Although Apple-watchers have been buzzing about OS X 10.10 Yosemite since last week’s WWDC, Apple hasn’t forgotten about its current generation Mavericks Mac OS.
To prove it, the company has released three new betas for developers to test out — including OS X Mavericks 10.9.4, OS X Server 3.2, and Safari 6.1.5.
Almost exactly one year to the day after being announced, it’s now possible to order a Mac Pro and have it ship to you within 24 hours.
Costing between $3,000 and $4,000, Apple’s gorgeous stealth powerhouse of a machine went on sale December 19, but right from the start began suffering shipping delays due to a limited production cycle. One possible explanation for this was the Mac Pro’s “Made in the USA” status, in contrast to virtually all other Apple products, which are designed in California but assembled overseas — often in China.
Apple paid just 3.7% tax on its non-U.S. income last year — and the European Commission isn’t happy about it.
Registering its overseas business in Ireland, Apple is one of three companies being investigated for abusive transfer pricing and other forms of corporate profit shifting, with the other two being Starbucks and Fiat Finance and Trade.
The subject of corporate tax avoidance has become an increasingly hot-button issue in recent years, as the result of probes into international businesses like Apple and Google, which use convoluted structures as a means of slashing their tax bills.
New photos purporting to be of the iPhone 6 have shown up. The above image was one of two posted by user dreamerjimmy on the Chinese social network Weibo. Seemingly confirming what we have heard in previous reports, it depicts the iPhone 6 as featuring curved edges, a larger display and thinner bezel to maximize the screen size. It also features a shorter gap between the display and the Touch ID Home button.
Other images reveal additional notable changes.
Unless you’re a retired British gangster gone to seed in the Costa del Sol, chances are that as a man you don’t wear chunky rings on a frequent basis. Nor, as a member of the less-fair sex, have I had the experience of missing a phone call or text message because my iPhone was buried somewhere at the bottom of my handbag.
I do, however, appreciate that neither of these are necessarily true for female readers of Cult of Mac — and that Ringly is therefore not necessarily a product aimed at me.
Ringly is a startup that creates smart rings offering customizable Bluetooth notifications, with different-colored LED lights and vibration patterns for different types of alerts. It’s designed to be a functional but also stylish notification system that connects to your iPhone via Bluetooth LE. Notifications can be tweaked on a user-by-user basis, so that it might be possible to have a red light signal an urgent email or phone call, while a blue light could notify you of, say, a retweet or a FarmVille notification.
The iMac could get a refresh next week according to a new report, which suggests that Apple is planning to update its computer line with faster processors and lower prices.
The report cites the same sources that correctly predicted the MacBook Air update back in April, and goes on to suggest that the iMacs might include Thunderbolt 2 ports, and that they will arrive later in the week than the Tuesday release day usually used for new Apple products.
Are you based in New York City and looking to learn Apple’s new programming language Swift for free?
If so, you may be interested in participating in a tech workshop organized by software development firm TurntoTech in their offices on 5th Avenue. Close to 900 people have already RSVP’d for the how-to — which kicks off this Wednesday. Demand has been so great, in fact, that organizers have had to break the course into three different classes to accommodate all respondees.
The first Swift class will be held this Wednesday at 6:30pm ET, with the second being held the following Wednesday at the same time, and the final one to be held June 23.
Last month, a number of Apple users in Australia woke up to find that their iOS devices had been locked by an “Oleg Pliss,” and that they needed to pay a ransom if they wanted to continue using them. While a few people thought iCloud could have been hacked, Apple denied those rumors.
Now it seems that the hackers involved with the ransom demands have been detailed by authorities in Russia, according to a new report from the Sydney Morning Herald.
Aged 17 and 23, the alleged hackers are both residents of the Southern Administrative District of Moscow, and one has been previously tried for a similar case.
Apple TV may have a new competitor in the form of Sony, which unveiled its PlayStation TV at Monday’s E3 event — showcasing a TV set-top box which features a strong emphasis on gaming.
Released as PS Vita TV in Japan, PlayStation TV will arrive in the U.S. and Canada this fall. It will allow users to stream games from their PS4 to other TVs in the house, thereby extending the gaming experience. It will also let you stream PS3 games and older classics via the forthcoming Playstation Now, which will presumably require no PS4. On top of this it will provide all the streaming services you’d expect from a set-top box, such as Netflix and Hulu.
A new patent published Tuesday suggests that the iWatch may be able to able to detect if the user is lifting a weightlifting bar, and count and display the recorded repetitions. Metrics related to intervals between movements could be compared against previous sessions and displayed on an iOS device so that the user could track their progress over multiple sessions.
