Buster Hein - page 241

OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion has only been available for 48hours but that’s not preventing many Mac owners from already upgrading. The $20 price tag, combined with easy download access via the Mac App Store has led to an incredible rate of adoption by Mac owners across the globe, and it might be on pace to be one of the most quickly adopted operating systems ever.

A new traffic report released by Chitika this morning shows that more than 3% of Mac users surfing the web have already installed Mountain Lion. Estimates are claiming that about 2.11 million Mac users downloaded OS X 10.8 within the first 48 hours of its release.

Mountain Lion is packed with over 200 new features, some of which you may never notice. Like did you know you can change the name of documents just by clicking its name up in the menu bar now? Or there’s tons of neat little things in the Accessibility Settings that will steal 15 minutes of your life as you play with them.

Now that you’ve had a few days to play around with Mountain Lion, what have you found that’s surprised you? Have you found any tricks and hidden features yet? If so, what are they?

CLICK HERE TO TALK ABOUT HIDDEN FEATURES IN THE CULT OF MAC FORUMS

To go along with the recent images of the original iPhone 4 prototype we reported on today, The Verge uncovered a trove of early iPad and iPhone prototype images from the Samsung vs Apple legal documents. At one point Apple was seriously considering an integrated kickstand for the iPad, kind of like the Microsoft Surface.

As far as the iPhone goes, there’s a few ugly prototypes with awkward corners, elongated screens, and bulky cases that look similar to the Lumia 900. It’s interesting to see how much refinement Apple’s design team does on a single idea. Most of the prototypes are a little rough to start out with but as time progresses Apple really nails the simplicity of the device. Check it out:

In the picture above you can see two iPhone prototypes that Apple was working on way back in 2006. They provide an amazing glimpse of just how long the prototyping phases of iPhones can last, because the original iPhone didn’t come out till June 2007, and then the iPhone 4 wasn’t seen till 2010.

The prototype images come from court filings in the Samsung vs Apple legal proceedings where Samsung plans to argue that Apple ripped off Sony’s design as inspiration for the iPhone. In fact, a few of the renders for the iPhone 4 like device have the Sony logo on them as you can see below:

I hate it when people at the office hog the printer with their 5,327 page T.P.S reports. You probably do too. Just make sure not to post a memo stating “PLEASE DO NOT PRINT LARGE JOBS” because someone might think you meant “Jobs” instead of “jobs”, and this whole thing will happen.

Source: Reddit

Via: Buzzfeed

Want to hear something silly? Today Google introduced this odd beta feature called Handwrite that’s supposed to change the way you interact with search on your iPad, iPhone or other mobile devices.

The way it works is that instead of pulling up the Google homepage on your iPhone and typing in your search query, you just draw the words instead. It’s suppose to be a “fun and easy new way to search,” but it’s probably one of Google’s worst concepts and here’s why.

With iOS 6, Apple is looking to replace Google Maps with their own Cupertino solution that also provides 3-D maps of cities across the globe. Google isn’t going down without a fight though, so they just updated their Google Earth app for iOS to include 3-D maps before people get comfy with Apple’s Flyover solution in iOS 6.

Don’t you just love iCloud and how it seamlessly keeps all of your information synced up, making you feel all warm and light and free? Don’t you just want to marry it, or maybe live inside a nice fluffy iCloud synced world? Maybe not. But now you can, if you move to Melbourne, Australia and buy this gorgeous house that’s shaped like the iCloud logo.

Do you see it? How the structure makes an iCloud shadow there on the pool? Ok, we put that there to help you visiualize it, but seriously, this house looks almost exactly like the iCloud logo, and it’s just as crazy on the inside as the outside.

There’s always been a stigma around Apple products that they’re really just made for rich people. Almost all of Apple’s machine’s cost well over $1000, and the iPhone and iPad are two of the most expensive products in their categories.

Some people say only rich people can afford Apple products, and maybe they have a small point.  A recent report shows that Apple is the company of choice for users whose net worth is more than $100,000, and it just become more popular the more money you earn.

