Say Apple and you usually expect an iPhone concept, however this time around designer Martin Hajek surprises us with two unique Apple iTV concepts. The Unboxed and Ahead of the Curve are conjured only to ask some relevant questions like will there be an upgraded AppleTV box; will it be in white and gold or will it be curved? What do you guys think?
There are some ideas that deserve nothing but an applause and silent appreciation. A moment like when you saw the red MacPro that Jony Ive dished, and then in the same breath this MacPro Bling Bling Concept.
– Yanko Design Timeless Designs – Explore wonderful concepts from around the world! Shop CKIE – We are more than just concepts. See what’s hot at the CKIE store by Yanko Design! (Bling Is In was originally posted on Yanko Design)
News:Apple has announced that its latest Mac Pro desktop computer will be available worldwide from December, after the sale of its predecessor was banned in the EU earlier this year due to safety regulations.
Apple announced the launch date of its black cylindrical Mac Pro desktop computer at an event in San Francisco yesterday.
Apple Mac Pro – back view. Main image: front view
Made in the US, the tube-shaped workstation is smaller and more difficult to customise than the previous model, which was released in 2006.
In March this year an EU health and safety amendment set out regulations dictating the amount of protection required around cooling fans and electrical ports, so the sale of the older machines was banned in most European countries.
Apple Mac Pro desktop computer – internal view
The design of the latest Mac Pro was first unveiled in June at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in California, along with the iOS7 software interface.
Yesterday Apple also launched the iPad Air, a new thinner and lighter model in its range of tablets.
Apple iPad Air
Following similar slim design principles to the company’s MacBook Air laptop, the latest tablet weighs just 450 grammes, measures 7.5 millimetres in thickness and has narrower borders around its screen.
News: architect Norman Foster has revealed how late Apple CEO Steve Jobs called him “out of the blue” in 2009 to invite him to design the Apple Campus 2 with the words “Hi Norman, I need some help.”
“For me this project started in the summer of 2009,” says Foster in a movie published this week by Cupertino City Council. “Out of the blue a telephone call. It’s Steve: ‘Hi Norman, I need some help.’ I was out there three weeks later.”
The movie documents a planning meeting held in the city on 1 October, at which representatives of Apple, Foster + Partners and others presented details of the $5 billion project to create a new home for Apple in Cupertino. The building was granted planning permission last week.
Foster says in the movie: “One of the most memorable things and perhaps vital to the project was Steve saying, ‘Don’t think of me as your client. Think of me as one of your team’.”
The architect adds: “The first point of reference I think for Steve was the campus at Stanford, his home territory. And also the landscape he grew up with; the fruitbowl of America.”
Elsewhere in the movie, members of the project team give details of the ring-shaped, 280 million square-foot building, which will have one of the largest photovoltaic solar arrays in the world and feature a parking garage for electric cars with over 100 charging stations.
“We have a building that is pushing social behaviour in the way people work,” adds Stefan Behling, an architect at Foster + Partners, while Dan Whisenhunt, Apple’s senior director of real estate & facilities, says the building will be “one of the most environmentally sustainable projects on this scale in the world, creating a new home for 13,000 employees.”
“When Apple Campus 2 is finished 80% of the site will be green space” says Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of environmental initiatives. “We’re maximising the natural assets of the area; this area has a great climate so 75% of the year we won’t need air conditioning or heating, we’ll have natural ventilation.”
She adds: “AC2 will run on 100% renewable energy, there will be solar power, it will be one of the largest solar arrays in the world for a corporate campus. Our goal is to build a campus that has no net increase in greenhouse gas emissions.”
“This building allows us to put 13,000 engineering and creative types in one location under one roof thus creating the idea factory that will create future generations of Apple products food years to come,” adds Whisenhunt. “The parking station will be fitted with over 100 vehicle charging parking stations, there are provisions to increase that as our employees purchase more electric cars.
Construction will start soon and will take 32 months. Apple staff will be able to move into the building in 2016.
News: here are images of Foster + Partners‘ latest design for the new $5bn Apple Campus 2, which was unanimously approved by Cupertino City Council last night (+ slideshow)
Commissioned by late Apple CEO Steve Jobs, the 260,000 square-metre building, by British firm Foster + Partners, will take the form of a gigantic glass-and-steel hoop when completed in 2016. Parkland will both surround the building and fill its hollow centre.
