Still shopping around for last minute gifts for your friends or family? Consider these three books authored by Cult of Mac writers, which may be just what you’re looking for.
Win Your Own Pair Of Customized Fanny Wang Headphones From Cult Of Mac [Giveaway]
Earlier this week we reviewed the Fanny Wang On-Ear Headphones and concluded they’re a pretty great set of cans. One cool thing about the the Fanny Wang headphones we didn’t mention was that you can order a completely customized pair from the Fanny Wang website. Because we know you guys love a nice set of headphones, we’re giving away one free pair of Custom 2001 Fanny Wang On-Ear headphones to a lucky reader. You can customize them however you want and keep them for yourself, or give the coupon to a friend for the Holidays as a gift.
I’ve never been the best at math, but I’m pretty sure there are almost 1.5 million different color configurations possible, so to determine a winner for this giveaway we’re going to be taking submissions to see who can design the best pair of headphones.
Here’s how to enter:
FLUD Version 2.0 Hits the App Store – Here’s Why You Might Like It More Than FlipBoard
Reading the news on the iPad is one of the absolute best experiences you can have on Apple’s magical tablet device. So when news hit yesterday that our two favorite iOS news reader apps came out with updates, we were pretty stoked. While you probably heard a great deal about the other reader app, we wanted to tell you about the awesome news reader you might be missing out on. It’s called Flud, and it was just completely redesigned yesterday.
Besides sporting a major facelift, what’s spectacular about Flud is its new ability to make reading the news a social experience. Rather than relying solely on an app to recommend websites and content to you, Flud users have the ability to see what their friends are reading in the app and share content back with them rather than spamming their Facebook or Twitter feed with the 15 news stories they’ve read throughout the day. Giving each user the ability to create a “news personality,” Flud aims to change the way we consume news much in the same way that Spotify and Rdio have changed the way we listen to music, by allowing users to inspire and be inspired by others based on what they consume.
Learn How to Make Great Product Demo Videos with Cult of Mac’s Creation Course Deal
There are 16 hours left on our Demo Video Creation Course Deal.
“These might be my favorite instructional videos ever.” – Ashton Kutcher
If your company doesn’t have a demo video, it’s missing out on the most effective way to convert those visitors into lifetime-long customers – by up to 400%.
To create a professionally made, high-quality video like this would typically run you at least $5,000…but you don’t need $5,000 to compete with the big boys.
Instead of spending several thousand dollars to get a demo made for your startup or small business, all it will cost you is $79 to learn the secrets of how to do it yourself.
Learning A New Language Doesn’t Cost A Fortune Thanks To Ultralingua’s Software [Cult Of Mac Deals]
Ever gone a trip overseas and felt silly trying to talk to locals who didn’t speak a lick of English? Yeah, me too. It’s actually become a bit of problem for me because I love traveling to different countries, but hate not being able to communicate with the locals. Today we’re offering a heat-seeking deal from Ultralingua. If learning a new language has ever crossed your mind, this buy one, get one free Cyber Monday special is a definite piece of gold!
Ultralingua dictionaries are available in dozens of language combinations, and they make a great gift for students, business professionals, teachers, and travelers. Use this deal for yourself or any of the language lovers on your gift list! Each language app includes a variety of reference and learning tools in a beautiful and simple interface.
For only $35, you’ll get two Mac App Dictionaries of your choice!
Your options include:
Cult Of Mac Is Now On Google+, Come Join Us!
Earlier today Google announced the addition of Google+ Pages, which allows businesses to create pages and interact with fans, just like on those other social networks. We’re really excited about Google+ (Hangouts are pretty freaking awesome), so we’re not wasting time to get started. We created our shiny new Google+ Page for Cult of Mac that will be getting all latest Cult of Mac news and love. Now you can add us to your circle and enjoy Cult of Mac’s news in Google+.
You can get to our Google+ Page by clicking here. And if you haven’t added us yet to your Facebook and Twitter parties, we’d love to be your friend there, too.
Fan Pays Tribute to Steve Jobs With Amazing Haircut (updated)
Not all of us on the Cult of Mac staff walk around with an Apple logo shaved into the back of our head. Actually, none of us do because we value our furs too much. However, there are a few hardcore Apple fans out there that represent the cult with pride. Example #1: As pictured above, this fan had not one, but two iconic Apple images shaved into his hair to commemorate Steve – the famous portrait, as well as the silhouette of Steve’s face inside the Apple logo.
