Early Benchmarks Put Retina MacBook CPU Performance in Range of 2011 MacBook Air

Though the Retina MacBook isn’t officially launching until April 10, an early 64-bit Geekbench benchmark of the entry-level machine was spotted this afternoon, giving us our first glimpse at how the new ultra thin MacBook measures up to existing products in Apple’s notebook line.

The 1.1GHz entry-level Retina MacBook with an Intel Core M-5Y31 processor was benchmarked twice, giving two single-core scores of 1924 and 2044, and multi-core scores of 4038 and 4475. Comparatively, the 2015 entry-level MacBook Air with a 1.6GHz Intel Core i5 processor has seen scores in the neighborhood of 2881 (single-core) and 5757 (multi-core), so it’s a good bit faster than the new MacBook.

Performance wise, the Retina MacBook CPU seems to be par with the higher-end 2011 MacBook Air with a 1.8GHz Core i7 processor, but graphics performance on the new MacBook, which Geekbench does not measure, should be far superior to the 2011 machine. Taking into account the Intel HD 5300 graphics and an improved SSD, the Retina MacBook will outperform the aforementioned 2011 MacBook Air even though the CPU speeds are similar.

Apple offers two additional processor upgrade options for the Retina MacBook, at 1.2GHz in the higher-end machine and at 1.3GHz as an optional build-to-order upgrade, both of which will see somewhat better performance results than the entry-level 1.1GHz processor.

The new Retina MacBook, which is Apple’s thinnest and lightest notebook to date, will go on sale on April 10. Prices start at $1,299 for the 1.1GHz/8GB/256GB model and $1,599 for the 1.2GHz/8GB/512GB model.

(Thanks, David!)

Facebook Launches New ‘Riff’ iOS App for Collaborative Videos [iOS Blog]

Facebook today launched a new app called Riff, which is designed to let people create collaborative videos with their friends by linking multiple videos surrounding a single topic.

After downloading the app, anyone can begin a Riff video by shooting a clip and giving it a topic. From there, your friends will get a notification to watch what’s been uploaded already and an invite to add their own clips to the topic, building on the video. As the video is passed along and more people add to it, it gets longer and longer.

Video must be shot within the Riff app, as there are no uploading tools, and to encourage people to submit their own videos to contribute, there’s no liking or commenting. Because some of the Riffs can get long, there are fast forwarding tools, and original Riff creators can moderate new clips to delete portions of the video if necessary.

Anyone can start by creating a video. All you have to do is give it a topic, like #AprilFools, then your friends can view it and choose to add their own clips on that topic. Once a friend adds a clip to your video, your friend’s friends will also be shown the video in Riff and will be able to add to it. The potential pool of creative collaborators can grow exponentially from there, so a short video can become an inventive project between circles of friends that you can share to Facebook, or anywhere on the internet, at any time.

Facebook has an example video from Riff available on the new Riff website, created by the cast of An American in Paris on Broadway.

Riff is the latest app coming from Facebook’s Creative Labs project, which has also produced apps like Paper, Groups, Rooms, Mentions and Slingshot. Of the apps that have been created by Facebook’s Creative Labs, Paper, a news curation app with a magazine-style layout, has proven to be the most popular.

In an interview with TechCrunch, Riff‘s product manager Josh Miller said Riff was inspired by the videos that were shared during the Ice Bucket challenge, where thousands of people dumped buckets of ice water on their heads in support of ALS and then challenged friends to do the same.

Riff can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Apple Looking for TV Networks to Bear Streaming Costs for Upcoming TV Service

For its upcoming streaming TV service, Apple is asking its content partners to take on the job of streaming television shows and movies to its customers, reports Re/code. Rather than hosting streaming content itself, Apple is requesting that its partners build out the necessary infrastructure and take on the related costs.

Apple is asking TV networks to handle the responsibility and cost of the streaming infrastructure associated with its Web video service, industry executives say. That issue is one of many unresolved questions about the proposed service, which Apple would like to launch next fall but can’t until it lines up programming deals.

