iPad vs. iPad Mini: Which Should You Buy?

When Apple announced the release of the fourth-generation iPad — often called the iPad 4, or iPad with Retina display — in October 2012, many consumers felt angered by the rapid replacement of the very similar iPad 3 ("the new iPad"). Still, you only needed to decide whether or not to upgrade to the slightly more powerful device — and if you had recently dished out hundreds of dollars for the iPad 3, the decision wasn't very difficult.

But in the same announcement, Apple introduced the iPad mini — an arguably game-changing miniature tablet that made consumers rethink how and why to use their mobile devices. As a result, especially for people looking to buy their first tablets, the decision process became complicated.

We've prepared this guide to help you decide whether the latest iPad or iPad mini is right for you. Like all gadgets, it ultimately comes down to preference — that is, how you plan to use your tablet — but there are plenty of specs to help you choose.

Larry Ellison Opens Up About Steve Jobs' Last Days

Steve Jobs

Few people knew Steve Jobs better than Oracle founder Larry Ellison. The two were friends for more than two decades and lived next door to each other for a time. Now, Ellison is opening up about the Apple cofounder's final days battling pancreatic cancer.

"We'd always go for walks, and the walks just kept getting shorter," Ellison told Charlie Rose in a CBS This Morning interview that aired Tuesday. "Until near the end we'd kind of walk around the block or maybe — maybe four blocks, something like that. And you just watched him getting weaker."

Apple: Three Million New iPads Sold In Three Days

The iPad mini has had to deal with a fair amount of criticism since its launch, and similarly, there have been quite a few outcries regarding Apple’s decision to throw out a new iPad just seven months after releasing its predecessor. The lingering wave of skepticism clearly doesn’t seem to have affected sales adversely though, and Apple has just announced the sale of three million new iPad units, which is double previous weekend record of 1.5 million set by the launch of the iPad 3 in March.

Of course, with two new iPads on offering, perhaps the figures are close to what should have been expected, and if there was ever any doubt consumers would buy the iPad mini, it seems the tablet is as big of a hit as the 9.7-inch iteration – perhaps even more so. Apple proudly reported the figures by means of a press release, but neglected to state just how many iPad minis were sold versus iPads, which would arguably be the more intriguing statistic. Considering many consumers I’ve interacted with since the launch have been generally unaware of the presence of the iPad 4, I’d hazard a guess that the cheaper, smaller slate outsold the A6X-powered flagship, but this is mere speculation.

Why Apple wants to spread lies about you

A new Apple patent could be a powerful defense in the war on privacy

It's becoming harder and harder to maintain any sense of privacy on the internet. Do a search for just about anything online, and somewhere there's a data collector compiling information about you and your searches. Even though the eyes on you at all times are digital, being watched is still unsettling. But such a loss of privacy is an inevitable part of life on the net, right?

iTrivia, Apple Quiz

There’s no doubting the massive increase in Apple since the introduction of the iPhone back in 2007, but even if you’ve been an avid follower since the early days, a relatively new App Store app aims to test even the most knowledgeable Cupertino enthusiast.

Set on a background of ambient music, it really pits your wits with some particularly difficult questions in categories from software such as native Macintosh features, to hardware, to history, and, of course, the people who made it all happen.

iTrivia for iOS

Again, Apple gets all the attention

15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display. A product that HP or Dell could have (should have) done?

So, why does the world obsess about the newest MacBook Pro and not competing laptops from Hewlett-Packard or Dell?

Apple’s Retail Army

Apple’s Retail Army, Long on Loyalty but Short on Pay

Last year, during his best three-month stretch, Jordan Golson sold about $750,000 worth of computers and gadgets at the Apple Store in Salem, N.H. It was a performance that might have called for a bottle of Champagne — if that were a luxury Mr. Golson could have afforded.

New Features in OS X Mountain Lion

Premium Protection for the iPhone

iPhone 5 concept features

Facebook hires Apple UI designer

Facebook has raided Apple’s deep well of talent to lure former UI Design Manager Chris Weeldreyer over to its Menlo Park HQ, installing him as its new Product Design Manager.

Weeldreyer joined Facebook on June 18, four months after he left Apple. At his former employer, he was charged with designing its iWeb and Numbers software and also named in a number of patent applications registered to the company.

The new Facebook employee noted the change on both his LinkedIn and Facebook profiles, joining the company just days after it emerged that its CTO Brett Taylor was to leave the company, to work on unknown startup projects.

Timeline of Apple UI designer in Facebook

 Facebook has been advertising for a new Product Design Manager on its careers website, where it says a successful candidate will lead a team of designers and report to the Design Director.

Weeldreyer boasts skills in industrial design, interaction design, and user interface design on his LinkedIn profile, fitting in with the company’s continued focus on iterating and developing new products on the social network.

With Apple recently announcing that it will integrate Facebook into iOS 6, the bond between the two companies is closer than ever before.

With Weeldreyer’s experience lying in designing Apple’s Web design and spreadsheet software, Facebook appears to be looking for more design insights on both the desktop and in mobile.

Swype for iPad and iPhone

How to downgrade iOS 6 beta to iOS 5.1.1 without SHSH blobs

3D Maps on iOS 5

Download OS X Lion

If you happen to be one of the many individuals that are involved in development for one of Apple’s extremely popular platforms then you will no doubt be thoroughly enjoying things at present thanks to the recent release of iOS 6 beta and the fourth developer preview of OS X Mountain Lion. Although still in beta stages, the releases offer developers the chance to not only interrogate their own software and apps but to also inspect the builds for bugs and potential showstoppers.

Apple Still Has It

There will be plenty of bits spilled over the next few days about whether Apple is going extinct, whether Jobs’ touch was integral to the Apple experience, and whether this was “The.Worst.Keynote.Ever.” I posit, however, that Apple still has a few good years left and this keynote (now available here) – a precise and well-orchestrated experience dedicated mostly to software – is proof that the Apple vision runs far deeper than the efforts of a figurehead CEO.

Apple’s Passbook

Apple’s Passbook Could Be A Platform, Not Just Another Mobile Payments Rival

At this week’s WWDC, Apple introduced a new application called “Passbook,” meant to function as an organizer for all your passes. It supports store cards, gift cards and coupons out of the gate, replacing their plastic counterparts, and providing an Apple-approved way to get consumers paying at checkout with their mobile phones. At first glance, it seems that Passbook’s launch is bad news for mobile wallet players like Square, PayPal, and others.

But it might actually represent an opportunity for everybody else.

Besides the gee-whiz factor of having scannable cards organized in a pretty interface within the iPhone, the most interesting thing about Passbook is that the digital cards are able to make use of the iPhone’s geolocation capabilities. “When you get to the movie theater, your ticket automatically pops up on the lockscreen,” explained Scott Forstall, Apple’s SVP for iPhone software, demonstrating how a Fandago movie ticket in action.

Larger iPhone Screen

WWDC Event

The WWDC keynote came and went with nary a mention of a new iPhone, but that didn’t stop people from ruminating about Apple’s newest mobile juggernaut. Apple’s brass spent much of their time on-stage pulling back the curtains on the latest version of iOS, and now some are claiming that a fairly innocuous (albeit useful) new feature for developers means that an iPhone with a larger screen is barreling down the pipeline.

Get iOS 6 on iOS 5

Apple and Google Go Head to Head Over Mobile Maps

For many people, phones have become an important way to navigate the world, and mobile maps are at the core of the journey. They are often the critical element in commerce, socializing and search. So far, Google has reigned supreme in the mobile map world, with its maps on every iPhone sold so far — and, of course, on every phone based on its own Android operating system.