Apple Sells Record-Breaking 5.5 Million Macs in Q4 2014 [Mac Blog]

Apple today announced during its earnings call that it sold 5.5 million Macs in the fourth fiscal quarter of 2014, which is the highest quarter ever for Mac sales. The 5.5 million Macs sold is up almost 1 million year-over-year and represents a 21% growth from 2013, creating $6.6 billion in sales. The company also noted that it sold a total of 19 million Macs for all of fiscal 2014, saying that sales were particularly strong for the MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air.

Apple launched updated models for nearly all of its Macs in 2014, aside from the redesigned Mac Pro which was released last year. The MacBook Air was updated in April and brought a price reduction along with slightly faster Haswell processors, while the MacBook Pro saw a minor update in July which also brought Haswell and Crystal Well processors that improved battery life. Last week, Apple launched a new 27-inch iMac with a high-resolution "Retina 5K" display, and updated the Mac mini for the first time in three years with Haswell processors and new Intel HD Graphics.



The company is also rumored to be working on a new 12-inch MacBook, which will feature a new ultra slim design and a high-resolution Retina display. Reports have suggested that the new MacBook will come in the iPhone color variants of Silver, Gold, and Space Gray, and will integrate fan-less internals with a Broadwell-Y low-power Core M processor along with the possible adoption of USB Type C. The 12-inch MacBook is said to be launching in mid-2015.

Read More [...]

Posted in 2014 at 09:42PM, October 20

Apple just made another big hire – famous industrial designer Marc Newson

Well here's some late-Friday Apple news that has nothing to do with the iPhone 6 or the iWatch. Vanity Fair reports that Apple has hired famous industrial designer Marc Newson, who's a longtime friend of Apple design boss Jony Ive and whose work has been commissioned "by Ford, Nike, and Qantas Airways, among others," Vanity Fair says.

Continue reading...

Read More [...]

Posted in 2014 at 09:42PM, September 05

Legere: Study calling T-Mobile the worst network is ‘slanted,’ ‘out of date’

You didn't think T-Mobile CEO John Legere was going to take a new study that trashed his company's wireless network lying down, did you? RootMetrics this week unveiled a major new study of American wireless carriers that ranked T-Mobile's network dead last in multiple categories including overall performance, reliability, call quality and text message performance. On his Twitter account, Legere sarcastically congratulated his competitors for posting such strong results "LAST year" and went on to say that the data used in the study is "slanted" and "out of date" even though it was conducted in the second half of 2013.

Continue reading...

Read More [...]

Posted in 2014 at 09:42PM, March 05

Laptop Mag Names Apple Best Notebook Brand Fifth Year in a Row

For the fifth consecutive year, Apple has been named overall winner in Laptop Mag’s “Best and Worst Laptop Brands.” The magazine evaluated notebooks from nine manufacturers in a range of categories, from reviews and tech support to design and software. “For a remarkable fifth year in a row,” the magazine writes, “Apple has proved once again that it’s still the gold standard of laptop makers.” Apple won four out of eight categories and tied for first in two others, and all four MacBook models reviewed received Editor’s Choice awards. “Often imitated, never duplicated,” the reviewers concluded. “The clean, modern look of Apple’s MacBook has set the standard for portability and power, which is why so many other notebooks look like clones.”

Read More [...]

Posted in 2014 at 09:42PM, February 28

iPad Can Be Another Pair of Eyes in Operating Room

Liver surgery is a very complex operation, requiring extensive planning and research before a doctor ever enters the operating room. To help improve the process and minimize the risks of this delicate operation, doctors in Japan teamed up with a German research institute to develop an iPad app for use during liver surgeries. The app shows three-dimensional surgical data, helps pinpoint the exact location of blood vessels, and assesses potential risks in real time. “The visualization of liver blood vessels puts surgeons at ease, and it helps to ensure that the right incisions are made at the right time,” says Dr. Itaru Endo of Yokohama City University. The number of doctors using iPad apps during surgery is growing — the apps not only help save lives, they save money. “Augmented reality and other features of the app can replace equipment that costs half a million dollars,” Endo says.

Read More [...]

Posted in 2014 at 09:42PM, January 02