Recent videos claim to show the supposed sapphire screen withstanding some intense abuse -- but it's not invincible.
This supposed iPhone 6 screen is tough but not invincible. Earlier this week, I nearly had an anxiety attack over the prospect that the expected iPhone 6 would sport a sapphire screen impervious to even the most creative methods of torture-testing, which has became a passionate hobby of mine in recent years.
This excited panic was brought on by a video showing a purported iPhone 6
sapphire screen taking all sorts of abuse from big blades without
showing so much as a scratch. Frequent Apple leaker Sonny Dickson also
posted a video earlier this week that allegedly shows a rather flexible
sapphire crystal display destined for the iPhone 6.
I envisioned
having to journey to the ends of the Earth or get reacquainted with the
harsh handshake of battery acid in order to really push Apple's next big
thing to its limits. (Check out my previous pondering post on the iPhone 6 screen to understand what I'm rambling about. )
A new video surfaced Thursday, this one apparently out of Hong Kong,
that appears to show iPhone 6 screen panels standing up to similar
forms of torture, including a direct flame. Eventually the video show a
sapphire screen shattering when driven over with a car tire -- reminding us that an iPhone 6 sapphire screen would be tough but not invincible.
You can watch this latest torture test below. Assuming these videos are accurate, which an expert recently said could be possible, I'm open to heading to Hawaii or Guatemala to do an extreme heat test on one of these with the help of a local volcano. Let me know how else in the comments you'd like to see a rumored iPhone 6 sapphire screen stretched to its limit.
This quick and simple tip will help you charge your Android, BlackBerry, iOS, or Windows Phone device faster.
We
have all been there, it's 9 p.m. and you're suppose to meet a friend in
a half hour. To make matters even worse, the battery on your smartphone
is in the red. Surely you don't have enough time to charge your device
without being late? Wrong.
The GoodWhile minor, the small upgrade to the stock CPU in Apple's 13-inch MacBook Air results in improved performance. The multitouch trackpad is still the industry's best, and even better, the 13-inch Air now starts at $999, which is $100 less than the previous model.
The Bad Newer features such as touchscreens and higher-resolution displays are still missing. The ultrabook competition is catching up, in terms of design.
The Bottom LineIf you own a MacBook Air from the past couple of years there's really no need to upgrade, but a small spec bump and minor price cut make the most-current Air even more attractive.
The now-familiar MacBook Air hasn't seen a design overhaul in several generations, and the small update to the 13-inch and 11-inch models released in April 2014 does nothing to change that.
The current MacBook Air models differ from the 2013 versions in that the base model uses a 1.4GHz Intel Core i5, an upgrade from the previous 1.3GHz processor. More significantly, the 11.6-inch MacBook Air now starts at $899 (from $999) in the US and at £749 (from £849) in the UK, while the 13.3-inch version now drops to $999 (from $1,099) in the US and to £849 (from £949) in the UK. List prices in Australia are AU$1,099 for the 11-inch and AU$1,199 for the 13-inch model.
We've tested the new 2014 versions, and found their performance to be slightly improved. (Some have seen different results, owing to Apple using SSDs from multiple manufacturers in Airs, but our tests all fall in line with expectations from this small CPU uptick.) There's certainly no reason to upgrade if you have last year's MacBook Air. Instead, the price cut is the big news here, making this an even more viable option for midprice laptop shoppers.
While the lower price is a plus, the lack of significant performance improvement and the static physical design remind us that the Air is overdue for a more radical overhaul. Balancing out those two factors, our rating remains the same, and the remainder of this review is essentially unchanged from the 2013 version. Both the 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Airs are still universally useful laptops that are largely frustration-free, but that also lack some of the latest bells and whistles (edge-to-edge glass, touchscreens, higher display resolutions) you may be looking for.
Like the 2013 Air, this model has an Intel Haswell-generation CPU, and also Intel's improved HD5000 graphics. It's still not anything like having a discrete GPU, as in the 15-inch Retina Pro , but with game services such as Steam and EA's Origin now being Mac-compatible, it may make some small inroads for OS X gaming.
The 2013 Air also added 802.11ac Wi-Fi , a new standard that will slowing working its way into wireless routers, as well as Apple's AirPort Extreme and AirPort Time Capsule hardware. If you have an 802.11n router, which is a much more likely scenario, this may not help you, but it's a nice piece of future-proofing.
