Apple

Hyperhyped, stupid Color app finally realizes it’s dead one year after its stillbirth.

WSJ: Foxconn Exec Says iPhone 5 Is the ‘Most Difficult Device’ It Ever Made

Apple touted the fit, finish, and technical wizardry required to produce the iPhone 5. Apparently that wasn’t just marketing fluff. According to an unnamed Foxconn exec who spoke to the Wall Street Journal, it really is a pain in the ass to manufacture. https://gizmodo.com/the-iphone-5s-impossible-design-comes-at-a-very-real-pr-5949429 Here’s what the exec had to say: “The iPhone 5 is…

Amazon Just Beat Apple to the Classroom

On a freezing, cloudless day last January in New York, Apple presented to the world its vision for the future of education. It was a clear-eyed argument for bringing tablets into classrooms, a blueprint for fusing cutting-edge technology with advanced learning techniques. https://gizmodo.com/apples-ipad-textbooks-everything-you-need-to-know-abou-5877500 But the future doesn’t get built on no-bid contracts. And slowly, steadily—especially…

iPhone 5 vs Samsung Galaxy S III: Which One Lasts Longer in a Blender?

The iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S III are two of the very best phones you can buy right now and though Android and iPhone fans will never come to an agreement on which phone is better, there is a way to settle which is tougher: blend ’em. https://gizmodo.com/the-apple-vs-android-fanboy-wars-in-one-gif-5951243 Blendtec, who has been doing this…

The New iPod Touch Doesn’t Have an Ambient Light Sensor Because It’s Too Thin, Says Phil Schiller

The new iPod Touch is so impossibly thin that in the race to get skinny, it had to get rid of a few features: specifically, the ambient light sensor that could adjust the brightness of the screen from the brightness of the room the iPod Touch was in. That’s completely gone in the new iPod…

The iPad Mini Is Coming October 23rd

Apple has just sent out its last round of invites for the year, and it’s as official as it gets: The iPad Mini is coming next week. Go ahead and mark off October 23rd on your calendars. It should be quite a show. As the invite above indicates, the event will be held at 10am…

Beats Pill: Is This The $200 Bluetooth Speaker That Slays the Jambox?

The Jawbone Jambox was a pretty good bluetooth speaker, if not entirely perfect. But it had the benefit of being one of the first portable bluetooth speakers to combine design, affordability and ease of use along with quality. But in the Bluetooth market there’s always room for improvement and though we’ve seen a couple of…

12 New iPad Minis Plus Updated iMacs Allegedly Coming Out Next Week

Like iPhone 5, the leaks have now overflown Apple’s secrecy bucket. The iPad mini launch seems imminent. AppleInsider claims to have new exclusive information: there will be 12 models, they say. And updated iMacs too. https://gizmodo.com/this-looks-like-the-first-photo-of-a-fully-working-ipad-5944173 They claim there are 12 models, each in black and white, making up for 24 options. Four storage capacities…

Logitech’s Wi-Fi Webcam Turns Your MacBook Into a Broadcast Studio

Built-in webcams have been a standard option on Macs for the past six or seven years. So it seems a bit odd for Logitech to release an external webcam that’s designed exclusively for Apple hardware. But if you’re tired of your camera being stuck above your display, the Broadcaster Wi-Fi Webcam will give you a…

Foxconn Admits Violating Child Labor Laws

Just a week after riots broke out at Foxconn over working conditions at the Chinese plant that manufactures Apple’s glorious new iPhone 5, the company is mixed up in another labor imbroglio. This time, it’s over the admitted use of child labor. But sheath thy pichforks because Foxconn’s not entirely to blame. https://gizmodo.com/the-iphone-5s-impossible-design-comes-at-a-very-real-pr-5949429 CNET reports…

iPod Nano Teardown: Try Not to Break It

iFixit has taken apart the seventh-gen iPod nano to get a look at its innards, and found that this guy—like most Apple products of late—is pretty difficult to repair. https://gizmodo.com/why-you-really-really-really-need-applecare-on-that-r-5932881 Basically all the important parts have been soldered to the logic board—the battery, the lightning connector, the button cable, and the headphone jack. The battery—which…

Inside the Chip Apple Uses to Stop You Buying Cheap Cables

People looking for cheap, third-party lightning adapters and cables for their new iPhone 5 are out of luck because of an authenticator device hidden in the official products. Here’s what’s lurking within that infuriating piece of technology. https://gizmodo.com/heres-the-chip-apple-is-using-to-stop-you-from-buying-c-5945889 Chipworks has torn right into a Lightning-to-USB cable, and found a total of four chips lurking within…

This Accessory Could Make the iPhone the World’s First Smellophone

If a picture is worth a thousand words, a smell has to be worth at least a few hundred. And the next time you’re chatting and come across a thought or sentiment that can’t be expressed with an emoticon, maybe a specific scent could translate your feelings. At least that’s what the creators of the…

According to AllThingsD, Apple has poached one of Amazon’s search honchos to give Siri a boost. [AllThingsD]

Retina MacBook Pro: The Best Worst Laptop I’ve Ever Owned

A couple of months ago, I had a life-altering experience: I bought a new iPad. I use the term “life-altering experience” because before that day, I was a staunch opponent of all things Apple. I was a devout Linux and Android devotee, and I only really used Windows because I had to, and because I…

Dual-Tipped Stylus Helps Kids Make Shoddy Drawings in 3D

The holidays are quickly approaching and you know what that means: you don’t have a lot of time left to find some way to distract annoying kids that could be visiting. Thankfully Griffin’s got you covered with a new Crayola dual-tipped stylus for creating anaglyph 3D images on a touchscreen device. Sure, you could save…

Shut Up Whiners, Instagram Is Great

Ah, Instagram, iPhone, Hipstamatic—they’ve all done so well to provide “real” photographers with so much to condemn, scoff at, and look down on. You know what? Get over it. Journalist and multimedia producer Richard Koci Hernandez, tired of the onslaught of photo-shaming, decided to take a stand with a video-essay and CNN article advocating for…

Apple Planning to Launch 13-Inch Retina MacBook Pro This Month?

9to5mac is reporting that Apple is going to announce a 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro alongside the iPad Mini at a forthcoming product announcement event. https://gizmodo.com/ipad-mini-rumor-roundup-everything-we-think-we-know-u-5948203 The website cites a “consistently reliable source at a high-profile U.S. retailer”, who has learned of a new, smaller version of the current 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro. According to the…

Report: iPad Mini Prices Leak and Point to Eight Different Models

With all the iPad Mini rumors that have been swirling around, the one thing we’ve been missing is info on price. Now, according to a leaked screenshot from Mobile Geeks, we have a potential price point we can sweat over and scrutinize: 249 Euro, or $320 US, for an 8GB, Wi-Fi only iPad Mini. https://gizmodo.com/the-single-biggest-question-about-the-ipad-mini-5949150…

Report: Apple’s Trying to Wean Itself Off of Samsung’s Chips

While Apple and Samsung have been duking it out over patents, there’s always been the quiet, underlying irony that Samsung makes a whole bunch of the chips Apple relies on. Now, according to reports from CNET and MacRumors, Apple’s trying to change that. It’s not exactly surprising. Apple already hired a big chip designer out…