Chicago Apple Store bricked Tuesday night
Filed under: Retail, Odds and ends
Police say an inebriated man threw a brick at the front window of Chicago’s Magnificent Mile Apple Store on Tuesday night. The man also broke another window a short distance away.
A Tribune photo shows a single broken panel of glass in front of one of Apple’s “giant iPhone” displays. From the photo, it looks as if the brick did not go through the glass, and the display appears unharmed.
Robert Grilly, 61, of Chicago was booked on two misdemeanor counts of criminal property damage, Chicago PD said.
Thanks, Paul!
TUAWChicago Apple Store bricked Tuesday night originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 20 May 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Date/time bugs throughout the years for Apple
Filed under: Hardware, Bugs/Recalls, Blast From the Past
As 30GB Zune owners deal with the sudden bricking of their systems after midnight this morning, hopefully they can take comfort in the fact they are not alone in this. Throughout the years, Apple products had their share of time & date problems.
In February 2000, Newton owners began reporting that they were having issues with the Newton being rather confused about what century it was in. Some users discovered that when they entered two-digit numbers as part of birthdays and other common abbreviated dates, things got wonky. For example, if I entered my birth date as 2-28-80 on the Newton, it interpreted the number as being February 28, 2080 rather than 1980. Entries of full dates in the 1900s were also affected. Other users stated that when they tried finding 20th century dates in the Find applet of the Newton, the system actually performed the search using 21st-century dates.
Fixes included resetting the system clock back to 1999 to enter those dates before resetting it again back to 2000 and applying software patches. Sadly, it’s a bug that HAL-9000 forgot to mention. Apple even reported back in 1998 that the Newton was Y2K-compliant. Of course, this won’t even begin to cover the problems that Newton owners still using the product will have in 2010. If you see our own Newton-sporting Steve Sande at Macworld, be sure to tease him about it.
A Tiger bug discovered in 2005 revealed that Safari’s RSS reader would list some items as being an hour ahead of when they were actually posted — news from the future is not catastrophic, but certainly could be confusing.
Our research this morning hasn’t turned up any date-related iPod or iPhone hiccups, but if you know of any examples please let us know in the comments. As for the Zune bricks, there’s been no word yet from Microsoft regarding the failures, but Engadget’s readers have already come up with a number of theories including blaming it on Steve Jobs, the year 2008 being one-second longer, and other conspiracy theories that are sure to come throughout the day.
TUAWDate/time bugs throughout the years for Apple originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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New MacBooks add metal cases, power to burn but no FireWire
Filed under: Hardware, Portables, MacBook
You heard the rumors, now get the details. Apple has just released a major update to the MacBook line, leaving the original white plastic model in the mix but lowering the price to $999; the two new models are priced at $1299 and $1599. You can see a video overview of the new beasties at Apple’s site.
The new models feature the same unibody aluminum construction process as the MacBook Pro; video chores are handled by the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M display subsystem with 256 MB of shared video RAM, a dramatic performance boost from the older Intel integrated graphics — Apple claims 2.5x-6x better 3D performance on gaming tests.
Both new models support up to 2560×1600 pixels on an external display (via the new Mini DisplayPort connector) and sport a native 1280×800 13.3″ glossy LED screen. The design of these laptops is so radical, Apple has two full pages of sweet geeky detail posted on apple.com.
Both models include the new all-glass trackpad, built-in iSight, 8x Superdrive and 2 GB of RAM. They are under one inch high (2.41 cm), 12.78 inches (32.5 cm) wide, and they both weigh 4.5 lbs (2.04 kg). Neither MacBook model includes a FireWire port (unlike the big boys, which have a single FireWire 800 port) — this is a definite drawback for anyone thinking of one as a mobile video workstation. Note that, contrary to some of the comments below, I see no evidence that the USB ports on the new MacBook will support target disk mode.
Lower-end model:
- Price: $1299
- Main Specs: 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo, 3MB L2 cache, 2GB of RAM expandable to 4 GB, 160GB HD
- Display & Other: 13.3″ screen, 8x Superdrive, 2 USB
- BTO: Add RAM (up to 4 GB), up to 320 GB HD or 128 GB SSD
High-end model:
- Price: $1599
- Main Specs: 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo, 3MB L2 cache, 2GB of RAM expandable to 4 GB, 250GB HD
- Display & Other: 13.3″ screen, 8x Superdrive, 2 USB
- BTO: Add RAM (up to 4 GB), up to 320 GB HD or 128 GB SSD
More details on features, graphics, tech specs and environmental compliance are up at Apple’s site.
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Apple schedules laptop event for Oct. 14; leaked photos abound
Filed under: Rumors, Other Events, Macbook Pro, MacBook
Our sister site Engadget received an invitation for a town-hall event in San Francisco about new Apple notebooks, featuring an image of what could be hinting at possible new aluminum enclosures for 13-inch MacBooks.
tw.apple.pro purports to have images of new aluminum cases for the MacBooks. Judging from the height of the ports (and if the photos are authentic) the new MacBooks could be significantly thinner than their predecessors.
In related news, AppleInsider claims to have confirmed that a widely-circulated spy-shot is indeed one from Apple’s next generation of MacBook Pro, but is not fabricated from a single “brick” of aluminum, as 9-to-5Mac said.
The top case, however, appears now to include the ports, rather than having them integrated into the bottom case. (This could make case disassembly easier.) The port arrangement appears to include many more ports on the left side of the bottom case, much like the current MacBook.
