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This young Steve Jobs action figure is insanely lifelike
Japan's Legend Toys is set to release a young Steve Jobs action figure that is insanely lifelike. As noted by CNET, the 12-inch figure of Jobs captures his likeness from the late 1970s and early 1980s, complete with his moptop haircut and a stunningly detailed 1:6-scale Apple I accessory. This isn't the first time there's been a Steve Jobs action figure. I showed off one I obtained back in 2010, before Apple made the company cease sales of it. Then in 2012, Icons Productions announced Apple had threatened a lawsuit if it didn't stop selling its Steve Jobs action figure. So they did. As for the Legend action figure, the company told CNET that they have heard nothing yet from Apple, so plans to sell the action figure are still on. "We think all the Steve fans will want to collect these historic symbols to remember him and to witness the history of the legend," a Legend spokesperson told CNET. "We think you can feel that we are not just making a commodity -- all our artists including sculptors, painters, tailors and all our staff are working wholeheartedly to recreate our spiritual mentor." The young Steve Jobs action can be pre-ordered now for US$199.99.
Stolen car with child inside tracked and found by Find My iPhone
By now we've heard several stories about how Find My iPhone has allowed someone to recover a stolen iPhone, iPad or Mac. Today, that story gets a new twist because the app was instrumental in helping police track down a stolen car with a 5-year-old child inside. As reported by ABC, a father's SUV was stolen in Houston last night when he ran into a store to quickly pick something up. When he came back out of the, his SUV was gone -- along with his 5-year-old who was in the back seat. That would normally be enough to make anyone panic, but the quick-thinking father realized that his iPhone was also in the car, and as he still had his iPad on him, he opened up the Find My iPhone app to track the vehicle. The father called the police and used the app to relay the vehicle's location and route. As Lt. Wayne Schultz from the Harris County Precinct 4 Constable's Office told ABC News: "The father had an iPad that he'd taken in with him and he utilized that iPad with the iPhone that was in the car and was able to track it. And the information was provided from our deputies to our dispatch, that was able to be communicated through the Harris County Sheriff's Office dispatch also and they were able to get information out to the troops in the field to where we could disseminate information in almost a real-time environment to put it out to guys who were looking for the vehicle with the child in it." Fifteen minutes after the car was stolen, police stopped it, arrested the suspect and the child was found unharmed in the back seat. [via 9to5Mac]
If world-famous photos were taken with iPhones
With the proliferation of smartphones, nearly everyone these days is a de facto photographer, ready to take a snapshot at a moment's notice. Indeed, one of Apple's best commercials in recent memory highlights the popularity of the iPhone as a means to take and share photos with friends and loved ones. The "everyone is a photographer" age is relatively new, but what if that weren't the case? Tackling this hypothetical, the nuttycombe tumblr blog put up some photos depicting a really cool concept -- what would historic photos look like if they were taken by iPhones? Pictured above and to the right is the historic shot of Harry Truman holding up the famous "Dewey defeats Truman" newspaper headline, as seen through the hypothetical lens of an iPhone, with a filter of course. Check out some more photos from a time-traveling iPhone over here. It's actually a fun game to play, sprucing up old and historic photos with modern-day photo effects. I gave it a whirl and changed this famous black-and-white shot of the Kennedy brothers into an Instagram-esque shot. If you have a historic photo in mind that you think would be particularly interesting from the vantage point of an iPhone, please drop em' in the comments!
If we stitched together every iPhone screen in existence...
Here's a question I'm sure none of you have been wondering about. What would happen if we took the screen off of every iPhone ever sold and stitched them together to form one ginormous screen? A mammoth screen to end all screens, if you will. Just how big would this capacative touchscreen monstrosity be? While you may not have the time, inclination or perhaps even interest to figure it out, the same can't be said for the ever curious folks over at stupidcalculations.com They set out to answer this very question and, suffice it to say, we're talking about one gigantic iPhone. [The] Kubrick-inspired monophone would stretch 5,059 feet into the sky and have a base measuring 2,846 feet across (Central Park is 2,640 feet wide). Its surface area would take in 2.07 billion square inches. That's 14.39 million square feet or 330.54 acres. The new World Trade Center, by comparison, will have a surface area of 23 glass-clad acres, giving us enough screenage to watch Game of Thrones on all four sides of fourteen WTCs. The calculation was made with the following figures and assumptions: 352 millions iPhones have been sold since 2007 Of that, 51.1 million units have been iPhone 5s. Incidentally, the above photos are rumored to be approximate representations of the screen on the Samsung Galaxy Note III.
