Apple today released an update to its OS X operating system which powers its desktop and notebook computers. Version 10.8.3 is now available for download via the Mac App Store for all users of Macs running OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion or later.
With Samsung having finally just announced its latest flagship effort, the Galaxy S4, it’s inevitable that the comparisons will immediately be drawn between it and some of the other high-end handsets currently gracing the market. Although the iPhone 5 naturally springs to mind, a rivaling vendor, HTC, also finally looks to have delivered a respectable contender to market with the One device.
Sometimes a story comes along that requires more than a few deep breaths before being written. This one needed some deep breaths, some coffee and some strong words. But before we launch into the absolute stupidity of the whole thing, let's get into the nuts and bolts of the story first.
Apple is a company which rarely takes the easy route and conforms to trends in the market just for the sake of keeping up an appearance. This individual approach to the design and development of new products and services has served them well in the past, but has also meant they have come under fire from investors and analysts who believe they may get left behind as they look for the next big innovation. One of the latest key features that is set to be introduced in the next wave of smartphones and tablets is wireless charging, and although Apple have spoken out about this in the past, it looks like they could be in the process of coming up with a solution of their own for future iPad tablets.
The claims that Apple is finally looking to bring an "iWatch" device to market seem to have gained some traction over the past couple of months. For years, fans have suggested the fruit company would bring some kind of wearable device to the mass market, and having seen the fanfare surrounding the Pebble Smartwatch, it seems as though Apple may be ready to silence the speculation and come through with a new product. Concepts of the iWatch have been aplenty, particularly of late, and this latest one courtesy of MacUser magazine is one of the best we've seen yet.
Apple as a company is extremely meticulous and consistent when it comes to things like advertising and marketing. The company's television based ad campaigns have become famous all over the world in recent years for their simplicity and insistence of focusing purely on the products and removing anything else that simply isn't important to the user experience. The Cupertino based company has recently posted two new iPhone 5 based commercials on its website where that consistency is once again highlighted with the 'Discover' and 'Brilliant' ads.
Taking previous releases of Apple's little black box into consideration, it's actually rather difficult to get that excited about the prospect of a spec-bumped Apple TV. Apple's utterances of a "minor" refresh appeared confirmed when it was revealed last year that the next device would sport an A5 processor. Despite this, software files for the new device appeared to indicate it would house an A5X chip, but any hope of that would now seem diminished by MacRumors' confirmation, with the Apple blog having disassembled and scrutinized one of the new units.
The success of print publications on the iPad and other tablets has been a mixed bag: while some have succeeded enormously, others have slipped into irrelevance shortly after launch. New York Magazine is the latest publication launching a digital subscription service for the iPad.
For the last several months, the rumor mill has been chock full of reports about what Apple may have in store for the iPhone this year, especially a brand-new low-end iPhone model to satisfy customers with lower budgets. According to a new report straight out of China, Apple plans on to ship the new low-end smartphones with a Snapdragon chipset, as opposed to the A6 and A6X devices currently used on all of the Cupertino company’s recent iOS devices. This is not new though, as previously a report in January also pointed to a Snapdragon SoC for the low-cost iPhone.
As always tends to be the case a few months prior to a purported iPhone launch, the rumor mill has been awash with speculation that Apple could follow in the footsteps of Nokia et al and bring wireless charging to its prized smartphone this year. A report surfacing from the famously hit-and-miss Digitimes suggests the Cupertino company will indeed be introducing the technology as a built-in feature to the so-called "iPhone 5S", but 9to5Mac's notion to the contrary would seem more correct.
