Infinity Blade was special in so many ways. Photo: Epic Games
Epic Games has pulled its groundbreaking Infinity Blade series from the App Store without warning.
The studio, which is also responsible for hit battle royale game Fortnite, explains that it has “become increasingly difficult” to support the games — but it does hint that Infinity Blade will make a comeback in the future.
Guided Access can avoid embarrassing mistakes. Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac
The iPad’s main trick is that it disappears when you launch an app. Fire up a piano app, and your iPad becomes a piano. Launch YouTube and it turns into a TV for pacifying children. This is part of the magic of the iPad, but it’s not quite perfect. Kids can easily leave YouTube and start reading your sexts instead. And a musician might accidentally trigger a gesture while playing on those virtual piano keys, finding themselves back at the home screen in the middle of a performance.
What you need is kiosk mode, aka Guided Access. This locks the iPad into a single app, and disables the hardware buttons. And it’s equally good for keeping you in one app, or keeping people out of all the others.
Buying for an iPad fan? Start here! Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac
The holiday shopping season has rudely crept up on us, which means it’s time to start buying for friends and loved ones who have been good this year. Fortunately for you, Cult of Mac is here to help.
Our gift guides are full of great products Apple fans are sure to love. We’ve hand-picked awesome accessories and glorious gadgets that we all use and recommend, so you know your money is being well-spent.
This guide focuses on the iPad lovers in your life, and there’s something to suit every budget.
You’ll be able to play it first on iPad. Photo: Feral Interactive
Popular construction simulator Tropico finally has a release date for iOS. You’ll be able to play it before the end of the year on your iPad and in 2019 on your iPhone.
Pre-order the game today to have it download automatically as soon as it hits the App Store.
Think twice about buying your little ones an iPad for Christmas. Once they reach a certain age, Apple’s tablet just isn’t good enough, according to a new Microsoft holiday ad.
The hilarious 30-second clip features a young girl singing about all the reasons why the Surface Go is a better option. It suggests the iPad is a toy — not a “real computer” that’s fit for work.
Apple is lowering prices for the military. Photo: Apple
Buying a new iPhone XS just got a lot more affordable for anyone that has served is or is currently surviving in the U.S. Military.
Apple revealed today that it has launched a new website that gives a 10% discount to vets and active military members that the company says is an expression of its gratitude for service.
Looking for a new iPad for the holidays, but not quite ready to splash out on Apple’s high end iPad Pro models? No problem: Apple’s refurb store just picked up the sixth-gen 9.7-inch iPad, with prices starting at $279 for a 32GB model.
The sixth-gen iPad was announced on March 27, 2018, during Apple’s education-focused event in Chicago. It retails for $329 new.
Some books, with night-mode disabled. Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac
Apple’s iBooks app became the Books app in iOS 12, and got a whole lot better. From the library through to the built-in book store, it’s better in every way. It even has a dark mode, perfect for browsing and reading late at night.
But Books’ dark mode doesn’t work the way you might think. For instance, how in the dickens do you switch the dark mode on and off?
Start your shopping right here! Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac
If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that buying for other people is a pain. If they haven’t told you exactly what they want for the holidays, where do you even start? What if you end up getting a gift that they hate?
But it doesn’t have to be difficult. Cult of Mac’s handy gift guides will help you find the perfect present for the Apple fan in your life. We’ve hand-picked the best gadgets and accessories for lovers of the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac.
What’s more, everything we’ve selected can be purchased online, so you don’t even have to leave the house to get your shopping done.
The Camera Connection Kit has some surprising tricks. Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac
This weekend, you’re “enjoying” some extended time with your family. After you’ve fixed their devices, and taught them that the battery of their iPhone lasts way longer if they don’t leave the damn screen on the whole time, you might decide to swap some photos. You may grab the your old childhood snaps off your mother’s iPad, or photos of the family recipe book off your father’s iPhone.
There are a few ways to do this — slow, fast and faster, wired or wireless. Let’s see how to transfer photos between iPhones and iPads.
Are you exposing sensitive data in the cloud? Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac
I have a friend who came back to the iPad with the iPad Pro, and the first thing he started whining about was that there’s no way to create a local folder in the Files app. He doesn’t want to store everything in iCloud. Which reminded me of this great feature. All of Apple’s big iOS Apps — Pages, GarageBand, Numbers, and so on — let you choose where they store their files. The default is iCloud Drive, but you can choose pretty much any place you like, from Dropbox, to your iPad itself, to pretty much any third-party storage app. Let’s see how it works.
The new USB-C hub indicator icon on the 2018 iPad Pro. Photo: Cult of Mac
When you plug a USB-C hub into your new iPad Pro, you will see a new icon appear in the iOS status bar, up on the right by the battery, Wi-Fi, and LTE status icons. It’s a little blue lozenge with an icon of an old-style Camera Connection Kit in it, and it appears for just a short moment.
The new icon is handy to let you know that your hub has been recognized, but it doesn’t always work as expected.
