Designers look out for the new Mac Pro Apple is releasing this year the features are to Create for!
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
New iMacs: See what’s inside Apple’s latest all-in-one
Apple’s new, ultra-thin 21.5-inch iMac is on sale now and an early teardown reveals a space-serving internal design to make up for those 5mm edges
Apple blog Kodawarisan has shared some photos of an early tear down of Apple’s new 21.5-inch iMac. The site itself is down right now, but it’s cached along with a handful of photos thanks to Google’s translation service. The images reveal a completely different internal setup to some of the older models out there, which appear to take up a lot less room inside the iMac’s thinner shell.
The post doesn’t reveal any specifications of the parts used inside the new iMac, but there’s a clear shot of an Intel i5 processor as well as an Nvidea graphics chip. For anyone who’s dying to know exactly what’s inside, we’re expecting a full and detailed teardown from our friends over at zasupport.com.
Steve Jobs film starring Ashton Kutcher to premiere in 2013
jOBS will premiere as the closing film of 2013′s Sundance Film Festival on 27th January 2013
jOBS, the low-budget Steve Jobs biopic directed by Joshua Michael Stern, will premiere at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. Announced on the Sundance Film Festival blog, the film will take the prestigious closing night spot on 27th January.
The film itself, which was originally called Steve Jobs: Get Inspired but has sinced changed to jOBS, is one of the two biopics based on the life of the late Apple CEO. Although the major, Sony-backed production seems to be taking a lot longer (with writer Aaron Sorkin revealing details about the film not so long ago), jOBS has pushed ahead, with filming taking place in the legendary garage that saw the founding of Apple in its early days.
The film itself stars Ashton Kutcher, who makes a scarily convincing Steve Jobs, as well as Josh Gad (playing Steve Wozniak) and Matthew Modine (John Sculley) and will focus on the founding and first 30 years of Apple. It’s not yet clear how or when the film will be released after its premiere in Jan
Apple’s ‘iTV’ television set is the next step in the home domination
The new television set that Apple is working on in Cupertino is just the latest step in their plans to take over your home…
Over the last few weeks there seems to have been a huge increase in the number of rumors about Apple making a TV set of its own. Several sources claim the company plans to create a TV for release in the next year or two, and when this many people seem to have the same information about a product, it seriously increases the likelihood that it’s correct.
This got us thinking. Of course, with the Mac, iPhone, Apple TV and most recently the iPad, Apple has been slowly edging their way further into our day-to-day lives. For some people, it’s now common to step into their home and use Apple devices for a full evening, watching movies, doing work, talking to friends, playing games and even reading.
What if Apple’s TV set (which we will henceforth be referring to as iTV to distinguish it from Apple TV) is just the next step in their plan for your life to be completely locked into their own products? Considering Apple TV runs iOS, the same operating system as iPhone and iPad, it’s fair to assume that the iTV would also use this system. And with many suggesting that Mac’s OS X and iOS will be merging into one system in the future, it’s possible that all your gadgets will be running the same system, communicating wirelessly, and working as one large device.
Of course, if this is the plan, there’s no reason that it couldn’t cover your whole house. Imagine stepping into your home and have Siri welcome you back. An iPhone and iPad app would turn the devices into controls for things like the lighting system or iTV, or you’d have the option to speak to Siri to get things done. Your iTV would not only receive HD content from iTunes, it’s specially-designed interface would enable you to quickly choose between watching live TV channels or playing the shows you’ve previously recorded to your Mac’s hard drive. Of course, if you wish, you can also use iTV to play games; with it’s dedicated graphics card, the iTV would let you play HD titles in full 1080p, controlling it with your iPad or iPhone, or even your mouse if you wanted. The iTV would be the epicentre of your entertainment experience, and everything you needed would be built into the mouth-watering hardware.
Of course, if you’re not in front of the iTV, you still have access to all your media, as well as other services. In the kitchen, for example, your surface would contain a large, tough touchscreen, that would allow you to look up recipes, write shopping lists and check what you have in your cupboards and fridge. In your bedroom the large picture frame on the wall would be a screen that cycles through the latest pictures that you added to your holiday album, and when you want it to, switches to the iTV function to let you catch up on your favourite shows in bed.
