June 3, 2012

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Opinion

A fresh perspective on Apple's world of iPhone, iPod, iPad, Mac, and software product lines as well as our unique opinion on the latest news and rumors from the tech community.

iPad, iPhone, MacBook Air – Apple to Enable Shared 3G Access with ‘Open Sim’?

October 28, 2010 by Philipp 1 Comment
Apple Open Sim Card

According to a report by Gigacom and additional research from AppleInsider, Apple is reportedly developing an integrated chip solution that may replace the traditional SIM card for GSM networks. It’s rumored that Apple and Gemalto have created a SIM card, which is typically a chip that carries subscriber identification information for the carriers, that will be integrated into the iPhone itself. The new Gemalto SIM is embedded in a chip that has an upgradeable flash component and a ROM area. [...] The flash component will receive the carrier related data via a local connection which could … [Read more...]

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The Awkward Teen Years

October 20, 2010 by Steve 1 Comment
meanlion

Well, OSX is 10 years old now, and (although slightly ahead of schedule) it's clear that it has entered its awkward teen years. Today begins a long, pubescent period of transition; filled with wonderful new emotions, pimples, and also hair in places there hasn't been before. And boners. OSX Lion has left its childlike carefree confidence behind, and will likely spend the next several years trying very hard to be like the "cool kids." Instead of developing its own style it will just slap a new UI right on top of the old one, like putting a fancy leather jacket over sweaty gym clothes. It … [Read more...]

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Apple TV: Evidence for App Store Exposed by Teardown?

September 29, 2010 by Philipp 1 Comment
Apple TV Teardown

Today ifixit.com reveals in their exclusive teardown that the new Apple TV comes pre-loaded with 8GB of internal flash storage and 256MB of RAM as well as the same A4 processor that ships with the iPad and iPod Touch. And while this may not sound like much in 2010, considering that the iPhone 4 ships with 512MB of RAM and is available with up to 32GB of storage, it's definitely overkill for simply streaming content. Especially once you consider that a low price point seemed to be the defining feature when Apple developed the new Apple TV. Also, keep in mind that the 2nd generation Apple … [Read more...]

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iPod Shuffle Teardown: Battery Technology Limiting Factor of Future Generations?

September 7, 2010 by Philipp 5 Comments
Apple iPod Shuffle teardown battery

As usual, iFixit has a great teardown of Apple's 4th generation iPod Shuffle. Everything is packed extremely tightly which apparently made it pretty tough for the company to open up the little guy below. What I find most interesting about this teardwon, however, is how much space the low-capacity battery (with a listed capacity of just 0.19 Whr) actually takes up inside of the Shuffle. The entire bottom half of the device is taken up by the battery. How much further do you think Apple can take the current trend of shrinking their previous designs (either in height, width, or thinness) … [Read more...]

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Apple TV: Price, Apps, Content – Expectation vs. Reality

September 3, 2010 by Philipp 4 Comments
The New Apple TV 2010

In the weeks leading up to every Apple media event there seems to be one product that the rumor mill focuses all of its speculative attention on. This time around that surely was the Apple TV. The rumors ranged from price, the operating system and app store availability all the way to some serious speculation about the possibilities of a multi-touch controller to accompany this game changing reiteration of the Apple TV. Of course the hype always comes to a sudden halt when Steve Jobs actually unveiles the device. This time I'd argue that the hype already ended the moment Jobs transformed his … [Read more...]

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iPhone 2G/3G/3GS/4 Reaction Comparison

July 29, 2010 by Philipp 2 Comments
iphone4_2up_front_side

Below you can see the popular YouTube video which compares all 4 iPhone generations with each other. This inspired me to come up with my own comparison. Based on initial iPhone reaction. Original iPhone: "Oh wow! Is that THE iPhone? — May I touch it?" iPhone 3G: "Dude, is that the new iPhone? How do you like it? Worth the upgrade?" iPhone 3GS: " — " iPhone 4: "How's that iPhone working for you? Lots of antenna issues, huh? Sucks!" And there you were, thinking it'd be all about the FaceTime... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2F4O0QIzC4 … [Read more...]

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iPad Hypocrisy

April 15, 2010 by Philipp 1 Comment

Excerpt from Apple's iPad Human Interface Guidelines: Focus on providing a consistent experience in all orientations, even if the layout of secondary information might change. A comparable experience in all orientations allows people to maintain their usage patterns when they rotate the device.   Screenshots from Apple's Pages for iPad application:   Horizontal:    Vertical:    Not exactly maintaining my usage patterns.   Also: Why does the guideline text render so horrendously on iPad? And how come I can't copy from it? Someone should inform … [Read more...]

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How Apple Changed The Terms Of War

April 15, 2010 by Philipp Leave a Comment

While most of the blogosphere is going haywire over Gizmodo's leak of the next generation iPhone hardware, and Apple is most likely gearing up their warfare against the Gawker Media Network, I'd like to take a look at another battle Apple's been involved with for quite some time: Apple vs. Microsoft. For as long as I can remember Apple and Microsoft have competed for market share in personal computing. No matter how you feel about the giant from Redmond, one has to admit that they have clearly pulled ahead in this battle. Yes, Apple has increased its market share quite impressively in the past … [Read more...]

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iPad Retail Already Dry? Gimme a break!

March 12, 2010 by Philipp 3 Comments

So, this is an odd one. This morning MacDailyNews broke a story that overwhelming iPad orders put in-store pickups in jeopardy for new orders. Multiple sources are reporting to us about telephone conversations they've had with Apple reps regarding changing their iPad orders from delivery to in-store pickup. Multiple iPad buyers have been told that in order to do such a change, the delivery order would have to be cancelled and a new in-store pickup order completed, but that iPad orders (which began this morning at 8:30am EST) have been "so overwhelming" that new iPad orders may not be available … [Read more...]

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Flash Beta 10.1 — Take The Pill, Ease The Pain?

February 12, 2010 by Philipp 5 Comments

I've been obscenely obsessed with the back and forth between John Gruber of Daring Fireball and Adobe's official bloggers. While John Gruber is publicly cheering on Apple for not including Flash on the iPhone, Adobe is defending their technology, as well as promising improvements. ((Adobe Chief Technology Officer Kevin Lynch also stated "I can tell you that we don't ship Flash with any known crash bugs" less than a week before Product Manager Emmy Huang admits to shipping Flash with a known bug since September 2008. Some reassurance.)) John Gruber: It’s probably pretty clear to regular … [Read more...]

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