Skip to content
Thoughtful, detailed coverage of everything Apple for 33 years
and the TidBITS Content Network for Apple professionals

ExtraBITS for 6 October 2014

As Apple pushes into the fashion world with the Apple Watch, Vogue profiles Jony Ive, and smartwatch pioneer Pebble rethinks its strategy. We learn the secret origin of the Fifth Avenue Apple Store, Consumer Reports sees if the iPhone 6 will bend, and an iCloud Drive bug could delete your data.

Vogue Profiles Jony Ive — Another sign of Apple’s push into the fashion world: Vogue has published an in-depth profile of Jony Ive, Apple’s SVP of Design. Interestingly, Vogue got to look at the Apple Watch weeks before it was announced. The magazine article details Ive’s upbringing, education, and his design philosophies. “I think what we sincerely try to do is create objects and products and ideas that are new and innovative,” Ive said, “but at the same time there is a slightly peculiar familiarity to them.”

Read/post comments

Pebble Cuts Prices, Adds More Features — Until Android Wear and the Apple Watch announcements, Pebble was the hottest smartwatch company on the scene. Now, with big-name competition, Pebble is slashing the price of the original Pebble by $50 (to $99) and the Pebble Steel by $30 (to $199). The company is also adding background sleep and activity tracking to its smartwatches. Its new marketing campaign pokes fun at Apple’s SVP of Design, Jony Ive, saying “Breathe, Jony. It’s just a watch. Chill.”

Read/post comments

The Story of the Fifth Avenue Apple Store — The glass Apple Store cube at the corner of 57th Street and Fifth Avenue isn’t just a New York City landmark — it’s as iconic as any product Apple has released, if not more so. But what you may not know is that the actual store, underground, was an unused basement for 40 years. New York Magazine tells the story of how Steve Jobs and real estate developer Harry Macklowe worked together to turn an unwanted basement into one of retail’s greatest success stories.

Read/post comments

Debunking the Bendable iPhone 6 — Much has been made of claims that the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are prone to bending in people’s pockets. Consumer Reports, which drew attention to antenna issues in the iPhone 4, put both phones to a “three-point flexural test,” the same test that Apple uses. While Apple reportedly tests with only 55 pounds of force, Consumer Reports found that the iPhone 6 didn’t deform until it reached 70 pounds of force, and the iPhone 6 Plus held up even better, deforming at 90 pounds of force. While the iPhone 5 is much tougher,
deforming at 130 pounds, the iPhone 6 still exceeds even Apple’s own standards.

Read/post comments

iCloud Drive Bug Could Erase Your iCloud Data — If you’ve enabled iCloud Drive, be leery of using Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings to reset an iOS device, as doing so could erase at least some of your iCloud data. MacRumors has confirmed that activating that option after upgrading to iCloud Drive deletes all iWork documents stored in iCloud. However, iCloud documents that cannot be accessed by iOS, like those in Preview and TextEdit, appear to not be affected. Just another reason to hold off on upgrading to iCloud Drive until Apple works out the kinks.

Read/post comments

Subscribe today so you don’t miss any TidBITS articles!

Every week you’ll get tech tips, in-depth reviews, and insightful news analysis for discerning Apple users. For over 33 years, we’ve published professional, member-supported tech journalism that makes you smarter.

Registration confirmation will be emailed to you.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA. The Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.