Our Thursday edition comes with a couple of surprises, notably a permanent price reduction on Apple's Thunderbolt Cable as well as the debut of a classic Mac OS X ringtone maker on the Mac App Store. So if you're bummed about CES 2013 winding down and looking for some news to consume, read on!
As noted by 9to5Mac on Wednesday, Apple has taken a big step toward easing the pain of using Thunderbolt by slashing $10 off its 2.0m cable -- from $49 to $39. The Thunderbolt cable remained a pricey Apple exclusive for some time after its debut in early 2011, and the appearance of third-party solutions over the last year or so did little to drive down the prices. In addition to the price cut, Apple is now selling a shorter 0.5m version for $29, and both of the Thunderbolt cables are in stock at the company's online store.
Remember the dark days of iOS when making a custom ringtone was virtually impossible? Eventually Apple made it a lot easier, but it was thanks to companies like Ambrosia Software that we were able to do it early on. Now the company is back with iToner 3, a ground-up rewrite of the popular Mac ringtone creation software compatible with the latest iOS and OS X versions. Featuring a completely revamped user interface and enhanced audio editor, iToner 3 makes it easy to add ringtones and text tones to your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad, and even comes bundled with custom tones to get you started. Perhaps more surprisingly, iToner 3 is a Mac App Store exclusive, and for a limited time the price is only $4.99 (regularly $9.99) as an incentive for previous users to upgrade to the latest and greatest.
The New York Times sat down with AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega during the CES 2013 show this week to chat about the carrier's 4G LTE plans and its new DigitalLife home monitoring security system, but inevitably the conversation turned to the iPhone -- and more specifically AT&T's trail-blazing unlimited data service, which has long since been eliminated. When asked about Sprint and T-Mobile's competitive advantage with unlimited data, de la Vega was asked if there's any possibility of such an offering returning to AT&T, to which the CEO replied, "None at this time." Sure, that may leave the door open for the future, but unlimited data fans will want to explore other options for now...
If you're rocking a mid-2012 MacBook Air, you'll want to fire up the Mac App Store or head to Apple's support website -- the company has just pushed out an EFI firmware update just for you. The aptly-named MacBook Air EFI Firmware Update 2.6 weighs in at a mere 4.76MB and "fixes a color issue with HDMI displays connected to MacBook Air, resolves an issue with Windows which can prevent MacBook Air from booting properly, and also resolves an issue where unplugging a Thunderbolt device may cause the system to freeze when waking from standby." Sounds like good reasons to click the Download button to us.
On the heels of The Wall Street Journal report earlier this week that Apple is developing a low-cost iPhone that could debut this year, Bloomberg has chimed in with some additional details of their own. Apple is said to have been working on a more affordable iPhone "since at least February, 2011," which is expected to retail for somewhere between $99 and $149 when it debuts in late 2013. According to a source with knowledge of the company's plans, Apple has already spoken to wireless carriers in the U.S. about its plans, which are viewed as a change in strategy for CEO Tim Cook, given that the iPhone has thus far been the company's crown jewel thanks to its high profit margins.
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