The MacBook teardown found that Apple’s latest laptop shares a layout closer to an iPad than to a Mac.

While that shouldn’t surprise anyone who read our MacBook review, the details are still fascinating. For instance, the battery connector was hidden under the logic board, similar to that of the iPad. The logic board itself is 67 percent smaller than what is found on the 11-inch MacBook Air, which was possible in part due to Intel’s low-power Core M CPUs. Other findings include a battery assembly that is affixed to the lower part of the MacBook with adhesive and a display assembly that’s fused into a single unit. Here are the parts iFixit found on the logic board:

• Intel SR23G Core M-5Y31 CPU (Dual-Core, 1.1 GHz, Turbo Boost up to 2.4 GHz) with Intel HD Graphics 5300
• SK Hynix H9TKNNN4GDMRRR-NGM 4 Gb (512 MB) LPDDR3-SDRAM
• Toshiba TH58TFT0DFKLAVF 128 GB SLC NAND Flash
• Elpida/Micron J4216EFBG-GNL-F DDR3 SDRAM
• Broadcom BCM15700A2, appears to be a wireless networking chipset
• Murata 339S0250 (Likely an iteration of the 339S02541 Wi-Fi module found in the iPad Air 2)
• 980 YFE TM4EA231 H6ZXRI 49AQN5W GI

The Force Touch trackpad was interesting as well:

• Broadcom BCM5976 touchscreen controller
• ST Microelectronics 32F103 ARM Cortex-M based microcontroller
• Linear Technology LT3954 LED Converter with Internal PWM Generator

iFixit, of course, assigned the new MacBook a “repairability” score of 1/10. That reflects nothing more nor less than iFixit’s desire to get into Apple’s devices and Apple’s desire to handle repairs themselves via AppleCare instead.

Slowly but surely the Windows Phone Store is filling up with a number of Microsoft Band applications from third-party developers. From a simple flashlight to a translator and many points in between, the collection is varied and ever growing.

Fortunately we’ve got you covered with a collection of the very best Microsoft Band apps on offer, and we’ve got them all in one handy place. Bookmark our dedicated portal to always keep up yourself up to date!

• The best Microsoft Band apps

If you’re looking to grab a new screen and are rocking OS X Yosemite 10.10.3, you may want to check out Dell’s 27-inch 5K monitor for the ultimate pixel-filled experience.

The Dell UP2715K 27-inch 5K display can now be connected to the Mac Pro (late 2013) and the 27-inch 5K Retina iMac (late 2014, pictured above), negating the need to add new graphics cards and deploy various hacks to get everything working together.

This is possible due to Apple enabling support for Dell’s dual-cable solution, which takes up two DisplayPorts. So should you be running OS X Yosemite 10.10.3 on a compatible Mac, and desire upgrading your display, the Dell screen is worth the check to see about migrating to 5K.

Source: Marco

Hike messenger has been updated to version 2.9.4.0 that delivers a smoother experience. The update fixes long message load times, with the crew at Hike stating, “we are pretty sure we have broken the speed record with this update.”

Carrier billing is a useful feature for those who wish to purchase content from the Windows Phone Store and be charged through their operator. Three UK has added support for Microsoft’s mobile platform.

Samsung has reportedly created a team of around 200 employees to work exclusively on display technology for Apple products.

According to Bloomberg:

“The team at Samsung Display Co, which provides screens for iPads and MacBooks, helps develop products and is only allowed to share information about Apple’s business within the group.”

The two companies have endured a love hate relationship both inside and outside the courts. With Samsung’s newly deployed Apple team, reportedly formed on April 1 of this year, the company plans to expand on assistance with exporting components, like the A9 chip, to one of its largest competitors.

Competition is heating up further within the mobile industry, and while Samsung’s latest iteration of the Galaxy product family were met with positive reviews, the company is surely looking to bolster its component and display tech units.

Source: Bloomberg

The Microsoft Band is the Redmond-based company’s first foray into the ever growing new wearables category. Part smartwatch, part fitness band, with the Microsoft Band on your wrist you can tell the time, see who’s calling you, track your run and even pay for your Starbucks.

The Band has enjoyed early popularity despite being incredibly hard to get hold of. Initial stocks quickly sold out, and it’s been hit and miss ever since as to where and when you can get your hands on one. But now, Microsoft has a much wider retail network to sell through and has even expanded availability to the UK. So more people than ever can get one, so we’re here to help each and every one of you.

This is our ultimate guide to the Microsoft Band.

In order to see why Apple doesn’t need $178 billion of cash for its business, it is crucial to examine how Apple operates and thinks about products.

Apple has a functional organizational structure, not one based on product groups or some other type of hierarchy. That makes it easy for the company to shift attention to new products as needed. Despite having 46,000 non-retail Apple employees, Apple is a nimble company able to respond to changing market dynamics quickly and efficiently. Apple’s strengths include allowing ideas to be born from close collaboration at a very early stage and offering an environment that fosters the nurturing of fragile ideas through the development process. Many larger companies are simply unable to capture this type of “start-up” mentality. For Apple, large scale M&A with a significant capital footprint does not fit too well in such a structure.

