After a slew of complaints from users, Apple has just updated the Podcasts app for iOS. Gone away are the skeuomorphic UI elements that were prominent during the app’s original release. Instead, Apple has trimmed the UI down to its more essential elements.
Podcasts 1.2 is available in the App Store for free right now. The update includes some new features, such as On-The-Go playlists, Custom Stations, iCloud synchronization and more.
Here are the full notes:
After a few days of speculation, Google’s Chairman, Eric Schmidt, finally commented on whether Google Now would be making its way to iOS. This morning, Schmidt said that Google Now has been submitted to the App Store and the only thing standing in its way is Apple. The only problem is Schmidt’s completely wrong.
Apple commented on the Google Now approval process this afternoon and said that they haven’t even received Google Now yet.
Following heavy complaints from activist groups like Greenpeace, Apple announced last year that all of its data centers would be powered by 100% renewable energy by 2013.
Apple just updated their Environmental Policies webpage to report that as of now, all its data centers are running on 100% renewable energy.
We don’t often think of Apple as a cloud services company because so much emphasis is placed on hardware, but for many consumers, Apple’s iCloud is their first experience using cloud storage.
Over this past fall, Strategy Analytics conducted a study on which cloud services are the most popular in the U.S. right now, and iCloud grabbed the top spot with 27% usage.
Ever since the iPhone was released in 2007 it has slowly made a slew of other devices and accessories obsolete. At the very least, you probably have a bit less clutter in your life thanks to it.
To celebrate the utilitarian powers of the iPhone, we’re having an Instagram contest this week, and we’re giving out free stuff. All you have to do is take a picture of stuff your iPhone has replaced, post it on Instagram with “#cultofmac” and you’ll be entered to win.
What should you Instagram? Anything that you think your iPhone has replaced. Whether that be your Xbox, or even your ex-girlfriend. We don’t care, it’s up to you. We’ll choose five winners who will get a free 10-inch print from InstaThis. You’ll be judged on creativity and composition, so make your photos count.
Here’s How To Enter:
A joint venture company between Philips and Sony called Intertrust, has decided to file a patent infringement suit against Apple, asserting that 15 of the company’s patents have been violated.
Intertrust’s patents cover a range of devices and services for digital restrictions management (DRM) to protect intellectual property.
One of our biggest hopes for iOS 7 is that it will come with a huge update on UI. iOS is starting to look a bit old and everyone’s tired of the skeuomorphic features. It needs some innovative minimalist touches from Jony Ive.
Mohamed Kerroudj has created his own vision for what the iPhone’s Lockscreen should look like. The linen backgrounds have been replaced by flat white surfaces, but what’s better is you can actually respond to message right from Notification Center, or trash them, or schedule a date in your Calendar, or toggle your Wifi. It’d be great.
Take a look:
WWDC 2012 sold out in under two hours last year. It was insane. A lot of people on the West Coast didn’t even get a chance to buy a ticket because Apple announced tickets were available at 5am.
Everyone who’s really wanting to go to WWDC this year is probably looking for the best method to alert them on tickets, so Oisin Prendiville has created a service that will call you as soon as tickets are available.
Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablets have been some of the best competition to the iPad, mostly because they’re cheap but come with good software. It seems like Amazon would sell the Kindle for as cheap as possible if it meant taking a slice of Apple’s pie.
Earlier this morning, a rumor was floated by TechCrunch that Amazon is making a $99 tablet to compete with the iPad mini. It sounded crazy at the time because the Kindle Fire is already $130 cheaper than the iPad mini. Turns out that the rumor was too good to be true and Amazon’s already shot it down.
iOS 6.1 had not one, but two security exploits that allowed an attacker to bypass an iPhone’s lockscreen to gain access to a users’ data. Apple finally patched up those two holes yesterday with the iOS 6.1.3 update, yet the new version of iOS contains another passcode security flaw.
Using the iPhone’s Control feature, attackers can still bypass your lockscreen. The good news is that the new lockscreen exploit only works on iPhone 4 units right now.
Adobe’s CTO, Kevin Lynch, may be looking to switch from Adobe over to Apple. According to a tweet from CNBC, the high level Adobe Exec is leaving the company to join Apple.
Adobe submitted an SEC filing on Wednesday, March 18th, that confirms Lynch left the company “to pursue other opportunities.” Per item 5.02.b in that SEC filing:
On March 18, 2013, Kevin Lynch resigned from his position as Executive Vice President, Chief Technology Officer, of Adobe Systems Incorporated, effective March 22, 2013, to pursue other opportunities.
ABC, NBC, and CBS all have their own iPad and iPhone apps that will finally let you watch some of their shows for free. The catch with all of those apps is that you can’t watch a new show until 24 hours after it’s aired.
To take TV network apps to the next level, ABC is reportedly working on a new app that will let cable subscribers stream live network TV to their iPhone or iPad.
