cars

Read Cult of Mac’s latest posts on cars:

Young photog with autism brings toy cars to life in photos shot on iPhone

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Anthony Schmidt shooting toys cars with iPhone
Anthony Schmidt, working outside his home in Washington.
Screenshot: Q14 Fox

Anthony Schmidt is that boy, the one who loves cars so much, he has collected die-cast metal toy replicas numbering in the hundreds.

But his car play changed the day he picked up his mother’s iPhone. Anthony started photographing the miniatures from a perspective that fools the eye and makes them appear full-size and sumptuous.

That perspective also is shaped through the eyes of a 12-year-old boy on the autism spectrum.

Amazon is bringing Fire TV to autos

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Fire TV Edition Smart TVs
Fire TV has all the popular services, including Apple TV+.
Photo: Amazon

CES 2020 Amazon is ramping up its expansion of the Fire TV platform in 2020 by making the streaming media platform available in automobiles and other third-party products.

The company revealed this morning that Fire TV now has over 40 million active users and its coming to even more devices. More than 150 Fire TV Edition devices across multiple product categories will be available by the end of 2020 and everyone from BMW to VOXX Automotive jumping onboard.

Tesla wants Apple’s help in solving IP theft

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Tesla
Tesla and Apple have something in common.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Tesla and Apple have previously engaged in a sort of cold war over next-gen car technologies. However, Elon Musk’s automotive company is now seeking help from Apple — to catch a suspected thief.

The issue involves a lawsuit put forward by Tesla against a former employee, who jumped ship to a Chinese rival while in possession of Tesla secrets. Apple has faced a similar problem in the past.

How to stop CarPlay’s autoplaying madness

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Sell your car and walk, or take public transit or a taxi.
Sell your car and walk, or take public transit or a taxi.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

You know how when you get into your car, your iPhone starts autoplaying a song after you connect it to your CarPlay-enabled stereo? Who thought that was a good idea? Maybe if you could set it to autoplay the latest episode of your favorite podcast it would be a good feature. But the same song, every time?

The only good thing to take away from this is that Apple’s programmers have decided to stop destroying the planet, and no longer use cars. How else could you explain why this hasn’t been fixed?

Fortunately, you can stop the madness — and it’ll only cost you 99 cents.

VW’s electric cars will be inspired by Apple design

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Project Titan
Apple is changing the auto industry even without making a car.
Photo: Idiggapple/Twitter

Volkswagen’s top designer is looking to Apple for some design inspiration

Apple abandoned its plan to build its own car from the wheels up, but car fans might still see some Apple-inspired autos hitting highways by 2020. not be making its own car anymore, but you might still see some Apple-inspired cars on the road by 2020.

Apple wants California to change self-driving car reports

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apple lexus
Apple's self-driving Lexus hits the streets of California.
Photo: Bloomberg

Just weeks after getting its permit to drive self-driving cars on public roads, Apple is already asking the California DMV to change reporting protocol requirements.

Apple sent the DMV a letter today arguing for changes to the rules for “disengagement reporting,” which if successfully implemented, would give the public less information about Apple’s self-driving vehicles.

Apple’s self-driving Lexus gets caught on camera

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Apple Car
Apple's first self-driving Lexus.
Photo: Bloomberg

Apple’s self-driving cars have been spotted in the wild for the first time, giving fans an early peek at the tech that could change roads forever.

The California DMV issued a permit to Apple earlier this month allowing it to test its self-driving cars on public roads. Apple is only registered to drive three Lexus cars around Silicon Valley, but the company is wasting no time in its efforts to catch up to the competition.

Apple VP Lisa Jackson joins federal committee overseeing automation

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Jackson
Lisa Jackson presenting at an Apple keynote.
Photo: Apple

The U.S. Department of Transportation revealed that it has established a new advisory committee that will make recommendations in the field of automation.

Apple’s VP of environment and policy, Lisa Jackson, will be one of the committee’s 25 members that will work on some of the most important issues facing transportation, including self-driving cars.

Want tech innovation? CES 2017 is about to bring it.

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Each year at CES, tech's biggest players show off their latest, greatest gear. (Except for Apple, of course.)
Each year at CES, tech's biggest players show off their latest, greatest gear. (Except for Apple, of course.)
Image: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

CES2017 Just because Apple ignores CES, the gigantic electronics show that slams Las Vegas each January, doesn’t mean you should. If you’re interested in the next wave of tech innovation, the annual show should definitely be on your radar.

