What it sounds like: Avant-garde dance rock with plenty of pile-driving bass, wild harmonics and lovely lo-fi recordings.
Why you should listen to it: After becoming indie stars with their 2004 album, the Toronto duo are finally back with their first LP in a decade and they haven’t lost a step.
iTunes - $9.99
Apple put mobile wallet payment platforms like Google Wallet, Square and PayPal on notice this week with the reveal of Pay, but before Cupertino decided to launch its answer to the wallet, sources tell TechCrunch the company was eyeing an acquisition of Square.
Square’s simplistic payments platform seems like it would have been the perfect fit for Apple and would have added “Next Steve Jobs Nominee” Jack Dorsey to its loaded executive ranks, but after Apple executives failed to put enough cash on the table, Square walked away from negotiations.
GIFs are one of the finest gifts God has given the internet. I can’t get enough of them. And once iOS 8 drops it’s going to be easier than ever to have non-stop reaction GIF conversations with friends.
PopKey is a third party keyboard that will replace those useless letters on your keyboard with your favorite GIFs.
You can search for GIFs by keyword and paste them into messages without ever having to leave your conversation. The app will come with access to thousands of GIFs, but you can also upload your own if you want. And now that iOS 8 automatically deletes old messages, you don’t have to worry about them hogging your storage.
Here’s a closer look at the keyboard in action:
One of the best underrated features of iOS 8 is the addition of Wi-Fi calling, and while carriers like T-Mobile and EE have been quick to jump on Apple’s new technology that makes transition calls from LTE to WiFi seamless, AT&T is dragging its heels and says it doesn’t plan to enable the feature until 2015.
AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega doesn’t see an urgent need to add WiFi calling, reports LightReading, after attending Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference where Ralph said AT&T will only add Wi-Fi calling 2015 as a compliment to VoLTE and 3G voice.
U2’s partnership with Apple created the biggest album release ever this week with over 500 million iTunes customers receiving Song of Innocence for free, with just one bromantic touching of fingers, but according to U2’s manager, Guy Oseary, the band has even more plans in development with Apple.
Giving away U2’s album for free also proved how worthless the album format is nowadays thanks to iTunes indomitable ability to sell single MP3 files faster than McDonald’s can spit out beef patties, but in an interview with Billboard, Oseary hinted that Apple and U2 are working on a new formats to consume music too.
Apple Watch. Apple Pay. Apple TV. Apple has gone crazy for, uh apple.
Not a single new “i” product was revealed on Tuesday, which is a good thing according to the guy that invented Apple’s i-conic naming structure, but kind of annoying when repeatedly referring to Apple Watch in texts.
Apple’s own marketing materials shorten the name by using “Watch”, which is super easy to type on OS X by pressing Option + Shift + K to pull up the character, but typing it on an iPhone or iPad is literally impossible. Luckily, our friend Adam Christianson at MacObserver has a quick tip that puts the on your iPhone keyboard with simple shortcut.
When it comes to mobile communication chips, Qualcomm has cemented itself as Apple’s go-to supplier.
The San Diego-based semi-conductor company dominates the mobile chips business like Apple dominates tablets, but Intel is ready to steal a large chunk of it, and according to the president of Intel Korea, Lee Hee-sung, it’s only a matter of time before Apple converts.
Upgrading to the iPhone every year is costly, but if you keep your iPhone in great condition, you can always sell it right before the next iPhone comes out and use that to supplement the cost of upgrading.
Knowing the best place to sell your iPhone can be the tricky part because there are dozens of places you can go to as each vendor is different and will offer you different methods and prices. Choosing the right venter can be the difference between turning an iClunker into a new upgrade, or getting burned by extra fees and low trade-in prices.
Here are the best places to get the most cash out for your iPhone 6 or 6 Plus upgrade:
Apple hasn’t exactly confirmed the exact time yet, but iPhone 6 and 6 Plus preorders will likely begin tomorrow morning at 12:01AM PT, exactly… the same time iPhone 5S preorders started last year, and every other year.
Tim Cook thinks the iPhone 6 will trigger an avalanche of upgrades, making it Apple’s most wildly in-demand phone yet, and while Apple is attempting to balance the crush on their website by starting preorders in the middle of the night, it will, in all likelihood, still be a madhouse when Apple starts selling iPhones later tonight.