Battery life remains a big selling point, and when you consider the cost of the base model has come down from $1,199 to $999 in two years, the 13-inch MacBook Air is, despite not being the newest design on the block, still one of the most universally useful laptops you can buy.
PC GEEKBOX
Apple MacBook Air (11-inch, 2014)
Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, 2014)
Lenovo Yoga 2 (13-inch)
Price as reviewed
$899
$999
$899
Display size/resolution
11.6-inch 1,366 x 768 screen
13.3-inch 1,440 x 900 screen
13.3-inch 1,920 x 1,080 touch screen
PC CPU
1.4GHz Intel Core i5 4260U
1.4GHz Intel Core i5 4260U
1.6GHz Intel Core i5 4200
PC Memory
4GB 1,600MHZ DDR3 SDRAM
4GB 1,600MHZ DDR3 SDRAM
4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1600MHz
Graphics
1,536MB (shared) Intel HD Graphics 5000
1,536MB (shared) Intel HD Graphics 5000
1,792MB (shared) Intel HD Graphics 4400
Storage
128GB SSD
128GB SSD
500GB+16GD SSHD
Optical drive
None
None
None
Networking
802.11a/c wireless, Bluetooth 4.0
802.11a/c wireless, Bluetooth 4.0
802.11b/g/n wireless, Bluetooth 4.0
Operating system
OSX 10.9.3 Mavericks
OSX 10.9.3 Mavericks
Windows 8.1 (64-bit)
Design and features
The MacBook Air keeps the same external look as the previous couple of generations, a look that still rivals the newest ultrabooks, although some systems, such as Sony's Vaio Pro line , are getting thinner and lighter without sacrificing much in the way of productivity.
Both the 11-inch and 13-inch versions of the MacBook Air still have the same thickness, ranging from 0.11-inch to 0.68-inch. Spread over the larger footprint of the 13-inch chassis, the 13-inch version still feels satisfyingly thin.
The Vaio Pro 13 next to the 13-inch MacBook Air.
As with previous versions, the rigid aluminum construction makes the Air feel sturdy enough to just throw it in a bag and carry it along with you without a protective case or sleeve, and it's interesting to contrast the aluminum unibody construction here with the lighter carbon fiber in the aforementioned Vaio Pro. I'd still trust the Air and its unyielding lid more in a throw-in-your-luggage field test.
The backlit keyboard and trackpad are the same as on the previous models, and the trackpad especially remains the standard by which all others are judged. Many other laptop makers have moved to larger clickpad-style touchpads, but we have yet to find a touchpad that comes close to this for multitouch gestures. The pad is again hinged at the top, allowing the entire pad to click down, and we strongly suggest going into the Preferences menu and turning on all of the tapping options for further ease of use.
It will be interesting to see how Apple's user interfaces develop in the face of bothWindows 8, which tries (not always successfully) to reinvent the entire concept of working with a computer OS, and the upcoming OS X Mavericks update . For now, flicking around with three-and-four-finger gestures on the MacBook trackpad remains the most seamless way to swap between windows and applications, at least in my experience.
Unlike the 11-inch MacBook Air, the 13-inch screen is still not a 16:9 display. The screen area also lacks the edge-to-edge glass over a black bezel found in theMacBook Pro; instead the screen is, as in previous years, surrounded by a thick silver bezel.
On the positive side, the native resolution of the display is 1,440x900 pixels, which is slightly better than the 1,366x768 you find in many 13-inch laptops, although even midpriced models are quickly switching over to 1,600x900 or even 1,920x1,080, and premium systems are adding higher-than-HD displays.
Samsung's latest Android tablet, the Galaxy Tab S, takes direct aim at the iPad with units that are both thinner and lighter -- despite offering larger screen sizes -- for the same price as Apple's iconic tablets.
The new Samsung models add to the already dizzying array of tablets from the Korean giant available at different price points, sizes, and across two different product lines: the consumer-focused Galaxy Tab and the more productivity/business oriented Note line, which includes a stylus.
And while all new tablets always come out of the gate with the iPad in their sights, the Galaxy Tab S seems to have a leg up on its earlier Samsung siblings, at least from a specs and value perspective.
Same price as the iPad, but thinner and lighter
The Galaxy Tab S comes in two colors -- Titanium Bronze and Dazzling White -- and two sizes, a smaller 8.4-inch model and a larger 10.5-incher. Due to ship in early July, they'll retail for $399.99 (£349 ) and $499.99 (£449) respectively.
