Apple seeded the seventh beta of OS X Yosemite to developer this afternoon with build 6A280n. The release comes ahead of Yosemite’s wide release this fall, and while the seed note doesn’t mention any new features, it looks like Apple’s engineers have been busy squashing bugs.
Sonos’ incredible wireless speaker system is getting even easier to setup now that company has announced its $50 Bridge that was required to stream music to any Sonos speaker in your house, will now be completely optional.
A new firmware update for Sonos will make the Bridge – which had to be connected to a router via an ethernet cable to work – nearly obsolete today, allowing users to connect Sonos speakers directly over Wi-Fi rather than setting up a proprietary network.
Banksy, the U.K. street artist who doesn’t shy from making commentary on social and technology issues with his graffiti street art, published a new sketch with a terrifying reminder that your iPhone has basically become a parasitic extension.
In a separate piece of graffiti art posted on Twitter, Banksy had a subtle message against corporations like Apple, Nike, Coca-Cola, and others.
Take a look:
So you don't have to slog through a lake of reviews to find something you’re just going to put down after 10 minutes, Cult of Mac has waded through the iTunes Store to compile a list of the best new books, movies and music to come out this week.
This week the most destructive giant lizard in the world lands on iTunes. The New Pornographer treat us to some happy new indie rock. And Susan Pinker explains why you should put down your iPhone and start talking to people face-to-face.
Enjoy!
Every nerd loves a good Apple rumor, and late night show host Jimmy Kimmel is no exception. Jimmy has a history of pranking street walkers with fake Apple products with some hilarious results, but in his latest sketch tackling rumors of a 12.9-inch iPad, Jimmy takes to the streets again to show just how ridiculous you’re going to look when Apple’s gigantic tablet is released next year.
Check out the short skit below:
iPhone 6 components have been leaking out of China like a broken fire hydrant, and while we’ve joked that someone could probably make a working iPhone out of all them, the guys at Feld and Volk actually went and did it.
Using parts sourced from their suppliers in China, the Russian luxury iPhone modifiers have assembled an iPhone 6 using a leaked case, logic board, display, true-tone flash and camera, and then connected the hacked-together device to iTunes just to see what would happen. To their surprise the device booted up, but couldn’t connect to the software update servers.
Check out the full hands-on video below:
The iPhone 6’s NFC chip has been spotted for the first time, according to images of an supposedly leaked iPhone 6 logic board that’s been fully assembled with Apple’s next-generation A8 processor, NFC chip, and another chip from Avago Technologies.
Previous leaks have shown the iPhone 6’s bare logic board, but the images from Feld & Volk give us our first look at some of the new chips. The new 2Ghz dual-core A8 chip is expected supposed to be much faster and smaller than the A7 in the iPhone 5s.
Here’s a shot of the NXP’s tiny NFC chip that could also make an appearance on the iWatch:
Apple made its iPhone 6 announcement official this week by sending invitations to an event on September 9th, but that's not going to stop the rumor mill from churning out new juicy tidbits of Apple gossip.
This week we’re back behind our crystal ball trying to divine the true meaning of the Apple universe and its endless rumors. Will NFC really land on the iPhone 6? Is a gigantic 13-inch iPad coming soon? And is the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 really just a ghost toying with our appetite for more pixels?
Step up to the crystal ball and see past the rumors and into the future…
The official unveiling of the iPhone 6 has finally been announced for September 9th, and while the iWatch has been rumored to make a surprise appearance at the event, “informed sources” out of China report that Apple’s 5.5-inch iPhone 6 won’t be seen at the Flint Center for performing arts.
Chinese tech blog IT168 Mobile reports that Apple’s upcoming event will launch two new iPhones, but we will only see a 4.7-inch iPhone 6, plus a new 8GB iPhone 5s to presumably to replace the iPhone 5c.
Apple’s decision to host its biggest event of the year at the Flint Center in Cupertino, rather than the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, has caught the notice of many Apple fans.
Only three Apple events have been held at the Flint Center for the Performing Arts, including the introductions of the Macintosh in 1984 and the Bondi Blue iMac in 1998. That’s also about the last time the Flint Center updated its website.
Apple just made its September 9 iPhone/iWatch event official by sending out press invites that revealed pretty much nothing other than the date of the event. To add to the mystery of what could be an Apple double-feature, with both the iPhone 6 and the iWatch taking the stage, one MacRumors reader at Woz’s alma mater noticed that Apple is already building a massive side stage at the Flint Center for the Performing Arts.
The iPhone 6 is going to attempt to replace your wallet, according to a report from Wired, claiming Apple’s mobile payment system will debut as a major feature in the iPhone 6, and NFC is a key piece of the puzzle.
Apple’s mobile payments platform will take on Google Wallet, Square, and others this September by adding NFC and a secure element to store all your credit cards info on the iPhone 6, allowing users to make NFC payments with retailers with out having to fumble around with your cash or credit card.
Apple will unveil its first foray into wearables at a special event in September, reports Recode’s John Paczkowski who previously reported that Apple had an October event scheduled for the iWatch, but the plans have changed.
Rumors of production delays have hounded the iWatch over the last few months, suggesting Apple might not even reveal the device until early 2015, but according to Recode’s report, the iWatch will actually debut alongside the two new iPhone 6 models during an event on September 9th.
Instagram’s decision to release Hyperlapse as a standalone app yesterday was a bit of surprise to users, but not adding the feature directly into Instagram certainly hasn’t seemed to hurt its rising popularity.
