With the 30th anniversary of the Mac, everyone's reminiscing about their history with the computer that arguably put Apple on the map. Thirty years after its announcement at an Apple shareholder meeting on January 24th 1984, the Mac has changed considerably, but Steve Jobs' vision of a computer that is both easy to use and powerful enough to do proper work with lives on. The new Mac Pro may pack more power than most of us would know what to do with, but thanks to Mac OS X, you don't need to be a computer scientist to use it.
A report from The Wall Street Journal is suggesting that Apple is becoming increasingly interested in exploring the ever-important world of mobile based payments. Research and future projection has suggested that proliferation of mobile devices into every corner of the globe will mean that mobile payments could account for more than $90 billion worth of annual transactions in the United States alone by the end of 2017. As one of the most important providers of smartphones and tablets in the world, Apple Inc. is said to be laying the foundations that could see the introduction of its own mobile payments solution.
The Apple Mac today celebrates its 30th birthday, and as the famed computer passes the three decade mark, Apple has marked the special occasion by releasing a video dedicated to telling the story of the iconic machine. The clip features various recognizable characters, from Moby to Hans Zimmer, all of whom reflect fondly on how the numerous Mac models have changed their lives for the better.
There's no getting away from the fact that Tim Cook once described Apple TV as a "hobby," but with once-rampant speculation of the company's connected TV plans having apparently died down, it's fair to say that the understated set-top box has been treated with a little more respect by its overlord during the past few months. A plethora of updates have seen various content arrive from a host of Apple's partners, and now, it looks as though a looming update could also bring gaming to the party.
Apple's iOS is widely recognized for offering one of the smoothest experiences a user can enjoy on a mobile device, but while it tends to deliver on this notion, it's not without its issues from time to time. Often, new software can be fraught with problems and issues, yet despite having been picked up by millions of users in its first few months, iOS 7 has remained relatively incident-free. It has emerged, however, that some users are experiencing crashes and random reboots, but the good news is that Apple has just released a statement acknowledging the issue, and promised the iDevice-using faithful that a fix is on its way.
In a world where we can manage our iPhones and iPads from the cloud and need never plug them into a computer thanks to iCloud, it's easy to forget that actually iTunes exists for the very same purpose. We know that we don't all use it here at Redmond Pie, and at least one writer doesn't even have an iTunes library to call his own. Music streaming services like Spotify and Rdio make iTunes even more redundant, so when Apple released iTunes 11.1.4 today it took some work to get excited about it.
Apple has won yet another court ruling over Samsung in a hearing in the Northern District of California. Judge Lucy Koh, who has overseen much of the U.S.-based patent suits from both sides, has just dished out a ruling against the Korean company, declaring that Samsung has infringed upon patents pertaining to Apple's AutoComplete keyboard functionality.
Witnesses on the scene in New York are reporting that a snowblower has accidentally collided with one of the glass panes in Apple's Fifth Avenue Retail Store. It's certainly not unusual to see a heavy piece of machinery snowblowers on the streets of New York City as part of the cleanup crew that is dealing with the aftermath of a heavy snow storm. However, Apple employees will be slightly dismayed to see that such substantial damage has been caused to the $450,000 piece of glass that forms part of the store's iconic "cube" exterior.
It may have been somewhat forgotten in the big iOS 7 furore, but that doesn't mean that 'iOS in the car' isn't a real thing. In fact, Apple has had given the thing a place on its own website so it was always going to put in an appearance at some point. Some motoring companies like Acura, Honda and BMW have even said that they will be taking advantage of the feature, but things have been rather quiet of late, with little coming out of either Apple or its partners.
Nike's FuelBand may be seen by some as a bit of a high-priced gimmick, but despite the naysayers, it continues to sell in fairly strong numbers. As well as building a growing number of admirers, FuelBand now arrives in a plethora of different colors and versions in the form of FuelBand SE, and is as stylish as it is practical. With this in mind, UI design guru Todd Hamilton has offered his take on the enigmatic Apple iWatch by basing it heavily upon close buddy Nike's likeable gizmo, and the result is truly something to behold.