Prices sound familiar? Yes, the iPad Mini Retina (16GB) starts at $399 while the entry-level Air (16GB) goes for $499. The shape and screen sizes of the iPads don't correspond exactly to the two Tab S slates, which have a widescreen format, but they're in the ballpark.
Both Tab S models measure 6.6mm thin.
The Tab S models weigh slightly less than their iPad counterparts, with the Tab S 8.4 coming in at 10 ounces or 294 grams (compared to the Mini Retina's 331 grams) while the Tab 10.5 tops the scales at right around a pound (465 grams), or 4 grams less than what the iPad Air weighs.
Thickness? The Tab S measures in at measly 6.6mm compared to the iPads' 7.5mm. And I can tell you that both Tab S models feel very slim in hand - just as the iPads do - and share some of the same design elements as the Galaxy S5, most notably the dimpled back, which has its supporters and detractors (I happen to like it).
First AMOLED tablet displayBeyond the operating systems -- the Tab S runs Samsung's version of Android 4.4 (KitKat) -- there are differences, of course, and Samsung is highlighting them, even it never mentions the iPad or Apple by name. That's kind of weird, but it's very Samsung to do battle with an enemy that's quite visible yet invisible at the same time.
The biggest talking point -- or selling point if you buy into Samsung's marketing -- is the Tab S's display. It's the first Super AMOLED display to appear on a Samsung tablet and it's the first thing that stands out when you pick up the devices.
Its 2,560 x 1,600 pixel resolution (16:10 aspect ratio) equates to 2x HD or 2K TV (as opposed to 4K TV). The iPad Air, by comparison, has a 2,048 x 1,536 resolution with 264ppi density, so you'll be hard-pressed see any difference in sharpness. But AMOLED is known for having deeper blacks (higher contrast ratios) and richer colors. Samsung says the Tab S has a 100,000:1 contrast ration, which is 100x greater than traditional LCD displays.
Samsung says its new AMOLED display offers deeper blacks and richer colors.
In my brief hands-on time with the products, I wasn't able to whip out an iPad to compare it to the Tab S, but that AMOLED display does have plenty of pop to it, and the short video demos I watched looked impressive. (Samsung says the number one thing people do with their tablets is watch video, followed by surfing the Web and social networking).
Samsung wouldn't let me take the tablet outside, but it says its "advanced outdoor visibility technology makes on-screen content look bright, natural, and easy to view." The display is also "adaptive" and will adjust to certain lighting conditions and applications, just like the Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone. A few different "professional" manual presets are available, too, including AMOLED Cinema and AMOLED Photo.
Battery life is rated at 11 hours of continuous video watching (for both tablets), which again, is slightly better than the iPad's rated battery life of 10 hours of continuous video watching.
There's an 8 megapixel back camera with flash.
To help manage battery life, the Tab S runs on Samsung's own Exynos 5 Octa, an octa-core mobile CPU that splits duties between a 1.9 GHz quad-core processor and 1.3 GHz quad-core processor. We're still trying to track down exactly what flavor Exynos 5 Octa is in Tab S, but it does not appear to be a 64-bit chip (the iPad Air runs on the 64-bit A7 chip).
All that said, in my short trial, the Tab S felt zippy and it does support simple multitasking (Samsung refers to it as multiwindow, where two apps share the screen at the same time), a feature currently available on the Galaxy S5 smartphone. Samsung was also highlighting SideSync 3.0, which allows you to connect the Tab S to your Galaxy S5 (via WiFi Direct) to transfer files and make calls from your tablet using your S5 as a conduit.
Expandable memory Like the iPad, the Galaxy Tab S base models come with 16GB of built-in memory (and 3GB of RAM). In fact, that's the only memory configuration that will be available at launch, but if there's one key difference between the Tab S and the iPad, it's that the Tab S has a microSD card slot for adding memory -- it accepts cards up to 128GB. That makes memory expansion is much more affordable.
I didn't get a chance to take any pictures with the tablets, but you do get an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera (with flash) and a 2.1-megapixel front-facing camera for selfies and video chats. I was told the Wi-Fi is 802.11 a/b/g/n with dual channel (2.4GHz and 5GHz) and MIMO and there'll be forthcoming versions with a 4G LTE cellular data option (add $100 or £100 for the 4G LTE models).