You won’t glimpse the next iPhone or the rumored Apple Car, but there’s plenty of great tech breakthroughs that should get you salivating over next week’s big event. Here’s a rundown of all the cool stuff we expect to see at CES 2017.

iOS 10 ensures you never forget where your car is parked

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iPhone SE
iOS 10 helps keep tabs on your car.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

“Dude, where’s my car?” is about to become a question of the past thanks to a new feature in iOS 10.

The underrated new feature went unmentioned during Apple’s two-hour keynote yesterday, but it might solve one of the biggest problems with going to any mall, festival, airport, hotel or hospital: remembering where you parked.

Apple invests $1 billion in Chinese Uber rival

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money
Apple just made a big investment in China.
Photo: Cult of Mac

Apple has invested $1 billion in Chinese Uber rival Didi Chuxing in a move that continues Apple’s push into China and confirms the company’s interest in shaking up the automotive industry.

According to Tim Cook, the deal “reflects our excitement about their growing business … and also our continued confidence in the long term in China’s economy.” Perhaps more importantly, it could give Apple strategic insights and competitive advantages when it comes to Apple Pay and a possible Apple Car.

5 tech trends you don’t want to miss at CES 2016

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Tech is taking over Vegas for the week.
Tech is taking over Vegas for the week.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Cult of Mac CES 2016 full coverage 2016 is here and that can only mean one thing: It’s time for CES.

The world’s biggest consumer electronics show, CES 2016, is getting underway this week in Las Vegas, which means nerds and all the companies that make the gadgets they love are instinctively flocking to the desert oasis like the salmon of Capistrano.

This year’s show promises to be bigger than ever, with all the latest tech trends on full display. Cult of Mac will be on the scene all week long bring hands-on looks at the coolest and weirdest gadgets CES has to offer.

Here’s what we expect to see at the show:

Sorry, Google, BMW already owns ‘Alphabet’ and they don’t want to sell

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sorry-google-bmw-already-owns-alphabet-and-they-dont-want-to-sell-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads201508alphabet1-jpg
Why didn't they just...Google it?  Photo: Alphabet/Google
Why didn’t they just…Google it?
Photo: Alphabet/Google

When Google reorganized itself into a subsidiary of a new over-arching company, Alphabet, you’d think that they’d have checked to see if anyone else was doing a similar business with the name.

In fact, BMW also does business as Alphabet, and they own the trademark and the .com URL to boot.

BMW makes cars, and Google is working on a self-driving car. That seems like possible grounds for a trademark infringement suit, right?

CSR2′s hyperrealistic super cars leave other iOS racing games in the dust

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So real it hurts.
So real it hurts.
Photo: Zynga

If you’ve ever wanted to own a garage full of incredible super cars from the likes of Ferrari and McLaren, then you’re in luck. Virtually, at least.

NaturalMotion’s CSR Racing 2, the sequel to 2012’s hit drag racing game CSR Racing (an iTunes App Store Essential game), is headed to iOS devices soon and wow is it a tour de force of graphical fidelity. The light in the game’s garage caresses every curve of these hot automobiles, shining back the deviotion the development team obviously put into each and every loving shot.

CSR2 lets players experience the thrill of attaining not just one, but a whole garage of the most desirable cars on the planet,” writes Torsten Reil, CEO of NaturalMotion, “and it feels as close as possible to the real thing. That’s because each car, down the stitching on the seats, is built without compromise to its real-world beauty, integrity and authenticity.”

Check out the gorgeous teaser trailer below.

Check out Goodwood, Jony Ive’s favorite car festival

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The Goodwood Festival is a celebration of racing and hill climbs.
The Goodwood Festival is a celebration of racing and hill climbs.
Photo: Peter Leung/Twitter

The annual race car festival at Goodwood is underway this year, with 100,000 attendees all clamoring to see the hot rods and race cars speed their way to the top of the uphill course.

Avowed gear-head Jony Ive travels to the South of England each year to see the festtival; chances are he’s there now ogling the sweet lines of a fancy race car or taking in some ideas for the rumored Apple car.

Check out some of the cool rides from this year’s festival below.

