Apple has topped the list of world’s most valuable brands for the third straight year in a row, and is now worth almost twice as much as any other brand on the planet, Forbes reports. The Cupertino company is now valued at $104.3 billion, up 20 percent over last year, which puts it way out in front of Microsoft, Samsung, and even Google.
The question of whether there exists such a thing as an objectively perfect work of art remains the stuff of artistic scholarship and debates, but one particular artist feels they’ve cracked the question of how to improve a time-honored masterpiece — by adding in a number of Apple products.
If you’re a programmer who needs to learn iOS, a student, someone with a great app idea, or a computer science teacher who wants to add iOS to their skill set then the latest Cult of Mac Deals offering is going to be right up your alley.
With over four hours of video instruction, numerous lab exercises and dozens of code examples, The iPhone and iPad App Development Course gets you ready to create your own iOS Apps for the iPhone, iPad or both. And it’s available for 50% off for a limited time – just $49 – thanks to Cult of Mac Deals.
Getting kids to read 19th century literature is virtually impossible unless you attach a grade to it these days. While I was content with thick tomes of Brönte(s) and Austen in high school, my classmates were quick to avoid most books not written by popular authors within the last 20 years. If only someone made an infinite runner with book passages as the levels so children would have to look at words when playing games!
Stride & Prejudice by No Crusts Interactive is a surprisingly simple yet elegant way to read Pride & Prejudice without abandoning your love of repeatedly tapping your phone. You control the novel’s heroine Elizabeth (Lizzy) Bennet as she leaps daringly from sentence to sentence. Depending on which gameplay mode selected, you can actually read all of Pride & Prejudice at a leisurely pace.
Apple pushed out a nice new update to its Apple Store app for iPhone on Tuesday, which brings Apple Store gift cards to Passbook in the United Kingdom and other countries. The feature made its initial debut just over a year ago, but until now, it was only available to users in the United States.
Typing in your password every time you want to unlock your Mac sucks. Apple still hasn’t added facial ID recognition to OS X, nor have we heard nary a mention of Touch ID coming to MacBooks, but if you’re looking for a neat way to quickly unlock your Mac, a new app called Knock allows you do it with two quick taps on your iPhone screen.
The free Mac app works in tandem with an iPhone app that turns your phone into an authentication device. Knock uses Bluetooth Low Energy to communicate from iPhone to Mac but you should be able to leave it on all day without draining battery.
Here’s a video of Knock in action:
We’re not sure why Google just doesn’t change the name of their Google Search app for iOS, as it does pretty much everything Google Now does on Android, but this new update is pretty fantastic, whatever you want to call it.
Google Search is “now” updated to version 3.1.0, with a whole new set of features, including Notifications, Reminders, new Cards, and a Siri-like Handsfree voice. This last bit lets you command your iPhone to do stuff with the phrase, “OK Google.”
How cool is that?
We’ve seen a few dongles that let you track your devices from your iPhone using Bluetooth, and we’ve seen some that let you fire your iPhone’s shutter the same way. But the Wise Button does both. I wouldn’t call it wise, but I would call it useful.
Leather gloves are useful for many things: driving, punching, jewel thieving, murdering and doing sex. But one thing they weren’t good at until now was iPhone-ing. Mujjo has totally fixed that.
The iPhone 5s wasn’t the first smartphone to offer a fingerprint scanner, but it’s undoubtedly the most popular one to date. In fact, it’s so popular that Touch ID is now driving massive growth in the smartphone fingerprint scanner market, with sales of fingerprint scanning handsets expected to reach 525 million units in 2017.
All demand, but no supply!
24 hours after being launched in India, retailers sold out of the iPhone 5s — leading to retail chains asking for replenished stocks, following an unprecedented demand for the new smartphone.
In more welcome airport-related news than the reports that Apple’s Maps app steers people the wrong way across Fairbanks Airport taxiway, Apple has released an update (version 1.3.3) of its AirPort Utility — the app which allows you to manage your Wi-Fi base stations, including AirPort Express, AirPort Extreme, and AirPort Time Capsule, from the comfort of your iOS device.
One of the better ways to see what’s coming up in any calendar is the list view. It’s a handy way to see, at a quick glance, the major events of the next few days.
Unfortunately, Apple has taken this view from its new iOS 7 Calendar app and hidden it away.
Here’s how to get it back.
Most developers have had their iOS 7 apps ready for weeks but Apple is still racing to update all of its own apps to mesh better with iOS 7’s new look. The Remote app for iPhone and iPad is the latest Apple app to get the iOS 7 treatment as Apple just published version 4.0 to the App Store.
The updated app comes with an all new iOS 7-style look as well as support for iTunes 11.1 but there’s no mention of new features in the release notes so it looks like we’re just getting a facelift for now. iPhone and iPad owners can use the device to control Apple TV as well as remotely access computers on the same Home Sharing account to play music, queue up additional songs, create playlists and more.
