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iOS - page 14

‘Netflix for pirates’ comes to jailbroken iOS devices

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The Popcorn Time app on Android. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac
The Popcorn Time app on Android. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Popcorn Time, the service that allows users to stream movie torrents, today makes its debut on iOS. It’s available only to jailbroken devices — there’s no way Apple would have approved it for the App Store — and it can be obtained through Cydia via a dedicated Popcorn Time repository.

Little Pixels’ new photo app turns your iPhone camera into a manual

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Photo: Manual
Photo: Manual

With its improved lens, sensors and image stabilization, the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus offer the best camera seen yet on an Apple handset. But one of the biggest changes was one that took place behind the scenes of iOS 8, with an API allowing third-party developers to have precise control over the workings of the iOS camera functions.

The result is more professional photo apps, which are transforming your most-used camera into your best one.

One of these new breed of photo apps is Little Pixels’ Manual custom exposure tool. Giving you a powerful camera app with full control over each image, the app lets users quickly and easily adjust all the parameters of their images, including focus, white balance, and exposure. If you’re looking for a guide on how to manually focus an iPhone camera, you can refer to this detailed tutorial on iPhone camera manual controls.

CARROT Fit’s new punishments make for an hilariously cruel fitness app

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Photo: CARROT Fit
Photo: CARROT Fit

With both iOS 8 and the iPhone 6 family of devices finally out, developer Brian Mueller has released an upgrade for his excellent CARROT Fit app, adding “a shiny new update to go with your shiny new operating system.”

For those who don’t know, CARROT Fit is an hilarious take on the fitness app: a little bit like 2001: A Space Odyssey‘s H.A.L. meets Full Metal Jacket‘s memorable drill sergeant Gunnery Sergeant Hartman. Welcoming you with a message of “Greetings, tubby human,” CARROT Fit is a snappily sadistic AI that will threaten, inspire, ridicule and bribe you into getting in shape over the course of a 7-minute workout.

It’s a surprising amount of fun, and today’s update adds news punishment in the form of ads and “random squirrel attacks.” There’s also iPhone 6 optimization, iPad support, and Dropbox data sync thanks to Apple’s new privacy requirements.

First look: Why you’ll love upgrading to iOS 8

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After months of waiting, iOS 8 has finally been released for everyone to download and enjoy. The next generation for Apple’s mobile operating system brings plenty of new features. With an upgraded camera app, a new and intuitive health app and much more, this is sure to be an update you won’t want to forego.

In today’s Cult of Mac video, we give you a quick look at what iOS 8 has to offer. Install the new software and take advantage of a number of useful tweaks and enhancements.

The evolution of iOS: From iPhone OS To iOS 8

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iOS changed enormously over the last few years. When the first iPhone was released, the most entertaining thing to do was to watch YouTube videos and try to find a few web-based games. This was a time before apps, multi-tasking, or folders. Looking back, it’s amazing to see how iOS has transformed from a simple touch operating system, lacking a lot of key features, to a true computing behemoth with more features and tools than most iPhone owners will probably ever use.

Today, Apple's mobile operating system graduates to iOS 8, but before you dive fingers first into the new features, et’s take a look at how dramatically iOS has changed since its 2007 introduction.


From iPhone OS to iOS 8, we’ve come a long way since 2007

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Screen Shot 2014-09-15 at 8.42.20 AM

We don’t usually post infographics on Cult of Mac — far too many of them are just poorly designed info dumps, without any real focus or design chops — but we’re making an exception for this one showing the evolution of iOS over the last seven years.

Created by the folks at 7 Day Shop, this infographic doesn’t just examine the evolution of the iOS home screen (something we here at Cult of Mac have been known to chart from time to time), but the evolution of individual icons, and the addition of features to Apple’s mobile operating system.

It’s very thorough, and a great primer on how far we’ve come since 2007. Check it out in full after the jump.

Hailo uses iBeacons to let users pay for street-hailed taxis

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Photo: Stockproject
Photo: Stockproject

While Uber and Lyft are the most prominent example of smartphones disrupting the taxi industry, a new app feature from Hailo is hoping to shake up both companies by letting Hailo users pay for journeys using their iPhone — even when they’re in a non-Hailo booked taxi.

