The poor working conditions in Foxconn’s Chinese factories have been widely documented for some time now, but the reports have seemingly done very little to dissuade workers from applying for Foxconn jobs.
Thousands have reportedly turned up to the company’s Chengdu and Zhengzhou plants in the hope of securing a “summer job” that is likely to involve the assembly of Apple’s new iPhone, and possibly even an “iPad mini.”
The uses for Apple’s iPhone and iPad in healthcare seem to be growing by leaps and bounds. The latest field of medicine to take note of the power that iOS devices offer doctors and healthcare providers is ophthalmology. A new study shows that the iPhone may make a better tool when reviewing certain types of ophthalmology images that a standard desktop PC workstation.
What’s truly amazing is that the iPhone used in the study was a four-year-old iPhone 3G.
According to a new study, mobile technologies like the iPhone and iPad aren’t delivering all the applications and features that most small businesses feel they need to succeed. The issue is less with Apple (or Google or RIM) and more with the developers and technology partners that create and market solutions tailored to the somewhat unique needs of the small business market.
The study was performed by Techaisle, a research firm that specializes in the small to mid-size business (SMB) market. It looked at whether small businesses felt that they were getting adequate options and support from cloud and mobile technology vendors. It found that across several areas, mobile technology solutions are failing to provide needed capabilities.
Mobile management vendor BoxTone announced an aggressive pricing and sales campaign for its mobile management platform today. From now through the end of September, companies will be able to license BoxTone’s mobile device management (MDM) suite for a monthly fee of just $0.99 per device.
The move comes just a week after BoxTone announced the latest generation of its mobile management tools that includes the now-discounted MDM module as well as modules focused on mobile app management (MAM), mobile device support solutions for help desk agents and IT support teams, and a mobile operations module for monitoring and managing mobile IT staff.
Using Apple’s recently released Podcast app for your browsing and discovery needs? Apple’s latest evolutionary step in the podcast world is a standalone app that took the podcasts out of the standard Music app and gave them a home of their own. This makes a lot of sense, as most podcasts are not strictly music. Audio, yes. Music? Not always.
The hype around the release of the app has been about discovery, of course, as giving the media type its own separate place for users to look at, complete with Apple’s own special sauce for featuring and categorizing things for their users, really helps us all find the podcasts we didn’t even know we wanted to listen to.
However, once caught up in the discovery process, you might not have known that you can subscribe to any podcast, whether it is featured or not, right from the Podcast app itself.
Have you ever wondered how much time you spend in an app? There are those staple iOS apps most of us use everyday (Phone, Messages, Mail, etc.), and then there are our favorite third-party apps from the App Store. Which apps command the most of your time? Now there’s an easy way to find out.
A new jailbreak app called App Analytics tracks your app usage on the iPhone and iPad. Once installed via the jailbreak App Store known as Cydia, App Analytics stays out of the way. The app is simple, lightweight, and scarily revealing.
Every once and a while here at Cult of Mac, we like to peel open our gadget bags and catalogue what’s inside them for a bit of fun in our “What’s in our gadget bag?” series. The scope of our gadget bags has nothing on Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak’s, though: his bag contains two iPads, a MacBook Pro, two iPod nanos, three iPhone 4Ses, an iPhone 4, a Mophie, a Jambox and even more.
Planning and managing a business event can mean anything from hosting a small cocktail party to putting on international conferences and conventions and everything in between. Three of the key parts of any event, however, are invitations or registration in advance of the event, guest/attendee check-in at the actual event, and professional follow-up afterward.
Or Multimedia of London decided to make the guest/attendee management part of events simpler and more streamlined when it launched its Event Check-In Pro app for the iPad last year. With the success of that launch, the company retooled its app to offer two difference feature sets – standard and pro – and a range of pricing options.
The updated app, which hit the App Store late last month, offers a range of features that can be used for handling one-day workshops or week-long multi-session conferences.
Brookstone sells the aptly-named “Bluetooth Keyboard Pro with Leather Case for iPad Tablets.” While I have to think that a better name could have been thought of, don’t let the genericness fool you. This case actually packs some surprises.
