Terminal never looked so post-apocalyptic. Photo: Cathode
If you’re like me, you’re playing Bethesda’s post-apocalyptic RPG Fallout 4 a lot lately. And that probably means you’ve stumbled across a lot of retro CRT monitors that have quasi-Unix systems running on them.
OS X? It’s also a quasi-Unix system. It runs off of a Unix base, which is accessible through the Terminal app.
And if you want Terminal to look like Fallout 4? Just download this app.
Ed Catmull doesn't think the real Steve Jobs would've been pleased. Photo: François Duhamel/Universal Studios
The real Steve Jobs would have been “appalled” at being the subject of a movie biopic like Steve Jobs, claims Pixar and Walt Disney Animation president Ed Catmull in a new interview.
Check out Catmull’s comments about the unfortunate box office bomb below.
Save a small fortune on your new Pebble now. Photo: Pebble
Pebble has slashed up to 35 percent off its latest smartwatches ahead of the holiday season. Its new Pebble Time can now be had for $129.99 — down from $199.99 — while the Pebble Classic can be had for just $69.99.
The site of Apple's newest retail store in China. Photo: JRP
Apple’s string of brick-and-mortar Apple Store openings in China is set to continue with the upcoming opening of its new Chaoyang Joy City shopping mall store in Beijing.
Apple’s fifth Beijing store will open its doors next weekend, Sunday November 29 at 10am local time.
It's nice to hear about acts of kindness like this. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
A self-driving Apple Car may not yet be a reality, but that didn’t stop a Bangkok taxi driver from travelling two hours to return a passenger’s lost iPhone, which they had left in the back of his taxi cab.
“On my birthday on Wednesday just before midnight, [the driver] showed up at my hotel to return my phone. He’s a badass good guy,” said grateful iPhone owner Fraser Morton, after being reunited with his handset.
The weight for a major update is over! (I apologize for the awful pun.) Photo: SITU
Attention, foodies and nutrition-istas! Successful Kickstarter SITU, a smart scale for iPad, has just added a couple of neat new features for its iOS app — while also getting a reduction in prices ahead of Black Friday.
Given that ex-Apple employee creator Michael Grothaus credits Cult of Mac readers with making the invention a reality, how could we not cover it?
Withings Smart Body Analyzer (left) vs. DEXA, the "gold standard" for body fat analysis (right) Photo: Graham Bower / Cult of Mac
If you want to lose weight, your Apple Watch can help you sustain healthy habits, but it can’t actually monitor your progress. For that you need to step onto scales.
Any scale will measure your weight, but that is only part of the story. Whether you are dieting or bulking up, it is just as important to keep track of your body fat. The trouble is, this is notoriously hard to measure accurately. As I discovered when I bought a new Withings Smart Body Analyzer, if you think you already know your body fat percentage, you are probably way off.
Ready to punch, kick, and bite your way to this year's best deals? Photo: Jingle All The Way
This week: get your mace and taser ready for Black Friday! We share some of the best deals on MacBooks, iPhones, Playstation 4s, Xbox One’s, Wii U’s and more. Plus: why your Mac store apps could be corrupted (and what to do about it); RDIO bites the dust; and the iPad Mini 4 proves far better than we originally thought.
Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. Build a beautiful website quick at Squarespace.com, and enter offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off.
Apple Pay finally an option for digital purchases. Photo: Apple
They year of Apple Pay is nearly over, but the company is continuing to make its contactless payments push with a new guided tour video for iPhone users.
The new video details how iPhone owners can use Touch ID to verify payments both at physical payment terminals, as well as via shopping apps on iOS. There’s also a walk through on how to manage and setup new cards through the Wallet app.
Big screen TVs coming your way this Black Friday! Photo: DealNews
Many, many more Black Friday ads have come out since our last roundup, so we’re back with a new batch of top TV picks for 2015. Walmart and Target are currently leading the pack with screens both big and small, but who will ultimately take the top spot? Be sure to bookmark this page; you never know when a new ad will knock one of these off the list!
It’s one week away from Black Friday, and in addition to our killer live blog with up-to-the-minute deals, we’ve got a new magazine with all sorts of quirky products that our loving reviewers have taken the time to get to know.
We’ve got a funky clip-on lampshade for your iPhone, a Pro Tip to max out your iPhone battery, a conceptual piece on how Apple could fix the next version of its wristband, a secret messaging app that pulls in 1 million downloads every day, and (of course) our weekly gabfest about all things Apple, The Cultcast.
Here’s the rundown of what we’ve got for you in this week’s Cult of Mac Magazine.
The war between iPhone and Android will wage on for years to come, but in this week’s Friday Night Fight, we’re not going to be bickering about which is best. At least not in terms of design, features, flexibility — and the other things normally discussed during a platform war.
