Ever since the Wikileaks dumped hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables up on their site for everyone to see, traditional companies have been trying to disassociate themselves from the whistle-blowing wiki. In rapid order, Wikileaks lost the support of its host, Amazon, their DNS provider, PayPal, and MasterCard.
Now Apple’s App Store Review Team has . But is it censorship?
With the holidays now only days away, we are all starting to think about the true meaning of the holidays – food and drink, and copious amounts of the stuff! Whether you are in charge of the full roast on Christmas day, or just the cranberries, having a helping hand is always appreciated.
Being the lovely people we are, we have put together a list of the best apps and accessories for both iPhone and iPad that can help your holiday season be as full flavoured and stress free as possible!
FaceTime. Email. Text Messaging. Twitter. Your iPhone is your personal communicator, allowing you to keep in contact with friends, family and your social network. The web, the internet – gateways to information and productivity.
But technology has a downside, and anyone who’s battled internet addiction or just taken a weekend off from being plugged-in understands the need for balance. My colleague Professor Sherry Turkle, Director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self, has been studying this phenomenon for decades and researched how relentless connection can lead to a new solitude:
Thirty years ago we asked what we would use computers for? Now, the question is what don’t we use them for? Technology promises to let us do anything from anywhere with anyone. But it also drains us as we try to do everything everywhere.
With the CultofMac so chock full of bike geeks, it’s no wonder we pretty excited to see the arrival a few months back of one of the first gadgets that fall into the app-enhanced category — a gadget/app mashup that manufacturer New Potato Tech cleverly calls an “appcessory.” In this case, the $99 LiveRider combo of an iPhone bicycle mount and sensor/receiver package with its own dedicated app turns the iPhone into a flexible, jumbo-screened bike computer.
It’s not the only sensor/app combo on the market; Enki Sports offers a more complete and expensive solution, and newcomer Wahoo Fitness recently arrived with a flexible, modular approach (with sensors that look remarkably similar to Enki’s). But we figured New Potato’s kit would provide a simple, relatively inexpensive setup for intermediate-ish cyclists wanting their data fix. We were mistaken.
According to a recent Houston Chronicle story an iPhone has once again saved the day and solved a crime. This particular iPhone was stolen from a female jogger, who was jogging with a friend, during an armed robbery that occurred in the 700 block of Brittmore on the west side of Houston, Texas.
The alleged robbers exited a pickup truck and confronted the two women according to Houston Police Department (HPD) spokesman John Cannon. An Apple iPhone was turned over to the robbers by one of the women and fortunately neither of them was hurt.
The iPhone’s impressive GPU is supplied by Imagination Technologies, and it’s already powerful enough to run advanced 3D graphics engines like the Unreal 3 Engine. Unbelievably, though, it’s slated to get a lot better, after it was announced that Imagination has just acquired Caustic Graphics, a company with even more impressive 3D graphics technology to boast of.
The US Army wants to equip soldiers with smartphones as a part of their standard equipment – leaving it up to individuals to decide which one they want.
The Army would issue these smartphones just like any other piece of equipment a soldier receives and pay the bills, too. Two types would be offered, the iPhone or an Android phone.
“One of the options potentially is to make it a piece of equipment in a soldier’s clothing bag,” said Lt. Gen. Michael Vane, director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center.
Piper Jaffrey analyst Gene Munster has a spotty history of prediction, but we think his latest pronouncement is probably right: if Verizon’s the next network that gets the iPhone, it will only be at AT&T’s expense.
Combining equal doses of high tech gadgetry and holiday schmaltz, members of the North Point iBand in Alpharetta, Georgia staged an entertaining performance of holiday classics utilizing only iPads and iPhones as instruments. An infectious selection of holiday ditties, combined with Casio’esque sonic fidelity, ensured that a good time was had by all!
Classics performed include Carol of the Bells, Rockin Around the Christmas Tree, and Feliz Navidad. Apps used include SoundGrid, NLogFree, Melody Bell, Guitarist (Nylon String & Electric), iGog and Bassist.
Apparently these guys also didn’t get the memo about iPads being only for consumption…
[via VisualNews]
What You’ll Win
Each winner gets their favorite color ThinSkin FREE. Again, the Gremlin Green one is legendary.
