Last night, I joined the inThirty podcast crew to discuss Apple’s maps, and the growing chasm between Apple and Google.
Year: 2012
On the Design of a Theoretical Retina iMac
Since the introduction of the MacBook Pro with Retina display, Apple fans have been longing for another Mac with such a caliber of screen. Desktop fans, unsurprisingly, have wanted Apple’s latest technology to come to the iMac.
When thinking of an iMac with Retina display, lots of factors come to mind — price and availability of panels big enough, mainly. But the way Apple would build such a beast is also worth considering.
Apple took the Retina MacBook Pro as an opportunity to move forward with the internals of the machine, adding on-board RAM and SSD storage. However, the screen itself also changed rather drastically. The Retina display isn’t covered with as thick of glass as non-Retina machines.
Apple uses the glass to keep the display and housing together, and to hide the mounts in the bezel that are used to keep the LCD in place.
(The matte MacBook Pro swaps the glass for an aluminum bezel in front of the display to keep things sandwiched together.)
Currently, the iMac also uses a glass panel to keep things nice and neat, however, unlike the MacBook Pro, where the glass is applied with adhesive, the iMac’s glass panel is held on with magnets. The aluminum frame behind it screws in to the back of the machine. The glass keeps everything looking nice and neat. If Apple moved to thinner, adhesive-stuck glass on the iMac, I don’t see how the current design would continue to work.
The white G5 and Intel iMacs of 2004–2007 didn’t have a sheet of glass, using a white plastic bezel to hide the mount points around the display.
(Before adding the iSight camera, these iMacs opened from the back, as opposed to getting to the internals by removing the display. Would Apple go back to that design? I know lots of technicians who would welcome it.)
As a desktop user at home, I would love to see Apple release a Retina iMac soon. Doing so, however, would more than likely require some significant changes to the iMac as we know it.
Colbert Interviews Breaking Bad’s Vince Gilligan →
Great piece.
Tim Cook, on Maps →
Apple’s CEO:
At Apple, we strive to make world-class products that deliver the best experience possible to our customers. With the launch of our new Maps last week, we fell short on this commitment. We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers and we are doing everything we can to make Maps better.
We launched Maps initially with the first version of iOS. As time progressed, we wanted to provide our customers with even better Maps including features such as turn-by-turn directions, voice integration, Flyover and vector-based maps. In order to do this, we had to create a new version of Maps from the ground up.
Interestingly, Cook lists numerous alternatives customers can use.
Good for Apple.
On the Lack of Street View in Apple’s Map App →
The lack of Street View is a step backwards, without a doubt.
On Clickwheel Games →
I had blocked these from memory.
Google Contacts Adds CardDAV Support For Contact Syncing →
This is a nice alternative to using Exchange on your iOS device for Google Contacts.
It works in Mountain Lion’s Contacts app, too.
The Fiftyfootshadows iPhone 5 Wallpaper pack →
I love this collection.
RIP, iPod Socks →
Farewell to one of Apple’s weirdest accessories.
Evolution of the Scrollbar →
Note that OS X’s scrollbars behave more like NeXTSTEP’s than OS 8’s.
Drafted →
No ones wants to be in the battle, but once you are, you can’t help but fight your ass off.
Better Camera to Dropbox Uploading →
This app makes my whole Dropbox/Hazel/photo thing even more automatic. I just wish it could delete photos from my Camera Roll once I imported them to Dropbox.