do you still remember the iLappen, that cleaning cloth, sorry, polishing cloth, with which Apple caused a stir in October last year?
The piece of fabric with the Apple logo costs a friendly 25 euros.
For some, this price made the face flush with anger, for others it triggered a buying reflex.
As soon as Apple's analogue cleaning aid was available, it was already sold out.
The cloth "made of a soft, non-abrasive material" is actually a spare part. Namely for the polishing cloth that comes with Apple's high-end Pro Display XDR screen and the 27-inch iMac (in which Intel chips are still allowed to work). Because their optionally built-in nano-texture glass should be cleaned "only with the supplied cleaning cloth". And dry. Except in particularly bad cases. Then you can wet it with a little 70 percent isopropyl alcohol (you can get it in the pharmacy). It says so on Apple's support site.
The reason for this caution is said to be the nano-textured glass. In case you don't know what that is: It makes the screen matt and ensures that incident light is scattered. That's why there are only diffuse reflections, if any, and no reflections. Other manufacturers matte their screens using foils, with Apple's extra glass a wafer-thin texture is etched into the glass. As a result, the image quality should be better. In case you don't know what that costs: 345 euros extra for the iMac and an extra thousand for the Pro Display XDR. You are more than welcome to follow the manufacturer's care recommendations.
And those, which amazed the Mac scene, are not only available for the screens, but also for the polishing cloth, which is not particularly cheap at 25 euros.
Apple has published an entry on its support pages that explains how to clean the irag again if it should one day become soiled itself.
It reads like this:
Hand wash the polishing cloth with dish soap and water,
and rinse thoroughly.
Allow the polishing cloth to air dry for at least 24 hours.
If this complex procedure does not lead to the goal, the tip here is to get rid of the dirt with isopropyl.
So it might be worth choosing the larger bottle at the pharmacy.
The Mac blog 9to5mac, which first came across the washing instructions, also irresponsibly recommends using a "seventh generation liquid soap" (where have the first six gone?) to clean the cleaning cloth, which is made in the USA for a whopping $46 a bottle, and maybe even premium air available at some gas stations.
The story of the washable washcloth shows that no matter what the Californian company does, every detail is noticed and evaluated - or at least almost every detail.
In any case, there were not only test reports for the iLapp, the repair portal iFixit even carried out one of its popular disassembly ceremonies with it.
Normally, the repair experts examine which components are in new gadgets and how easy they are to repair - or not.
But the story also shows that some details remain hidden for a long time.
Because, as the colleagues from »The Verge« correctly report, the washing instructions are nothing new.
If you look up the Wayback Machine internet archive, it turns out that it was available to read on December 11, 2019.
The blog "MacRumors" had already pointed out the cleaning cloth and Apple's cleaning instructions.
However, at that time you could only get the iLapp via Apple support.
Now you can buy it.
That changes everything.
External links: Three tips from other media
»A patent to rule them« (8 minutes reading time)
It is obvious that the mechanism by which a dog leash rolls up automatically should be patented. But that you can also patent the idea of how certain things should work in video games may not be so obvious. This article explains the impact such patents have on the gaming industry.
“The Chip Shortage Keeps Getting Worse. Why Can't We Just Make More?' (English, 7 minute read
) 'It's not rocket science - it's a lot harder,' joke insiders in the semiconductor industry. As the chip crisis was building, 'Bloomberg' explored the question why you can't just make more chips - and wrote down and visualized the complicated answer in an easy to digest way.Not new, but still relevant.
»How the US Messed Up Its New 5G Rollout: ›It Wasn't Our Finest Hour‹« (English, 9 minute read)
Last week, the botched rollout of new 5G mobile frequencies in the US made headlines – again.
Fearing problems landing, airlines canceled flights or sent different planes than planned.
The Wall Street Journal explains how it got to this point.
Have a good week
Matthew Kremp
