Amazon is beating Apple in the eBooks racket by using Apple’s own pricing strategy for music.
But Apple can still clobber Amazon by out-Appling not the iTunes pricing strategy, but the Apple marketing strategy: Create a vastly better user experience for both content creators and content consumers! Oh, and focus on audio.
Here’s how.
This time on The CultCast: great apps go free for Apple’s 5th Appaversary; an updated Retina Macbook Pro is close at hand; iPad Mini COULD go retina; our favorite new iOS 7 beta 3 features; researchers know where you’ll take your iPhone next; Alex E. Heath loves Daughters; mini Kahney gets a birthday surprise; and guests hosts GWAR stop by! That last part’s a lie.
Have a few laughs and get caught up on this week’s best Apple stories. Stream or download new and past episodes of The CultCast now on your Mac or iDevice by subscribing on iTunes, or hit play below and let the audio adventure begin.
Curious to see what the next version of iOS will be like but don’t have an iPhone? Now there’s an app on Google Play called Control Center that brings the iOS 7 Control Center user experience to Android phones.
The app functions pretty much identical to the Control Center found on iOS 7 except it’s more customizable. Swipe up from the bottom of your device and you get quick access to toggles for Wifi, Bluetooth, volume, a flash light, camera, and a couple of other basic functions.
The download is free in Google Play right now so if you’ve been eyeing some of the new iOS 7 features, here’s how to get one of them with out having to spend a cent on a new iPhone.
Via: Gizmodo
Source: Google
iTunes Radio is here – and it’s looking pretty cool. One of the more Pandora-like options in iTunes Radio is the ability to create a station based on your favorite artist or song, and even mix and match artists for a custom bunch of songs you can play uninterrupted, like, well, radio. You can even tell iTunes Radio what songs or artists not to play in the mix, as well as manage which types of songs (Top Hits, Mix, Discovery) from each artist to play.
Here’s how to add a new artist or song to iTunes Radio in iOS 7 beta.
When the iPhone was unveiled back in 2007, its touch screen was a revelation to the industry. You don’t need a stylus; you just touch it with your finger and it responds almost instantaneously.
While the iPhone’s touch display may feel a bit magical, the glass is coated in a thin, transparent material called indium tin oxide (ITO) that can sense when you touch the display. It’s one of those little tiny feats of engineering that you never really notice, except according to a new report from the U.S. government, supplies of ITO are dwindling and researchers are hustling to find a replacement.
We all know how exciting getting your first iPhone can be. But you should always remember to take your old phone home with you when you upgrade at the store — particularly if you decided to steal your iPhone rather than pay for it.
One man was caught red-handed for a robbery at a DMW Wireless store in Springfield, Virginia, when he left his Samsung Galaxy behind after fleeing the scene.
In its first foray into the world of 3D printing, eBay has introduced a new app for iOS, called eBay Exact. The new app allows users to customize and purchase 3D-printed products from Sculpteo, MakerBot, and Hot Pop Factory, which are built to order and shipped from each 3D printer’s facilities.
Right now eBay Exact only has about 20 items to choose from and customize, but more are likely to be added in the future as the 3D printing wave continues to gain momentum. All of the customizations are handled within the app as users are able to personalize colors, engravings, and even design textures for a few items.
Here’s what it’s like to design a custom wood grain iPhone case with the app:
VimpelCom, owner of Beeline, Russia’s third-biggest mobile carrier, has cut its ties with Apple and decided it will no longer offer the iPhone. The company reportedly feels Apple’s conditions are too “harsh,” and so it has inked a deal with its biggest rival instead.
Best Buy is currently giving away gift cards worth a minimum of $200 to those who trade-in a second- or third-generation iPad for a new model. The offer will get you a brand new fourth-generation iPad with Retina display for as little as $299.99.
Any.Cal is the new iPhone calendar app from Any.Do, and it brings an ultra-clean UI to your iOS calendar, complete with some rather useful extras. Plus it uses the same account you already have for Any.do, which ties everything together.
Tangent is a new iPhone app for dickering with your photos. It comes from Ben Guerrette, the brains behind Deco Sketch for the iPhone and iPad, and it is similar in intent. Tangent overlays geometrical patterns onto your photo, and then lets you adjust them.
If we’re guessing about improvments coming to the next iPhone, then a better camera is a pretty safe bet. Each iteration of the iPhone has bumped the megapixels and improved image quality, low-light performance and added featres like HDR and panoramas. Many other makers (cough Samsung cough) have attempted to match the iPhone’s camera, but only one has really come close – Nokia. And the new Lumia 1020 looks even more amazing yet.
Rovio, makers of the all-mighty Angry Birds franchise, kicked off the launch of its new publishing company last month with the new game Icebreakers: A Viking Voyage, but their second title is already here.
Tiny Thief has landed on the App Store this afternoon early reviews have been very positive. The game centers around the character Tiny Thief, an unconventional hero who uses cunning and trickery to out-smart his opponents across six epic medieval adventures.