The feature is called “Pay with Hailo” and uses Apple’s iBeacon technology to automatically recognize taxis, with users given the option to connect and pay for a journey automatically as soon as they set foot inside a vehicle. Even if the driver doesn’t have an iBeacon set up in their cab, it’s still possible to pay the fare by choosing their name from a list inside the app.

iPhone 6 pre-orders were a bigger mess than Apple’s keynote live stream

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Trying to load the Apple Store at 12:27 a.m. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac.
Trying to load the Apple Store at 12:27 a.m. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac.

Apple’s new iPhones went up for pre-order this morning, and for those who stayed up late to get their order in, it turned out to be a very long night. The vast majority had to wait until past 12:30 a.m. before the had any joy loading the Apple Online Store, and when it finally went live, many iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus options were “currently unavailable.”

Steve Jobs wouldn’t let his kids become iOS addicts

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Steve Jobs presided over some memorable announcements during his time at Apple. (Picture: Flickr)
Photo: Ben Stanfield/Flickr CC

Being Steve Jobs’ son or daughter would surely mean a never-ending supply of new high-tech devices to play around with, right?

Not according to a New York Times article by Nick Bilton, who claims that Jobs set out to purposely limit the amount of time his kids spent using their iPhones and other gadgets — even going so far as to stop them using Apple’s latest must have-devices altogether.

App Watch: Plain old text and widgets (lots of widgets)

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App-Watch-Sep-08-2014

Widget, widgets, widgets. Boy, have we got some widgets for you. And text. Plain text. Plain old text, turned into a calculator. And widgets. Did I mention those? Weather widgets. Battery widgets. And yes, text widgets.

Read all about these new widgets and other new apps in this week's App Watch.


Legendary RPG Baldur’s Gate finally makes the journey to iPhone

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If you send me an email and don't hear back, this is the reason.
If you send me an email and don't hear back, this is the reason.

Baldur’s Gate is one of the all-time classic RPGs, and while it’s iOS Enhanced Edition has been available on iPad since late 2012, up until now iPhone gamers have been left out in the cold.

That’s changed thanks to a new update which adds iPhone support, meaning that we can finally play this epic fantasy game on the move.

But wait, you might say, Baldur’s Gate was already a challenging read on the iPad mini. How on earth is it possible to play on an iPhone? Well, developers Bioware have thought of that too, since they’ve added a new “Font Size” option, which makes the game easier to view on smaller iOS devices.

Vainglory trailer justifies demo time during yesterday’s iPhone 6 event

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(Picture: )
(Picture: Super Evil Megacorp)

During yesterday’s unveiling of the iPhone 6 and Apple Watch, awesomely-named developers Super Evil Megacorp took to the stage to show off the iPhone 6’s impressive graphical capabilities through a demo of their forthcoming iOS game Vainglory.

Despite the presence of “scarf guy” (one of the demoing developers wearing an infinite scarf that’s already become an Internet meme), Super Evil Megacorp was able to claw back viewer attention for their “unapologetically core MOBA” (that’s multiplayer online battle arena to the noobs out there) developed by veterans from the likes of Blizzard and Riot.

And no wonder: the game looks fantastic, built on Super Evil’s E.V.I.L engine, and boasting full Metal support from day one. The game’s rolling out globally from next month, but for now excited gamers can check out the trailer after the jump:

Final Fantasy VII and XIII headed to iOS in Japan

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Final Fantasy VII is finally coming to iOS -- although in a slightly different way than you might expect.
Final Fantasy VII is finally coming to iOS -- although in a slightly different way than you might expect.

Fans have been clamouring for an iOS port of the later Final Fantasy games for years, but it looks as though publisher Square Enix is set to go one step further — announcing that not only will some of these titles soon be making their way to mobile, but also that the company behind them is experimenting with a new cloud-based mobile streaming service called Dive In.

Dive In is set to debut October 9 with an initial offering of three games, including Final Fantasy 7, Final Fantasy 13 and The Cherry Blossom Murders.

The only problem? You guessed it: currently the service is only available in Japan.

The iOS @@ shortcut is so useful, you’ll never use your iPhone the same way again

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Screen Shot 2014-09-08 at 8.01.38 AM

Text shortcuts are one of the most useful settings in iOS. Having the potential to just hit a couple of keys to input an entire string of text is a wonderful time saver… as long as you have the foresight to set them up first.

