Cult of Mac
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11:33 am, November 16th, 2009, Nicole Martinelli
Used with a cc-license, thanks to juanpol on flickr.
The Economist’s quarterly mag Intelligent Life did round robin interviews with a number of design luminaries, literati and museum curators about what objects define life in the aughts.
The iPod and iPhone came up most frequently, leading the editors to name this the iDecade.
That doesn’t mean they have anything nice to say about them, however.
Most of the comments veer towards the “these devices cut us off from humanity” type. Young’uns in other times were more social and less social media, apparently, we were all the better for it.
A few choice excerpts:
STEPHEN JONES, Milliner
iPhone. Txt spk
What is the Mini of today? Probably the iPhone. I wish I could say floor-length dresses or big green hats, but I can’t. Communication is the issue now, not freedom and mobility: iPhone, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter. This is a big sea-change: it is more about communication through the word and less about the image…
DOMINIC SANDBROOK, Author of “White Heat: A History of Britain in the Swinging Sixties”
iPods. Extreme materialism. Politicians cycling.
People listening to iPods on their way to work—and not merely as a symbol of technology, but as a representation of a sort of introversion, a retreat within our own bubble…
EKOW ESHUN, Artistic director, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
The Prius. iPods. Style jams
The Prius is the car of the decade. It’s unlovely in lots of ways, but it has become an icon of aspiration. And then the iPod and social networking. Something that spools from these is that we don’t really have style subcultures anymore. Instead we have a playlist culture, where you’re allowed to mash up everything around you in a sort of pick’n’mix…
Via More Intelligent Life
Posted by Nicole Martinelli in Cult of Mac, News | 4 Comments »
10:17 am, November 13th, 2009, Nicole Martinelli
Let’s say you’ve got $30 grand to blow on a gold and diamond iPhone but the idea of just buying one without the thrill of an auction bores you.
Two of these tricked out iPhones are up for sale from “bespoke luxury communications” (read: cell phones that go bling-bling along with ring-ring) purveyor Stuart Hughes on BillionaireXchange.com, a site that launched this week billing itself as the first online marketplace for, uh, billionaires.
The pink 3GS model above, coated in 18-carat solid rose gold, was designed entirely by hand and dusted with 53 pink diamonds on the Apple logo. Each phone takes four craftsmen months to make. If that’s too girly, there’s also the 22-carat gold model with a white diamond logo.
Retail price for both? Nearly £22,000 ($36,000). Starting bid on the auction site is £18,000 ($30,000).
Both auctions say the reserve price has already been met, so maybe diamond-encrusted iPhones aren’t the white elephants of the aughts.
Posted by Nicole Martinelli in Cult of Mac, iPhone, iPhone 3G S | No Comments »
4:59 pm, November 4th, 2009, Leander Kahney
Kyle Wiens, the CEO of iFixit, is launching an online community focused on fixing high-tech products rather than throwing them away.
Best known for its awesome teardowns, the Mac-oriented repair company iFixit is launching a online community devoted to fixing high-tech products, rather than tossing them away.
“The world has a problem with rapidly consuming devices and tossing them aside, ignoring long-term environmental impact,” said iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens on the company’s blog. “With your help, we are going to change that. I’m confident that we can change our culture of ephemeral ownership.”
Currently in private beta, iFixit Answers looks like a cross between a forum and a wiki. In a blog post announcing the launch, Wiens outlines four points that should be of interest to all publishers focused on building productive online communities:
- It’s important that posts get more useful over time. It’s not uncommon for a traditional repair forum response to become the canonical source for an answer to a problem, only to get outdated and stagnant as technology changes.
- It’s important that we recognize expertise. It matters if the author of an answer is a professional technician, or has helped 200 people fix their problems.
- It’s important to make helping people fun. There’s a rush that comes from helping someone solve a tricky problem, being recognized by people for the research you put into a question before asking it, or testing your hardware diagnosis mettle against others.
- And most important, we need to close the feedback loop between the people answering questions and those asking them. Repairing things is uniquely tangible — when you use a solution proposed by someone, you know for a fact whether or not it worked. Finding out that the answer you gave someone actually fixed their problem is one of the greatest feelings in the world.