“Steve [Jobs] transformed Apple into one of the most innovative companies in the world and we understand the responsibilities that come from carrying his legacy forward with this project,” Apple’s head of real estate and facilities Dan Whisenhunt told the city council in a planning meeting last night. “We’ve designed it with the same care and attention to detail as we do with all Apple products.”
After six hours of debate, the entire council voted in favour of the project. The decision is final, pending a ten-day period for appeal, and will be formally announced on 15 November.
The approval follows an identical decision from members of the city’s planning commission, who voted on the proposals earlier this month after consultation with members of the local community.
The Apple Campus 2 is set to be completed by 2016 and will be located a few blocks away from Apple’s existing headquarters. It will accommodate up to 13,000 employees, providing office, research and development facilities alonngside a company fitness centre, a 1000-seat auditorium and a private park for staff.
D’ici 2016, la marque Apple va s’offrir un énorme campus à Cupertino en Californie. Projet déjà défendu par Steve Jobs en 2011, cet ensemble pourra accueillir 12 000 salariés, sera autonome en énergies et disposera en prime d’un amphithéâtre. Une maquette du chantier fini est à découvrir dans la suite.
Voici Iconic, le nom de ce projet de livre imaginé afin de rendre hommage au design des différents produits d’Apple. Pensé par et pour les fans de la marque, ce livre retrace l’histoire et l’évolution de la société iconique Apple. A découvrir en images et dans une vidéo explicative dans la suite de l’article.
This might just be the feature that Apple needed to give their iPhone 5S and 5C release the “oomph” it needed! OptUX lets users get the most from the 5′s larger screen size without sacrificing ergonomics. The interface can tell if you are holding the phone in your left or right hand, automatically articulating the apps in that direction so their within reach of your thumb. Perfect for working with one hand!
News: technology giant Apple has lost its vision and has reached creative saturation according to Hartmut Esslinger, the industrial designer hired by Steve Jobs to help transform the brand in the 1980s.
Speaking to Quartz magazine this week, the founder of product design studio Frog said that Apple is operating like Sony was in 1980s when he worked there, where the “visionary founder has been replaced by leaders who aren’t thinking beyond refinement and increasing profit.”
“As soon as you can copy something [like the iPhone,] it’s not smart enough anymore,” he told the magazine. “I think Apple has reached in a certain way a saturation.”
Sketch made during a meeting with Steve Jobs. Image: Frog.
Esslinger designed over 100 products for Sony prior to joining Apple in 1982, where he worked with Apple’s late co-founder Steve Jobs – who passed away in 2011 – on the early design language for Macintosh computers.
He recounted how Jobs was open to experimenting with news ideas and took risks that lead to innovation, a quality Esslinger feels is lacking at Apple today. “Steve Jobs was a man who didn’t care for any rational argument why something should not be tried,” said Esslinger. “He said a lot of ‘no,’ but he also said a lot of ‘yes’ to things and he stubbornly insisted on trying new things.”
He claimed Jobs conceived a “book-like computer” as early as 1982.”That vision eventually led to the Apple Newton, a tablet that failed, and the iPhone and iPad, which made history. That kind of vision is now lacking at Apple.”
Photograph of Steve Jobs by Norman Seeff
The designer suggested that Apple is being left behind by radical thinking from young designers in places like China, where Esslinger currently leads the Detao Master Class for Strategic Design at Shanghai Institute of Visual Art (SIVA).
He said that the next generation of innovators are moving beyond flat-screen technology, developing ideas for three-dimensional interfaces. “I think flat screens have reached a level of saturation,” said Esslinger. “Screens don’t have to be all right angles – the cheapest way is not always the best way. What’s happening in China right now is a paradigm shift where they realise they have to innovate and can’t just make cheap products.”
Hartmut Esslinger sketches made during meetings with Steve Jobs. Image: Frog.
I thought it was just me and my tiny ears, but apparently Apple’s Earpods are a tough fit for lots of us! Instead of replacing the buds, just snap on a pair of Sprng clips to make em’ stay put. The ergonomic design stabilizes the Earpods with a soft elastomer tip that snaps into the concha of the ear and won’t interfere with glasses or hats. You can even slide the pods up and down for a custom fit. Ordering mine now! Get yours here!
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