Quebec Man Building a Veritable Fortress of Old Macs
Think you have more old Macs lying around the house than you need? Well that’s probably true, but you likely can’t compete with this veritable fortress of old Macs in Quebec. Vintage Mac lover Cyber@ctif recently posted this picture of his “wall o’ beige” on the RetroMacCast website.
Another twenty or so Compact Macs should complete the outer wall fortification. I particularly like the lone Color Classic standing above the rest on a pillar of ImageWriters and StyleWriters. Must be the Commander.
Cult of Mac Deals Giveaway – Sparrow
Let’s be honest, typical email clients (like your old corporate buddy Mr. Outlook) are about as fun as a bag full of dead butterflies. When was the last time you got excited to use Entourage or Lotus Notes? Probably never.
Luckily, Sparrow glided into the app-scene with a singular goal to make emailing fun. It’s lightweight so its zippy, yet packed with features no other email app has. The love and energy the Sparrow team put into their app has changed emailing from a dreaded chore into something that is pleasurable and fun.
Yesterday, with great excitement, Cult of Mac launched a new software hub called deals.cultofmac.com. Teaming up with the guys at StackSocial, this new feature will bring Apple fans the best deals on cutting-edge Mac Apps at a price you won’t be able to find on the Mac App Store. We’re starting things off by offering Sparrow, the best mail-app for OS X, for only $6.
To celebrate the launch, we’re giving away 5 copies of Sparrow for free to our readers via a giveaway contest on Facebook. Entering the giveaway is simple, but you gotta play to win.
Here’s how to enter:
Merge New and Old with an iVictrola iPad Dock, No Electricity Required
For those who love their iPads but miss the warm, muted sounds of a 78rpm phonograph, feast your eyes on the iVictrola iPad dock. A successor to the iVictrola iPhone dock a few years ago, this acoustic amplifier uses the speaker outputs of your iPad and an antique Magnavox phonograph radio horn to playback anything from Bix Beiderbecke to Lady Gaga – no electricity required.
Friday Twitter Giveaway From Cult of Mac and Appular
For this week’s giveaway we’ve partnered up with the friendly folks at Appular to bring fans a great package of iOS gaming apps, for free. We’ve got codes for five of the hottest games in the iPhone App Store right now and we’re ready to dish em out to our awesome fans to liven up your iPhone gaming lives. Today’s package of apps includes Cars 2, Tiny Wings, Hanging With Friends, The Game of Life, and Sea Battles. If you want a chance to win all five games then hurry up and enter the contest.
Cult of Mac Free ThinSkin Giveaway – Your Last Chance to Win
Cult of Mac Tuesday Twitter Trivia Giveaway, Today at 3pm PDT!
If you didn’t win yesterday’s Twitter giveaway, have no fear. Truepower Inc decided they’d like to giveaway a few more ThinSkins to Cult of Mac’s amazing readers. Switching things up, we’ll be doing a Twitter Trivia Giveaway today and handing out 5 new ThinSkins to the winners. If you want to join our five winners from yesterday and win a free ThinSkin we’d be happy to have one sent to you as long as you play by the rules.
Recycling the Old Mac File Icon [Fun Gallery]
David Schwen’s motto is “make something cool every day”. In some cases what’s past is present, as shown in this clever series of composite photographs of the classic Macintosh generic file icon out on the town in a variety of locations. Seen here emulating a parking ticket (but without the bright orange paper).
Cult of Mac Friday Giveaway – Fantastical
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSJmTByABG0
Calendar apps are usually pretty boring. You log an appointment in it and then you never think about the app again. Fantastical is here to bring a little bit of flavor and awesomeness to your drab calendar app. Fantastical allows you to create events instantly via natural language input. One of the great things is that the app works perfectly with iCal, Entourage, and Outlook so you don’t have to change over to a new calendar system.
Lucky for you, the team behind Fantastical, Flexibits, wanted us to share the love with all our readers, so today we’re giving away 3 promo codes for this awesome new calendar app. Soon enough you’ll be using natural language to create events in no time. Of course you have to enter to win. Here’s how to enter today’s contest.
Geek Trend: Tempting Fate Creating Steve Jobs Collectibles [Gallery]
In the last few years a kind of cat and mouse game has evolved between Apple Legal and some of the more daring (and creative) members of the Cult of Apple: tempting fate by selling Steve Jobs collectibles, and risking the wrath of Apple. How long before your Cease & Desist letter arrives?
