Apple has released an update for recently released Mac systems that improves compatibility when using 5GHz Wi-Fi frequencies. The update is recommended for all "late 2012" Macs.
Mac Wi-Fi Update 1.0 can be downloaded from Apple's support site or through the Mac App Store on affected Macs.
About Mac Wi-Fi Update 1.0
This update is recommended for all late 2012 Mac systems. This update improves compatibility when using the 5GHz band in Wi-Fi.
Boot ROM or SMC Version Information: To confirm the update has been applied, the CFBundleVersion string of the AirPortBrcm4311.kext will need to be checked.
New driver delivered in update: AirPortBrcm4331.kext CFBundleVersion = 612.20.15
Apple today released the fourth beta of iOS 6.1 to developers. The release has a build number of 10B5126b, versus 10B5117b for the third beta of iOS 6.1 that was released on December 3rd.
Apple also released beta 3 of the Apple TV software, as well as Xcode 4.6 Developer Preview 4. Registered developers can download the betas via Apple's Developer page or via Software Update on iOS devices with a previous iOS 6.1 Beta already installed.
Alfred is a beloved launcher program for Mac OS X that allows users to quickly launch Google searches, launch applications, make quick calculations and more. Now, the developers behind Alfred have revealed in a blog post one of the new features for version 2.0.
The feature is called Workflows and allows users to create advanced functions to make Alfred even more useful. Some examples are the ability to research a film before watching or uploading photos to Flickr.
Movies weren’t created equal, so before I start watching a movie, I can search for “movie dark knight rises” to decide whether or not I should watch it. This will launch a YouTube search for the trailer in Chrome (because I don’t have Flash installed in Safari), an IMDB search using a default web search, and a Rotten Tomatoes custom search I’ve created.
Alfred 2.0 goes into beta in January and prospective beta testers can take part by upgrading to a "Mega Supporter" account.
In a guest post on AllThingsD, Brightcove founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire offers a thorough look at his ideals for a television initiative from Apple. While Allaire has no direct knowledge of Apple's plans, his perspective gained by leading one of the major online video platforms for mainstream media offers an interesting basis for discussion on what Apple may wish to do.
Allaire describes three "key values" that he expects Apple will bring to consumers with its television initiative: an integrated system for delivering all types of television content including broadcast, video-on-demand, Netflix, and Youtube; the "ultimate game console" leveraging the existing iOS ecosystem; and innovative app experiences enhancing existing App Store apps with dual screens. He argues that Apple will need to offer both integrated television sets and a set-top box in order to make the necessary impact in the market.
To do this, Apple needs a two-pronged strategy:
1. A new companion device for TV that starts at $149, attaches to nearly any existing TV, and does not require customers to buy an expensive new monitor. This is crucial for quickly establishing and maintaining platform dominance quickly and even stand-alone could be a $5-10 billion opportunity.
2. A new family of ultra-thin TV monitors that bundles all of the capabilities of the companion device and includes beefed up computing power. These large-screen monitors will be a direct assault on the global TV monitor industry, a market worth hundreds of billions annually, albeit with slightly slower replacement cycles of four years versus two years for smartphones and tablets. This gives Apple that additional $30 billion+ revenue stream it needs.
The set-top box Allaire envisions a relatively thin bar-like design to sit above or below an existing television, based on an A7 quad-core chip and offering several cameras and sensors, HDMI, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, substantial storage, and Lightning ports for power and a coaxial cable dongle.
As for the television set itself, Allaire's scenario includes 46-inch and 60-inch models with multiple HDMI ports, an optical audio port, Ethernet, and dual Lightning ports for connectivity. The sets would include onboard storage of either 1 TB and 3 TB, and of course incorporate a high-end display in a package carrying the usual Apple design aesthetic.
Allaire goes on to describe an Apple TV app for iOS that would serve as the hub for interacting with the system, delivering guide information, on-demand libraries, and iTunes Store access to an iPhone or iPad, as well as allowing the device to serve second-screen content while viewing on the television set. Apple would also deliver APIs for third-party input devices such as game controllers, as well as tools for helping delivers create both dedicated apps for the TV and expand their existing iOS apps to address new possibilities opened up by the larger-screen environment.
Allaire's vision is of course entirely speculative and seems to be more of a "wish list" rather than a serious proposal for how Apple will bring cable operators onboard and integrate a host of features into a set-top box starting at $149 or a television set starting at $1499, but some of the proposals offer interesting food for thought about directions Apple could be aiming for.
As noted on TouchArcade, iOS developer Halfbrick has dropped the price of all of their games to Free for the next 24 hours.