While no one should consider dropping $150 on an iPad case without good reason, Brookstone does deliver some features to make it worth checking out. Namely, the case comes with a full size Bluetooth keyboard that can be detached effortlessly and reattached with magnets. And that, my friend, opens up a world of possibilities.
Did you know that people on the internet still make unboxing videos? I didn’t. I thought that fad came to a halt back in 2009, but apparently I was wrong. YouTube was hit with a tidal wave of new unboxing videos as people finally got their hands on Google’s new iPad competitor, the Nexus 7. Not only is it not as good as the iPad, but it’s a super huge pain in the ass open. Just check out the video and chuckle as poor Android fans have to result to using collar stays and butcher knives to get at their precious new tablet.
Source: YouTube
Thanks: Vincent
When it comes to talking about iOS devices in healthcare, most of think of doctors carrying iPads the way that they used to carry lengthy paper charts or clipboards. We think about doctors looking at X-rays and other diagnostic tests on an iPad, perhaps even using the iPad to illustrate a broken bone, illness, or surgical procedure.
Doctors, however, aren’t the only healthcare professionals to be embracing mobile technology. A new study shows that the vast majority of nurses have also embraced mobile devices, particularly the iPhone and other smartphones. It also highlights that differing needs of healthcare professionals when it comes to mobile technology.
I hate camping. I don’t see the appeal in sleeping in a cold, damp tent, with no access to a shower or electricity. Once your iOS devices run out of battery, what is there to do?
Well, with the BioLite, they won’t run out of battery, because you can charge them by burning almost anything you can get your hands on, including twigs, sticks, leaves, pine cones, or your best friend’s favorite book.
Kicking off this week’s must-have apps roundup is an incredible word processor called UX Write, which makes working with large, complex documents on the go a breeze. You’ll also find Simpsons Comics, the latest app from comiXology that brings Bongo’s Simpsons library to iOS; a wonderful app from NASA that allows you to get up close and personal with the spacecraft used to explore our solar system, and more.
Kicking off this week’s must-have games roundup is a massive update to Tiny Wings — one of my favorite iOS games — which adds a brand new game mode with 15 levels, Retina visuals, and more. You’ll also find Amazing Alex, the latest game from Angry Birds creator Rovio; a wonderful multiplayer RPG; a retro Neo-Geo shooter, and more.
Studies released earlier this year strongly indicated that the iPad is one of the most effective online advertising vehicles out there. iPad users are more likely to respond to ads than users of most other devices and more likely to  purchase or research a product after seeing an ad on their device.
A new study confirms this trend and raises the possibility that the iPad may be subtly reshaping the online advertising industry.
Back in March, Max Petriv tweeted some images of a Spotify iPad app he had been working on. Not only was the app optimized for the iPad’s larger display (at that time there had not been a Spotify client even teased for the iPad), but the design and interface of Petriv’s app looked downright gorgeous.
The New York-based designer had no clue that his pictures would cause such a stir, with many publications, including Cult of Mac, reporting that an unofficial Spotify app was finally in the works. You see, Spotify had been promising the world an official iPad client for months and months, but when pressed, the music streaming juggernaut would only give vague hints, like “it’s definitely coming.” Hardly a satisfactory answer for iPad users wanting their own Spotify experience.
After showing off his early work on a Spotify iPad app, Petriv was blindsided by Spotify suddenly coming out of the woodwork to release its highly anticipated official app in May. The timing of Spotify’s announcement was interesting given that Petriv had just asked for help developing his own app less than two months prior.
Petriv is now publicly working on his own Spotify app again, but due to the restrictions Spotify imposes on developers, he needs your help.
Getting tired of “Sent from my iPhone” as your mail signature on your iPhone? What about “Sent from my iPad?” Still bored? Yeah, me, too. I’ve changed my signature to something a bit more magical on the iPad, but I really didn’t think about adding some basic rich text formatting and some images in to really spice it up.
Lucky for me (and now you), Greg Sargent, student web engineer, has. Here’s how.