Negotiations for the streaming service are reportedly being conducted by iTunes chief Eddy Cue, who has told networks and potential partners that Apple wants to concentrate on software and hardware, areas where it excels, while leaving infrastructure concerns in the hands of people who are better suited to handle it.

According to Re/code, the request isn’t unusual because content that users stream from existing Apple TV channels and iOS apps is handled by the networks that provide the content, through partnerships with content delivery networks like EdgeCast. Though streaming services aren’t overly expensive, at approximately 5 cents per hour per stream, the idea of dealing with the demand of an Apple television service available to millions has “given executives pause.”

In addition to leaving infrastructure concerns to those with more experience, a source that spoke to Re/code believes that it’s also possible Apple is hoping that if programmers provide the streams, Internet providers like Comcast and Verizon will be less likely to “penalize Apple’s service.”

Apple is rumored to be working with several partners on its upcoming streaming service, including CBS, ABC, Fox, Discovery, Disney, and Viacom. It may include around 25 channels, and pricing is said to be in the range of $30 to $40. The streaming service may make its debut in June at the 2015 Worldwide Developers Conference ahead of a fall launch.

Upcoming São Paulo Retail Store Gains Apple-Decorated Barricades as Opening Approaches [Mac Blog]

Over the course of the last several weeks, Apple has been hiring new employees for its upcoming Apple Store in São Paulo, Brazil, and as of this week, barriers decorated with Apple logos have gone up around the store, suggesting the store’s official launch is growing closer.

Shared by Brazilian site Blog do iPhone [Google Translate], the barricades feature an Apple logo surrounded by dots in varying sizes in silver, gold, and space gray, the colors of the iPhone, the iPad, and the upcoming MacBook.

The words on the walls read “Apple Store Morumbi. Em Breve,” which translates to “Coming soon,” and another section reads “Entre nessa fessa,” roughly translating to “Enter this party.”

The São Paulo store is something of a big deal for Apple, because it’s only the second store in the country and the first in the metropolis, which is Brazil’s most populous city. The first Apple Store in Brazil was opened in Rio de Janeiro in February of 2014.

Apple has a bit of a tough time selling its products in Brazil because the prices are much higher than in other countries. Because of taxes and tariffs on imported goods, the entry level iPhone 6 is priced at R$ 3.499 in the country, equivalent to $1,100 in U.S. dollars, and $450 higher than the price in the United States.

Still, Brazil’s first store opening in Rio was very popular, drawing more than 1,700 attendees, and the São Paulo store opening will likely garner even more attention due to the city’s size. Last week, we got an early look into the São Paulo store, depicting a standard layout with no particularly impressive architectural flares.

When the Rio store opened, there were 20 days between the time when the barricades went up and launch took place, so if the São Paulo store follows a similar timeline, it could open in late April or early May.

Car Audio Installer Creates Custom Entertainment System Using iPads, Apple TV [iOS Blog]

Before heading on a road trip from Los Angeles, California to Phoenix, Arizona with his family to watch spring training baseball, MacRumors forum member and car audio installer Wesley, otherwise known as MrMacMini, decided that some entertainment would be needed for the five-hour drive. With a love for both Apple products and car audio installations, he decided to create his own entertainment system based on a pair of iPads, an Apple TV and Alpine headrest monitors in his 2011 Toyota Sienna.

The custom in-car entertainment system consists of a removable iPad mini retrofitted into the vehicle’s dashboard, alongside two discontinued Alpine PKG-M780 headrest monitors in the rear that mirror an iPad 2 over AirPlay using a third-generation Apple TV. The setup also includes a 1TB Seagate Wireless Plus hard drive and Alpine CDE-HD149BT head unit for AM, FM, HD Radio, CDs and Bluetooth streaming audio. Wesley also purchased factory brackets to mount the head unit in the factory rear DVD player location.