Combined with earlier images of the back of the LCD and bottom case, the design retains much of the same look that MacBook Pros (and PowerBook G4s before them) have had since January 2001.
Apple’s notebook event is scheduled for next Tuesday at 10 a.m. Pacific time (1 p.m. Eastern).
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Apple schedules laptop event for Oct. 14; leaked photos abound
Filed under: Rumors, Other Events, Macbook Pro, MacBook
Our sister site Engadget received an invitation for a town-hall event in San Francisco about new Apple notebooks, featuring an image of what could be hinting at possible new aluminum enclosures for 13-inch MacBooks.
tw.apple.pro purports to have images of new aluminum cases for the MacBooks. Judging from the height of the ports (and if the photos are authentic) the new MacBooks could be significantly thinner than their predecessors.
In related news, AppleInsider claims to have confirmed that a widely-circulated spy-shot is indeed one from Apple’s next generation of MacBook Pro, but is not fabricated from a single “brick” of aluminum, as 9-to-5Mac said.
The top case, however, appears now to include the ports, rather than having them integrated into the bottom case. (This could make case disassembly easier.) The port arrangement appears to include many more ports on the left side of the bottom case, much like the current MacBook.
Combined with earlier images of the back of the LCD and bottom case, the design retains much of the same look that MacBook Pros (and PowerBook G4s before them) have had since January 2001.
Apple’s notebook event is scheduled for next Tuesday at 10 a.m. Pacific time (1 p.m. Eastern).
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Brick Update: Possible Leaked Photos, Price Points
A number of photos of what are supposedly new MacBook and MacBook Pro aluminum cases have begun to surface.
Yesterday, Engadget posted a picture of a MacBook Pro case in keeping with rumors of a new production process. The photo originated at a Chinese site, which lends credence to the possibility that they are real, since Apple’s manufacturing facilities are currently based in the country. And as of today, AppleInsider is claiming that their sources “confirm” that this image is in fact of the new 15-inch MacBook Pro.
Soon after the first photos appeared, a Taiwanese site posted three pictures of what it claims are the new MacBook casing, which also show an aluminum body case without keyboard or trackpad components. The space for the trackpad is significantly larger than on the current MacBook, and the case appears to be slightly slimmed down.
(more…)
Update: More “Brick” Rumors, Nvidia MacBook GPUs
A few days ago we posted a story about the much-sensationalized upcoming Apple mystery product, “The Brick.” While there is still no definite word regarding what it actually is, 9to5mac is now reporting that a “reliable” source has lead them to believe that “The Brick” is not a product at all, but rather a production process and the facility to house it.
The blog cites Steve Jobs’ experience with in-house manufacturing during his days helming NeXT computers, and their earlier accuracy in predicting the arrival of a number of Apple products prior to launch (aluminum iMacs, MacBook Air, etc.) to back up their claims.
(more…)
The “Brick”: Game Changer or Niche Product Without a Market?
The internets are currently abuzz with rumors of a new, genre-bending product due out of Cupertino, possibly at the speculated October Mac event.
Though most agree it likely isn’t a building material to be used with mortar in the construction of buildings, there are a number of different theories about what the “Brick” in fact could be.
iPhone Savior cites the ever-informative “sources” in suggesting the the “Brick” may in fact be the long-awaited Mac Mini redesign. They admit their source is unreliable, and that the supposed near-pro performance upgrades attached to the rumor seem far-fetched at best. While it is true that the Mac Mini has been nearing obsolescence for quite a while now, a mere spec bump does not seem grounds enough for Apple to use the speculation-inspiring term “product transition.”
(more…)
Update: More “Brick” Rumors, Nvidia MacBook GPUs
A few days ago we posted a story about the much-sensationalized upcoming Apple mystery product, “The Brick.” While there is still no definite word regarding what it actually is, 9to5mac is now reporting that a “reliable” source has lead them to believe that “The Brick” is not a product at all, but rather a production process and the facility to house it.
The blog cites Steve Jobs’ experience with in-house manufacturing during his days helming NeXT computers, and their earlier accuracy in predicting the arrival of a number of Apple products prior to launch (aluminum iMacs, MacBook Air, etc.) to back up their claims.
(more…)
Rumor: 9to5Mac says The Brick is ‘a block of aluminum’
In the ongoing saga of The Brick, the site that first speculated on the blocky code name for a rumored new Apple product now says it knows the meaning of the phrase. Seth Weintraub at 9to5mac has posted that ‘The Brick’ refers to a new manufacturing process that will carve MacBooks out of solid blocks of aluminum, creating laptops that are structurally superior to current products. While a laser-and-waterjet manufacturing line may seem more suited to aircraft parts or sportscars, there are some advantages in a milling/CNC approach to making the laptops.
Using a solid block for the shell could avoid seams and screws, and the elimination of human hands in the assembly process would reduce cost and defects. A light, rugged MacBook would certainly be appealing… and might be the perfect laptop to appear in the Iron Man sequel. Apple’s industrial designers could pull it off, and certainly the legacy of the all-magnesium NeXT Cube (see Fortune’s story about the Cube’s manufacturing) hasn’t been forgotten by Apple’s management team.
Equally interesting is the discussion of where these cored Apples would actually be made. In a Computerworld post also written by Weintraub, he suggests that Apple may be investing in a domestic manufacturing plant to use this new process, which if true would be both a highly controversial move in an economic downturn, and an interesting use of some of the company’s $20 billion cash hoard.
If the next MacBook is an all-aluminum model, is that a selling point for you? Let us know in the comments.
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