Cult of Mac: a blog about the Mac, the iPod, the iPhone - and the people who love them

Digital Americana has just popped up out of nowhere, claiming to be “the first literary & culture magazine developed especially for the interactive tablet experience.”
Or to put it another way, it will be “a new interactive magazine made exclusively for the Apple iPad”. And anyone can contribute.

The editors are looking for fiction, artwork and photography [...]

Just days after we reported on the launch of Alfred for OS X, along comes yet another keyboard-centric file and application launcher: Launchy.
Launchy has a long history as an open source Windows application, doing much the same on that platform that Quicksilver did on OS X. It too supports plugins that greatly boost its usefulness.
Right [...]

Here’s Homer Simpson’s iPhone. Pretty dull, actually. Only one page of apps, and most of them look like the defaults. No iFart? No iBeer? No iDoh?
Wait – what’s that app there? Third row down, third from left?

Ah! Couch Gag! Yeah, one of my favorite apps.

Funny, it never does that when I use it.

It’s official! After a month and a half of eager anticipation, Apple has announced the U.S. launch date of the iPad.
You’ll be able to pick up the iPad WiFi on April 3rd, with the iPad 3G coming later in the month.
Pre-orders start next Friday on March 12th through Apple’s online store.
International roll-out in [...]

Drums are awesome; there’re few things as satisfying as making sounds by thumping something with a stick — even if that stick is virtual. Now, for a buck, the iPhone can be turned into a virtual museum of virtual drums, thanks to Vintage Drum by developer OutOfTheBit.

Nine drum kits are available to choose from, [...]

Awesome Note is a charming, flexible, free-form app that combines elements of both note-taking and todo apps. But like uncle Chuck at an all-you-can-eat Vegas-style buffet, trying to shoehorn too much good stuff into one thing can sometimes lead to messy results.
The good stuff about Awesome Note ($4) is easy to like. It’s eye-catching. [...]

Just days after we reported on the launch of Alfred for OS X, along comes yet another keyboard-centric file and application launcher: Launchy.
Launchy has a long history as an open source Windows application, doing much the same on that platform that Quicksilver did on OS X. It too supports plugins that greatly boost its usefulness.
Right [...]

It’s time for our weekly digest of tiny iPhone reviews, courtesy of iPhoneTiny.com, with some extra commentary exclusive to Cult of Mac.
This time, we review Angry Birds, Bloom, FallDown!, Icy Escort, RandomPlay, Sir Revs-a-Lot, SteamPunk Hockey, Vector Runner

APP OF THE WEEK
Angry Birds: Artillery game w/ suicidal pig-hating birds. Low replay value & frustrates, but fun [...]

This first tip starts with the very basic basics. Lots of more advanced stuff is coming very soon.
The first time you start your new Mac, you’ll see a screen that looks similar to the one above. If all you’ve ever used before is Windows machines, it might seem a little weird and intimidating.
So, here’s [...]

In the few short hours since we announced our new series, 100 Essential Mac Tips and Tricks For Windows Switchers, we’ve been overwhelmed by the response from you gorgeous Cult readers.
We’ve been deluged with emails from brand new, recent, and soon-to-become switchers asking questions and looking for help. It’s clear that there’s plenty of people [...]

Starting tomorrow, Cult of Mac will be publishing a series of posts simply called “100 Essential Mac tips and tricks for Windows switchers.”
These will be short, simple posts explaining one thing at a time. They’re aimed very squarely at people who don’t know much about OS X. Complete beginners who have only recently started using [...]

This iPhone 3Gs video camera stabilizer is probably too extreme a DIY project for anyone to actually carry out, but if you choose to brave Google Translate’s gobbledygooked English translation ofthese Japanese instructions, you should be able to get the jist and make your very own iPhone steadicam… just the thing to make your own [...]