Neil Cybart spent the past seven years as a Wall Street stock analyst focused on financial companies and recently transitioned to writing about technology in general and Apple in specific. He brings with his writings all the knowledge and experience he gained as a analyst, and that lets him contemplate both Apple’s current product lines as well as where the company might go in the future. In this edition of the iMore Experts column, he looks at Apple’s cash reserve and how they can best put it use.

As Apple’s cash levels have continued to increase, pundits have been quick to suggest that Apple buy large companies simply because it has the cash to do so. Typically, suggestions regarding what Apple should buy relate to the topic of the month. When AT&T was struggling to keep up with iPhone usage on its network, it was suggested that Apple buy a wireless service provider. As mobile apps and new social networks took off, it was said that Apple should buy the hottest social network or messaging platform at the time. Now, with rumors swirling around Apple getting into transportation, people are saying that Apple should buy Tesla for $30-$40 billion. Most of these suggestions fail to understand basic principles on which Apple operates and instead, rely on metrics such as revenues or monthly user data.


Even though large M&A is likely off the table, Apple remains an active acquirer of smaller companies. The strategy is clear: buy technology (and people) to fill holes in the current product line and roadmap. Said another way, buy companies that strengthen the value proposition of Apple products (both announced and not announced), without jeopardizing the culture. Over the past three years, Apple has purchased more than 35 companies. All of them were small and relatively easy to assimilate into Apple — including Beats, despite its large $3 billion price. Without a need for large M&A to chase future revenue growth, Tim Cook’s comment about not needing all of Apple’s cash becomes clear.

As long as Apple continues to return excess cash to shareholders, it is reasonable to assume that the process Apple has practiced to ship products over the past 15 years is still functioning. Jony Ive and his industrial design team will use their design process, honed over the past two decades, to solve real-world problems.

As we move out from the Apple Watch launch, Apple will once again be in a position to focus on new, industry-defining products. While there will likely be time gaps between these products, similar to the three years between iPhone and iPad, and the more usual five years between iPad and Apple Watch, it is fair to assume that Apple is already busy thinking about the next big thing.

We will likely see this planning process play out with Apple and the transportation industry. With rumors swirling that Apple is looking to design its own car, many have been quick to point to Apple’s $178 billion of cash as a reason for Apple to simply buy an automaker.

In light of Apple’s functional organization and design philosophy, however, it is much more realistic to see Apple accomplishing its goals in the automobile industry with much less cash — by investing in manufacturing and likely continuing to outsource, as is in the case with most of its gadgets.

Throughout the process, Apple will likely continue to shed as much excess cash as it can. If Apple’s car plans don’t end up materializing, the process will simply start over again as the pieces of the puzzle are already at Apple: culture, structure, motivation. Excess cash is not looked at as a motivator to sway away from core competencies.

Apple’s business model and structure has enough flexibility to not only fund the largest buyback program in corporate history, but also sustain a business growing 20% a year. If Apple CFO Luca Maestri’s biggest problem is having too much cash, no wonder he is considered the most admired CFO in America.

Not too many years ago it took what felt like months to get the session videos following WWDC. This year, it’ll be near-instant.

Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference — WWDC 2015 — is set for June 8 at Moscone West. That means a week of sessions for developers, where Apple engineers give presentations on everything from the latest and greatest new frameworks to the core technologies that enable them. All with the goal of helping everyone make better apps.

Since not all developers can fit it into the physical building or get to every session, Apple provides videos that the developers can watch later and repeatedly. Over the least two years Apple, and its events and worldwide developer relations teams, have done everything they can to get those session videos posted just as fast as they can. This year, however, they’re taking not just a step but a leap forward — this year some of the sessions will be streamed live.

It wasn’t impossible to see coming. In addition to the much faster release of the session videos, Apple has been streaming its keynotes regularly for a while. Scaling that up to multiple sessions over multiple days for something as popular as WWDC probably won’t be easy, and will require the best technology and technicians, but if it works — and I think it will — everyone from developers in town but not in the building, to developers far away at home, can all watch together, talk together, and learn together.

Because of the labs, where developers can ask questions from the Apple engineers who make the frameworks and give the presentations, being at WWDC at Moscone will still provide the greatest value. The labs will help them discover workarounds, get feedback on approaches and interactions, and report frustrations directly to the people responsible for the platform.

With the streaming, however, if you can’t make the trip or simply can’t get a ticket, developers will at least have equal access to the information, and in a way beyond what any physical structure could accommodate.

It won’t solve all the problems of scale Apple’s platform popularity brings with it, especially the labs. More tech talks, more developer relations, more one-days, or even more innovative solutions will need to be thought up and implemented eventually.

But for now live streaming the sessions is a terrific start, and it’s a big deal.

The BLU Win HD Windows Phone with Dual SIM LTE may be the best contract bargain yet

Back in 2014, BLU became one of a handful of new white-label manufacturers to add their services to the Windows Phone ecosystem. Offering low cost but eye-catching phones to consumers, companies like BLU brought something other than Lumias to those in the US. Perhaps more importantly, they finally offered a vision of unlocked, carrier free devices, giving consumers the ultimate choice.