out some beautiful and functional products especially for these computers. Today we'll be looking at OGIO's 13" Covert Shoulder Bag (US$69.99). It's perfect for those smaller Apple notebooks and we're going to give one away to a TUAW reader. Design I've always been fond of vertical computer bags, so the Covert Shoulder Bag immediately caught my eye. This bag comes in black or Heather Gray -- the latter is an attractive dark gray with just a hint of brown in it. That exterior is made of 1000D Kodra fabric with a water-resistant coating, using Nylon webbing for the handles and strap. The strap is padded for comfortable carrying, and your laptop is going to be well-protected in a main padded compartment with a quilted liner. There's a second compartment inside the bag for your accessories with a smartphone pocket, a zippered pen/pencil compartment, and several slots for business cards. %Gallery-185739% On the back of the case is an open-topped slip pocket, perfect for papers, a book or a folder. Finally, there's a zipped audio pocket on the front with a cleverly-hidden audio port to thread your headphones through. The bag weighs in at 1.4 pounds, about half the weight of the 13" MacBook Air. OGIO includes a metal placard on the front with the style number imprinted on it, which is helpful when someone asks "What is that case?" Functionality I tried out the case with an 11" MacBook Air, which had plenty of room inside this case. It's designed to carry up to the 13" MacBook Pro with ease. The Covert uses YKK Vislon zippers, which are watertight, strong, and resistant to chemicals and UV. I found the zippers to be somewhat "rough" in terms of pull, but they certainly keep your gear away from the elements. The strap is adjustable over a wide range and the padding is fine. One minor point -- the strap doesn't have a non-slip coating on it, so I found that it was somewhat easy for it to slip off my shoulder. Many competing bags use a rubberized material on shoulder straps to keep the strap from slipping. One other minor niggling point: this isn't a TSA "checkpoint friendly" bag as it doesn't have a laptop-only section that can lie flat on an X-ray belt. It's surprising to find a new computer bag that isn't compliant, considering that the TSA standard has been around since 2008. Conclusion In terms of looks, the OGIO 13" Covert Shoulder Bag is one of the nicer looking computer bags I've seen recently. However, it is probably a better bag for the non-traveler who just needs a bag for school or work, and doesn't need to run the bag through TSA checkpoints on a weekly basis. Pros Well-designed, attractive, and constructed of high-quality components Vertical design looks very professional Notebook pocket is heavily padded for good protection Separate pocket for accessories and other items keeps your MacBook safe from scratches Separate outside pocket for audio devices or smartphones with a hidden cable port Price is quite reasonable Cons Not checkpoint-friendly Shoulder strap pad is rather slick and can slide off of your shoulder or require a permanent shrug to keep it from falling Who is it for? Owners of 11- and 13-inch MacBooks who want a reasonably-priced and stylish bag offering excellent protection Giveaway Like the looks of this 13" Covert Shoulder Bag? It can be yours if you're the lucky winner in our giveaway. Here are the rules for the giveaway: Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older. To enter, fill out the form below completely and click or tap the Submit button. The entry must be made before April 19, 2013 11:59PM Eastern Daylight Time. You may enter only once. One winner will be selected and will receive an OGIO 13" Covert Shoulder Bag in Heather Gray valued at $69.99. Click Here for complete Official Rules. Loading...
Daily Update for March 15, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all 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 inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Apple sued over defective MacBook Pro Retina displays
A lawsuit has been filed in federal court in California alleging that Apple is misleading consumers by not advertising that there are two different types of displays used in its MacBook Pros with Retina displays. The issue stems from widespread reports that MacBook Pros with Retina displays that use display panels from LG suffer from ghosting issues. MacBook Pros that use Retina displays from Samsung reportedly are not affected by the same issues. ArsTechnica reports that the class action lawsuit says that because the two makes of the Retina displays "exhibit different levels of performance and quality" Apple is wrongly marketing the MacBook Pro with Retina display as one product when instead it should be marketed as two different products -- the difference being which display, LG or Samsung, is used in the laptop.
Apple issues SMC update to MacBook Pro with Retina display, fixes fan issue
In addition to the OS X 10.8.3 update, Apple has also issued an update for the Retina MacBook Pro. The MacBook Pro Retina SMC Update v1.1 update addresses two major issues owners have been complaining about, including a rare issue where users may experience slow frame rates when playing graphics-intensive games on the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display. Perhaps most importantly Apple says the update addresses the fan speed issue we reported on earlier this week. It also includes bug fixes for Power Nap and wake from sleep. MacBook Pro users can access the update via Software Update.
MacBook Pro with Retina display tops Windows 8 laptops, Chromebook in battery test
Mac users who need power, portability and battery longevity can rest easy knowing the latest MacBook Pro outlasts the latest Windows 8 laptops and at least one Chromebook model in battery tests. UK consumer reports magazine Which? tested the battery life of 18 Windows 8 laptops against the latest 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display and a Chromebook. The tests were run by playing videos from the laptop's hard drive and also browsing the web. The 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display came out on top, lasting 30 minutes longer than the closest Windows 8 laptop in basic web browsing. The MacBook lasted six hours, while the Acer Aspire timeline Ultra M5-581T lasted 5.5 hours. The Acer did have a screen that was two inches larger, but that screen does not support a Retina-type display. When videos were watched on both laptops, the MacBook lasted an hour longer than the Acer. The Samsung Series 3 Chromebook came in a distant third at three hours and 44 minutes.