Posts tagged Apple Stuff
Apple’s Jonathan Ive gets knighthood in honours list
Dec 31st
Jonathan Ive, Apple’s head of design, has been awarded a knighthood in the New Year Honours list.
Mr Ive, who can now style himself Sir Jonathan, has been made a Knight Commander of the British Empire (KBE).
Raised in Chingford, Mr Ive began working for Apple in 1992 and since then has been the brains behind many of its products.
He described the honour as “absolutely thrilling” and said he was “both humbled and sincerely grateful”.
Mr Ive added: “I am keenly aware that I benefit from a wonderful tradition in the UK of designing and making.
“I discovered at an early age that all I’ve ever wanted to do is design.”
Team work
Mr Ive has been lauded for the tight fit between form and function seen in Apple gadgets such as the iPod and iPhone.
Born in February 1967, Mr Ive inherited a love of making things from his father, a silversmith, and reportedly spent much of his youth taking things apart to see how they worked.
From the age of 14, he said, he knew he was interested in drawing and making “stuff” and this led him to Northumbria Polytechnic – now Northumbria University – where he studied industrial design.
On graduation he started work as a commercial designer and then, with three friends, founded a design agency called Tangerine.
One of the clients for the agency was Apple which was so impressed with the work he did on a prototype notebook that it offered him a full-time job.
Mr Ive was apparently frustrated during his early years at Apple as the company was then suffering a decline. Everything changed, however, in 1995 when Steve Jobs returned to the company he helped found.
“What’s made him so outstandingly successful is the relationship he’s had with Steve Jobs and Apple,” said Deyan Sudjic, director of The Design Museum.
“He’s been working there for 19 years and has built up the kind of relationship that’s very rare.”
Mr Jobs described Mr Ive as his “spiritual partner” in the recent biography of the Apple co-founder written by Walter Isaacson. However, it also said that Mr Ive was “hurt” by Mr Jobs taking credit for innovations that came from the design team.
Mr Ive’s eye for design combined effectively with Mr Jobs’ legendary attention to detail and the products that have emerged from the company since the late 1990s have turned Apple into the biggest and most influential technology company on the planet.
Mr Sudjic said Mr Ive’s talent was to help people stop worrying about technology and just get on with using it.
There have been some mis-steps along the way. Most recently, Apple’s iPhone 4 was criticised because many people said signal strength dropped when their hand touched the phone’s metal case. This was thought to be because the antenna for the handset formed part of the device’s metal shell.
In contrast to many other design celebrities, said Mr Sudjic, Mr Ive had not cashed in on his fame but had let what he and his team created speak for itself.
Mr Sudjic said: “He has a very determined sense of getting things right.”
The knighthood is the second time Mr Ive has been recognised in the honour’s list. In 2005 he was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE).
-Source From http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16367022
Apple – Introducing the iPad 2
Mar 3rd
Thinner, lighter, and full of great ideas.
Once you pick up iPad 2, it’ll be hard to put down. That’s the idea behind the all-new design. It’s 33 percent thinner and up to 15 percent lighter, so it feels even more comfortable in your hands.And it makes surfing the web, checking email, watching movies, and reading books so natural, you might forget there’s incredible technology under your fingers.
Dual-core A5 chip.
It’s fast, times two.
Two powerful cores in one A5 chip mean iPad can do twice the work at once. You’ll notice the difference when you’re surfing the web, watching movies, making FaceTime video calls, gaming, and going from app to app to app. Multitasking is smoother, apps load faster, and everything just works better.
Superfast graphics.
Go, gamers, go.
With up to nine times the graphics performance, gameplay on iPad is even smoother and more realistic. And faster graphics help apps perform better — especially those with video. You’ll see it when you’re scrolling through your photo library, editing video with iMovie, and viewing animations in Keynote.
Battery life keeps on going. So you can, too.
Even with the new thinner and lighter design, iPad has the same amazing 10-hour battery life. That’s enough juice for one flight across the ocean, or one movie-watching all-nighter, or a week’s commute across town. The power-efficient A5 chip and iOS keep battery life from fading away, so you can get carried away.
Check it out @ www.apple.com/ipad
The New Mac Book Pro 2011
Feb 28th
Up to 2x faster at the core.
New quad-core Intel Core i7 processors are standard on the 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pro. And the 13-inch models feature the new dual-core Intel Core i5 processor or the fastest dual-core processor available — the Intel Core i7. All the models use Intel’s recently refined chipsets. So what does all that mean for the new MacBook Pro models? Bottom line: They perform up to twice as fast as the previous generation,1 breezing through demanding tasks like editing HD video, compiling audio, or rendering a multilayered image file. And since Mac OS X Snow Leopard is designed to take advantage of every processor core, it captures every last bit of performance from the processor.
Faster single-chip microarchitecture.
Whether you’re watching a movie, updating your blog, or editing photos, data has to travel from place to place to be processed. The latest Intel Core architecture puts the processor, cache, memory controller, and graphics engine on a single chip. Since data doesn’t have as far to travel, you get faster performance and greater efficiency.