With the Safari 6.0 update, Apple decided we don’t need no stinkin’ RSS button in our web browser, so they took it out. Whether you agree with Cupertino or not is beside the point, the RSS button is gone and it’s probably not coming back.

Thankfully, one developer spotted the change months ago and already has a quick solution to bring back the RSS button to Safari.

With the launch of Mountain Lion, Apple also pushed out an update to Safari which removed the RSS button so many people loved. We received a lot of email over the past 24 hours asking what the best RSS Reader Apps for Mac are, but we figure you guys read just as much news as us, so why not ask you.

What’s the best RSS Reader App for Mac, and why? What do you look for most in an RSS Reader?

CLICK HERE TO TELL US YOUR FAVORITE RSS READER APP IN OUR FORUMS

By now you’ve probably had enough time to download OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion and install it on your Mac. What are your first thoughts and impressions? Are new features like Notification Center, Facebook integration, and iMessage worth the wait? Or is Mountain Lion just a bunch of hype?

We want to hear what you think about Apple’s newest OS now that you’re playing with it, so hurry over and tell us what you think.

CLICK HERE TO TELL US YOUR THOUGHTS ON MOUNTAIN LION IN OUR FORUMS

Mountain Lions are magnificent beasts. Sure, they’re not as huge as a real lion, or as exotic as tigers with their fancy stripes, but that doesn’t mean they’re not as cool. In fact, Mountain Lions are vicious killing machines and cuddly at the same time. Plus, they jump like really high. We love these big cute cats, so to celebrate the launch of OS X Mountain Lion, here are 15 reasons why mountain lions are awesome:

The entire legal battle between Samsung and Apple is just crazy enough to make your head spin if you even care. One day Apple’s got Samsung’s new Android phone banned in the US. The next, they have to issue a statement that Samsung didn’t copy them.

The whole episode is kind of silly, but Apple has a very strong argument that Samsung’s smartphone lineup is just a rip-off of the iPhone. Case-in-point, the image above was made by All Things D’s John Paczkowski to show Apple’s main argument in the legal battle: Before the iPhone Samsung phones had variety and looked nothing like the iPhone. After the iPhone they all look just like the iPhone.

Image: John Paczkowski

Via: Gizmodo

Apple’s earnings call is set for 2pm PST today, where Tim Cook and the gang will talk all about sales figures for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Even though the Mac has enjoyed great sales numbers over the past few years while all other PC makers are experiencing a decline, the Mac isn’t growing as steadily as it once had. Is the iPad to blame?

What have you noticed among you and your friends? Are you considering abandoning the Mac altogether in favor of the convenience of the iPad? We want to hear from you on whether you think the iPad is already replacing desktop computers for novice PC users.

CLICK HERE TO TELL US WHAT YOU THINK IN OUR FORUM THREAD

If you’ve been debating for the past two years whether or not you should finally commit $4.99 to purchasing Rock Band for iOS, the time to act is now my friend, because soon, your beloved guitar shredding game will be gone from the App Store in all its hair metal glory. Due to an expired license agreement with developer Harmonix, EA has notified users that Rock Band for iOS will be removed from the App Store on July 31st.

Apple debuted a new ad for Siri last night starring famed director Martin Scorsese. The ad is basically just Scorsese riding around in a New York City cab talking to Siri about appointments, finding friends, and traffic. Not too exciting. But if you look closely, you may have noticed an easter egg in the film pointing back to Scorsese’s early days of film making.

The number of the taxi Scorcese is riding in is “3S96,” which is the same taxi Robert De Niro’s character drove in Scorsese’s film Taxi Driver. We’re not sure if his appointments were references to any of his other films, but if you spot any other Easter Eggs in the ad let us know in the comments.

Image: Reddit

(Editor’s Note: This post has been stickied to the top of the front page. There may be more recent news posts below it.)

As writers at Cult of Mac, we have one of the coolest jobs on the planet. We get to sit at home, in our  underwear, and talk about Apple and new technology all day. It’s an awesome privilege that we truly enjoy, but there’s been something missing on Cult of Mac over the last few years.