iPad flies off of car roof, wedges itself into another car's bumper
A few days ago, the above picture began making the rounds on social media sites. No, your eyes aren't deceiving you -- that's an iPad wedged securely into a car's front bumper. Now thanks to ABC57 News, we have more information as to what happened and how the iPad landed in such an unusual place. A Georgia woman claims that she was driving down the road when she saw an object flying in her direction. Though she didn't hear a huge impact, upon exiting her car later in the day she noticed an iPad had wedged itself securely in her front bumper. Indeed, the iPad was so firmly in place that a hammer was needed to extract it. "I kind of hit the brakes and stopped but I didn't feel anything, I didn't see anything, so I went about my day," the woman explained. As for how the iPad got there in the first place, that's an interesting story in and of itself. Upon removing the iPad from her front bumper, the woman noticed that the iPad was still functional. She was subsequently able to turn it on and deduce the owner's name and number by opening up an app. She eventually returned it to its rightful owner. The iPad owner explained that he had left the device on the top of his car and that it must have gone flying once he started driving. Here's another close-up photo of the damaged, yet still functional, iPad. It looks like in the first ever battle of Nissan vs. iPad, we have a tie.
iPad with Bible app saves the day at firefighters swearing-in ceremony
In an interesting little twist to an otherwise standard swearing-in ceremony, an iPad with a Bible app came to the rescue of some firefighters. According to NBC 40, several Atlantic City-based firefighters were being promoted to the ranks of Battalion Chiefs and Fire Captains when officials presiding over the ceremony realized they had forgotten to bring a Bible. Luckily someone had their iPad on hand and either had a Bible app already installed, or downloaded one after some quick thinking, and the swearing-in ceremony proceeded. There's no word on which Bible app was used, but Atlantic City now has five new Battalion Chiefs and three new Fire Captains. [Photo credit: NBC 40]
Vintage Mac is beautiful in LEGO
Canadian graphics and web designer Chris McVeigh has built and lovingly photographed this gorgeous LEGO Mac. It looks fantastic and we'd love to have it on our desks. McVeigh told CNET that he works out ideas in LEGO Digital Designer. "The advantage of starting off a project digitally is that I can play around with thousands of bricks without actually having them sitting out in front of me, which can be a problem when you have as many bricks as I do. But that said, I always seem to need bricks that I don't have with each new build." McVeigh has done work for Gizmodo, Esquire Malaysia and Spacing magazine. You'll find a small gallery of his work here.
Faulty iPhone reportedly generated £19,000 bill
According to a report by the BBC, a faulty iPhone is to blame for a £19,000 (US$30,000) bill sent to UK resident Chris Bovis over the holiday season. Bovis claims Orange sent him the whopping bill for his usage during the months of October and November. Bovis said his regular bill is "about £43 a month." He brought his iPhone 4S to the Apple store at Lakeside Shopping Centre, and store employees supposedly confirmed the iPhone was the cause of this excessive data use. The man contacted Orange with this information and the carrier allegedly wanted him to pay £400 ($640) while they investigated his claim. Bovis, who also lost his job as a builder right before the holidays, told the BBS that he was upset by his experience. "Their service is abysmal and I've lost too much sleep worrying about it." After some back and forth, Orange apologized and eventually agreed to remove the errant charges. "We would like to sincerely apologize to Mr. Bovis for any distress caused by receiving this unusually high phone bill," an Orange spokesperson told the BBC.
Burglar breaks into Microsoft, steals only Apple products
A buddy of mine sent me this link from Google+ user Joshua Anderson. It's a clipping from the Palo Alto Daily Post about a break-in that occurred on Microsoft's Mountain View campus early this month. Despite Microsoft's offices being presumably filled with the best MS tech on the planet, the thieves instead chose to steal only five Apple iPads that were in the office. As the paper notes, no Microsoft products were stolen. Who knew that even burglars could have good taste?
"iMac touch" parody video is pretty cute
By now, just about everyone who's been watching TV or visited the Apple website lately has seen the iPad mini ad. It shows someone tapping out the counterpoint to Heart and Soul on an iPad, with another hand joining in on the melody on an iPad mini. It's clever and cute, and now someone has come up with a parody video that's even more fun. Without killing the punchline by telling you what the video's all about, here it is: [via Gizmodo]
Mod your iPhone so it looks like a Motorola XT390
Looking for something to do with that old iPhone 4 or 4S now that you've got your iPhone 5 pre-ordered? M.I.C. Gadget has instructions on how to turn your iDevice into a Motorola XT390. It's not for the faint of heart. As seen above, it literally involves smashing part of your iPhone to bits. If you've really eager to mimic Motorola though, give it a shot. Otherwise, you're probably better off selling it.
Behind the scenes with "Sh*t Apple Fanatics Say" creators
Author Ken Segall has interviewed Mac Consultant Scott Rose, the man behind the satirical and funny "Sh*t Apple Fanatics Say" video series and published the details online. Segall, who is the author of Insanely Simple, found that the project grew significantly as Rose and his partners worked on it. Rose, who plays the fanatic in the video, shared the idea with his cinematographer / editor friend Andrew Baird. The pair originally imagined they'd spend "a couple of hours" shooting and about a day editing. Instead, they produced over eight hours of video, shot on location and spent a day writing. Segall also notes that all of the extras were picked up at the various shoot locations with an invitation as simple as, "Want to be in a video?" It's a great series even if it does hit a little close to home. I mean, how many of these things have you said? Be honest, now.
