It’s not an easy time for Microsoft — with Steve Ballmer having to field questions about being “buffoons” and an “evil empire” at the shareholder’s meeting (.doc) — so when they get together “the world’s most influential technology pundits and online writers” (nb: we weren’t invited) for Mobius to discuss super-secret mobile tech you’d think [...]
Here’s a guide for finding the best bargains on Apple-related gear during the infamous Black Friday sales on November 27. We’ve compiled a comprehensive list of gear from leaked photos of sales flyers and descriptions of sales.
The bargains include a 2.26 GHz MacBook + $150 gift card at Best Buy for $999.99 ; a 32GB [...]
New on the App Store is Voices from the clever folk at Tap Tap Tap. You can guess what it does.
Press releases, you will hardly be surprised to hear, are rarely very interesting. But one arrived in my inbox a couple of weeks ago that made me double-take.
“Sony’s S Series Walkman,” it chattered, “is a serious challenger to the iPod Nano.” Gosh, really? Perhaps the Cult had better have a look at one, then, despite [...]
Full category list for displayed posts: Apple, Humor, News
1:00 pm, November 17th, 2009, Leander Kahney
Reader Diego sent this in: “This at a restaurant in New York last week,” he says. “No words needed.”
Posted by Leander Kahney in Apple, Humor, News | 14 Comments »
10:28 am, November 17th, 2009, Nicole Martinelli
Rivers Cuomo of Weezer loves Jason Neely’s high-flying dog Sidney so much, he put the pooch on the cover of the band’s seventh album, Raditude.
But the mutt’s not just photogenic, he’s communicative and tech savvy: here’s an MTV clip of Sidney interviewing Rivers using iChat on Macs.
The thing is, the dog barks every single question.
Do all journalists sound like that?
Via MTV
Posted by Nicole Martinelli in Humor, News | 3 Comments »
12:13 am, October 28th, 2009, Pete Mortensen
While Apple doesn’t hold any actual monopolies, Harrison Keely has create a board game remix that creates an idealized world where the goal is to own every Apple product ever. It’s not an actual game yet (someone would need to write some rules, design some playing pieces, and create draw cards for that), but it’s got some fun touches. Having to pay $100 extra when you land on Reality Distortion Field is a particularly excellent idea (I find it’s usually more in the neighborhood of $200 — ask 1st-gen iPhone owners). You can see the picture full size by clicking on it.
“An Affordable Way to Own Every Mac” — Teqnolog
Posted by Pete Mortensen in Apple, Humor | 8 Comments »
12:29 pm, October 27th, 2009, Nicole Martinelli
Here’s what might happen if Apple invented an iPhone called the 4G Talk. Except, unlike what you would expect from Apple, it talks and doesn’t have anything nice to say.
Put your headphones on — as it taunts the poor guy trying to use it, the phone also doesn’t say stuff you’d want your co-workers to overhear.
Props to spoofsters Back of the Class for giving it an Apple-like voice.
Hat-tip to CoM reader Robot Emperor for sending it our way.
Posted by Nicole Martinelli in Humor, Quickies, iPhone | 5 Comments »
1:59 am, October 25th, 2009, Lonnie Lazar
‘Tis the season for folks to bust out their best Home Ec skills (or their credit cards) in search of costumery to frighten and delight the young and old alike out trick or treating, or just looking for a few good laughs on Halloween.
Back in 2007, when the iPhone had been out just a few months, we saw a raft of costumes related to Apple’s newest technological wonderment. But so far in the succeeding years, we’ve not seen a whole lot of new takes on the idea and frankly, what we have seen has been pretty lame.
Look at the guy in the picture above. He had to be purposely dressing it down at a party full of Windows aficionados, right? But in the gallery that follows, we’ve had to reach back in time for things better than this. Apple fans seem to have fallen creatively short in recent years.
Is it possible nowadays to dress like a piece of technology known for its elegant design and not look like a complete (and uncomfortable) buffoon?
Let us know what you’ve found out there in comments below, or submit pics of your own awesome Apple-related costume designs and we’ll feature another gallery of the best down the road.