Turbo Boost 2.0.
Say you’re using a processor-intensive application like Aperture 3 or Final Cut Pro that benefits from extra power. Turbo Boost is a dynamic performance technology that automatically increases the speed of the active cores — up to 3.4GHz. Turbo Boost 2.0 is even more dynamic and efficient. By shifting core frequency in smaller increments than before, it allows the processor to manage performance without sacrificing efficiency. All this takes place behind the scenes, so your work just goes smoother and faster.
Hyper-Threading.
Hyper-Threading is now standard on every MacBook Pro. This technology allows two threads to run simultaneously on each core, so Mac OS X recognizes eight virtual cores on a quad-core processor and four on a dual-core processor. When you’re running multiple applications at once, the processor spreads tasks more evenly across a greater number of cores.
Integrated memory controller.
With faster access to memory, each core can get right to work on your data, rather than waiting for it to arrive. That’s why the new Intel Core architecture uses an integrated memory controller to connect fast 1333MHz memory directly to the processor. Together with up to 8MB of shared L3 cache, the integrated memory controller helps your applications run at peak performance.
When you need more performance for things like playing 3D games, editing HD video, or even running CAD software, the 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pro models automatically switch to discrete AMD Radeon graphics that let you see more frames per second and experience better responsiveness. With up to 1GB of dedicated GDDR5 video memory, these processors provide up to 3x faster performance than the previous generation.
Thunderbolt technology has arrived — and MacBook Pro is the first notebook to have it. Now one connection carries both DisplayPort and PCI Express. With two 10-Gbps data channels, you can transfer data more than 12 times faster than with FireWire 800. And don’t worry about a single drive or peripheral tying up the Thunderbolt port: You can daisy-chain as many as six devices, including your display. So with one tiny, streamlined port, you get lightning-fast transfer speeds and huge expansion capabilities.
For more check it out @ http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/
8 Potential replacements for Apple CEO
Jan 31st
The tech world’s getting used to the idea Steve Jobs is absent from Apple again, for medical reasons. We think he’ll be back soon. But one day he won’t come back, and who might fill the big chair then?
For the time being Tim Cook is in control at Apple, as he has been every time Steve Jobs has had to take time to tackle his health issues.
Cook’s time in the role has, self-evidently, been highly successful, and many commenters are tipping him to be Steve’s eventual successor — with these stand-in periods acting as a carefully managed succession plan.
But is Tim really the guy for the job, given that Steve is still active as CEO in the background, and all big decisions are still cycling through him? Could someone else from inside Apple be a better fit, or is there someone working elsewhere we can imagine as the next Apple CEO?
Tim Cook
Currently Apple COO, repeat stand-in for Steve Jobs. Demanding, keen-minded, unemotional. A science and business scholar, previously at Compaq and 12 years at IBM where he managed product and manufacturing inventories and chains.
He’s credited with making Apple’s products stream reliably from their eastern manufacturing homes to their end users, and hot-tipped to replace Jobs by many. Recently introduced the high-profile Verizon iPhone. Once said: “Replace Steve? No, he’s irreplaceable. That’s something people have to get over.”
Odds for replacing Steve: Long, long, long. A good temporary replacement, but lacks dynamism and creative vision.
Jonathan Ive
Currently Senior VP of Industrial Design at Apple. Highly regarded, award-winning brains behind nearly all of Apple’s iconic computing and mobile products since 1996 — starting with the industry-startling original candy-color iMac, and recently refining the aluminum unibody designs that are now a design reference point.
A highly accomplished presenter and speaker, he’s known as a perfectionist and thinks focus groups are a symptom of corporate “creative bankruptcy.”
Odds for replacing Steve: Medium-long, as though he’s a super-hot property in the design field, and some of his philosophy aligns with Jobs’, he lacks the industrial and technical training to replace his boss. He could be a powerful co-chair, though.
Phil Schiller
Currently Senior VP of Worldwide Product Marketing at Apple. A 20-year Apple veteran, in different marketing management roles, he’s credited with some of the smart moves that placed iMac, iPods, and iPhones as the chic devices to own in the public’s eye.
He often speaks at Jobs-led keynote speeches, and has led a keynote or two of his own to introduce new products. Not regarded as a business tiger, he does Twitter, and has spoken clearly about what makes Apple products unique: “We want things to be beautiful, surprising to see, but they also have to be functional. One without the other doesn’t make any sense.”
Odds for replacing Steve: Medium. He has definite genius in marketing, and shares much of Jobs’ product vision. But he doesn’t have a dynamic public presence, and some see him as a bad CEO — probably better suited at staying where he is, to support any future new CEO and ensure consistency.
Scott Forstall
Currently Senior VP iPhone Software at Apple. Forstall is responsible for some of the key decisions behind Apple’s OS X and its Aqua interface, and led the release of OS X Snow Leopard.
A computer scientist by training, and formerly an employee of Jobs’ NeXT computer firm, Forstall reports directly to Jobs and is credited with the successful industry-defining iOS interface of the iPhone and iPad.