Interestingly the patent — which was filed in 2012 — specifically mentions a shoe-based sensor, similar to fitness-tracking sneakers like the Nike Hyperdunk+ basketball tracking shoes. In the years since then, however, Apple has pulled back on patent references to shoe wear-out sensors and unitless measurements, but kept the body-bar sensing system and associated watch readout. Other possible devices named in the patent include potential future generation iPods and iPhones.
The App Store is constantly evolving as both Apple and individual developers struggle to get the most out of the experience as possible. The latest change in this vein appears to involve App Store moderators cracking down on apps which incentivize or reward users for enaging in a range of activities — many related to advertising.
For an example of what we mean, consider a game which gives users more lives when they die in exchange for sharing to Facebook. Several mobile apps have recently been rejected for using these techniques, alongside offering virtual currency or additional game play for asking viewers to watch video “app trailers.”
For years Apple has taken the view that you tell customers what they want, rather than waiting for them to ask. In terms of UI, this meant picking out the “right” option for interface elements, as opposed to allowing users the ability to edit them themselves.
That may be changing in iOS 8, as the beta code of Apple’s new mobile operating system suggests that Apple may also be including a funky variant UI — complete with alternate font and orange and purple color scheme.
While smartwatches are currently a niche product, they may not stay that way for long, says USB analyst Steven Milunovich, who predicts that the iWatch could match sales of Apple’s iPad — unloading 21 million units in fiscal 2015 and a further 36 million units the following year.
The iPad, by comparison, sold 19.5 million units in its first year, rising to 47.6 million in its second. (The iPhone moved a relatively paltry 5.4 million units in its first year of sale, since it was still establishing Apple’s mobile platform.)
Do not adjust your sets: Despite finishing Friday at $645, Apple stock will open today at around $92. This is the result of a 7-to-1 stock split, which will see the price of the stock divided by seven and shareholders of record awarded six additional shares on top of their existing holdings.
Apple announced the split earlier this year in what we referred to at the time as an “earth-shattering earnings call.”
Stealth survival game République can be pretty intense at times. For players who just want to experience the story and spend time exploring the game’s beautifully rendered environments, however, there’s a new update available which adds an easier “Story Mode” for just that purpose.
Launched in the App Store back in December last year, République features an episodic type of gameplay which sees protagonist Hope fight back against an “an oppressive totalitarian state” (making it pretty appropriate imagery for Apple.) Unlike games such as the tremendous GTA: San Andreas port, République is a console-worthy game especially designed specifically for the touchscreen environment of the iOS platform.
Certainly, it’s an immersive experience, and that doesn’t change with the game’s Story Mode, which simply makes the title more accessible to less experienced players.
Last week’s WWDC demonstrated how Apple devices can communicate with one another to make life easier for users. Well, the same holds true for games which can take advantage of the interactivity between, say, the built-in motion sensors of an iPhone and the viewing experience offered of Apple TV to replicate the experience of a full-on games consoles like the Nintendo Wii.
That’s the idea behind Rolocule Games’ innovative new game Dance Party, which is powered by something called “rolomotion” — the winner of the Silver Edison Award for best innovation in the Entertainment category at the recent 2014 Edison Awards in San Francisco. Rolomotion is a technology which precisely tracks the various movements made by an iPhone and allows users to play games using natural motion gestures on television using a combination of Apple’s smartphone and the Apple TV.
While iOS 8 has seen tons of improvements — from FaceTime call waiting to the ability to purchase iTunes content using Siri — there’s one area that hasn’t seen a major overhaul: Apple Maps.
Although the new version of Maps does now offer vector maps and other improvements in China, as well as a feature designed to give owners the ability to add more indoor positioning data, this was reportedly nowhere near what Apple originally had planned for the next version of its mobile OS.
Over the past year we’ve reported on various map-related patents which seemed like they would land on iOS before long, related to innovations such as user customizable maps. There’s also been plenty of talk regarding major under-the-hood changes to improve map accuracy; adding more points of interest; overhauling labels to make locations like airports, highways and parks easier to find; changing the overall map interface to make it cleaner; and adding public transit directions.
So why didn’t anything like this happen? According to sources the problems may have been the result of internal politics and generally chaotic project management.
Based on the sheer amount of biotech experts it’s been hiring, the fact that Apple has its eyes set on the health and fitness tracking sector is one for the “Cupertino’s Worst Kept Secrets” file. But after tons of speculation about the iWatch, Monday’s WWDC keynote provided a first glimpse of an actual Apple creation in this category with its upcoming Health app for iOS 8.
Then Apple dropped a brand new ad for the iPhone 5s, adding a sporty spin to the company’s current trend for showing Apple products used in real-life scenarios in its commercials. If you’re anything like us, it makes you think two things. Firstly, that Apple will revolutionize the health tracking field like it did the personal computer, music player, smartphone and tablet market. Secondly, that we need to hurry up and drop the flab for summer.