Hence this guide. We’re going to walk you through the best ways to make absolutely sure you get your iPhone 6 or 6 Plus pre-ordered right at the stroke of midnight and in your hands next Friday when it officially launches in the minimum amount of time, so you can go right back to sleep.
[Editors note: this post has been stickied to the top of Cult of Mac, but you’ll find new Apple goodness by scrolling down]
Big or bigger? The choice between iPhones this year isn’t as easy as just picking a color and storage option. The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have a number of differing features when it comes to the screen, battery, camera and even software. You better have your mind made up before pre-orders start.
For those who are still undecided, Killian is ready to guide you through the pros and cons of both the 6 and 6 Plus, but if you need a little extra convincing to go bigger, I’ve got 8 reasons why the 6 Plus is the best iPhone for your pocket, or fanny pack.
Apple is officially a watchmaker. And like all fancy watchmakers, the company has created a trove of gorgeous marketing close ups of its timepieces, only Apple has hidden a subtle to diss to competitors that its way ahead of their analog challengers.
Most watchmakers set their watch faces to 10 past 10 o’clock in advertisements. Rolex is anal about using 10:10:31, TAG Heuer uses 10:10:37, and Bell & Ross are dedicated to 10:10:10, but Apple’s so far ahead, it set the clock of its watch to nine minutes past 10 o’clock.
Apple’s first wearable is heading full-stream down the product pipeline ahead of its early 2015 release, and to aid with the launch of its first fashion accessory, Apple has recruited the talents of Gap Inc’s second top marketing executive.
Marcela Aguilar joins Apple with a deep background in fashion and ad agencies after serving as Gaps senior global director of marketing and communications, and has plenty of global expertise that will come in hand as Apple tries to convince fashion forward women and men to slap an Apple Watch on their wrists.
Tim Cook and the team at Apple seemed mighty proud of their incredible Apple Watch achievement yesterday, but Cook’s excitement was just a flash in the pan compared to the world’s truthiest Apple fanboy: Dr. Stephen T. Colbert
The late-night news show host was seen catching up on the iPhone 6 keynote when show started last night, but once the Apple revealed the device that’s going to revolutionize the way you look at your wrist, Colbert unleashed an explosive celebration and capped it off by making his boring dumbwatch as obsolete as possible.
Stephen even managed to get an exclusive look at the upcoming WristPad. Check out his hilarious Apple Watch segment below:
Apple crushed its introduction of the Apple Watch yesterday in Cupertino, but while Kevin Lynch and Jony were waxing poetic about the design of watch and its revolutionary UI, there was one feature everyone steered clear of: battery life.
Other than introducing the new inductive charging cable, Apple was mum on how long its timepiece will stay charged. According to a report from Recode, that’s because Apple is still trying to improve it ahead of the early 2015 release, but sources say Apple Watch battery life currently last about a day, and will require nightly charging.
Apple is going big with the iPhone this year. Two million photo-aligned pixels big!
The sight of Apple’s new mammoth iPhone 6 Plus might inspire a lot of witty genitalia jokes thanks to its 5.5-inch display, but Apple will be laughing all the way to the bank, as the iPhone 6 Plus has the potential to be Apple’s biggest seller of the year, and I’m not talking screen size.
Yes, the iPhone 6 Plus has display so huge you’ll need to buy an entirely new wardrobe to fit it in your clothes, but it also packs all-new features we weren’t expecting, some of which didn’t even make it onto the iPhone 6. Despite costing an extra $100, the iPhone 6 Plus is will hit shelves right as the phablet fad is booming, and its armed with features that make it not just bigger than the iPhone 6, but better too.
Here are eight reasons why the iPhone 6 Plus tops the iPhone 6:
Apple Watch might have stolen the spotlight at the Flint Center yesterday, but for many fans, tuning into the first 30 minutes was as impossible as scratching sapphire crystal glass.
Fans trying to watch the event via Apple TV and Safari were greeted by colorful bars and an Apple TV truck schedule. Even if you could get connected to the live stream, understanding Tim Cook and Phil Schiller was nearly impossible thanks to a Chinese translation track play loudly over the main feed.
It was an absolute disaster for the first 30 minutes from a company that executes marketing events with zen-like precision, but according to Dan Rayburn at Streaming Media, a few simple errors is all it took to bring down the show. After digging into the meta data and code from Apple’s site, Rayburn found the root of the problem: A couple lines of JavaScript.