We have some amazingly passionate readers that love Apple just as much, or more, than we do. We’re lucky to have readers with great insights on the latest Apple news who are also creative and eager to share. You guys ARE The Cult of Mac, and we haven’t been great at providing a platform for you to gather, interact, and share everything you know and love about Apple. But we’re ready to change all that.

Today, Cult of Mac is proud to announce that we’re launching our new forums and they’re made just for you. A place where Apple fans across the globe can come hangout to meet other Apple fans and share their creative insights into all things Apple.

Apple’s new operating system, OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion is probably going to be released on July 25th. It’s packed with over 200 new features, but some of them are dumb while others are freaking awesome. What are you most looking forward to though? We want to hear from you, so jump over to this thread in the forums and tell us which features you’re looking forward to the most in Mountain Lion.

CLICK HERE TO TELL US WHAT YOU THINK IN OUR FORUM THREAD

It’s hard to believe that Apple ever faced a time where most consumers thought Macs are underpowered, pricey heaps of junk. But back in 1997 things were not looking  good for Apple and it was hard to convince people that buying a Mac was worth it. The answer? Create a CD full of Apple propaganda that fans can use to convince their friends to buy a Mac.

In 1997 Apple created the MacAdvocate CD-ROM that was free to any Apple fans who requested a copy. Dan Frommer recently unearthed his copy of the 1997 Apple MacAdvocate and found it was full of a funny Apple propoganda and ugly 90’s graphic.

Take a look at how Apple tried to convince people that Macs were cool in the 90’s:

We’re big fans of Zite and the unique way it brings readers new content that they may have never seen. Thanks to Zite’s fancy algorithm, we’ve been introduced to countless interesting stories from sources we never visit. Zite is one of the best iPad apps available that is really trying to change the world around us, which makes us really excited to announce our new partnership with them. Earlier today Cult of Mac was announced as one of Zite’s 9 new publishing partners.

What this means is that now you can load the Zite app and add a special Cult of Mac section that has all of Cult of Mac’s latest news, except rather than having us tell you the most significant news of the day, Zite’s alogrithm will display the stories that it believes are most relevant to what you’d want to read.

You know those annoying friends that grab your iPhone at parties and then think it’s cool to explore all your pictures, texts, phone calls, and every other crevice of your iPhone? Some people don’t understand that there’s this thing called privacy, and that you have to get permission to look through all that stuff. It’s in the constitution. Look it up.

Apparently the privacy laws that some people thought we had with our iPhones actually don’t apply to police seizures, as two recent court rulings have shown that it is totally legal for police to seize an iPhone and impersonate the owner. If your iPhone ever falls into the clutches of the police and they want to sext with your ex-girlfriend, you’re just out of luck because that’s totally legal.

When Ron Johnson left Target to become Apple’s Retail Chief in 2000, people thought he was absolutely nuts. Apple was in danger of going out of business, and other PC manufacturers like Gateway were closing their retail locations. Johnson ignored all the warning signs because he says he saw that Apple was about to be a huge part of the digital revolution. He also recognized that Apple offered consumers something other companies couldn’t – amazing products and an incredible retail experience.

In a recent interview at Fortune Conferences, Johnson explained why customers choose to come to the Apple store to buy their products when they could get them on Amazon or Best Buy for a lot cheaper:

Apple and Samsung have been tirelessly fighting each other over patent issues for years now. Things have gotten gosh darn ridiculous, and everyone wishes they would just kiss and make up already. In an attempt to put an end to their legal battle, Tim Cook met with top Samsung executives on Monday to see if a middle ground could be reached between the two sides. The meeting comes on the heels of a similar meeting between Tim Cook and Samsung CEO, Choi Gee-sung, back in May.

The Dark Knight Rises is like the most anticipated movie of the year. People are going straight up loco for this movie. Is Batman going to die? Is Bane really just Ricky Martin’s alter-ego? Will Michael Keaton make a cameo? We don’t know, we haven’t seen it yet.

If you’re as excited we are though, then you’re probably trying to gorge on as much Batman stuff as humanly possible right now. Don’t worry, we got you covered and put together this little guide on all the ways you can use your iPad to get your Batman fix while waiting for the movie to finally hit theaters.