Samsung's SideSync 3.0 feature.
In terms of extras, you get some stuff you may or may not want. The one hardware extra is a fingerprint scanner, the very same one found on the Galaxy S5. However, there's no tap-to-pair NFC technology (I don't find it to be a terribly useful, but some people do).
Samsung has also included a Tab S-optimized version of its "free" music service Milk and itsPapergarden, a magazine subscription marketplace (as you might expect, Samsung says the content is both tailored to and designed to look good on the Tab S's AMOLED display).
For better or worse, Galaxy Gifts, a service that hawks promotions from entertainment, productivity, and news providers, is also part of the Galaxy ecosystem, and on the Tab S it includes one-year free of Gogo In-flight Wi-Fi access (up to 36 segments), a 12-month subscription to Bloomberg BusinessWeek, 6-month trial subscription to The Wall Street Journal and The Washington post, 3-month subscription to The New York Times, 3 months free Sirius XM Radio, and 3 months free subscription to Audible. This is another carry-over from the Galaxy S5 phone.
Two different sizes and colors.
Accessories One thing Samsung seems to have learned from Apple is that when you launch a tablet, it's important to have some accessories for it out of the gate. As you might suspect, the Tab S works with the Gear 2(Samsung talked a lot of about seamless connectivity with other Galaxy devices). But consumers will also get to choose between three slim covers: the Simple Cover, Book Cover, and Keyboard Cover.
What's interesting about the Simple and Book covers is that literally snap onto the tablet. The Book cover has a built-in magnet and folds into a stand with three angles to choose from.
The Tab S in its Keyboard Case.(with other cases in the background).
I got a chance to play around a bit with the keyboard cover and it seems pretty nice. It's customized for the Tab S and share the same design themes, including the dimpled back. It had a solid feel to it and the keyboard was laid out nicely.
I only saw the three covers, but apparently Samsung will also be serving up a standalone Bluetooth keyboard, S Action Mouse, USB LAN Hub, a power saving cable and portable battery packs. (SeeSamsung debuts Galaxy Tab S cover accessories and Bluetooth keyboard for more info.)
Final first thoughts When you sort through all the "special" features and marketing messages, what you're left with is a slickly designed, zippy Android tablet with a very nice screen and an expansion port for additional memory.
While the Galaxy Tab S doesn't have the iPad's aluminum unibody design, it does manage to come across as a premium tablet, though not necessarily as premium as the iPad.
The question, of course, is how the screen truly stacks up against the iPad's (we'll be doing comprehensive comparisons as soon as we get our review samples). It may very well come out the winner, but for me anyway, beyond the screen, the Tab S's biggest selling point is its expandable memory option. For about $35 more, you'll be able to turn the Tab S into an 80GB tablet, for a total of $435 or $535. Last I checked, the 64GB iPad Air cost a whopping $699.
Apple unveiled new features for Siri in the latest version of its mobile OS, but you don't need to wait for iOS 8 to find cool stuff to ask the voice assistant.
Siri will offer iPhone and iPad users several new features and enhancements when we all get our hands on iOS 8 later this year. Among them are voice activation, 22 new dictation languages, and song recognition via Shazam. But even now Siri may be capable of doing more than many of you realize.
Apple unveiled Siri in 2011 with the release of iOS 5 and the iPhone 4S. Responding to your questions, comments, and sometimes insults, the voice assistant tries to serve up answers to your queries as well as perform a variety of tasks to save you from manual labor. Apple has continually upgraded Siri with new skills and more smarts, but Siri still can be frustrating to use, especially when you aren't aware of its full capabilities.
Ensuring that people find Siri helpful is even more critical for Apple now that the concept of a virtual assistant has taken off in the mobile market. The voice-activated Google Now has grabbed a foothold on Android devices, while Microsoft's latest version of Windows Phone spotlights a personal voice assistant called Cortana.
So, just what can you now do with Siri without having to wait for iOS 8? Here are 12 tips and tricks that alliOS 7 users can try.
1. Hold to talk. How often does Siri interrupt you before you have a chance to finish your entire question? The problem here is that after you tap the Home button to activate Siri, the voice assistant interprets a slight pause as a sign that you've stopped talking. Well, you can easily prevent those annoying interruptions simply by holding down the Home button until you finish speaking. Doing so ensures that Siri will hear your entire question and won't chime in until you release the button.