Apple Stores across the globe will have plenty of new big-ass iPhones on display tables in less than 10 days, but if you can’t wait to see how well the gigantic iPhone 6 Plus will fit in your hand, you can print out these printable scale models of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus to get a feel for the device ahead of next week’s launch.
All you have to do is download the models here, print at 100% scale, cut them out, and you’ll be ready to create your own “hands-on” demo, no Flint Center invite required.
Here’s CultCast host Erfon Elijah taking his paper-thin iPhone 6 and 6 Plus out for a spin:
Apple has some new software to go along with its new iPhone 6 and Apple Watch announcements from this morning. iTunes version 11.4 is now available for Mavericks as free update.
iTunes 11.4 adds support for iOS 8 ahead of the public release on September 17th. The release notes state that update adds the ability for users to sync favorite music, movies and other content on iOS 8 devices. The update is available now in the Mac App Store, or via direct download on the viTunes website.
Tim Cook just took Apple into uncharted waters with a new product that could completely redefine the smart watch category, but when he took the stage, Tim says he Steve Jobs was on his mind.
Minutes after the keynote closed, Tim Cook met up with ABC News’ David Muir and said that he thinks Jobs was smiling down on the event, and would be incredibly proud to see what the company is doing today. Cook also talked a little bit about the development of the Apple Watch, revealing that it’s the first post-Jobs device Apple has released.
Watch the short interview below:
We finally know all the detail of the iPhone 6, but there’s just one question remaining: Which one are you going to get? The iPhone 6 has all the features of its bigger brother, but is your pocket jonesing for the iPhone 6 Plus and its monstrous 5.5-inch screen?
Pre-orders don’t start until September 12th, but you can vote in our poll above and drop the reasons for your choice in the comments below while you wait for iPhone 6 launch day on September 19th.
Tim Cook and company brought down the house at the Flint Center in Cupertino, and while investors haven’t reacted positively, Apple fanboys are still trying to recover from the hurricane of incredible new products Apple just announced.
The Apple Watch, big iPhones, Apple Pay and even some new software features were previewed at Apple’s first fashion-forward event. But there were a couple of disappointments hiding in the dark corners of the Flint Center as well. Like, where was the talk about the Apple Watch’s battery life? And why is there no sapphire glass on the iPhone 6?
Here are the biggest disappointments from today’s Apple keynote:
The iPod Classic is dead.
After serving faithfully in the iPod lineup since 2009, the iPod Classic and its iconic click-wheel interface have finally gotten the ax. Along with redesigning the Apple website and adding an Apple Watch page, Apple has removed the iPod Classic from the iPod section of its site.
We knew this day was coming for years, and what better way to give the old iPod the boot than right as the sexy new smartwatch is walking through the doors at Apple’s campus.
Fare thee well, oh click wheel. Fare thee well.
All the finishing touches have been added to iOS 8 ahead of its release later this month, leading Apple to seed the final GM beta to developers.
iOS 8 GM is now available to developers in the iOS Dev Center with the public release slated for September 17th, 2014 – two days before the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus hit Apple Store shelves. The new mobile operating system will be made available to iOS users for free, and is compatible with the iPhone 4s and greater, as well as the iPad 2 and greater.
Apple’s live broadcast of today’s keynote was one of the worst of all-time, but if you didn’t catch all the detail of the Apple Watch you can now head to Apple.com/watch to learn all the deets on Apple’s new wearable.
Apple Watch doesn’t launch until 2015 and there’s still no word on battery life, or how much the high end models will cost, but for now you can drool over its Sapphire display and six different wrist straps.
Along with the new Apple Watch page, the website has been redesigned with a sleek new menu bar that’s just as flat as iOS 7 and 8. The website is also responsive with a new mobile view on iPhone and iPad. Promotional pages for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are also available, but the Apple Store is still offline.
Today Apple unveils the iPhone 6 and mythical iWatch, and Cult of Mac is on the ground in Cupertino, enthusiastically reporting all the action from The Flint Center. Leander will be at the event, elbowing his way to the front of the line for the keynote and hands-on sessions.
This liveblog post is where we’ll cover all the announcements and festivities in Cupertino. We’ll have full updates, analysis and entertainment—everything you could possibly want to know about Apple’s newest, most magical devices.
The event kicks off at 10 a.m. Pacific, but we’ll be firing up the liveblog hours before to give you details from ground zero. What mysteries await us inside Apple’s mysterious white box? You’ll have to come back and find out.