Bubble wrap is one of the funnest creations man has ever invented. Not only does it keep your valuables safe from the nefarious hands of postal workers, but it’s fun as hell to pop between your fingers.
Bradley Hart is obsessed with bubble wrap too, except rather than destroying it like the rest of us, Hart creates incredible portraits by painstakingly injecting paint into each little bubble. The results are pretty amazing. He created the Steve Jobs portrait you see above, but he’s got a lot of other artwork you can browse through over on his personal website too.
Source: Visual News
Apple’s Mac sales have been in a bit of a slump lately thanks to issues with the production of the super skinny iMacs. Now that constraints have eased up a bit, sales are coming back strong.
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster released a new research report today that covered Apple’s U.S. Mac sales from January-February 2013, and revealed that Mac sales are currently up 14% year-over-year.
During his tenure as CEO of Apple, John Sculley saw the company suffer through a serious lack of innovation that nearly sunk the company, before Jobs came back and rescued it.
In an interview earlier this month, Sculley said he thinks Apple is experiencing a “lull in innovation.” To clarify his stance, Sculley just gave another interview and said that even though Apple’s experiencing a lull, it’s not really its own fault.
Speaking with Huffington Post, the former Apple CEO had the following to say about Apple’s perceived innovation problem:
After hearing the news that Ashton Kutcher’s phenomenal Steve Jobs biopic has been delayed, you’re probably super bummed right? Well, the first Steve Jobs biopic is coming really soon, except it wasn’t written by Aaron Sorkin, nor does it star Ashton Kutcher.
Justin Long is set to star as Steve Jobs in Funny or Die’s own Steve Jobs movie, iSteve. The Steve Jobs biopic from Funny or Die will be a parody on biopics, and it will be released online on April 15th.
We keep hearing rumors that the iPhone 5S is going to come to us in a rainbow of different color options. While we find it hard to believe that Apple will colorize the iPhone 5S, we do think the rumored cheaper iPhone, with it’s plastic or carbon fiber body, would be perfect for colorization.
Concept artist Martin Hajek has a few new renders of what a colorful iPhone 5S or cheap iPhone would look like. Basically, it looks a lot like the current iPod Touch in a good way. Having the option to choose blue or red iPhone would be a lot better than just black or white, but do you guys think Apple is actually going to colorize the iPhone?
Take a look at the pictures below and tell us what you think:
The rumors that Apple’s making a cheaper iPhone have kind of died down a bit with all the iWatch madness, but there’s a new rumor to add some more smoke to the situation.
KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says that the low-cost iPhone is indeed coming, and it will have the same 4-inch screen as the iPhone 5.
Even though Apple’s iOS feature, Newsstand, hasn’t really taken off, Google might be looking to launch its own similar feature.
Google’s newspaper feature will be called Google Play News, and it will be come in issues and subscriptions, similar to the way content is distributed on Apple’s Newsstand.
Whether you love it or hate it, the world still runs most of its computer “work” through Microsoft’s Office suite of apps. It’s pricey, and Office 365 requires a monthly subscription, but you can get the latest version of Office, Microsoft Office for Mac 2011, for cheap right now.
Add microscopes to the list of things your iPhone can replace. A group of scientist visiting Tanzania were able to convert their iPhone 4S into a microscope using nothing by a $7 lens, some double sided tape, and a torch.
After macgyvering the iPhone 4S into a microscope, the scientest then used it to take pictures of stool samples to determine the presences of eggs in some schoolchildren. Amazingly, the iPhone picked up 70 percent of the infections.
If you didn’t hear the news already, Samsung announced their new flagship phone last night, the Galaxy S 4. It looks a lot like the Galaxy S 3. It’s made of plastic. Has a huge screen. And it comes with some weird software features you might use, but probably won’t.
We were on hand last night to test out the Galaxy S 4, and while it’s an impressive phone, it leaves the door open for companies like HTC and LG to capture the Android crown.
Here’s a video comparison of the Samasung Galaxy S 4 next to the iPhone 5:
Even though Mailbox for iOS has only been out for a month, it’s taken no time at all for the buzzworthy app to get bought up by a bigger fish.
Dropbox is buying Orchestra Inc., makers of the popular new email app, Mailbox, that allows users to control their email in a new way.
If you haven’t heard, Samsung’s got a new phone that they’re going to debut in New York right now.
The event was supposed to start at 7pm EST, but thanks to some delays, reporters are still waiting to sit down. Even though the show is all about the Galaxy S 4, which has been leaked everywhere by now, LG and HTC are at the event to troll the hell out of Samsung, and it’s beautiful.
Here’s some pictures of the trolling in action:
After releasing the 14th beta build of OS X 10.8.3 to developers earlier this week, Apple has now released the latest build of Mountain Lion to the public.
OS X 10.8.3 includes a couple of new features, such as the ability to redeem iTunes giftcards in the Mac App Store using Mac’s FaceTime camera. Support for installing Windows 8 via Boot Camp, is now available, along with some other bug fixes.
Here are the full release notes: