study

Read Cult of Mac’s latest posts on study:

Want a real break? Put down your iPhone!

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Gaming on iPhone XS
Turns out this isn’t as relaxing as you think it is.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Using your phone during a break from work doesn’t give your brain a chance to rest and recoup, according to a new study. It’s like not taking a break at all.

The experiment’s results don’t indicate people should stay off computers when they want a quick rest. Just phones, as these are “more cognitively taxing than expected.”

The ultimate utility software roundup for digital creatives [Deals]

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From converting media to transferring giant files, staying on task and more, these are Mac apps any digital professional can use.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Like the content they create, today’s digital creative takes many forms. Whether designing a website or a game, whether editing photos or lines of code, there are some things we all have in common. This bundle of Mac apps offers tools for converting media files of all kind, a powerful file transfer protocol for moving data from place to place, a game-changing productivity tool for completing complex projects, and a digital assistant for studying better and taking rich notes.

No matter what you do at the screen, these Mac apps can help you do it better. And they’re all going for half off or even more. Read on for more details:

Apple Watch has a place at school with upcoming Penn State study

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It might be like this, but with books and stuff.
Photo: Apple

Nobody’s really sure what to do with wearables like the Apple Watch, and we don’t just mean in the “How does this improve my life?” sense of it. Safety and cheating concerns are putting it on a lot of people’s ban radar, and laws are scrambling to incorporate the new tech as needed.

But some researchers at Penn State are about to see if the Apple Watch might find a home in the classroom, after all.

The states with the most iPhone users will surprise you

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Ericsson wants to stop Apple selling iPhones in the United States. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
How many iPhone users are in your state? Photo: Jim Merithew

Do you think your state has a lot of iPhone users? You might be surprised to learn that you’re right – if you live in Alaska, Montana, or Vermont.

This surprising result comes from a survey conducted by mobile advertising firm Chitika, who wanted to quantify the level of iPhone usage on a state-by-state basis.

While the data doesn’t show much correlation with geographic or raw population figures, the survey did figure out that the three states had the highest percentage of iPhone users, with 65, 60 and 59 percent respectively.

The iPad Is Leading The Charge In The E-Mail Revolution

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When I’m not seated in front of a computer, I use my iPad mini for almost everything I need to do online. Checking my emails, banking, streaming movies and music, and reading the day’s news — it’s all done on a tablet. And it turns out I’m not the only one who’s abandoning my PC for a handheld.

Perion, the creator of IncrediMail, today unveiled the results of its latest survey of 4,400 iPad owners in the United States. The majority of respondents said they consider Apple’s popular tablet their favorite device for reading and writing emails, beating PCs and smartphones by a wide margin.

One in Four iPad Buyers Is A New Apple Customer

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One in four iPad buyers is a new Apple customer
iPad expands Apple's market - one in four iPad buyers is a new Apple customer

It’s no secret that the iPad is Apple’s fastest selling product ever. That fact was made clear during the company’s recent financial call when Tim Cook compared how long it took for other Apple products to reach current iPad sales figures. What hasn’t been as clear is just how much the iPad is expanding Apple’s overall customer base.

A new NPD study, however, shows that the iPad is playing a significant role in helping Apple attract new customers. It turns out that one out of every four iPad buyers have never owned an Apple product before.

iPhone Users Twice As Likely To Connect To Wi-Fi Than Android Users

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Chances are to save on your 3G dataplan, you’ve enabled Wi-Fi on your iPhone. However, if you’re an Android user, you’re less likely to do so. According to a new study by ComScore, 71% of iPhone users are connected to a Wi-Fi hotspot, while only 32% of Android users are. So what could be the reason? Perhaps connecting to Wi-Fi on an iPhone is a bit easier. 

In-App Ads Drain Up To 75% Of Your Phone’s Battery

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Free apps aren't so free after all
Photo: Apple

Free apps that display in-app advertising are sucking the life out of your cellphone’s battery. A team led by Abhinav Pathak, a computer boffin at Purdue University, Indiana, found that around “65%-75% of energy in free apps is spent in third-party advertising modules.”

Translation: Free apps like Angry Birds and Facebook may actually cost you more than paid apps in the end.

40% Of All Photos On Twitter Come From iOS

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Twitter-Photos

Wow. Between Twitter for iPhone, the iOS 5 camera app and Instagram, a huge 40% of all pictures shared on Twitter actually originate from iOS. In fact, it could be more, since other Twitter clients are not broken down by platform.

No wonder Twitter struck a deal with Apple to integrate their micro-blogging service into iOS 5. If all of the iPhones suddenly disappeared from Earth in some sort of Cellular Rapture, Twitter would lose a devastating chunk of their user base!

[via The Next Web]

34% Of iPhone Users Already Think They Have An iPhone 4G

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iphone confusion
Photo by Backstabbers - http://bit.ly/oMasUJ

You know what they say, ignorance is bliss. According to a study by Retrevo, 34% of iPhone users believe that they already have a ‘4G’ device. AT&T and Verizon are starting to aggressively market their 4G networks, and new, 4G-equipped smartphones are hitting the shelves from iPhone competitors, like Android.

The typical consumer can be easily confused by similar numbering and phrasing in marketing, and the iPhone “4” seems to be the reason for all of this 4G confusion.

Hearing Loss Blamed On iPods May Be False Positives Says New Study

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The role of iPods and earbuds as inner-cochleal deafening devices has been debated for years, with recent studies suggesting very strongly that hearing loss in children and teenagers is much higher than it should be thanks to the likes of Apple’s portable media player.

It might not be quite time to strike a new iPod off of your child’s Christmas list, though: a new study suggests that the prevalence of young people suffering from hearing loss thanks to loud music may be much lower than it has seemed.

According to a report done by the University of Minnesota’s Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, the conventional hearing tests are producing false positives for hearing loss at a rate of about ten percent.

That’s not enough, obviously, to throw caution to the wind. Cramming ear buds down your aural holes, putting on some Iron Maiden and then wildly spinning your iPod’s volume wheel until brains start dripping from your tear ducts is still going to have some consequences.

That said, it seems that the threat iPods pose to the hearing of our nation’s youth is about the same as it ever was: as long as you listen to your iPod at a lower, more responsible volume, you’re fine