Macgasm

I’ll admit it. I’ve bumped the brightness up on my iPhone from time to time and used it as a torch. Who needs fancy apps when a clean Safari page does the same thing as a fancy flashlight.

But, I’ve also never thought about using my iPad as  a lighting source for a photo shoot, let alone asking a bunch of friends to donate theirs to the cause.

That’s where Jesse Rosten is different.

With $4,500.00 worth of iPads, some plywood, and some cheap parts from a hardware store, Rosten whipped up three soft boxes by mounting three iPads on each of the three separate stands.

While it may not be the most practical use of nine iPads, and certainly not the cheapest way of creating nice soft light, it certainly illustrates Rosten’s imagination and ingenuity.

Check the video out below, and read Jesse’s post, which goes into more detail about his idea and how he put the lights together.

iPad Photoshoot from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.

Images and video via Jesse Rosten

For almost 2 years, I’ve been waiting to see what Apple unveiled for it’s newest store in London. Yesterday, I finally found out, and I can’t say I’m anything less than impressed with what they’ve done to the old building they’ve put it in.

I’d originally intended to get there for the opening, but remembering I had guests this weekend, I didn’t think it would be fair to leave them alone. So we waited until the afternoon before venturing into London to check out the store. Arriving in Covent Garden and hearing cheering from down the street, I originally thought it might just be the street performers receiving the applause, and that surely some of the hype would have died down for the Store opening, but i was wrong. Just like a new iPhone launch or the iPad Launch — which I actually took part in — the Apple Store staff were still cheering every group of people into the store.

It was heaving, the queues were massive, and it wasn’t completely unsuspected after a reported 10.000 people were going to be turning up on opening day. But there queues were round the plaza! Madness. Apple had it under control though, keeping paths clear for people to walk, and ferrying people across walkways with tickets to prove they weren’t queue jumping.

We decided not to bother queueing for a look, and I was coming to terms with the fact I might not get to see the store on opening day, but after a bite to eat and a walk around the markets the queues had died down, and it turned out the queues were only for people wanting to buy the iPhone 4, so within seconds I was being cheered into the massive new store with a huge smile on my face.

The place is stunning, as soon as you walk through the door the spiral staircase is to your left, and although not as impressive as the 5th Avenue one, it’s still a great staircase linking the ground and first floor. Walking through to the center of the store, the light floods in through the giant glass ceiling from above, and a thousand eyes set upon you looking around in awe from the sections above. There were a lot of camera crews walking around, so I imagine we’ll be seeing some great videos from the launch day in a few weeks. I felt kind of lost. I wasn’t really sure which part of the place to go an explore next, but I found myself in a back room staring at the second glass staircase. Two floors up or one floor down? Down it was, nothing great down there but a few doors for staff only, but toilets for the public which I wasn’t expecting. It’s not very often you see toilets open to the public in stores over here.

Each room is filled with different Apple goodies — no overlapping. You want a case for your iPhone? Head to the second floor, at the back and you’ll find the biggest selection and stock than compared to any other Apple Store.

I’m so impressed by this store, the Regent Street one used to be my go to place when i was meeting friends, as it’s a great place to go for a wander round and a play while having some time to pass. But this place, you’d not feel bad for being late to meet a friend here as there is so much to see.

I actually went into the building a few years ago, we had a work Christmas party there, with a temporary staircase in place, and each room dedicated for DJ’s, bars, food etc. It was nice to remember that while I was stood paying for my new Magic Trackpad that two years ago I was in a Moroccan smoking lounge.

I’m struggling to put into words just how impressed I am at the work and effort they’ve put into keeping this building looking as original as possible. The small signs outside dont take anything away from the old building, you’d struggle to see it was even an Apple Store if you didn’t know and were just passing.

Although I didn’t make it for the opening, I kept my eyes on Twitter and saw that the senior vice president of iOS software Scott Forstall was there, and had his picture snapped by quite a few people. Someone even managed to get Matt Lucas, an English comedian, and Scott in the same photo

Following are a few video’s from the opening that people have managed to capture, followed by a gallery of a few shots I took while walking around.
This Store should get added to your places to visit list, while not as famous as the Eifel Tower or the Colleseum, for any Apple fan this place is a must.

Oh, and I’ll post a review of the Magic Trackpad when I’ve had a bit more time to play with it.

Apple’s almost on the eve of opening it’s newest store in London — less than a mile away from it’s already hugely popular store on Regent Street (the most profitable per square foot store in the capital). This time, they’re headed for the popular Covent Garden in their most expensive, but most impressive, bid yet.
The store opens after almost 2 years since the original plans were signed by the City of Westminster, and construction started in July last year. The building, which has until recently been covered in scaffolding and white covers, now just has tall wooden boards around the outside, with a red curtain on them saying Coming Soon and bearing Apples Logo — awaiting the grand opening at 10am on Saturday the 7th.

Hanging around long enough in the days leading up to the opening, you’ll be sure to catch a glimpse inside as workmen and security come and go. Someone managed to grab a cheeky picture a few weeks ago which show the wooden benches and restored brickwork, while I got a peek last night on my way home and all the computers, iPod’s, iPhones etc have all been installed, along with the signs and posters on the walls, everything up and running, and looking like a real store from what I could tell in the few short seconds before I was spotted and the doors were closed once again. The iPhone 4′s camera is fast, but not still not quite fast enough for chances like this.