With that in mind, here are our picks for the best iOS-compatible fitness devices currently on the market — including the skinny on specific gadgets from the latest iPhone ad (which, incidentally, had fitness-tracking watches conspicuous by their absence.)
Let us know in the comments what tracking gear you’re using and what you hope Apple will provide next.
Gameloft’s previous Spider-Man games have been pretty fun, even if they’ve also been plagued by enough in-app purchases to well and truly set off our spider-sense (or, at least, overdraft fee alerts). With E3 coming up next week, Gameloft and Marvel have announced a brand new Spider-Man game called Spider-Man Unlimited, based on the Marvel comic of the same name.
This game is set to take the character of Spider-Man and place him into an endless runner scenario, with the developers promising that:
Brothers Denis and Davor Mikan make it look easy. They created a memorable and graphically beautiful puzzler called Blek that rocketed to the top of the paid game chart in the iOS App Store, making them millions in the process. Deceptively simple — with a nod to 60s pop art — the game caught the attention of Apple, too, which recently handed them a Design Award in recognition.
“It may sound simple, but it’s the Apple kind of simplicity that actually takes a lot of work,” Denis Mikan says of the game he co-created.
“It may sound simple, but it’s the Apple kind of simplicity that actually takes a lot of work.”
The idea behind Blek is ingeniously straightforward. At its simplest you draw a line on screen, and then this line repeats itself over and over until it encounters a black dot, or goes outside of the screen borders and resets. Draw the line slowly and it moves slowly, draw it fast and it moves fast. Your aim is to clear the screen of colored dots without accidentally touching a black one. But from small acorns grow mighty oaks, and since Blek arrived in the App Store a few months ago it has received close to a million downloads at $2.99 each.
Still reeling from their breakout success, Mikan told us about Blek‘s unlikely odyssey from the brothers’ hometown of Vienna, Austria, into the hearts of iOS gamers around the world. Befitting the game they brought into the world, their journey was hardly a straight line.
Apple’s long awaited and heavily rumored iWatch is set to land in stores and on wrists this October, according to a new report from Japanese business newspaper Nikkei.
Unnamed sources tell the paper that Apple has begun finalizing specs for the device, which will feature a curved OLED touchscreen and run a version of iOS 8. In keeping with Apple’s push into fitness and health tracking, as seen through the announcement of its upcoming Health app and API for iOS 8, the device will allegedly use biometric sensors to collect health-related data such as calorie consumption, sleep activity, blood oxygen levels, and more.
Although we’re living through something of a golden age for original iOS games (think Monument Valley and Leo’s Fortune), it’s also a great time for iPhone gamers because we’re seeing ports of so many classic games making their way into the App Store. The latest is Capcom’s tremendous 2008 video game Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, which has just been announced as being set to arrive on iOS in the near future.
Promising a near-exact replica of the PSP title, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite will nonetheless optimize the monster-slaying experience for touch controls, as well as offering support for MFi (Made for iPhone) gamepads and improved graphics. In addition there’s set to be an online multiplayer mode, which is a big part of the game’s appeal.
Since the airing of Apple’s iconic “1984” commercial to launch the Macintosh, tech companies have had a special relationship with the Super Bowl. Now Apple is one of several tech giants — including Google, Yahoo and Intel — which have chipped in $2 million each in cash and services to help offset taxpayer dollars involved with bringing the historic 50th Super Bowl to the San Francisco 49ers stadium in Santa Clara, California.
Carriers in Mexico are no longer allowed to make use of the word “iPhone,” according to a new report from the Mexican publication El Universal. The news outlet reports that the ruling comes from the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI)and is based on the fact that the phonetically identical sounding “iFone” trademark is already owned by a small call center in Mexico. The trademark has been held since 2003 — four years before Apple released its first generation iPhone.
While Apple was acquitted as being at fault in the case, due to the fact that it is not considered a telecommunication services provider, Mexican carriers did receive blame, on the basis that they do provide such services.
China is an important market for Apple, and while the company now has deals like the one with China Mobile that help distribute hardware in the country, that is only half the battle. According to new reports, Apple has recently been focusing on wooing Chinese appmakers to get them to develop for iOS.
“Two years ago there was no developer support in China,” Chinese developer Woody Wan told Bloomberg in a recent interview. “There’s been a significant improvement.”
According to the report, Apple has been taking various steps to win over Chinese app developers — including beefing up developer relations by allowing new apps to be approved in the country, opening up a new office in downtown Beijing where the China App Store is located, and building new Chinese-language-specific software to benefit developers. At WWDC this week, Apple held several sessions and social gatherings for programmers visiting from China.