He’s a smooth public speaker and has notable attention to detail: “I actually have a photographer’s loupe that I use to make sure every pixel is right”
Odds for replacing Steve: Good. Forbes called him a name you “need to know in 2011,” and he’s young, possesses the right kind of technical knowledge and dynamism, and has become an increasingly important figure in key Apple product decisions.
Eric Schmidt
Currently Executive Chairman of Google, formerly CEO. Educated in electrical engineering, he has a PhD and taught at Stanford Business School as a part-time professor.
Joined Google in 2001, swiftly adopted the CEO role as a business-savvy figurehead in place to manage the tech-minded, but less business-savvy Larry Page and Sergey Brin. He stepped aside from this role in 2011, and will now advise CEO Page from a board level.
Schmidt served on Apple’s board from 2006 to 2009, but left due to conflict of interests with Google. A slick public speaker, Schmidt is however famous for making oral slip-ups that damaged Google’s reputation, including “We know where you’ve been. We can more or less know what you’re thinking about.”
Odds for replacing Steve: Medium. He has stepped back from the hot seat at Google, and could easily depart its board which could resolve some conflicts of interest with Apple. He is highly business-minded, technically educated, but lacks Jobs’ slickness and (possibly) creative vision. Would he do it, though?
Tony Fadell
Currently retired, retained as a “special advisor” to Steve Jobs at Apple. Fadell is a computer science engineer, formerly CEO of Constructive Instruments and employee at Apple spin-off General Magic and Philips.
Joined Apple in 2001 as a contractor advising on iPod design, then was quickly hired to its iPod and Special Projects group, a group he ran as SVP from 2006 after Jon Rubenstein’s departure.
Retired in 2008, at the same time as his wife Danielle Lambert (VP of HR at Apple) to concentrate on his family. On retiring he noted “I’m determined to tell my kids and grandkids amazing stories beyond my iPod and iPhone ones.”
Odds for replacing Steve: Unknown. He made a bold decision to spend time with his family, but retained a key role advising his former boss Jobs. He has the right technical skills and creative imagination and is certainly trusted by Jobs, but could he be tempted back for a couple of years for the right eight-figure salary?
Mark Papermaster
Currently VP in Engineering at Cisco Systems. He is educated in electronics and worked at IBM for 26 years, including senior roles in the PowerPC chip project — the chips that, at the time, powered Apple’s computer lineup.
Highly regarded in the industry, Apple tried to recruit him in 2007, but didn’t find him a fit for the role in question. After Fadell left, Papermaster was recruited in late 2008 to help integrate Apple’s recent chip design acquisitions.
A controversial battle with IBM occurred, concerning Papermaster’s intense inside knowledge of IBM’s tech, and though this was resolved he left Apple in late 2010 due to the iPhone 4 antenna woes and broader “cultural” differences.
Odds for replacing Steve: It’s very unlikely to happen. Unless Apple’s Board decides Papermaster’s technical expertise and dynamism are crucial to develop the internally produced chips that Apple is increasingly relying on for its signature products. A possible co-CEO?
Peter Skillman
Currently VP of Meego Ux and Services Design at Nokia. Skillman has an MSME in Product Design from Stanford, but is most famously known as the man behind Palm’s revolutionary Pre phone — the last-ditch effort by Palm to remain relevant in a post-iPhone world.
He left his VP of User Experience role Palm after its acquisition by HP and joined Nokia in late 2010. Speaking about his area of expertise since joining Nokia, Skillman noted “Design is just 5% of a world class product and experience. Marketing, sales, distribution, [and] procurement is what makes up the other 95%.”
Odds for replacing Steve: Long in the short term, good in the future. Skillman certainly has the right criteria for the Apple CEO role, understanding technical matters, design principles, marketing roles and management issues. He’s unlikely to leave Nokia soon, and who knows if he’d be tempted to join Apple, but he’s the right stuff. – FastCompany.com
The all-new Apple TV
Oct 8th
Our most entertaining design yet.
The sleek new Apple TV has been completely retuned for your entertainment. It’s 80 percent smaller than the previous generation — even with a built-in power supply. Which makes it perfect for sitting neatly on a widescreen TV stand or squeezing into a crowded media cabinet. Not only does the new Apple TV have an amazingly small footprint, it’s also incredibly energy efficient. It stays cool without a fan, so it’s never noisy. And when it’s not filling your living room with drama, romance, and comedy, it uses less power than a night-light.
For a glimpse of it visit http://www.apple.com/appletv/
Apple Introducing the new ipod touch
Oct 8th
NEW FEATURES
- FaceTime on iPod touch lets you hang out, catch up, and goof off with friends in an entirely new way.
- The Retina display on iPod touch brings out the awesome in anything on it.
- “You should have seen it!” is a thing of the past. Because with iPod touch, you’ll always have a great HD video camera with you.
- It’s time to make a game plan. The new Game Center app on iPod touch lets you add more players to your gaming network.
- iPod touch gives you a better way of multitasking.
For more visit store.apple.com