“This is by far the biggest sale we’ve ever had,” said Phil Larsen, Chief Marketing Officer at Halfbrick. “Over the past three years we’ve given everything we have to make our games the best, and were rewarded a million times over with love and support from our fans. Now it’s time to give something back, kick some ass and start 2013 with more momentum than ever. Have a blast playing Halfbrick’s finest!”
Halfbrick is most well known for their game Fruit Ninja which launched in 2010 and has since accumulated over 300 million downloads across all platforms.
Apple announced tonight that the company has sold over two million of the new iPhone 5 in China, just three days after its launch.
“Customer response to iPhone 5 in China has been incredible, setting a new record with the best first weekend sales ever in China,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “China is a very important market for us and customers there cannot wait to get their hands on Apple products.”
The most recent launch on Friday included 32 other new countries as well, though the announcement specifically covers China's opening weekend sales.
The original iPhone 5 launch weekend took place in September and saw over 5 million sales to the initial 9 countries including the U.S.
Apple has opened its new Third Street Promenade Apple Store in Santa Monica, CA. The store has the same design as the new Palo Alto location, with a slightly smaller implementation as the Upper West Side store in Manhattan.
Apple's old Third Street Promenade location was one of the early Apple Stores and was an extremely popular location that was almost always crowded to capacity. The new store should allow considerably more foot traffic.
Dropbox has updated its iOS app with a new photo browsing experience, a "shiny new design", and a streamlined way to upload files directly to a particular folder.
The new photos experience is the biggest change, however:
Now all of your photos are right at your fingertips with the brand new Photos tab. With just a tap, you’ll be able to scroll through a timeline of all the photos you’ve automatically uploaded (including the pocket-dialed ones too). And since Dropbox is a one stop shop for all your memories, you can also check out the photos you’ve uploaded from everywhere else!
Also, when you select a photo, you’ll be able to view it in full-screen glory with nary a button in sight. This means you can get maximum real estate when you’re flipping through puppy photos, or those pics of your bare feet. And to make things even better, our new speedy scroller will help you navigate all the way back to time immemorial (or your earliest photos) in seconds. Even if you have “Billions and Billions” of them.
Snapchat today released an update adding video taking capabilities to its popular real-time picture taking app.
With Snapchat, users can take temporary photos and share them with friends. The photos expire after a set amount of time, up to 10 seconds, and are auto-deleted. Taking a screenshot alerts the picture sender, keeping photos private.
With the new 4.0.0 version of the app, video has been included. Up to 10 seconds of video can be recorded, with the same general rules. A video can only be watched once, and then it will be deleted.
Along with video, the update adds iPhone 5 support, speed improvements, and additional privacy settings.
-Updated for iPhone 5 -Press and Hold Camera Button for VIDEO! -Tilt iDevice for Landscape Captions -Fullscreen Preview -New Settings: Control Who Can Send You Snaps -Improved Group Send -Integration with Address Book -Fixed Focal Length on Camera Preview -Faster Capture and Send -Additional Bug Fixes & Improvements
Snapchat has become a hit in the year since its release, with more than 50 million photos shared every day. In comparison, Instagram users share five million photos a day.
Just last week, Snapchat closed a round of funding, raising more than $8 million, according to TechCrunch, setting its valuation at approximately $50 million.
This is the second year that the Mac App Store has existed, and the second year that Apple has chosen the best Mac Apps. Last year, Pixelmator and Civilization V were Apple's top picks.
With the holiday shopping season in full swing, we've been highlighting several increasingly good deals on the iPhone 5, and Walmart is now launching new discounts on both the iPhone and iPad that may be of interest to some readers.
Starting today, Walmart has dropped prices on both the iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S, with the 16 GB iPhone 5 now on sale for just $127 and the iPhone 4S coming in at $47.
In addition, Walmart is now selling the latest fourth-generation 16 GB Wi-Fi iPad for just $399, a $100 discount from standard pricing. And beginning on Monday, Walmart will also include a $30 iTunes gift card bonus with iPad purchases.
Despite the iPhone 5 having launched in the United States less than three months ago, retailers are offering aggressive discounts on the devices to attract holiday shoppers. RadioShack is currently offering all iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S models at $50 discounts from their regular prices, and also offering email coupons for $10 credit on future purchases for every $50 spent during the holiday shopping season. RadioShack also offers price matching through its Mobile Low Price Guarantee, suggesting that it is likely to match Walmart's discounted pricing upon request.