All of these features may still be science fiction, but this is surely the direction that technology is moving. Just over ten years ago, Apple really only made one kind of device – the Mac. It sat on a desk in your office and was used for work and, perhaps, getting creative, and the rest of the time it would be left alone. Now, millions of people carry around an Apple device in their pockets all day, get home and play games and read books on the iPad, and use Apple TV to watch the latest movies. Apple is slowly making its way more and more into our lives, and making it even easier to do the things we love. In the next few years, with the advances in technology that will surely be made, just think where we could be, and what we might be able to achieve with our Apple products. It may be a bit of a leap to say that you will be able to control your entire house with your voice, like Tony Stark, but if Siri makes its way into more than just the iPhone 4S in the next few years, just remember – we called it.
Below is just a glimpse at what your home might look like in the future. Click the image for a larger view:
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
My Mac Weekend
I’ll tell you why I love Macs..
I’ll tell you why I love Macs…
This weekend my MacBook and iMac stood up to a solid series of creative and entertainment-related tasks that further confirmed my belief that Apple makes the best computers and software regardless of whether you’re a consumer or business user. Almost every aspect of my weekend involved Mac OS X somewhere along the line…
Saturday Morning – While my iMac happily ripped a DVD in the study I worked on a Keynote presentation on my MacBook along with breakfast and some freshly downloaded iTunes tracks streamed to my living room sound system via AirTunes.
Saturday Lunch – Keynote presentation complete I exported the document out and into Microsoft Powerpoint (not through choice) and fired up Parallels to check Windows compatibility (horrible, I know!). All was fine, saved and uploaded to my iDisk ready for Monday morning.
Saturday Afternoon – GarageBand came into play with two recordings of acoustic songs ready for my upcoming iWeb site. Exported to iTunes and previewed them through my surround sound system. Not bad. Designed the music page for new iWeb site and dropped in the new MP3s.
Saturday Evening – Friends arrive for drinks, MacBook attached to TV and stereo provides musical backing via Front Row. Discussion of last summer leads to a viewing of an iMovie project I put together a year ago. Streamed from iMac to TV via MacBook.
Off to a birthday party, digital compact in hand. Drinks and an early hours finish.
Sunday Morning (mid-morning) – Struggle out of bed, coffee and paracetamol. Copy last night’s photos into iPhoto. Use Facebook Exporter for iPhoto to tag and upload images. Entertaining comments begin to filter into my inbox.
Sunday Lunch – Another birthday today, taking a friend out for lunch. Meet in town, iPhone provides contact number for seafood restaurant as well as directions.
Decide what I want to eat via online menu en route to restaurant.
Sunday Evening – Tired. Settle on sofa, MacBook in position attached to the TV. Watch ripped DVD through Front Row and sleep like a baby. iPhone set to wake me up for work on Monday with reminder to post new blog entry…
Monday, June 3, 2013
iPad Week – Tutorial: Create A Slideshow On iPad
Show your best pictures off with a cool slideshow
Apple has taken a lot of time over the Photos app on the iPad.We know this because it’s a completely different app to the one that appears on the iPhone, even though they both share the same operating system.
One of the things that sets this new Photos app apart is its ability to show incredible picture slideshows. A large part of this is, of course, down to the larger screen with greater resolution, but another is the way the interface is so easy to use and set up, so you’ll really enjoy creating and watching them with friends. One of the fantastic benefits of the processing power tucked away in the iPad is the ability to do the same things you can do on a desktop computer, and creating a slideshow is definitely one of these. Once you’ve learned how to create a slideshow we’re confident you’ll be so impressed that you’ll be making them all the time. The real shame is that, unlike a real Mac using iPhoto, you can’t save the results and share them with others; you can merely marvel at each individual slideshow as it plays out. Maybe we’ll see a change to this in an update to the iPhone OS. For now, though, just enjoy the brilliance of these slideshows, sit back, turn the music up and make sure all your friends and family can see how cool the iPad really is.
Apple to debut slimmer Retina MacBook Pro and more at WWDC
WWDC will see a slimmer Retina MacBook Pro with an improved camera, as well as new MacBook Air microphones, according to KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo
Apple will unveil a slimmer Retina MacBook Pro with a 1080p camera and an improved MacBook Air at this year’s WWDC.
The claim, from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, comes just one week before Apple’s annual conference for developers which is already confirmed to feature new iterations of iOS and OS X.
Elaborating, Kuo, who has been a reliable source of information in the past, said:
We expect the new MacBook, featuring an upgrade to Intel’s (US) Haswell processor, will be in the spotlight for Apple at the upcoming WWDC from June 10. Along with the new processor, we expect the following modifications to each product line:
Retina MacBook Pro to be slimmer slightly, along with a camera upgrade. We expect the 13” Retina MacBook Pro will have a slightly slimmer form factor for increasing its portability. Also, we think the camera spec will be upgraded from HD to full HD. This will improve FaceTime and video conference quality in the high resolution Retina display.