It’ll be very interesting how iFixit makes good on these points. The future on online publishing is nurturing community, and Wiens has nailed some of the key points. We’ll be keeping a close on the project.
To sign up as an Answers beta tester, add your name to the list.
Posted by Leander Kahney in Cult of Mac, Media, News, Web | No Comments »
9:39 am, November 4th, 2009, Nicole Martinelli
The swivel goodness at the base of the iMac G4 had a near-human flexibility and was nicknamed the iLamp in a nod to Luxo Jr., star of a short Pixar film.
Now, one of those aging bases from the early 2000s is living out its retirement as a lamp.
Creator Nicolas didn’t tell hardmac exactly how he did it, but did say it was easy:
“I decided to recycle my old iMac G4. With some spare parts, one can easily transform it into a nice lamp fully articulated thanks to the famous arm.”
Another illuminating idea courtesy Apple.
Via hardmac
Posted by Nicole Martinelli in Cult of Mac, News | 5 Comments »
11:59 pm, November 1st, 2009, Lonnie Lazar
Sean Caine
Earlier in the week we asked readers to post pics of their workspaces on our Facebook page for the chance to win a new Magic Mouse — and the response was great. So far, more than 90 of you have taken the time to become fans of Cult of Mac on Facebook, snap a shot and upload your pictures — thank you!
While everyone is waiting with bated breath to find out who’ll win the Magic Mouse (announcement to come tomorrow, Sunday, November 1), we thought readers might like to see a cool dozen of some of the most interesting.
Let us know what you think in comments below and feel free to continue posting your own shots over at the Facebook fan page.
Read the rest of this post »
Posted by Lonnie Lazar in Apple, Cult of Mac, Desktop Pictures, Mac At Work, News, Top stories | 15 Comments »
12:14 pm, October 30th, 2009, Nicole Martinelli
Just a week ago, the iPod celebrated its eighth birthday. It wasn’t long before defunct versions of the now-museum piece took on new life as something else.
Here a dear, departed iPod (dock connector, circa 2003) gets new life as a clock thanks to the addition of a quartz drive movement. It runs on an AA battery.
It costs $40 on Etsy, but creator pixelthis, who also made the G4 clock, says: “I am always looking for any kind of cool junk, computers, cameras, watches, you name it! I am especially fond of anything Apple. Let’s make a deal.”
Posted by Nicole Martinelli in Cult of Mac, News, Vintage Tech | 3 Comments »
3:54 pm, October 28th, 2009, Leander Kahney
We’ve redesigned the top of the site to make it easier to navigate, bring more attention to our top stories, and add a couple more ad units, which we haven’t turned on yet.
The biggest change is the sidebar, which is now located on the left instead of the right. We’re not certain that’s a good idea, but switching it back is a 10-minute job.
What do you guys think of the new look? Should we move the sidebar back where it was?
Posted by Leander Kahney in Cult of Mac, News | 101 Comments »
5:59 am, October 28th, 2009, Lonnie Lazar
The singer Beyonce Knowles -- one of the biggest celebrities in the world -- uses her MacBook at the pool.
When you’re among the top achievers in your given field of endeavor it only stands to reason you probably choose the best tools available to do whatever it is you do, both professionally and personally.
Our survey of some of the best of the best across a wide range of endeavors shows lots of those at the top of their games choose Apple gear when it comes to computing and entertainment and we offer here a gallery of 10 top machers from the fields of media, sports, entertainment, politics and elsewhere who choose Apple products to enhance and enable their achievements.
There’s a reason the game is called Follow the Leader, isn’t it?
Via ObamaPacMan
Read the rest of this post »
Posted by Lonnie Lazar in Apple, Cult of Mac, Macintosh, Steve Jobs, Top stories | 12 Comments »
7:56 am, October 22nd, 2009, Nicole Martinelli
When you actually get around to printing out the photos taken on your iPhone you can slide them into this handmade frame from Italy, which can go vertical or horizontal.
Made out of wood, so no one will try to swipe your pic, thinking it’s your phone.
It costs €15 ($22 circa) at phoneart.