Read the rest of this post »
Posted by Lonnie Lazar in Apple, Clothing, Humor, News, iPhone, iPod | 3 Comments »
10:57 am, October 19th, 2009, Craig Grannell
As we recently reported, PCalc recently added calculator censorship, protecting fragile little minds from seeing the word ‘boobies’ (and others) more or less spelled in old-fashioned upside-down numbers.
James Thomson, PCalc’s creator, states that the 1.8.1 upgrade is at least three times as draconian, now filtering ‘words’ punctuated by a decimal point, and those in languages other than English.
But wait! A hero looms on the horizon: the self-same James Thomson has rallied against iPhone calculator censorship and calculator-based freedoms, taking a stand against his “cruel paymasters” at TLA Systems, the evil umbrella corporation responsible for DragThing and PCalc, owned by evil, dictatorial James Thomson.
Get your calculator boobies back with PCalc 1.8.1
Now you can nip into PCalc’s advanced settings, scroll to the bottom, flip your device and turn off iPhone censorship, shortly before reverting to a five-year-old, typing 5318008, and never getting any work done again.
Hurrah for James Thomson and PCalc, freeing us from the calculator tyranny imposed by James Thomson and PCalc!
Posted by Craig Grannell in Humor, News, iPhone Apps | 2 Comments »
10:08 am, October 9th, 2009, Nicole Martinelli
If you’ve ever wondered what the point of those flashlight apps are, wonder no more: they are kick-butt investigation tools.
The next time you need to crawl down a 150-foot electrical conduit and don’t have a flashlight -- your iPhone can light the way, a recent episode of CSI reminds us.
In a cheesy bit of iProduct placement, the actor hands his iPhone-cum-flashlight over to the guy who will have to brave the crawl space saying “There’s an app for that.”
There are a bunch of these apps on iTunes, most are free, ranging from Funny Flashlight to myLite (also has strobe effects), with jokey descriptions like “Are you scared of the dark?”
Has anyone found the flashlight app handy — aside from helping solve heinous crimes?
Posted by Nicole Martinelli in Humor, News, iPhone, iPhone Apps | 14 Comments »
7:49 am, October 2nd, 2009, Craig Grannell
When I was a kid, digital calculators were roughly the size of a brick, and had satisfyingly chunky displays. They also, in those pre-internet days, provided a means of minor technical mischief. Type in 5318008, flip your calculator upside down, and it appeared to say ‘boobies’. If you were five, this was the most hilarious and original gag in the history of the world.
In this modern and rather less innocent age, the media would have you believe that personal technology devices in the hands of children merely teach them how to joyride while murdering innocent puppies and simultaneously fashioning bombs out of string, jelly babies and bits of twig. It’s presumably for this reason that Apple considers it a good idea to warn you (Every. Single. Time.) when you download an eReader from the App Store that it—shock!—potentially enables you to view content that some people might deem objectionable.
Enter, stage right, James Thomson, creator of iPhone/iPod touch calculator PCalc. In a minor slice of design genius, he combined the two issues mentioned above and PCalc now slaps a huge ‘Censored!’ sign across ‘naughty’ words when your device is flipped, thereby ensuring fragile little minds aren’t warped beyond all recognition.
This is a smart, funny, satirical swipe at the recent trend towards over-zealous censorship. Unless you’re, say, Sajid Farooq of NBC, who, inexplicably takes Thomson’s joke seriously (and, sadly, he’s not alone) and states PCalc’s change would “make even George Orwell shudder in his grave”. I’m thinking Orwell would be more likely to laugh his CENSORED off.
PCalc is available on the App Store for $9.99/£5.99.
This article originally appeared on Revert to Saved.
Posted by Craig Grannell in Humor, News, Opinions, iPhone Apps | 2 Comments »
9:14 am, September 30th, 2009, Nicole Martinelli
@Doberman Studio.
This an ad mock-up from Moscow agency Doberman Studio has me plenty confused. Sure, the sleek, round lines of the Mac Mighty Mouse might induce one to think it feminine.
Or is it some kind of commentary on gay marriage — i.e. did Mickey fall for the cartoon Mighty Mouse?
In the second version, cartoon mouse Jerry also falls prey to the seductive powers of the Mighty Mouse.