One of the hottest indie movie studios in Hollywood is joining forces with Apple to make a series of movies.
A24, the studio behind the Oscar-winning film Moonlight, has inked a multi-year deal to produce a slate of films, in what is the first major movie deal for Apple.
Magnets are one of the neatest features in the new iPad Pro -- even though you can't see them. Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac
One of the neatest features of the new 2018-era iPad Pro is something you can’t even see from outside. That’s the fact that it’s studded with 102 small magnets, which allow you to attach the Apple Pencil, stick it to the Smart Keyboard Folio, or even adhere it to your fridge door if you’re feeling brave.
But just how are the magnets distributed inside Apple’s next-gen tablet? Using some special magnet paper, tech vlogger Marques Brownlee found out.
The new iPad Pro is Apple’s best ever portable computer. Photo: Andrea Nepori
Since I got an new 2018 iPad Pro on launch day last week, I’ve used it exclusively. I haven’t touched my aging, decrepit Mac all week. I’ve used the iPad for work, and for play, so I’ve given it a pretty good workout. The short review is: It’s fantastic, and better in almost every way.
The long review? There are still plenty of annoyances.
The iPad loves a nice bit of keyboard action. Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac
Did you know that the Smart Keyboard Folio you just bought for your new iPad Pro can do a lot more than just type letters and words into your apps? Just like the Mac, the iPad can use keyboard shortcuts to make life a lot easier. In fact, the iPad shares many keyboard shortcuts with the Mac, so once you’re through with this list, you should try out your favorites.
And don’t worry if you don’t have a Smart Keyboard. These shortcuts work with any connected keyboard, be it Smart, Bluetooth, or USB. In fact, most keyboards actually do more for the iPad than Apple’s own.
Make back some of the money you just dropped on a new iPad Pro. Photo: Andrea Nepori
Your hard-earned savings are probably looking a little beaten after the arrival of the amazing new iPad Pro lineup. But making back some of the cash you’ve just coughed up can be quicker and easier than you think.
Stock up on travel ready gear, from portable chargers to refurbished iPads and more. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
Whether you’re a snowbird escaping the winter weather or just traveling for work, we’ve got some of the best deals on gear to bring on your next trip. There’s an affordable set of noise canceling headphones, an A/C ready power pack, even refurbished iPads, and lots more. Everything in this roundup is discounted significantly, so read on for more details:
The new 2018 iPad Pro is a lust object you probably don’t need. Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac
Every 2018 iPad Pro review I’ve read seems to be written by someone who doesn’t use the iPad like a pro. Most of the reviewers focus on using Apple’s new tablet they way most people do: reading the internet, doing some mail and watching lots of video.
Which is a shame, because there’s a lot to like in this iPad for “power” users, aka folks whose everyday carry is an iPad. People like me. The iPad has been my most-used device for years. I do everything on it. (Everything, ironically, except writing articles — but that’s because my ancient 27-inch iMac still works fine, and I like to use a trackpad for editing text.)
Rather than reviewing the iPad Pro from the point of view of a “normal,” I’m going to talk about this gorgeous new device like someone who uses an iPad for work every day.
The awesome new 2018 iPad Pro deserves some awesome accessories. Photo: Andrea Nepori
You’ve got your new iPad Pro, and it’s all set up. Now, you might want to start tricking it out with accessories. The bad news is that most of your old accessories won’t work. The good news is that some of them will, and the rest can be replaced, or hooked up with dongles. Let’s check out the best accessories for the new 2018 iPad Pro.
Apple is worth more than the entire US energy sector combined Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Apple just had its best September quarter of all-time and CEO Tim Cook couldn’t have sounded happier when he got on the phone with investors today. The company is heading into the holiday season with its best lineup ever and expects to set more records next quarter.
Investors did not seem to be too impressed with the results though. Apple’s stock price dropped from $222.22 to as low as $206 in after-hours training. Despite Wall Street’s worries about Apple, there was plenty of achievements for Tim Cook and Luca Maestri to boast about on today’s call.
There were the biggest revelations from today’s call:
It's amazing what 8.5 years will do! Photo: Adobe/YouTube
Visually, the new iPad Pro brings back some of the design elements of the original 2010 iPad, especially noticeable with the flattened edges for the device. But how does it stack up in terms of computing power?
Frankly, it blows the original iPad out of the water — which is exactly what you’d expect from 8.5 years of Moore’s Law and engineering prowess. But some of the stats are pretty mind-boggling. Here’s how the 2018 iPad Pro measures up to the O.G. iPad:
Mock up of the new iPad Pro and Apple Pencil. Photo: Ben Geskin
Apple is planning to unveil a second-generation Apple Pencil during its ‘More in the Making’ keynote tomorrow but full details of the new stylus may have already leaked online.
Notorious Apple leaker Ben Geskin tweeted out new info on Apple Pencil 2.0 today, confirming some rumored features of the device, including a new way to charge the stylus.