Giveaway Details
This giveaway is void where prohibited and there is no purchase necessary to enter the giveaway. Prizes will be shipped directly from ThinSkin. Cult of Mac is not responsible for shipping/handling of the prize. Please provide an accurate physical address if contacted that you are a winner.
We report with reservations, because this rumor — while titillating — is clearly absurd. That said, if you don’t hear it from us, you’ll hear it from someone more breathless: Mac Daily News is claiming that the Verizon iPhone is coming to a Verizon outlet near you as soon as December 26th.
When a company with as fabled a name as Bowers & Wilkins proffers up an iPod dock, one expects nothing less than enough oomph to satisfy even the most discerning audiophile, and enough svelteness to elicit a smile from even the most ardent aesthete. B&W’s first shot at a dock, the Zeppelin, certainly turned heads when it debuted in 2007 (at least, once word got out about it). But its sprawling, bulbous shape — and sprawling, bulbous, $600 pricetag — limited its appeal. Two years later the company followed with the Zeppelin Mini, a much smaller, less expensive dock that nevertheless tried to maintain the aesthetic and sonic reputation the company was known for.
But at $400, the Mini was still significantly pricier than almost any other dock sitting on, say, an Apple Store’s dock table. Then earlier this year B&W brought the price down to $300, placing it on a level field with other upper-mid-end docks — a league that seems to be gaining players at an almost alarming rate — and allowing it to stand out among its peers as the compact, high-performance star it is.
One of our must-have iOS apps this week is the free OnLive Viewer that gives you a window in to on-demand, instant-play video games through the OnLive game service. Become a spectator and watch hundreds on games being played live throughout the world.
Facebook Browser for iPhone also makes our must-have list this week and provides a refreshing new way to experience Facebook on your iPhone, with a simplistic, elegant user interface.
Also among our favorites this week is Blueprint – a powerful application for iOS developers that enables you to easily plan and create stunning user interfaces for your applications.
Check out the rest of this week’s must-have iOS apps after the break!
Featured in our list of must-have games this week is one of the most anticipated games yet for iOS. Infinity Blade uses Epic’s impressive Unreal Engine 3 technology to deliver a visually stunning sword fighter that’s packed full of adrenaline-fuelled action. Since its demo at Apple’s keynote back in September, every iOS gamer has been waiting for this game to hit the App Store.
Also on our list this week is Cut the Rope: Holiday Gift – released especially for the festive season, Holiday Gift is a free gift to all of the Cut the Rope fans out there. It’s the same highly addictive puzzle game we all love, but now it’s all Christmassy.
The official Jenga game lets you take your favorite tower building game anywhere and recreate the most authentic Jenga experience on your iOS device. Designed in consultation with the inventor of the original wooden block game, Jenga features great 3D visuals, realistic physics, and multiple game modes. It’s just as entertaining as the original and deserves a place in our list of must-haves this week.
Check out the rest of this week’s must-have games after the break!
There are few vintage computing clans who rival Cult of Mac members in zeal and tenacity, but fans of the Commodore Amiga come close. The successor to the widely popular Commodore 64, the Amiga was a 16 bit multitasking computer that found great success in the gaming and video production markets.
Now the Computer-That-Never-Dies is coming to the OS of the future: iAmiga for iOS has been demoed and is (hopefully) coming soon to the App Store.
With Christmas just around the corner, most of us are setting up our homes ready for the festive season. If you are looking to add some geekery to your festive decorations this year, MEA Mobile’s latest product, the iGlo iPhone controlled LED set could be just what you are after.
In-App Purchases are no joke. With the Freemium model becoming a mainstay for many popular apps, iOS users may get confused and can easily rack up a $100 tab in minutes. To prevent this from happening to you we’re going to show you how to disable all in-app purchases.
Are you proud to call yourself a skinflint throwback to the antiquated ideals of Neo-Chaucerian 2009? Best Buy’s got a deal for you: a totally free iPhone 3GS.
Taking the windmill concept to a personal level, Dutch designer Tjeerd Veenhoven has created a custom wind-powered charger for his iPhone. Made from a computer cooling fan and a soft rubber bumper case with integrated dock connector, the iFan recharges the phone as you walk around town:
By using a modified computer fan it took me 6 hours to charge my phone, rather long I think… but it works. I can shave off many charging hours by redesigning the fan blades, making it more efficient in catching the wind while sun bathing at the beach, doing walking trips in the mountains or just holding it outside your car window while driving along…
Perhaps not a practical solution for everybody, but it does show creativity and ingenuity in an environmentally friendly package. Keep a good grip on that iPhone while it’s poking out the car window!