Priced at $2.99 for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, the game plays similar to the point-and-click games of yore but has its own charm and mind boggling puzzles.
Here is the trailer and release notes:
Pacific Rim doesn’t hit theaters until Friday, July 12th, but if you want to rage battle against Guillermo del Toro’s Kaiju monsters on your own the official tie-in game is now available on the App Store.
The new action fighting game gives players access to five of the weaponized robots in the movie called Jaegers, to do battle against the powerful Kaiju monsters. You can choose Story Mode to play 30 different levels that kind of follow the movie, or Survival Mode and see how many waves of Kaiju you can defeat while upgrading the tech of your Jaeger.
You can grab Pacific Rim for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch from the App Store for $5.
Here are the full release notes:
iOS 7 beta has a great new feature in the Notification Center system called Today. This is an attempt, perhaps, to counter Google Now with more useful current information available to you right on your iPhone or iPad’s lock screen.
You can enable the Summary, Traffic Conditions, Day View, Reminders, Stocks, and Tomorrow’s Summary right in the Notification Center, and make it available right on your lock screen, without having to type in your security passcode.
Here’s how to enable, and then manage, this new feature in iOS 7 beta.
Remember how desperate carriers were to get the iPhone on their networks? The billions Sprint and Verizon pledged to Apple in the hopes that they could promise a big enough order that Apple would have no choice but to give them the iPhone?
Looks like the laugh is on them. In fact, this year alone, Verizon might be on the hook for over $14 billion dollars in iPhones they are not likely to sell.
We all have at least one friend who is just verbose as hell on iMessage. Like, dude just doesn’t get the fact that you don’t want to read a novella about how the Chipotle burrito roller lady ripped his tortilla twice, so he sends his 1852 character rant to you like it’s an honor to know of his guacamole debacle.
Rather than having to scroll through extremely long iMessages in the chat window, iOS 7 has a new feature which allows users to expand them into full screen mode. A truncated version of a long iMessage will display in the chat window with a little arrow at the bottom to expand it and read more.
Here’s a GIF of how it works:
Despite “weaker” orders from Apple during the second quarter, Foxconn managed to post revenue that beat analyst estimates thanks to its increased focus on televisions. The company announced revenue of NT$897 billion ($30 million) over the three-month period, which is 0.6% higher than its second-quarter revenue for 2012, and better than the NT$829 billion expected by analysts.
Facebook for iPhone and iPad has been updated to introduce verified celebrities, public figures, and brands. Just like on Twitter, verified accounts will have a blue check mark next to their names, so now you’ll know for certain whether that guy you’ve been talking to really is Justin Bieber.
IFTTT (If This Then That), the do-anything glue that hooks up all your favorite web services autmatically, now has an iPhone app. Not only that, it has three brand-new iOS-only channels which tie into photos, reminders and your contacts.
I’ve been testing it for a few days, and it’s pretty damn cool.
iPhone cases overwhelm me. There are cases made from wood, metal, plastic, recyclable material, leather, and fabric. I’ve tried nearly every kind you can imagine, but I have yet to find one that I’m happy to wake up to every morning—many probably feel that way about their lovers.
In my quest to find a good looking, functional, minimal iPhone case, I came across an aluminum case for the iPhone 5 by Freeform3, a Craftwerk company. What started as a Kickstarter project has turned into the best iPhone bumper I’ve ever used.
Instagram has quickly become one of the most popular photo sharing services for mobile devices, but you’re about to start seeing more of it in your web browser.
This morning Instagram introduced new web embedding for Instagram content that will allow you to post photos and video right on your blog or website:
“Now, when you visit an Instagram photo or video page on your desktop web browser, you’ll see a new share button on the right side of your photo (just under the comments button). Click the button to see the embed code. Copy the block of text it gives you and paste it into your blog, website or article. When you hit publish, the photo or video will appear.”
Here’s an example of how embedded Instagrams appear on the web:
Apple has asked the International Trade Commission to postpone an import ban on the iPhone 4 and the iPad 2 while a court considers its appeal. The ban is set to go into affect on August 5 — just under four weeks away — but Apple has argued that it will “sweep away an entire segment of Apple’s product offerings” and harm iPhone carrier partners.
I might be a lapsed Englishman, but there’s something that can never be bred out of me wherever I dwell: my love of a nice cup of tea. Unfortunately, even the Brits are getting lax when it comes to brewing God’s favorite beverage [1], relying on teabags instead of loose leaves and even (the horror!) letting the water sit off the boil for whole minutes before pouring it into the pot (I have seen my own brother do this).
It’s enough to get George Orwell turning in his memory hole.
Luckily, there’s an app for that.
Google has rolled out a major Google Maps update for Android smartphones and tablets, which is also “coming soon” to iPhone and iPad. It introduces a new design that finally boasts a dedicated user interface for tablets, as well as enhanced navigation and new features.