Hyperlapse was only released 24 hours ago on iOS, but grammers have been eager to take it for a spin, and have tagged over 32,000 Instagram posts with #hyperlapse. Most of the videos are rubbish time lapses of what it’s like to drive in a car, but Instagram made sure Hyperlapse got into the hands of some of its top photogs before the public release, and the results were are pretty breathtaking, whether it be cruising Yosemite on a longboard, or just watching an army of ants march by with its cargo.
We’ve gathered up 12 of the best Hyperlapse videos to hit Instagram so far from both pros and amateurs alike. Check out the videos below to see what’s sure to be the next big trend on Instagram:
Peak iPhone 6 rumor season is upon us and in just a few short weeks we really will know what Apple’s next smartphone(s) will look like. Until Tim Cook actually takes the stage though, the leaks will keep flooding in, but none are sure to be as juicy as what vlogger Doldo411 just uncovered over at the Second City Network.
Thanks to sources close to the situation, Doldo411 got an exclusive first look at the iPhone 6, and after performing a quick teardown, reveals the new iPhone design is definitely thicker but more flexible that previous designs. It also comes with a delicious new case with gradient wood paneling. If this isn’t the real iPhone, it’s at least the funniest leak of the year.
Take a look:
Splitting dinner checks with friends in the age of credit cards and no cash has become increasingly complex, but Square Cash for iOS just received a huge redesign and feature update today that makes paying back a buddy as easy as sending a text.
Square Cash 2.0 now enables anyone to request money from up to 25 people at once, even if they don’t use the app, and best of all there aren’t any fees.
The state of the tablet industry has not been promising lately. Over the last few months Apple reported slumping iPad sales, Best Buy’s CEO declared that tablet sales are “crashing,” and many analysts and pundits have eagerly declared the tablet fab is coming to an end, but Recode’s Walt Mossberg has a few points to make in defense of the tablet.
While IDC expects tablet sales to flatline by the end of 2014, Tim Cook indicated to Mossberg that the future of tablets is still bright, calling the current lull in sales a mere “speed bump.”
Apple TV added Showtime’s new on-demand video service, Showtime Anytime, to the list of channels available to Apple TV user in the U.S. today.
The Showtime Anytime service has been available on a number of other set-top boxes, including the Roku, Xbox 360, and Amazon’s FireTV, but is finally coming to Apple’s set-top box as it amps up content ahead of a rumored 2015 redesign.
Verizon Wireless announced today that it is preparing to roll out Voice over LTE (VoLTE) support to its millions of subscribers over the next few weeks, just ahead of Apple’s planned release of iOS 8 which is rumored to bring VoLTE support to the iPhone for the first time.
The addition of VoLTE will allow Verizon customers to send and receive voice calls over the faster LTE network, rather than using old technologies like 3G, resulting in high-definition voice calls as well as video.
Later today Instagram will release a new stand alone app for iOS called Hyperlapse, reports Wired, that will allow users to create time lapse videos that are unfathomably smooth thanks to a its accompanying stabilization algorithm.
Rather than bringing it’s stand alone messaging app Bolt into the spotlight, Instagram is releasing its first ever tool for capturing time lapse video, and comes right as Apple is adding time lapse video to iOS 8, only Hyperlapse comes with a few advantages that Apple’s baked-in version doesn’t have.
AAPL is back in a big way. After breaking an all-time high of $100.53, the price of Apple shares have continued to climb upward, and according the a WSJ report, hedge funds are piling onto the stock in droves.
Over the second quarter of 2014 henge funds have purchased $855 million in new positions in Apple, giving AAPL the second highest level of new buying activity among S&P 500 stocks.
The world’s top tennis players are descending on New York City this week to slap the fuzz off some tennis balls in pursuit of an unprecedented $38.3 million purse, and Ralph Lauren is ready to support the cause by arming the tournament’s ball boys with its new line of iPhone-connected smart shirts.
As the first round of the tournament gets underway today, the luxury clothing line announced its first move into the space of tech wearables with an entire line of smart shirts with built-in health sensors for both athletic and professional occasions.
China is planning to take on Apple and Google with a new homegrown operating system that will launch this year, as Chinese government seeks to distance itself from imported rivals.
The new operating system created by the Chinese government will hit desktops first when its released in October, according to a report from Reuters, and will hopefully supplant Windows, OS X and Chrome OS as the top desktop operating system in China within one to two years, with a mobile version planned as well.
Dong Ngyugen’s highly anticipated follow-up to Flappy Bird finally landed on iOS last week, but after months of waiting for an addictive new 8-bit game, fans found Swing Copters to be Ngyugen’s most impossible game yet.
To make Swing Copters slightly less impossible and a few degrees more enjoyable, Ngyugen released an update this morning, tweaking the gameplay so that your little copter is able to make a few more corrections before flying through the diabolical maze of swinging hammers and propeller-annihilating green steel bars.
In today’s Cult of Mac TV video we go hands-on with the Swing Copters update that certainly doesn’t make the game easy, but does manage to put the gameplay on par with Flappy Bird’s addictiveness.
Check out the Cult of Mac TV hands-on review below:
Apple is still reliant on Samsung for many of the iPhone’s internal components, including the fabrication of its almighty A-series processors, but in an effort to secure more processor orders from Apple, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is already ahead of schedule with production of the next-generation A9 processor.