The building covers an impressive 4 floors, but only 2 of these are rumored to be for retail, while the others will be office space, altogether featuring around 30,100 square feet of space, including the basement likely to be just for stock and back end going ons.
Apple’s come up against a few problems in the planning and construction of this new building, but dealt with all in a fashion you’d expect. Even going as far as to remove a set of brick archways piece by piece, labeling and numbering them, and rebuilding them onto a floor just 4 inches lower. All to keep the building looking as original as they can.

I’m excited for the opening on Saturday having never been to anything like this before, so I will definitely be there. It’s slightly easier to arrive for a store opening than it is trying to be first in line for the new iPhone or other branded gadget. I won’t be aiming for first in line or anything — just in time to soak up the atmosphere and grab some good pictures ready for another post. Maybe I’ll be able to do a live blog while I’m there.. I’ll talk to out Editors :)

Header pic via @aquiros, in post pic via ifoapplestore.com

Adding to their already grand armoury of cases for Apple products, the folks at Incase are now accepting orders for two of their iPhone 4 cases on their web store.

It may be taking longer than some other case makers to get the Slider Case and Snap Case up for order, it’s certainly going to be well worth it in the long run as they have paid so much attention to detail ensuring everything is 100% perfectly compatible with the iPhone 4. They’ve even added flash ring on the Snap Case, around the camera cutout on the back, which is designed to prevent glare interference during camera usage with the flash, something which has plagued a few other manufacturers cases.

These two cases are a part of Apple’s free Case program, so you can now get a better look at what you’ve ordered if you went for one of these. Better than looking at the renders they posted a few weeks back, anyway.

The Slider Case will set you back $34.95, available to order now in Black, and metallic cases in Dark Mauve, Gunmetal and Raspberry will be available in a few weeks time, with White to follow after those.

The Snap Case is also available for $34.95 in clear, with a Frost Black version to ship a few weeks after.

Incase are also offering free ground shipping on this case, using the code IPHONE4 when ordering.

Chris Michel fancied himself a new challenge with CSS, looking around his room for inspiration his eyes eventually settled on the keyboard we’ve all grown to love from Apple.
Created entirely from CSS, this is just too great not to share with everyone. The details are amazing, clicking the buttons, and the caps lock even has the little green light in it!

Best viewed in Safari and Google Chrome, make sure you click here to see it in all it’s glory, and over here to read Chris’s blog about how he went towards putting it together.

Just when we thought Apple had done away with charging for their iOS updates after revealing that iOS4 was free even for iPod Touch owners, a big fat rumour has been passed to Stuff.tv from a developer working on a future iPad app that the update will now be forcing our hands into our pockets for it, just like the old days.

Stuff.tv contacted Apple over the matter, and as expected received a ‘no comment’ as a response. I’m not quite sure how I feel about this if it’s true. I bought my iPad thinking that the update would be free. I know I wasn’t led to believe it would be free, but just the price of the device made me think this.

I’ve been looking forward to it ever since buying the iPad, and even more since buying the iPhone 4 and using multitasking. Being a paid update won’t make me not update it though. I’ll just be doing it with a bit of a grudge towards Apple for a while.

What do you think of this, and how much do you think Apple would charge if it end up being true?

Article Via Stuff.tv

As I was walking home this evening, it didnt even cross my mind that there would already probably be a group of people outside London’s flagship store on Regent Street. At 7pm, when I was walking past, there was already about 10 people with chairs and other goodies to get them through the night. I posted a picture on Gowalla, and a couple of minutes later I had a reply over Twitter from Joe Woodcock saying “we’re number one :D haha“.
Joe’s been there since 12 midday he told me. After reading his Twitter stream, it seems he and his friends have already been interviewed by a couple of the UK TV network. Also, he has been given some gifts by the iwantoneofthose.com website, and some stuff from Griffin. Lucky fellas. Unlucky for them is the fact it looks like rain out tonight, and they dont have a tent. Anyone care to go along and help them out?

I’ve asked which model of iPad Joe and his friend are queueing up for, and it seem’s he’s not actually getting one! He’s just there with his friend Jake who’s going for the 32 GB wifi model.

You can follow his updates on Twitter here, and show him some support if you’re feeling nice.

Though I’m not tempted to sit out in the cold for the evening, I am getting more tempted to get myself an iPad in the morning. That is, if there are any left by the time I get there. It all depends on how early I manage to wake up tomorrow.

Few more pictures of the queue so far here:

Vietnam seems to be bringing us all the goodies recently with both iPhone 4G shots and the Macbook updates a few days ago. Today we have a fresh batch of pictures and a video of the once mythical iPod Touch, but this time with a 2MP camera. Engadget is reporting that it’s a late 2009 third generation model, similar to what we saw just before the September announcement last year, which could mean it’s part of the same batch as the ones which ended up on eBay for a few hours. This version holds the same DVT-1 stamp on the back as one of the eBay ones did.

If it’s from the same batch as the ones before, should this spark any more speculation that Apple will be including a camera with a eventual iPod Touch refresh? No.

Apple clearly pulled this model for a reason at the last-minute, and for some reason there’s still a few left in the wild. Until we see a differently designed iPod Touch pop up in Vietnam (face it, you know that’s where we’ll see it first), then we can expect that Apple has put the camera model on the backburner for now.

Don’t get me wrong, I do hope they include a camera on the iPod Touch. There’s no reason for it not to be included in the device, to be honest. Think of how many more apps they’d sell if they included a Camera on them.

Check out the Vietnamese post for a load more pictures, and enjoy the embedded video showing the diognostics utility below.

via CrunchGear