Instead, we’re battling it out over the supposed class divide — the notion that the wealthy only buy iPhones, and the poor only buy Android because they can’t afford that Apple logo. It’s going to be a fun one!
So, join us below for one of our hottest Friday Night Fights yet, and be sure to weigh in at the end!
SOMA Messenger is gaining popularity around the world for free and secure communication. Photo: Instanza Inc.
Harvard classmates Lei Guo and Oliver Hayen created what could have been just another messaging app. They knew they had something unique, as every app development team claims, so they put it in the hands of 2,000 people and hit launch.
Within 30 days, their app SOMA Messenger had 10 million users and has been growing since. They’d love to brag about who is using it, except they can’t because of security measures built into the app that prevents even them from knowing SOMA’s users.
You know the way that Apple’s heroically struggling to build a new “spaceship” HQ capable of housing its army of brilliant worker ants who design the iPhone? Well, Samsung has an easier solution for its phone division: just fire a load of people.
New statistics published courtesy of Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service underline the degree to which Samsung’s smartphone business is struggling — with 5,000 employees booted out of the door over the past year, while 30 percent of execs are expected to follow them in the next month.
Volvo's Concept 26 shows what a Microsoft Car could look like. Photo: Volvo
Microsoft has brokered a deal with automaker Volvo to co-develop a driverless vehicle, according to a new report — putting it in competition with Apple’s rumored “Project Titan” Apple Car.
Opportunities to buy new Apple hardware at a discount don’t come around very often, but ahead of Black Friday, Best Buy is offering $50 off all Apple Watch models.
Apple’s official charging pad may be a not-too-cheap $79, but if you want to wirelessly charge your smartwatch, Apple’s not leaving you a whole lot of options.
That’s because, despite the wide range of Qi chargers around, Apple has made it so that its watch will only work with a select few which have received the Cupertino stamp of approval.
Well, they're both working to build Tomorrowland. Photo: Disney
Boasting a 100,000-square-foot fitness center, 11,000 parking spaces, 2,000 bike parking spaces, 2.8 million square feet of office space, and a 100,000-square-foot lab thrown in for good measure, Apple’s “spaceship” Campus 2 is pretty darned massive.
Struggling to wrap your head around that? Then consider that it’s big enough to house pretty much the entirety of Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California. And we’ve got the (mocked-up) photos to prove it.
Jimmy Iovine is in damage control mode. Photo: Pete Mall/Re/code
Like an over-the-air update to fix a faulty piece of software, Apple sprang into action following Jimmy Iovine’s Thursday interview with CBS This Morning — with Iovine apologizing for his sexist comments about women’s inability to find music because… you know, women.
“I could have chosen my words better,” the Apple Music boss, Beats guru and Interscope Records co-founder said in a statement.
Jimmy Iovine’s days at Apple are numbered. Photo: Apple
Apple Music head Jimmy Iovine has won today’s “Yes, they really said that” award after an appearance on CBS This Morning.
Iovine was there talking up the latest ad for Apple Music, which features singer Mary J. Blige, actress Kerry Washington, and singer/actress Taraji P. Henson just kinda hanging out with knives and salsa dancing. This one follows the also-great original spot from September, but Iovine didn’t necessarily explain the origin of the woman-centric campaign (Selma director Ava DuVernay helmed both of them) as well as he could have.
The Qube Smartbulb is taking on more expensive lighting like Philips Hue. Photo: Qube
I love my Philips Hue smart-lighting kit, but every time I’ve just randomly turned my living-room lights different colors in front of another person, they’ve asked the same question:
“How much did you pay for this?”
And then I just kind of mumble something because while the system has added convenience and versatility to my apartment, I’m still not super comfortable admitting that I plan on paying $60 for a light bulb. Instead, I just say, “It was for work,” and leave it.
But Qube, a new smart-lighting system that launches in April, wants to avoid that kind of awkwardness with bulbs that cost way less than its competitors but offer just as many opportunities for just the weirdest ambience you can design.
Let’s face it: Online shopping is amazing. Given the choice of shopping from home while relaxing in their PJs or fighting crowds and dodging overbearing salespeople, we bet most people will choose to shop online.
But shopping online has some drawbacks as well. Mainly, those drawbacks come in the form of having to sift through multiple colors and sizes of clothes and shoes to find the perfect piece at the perfect price. When prices vary depending on the size and color combination that you select, it can be difficult to assess an item at a glance.
Your iPhone and flashlight app can create a cozy ambiance for reading. Photo: Peleg Design
The iPhone can do a lot of things, but work as a functional piece of furniture? Yes, as one design studio proved when it created a tiny lampshade that clips to the iPhone.
Activate the flashlight app and behold, a nightstand reading light.