Exciting images from ‘Golden Age of Auto Design’ we almost didn’t get to see

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Charles Balogh, Ford Advanced Studio, 1953. Photo: American Dreaming
Charles Balogh, Ford Advanced Studio, 1953. Photo: American Dreaming

The concept artists who envisioned the future of the automobile created edgy, forward-thinking illustrations knowing their works might never be seen — and would likely get destroyed.

But some of the forward-looking art created during Detroit’s “Golden Age of Automotive Design” made it outside company walls, thanks to artists who lined overcoats with drawings or used boxes with false bottoms to smuggle out their work.

The car-centric art is the subject of a current exhibit at Lawrence Technological University in Detroit and is the subject of an upcoming documentary on PBS called American Dreaming.

The makers of Monument Valley want to redesign your car dashboard

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Monument Valley
Who wouldn't want the team behind Monument Valley rethinking the way we drive. Photo: Ustwo

What do you do as a second act after creating one of the most beautiful iOS games in history? If you’re Ustwo, the devs behind the Cult of Mac favorite Monument Valley, the answer is simple: you redesign the car dashboard.

Yes, you read that correctly.

It might be a long way from the M.C. Escher-inspired iPad puzzle game, but Ustwo has teamed up with the company Car Design Research to create a prototype for a simplified in-car display that shows only the information you need at the time you need it. And, unsurprisingly, it looks spectacular.

Driverless Apple cars, macho men and Apple Watch apps on The CultCast

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He's a tower of power, too sweet to be sour.  Photo: Matt Ufford, WarmingGlow.com
He's a tower of power, too sweet to be sour. Photo: Matt Ufford, WarmingGlow.com

This week: A curiously equipped mystery van has us wondering if Apple’s working on self-driving autos. Plus, we review everything that Apple Watch apps can’t do, Aaron Sorkin’s Steve Jobs biopic gets a cast and not everyone is thrilled, Apple’s plans for a global “data command center,” and Macho Man Randy Savage helps us answer listener questions in an all-new Get to Know Your Cultist.

Our thanks to lynda.com for sponsoring this episode. Learn virtually any application at your own pace from expert-taught video tutorials at lynda.com.

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Full show notes ahead!

3-D printed Shelby Cobra ready to lay down the rubber

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A blast from the past got a blast from a 3-D printer. This replica Shelby Cobra is on display this week at the Detroit Auto Show. Photo: Oak Ridge National Laboratory
A blast from the past got a blast from a 3-D printer. This replica Shelby Cobra is on display this week at the Detroit Auto Show. Photo: Oak Ridge National Laboratory

The curvy roadster with the V-8 engine is the stuff of legend and the muse of copy cats.

The Shelby Cobra turned racing on its head in the 1960s and though so few were ever produced, it became one of the most copied cars in history. Replicas continue to flood the market and a simple search on Ebay will turn up a variety of pricey replica kits.

But there’s one that might have earned a nod of approval from Carroll Shelby had he lived to see it.

For the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Shelby Cobra, a working 3-D printed replica is currently on display at the Detroit Auto Show.

How my iPhone and Twitter bought me a car

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It's a pretty sweet ride. Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac
The Internet helped me land this Ford Escape. It's pretty sweet ride. Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

When my 2001 Subaru Forester died on the side of the highway a week or so back, I was not excited about trying to find a replacement.

Buying a car is right up there with heading to the DMV, going to IKEA and attending your ex’s next wedding. It’s depressing. And inevitable. The load of anxiety-ridden, “hurry up and wait” BS that has marred my every interaction with car dealerships both new and used is overwhelming.

So it was with glee that I bypassed all that crap and used my iPhone, email and Twitter to buy myself a new car. Let me explain.

Gadget watch: Camping, cycling, cars and cameras

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May 30 2014

Film or digital? Campfire or BBQ? Car or bike? Cable or wireless?

No matter which way you swing, this week’s gadgets have you covered. iPhoneographers can enjoy the Shoulderpod hand grip or slip the new iPad Olloclip onto their Mini or Air, and film nuts can get instant satisfaction with the new Lomo Instant Camera.

Camping? Take it easy in the giant Meriwether tent or go survivalist with the Blastmatch fire-starter. You can even choose how to arrive at the site, with accessories for your car or your bike. Happy traveling!