2. Access your previous exchange. Siri keeps track of your conversations while it's open, so you can easily scroll back to a previous question and answer. But close Siri, and its memory is not as good. Still, you can at least harken back to your previous conversation when you open Siri anew. Here's how: Ask Siri a question, such as "What is the temperature?" Close Siri by tapping the Home button. Open Siri again but instead of asking a new question, tap the lower section of the Siri screen next to the question mark icon. Swipe up the Siri screen and you'll see your most recent exchange with the voice assistant.
4. Open an app.3. Edit your previous question. You've asked Siri a question, but you made a mistake, resulting in the wrong answer. You can either repeat and rephrase the question or simply edit your previous question to correct the error. To do the latter, swipe your way up Siri's screen until you see your question. Notice the phrase "tap to edit" underneath it. Simply tap your question. You can now edit it to fix the mistake, either by typing or by tapping the microphone icon on the keyboard to speak. When finished, tap the Done button on your keyboard, and your corrected question is sent to Siri for a fresh, new answer.
You can't yet use Siri to actually control a third-party app, but you can at least tell it to launch an app. Pick any app installed on your iPhone and iPad, such as Angry Birds. Tell Siri to "open Angry Birds," and it will comply. If two or more apps share a similar name, for example, Angry Birds and Angry Birds Space, Siri will ask which one you want to launch.
5. Post on Facebook or tweet on Twitter. Yes, you can tell Siri to post an update on Facebook or Twitter. Simply say: "Post on Facebook" or "Post on Twitter." Siri responds by asking what you want to say. Dictate your update, and Siri will then post it for you.
6. Send an email or text. You can tell Siri that you want to text or email someone and then dictate the message all in one fell swoop. To email a specific person, say: "Email Steve." Siri asks you for the subject of the email and then asks you to dictate the message. After dictation, Siri asks if you want to send the email. In the case of a text, tell Siri: "Text Steve." Dictate your message, and Siri will record it and send it.
7. Read your emails and texts. Yes, Siri can read aloud to you your emails and texts. To hear all of the emails in your inbox one after the other, tell Siri: "Read all my email." To hear the most recent email by date and time, simply tell Siri: "Read my latest email." With texts, you can ask Siri to read you all messages or just the latest one from a specific person. Siri complies and then asks if you want to reply to the person via text.
8. Check missed calls and voicemails. You can tell Siri to read the names and numbers of all of your missed phone calls and voicemails. That's handy in itself. But you can take all that a step further by telling the voice assistant to play back your voicemails. Simply say: "Play my voicemail," and Siri puts your iPhone on speaker and automatically reads your latest voicemail.
9. Tell Siri who someone is. Want to be able to tell Siri to text your wife or husband or send an email to your mom? You can tell Siri just who those people are in your life. To tell Siri that your wife's name is Cecelia, for example, say: "Cecelia is my wife." Siri will ask if you want it to remember that fact. Just say yes, and it will keep track of the relationship. The next time you say: "Text my wife, please," Siri will know exactly who you mean.
10. Teach Siri how to pronounce names. Frustrated because Siri mispronounces your name or the name of one of your contacts? You can teach it how to pronounce the name correctly. Let's say Siri keeps getting your cousin's name wrong when you try to email or text him. To correct the problem, tell Siri: "That's not how you pronounce [your cousin's full name]." In response, Siri asks how you pronounce the first name. Speak the name correctly, and Siri then displays a list of three suggested pronunciations that you can listen to. Pick the right (or closest) one, and Siri corrects its pronunciation. Siri then repeats that process with the last name. From then on, Siri will know how to pronounce the full name.
11. Turn a setting on or off. iOS offers an array of settings behind the scenes that you can enable or disable. But finding a specific setting can be a challenge. Instead, let Siri do the work for you. Let's say you want to turn on Bluetooth. Just tell Siri: "Turn on Bluetooth," and your wish is its command. Time to turn if off? Just say: "Turn off Bluetooth," and Siri again grants your wish.
12. Learn what you can ask Siri. One of the biggest questions might just be: "What exactly can you ask Siri?" To see a list of sample conversation items, launch Siri and either ask: "What can I ask Siri?" or tap the question mark icon in the lower left corner. Siri displays a list of topics that it can answer along with a specific example for each.
Siri can perform many other tricks, but these are some of the major ones. Stay tuned for more tips once iOS 8 hits your iPhone or iPad later this year.