Toys are just lifeless pieces of plastic completely devoid of feelings – or are they? It’s not like they could just walk around with an iPhone taking pictures of pretty sunsets and duckface self portraits for Instagram, right? Since science has yet to prove that toys are just just like us, Instagrammer Santlov provides fantastic images of toys playing with their iPhone, iPad, and Macs. Want to know what Scarface or Boba Fett would look like snapping Instagram pics? Take a look –
There’s no way to be nice about it: Microsoft is not cool. Their products aren’t cool (sans Xbox!). Their logo isn’t cool. And then there’s their dancing, prancing, screaming, bear of a man slash CEO: Steve Ballmer. And on our brand new CultCast, we have to ask: could Microsoft bring their sexy back with a CEO who isn’t the official jester of the tech community?
And then, don’t miss our discussion on how one simple hardware upgrade can transform your aged Macbook Pro into an unholy speed demon! That’s right, you don’t need a Retina Macbook, just $200 and ten minutes can bring you a renewed computing power that would make even Tim Cook’s glasses start to fog!
Subscribe to The CultCast now on iTunes, or easily stream new episodes right on your iPhone or iPad with Apple’s brand new Podcasts App.
Full show notes coming up next!
Your iPhone is more than a phone, it’s part of your life. It knows what you’re doing now (putting out fires with your boss? planning for drinks?), where you’re going for lunch and where you wish you were.
Even if you’re an open book — frequent Foursquare check-ins, Instagramming dinner, Spotifying all over the place — you probably wouldn’t broadcast every single thing you do with your iPhone, right?
That’s just what self-dubbed “interface artist” johannes-p-osterhoff will be doing for a year with his iPhone live project: letting the world see his every email, round of Mega run and lunch date on his Apple device. Berlin-based Osterhoff is a techno-provocateur whose previous exploits include pornifying iPad ads, creating a real-life OS X icon house and playing William Tell with iPhones.
He tells Cult of Mac why he’s doing it, what makes his mom worry and how you can reach him to be part of the project.
If you use Omnifocus on your iPad to “get things done,” you know that one of the key features of the system is to capture to do items and tasks as quickly and efficiently as possible to your management software (in this case, Omnifocus). If it’s a hassle to add things to your list of things to get done, you probably won’t add them. If you don’t add them, you won’t do them. It’s a vicious circle.
The OmniFocus forums have a sweet shortcut way to add things right to the OmniFocus inbox, with minimal fuss and muss.
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I’m a big fan of G-Form’s protective iPad cases. I use one on bike tours to keep my iPad safe in a pannier no matter what’s going on outside, and I love the relatively thin form-factor which comes courtesy of its special-sauce material which stiffens and absorbs shock on impact.
I even like the weird, retro-futuristic designs. But for those of you who prefer something a little more understated, there are now two new G-Forms to tempt you: the Reverse Ballistic Edge and the Extreme Hydro Sleeve.
Since its debut back in 2009, the iPad has dominated the tablet market. At the time of writing this piece, the device holds around 55% of the market share in the United States. Rival tablets from the likes of Amazon, Samsung, and HTC have tried to do battle with it, but they’ve had very little impact on its success.
But there is one tablet that Apple will need to keep its eye on: Microsoft’s new Surface. It’s already being dubbed an “iPad killer” by some, and although we’re skeptical the Windows-powered slate will “kill” Apple’s device, there are a number of reasons why the “Pro” variant will have more of an impact than you think.
Our iPhones and iPads, which enable us to work and be on call virtually anywhere at any time, will lead to more than half of us working while on vacation. That’s the result of a new study that looked at how technology impacts the work/life balance. iOS devices are common players in the bring your own device (BYOD) era. As BYOD programs lead many of us to use our personal iOS devices and other mobile technology for work-related tasks, they also encourage an “always on” attitude from employers and employees alike.
The study, commissioned by enterprise remote access vendor TeamViewer, shows that just over half (52%) of professionals expect to work while on vacation in one capacity or another.
It also comes on the heels of a similar study that we reported last week. That study showed that always-connected devices like the iPhone and iPad lead most of us to work well past the end of the business day. A practice so common, in fact, that many of us will work an extra seven hours outside of normal business hours and outside of the office each week.
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Book fetishists often cite the smell and feel of a book as a reason to keep chopping down trees and wasting fuel to ship the pulp around the world. But what about something that we probably all value, whether we are paper-sniffers or we have entered the modern age – signed books? Specifically, how does one get a digital book signed by the author?
Brett Kelly has the answer.