Lavi S21i manages to KIRF the new iMac before the real one arrives

There's a growing trend of Apple KIRFs arriving well head of the devices they've been designed to imitate. While Sir Jonathan's latest desktops meander towards stores, the Windows 7 or 8-running Lavi S21i can be yours right now. The 21.5-inch machine has a 1,920 x 1,080 display, 4GB RAM and a choice of a 3.3GHz Sandy Bridge Intel Core i3 or a 2.9GHz Core i5, and your pick of a 500GB HDD or a 128GB SSD. The only real differences between this and its Californian counterpart is that the ports are tucked on the base of the display and its 4mm thicker, but it will only set you back 3,350 yuan ($540) or 3,850 yuan ($621). The only thing this KIRF is missing is the ability to fry your eggs for you in the morning, unless, you know, the manufacturers were scrimping on the safety features that day.

[Source: Engadget]

Apple announces Black Friday deals: $101 off laptops, up to $61 off the new iPad

The finest Black Friday deals may involve risking life and limb in a Best Buy scrum, but that doesn't mean you can't save some cash shopping online. Apple's one-day shopping event has begun, with the company knocking $41 off the price of the 16GB 4th generation iPad and $61 off the 64GB model. If you'd prefer to stick with the older iPad 2, it's available with $31 taken off the tag, and you can also get money off accessories like the AirPort Extreme ($21 cheaper) and EarPods ($7 cheaper). On the computing side, Cupertino has deducted $101 off the MacBook Pro with Retina Display, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air.

[Source: Engadget]

New Apple retail employee holiday perk: popular paid apps from the App Store for free

This week, Apple will rollout an interesting new perk called “App Discovery” to its retail store employees. According to several sources who participated in quarterly meetings, in which the details were announced, Apple retail employees will have free access to a catalogue of popular paid App Store applications. It is possible that this is a holiday perk for employees that will not remain in place forever. 

For instance, if an Apple retail employee, starting this week, wants to download Fruit Ninja for their own iPhone, they will be able to use an Apple provided redemption code to get the application at no cost. Because Apple has agreements in place with developers who have apps featured on Apple Store iOS device demo units, we assume that same catalogue of apps is the catalogue that will be available to retail employees. With that, we speculate that Apple will use this program to allow Apple Store employees to become more familiar with the apps that they demo to customers in stores.

The program is currently iOS-exclusive, so there is no complementing catalogue for Mac App Store programs. Apple has had a version of this retail perk in place for a couple of years, but it has been exclusive to Apple’s own paid iOS App Store apps like the iLife and iWork software suites.

[Source: 9to5Mac]

Apple pulling the plug on Messages beta for OS X Lion on December 14th

Apple is notifying OS X Lion users that the platform's preview of Messages will end on December 14th. Originally available as a free beta download for Lion 10.7, Messages went on to become an official feature of Mountain Lion 10.8. Obtained by Cult of Mac, the email from Apple advises that in order to continue using Messages, you'll need to upgrade to Mountain Lion. While it's saddening to have pay for an app that you're accustomed to having for free, keep in mind that this was only a preview. Besides, the upgrade to Mountain Lion is $20 and if you can afford any of Apple's products, we're pretty sure that this expense won't be too much of a stretch. Be sure to take a look at the email in question after the break, because it could be lurking somewhere in your junk mail folder.

[Source: Engadget]

iMacs delayed until 2013?

French language website MacBidouille claims to have some bad news from its retail sources. While they were expecting to see iMacs arrive Nov. 27 (we also heard a similar time frame—with availability beginning around Black Friday) for the 21.5-inchers and later in December for the 27-inchers, both may now miss the all-important holiday shopping season.

The source blames a welding process for the delays, which would push the iMacs into 2013. The new iMacs also have a redesigned display that features a new thinner lamination process.

We first noted the delays in new iMac production in October and questioned whether the devices would be announced at the iPad mini event. Interestingly, we also heard that Apple might introduce an updated Thunderbolt Display in the not-so distant future that may be tied to the launch of the 27-inch iMac. Stay tuned for more information on that soon.

[Source: 9to5Mac]

Apple Maps turn-by-turn voice navigation goes live in Australia

After first being promised in October, then being delayed into November, Apple has finally rolled out iOS 6 Map’s turn-by-turn voice navigation functionality to its users in Australia. Responding to a customer email in September regarding the feature’s availability in Australia, former Apple Senior Vice President of iOS Scott Forstall said that the data needed to be exceptional and qualified before the on switch was flicked.

[Source: 9to5Mac]

Apple now asking potential Genius Bar customers to reboot iPhone before making an appointment

So, your new iPhone 5 is acting quirky, and you want to make an appointment at the Genius Bar to see what's wrong with it. You go to the Apple website, enter the location of your local store and let the concierge know what device you want to get help with ... and you're promptly greeted with the window seen above, asking you to reset your iPhone before continuing.