Here's how Apple's new feature to field iPhone calls on the Mac will work, and why you should care.
OS X Yosemite will let you field iPhone calls from your Mac.
If you own an iPhone and a Mac, Apple's new system for connecting the two is one of the best new features for OS X 10.10 Yosemite. True, Apple is years behind Google when it comes to making and taking phone calls from the computer, but its better-late-than-never approach gives the company two big advantages over Google's system: the fact that it easily syncs with your phone, and that it's part of a tightly-integrated system that goes beyond making calls.
How it works
So long as your iPhone and Mac with OS X Yosemite share a Wi-Fi network, you'll be able to take calls on your computer that come to your phone -- you can mute audio, and also switch to video mode.
The feature lets you dial out as well, say, by clicking a number that's stored in your address book, calendar, messaging app, or Safari browser -- a restaurant or store's phone number, for instance. As an added bonus, Apple has given the calling feature enough smarts to automatically enter a passcode when you're dialing into a conference line.
How it's different from Google Hangouts and Google Voice
Google has two different methods for making calls from your computer. First, there's Hangouts, which overrode the erstwhile Google Talk application with a peer-to-peer messaging app that also supports voice and video chats with other Hangouts users over VoIP.
The second option through Google's system is to link your Gmail account to Google Voice, which I personally use. With Google Voice, it doesn't matter which phone you use or if you're on a Wi-Fi network at all. However, Google Voice account ownership has its own ups and downs, and the service is limited to the US, its largest limitation by far.You can make Hangouts calls to outside lines, but you'll have to buy credit, just as you would with Skype, and your caller won't be able to identify your call or return it through a fixed number that belongs only to you. In fact, Hangout calls are marked as originating from an unknown caller.
How useful will Mac calling really be?
How often you use Mac calling between OS X Yosemite and your iPhone really depends on how you use your rig, and how many calls you generate and receive.
Apple's official example is that you can answer calls on your laptop or desktop while your phone is charging in the other room. That's a perfectly good use case, and as a Google Voice user whose incoming call notifications pop up on my desktop at work, here's another one: sometimes alerts that appear in front of your eyes are easier to notice and respond to than one on a tiny screen at your elbow.
If I'm already looking right at the screen when a call comes in, I occasionally take calls through the computer -- it keeps my concentration and gaze focused and keeps my hands on the mouse, not fiddling with the phone's controls.That's when I'm at home. At the office, I generally see (and hear) the on-screen call notification before I see my (silent) ringtone alert. As a cubical-dweller in an open floor plan, I don't take many personal calls at my desk. That Google Voice popup helps me make the decision to either walk away with my phone somewhere more private, or table the call for later. A pair of headphones with a built-in mic could also do the trick for semi-private conversations.
In addition to taking calls, Yosemite supports click-to-call to dial out. As with the iPhone, clicking the screen to enter a personal or business number will certainly save you a step from reaching for the phone and typing in numbers you see on the screen.
One drawback with the current version of Yosemite (beta, released to developers) is that it doesn't include a dialer for punching in one-off numbers you don't find online or in your contacts list -- say you'd like to enter a number from a business card, or punch in a number you know by heart without first trawling through the address book.
Beyond calls
Apple's on-screen calling is a convenience, but it's only one part of a larger push to bridge your iPhone (and iPad) with the Mac. A concept that Apple calls Continuity and a technical protocol called Handoff also make it possible to share all sorts of content between devices, including documents and messaging conversations. It's also part of the schema that lets your Mac draw a hotspot data connection from an iPhone.
My colleague Jason Parker describes Handoff in detail here.
What it means to Mac owners, and competitors
I'm guessing I'm in a minority of Mac users who also uses Google Voice with Gmail to field incoming calls, but once my MacBook Air updates to Yosemite, I'll instantly, and automatically join a much larger community of Mac-and-iPhone owners who can start using roughly the same features without even thinking about it.
This deep integration, without tinkering with settings or signing up for extra accounts, is what makes Mac calling most compelling, in the same way that Apple managed to make FaceTime seem like a revelation for a lot of casual users who weren't familiar with other mobile video chat services.
Since Mac calling is just one example of Apple's expanded relationship between the iPhone and the computer, Apple is essentially training its users of both products to start relying on this convergence of computing power.
For users, this means fluidly moving between devices for content and calls. For competitors, like Google, it means that Apple's in-house services could give its ecosystem the home-court advantage over third-party solutions, just by the very presence of a dialog box that appears in the corner of your screen when someone calls your phone.