Would you check your iPhone at the door of a restaurant for a discount?
Ever have a date look at you sideways because you can't refrain from Instagramming your meal? If you need some persuasion to kick the distracted dining habit, then you may want to visit Eva Restaurant in Los Angeles, California. Owner Mark Gold is running an interesting promotion that'll give you a 5 percent discount on your meal if you check your cell phone at the door. Gold told Airtalk, a radio show on Southern California's 89.3 KPCC, that he did this for his customers. Gold says, "It's about two people sitting together and just connecting, without the distraction of a phone, and we're trying to create an ambience where you come in and really enjoy the experience and the food and the company." Of course, this promotion only works if customers are willing to let go of their handset. Would you drop your iPhone off at the door for a discount or would you rather take other measures to coax you to talk and not tweet on your date? [Via PSFK]
SoundShrine gives your iPad the royal treatment
Noticed by Foolish Gadgets, the SoundShrine is the most luxurious looking iPad dock that you will never own. Created by Bavarian photographer Georg Dinkel, the TonSchrein (loosely translated from German to SoundShrine) will cradle your iPad in an ornately-designed, golden-colored polymer clay. The dock also adds a Dolby 2.1 sound system to the tablet device. It's conversation piece that's sadly only a concept and not for sale. [Via Uberreview]
Steve Jobs' stolen iPad used by street performer
To close out the work week, here is a story from the Mercury News about the late Steve Jobs's iPad and how it landed in the hands of a middle-aged performer known as Kenny the Clown. As the story goes, professional clown Kenneth Kahn was given an iPad by his friend Kariem McFarlin. He thought McFarlin had bought a new iPad and was giving him an older device. Like any good clown, Kahn loaded the iPad with some music and used it in his Bay area performances. "I didn't notice anything special or anything like that," said Kahn to the Mercury News. It was only a few days later that McFarlin was arrested for burglarizing Steve Jobs's vacant house. As soon as McFarlin was in custody, police came knocking on Kahn's door to retrieve the stolen iPad and return it to Jobs's family. Kahn had no idea that the device he was holding once belonged to the Apple co-founder. "It would be like getting a football from Joe Montana that was stolen out of his house," Kahn told the Mercury News, "It's bizarre; it's really bizarre." We would have to agree. [Image from Flickr member mark falardeau]
"Explore" Mars with your iPhone
"This is why you're learning math." Robinson Meyer of The Atlantic points out this immersive, 360º panorama of the martian surface as recorded the by the Curiosity rover. It takes advantage of the iPhone's gyroscope and responds to your movements. Once the page is loaded, hold the iPhone aloft and turn your body left or right. Lift the phone up or down. Walk backwards and forwards for a unique and compelling way to examine a small portion of the red planet. Note that you've got to view it in Mobile Safari. An app-specific browser, like that in Twitterrific or Sparrow, won't do. If you've been itching for a fun way to show off your iPhone, this should do nicely.
iPad point of sale kiosk spied at Panera Bread
Reader Domenico Bettinelli has shared this image of an iPad at a Panera Bread in Pennsylvania. It's being used as a customer-facing point of sale kiosk, which sounds pretty handy. Domenico writes: "You pay at right the station and then pick up your cup. [When your meal is ready], they bring the meal to your table." He also notes that it's inside a secure stand, and it appears to cover the Home button but extends well beyond the iPad's ends. I haven't seen one of these, but it sounds convenient. Let us know if you've used one.
Palo Alto home of late Steve Jobs burglarized
The San Jose Mercury News reports that the home of the late Steve Jobs was burglarized July 17, with "computers and personal items" being apparently stolen and possibly sold. No doubt the items stolen would have great value to some people if they knew whose family they were taken from. No word on whether all of the items taken were recovered. This doesn't appear to be a targeted event, however, as the prosecutor says the accused likely didn't realize whose house he was robbing. The Jobs home is currently undergoing renovations.
Cocoanetics zapruders the WWDC banner
Oliver Drobnik at Cocoanetics has beautifully zaprudered this year's WWDC banner, finding app icons from Path, Star Walk, Instagram, Foursquare, and more (by "more" I mean exhaustively more). He notes that social networks have a place of prominence, as do maps and productivity with a strong emphasis on iOS. I love this sort of fun analysis. If you do too, go read the whole thing. If not, look, squirrel!
ZooGue cools an iPad by freezing it (video)
Tim Angel and the crew at ZooGue have been working on a followup to their wildly successful iPad case, and they expect to have it out by the end of this summer. The new case apparently features a thinner, completely reworked design with all of the flexibility of the old case and without all of the Velcro. In the meanwhile, they decided to test both the mettle of their existing case and the iPad by freezing one in a block of ice. Yes, that's not recommended by Apple, but the iPad was wrapped in a plastic bag to prevent water damage and had an attached Dock connector cable for power during the freezing process. In case you're wondering how you get an iPad safely out of a block of ice, it turns out that dropping it from eight feet or so onto asphalt works just fine.