Update: Wal-Mart spokesperson Sarah Spencer gave MacRumors this statement regarding inventory of the products on sale. Something to keep in mind for people thinking of taking advantage of the promotions:
Walmart works closely with Apple to secure some of the strongest allocations of their products. That being said, inventory is a first come first serve basis so we recommend customers come early to secure their Apple product. We will not offer rain checks but customers should know we will be refreshing our inventory on an ongoing basis.
Update 2: Walmart has contacted MacRumors to note that it erred in stating that the iPad promotion was for the current generation. It is in fact the third-generation iPad that is on closeout sale for $399.
Steve Jobs famously purchased Pixar from Lucasfilm for $10 million in 1986, selling the company to Disney 20 years later for $7.4 billion. In 1995, Pixar was ready to unveil its first feature film, Toy Story, which was also the first feature film composed entirely of computer-animated graphics. Before the film was released, Steve Jobs spoke at SIGGRAPH 95, a conference for those in the computer graphics industry.
In his speech, the full video of which was discovered by Mashable, Jobs presciently compared computer-animated films to such game-changing breakthroughs as sound and Technicolor, even as Toy Story had yet to be released in theaters.
I want to talk for a minute about a place in history. The computer graphics community has been climbing the wall of the castle for 20 years, standing on each others shoulders and made immense progress as we've seen today. And finally we have now scaled the castle wall and we're in the castle now with Toy Story and I think that's an achievement that many in this room should take proud ownership in.
And we should take a few minutes today, on the hundredth anniversary of the invention of the motion picture, to contemplate the contributions that we're making. We have now pioneered, I think really, the next major offshoot of the motion picture. It's going to be a medium in its own right, it's going to have unique talents in itself that we will find boundaries for as we explore it over the next many years.
Toy Story went on to become a blockbuster, taking in over $360 million at the box office and spawning sequels, spinoffs, and extensive merchandising as it garnered a prominent place in entertainment history.
Before Toy Story, computer graphics were used for either short films or to augment live action movies with special effects. Since Toy Story, there has been a boom in the production of computer-animated films and less of the traditional hand-drawn animated films. In early November, Pixar Animation Studios named its main building in honor of Steve Jobs.
With the launch of iOS 6, users lost the ability to gift apps to others directly from the App Store, with users required to turn to the desktop version of iTunes if they wished to send an app gift. But as noted by iFun [Google translation], Apple has now quietly updated the share button in the iOS 6 App Store to include the option to gift paid apps.
Not only are users once again able to gift apps, but they can now schedule delivery of their gifts, up to 90 days in the future.
Earlier this week, we noted that this weekend's group of Apple retail store grand openings would be headlined by the company's Causeway Bay flagship location in Hong Kong. The store features three levels, with a 30-foot tall glass curtain wall making a significant impact on the shopping center.
With the store set to open to the public tomorrow, Apple has been putting the finishing touches on it and has unveiled the store for passersby to see. ifoAppleStore's Gary Allen pointed to an image posted to Flickr showing showing the full scale of the store's glass facade.
M.I.C. gadget has also posted a number of photos of the store, as well as a short video giving a glimpse of the store from the outside.
As we previously noted, Apple is also opening new stores tomorrow in the following cities: Chengdu, China; Melbourne, Australia; and Malmö, Sweden. Apple is also opening its replacement Third Street Promenade store in Santa Monica, California tomorrow, moving into a much larger space. The new store is one of the first to use a design based on that of the Upper West Side store in Manhattan, with similar stores having already opened in Houston and Palo Alto.
Finally, Apple is opening a replacement Rockway store in New Jersey tomorrow, allowing Apple to close one of its last "mini-stores" in the U.S.
In line with its announcement from earlier this month, Apple today launched the iPhone 5 in 33 new countries, with the most prominent member of the group being China.
Unlike the chaos that reigned at the iPhone 4S launch earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal reports that the iPhone 5 appears to have been quite subdued. It is unclear, however, how much of the change may be due to lack of interest and how much may have been related to snowy weather and changes in Apple's sales policies designed to reduce scalping and other factors that have led to problems at previous launches.
Friday’s iPhone 5 launch was notable for a different kind of white: a rare accumulation of fresh snow that blanketed the nearly empty plaza outside the Sanlitun store.
At 8 am on Friday, when the store opened to hurrahs from employees, only two consumers stood inside a cordon set up by Apple, though they were joined by a desultory snow man someone had made on a bench near the entrance.
Apple's new sales policies require customers to enter a lottery for the right to purchase an iPhone in the store, with winners being given specific windows of time in which to pick up their devices.