This little trick often does help, and it's not surprising that a lot of new iPhone customers don't know about this. As Reddit user ehsteve23 pointed out in the first of 368 comments on brewstah's post of this screen on imgur.com, "Suddenly the number of Genius Bar appointments fall by 30%.

[Source: TUAW]

Apple to allow employees time off to work on special projects

If you walked into your boss's office and asked for two weeks off to work on an unspecified side project, what would their reaction be? The Wall Street Journal is reporting that if you happen to be one of a select group of Apple employees, you'd be granted the ability to do just that. Tim Cook has introduced an initiative nicknamed "Blue Sky," which allows certain employees the privilege of taking time off to work on special projects not necessarily related to their duties at Apple.

The concept of giving employees the freedom to work on side projects isn't new to tech companies. Google has had a similar program in place for a while now, but what is new is Apple's willingness to embrace this approach.

Blue Sky is apparently designed as a type of benefit addition, allowing some of Cupertino's staff more freedom than they are used to. The program, which was introduced earlier this year on an internal basis, is yet another sign of the cultural shift taking place within the company.

Keeping its top staff happy has become a renewed goal for Apple since Cook took the reins in August 2011, and giving employees some additional breathing room might help prevent the company's hottest talent from looking elsewhere.

[Source: TUAW]

iPhone 5 ship times improve from online Apple Store

If the three- to four-week wait time for a new iPhone 5 has kept you from placing your order, you'll be happy to know that some progress is being made. TechCrunch noticed that as of today, the wait time has been cut down to two to three weeks. OK, it's not much, but at least it's something!

Just last week, Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou spoke about the manufacturer's struggle to meet the massive demand for Apple's new smartphone. In fact, he made it sound like producing the allegedly difficult-to-assemble iPhone 5 was a losing battle. Though now it appears that supplies are beginning to meet demand a tad quicker, the day when Apple can boast the new iPhone as "in stock" is likely still a ways off.

[Source: TUAW]

Samsung reportedly raising iPhone and iPad processor prices by a fifth

Samsung has made no secret of the fact that it provides a number of the key components inside Apple's flagship iPhone and iPad devices, even while actively competing against them with its own Galaxy line of Android competitors. A major change in that relationship has now been reported out of Korea, however, where the Chosun Ilbo says Samsung has increased the price of manufacturing Apple's application processor by nearly 20 percent. The Korean daily notes that this is the first time Samsung has sought to increase pricing on the processors that go inside Apple's mobile devices, and that Apple, faced with a lack of alternatives, has accepted Samsung's demands.

Although custom-designed by Apple itself, the A-series of mobile processors are built by Samsung — an uncomfortable relationship of closeness between two increasingly bitter rivals. While Apple has sought to diversify away from Samsung in recent times, byprocuring its RAM and flash storage from other suppliers, it appears nobody else is able to match the production volume that Samsung can offer. Unfortunately, the Chosunreport fails to identify the reasons for Samsung's raised pricing, though it may have something to do with a significant recent investment the company made in retooling its plant in Austin, Texas, the very same that builds Apple's processors.

[Source: The Verge]

Apple starts offering Passbook-enabled gift cards, may save our hides in holiday shopping

Gift cards often get a bad rap as the last resort in holiday shopping, what we supposedly get only when all hope of a carefully considered present has gone out the window. Apple isn't quite so cyncial, and it may have injected new life into gift giving now that it has switched on buying gift cards through the recently updated Apple Store iOS app as of this weekend. Pick a color and a card value -- up to $2,000, if someone's been good enough to earn a MacBook Pro -- and the resulting email lets iOS 6-touting recipients load the card into Passbook. Besides saving some plastic, the Passbook entry adds some worth through geofencing that reminds recipients to splurge if they're near one of Apple's steel-and-glass stores. All told, the card may be more than welcome by iPhone fans and save the ignominy of a last-minute rush to the store. Just make sure the recipient doesn't mind going without a physical gift on the big day -- it wouldn't be right to drain all the romanticism out of a special occasion.

[Source: Engadget]

Apple takes a cue from users, invents packaging that doubles as iPhone/iPad dock

A number of Apple patents and applications have been published today, one of which details an interesting new design for the packaging of iOS devices that would also double as a stand or dock of sorts. The patent application was originally filed in May 2011, but it was published today by the United States Patent and Trademark Office and detailed by PatentlyApple. The image above is pretty self-explanatory, showing iPod nano-like packaging with a removable lid and base that transform into a dock or stand for the device. It appears the dock would act as a permanent solution, with the image above showing room to accommodate a charging cable as well as small parts to hold the device snugly in place.

This is actually something we’ve seen before. Although many iPhone and iPad users have no problem dropping a decent amount of money on a dock, there are no shortage of users who have come up with innovative ways to turn the current iPhone and iPad packaging into a dock and or stand for free. Below is a video, courtesy of GottaBeMobile, showing an iPad mini box being transformed into a free docking station with very little effort.

[Source: 9to5Mac]