Alas, most of us never delve into text shortcuts on iOS 8. But here’s a shortcut anyone can take advantage of: a text shortcut that allows you to cycle rapidly through your email addresses with just a single keypress.

iOS platformer Goblin Sword takes us back to the 8-bit glory days

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Picture: Touch Arcade
Picture: Touch Arcade

I’m a massive fan of nostalgic 2-D platformers, so the sight of Goblin Sword has me buzzing. An entirely new iOS action platforming game, the title nonetheless borrows its inspiration from classic 8-bit platformers of the NES era of gaming, with cartoony sprites and highly detailed pixel-rendered backdrops.

Frankly it looks gorgeous, and the promise of a whopping 48 levels, 6 bosses, multiple weapons and suits of armor, and (arguably best of all) utter lack of in-app purchases just makes it sound all the more promising.

How to create and use custom presets in Lightroom Mobile

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How about using your own Lightroom develop presets on iOS? Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac
Wouldn't it be great to use your Lightroom develop presets on iOS? Here's how to make it happen. Photos: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

I can’t tell you how much I love Adobe’s Lightroom Mobile. But like an insatiable lover, I want more. Specifically, I want to add my own presets. LR Mobile ships with a selection of the desktop app’s image presets built in, but unlike the desktop version, you can’t save your own settings as a preset, nor can you add any made by third parties. Or can you?

In this tutorial, we’ll see how to add any preset to Lightroom Mobile, using any and all of the image-editing tools available in the Mac version and making them available on iOS.

New iOS 8 App Store guidelines are designed to protect your privacy

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iOS App Store.
New App Store guidelines are in place to protect user data.

Apple is constantly looking to improve the App Store experience, and ahead of the long-awaited release of the iPhone 6 and public version of iOS 8, it is doubling its efforts.

With these two landmark events coming up rapidly, the company has updated its App Store review guidelines to add all-new sections dealing with features such as HealthKit, HomeKit and TestFlight, extensions and more.

Wellograph’s wellness sapphire smart watch beats iWatch to market

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Wellograph's iWatch can monitor your heartbeat. (Picture: Wellograph)

There have been numerous companies, from Samsung downwards, willing to leap onto the smart watch bandwagon to try and beat it to market. Wellograph’s new smart watch, however, perhaps comes the closest to what many users are expecting to see from Apple — with the world’s first wellness-focused smart watch sporting a sapphire crystal display.

The 1.26-inch LCD display watch is available to ship now, and comes with various smart functions, including a Tri­-LED heart­ rate sensor, which replicates the action of a doctor using their fingers to feel for a pulse and provides real-time readings of heart signals.

How to keep your iCloud account safer with 2-step verification

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If you make something private, obviously you want it to stay that way. But with hackers trying to get at your data, you need to be prepared. Following the recent iCloud hacking that leaked tons of private celebrity photos, there’s a renewed focus on security.

In today’s video, we show you how to enable two-step verification on all your Apple devices so you’ll have a better chance of keeping everything that’s near and dear to you private and secure.

Subscribe to Cult of Mac TV on YouTube to catch all our latest videos.

Reddit or not, here comes the official Ask Me Anything app

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Reddit's official AMA finally brings its hugely popular Ask Me Anything threads to iOS. (Picture: Reddit)
Reddit's official AMA finally brings its hugely popular Ask Me Anything threads to iOS. (Picture: Reddit)

Reddit AMAs (Ask Me Anythings) are everywhere, attracting even the likes of President Obama (who answered his questions on a MacBook) to respond to questions fielded by users from around the globe.

Up until now there have been some pretty great apps for viewing Reddit AMAs, such as Interviewly, which takes AMA threads and polishes them to look more like a Sunday newspaper feature than an online forum. However, to date there has been no official AMA app available on iOS.

Plane Finder now lets you track past flights back to April 2011

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If you’re the type of person who enjoys/has a work-related need to track airplanes using their iPhone or iPad, you may want to download plane-tracking app Plane Finder, which has just received a brand new update — letting you watch previous flights, dating all the way back to April 2011.

The app lets you replay holiday flights, diversions, and major incidents, as well as easily seeing the effect of storms, ATC strikes, volcanic ash clouds, and more.