With Intel’s Haswell processors reported to be far easier on battery life, the notion that Apple could slim down the 13″ Retina MacBook Pro, possibly by slimming down the battery, certainly doesn’t seem too far-fetched.
Kuo also believes that the MacBook Air will see a minor improvement in the form of an improved set of microphones:
We forecast that this year’s new MacBook Air model will also have dual built-in microphones as a result of positive feedback on this feature in Retina MacBook Pro, which delivers clear voice quality on FaceTime and VoIP service.
We won’t know whether either of Kuo’s predictions will turn out to be true until next week (where we’ll be covering the entire opening keynote live), but we do know that Apple will debut iOS 7 and OS X 10.9 for the first time.
New iPhone and iPad app to dominate Apple Newsstand?
Exciting new digital-only magazine Brain Dump launches for iOS devices
Does your iPhone track your location constantly? Why would an iPad blow up in a microwave? Will the Internet ever fill up? What’s the capacity of the human brain in gigabytes?
These and many more questions like it will be answered in BrainDump, an exclusive magazine for iPad and iPhone from Imagine Publishing, which we have to say makes excellent use of Apple’s hardware.
Launched today, you can subscribe to this groundbreaking new publication on Apple’s Newsstand from only £0.69/$0.99 and feed your mind in much the same way iCreate feeds your creativity. What’s more it’s brought to you by the people behind the hugely popular How It Works magazine and former members of the iCreate team.
Brain Dump has been built using a brand new digital platform designed by the innovative team at 3 Sided Cube, responsible for apps such as Vision Test 2 and the Red Cross app. Each page of Brain Dump is self-contained, making it ideal for reading on smaller devices like the iPhone or iPad mini.
“Brain Dump aims to be as entertaining as it is educational, with breathtaking photography and incredible illustrations,” said Dave Harfield, Editor In Chief. “The editorial and design set a new standard for knowledge and science magazines on iPad and iPhone.”
The new digital publication will come with a free sample issue pre-installed on the app with subscriptions for the monthly magazine starting at only £0.69/$0.99 up to £3.99/$5.99 for a full year.
If you can’t tell already, we’re pretty excited about this new digital publication as it’s going to open up your device to a whole stream of cool info and knowledge. You can follow Brain Dump on Twitter@BrainDumpMag and on Facebook at facebook.com/BraindumpMag. And to celebrate the launch we’re giving away two bundles of iPad goodies so keep an eye on us @icreatemagazine on Twitter and/icreatemagazine on Facebook to get involved.
Download the Brain Dump app now: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/id649429083 Subscribe from only 69p/99c per month.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
10 years of iCreate – the best of Apple design
A look back at some of the best examples of how Apple has pioneered great product design over its, and iCreate’s, lifetime
Since the earliest days of Apple there has been an effort to match product design to usability. It’s perhaps the one defining quality of Apple as a company that has made its loyal consumer base so devoted and so keen to see what it does next. From the original Macintosh and its single-button mouse to the G3 Tower that gave easy access to the insides of typically challenging tower PCs, Apple has delivered great design.
As part of our tenth birthday celebrations this week, we’ve decided to pick out some of our favourite examples from iCreate’s lifetime, plus a few key moments that we couldn’t really go without mentioning.
iPod Click Wheel (2004)As methods of control and interface go, this one is perhaps even more taken for granted than multi-touch. The wheel design of the original iPod in 2001 was revolutionary enough, simplifying the increasingly complex controls of music players up to that point into something deceptively clean. But that was just the beginning. The Click Wheel that placed the selection buttons under the wheel itself in the iPod mini took things to a new level. It made the face of the iPod even cleaner and marked a trajectory for Apple products to reduce the number of buttons to a bear minimum.
iPod nano (2005)And as if by magic the iPod mini became the iPod nano and this really feels like the beginning of a new era in Apple product design to us. The high-contrast of the black and white bodies of these devices with their steel backs was stunning and would hold plenty of similarities to the iPhone models that would follow it. What’s more it was beautifully scaled and shaped for the hand. A satisfying weight and yet every bit the miniature iPod its name promised. Really one of the stand-out products of Apple’s last ten years.
iPhone (2007)Only six years ago the first iPhone was launched, which is hard to believe when you consider how far it has come since then. Really the heart of the iPhone is its operating system, but the design of that first device shouldn’t be ignored. The two-tone back for instance may have been more about function than form (making sure the antenna for the phone could penetrate the shell of the device), but it really worked. The smooth lines and subtle curved have lived on. All of this was really an evolution of what had been explored with the iPod range, but it was the culmination of so much. And surely that final look had to have been an influence on how the iMac and MacBook range would begin to look.
