Apple releases OS X Yosemite GM to developers right as Microsoft unveiled Windows 10

Apple on Tuesday released OS X Yosemite Golden Master Candidate 1.0 to developers, which could turn out to be the final Yosemite built that will be released to regular Mac users in October. However, MacRumors points out that last year Apple released a second GM version of Mavericks before rolling it out to all Mac owners. Interestingly, Apple released Yosemite GM Candidate 1.0 just as Microsoft unveiled its highly anticipated 2015 Windows update, the strangely named Windows 10, which will be available to users in preview version in the coming days.

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Posted in 2014 at 05:46PM, September 30

Apple Adds ESPN and Local NPR Stations to iTunes Radio

Apple has expanded the content available on iTunes Radio with a new ESPN Radio station and more than 40 local National Public Radio (NPR) stations. First noticed by AppleInsider , the new stations can be accessed directly within iTunes Radio on both iOS devices and desktop computers via a search, though the new stations may be available to some users in the Featured section.



The ESPN Radio station on iTunes Radio offers the same live streaming content that is available through traditional ESPN radio affiliates, and the schedule of content can be found on the ESPN Radio website. Content includes national sports talk shows including Mike & Mike, The Freddie Colman Show, The Dan LeBatard Show, and more.





Special events, such as the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Major League Baseball playoffs and World Series, and college football will be broadcast on the station, kicking off with the broadcast of the Atlanta Braves vs. the Colorado Rockies game on Wednesday, June 11 at 5 PM Pacific Time.

"We are thrilled to make our industry-leading sports talk and championship play-by-play content available to fans via iTunes Radio," said Traug Keller, senior vice president, ESPN production business divisions. "And we are excited to partner with Apple to expand our digital reach. Our fans can look forward to expanded ESPN Audio offerings on both the national and local sports levels in the future."

Along with the new ESPN station, there are over 40 new NPR stations from cities like Los Angeles, San Diego, Chicago, Austin, and more. NPR first came to iTunes Radio back in March with the launch of a national news channel and at that time, NPR officials promised additional content from local stations. Content provided will include a mix of live and taped news.



iTunes Radio, which launched alongside iOS 7 last September, is still limited to the United States and Australia. Apple does, however, have plans to expand iTunes Radio to the UK, Canada, and New Zealand in the near future, eventually bringing the service at least 100 countries.

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Posted in 2014 at 05:46PM, June 10

SSD Speed Variations in 2014 MacBook Air Still Due to Drive Brand Mix, Not Broader Changes

For many years, Apple has used different suppliers for the solid-state drives (SSDs) in its MacBook Air models, with drive performance varying among manufacturer brands. A recent study by Macworld demonstrated rather dramatic differences in SSD read and write speeds between tested 2013 and 2014 models, but at the time it was unclear whether the poorer performance for the 2014 models was still simply due to drive brand variances or if there was something specific to the 2014 machines causing an overall degradation in performance.



Other World Computing (OWC) has now performed some apples-to-apples testing between 2013 and 2014 models with SanDisk SSDs, and has found that performance is nearly identical.



In OWC's testing using Blackmagic Disk Speed Test, the new MacBook Air model with a 128 GB SanDisk SSD reported read/write speeds of 705/315 MBps, while the 2013 version also with a 128 GB SanDisk drive scored similarly with read/write speeds of 711/316 MBps.





Macworld's testing of four machines (various combinations of 2013/2014 models at 11 and 13 inches) had included drives of two different capacities from three different manufacturers, making it difficult to determine the exact cause of the performance differences.



This variability in brand performance was noticed years ago, when Apple started using both Toshiba and Samsung SSDs in its MacBook Air models. Apple continues to use drives from different manufacturers in its 2014 models, including units from Samsung, Toshiba and SanDisk. How various batches of drives from the different manufacturers are assigned to various machines is unknown, and consumers are unable determine which brand of SSD is in their MacBook Air without opening the box and either booting the machine to examine system profile information or physically opening the machine.



Apple's new MacBook Airs are available from Apple's website beginning at $899, while the 2013 models are being sold at significant discounts through a number of retailers.

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Posted in 2014 at 05:46PM, May 06

HTC One (M8) apparently caught cheating in benchmarks

After benchmark results for the recently launched HTC One (M8) showed that the handset can offer great performance when compared to rivals – especially the Asian version which packs a slightly more powerful processor than the models that will be sold in other markets – new reports have suggested that HTC may be cheating significantly in benchmarks, at least when it comes to AnTuTu.

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Posted in 2014 at 05:46PM, March 28