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]

Apple pays Swiss Rail $21M to use iconic clock design

US tech giant Apple has dished out 20 million Swiss francs ($21 million, 17 million euros) to compensate Swiss national rail operator SBB for using its famous clock without permission, a Swiss daily reported Saturday.

The Mondaine clock is an OK design but I think Apple could have done a better job on its own and probably could have saved a few million bucks in the process. The $21M figure represents about 10 cents per device if you figure 210M devices going to iOS 6. The exact terms of the deal weren’t given.

A SBB rep said at the time that SBB was more interested in bringing clarity to where and how Apple could use the logo than in raking in cash. ”We’re rather proud that a brand as important as Apple is using our design,” she said in September.

The clock was designed in 1944 by Swiss engineer Hans Hilfiker and remains the property of SBB. It is still used in SBB’s stations.

[Source: 9to5Mac - Click here to read the full story]

Want to replace Siri with Google Search? You can via jailbreak

Google's latest version of its voice-enabled Search app may not have the personality of Siri, but it is as good, if not better, than Siri at pulling up relevant search information. If you want to replace Apple's personal assistant with Google's version, you can do so thanks to a jailbreak tweak called NowNow.

As spotted by AppAdvice, NowNow is available in Cydia and allows you to launch Google Voice Search anywhere in iOS. It requires you to install Activator and Google Voice Search, but once you set it up, it's as easy to use as Siri. If you drop Siri for Google, remember that you will lose the "assistant" features of Siri, like adding reminders and setting alarms.

Your device has to be jailbroken to use this tweak, which means it is not available to iPhone 5 users or anyone with an iOS device with an A5/6 processor on iOS 6.

[Source: TUAW]

British Airways to support Apple Passbook

An AppleInsider reader reached out to British Airways to ask about Passbook support and a helpful representative said they're already looking into it. In particular: "Please be assured that we will get our Passbook-compatible functionality live on ba.com as soon as we can." Another airline hopping on board the Passbook wagon is music to my ears. So far I'm really enjoying the (admittedly limited so far) functionality of Passbook.

[Source: TUAW]

Apple donates $2.5M to aid Hurricane Sandy victims

Apple has been making more charitable gifts since Tim Cook became CEO, and the latest organization to benefit from the company's generosity is the American Red Cross. The company donated US$2.5 million to the organization earmarked for Hurricane Sandy relief. The image above is from an email received by an Apple employee who forwarded it to 9to5Mac.

The company had set up an iTunes page last week making it easy for iTunes users to donate money to relief efforts. We at TUAW want to thank all of our readers who have used the iTunes tool to make a donation to the American Red Cross, and urge those who haven't to think about those who are still suffering in the wake of Sandy.

[Source: TUAW]

Apple gives App Store categories their own highlights, lets niche apps have 15 minutes of fame

It's tough to find truly stellar mobile apps, no matter what platform you're running, and that's even truer when delving into categories. Apple has made a gesture towards giving more titles their moment in the sun through a low-key update to the App Store in iTunes and on iOS 6 devices. Jump to at least some categories, such as games or education, and you'll get the same carousels, banners and other promotions that would normally be reserved for the main portal. The shift is a simple one, but it theoretically helps App Store shoppers go beyond the surface -- and developers to reap the rewards.

[Source: Engadget]

Display Menu brings back Mountain Lion's screen resolution to your menu bar

Do you miss the menu-bar option that allows you to select a display resolution? Recently, TUAW got pitched -- rather enthusiastically -- about a utility that helps with this. I tested it and wasn't especially thrilled by either its design or functionality. So I decided to hunt down a better solution. I quickly found one in Display Menu.

A free utility on the Mac App Store, Display Menu offers what I was looking for. With full multi-monitor support, it easily adjusted my various displays with a simple drop-down menu. What's more, it did this with a clever presentation that offers aspect hints as well as resolution values.

If you've been looking for a replacement for lost system functionality now that you're on Mountain Lion, Display Menu might be that app. Developer Thorsten Karrer did a good job creating an app that's simple to use. According to the developer, while the app supports HiDPI modes, it does not support the "two small display modes" of the Retina MacBook Pro.

[Source: TUAW]