Read the rest of this post »
Posted by Nicole Martinelli in Advertising, Humor | 6 Comments »
4:20 pm, September 29th, 2009, Leander Kahney
When the installer contains two spelling mistakes, it’s a sign you’re installing quality software.
From Adobe UI Gripes, a site that describes itself as: “Me moaning about shoddy UI inconsistencies and mistakes in Adobe products and how they get shittier with every release.”
Posted by Leander Kahney in Humor, Software | 5 Comments »
9:27 am, September 29th, 2009, Nicole Martinelli
Processed food mongers Kraft thought they might cop some of Apple’s cool by sticking an “i” in front of a new product.
Meet iSnack 2.0. It’s Vegemite (for the uninitiated, concentrated yeast extract) plus cream cheese. In one handy jar.
(Forgive me Australians: it sounds like it should’ve been directly marketed as an emetic.)
The new Apple-esque name was chosen from 48,000 entries in a contest. The winning entry was coined by 27-year-old Dean Robbins, who, we’re guessing because he’s also a web designer, is probably also a Mac user.
Posted by Nicole Martinelli in Advertising, Apple, Humor | 13 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 »
4:44 am, September 22nd, 2009, Giles Turnbull
Thanks to Unminimalist Master, Paul Mison
There has been far too much stuff about minimalism on Cult of Mac recently, and it’s time we had a revolution.
Posted by Giles Turnbull in Humor, Opinions, Top stories | 27 Comments »
9:33 am, September 17th, 2009, Nicole Martinelli
McDonald’s Italy just launched a new, limited-edition hamburger called the Mac. It boasts “stone baked bread, Emmental cheese, choice beef, tomato and lettuce.”
The tag line above says “Discover our new creation available from September 16.”
Don’t tell Apple, they might not like that “il Mac,” as it’s called in Italian in exactly the same way as the computer, is ready for speedy, cheap consumption.
Tasty.
Posted by Nicole Martinelli in Cult of Mac, Humor, Quickies | 7 Comments »
2:46 am, September 16th, 2009, Pete Mortensen
Hilarious edit of last week’s keynote. There’s a point when Phil just won’t stop saying “great” that’s just hypnotic.
Incredible
Posted by Pete Mortensen in Apple, Humor | 8 Comments »
Ninja Assassin the movie is an anticipated Hollywood swords and sandals epic from James McTeigue, director of V for Vendetta, with a story from J. Michael Straczynski, the creator of Babylon 5 and the only Spider-Man comic in which Dr. Doom cries (though the artist allegedly came up with that last bit).
It’s also now an [...]
This is what you’re about to ask: Is Star Wars: Trench Run so good that it’ll have you wondering how magically your iPhone becomes an X-wing fighter? Answer: No. It’s better — it’s actually so good, you’ll be trying to figure out why your X-wing looks suspiciously like an iPhone.
New on the App Store is Voices from the clever folk at Tap Tap Tap. You can guess what it does.
Press releases, you will hardly be surprised to hear, are rarely very interesting. But one arrived in my inbox a couple of weeks ago that made me double-take.
“Sony’s S Series Walkman,” it chattered, “is a serious challenger to the iPod Nano.” Gosh, really? Perhaps the Cult had better have a look at one, then, despite [...]
If you jailbreak your iPhone, the first thing you ABSOLUTELY MUST DO is change the default filesystem password.
When you jailbreak, the filesystem’s password is set to the common password “alpine.” As people usually don’t bother changing this password after performing a jailbreak, it’s really easy for hackers to get access to any jailbroken iPhone/iPod Touch [...]
Convert your mild-mannered Mac Pro into a hard drive speed demon. Stuff it with drives fast enough to work with full-quality, uncompressed video. Get more than 300 MB/s on your internal drives! It’s so easy even I can do it!
I’ve been working in video production for the last 20+ years. When you’re working with video [...]
Some readers might remember the fuss a few weeks ago, when Snow Leopard came out and people noticed that it did something screwy to the way files behave.
George Hotz a.k.a GeoHot has released blackra1n RC3, which is an update to a 1-click jailbreak that adds activation options and an add-on blacksn0w, which unlocks latest iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS baseband version 05.11.07. To use blacksn0w, make sure you have this new baseband (check under Settings –> General –> About –> Modem Firmware) [...]