[via TUAW]
A crazy gadget called the Looxcie LX1 sits on your ear like a Bluetooth headset. A built-in video camera records constantly, capturing everything you see.
The video recording and uploading takes place via a phone — until now an Android phone. But now, just in time for Christmas, the company has optimized their product for the iPhone.
The idea behind the $199 Looxcie LX1 is to capture every moment in order to capture any moment. What that means is that the device is constantly recording video, but dumps it continuously unless you choose to save it. In other words, unlike with a convention video camera where you choose to record video before you record it, the Looxie lets you choose to save video after an event occurs.
With the recorder going all the time, you won’t miss that alien abduction, sasquatch sighting or even being run over on the sidewalk by Steve Wozniak’s Segway – or any other sudden event.
To permanently retain footage, you have several options. The easiest is to simply press a button on the Looxcie, which grabs the previous 30 seconds and saves it on your iPhone. You use the app on your iPhone to upload a clip to YouTube, Facebook or send via e-mail. You can also connect to Mac or PC via USB.
The Looxcie LX1 talks to your iPhone via Bluetooth. It weighs 1 ounce, and records video at 480×320 resolution and 15 frames per second. You can get it at BestBuy.
Fuze Box, the company behind the groundbreaking meeting and collaboration tool Fuze Meeting, raised the bar for easy multiparty videoconferencing Thursday with the announcement of its private beta for Fuze Presence — bringing multiparty high definition (HD) video to Mac iOS and Android mobile devices.
With many video conferencing solutions tied to a desktop-only experience featuring unreliable video quality and poor latency, Fuze Presence moves the current collaboration space into the realm of H.264 codec technology promising multi-party collaboration delivered at 720P, with high fidelity sound and under 200 ms latency. The technology also supports VoIP, screen sharing, content sharing and a full suite of collaboration tools.
Wall Street investment banking icon JPMorgan Chase & Co. is giving iPads to every associate in its global investment banking division, according to a company e-mail obtained by Bloomberg News. Employees receiving the devices will get to keep them free of charge as long as they remain at the unit until the pilot program ends on May 1, 2011, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.
Industry analysts viewed the move as a significant victory for Apple in its quest to wrest control of the Enterprise communications submarket away from Research in Motion, Ltd., whose Blackberry handheld devices have been a ubiquitous companion of “serious businesspeople” for more than a decade.
Redsn0w by DevTeam allows you to jailbreak your iPhone 3G/3GS device, to get complete control over it (see why you should jailbreak here). Currently, redsn0w version 0.9.6b5 allows you to perform a tethered jailbreak to your device that has already been upgraded to firmware 4.2.1, which means you need to use redsn0w every time you boot the device, otherwise all your jailbreak data gets wiped.
In order to unlock, you must upgrade to an earlier iPad baseband, which would mean that you can update/restore using a custom firmware file only and not a stock firmware file, otherwise, the restore will simply fail. Also, it’s not reversible and by doing this, you will be voiding the device’ warranty.
Please note that this tool will NOT work if you older iPhone 3GS, unless you use the unofficial Pwnage bundle first. (On the older iPhone 3GS, serial number, fourth and fifth digit should be either 40 or less.)
Ultrasn0w is a full fledged software unlock solution for iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS having baseband version 04.26.08, 05.11.07, 05.12.01, 05.13.04 or 06.15.00 and iPhone 4 having baseband version 01.59.00 (check Modem Firmware version under Settings –> General –> About). Unlocking the phone enables you to use it with any carrier in the world.
This means if you have older firmware, you can now upgrade to a stock 4.2.1, jailbreak using redsn0w or upgrade to a custom 4.2.1 using Pwnage Tool and still have the ability to remain unlocked.
Redsn0w by DevTeam allows you to jailbreak your iPhone 4 device, to get complete control over it (see why you should jailbreak here). Currently, redsn0w version 0.9.6b5 allows you to perform a tethered jailbreak to your device that has already been upgraded to firmware 4.2.1, which means you need to use redsn0w every time you boot the device, otherwise all your jailbreak data gets wiped. However, it will NOT unlock the device, enabling it to be used with different GSM carriers worldwide.