The new update can be found in the App Store for free.
Source: iTunes
While Apple has aimed to keep the design of the iPhone consistent over the last six years – same screen size, same form factor, same metal band antenna on the outside – Google has managed to keep fans excited by providing different variants of its flagship Nexus device every single year.
Sure, all those different screen sizes and hardware changes have helped push the state of horrific fragmentation in the Android market, but at least fandroids get new design choices every year. To celebrate the release of the Nexus 5, our friends over at GadgetLove created an awesome GIF GIF showcasing how the Nexus has evolved over the years.
Check it out below:
Apple’s design patterns are pretty much set at this point: every other year, they radically overhaul the look of the iPhone or iPad.
Next year’s iPhone 6, then, will be a major departure from the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5s, and designer Federico Ciccarese of Ciccarese Design has a good idea of what to expect: a slimmer device that looks a lot more like an iPad Air or iPad mini called (yup) the iPhone Air.
I just moved to Germany, which means that I get a lot more weather than when I lived in Spain. There, a quick once-a-week check was plenty to know whether you should get the umbrella from the attic. In Germany, I check every time I want to leave the house.
And now there’s a great app which will will let you customize your own weather notifications, right there on your iPhone.
If you believe the reports, Apple is currently working on a way of charging iOS devices using solar panels. If you’re not content to wait, however, and want a quick-and-easy means of charging your iPhone or iPad right now, you might want to consider investing in this Indiegogo crowd funding campaign to create a mobile wireless charging solution for Apple products.
Based on the increasingly popular Qi inductive electrical power transfer system, iQi Mobile Wireless is set to bring true, low-cost wireless charging to iOS device. This is done without the fuss of plugging and unplugging wires, since charging is achieved simply by placing your iPhone or iPad on a Koolpuck charger.
Don’t look now, but kids want iPhones for Christmas. Well, a third of them do, anyway.
A survey of 12- to 17-year-olds conducted by Ebates found that an iPhone tops the wishlist. One third — specifically 32% — of those surveyed want an iPhone. (Some 12% want a Samsung Galaxy phone.)
Ho, ho, hold on a second. Is this a good idea? Should children “own” wireless gadgets?
If not, why not? And if so, which one?
Well, I’m going to tell you.
The iPhone just became much more cost-friendly in the second largest wireless market in the world. India’s third largest carrier, Reliance Communications, has started selling the iPhone 5c and 5s with a two-year contract. Indian customers have previously only been able to purchase the iPhone for its full, unsubsidized price off contract.
India is a key emerging market for Apple, and this move could significantly bolster iPhone sales in the country if it catches on at other Indian carriers.
You can never have too many headphones. I’ve written before about how I’ve got different ones for different use cases, so when an ergonomic set of earbuds suited for the iPhone 5, 5S, and 5C become available at a low price — well…I’m all ears.
Cult of Mac has a set of earbuds that meets that criteria, The iPhone 5/5S/5C headphones are only $14.99, but you’ll also get free shipping to select countries. Plus, if you buy two pairs, you’ll get one at 50% off the already low price!
I like some notifications. I try to keep it down to a dull roar, of course, but I enjoy knowing when I get a phone call, text message, and email from specific clients or friends.
It’s just that when I see all these notifications in my lockscreen, I mentally dismiss them, only to have them appear again the next time I check my iPhone for the time.
I messed around with it a bit yesterday, and came up with this solution, thanks to iOS 7.
If you switched from an iPhone to an Android-powered smartphone because you felt a 4-inch display was just too small, then Apple may give you a reason to switch back next year. Several industry experts are predicting that the Cupertino company will step up its pursuit of high-end Android smartphones by finally introducing a larger 5-inch display with the iPhone 6.
One of the much touted features of iOS 7 is the new organization feature of the Photos app. When I opened it for the first time, back in the beta, I was dismayed to see the Year view.
The photos? They’re tiny! How the heck am I supposed to find the photo I want? I’m old and need glasses. Sheesh.
Ahem.
It turns out to be much simpler than you’d think to scan through the photos in this view.
While Google was busy spilling all the new details of its new Google+ photo editing features this morning, the company also announced that Snapseed will be getting some sweet new features of its own. True to Google’s word, Snapseed 1.6 just hit the App Store is includes a new HDR scape filter that brings a stunning look to photos.
Snapseed users will find the HDR Scape filter next to the old Drama filter that provided similar HDR filters for photos, however HDR Scape’s results are a great deal more impressive. To adjust the strength of the filter users simply swipe left to right. Google also added a Shadows slider in the Tune Image section that will brighten dark areas naturally.
Here’s a look at HDR Scape in action: