iPhone - page 288

One of the better Yuletide traditions is the venerable holiday Advent Calendar, in which each day of December leading up to Christmas is marked off on a special calendar by opening its corresponding door to find a small gift, toy or chocolate squirreled away inside.

So what’s behind the door on Saturday the 8th? Letterpress for iOS, a word game for the rest of us, with a simple, cutthroat strategy and an amazing visual design!

One of Apple’s most prized software patents is commonly referred to as simply “the Steve Jobs patent.” The late CEO himself is listed as one of the key inventors in the patent’s documentation, and it was also referred to as “the iPhone patent” when it was approved back in 2009.

Apple has been using this famous patent in courtrooms to sue the likes of Samsung and Google’s Motorola, but now the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has entirely invalidated the patent until further examination.

Use Instagram much? If you do, you’ll know that the best part about it is the community of users that’s over there. It’s as vibrant and rocking a community as Twitter or Facebook, all wrapped around photos you take, filter, and share. It’s what Flickr wishes it had become. Poor Flickr.

Anyway, you can have followers on Instagram, just like Twitter. And, also just like Twitter, people can unfollow you when you post something obnoxious, post too much, or just post something they don’t agree with. It’s all very democratic.

If you’ve ever wondered who was following you or who was un-following you, Followers+ might be the app for you.

The iPhone 6 probably isn’t going to come out for another 18 months or so, but seems how it’s so far away, now seems like a great time to fantasize about possible features Apple might throw into the device based on patent filings. It’s Friday. I’m tired. So screw it, let’s talk crazy.

Yesterday the US Patent and Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that showed Apple is considering adding hidden audio sensors into the displays of the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and maybe even the iTV if they get around to it. What wasn’t detailed was how Apple plans to use those sensors,  but one crazy idea is that Apple might use them to create sonar-maps kind of like in the movie The Dark Knight.

One of the best things about Christmas is the endless number of Ugly Sweater Parties during the build up to Santa smothering me with presents. Sure, ugly sweater parties have become cliché, but I’m not bored of them just yet, and using an iPad to create the ultimate ugly christmas sweater sounds awesome.

I pride myself on my ability to dominate the competition at an ugly sweater party, but never before had I thought to integrate an iPad or iPhone into the costume with the elegance Mark Rober pulls of in the video above. Replicating Mark’s sweater is pretty easy. Just download his Digital Dudz – Christmas app, buy a sweater, cut a hole in it, duck-tape your iPad to the back and you’re done.

Rather than going with a simple fireplace though, I’m thinking of displaying an endless collection of the best/worst GIFs, or just this.

Source: YouTube

Via: Gizmodo

One of the better Yuletide traditions is the venerable holiday Advent Calendar, in which each day of December leading up to Christmas is marked off on a special calendar by opening its corresponding door to find a small gift, toy or chocolate squirreled away inside.

This year, we here at Cult of Mac decided we wanted to give our readers their very own Apple-themed advent calendar, filled with the year’s best apps, gadgets, stories and other curios. So each day in December, we’re going to lovingly peel back the door on the Cult of Mac 2012 Advent Calendar to reveal another delicious morsel, something really special that came out this year that we think every one of you should enjoy.

So what’s behind the door on Friday the 7th? Tweetbot for Mac, the best (and most expensive) Twitter client on the Mac App Store!

T-Mobile recently announced that they’ve reached an agreement with Apple to start selling the iPhone in 2013. Coming on the heels of their iPhone announcement, T-Mobile says they plan to stop subsidizing smartphones in 2013 to give customers more freedom.

All four of the major U.S. carriers offer smartphones at a subsidized price, giving subscribers a discount in exchange for tying them to a two-year contract. The contract helps the carriers retain customers, and the lower price point of the smartphone makes customers happy, but it also ramps up costs and restricts customers from upgrades. T-Mobile says they want to get rid of that system entirely.

T-Mobile customers are quickly jumping ship, turning to rival carriers to bag the iPhone. But on Thursday, the company announced that it will finally begin selling Apple’s immensely popular smartphone from next year, and it is hoping that the move will help it claw back some subscribers. Chief Executive John Legere wants to see it making a positive impact on the carrier’s subscription numbers by 2013.

“It is an aggressive target but we think it is possible,” Legere told reporters on Friday.

The iNotebook from Targus is yet another attempt to solve the old problem of hand-writing on your iPad. This one comes in the form of a folio with a pad of paper, a special pen and a sensor up top to record your ink strokes in digital format.

The trouble is, it looks like another “faster horse and carriage” solution.

This is theGOODbook. It is a book, and it is very, very good. It’s so hot that even though I’m a dedicated non-user of cases, I have the product page primed and ready to place my order.

KitCam has quickly become one of my favorite photography apps for the iPhone — featuring in last week’s must-have apps roundup — and it has just been updated to add a number of handy features. In addition to photo importing from the camera roll, KitCam now has a time lapse timer, and better zoom functionality.

Zazzle Instant is an iOS app that lets you add your own pictures to a ton of different products, including Macbook and iPad sleeves, iPhone cases, messenger bags, playing cards, and a whole lot more.

The app has updated recently to include some great new features, like integration with your Facebook photos, easier adjustment to images, and new panoramic photos (in case you were wondering what to do with all those new iOS 6 panoramic photos). The folks at Zazzle promise to unleash new features on the app for the next few Saturdays, as well, so now is a great time to try it out.

Remember those goofy VHS interactive video board games they had back in the early 90s? I had one, based on Star Trek: The Next Generation. It came out in 1993, so you can pick one up from eBay for about $24 these days. I remember being just super excited that I could play a board game and fake-interact with klingons on the television set, remote in hand to pause, fast forward, and rewind as the board game told me what to do.

Imagine my surprise now when I can have a party at my house with up to 15 iOS device owners, playing a drawing charades game on a huge flat screen TV with nothing but a tiny computer that everyone brought into the house with them, their fingers, and a tiny hockey-puck sized device connected to the television. Now that would feel like science-fiction.

Draw-It, Push-It, a new game for iOS devices, purports to do just that.

Earlier today T-Mobile announced that it will finally start selling Apple products in 2013. As the last major U.S. carrier to not offer Apple’s beloved iPhone, it’s about time T-Mobile joined the cool kids’ table.

T-Mobile CEO John Legere has promised that buying the iPhone on his network will be “dramatically different” due to the carrier’s decision to abandon subsidized wireless contracts altogether. This is a huge move that could either make or break T-Mobile, and it will hopefully make buying smartphones like the iPhone a better experience for U.S. customers. 

As the only major carrier in the U.S. to not offer the iPhone, T-Mobile has been suffering lately as their customers have fled to other carriers to get an iPhone. Deutsche Telecom announced today that T-Mobile USA has entered into an agreement with Apple to bring the iPhone to their network.

Don’t rush to the Apple Store to pick up your T-Mobile iPhone just yet though. T-Mobile say they won’t be selling Apple products in the U.S. until 2013. T-Mobile plans to roll out significant investments in their broadband LTE infrastructure in the U.S. between 2013 and 2020.

Tim Cook announced that Apple is ready to invest $100 million into bringing some of its Mac production back to the U.S. in 2013. Foxconn, the major supplier to Apple, said that they’re ready to expand in the U.S. too, as more of their clients have requested their products be made in the U.S.A.

As Foxconn’s biggest client and the largest technology company in the world, Apple’s move to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. could trigger more companies to follow suit, and Foxconn wants to meet the challenge.

The GoPano Micro is a Kickstarter project that’s really taken off, becoming a huge success on the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. So it’s no surprise to see that it’s soon coming to iPhone 5. It’s available to pre-order now from the GoPano store, priced at $60, with shipping expected to begin later this month.

6Wunderkinder has announced a brand new version of Wunderlist that’s coming to Android, iOS, Mac, and PC just in time for Christmas. Wunderlist 2 has been “reengineered, rebuilt and redesigned, from start to finish,” its creators tease. Check out what’s new and get a glimpse of the new app in the preview video below.

Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour, the latest addition to Gameloft’s awesome first-person shooter series, has arrived on iOS in a bid to push the boundaries of mobile gaming even further. It promises to be “the most memorable action thriller ever,” boasting an intense solo campaign and a completely redesigned multiplayer mode. What’s more, its console-quality graphics look incredible on Retina display devices.

We’re at the time of year where we’re shooting tons of photos. Whether it’s at a family gathering, capturing wintry landscapes, or admiring decorations adorning houses in your neighbourhood, taking photos is definitely on the agenda. But taking photos isn’t enough – you want to make them look as appealing as possible, and Cult of Mac Deals has assembled The Mac Photo Bundle to help you get more out of every photo you take.

And it can be yours for a limited time – all 5 apps – for just $25!

Many don’t know that Twitter didn’t actually invent the word “tweet.” It was a small group of developers at The Iconfactory who thought up the clever moniker when they made Twitterrific, the first real Twitter client. Twitterrific started way back in 2007 as the first Twitter app on the Mac, and the first iPhone version went live when Apple launched the App Store in 2008. Since then, the app has continued to evolve on both iOS and OS X. Twitterrific was the first app to use a bird icon, show a character counter as you tweet, and show replies and conversation threads in-app.

Twitterrific was instrumental in laying the groundwork for the likes of Tweetie and Tweetbot, and the The Iconfactory’s work is a shining example of how third-party devs can enhance a service like Twitter and make the experience better for the user. Without Twitterrific, the Twitter app landscape would probably look very different.

Last week, The Iconfactory announced the upcoming release of Twitterrific 5, a totally new redesign on the iPhone and iPad. I’ve been playing with the new app for the past week, and it has now gone live for everyone in the App Store. After taking it for a test run and speaking with The Iconfactory, I can easily call Twitterrific 5 the best version of the first Twitter app.

The Larklife fitness gadget doesn’t just lifelessly track all the mundane details of your life, like calories burned, miles trudged and hours snoozed away. No, this little thing actually learns your habits and tells you, in realtime, exactly what you should do to make yourself healthier.

Believe it or not, Black Friday has already come and gone. Pretty soon the Christmas season will begin, and we’ll mark this midwinter festival by getting together with friends and family and continuing to drink and eat far too much.
Meanwhile, we also buy gifts for those same friends and family members, whether they want them or not. Luckily, we’re here to help, and if you follow our festive advice, your gifts just might make it into the “wanted” category.
From now until Christmas, Cult of Mac will be putting together holiday gift guys full of ideas for the special ones in your life, no matter what their interests or your budget. Today, we’re looking at gifts for the lovely laydee in your life.

If you’re an AT&T iPhone customer living in Pennsylvania, you may have woken up this morning to discover your handset had been inhabited by a mysterious being known only as “Dan.” He lives inside your iPhone and comes out when you’re asleep. While he’s awake, the AT&T name in your status bar changes to “Dan” — but it usually changes back before you get a chance to catch him.

Scary, isn’t it? Fortunately, that’s not true. Your iPhone isn’t inhabited by an unknown being that forgot to disappear before you woke up; it’s just a glitch on AT&T’s network that’s affecting users in Pennsylvania.

Da-duh-duh-da-duh-duh-da-DUH-duh. So goes the familiar tune of the iPhone’s default Marimba ringtone, as recognizable (and yet not nearly as annoying) as Nokia’s Gran Vals.

And yet what if you want to mix things up a little, but not too much? Greg Pierce, the wonder-developer at Agile Tortoise – responsible for Drafts, Terminology and others – has done the hard work for you, re-rendering iOS’ alert sounds on acoustic guitar.