“The iPad mini sends the sound via Bluetooth to the Alpine head unit. I opted for keeping a head unit so that I can still use the steering controls and have access the radio, in case 1 day I forget the iPad at home,” explains Wesley. “The rear screens run independent. My daughters can watch anything they want via the Apple TV and the 1TB wireless Seagate. If we all want to want to watch the same thing, I have it set up so that I can AirPlay from the iPad mini to the Apple TV and have the sound feed back through the Alpine head unit.”

Equipment Used

1. iPad mini 3 running iOS 8.1 (jailbroken) — in the dash, fully removable
2. iPad 2 — used for rear monitors
3. Apple TV 3 — used for rear monitors
4. Alpine CDE-HD149BT — AM/FM/HD Radio/CD/BT streaming audio head unit
5. Alpine PKG-M780 (discontinued) – Dual 7″ headrest monitors
6. Seagate Wireless Plus – 1TB HDD

A complete gallery of before and after photos, including pictures of the individual parts and assembly process, can be found within the discussion forums. For those without the DIY savviness to create their own in-car entertainment system, Alpine has partnered with Apple as an official maker of aftermarket CarPlay systems, which bring Maps, Messages, Phone, Music and Siri to the dashboard, for between $700 to $1400 depending on the unit.

Given that certain car manufacturers are only now beginning to roll out CarPlay support in select new vehicles, and the expensive price tag of aftermarket systems by Alpine and Pioneer, this custom Apple-powered entertainment system could be a more affordable, not to mention cool, alternative for those that may have an iPad or two kicking around the house. If you have any Apple-related DIY projects, past or present, be sure to let us know by sending us a tip.

TweetDeck for Mac Updated With Teams, Group DMs, In-Line GIFs and More [Mac Blog]

TweetDeck for Mac on Wednesday received its first significant update since August 2014, gaining several new features that have been long overdue for the standalone OS X app. The new features include support for TweetDeck Teams, group direct messages, the ability to add up to four images with every tweet, in-line GIF and video playback, the option to share a tweet via direct message to a group of friends and more.

The update also contains a number of bug fixes and improvements to the overall performance of TweetDeck for Mac, and Dataminr subscribers can now add columns and receive notifications of new alerts to Dataminr watch lists. TweetDeck for Mac [Direct Link], an official product of Twitter, is free on the Mac App Store, and the latest update should be rolling out to all users today. The app now stands at version 3.9.482.

New Retina MacBook Appears in Early Unboxing Video

With the official launch of the new ultra-slim 12-inch MacBook with Retina display still over a week away on April 10, Vietnamese site Tinhte.vn has managed to get its hands on the brand-new silver MacBook and has shared an unboxing video and photos.

The entirety of the video is in Vietnamese, of course, but is still worth a watch to check out the design of the new MacBook, the USB-C adapter, and the edge-to-edge keyboard in someone’s hands outside the confines of Apple’s media event last month.

Additional photos from the unboxing can be found on the Tinhte.vn official website, with the full video located on the site’s YouTube channel. The new MacBook launches on April 10, and Apple has yet to announce whether it will be offering pre-orders ahead of that date.

Tinhte.vn has a long history of getting its hands on Apple products ahead of their launches, with early looks at such products as the iPhone 4, third-generation iPad, and EarPods.

Happy April Fools’ Day 2015: Pets Unleashed, Kameleon Kloak and More

As happens every year on April 1, today is April Fools’ Day, and readers should be wary of hoaxes and claims at both news and rumor sites. Today also represents Apple’s 39th anniversary, with their partnership having officially been founded on this day in 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

As has become tradition, a number of today’s pranks have focused on Apple and tech, and here are a few of the more interesting ones to surface so far today. Keep in mind that some hoaxes may be mildly NSFW, so turning down your volume or watching later may be best if you are at work or in a public space.

T-Mobile Pets Unleashed

T-Mobile introduced Pets Unleashed, a revolutionary new family plan that lets your pets get their paws on the hottest smartphones and stream the latest animal-related content without using up your data. The plan includes several apps such as Fetch Freedom, FitPet and Pet Tinder, ensuring that your dogs, cats and entire family stay connected.