Posted by Nicole Martinelli in Cult of Mac, Quickies | No Comments »
7:36 am, October 22nd, 2009, Nicole Martinelli
The mystery object in Monday’s contest was a close-up of Apple Pro Speakers that CoM’s Lonnie Lazar snapped at a friend’s house where they’re part of a G4 iMac setup — for their size, he notes, “they actually sound great.”
Winner named after the jump.
Read the rest of this post »
Posted by Nicole Martinelli in Clothing, Cult of Mac, News | 1 Comment »
4:35 am, October 15th, 2009, Nicole Martinelli
The mystery object in Monday’s contest is an iBook G3, belonging to our own Giles Turnbull.
The winner, chosen randomly from the correct answers, is Scott Stead.
Scott gets his pick of the Apple-esque tees from might tees, pictured above.
Next Monday we’ll be posting another mystery photo, for another T-shirt.
Posted by Nicole Martinelli in Clothing, Cult of Mac, News | 2 Comments »
8:12 am, October 12th, 2009, Nicole Martinelli
The first in a series of five t-shirt giveaways, correctly name this mystery Apple item and you could win a T-shirt.
Not just any T-shirt: choose from the Apple-inspired designs at might tees, which include the I Love Lisa we wrote about, a retro-style logo and Steve Jobs in typeface.
The tees are made with water-based eco inks screen printed on high quality tri-blend shirts (part organic cotton, part recycled rayon and polyester) and a $28-$36 value.
We’ll chose a winner at random from correct answers — please name object and model in the comments.
Contest ends midnight, October 14.
Posted by Nicole Martinelli in Clothing, Cult of Mac | 164 Comments »
9:19 am, October 2nd, 2009, Nicole Martinelli
Who says I'm a flop?
Although the $9,995 price tag was one of the reasons the computer Lisa didn’t sell well, showing some love for Lisa in T-shirt form will only set you back $32.
Often considered one of Apple’s flops, the ill-starred Lisa was the first computer on the consumer market with a graphical user interface (GUI) but despite this innovation the high cost, lack of software programs and general sluggishness led it to the computer graveyard in 1983 after two years and 100,000 units sold.
Bruce Tognazzini, the interface guru at Apple once said, “The Lisa was a great machine. We just couldn’t sell any.”
Show that you agree with this T-shirt, available on Etsy.
Via iPhone Savior
Posted by Nicole Martinelli in Clothing, Cult of Mac, Quickies, Vintage Tech | 4 Comments »
9:42 am, September 22nd, 2009, Nicole Martinelli
Your kids won’t remember the day you made them wear the “cheese” body suit instead of the one with the cute felt Mac on it, but if you work it out right, a happy face photo in the Mac version and a stroppy pout in the cheese may hang around long enough to traumatize them.
Imagine the fun if you have twins: you could spark lifelong arguments about which one you have favored since infancy.
Handmade felt designs on 100% cotton, available in black, white or red.
$36 for the pair on Etsy.
Posted by Nicole Martinelli in Clothing, Cult of Mac, Humor, Quickies | 1 Comment »
9:09 am, September 22nd, 2009, Lonnie Lazar
12mail is the first video messenger for the iPhone.
What it is: Developed by the creators of the excellent photo/slideshow sharing app 12 Seconds, which was among the first iPhone apps to support shared audiovisual messaging, 12mail is the first app to fully support streaming video messaging.
Why it’s cool: 12mail features full integration with Facebook and Twitter, allowing users to instantly populate the app with contact information for their friends on the the two most popular social media platforms in use today. The app breaks contacts into Everyone and Favorites groups, making it easy to find those in heaviest rotation, and has an option allowing public posts to a user’s Twitter page or Facebook wall.
Compiling videos stored on a user’s phone or recording new video is dead easy, and most brilliant of all, the app only uses the first 12 seconds of any video users choose, keeping messages small enough to send and receive painlessly even over a slow Edge connection. The app uses push notification and features the ability to annotate with text titles and geotags.
All video streams from servers at 12seconds.tv, which avoids use of limited storage on a user’s device and allows people without the app to receive and even initiate 12mail video messages of their own.
Where to get it: 12mail is free and went live in the iTunes App Store today.
Posted by Lonnie Lazar in Cult of Mac, Favorites, Software, iPhone | 1 Comment »