Fortune has also collected a handful of videos showing launches in China, Malaysia, and the Philippines that were part of today's major rollout in the following countries: Albania, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Ecuador, Grenada, Indonesia, Israel, Jamaica, Jordan, Kuwait, Macedonia, Malaysia, Moldova, Montenegro, Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Taiwan, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela.
Retina seems like a logical update for Apple’s second generation iPad mini, and a report from Digitimes today says that Apple is indeed planning to increase the resolution of its next iPad mini.
Apple's next-generation iPad mini will focus mostly on enhancing the device’s display resolution, according to Taiwan-based backlighting industry sources.
The sources have yet to specify whether the device will use Apple’s Retina Display technology to enhanced resolution, but market observers said it is highly likely based on the development of past Apple products such as the iPhone and 9.7-inch iPad series.
Adding a Retina display to a device as thin as the iPad mini could be a tricky prospect, possibly requiring a large battery and a more robust processor, as it did when Apple introduced the Retina display to the full-sized iPad. This restriction has led notable technology site AnandTech to predict that the next iPad mini won't come with a Retina display, as stated in the site's iPad mini review.
Digitimes adds that the next generation 9.7-inch iPad will be lighter due to new LED light bar technology that will incorporate just one light bar instead of the two that are currently in the third and fourth generation iPads. While Digitimes has had a mixed record in the past, it's clear that they do have sources in Apple's supply chain.
Two hit games arrived for Mac today in Batman: Arkham City Game of the Year Edition and The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition and are now available in the Mac App Store.
After being announced for Mac in October, Feral Interactive has brought Arkham City to Mac a year after its release on consoles and a year after the predecessor Arkham Asylum was released in the Mac App Store.
A year after the events of Batman: Arkham Asylum, Quincy Sharp, the new mayor of Gotham, has turned its slums into Arkham City, a terrifying open-air prison where violent thugs and insane super-villains are incarcerated within heavily fortified walls.
When Batman is imprisoned alongside Gotham’s most notorious, he must discover Arkham City’s true purpose before it’s too late. This intense, atmospheric sequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum plunges Batman deep into a gothic nightmare from which he will need all his wits, gadgetry and skill to escape.
The Game of the Year Edition includes all the DLC that hit the consoles for no extra cost, including the Harley Quinn's Revenge story mission, multiple skins and Challenge Map packs. Arkham City is going for $39.99 in the Mac App Store [App Store Link] and its minimum system requirements are a 2.0 GHz processor, 4 GB of RAM, a 256MB graphics card and 16GB of harddrive space.
The other big release is The Witcher 2 which, unlike Arkham City, comes from original developer CD Projeckt RED and is on sale right now for $19.99 [App Store Link]. It arrives eight months after arriving on Xbox 360 and a year and a half after it was released on PC.
Play a game where your choices really matter and where you affect the fate of individuals, communities, and entire kingdoms. Fight blood-thirsty monsters and navigate a web of schemes, lies, and political intrigue in one of the best looking games ever to come to Mac.
You are Geralt of Rivia, a witcher, a member of a mysterious caste of professional beast-slayers created through brutal training and mutation. Witchers specialize in tracking down and killing monsters. Long gone are the days when beasts lived near human settlements in every forest and cave, and the folk of the Northern Kingdoms held witchers in high regard. The age of elf and dwarf massacres has come, a time when men rival monsters in the evil they do, a time when mutated witchers are regarded as dangerous outcasts, neither human nor nonhuman. Amidst this chaos, Geralt is drawn into a bloody conspiracy. Accused of killing a king, the witcher embarks on a solitary quest to clear his name and uncover the mysteries of his past.
The Witcher 2 has been heralded as one of the best RPGs in the past could years and contains all the enhancements and DLC that the Xbox 360 version contains. You can check if your Mac meets the requirements at The Witcher website. The minimum specs require OS X 10.7.5 or later, an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4 GB RAM, GeForce GT 650M 512 MB, Radeon HD 5770 1 GB and 25 GB free HDD space.
Facebook has updated its iOS app with a faster news feed and a rebuilt timeline, all in the name of speed.
Back in August, the company released a completely rewritten iOS app, foregoing the HTML5-based app that was available previously.
What's new
- Post your photos to albums and enjoy a speedier app. - You can now choose an album when uploading photos - News feed loads more quickly - Completely rebuilt timeline opens faster on your iPhone
Apple has released an update for recently released Mac systems that improves compatibility when using 5GHz Wi-Fi frequencies. The update is recommended for all "late 2012" Macs.
Snapchat today 
Steve Jobs famously purchased Pixar from Lucasfilm for $10 million in 1986, 
While critics 
Facebook has 