For Android fans who don't have a Nexus 5, when they'll get KitKat is a serious and angst-inducing question. Some handset manufacturers like Samsung and HTC have already promised the update for their flagship devices, but others haven't been so forthcoming. Here's what we know so far; we'll keep updating this post as we get more KitKat news.
When will your phone break off a piece of that delicious KitKat?
If your kid's been begging for an iPod Touch, I've got some bad news. Apple has quietly discontinued the most affordable entry point into the world of iOS, the $199 16GB 4th-generation iPod Touch, an update of the 2011 model with a 3.5-inch screen. It's just as well since little Junior would have suffered some peer humiliation for not sporting one of the latest, greatest 5th-gen iPod models -- clearly distinguished by their bigger screens and candy-colored aluminum casing. Those models start at $299 for 32GB, or $399 for double the storage.
The good:The second generation of Apple's Retina-screen MacBook Pro adds internal upgrades to its Wi-Fi, Thunderbolt, SSD, graphics card, and CPU. The result is a faster laptop with better battery life and a lower starting price.
The bad:The changes are internal-only, and not significant enough to upgrade if you have last year's version. At $1,999 to start, this is still a very expensive laptop. Both the 13-inch MacBook Air and Pro have much better battery life.
The bottom line:The slimmer body and higher-res screen of the original Retina MacBook Pro was a revolutionary leap. This revamp adds modest internal upgrades for modest improvements, but price cuts to both the 13-inch and 15-inch models sweeten the deal.
HTC is the latest major phone maker to jump on the massive-handset bandwagon with its new HTC One Max. Echoing devices from rivals Samsung and Sony, the One Max bears a gargantuan 5.9-inch screen yet manages to hold on to some of the smaller One's metallic style.
Hey America, you got a second? We need to talk. It turns out we're not doing so well in literacy and math compared to most of the developed countries in the world. We also may not be as knowledgeable about our world as we think we are.
According to this article in the New York Times, a recent study out of the
The good:TheiPhone 5Sdelivers an improved camera, a nifty fingerprint sensor, and a next-gen CPU and motion-tracking chip. Apple throws in the iWork app suite for free. iOS 7 adds some nice step-ups, too, including AirDrop file transfers and the Android-like Control Center.
The bad:External design is identical to that of the iPhone 5, including a 4-inch screen that looks downright tiny next to Android competitors. For now, the fingerprint sensor only works with Apple apps. The 64-bit A7 processor and M7 motion-tracking chip don't have killer apps yet. iOS 7 differences are potentially jarring for longtime iPhone users.
The bottom line:The iPhone 5S is not a required upgrade, but it's easily the fastest and most advanced Apple smartphone to date.
Apple unveiled the all-new, radically designed Mac Pro computer today at the World Wide Developer's Conference today in San Francisco.
Apple has introduced a new version of the high-end Mac Pro desktop at WWDC 2013. The updated model skips Intel's fourth generation of Core i-series processors, previously codenamed Haswell, instead sticking with pro-level Xeon processors. But it's the design of this new Mac Pro that became a conversation topic: instead of a big square box, the new Pro is a shiny black cylinder that looks like it fell off the engine of a starship.
Steve Jobs had a similar dream years ago in the G4 Cube, a famously minimal gleaming box that was meant to represent the future of desktop computers. The Cube was a cult favorite more than a commercial success, but the new Mac Pro feels like the clear revival of that black-box dream. Instead of cube, think cylinder.
New design, new features In addition, the Mac Pro at long last has a new look and feel. The current tower design is one of the oldest in the Apple catalog, changing little from when it was called the Power Mac G5. Up until now, the Mac Pro has been missing USB 3.0, Thunderbolt, and other features many MacBook users take for granted.
The new model has a striking new look. The first view we saw was from the top, where the circular design reminded me of Apple's planned new UFO-like headquarters. It's actually a tall black cylinder, but much smaller than the tower it replaces, fitting into one-eighth the volume of the previous Mac Pro.
Forward-thinking, or just playing catch-up with other, more advanced smartphones?
Is it too soon to start building an iPhone 6 wish list?
Because the iPhone 5S, which Apple announced today (along with the cheaper iPhone 5C) to the surprise of no one, represents perhaps the least exciting and most disappointing iPhone update yet.