MacBook Air (2008)We’d be the first to admit there were issues with the first MacBook Air. As the most portable laptop ever it managed to set a new trend for thinner, lighter, and dare we say, even beautiful computers. However that was at the expense of a lot of key features (like any kind of high speed connections and only one USB port) and at great expense in terms of price point. A lack of optical drive seems like less of an issue today than it was in 2008 and even limited hard drive capacity is something we can excuse with the current state of cloud storage. On reflection the MacBook Air was just way ahead of its time and for a laptop that really needed to be your second computing option, rather than your first, it was asking a lot of money. But by George it was a looker.
iPad mini (2012)We’ve skipped ahead a little here. We don’t mean to diminish the iPhone 3, 4 or 5 and we certainly wouldn’t want to play down the design of the iPad and iPad 2, but there is something very special and forward-looking about the iPad mini to us. To hold one is to want one. Its weight is the first thing you notice – it feels great in your hand. It may be running iPad 2 tech, but in the condensed space the iPad mini it works a charm. Perhaps lessons were learnt from the MacBook Air in slimming down a successful design, but however it happened, the iPad mini seems to us to be the future of the iPad.
iMac (2012)
Since the transition from the iMac G5 to the aluminium, Intel iMacs, the flagship desktop Apple computer, has continued to get better and better looking in our humble opinion. The pinnacle of this development was last year’s new iMac. The tapered, thin edges, the fantastic performance of the Fusion Drive, the fantastic colours on the screen all built in to one fantastic device. Perhaps the thin edges were a bit of a cheat since it has to bulge towards the middle to accommodate all its components, but somehow even that works. From every angle the 2012 iMac is a looker. As a sign of things to come, it is also a very exciting first step for Macs in the future.
Since the transition from the iMac G5 to the aluminium, Intel iMacs, the flagship desktop Apple computer, has continued to get better and better looking in our humble opinion. The pinnacle of this development was last year’s new iMac. The tapered, thin edges, the fantastic performance of the Fusion Drive, the fantastic colours on the screen all built in to one fantastic device. Perhaps the thin edges were a bit of a cheat since it has to bulge towards the middle to accommodate all its components, but somehow even that works. From every angle the 2012 iMac is a looker. As a sign of things to come, it is also a very exciting first step for Macs in the future.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Apple hires former Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch as VP of Technology
Former Adobe chief Kevin Lynch, who was well known for his clashes with Apple over Flash, will now work under senior vice president Bob Mansfield in Cupertino
According to AllThingsD and The Next Web, Kevin Lynch, former CTO at Adobe, will be moving to Apple. A statement from Apple says Lynch will assume his new role as VP Technology, reporting to Bob Mansfield – the veteran Apple employee who oversees their wireless and semiconductor teams.
Lynch’s hire is seen as an odd move by some who point to his famous spat with Apple’s late CEO Steve Jobs over Flash. In a response to Jobs’ famous open letter regarding the lack of Flash on iOS devices, Lynch painted a bright future for Flash and attacked Apple’s walled garden approach.
Despite this, Lynch does have some strong credentials for a role at Apple. He was reportedly a big part of Adobe’s push towards Creative Cloud, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him working on iCloud at some point, despite his initial role as VP of Technology.
Intel announces next–gen Thunderbolt tech, doubles speeds
Intel’s super–fast connection tech will now have 20Gbps though put and support for 4K video as well as backwards compatibility with older cables and connectors
Apple and Intel’s FireWire–replacement, Thunderbolt, might’ve got off to a slow start, but it’s about to get a bit of a boost.
At this year’s NAM, Intel announced the next version of the Thunderbolt interface, promising 20Gbps of throughput in both directions – double the speed of the current–generation technology.
According to Engadget, production won’t to start on the new cables and connectors until 2014, but you needn’t worry about holding out for that new Mac or hard drive, the new Thunderbolt technology is expected to be fully compatible with previous hardware.
In the meantime, Intel also promised new, Thunderbolt–compatible devices, along with smaller and thinner cables, would make their way into the wild over the coming months.
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