Here are some of the more popular items created in the past few years.
Our First-Ever Meet & Greet Was a Gratuitous Kick in The Nuts! (in a Good Way)
We met some amazingly fantastic people at our first-ever shindig (at San Francisco’s Il Pirata) and gave out a smorgasbord of smashing raffle prizes.
Last Chance to Win – Cult of Mac Weeklong Giveaway!
We’ve given away an iMainGo X everyday this week. Although we wish we could keep it up, today is the last day for our awesome Cult of Mac readers to win this prize. If you’ve entered the contest everyday this week and still come up empty handed, here is your last chance, so make it count. Because we’re filling generous, we’re going to give everyone the option to submit two entries into the contest. Here’s how to enter:
Cult of Mac Thursday Twitter Trivia Giveaway, Today at 3pm PDT!
We’re back at it again today. After yesterday’s highly successful Twitter Trivia Giveaway we’ve decided to give everyone another chance to win the Twitter Trivia Giveaway. We’ve been giving out free stuff all week via Twitter, but we’re nearing the end of our weeklong giveaway. With only two more chances to win you got to make each try count. If you’d like to join our three other winners and receive a free iMainGo X we’d be happy to have one sent to you as long as you play by the rules.
Cult of Mac Wednesday Twitter Trivia Giveaway, Today at 3pm PDT!
We’ve been giving out free stuff all week via Twitter, and while today is no exception we’ve decided to spice things up by having a Twitter Trivia Giveaway. If you’d like to join our two other winners and receive a free iMainGo X we’d be happy to have one sent to you as long as you play by the rules.
Cult of Mac’s Limited Edition Mac-I’d-Like-to-Friend Tees Now On Sale
Man, does this tee snag eyeballs. And comments.
“Whoa, that’s so cool!” Right?
“I love Macs!” Me too, bro.
“You know what that means, don’t you?” Yeah, it means I’m wearing a cool t-shirt and I love Macs.
The Cult of Mac MILF tee is made in the U.S.A. (like the original Mac it celebrates) from 100 percent cotton, by Seattle-based MightTees. There aren’t many of these guys floating around and they’re selling out. Snag one at $18 before they’re gone for good.
Warning: Not recommended for the Midwest.
The Cult of Mac Super Guide To Everything Apple Announced At WWDC 2011 [Feature]
As a follow-up to last week’s super guide of everything we expected at WWDC 2011, here’s everything Steve Jobs and Apple actually did announce at this year’s WWDC, from Lion’s exciting new features to the revolution of iOS 5 and iCloud.
MRIs Show That The Cult of Mac Might Be More Religious Than It Thinks
Do you get feverish and sweaty when you even think of a new Apple product? You might start experiencing bleeding palms and other stigmata next, according to a new study. The exact same part of your brain is lighting up when you think about Apple products as when you have a religious experience.
Welcome to Mac OS X: An Illustrated Introduction [10th Anniversary]
Ten years ago Apple bestowed a new operating system unto the world, Mac OS X. A merger of NeXTStep and the Classic Mac OS, OS X finally delivered Apple’s first major evolution in OS design after a half decade of failed attempts: Taligent, Copland, Rhapsody…
To teach new users how to use its new creation, for a few years Apple included an explanatory brochure titled Welcome to Mac OS X with every copy. These booklets provided a helpful introduction to the new OS. In honor of the tenth anniversary of OS X, here’s a look back at how Apple described things in 2001.
Crisis Over: Google Has Reinstated Cult of Mac
That was quick. Google appears to have already upgraded CultofMac.com in its search results, just a few days after downgrading us.
As we noted yesterday, Cult of Mac was collateral damage in Google’s war on crappy content farms. For some inexplicable reason, we got downgraded when Google tweaked its algorithms last Thursday.
But today we’re back in. We’re on Google News (a very important source of daily traffic) as well as Google’s general search results. However, we still get outranked by some of the scraper sites that steal our content, so not everything’s perfect.
Why we’ve been upgraded, I have no idea. Google’s head of spam, Matt Cutts, tweeted me yesterday, saying Google had likely seen my post and would get it resolved. And Wired.com published a story about us today after speaking to a Google Fellow Amit Singhal. But the changes were already in place early this morning, which makes me think Google is slowly tweaking its algorithm to get better results. I’ve asked Cutts for an explanation, and will post up if/when I get a reply.
I’d like to thank readers for your awesome support. We got some very nice notes in the comments to the last post. Made my day. Thanks guys.