Moshi Kameleon Kloak for iPhone 6

Moshi today announced Kameleon Kloak, the first chameleon-powered iPhone 6 case.

This post will be updated throughout April Fools’ Day with the latest pranks and hoaxes.

IBM Expands MobileFirst for iOS Lineup With Eight New Apps [iOS Blog]

IBM on Tuesday announced the continued expansion of its MobileFirst for iOS enterprise portfolio with eight new workplace apps ranging in specialty from healthcare, insurance coverage, and retail sales (via AppleInsider).

The majority of this week’s expansion lies in the healthcare field, with four of the eight new apps focusing on apps aimed at assisting healthcare professionals with more easily manageable patient and hospital data. They range from basic patient data file management to curating a list of current and completed tasks required of nurses working any given area of a hospital, and even an app that allows doctors and nurses to continue evaluating and administering diagnoses while a patient is at home.

The Hospital Lead app offers head nurses a dashboard of employee delegating tools.
The remaining four apps cover new areas for the IBM and Apple partnership, like the industrial products field, and old ones, seeing its retail and insurance lineup bolstered with new solutions.

Travel and transportation gets a new app, as well, called Ancillary Sale, which allows flight attendants to sell seat upgrades, food, beverages, and merchandise to passengers with the ease of Apple Pay. The app also remembers individual passenger preference, so flight attendants can recommend items on current flights based off of the purchases a user made on previous flights.

Apple and IBM first announced the workplace-focused partnership back in July, with the first round of ten apps hitting last December. Since then, the companies expanded slightly in early March with three new enterprise apps for the travel and transportation, retail, and financial fields. Every app in the collection is built exclusively for iPhone and iPad, with highly secure software that can be deployed, managed, and customized to fit every business hassle-free.

Visit the official websites of both Apple and IBM for more detailed looks at all of the old, and new, MobileFirst for iOS apps released over the past few months.

Pandora CFO Calls Apple a ‘Frenemy,’ Says Music Service is Coming to CarPlay and Apple Watch

When Apple’s CarPlay feature launched last year, Apple partnered with several music services to offer a variety of listening choices on the platform, including Spotify, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Rdio, and more.

Noticeably absent from CarPlay was Pandora, but that appears to be set to change. Pandora CFO Mike Herring spoke to Fox Business Network yesterday and said Pandora will “definitely be in CarPlay” and integrated into the Apple Watch as well.

Though Herring did not provide a timeline for the possible launch of a Pandora CarPlay app, his statement to Fox is the closest Pandora’s come to revealing its plans for the platform. Last year, Pandora told MacRumors that Apple was a valued partner and though it did not have a CarPlay offering at the current time, it was exploring opportunities to expand its presence in the car in the future.

Speaking to Fox, Herring also spilled some details on Pandora’s relationship with Apple, which hints at why there may have been a delay getting Pandora on CarPlay. According to Herring, the two companies have a “frenemy kind of relationship,” possibly due to the similarities between Pandora and Apple’s iTunes Radio.

Pandora, which owes part of its success to the popularity of its iPhone app, has a “frenemy kind of relationship going on” with Apple, according to Herring. “We were part of what made it fun to have an iPhone,” Herring added. While the two companies are “close partners,” it is a “very interesting relationship.”

At the current time, there are still only a handful of CarPlay apps available, like Spotify, Beats Music, CBS Radio News, Umano, MLB.com At Bat, Overcast, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, and Rdio. If Pandora comes to CarPlay, it’ll be the fourth non-Apple owned music app available.

CarPlay is still largely limited to aftermarket in-dash systems from companies like Alpine and Pioneer, as many automobile manufacturers are still working on integrating CarPlay into their vehicles. Of Apple’s CarPlay partners, Audi, Volkswagen, and Hyundai have promised CarPlay-compatible cars will be available for purchase in 2015.