Beats 1 will be the first channel to announce MTV's 2015 VMA nominees. Photo: Apple
If you want to hear who this year’s MTV Video Music Awards nominees are, you’ll hear it on Apple Music’s Beats 1 channel first. Even before you’ll hear it on MTV!
Would a free Apple Watch convince you to rent a waterfront apartment?
If the granite countertops, stainless steel appliances and “breathtaking water views” don’t sell you on moving into East Beach Marina Apartments, maybe the offer of a free Apple Watch will.
Just lease one and move in by the end of July, and you’ll nab a free Apple wearable that will help turn you into the perfect neighbor.
Product shots, documents and photographs can easily be documented with your smartphone camera in this collapsable tabletop studio, known as the SHOTBOX. Photo: SHOTBOX
Give Aaron Johnson the chance to give you his elevator pitch and he just might convince you that you need a tabletop photo studio.
But even if you accept his points, you probably don’t have studio know-how or the room for the lights, the tripod, backdrops and a ladder.
Johnson answers with the SHOTBOX, a collapsable tabletop studio with seamless diffused lighting with a setup that can have you camera-ready in seconds. The SHOTBOX is designed for iPhone and other smartphone users who want to make simple product pictures, digitize family photos and copy documents.
Filters goes up for sale after just four months in the App Store. Photo: George Tinari/Cult of Mac
Not long after debuting to a pretty successful launch, Filters for iPhone is up for sale. Developer Mike Rundle explains that he has a full-time job plus children to feed and his little side project of love deserves more attention than he can give. His asking price? $10,000.
Spotify is taking what it knows about your music tastes to curate a personalized weekly playlist. Photo: Spotify
Spotify doesn’t want to go down without a fight. The service is debuting Discover Weekly, a new playlist for every user that updates every Monday with unique recommendations for each person. One of Apple Music’s advantages over Spotify is its personalized playlists for users’ tastes, and now Spotify is matching it.
Keep yourself and your iPhone alive with the BSEEN Boost Pack. Photo: Trident Design
You can charge your smartphone while cycling or running with an accessory also designed to keep you alive on the road.
Sounds like a lot to ask of a battery pack, but the Boost Pack by BSEEN does both with a rather simple design.
The Boost is a belt pack with an LED light panel that stays lit or flashes. It also holds your smartphone and a lightweight 4000 mAH rechargeable travel battery pack to keep your phone charged.
Even if you’re a specialist in an area of digital design, understanding the basics in other parts of the wide field of UX/UI, web, game and mobile design will vastly expand your perspective and marketability. A broader outlook is just what you’ll get from Udemy’s Learn to Design 2015 Course Bundle, a sprawling buffet of design knowledge, now going for a whopping 93 percent off the normal price, just $59.
Apple Watch customers are some of the most satisfied people around. Photo: Wristly
Everyone writing about the supposed failure of the Apple Watch may want to check out analyst Ben Bajarin’s latest reporting — suggesting that the Apple Watch has a massive 97 percent satisfaction rate among early adopters.
For those keeping track at home, that’s higher than both the original iPhone (92 percent) and the original iPad (91 percent). In fact, only the current iPhone (99 percent satisfaction) scores higher.
Other than the small matter of it not making phone calls, what’s the difference between the iPhone 6 and the sixth-generation iPod touch that Apple released last week?
That’s the question iFixit tried to answer with its teardown of Apple’s newest music player.
For all those people writing off the Apple Watch as a failure just a few months after its launch, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster has a simple message: Slow down on the quick judgments.
In a new note to investors, Munster claims that the Apple Watch is doing about as well as he expected so far, but doesn’t predict that it will truly hit its stride until 2017 — when sales of the wearable device will be around 40 million units, or approximately 9 percent of Apple’s revenue.
Teddy Winthrop's iPhone wallet case was inspired by his shaky memory. Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac
SAN FRANCISCO — Teddy Winthrop is forgetful, a trait he inherited from his dad.
His father implored him to get a Day-Timer, an executive planner that was wildly popular in the ’80s. But the young entrepreneur dismissed the idea — his personal organizer was his iPhone. And that’s when it hit him: The world needed a Day-Timer for the iPhone.
So he started a company, Edward Field, selling beautifully made leather iPhone wallet cases. It’s going well so far, thanks partly to experience he gained working for his brother, the brains behind American Giant, manufacturer of the “world’s greatest hoodie.”
Feeday puts Instagram right in your Notification Center. Photo:
If you’re like me, you probably spend a lot of time in Instagram during the day. In fact, if you’re like me, you probably spend so much time in Instagram that you wish it was integrated right into iOS, just a swipe away from no matter where in the operating system you are.
Apple’s never going to get around to baking deep integration to the Facebook-owned Instagram into iOS, but here’s the next best thing: a new app that puts Instagram right in iOS 8’s Notification Center.
A 21-year-old Amazon employee in India has been arrested for allegedly stealing $12,500 worth of electronics — including numerous Apple devices — while working in the packing department of the company’s warehouse.
Pramod Bhamble placed orders himself, but instead of packing the correct products, he stuffed the container full of the equivalent weight of iPhones, iPads, cameras and high-end watches before mailing the order to his home.
The pair helping to lead Apple into the future. Photo: Apple/Adweek
Adweek has released its Creative 100 list, honoring the people it views as the “current masters of the creative idea” across advertising, branded content, technology, products, and pop culture.
While it’s no surprise that Apple would make such a list, what is interesting is that none of the usual suspects appear. There’s no sign of Jony Ive, Angela Ahrendts, or even Tim Cook. Instead, the people Adweek claim are driving Apple’s creativity today are Richard Howarth and Alan Dye.
In case you don’t immediately know the names, this is the pair who now control Apple’s Industrial Design studio and UI departments, after Jony Ive was promoted to chief design officer to do more “blue sky thinking.” Here’s what Adweek has to say about Howarth and Dye:
The iPhone 6s will reportedly launch in rose gold, alongside a similarly colored Apple Watch Sport. Photo: Martin Hajek
A reputable analyst is predicting the Apple Watch Sport will come in yellow and rose gold. And we won’t have to wait for the Apple Watch 2 to get those colors: They’ll be available alongside the iPhone 6s later this year.
A kaleidoscope of 1.5 million apps. Photo: Cult of Mac
Apple’s on a roll with new iPhone ads. A little more than a week after debuting a series of news ads as part of their “If it’s not an iPhone” marketing push, Cupertino has supplemented it with a new ad, focused on the kaleidoscope of wonderful apps available for the iPhone 6.
This week saw some prime deals at Cult of Mac. Check out the slashed prices on high quality bluetooth headphones, indestructible cables for your iPhone or Apple Watch, and plenty more.
This week: we all love the popular products, but this episode we’ll remember some of Apple’s biggest blunders! Plus: why the new iPods might be the last iPods; Apple’s missing back to school promotion; and the perfect way to motivate your lazy workforce…
Our thanks to Casper for supporting this episode. If you’re waking up with numb limbs or back pain, Casper’s American-made mattresses can help, and with a price far lower than you’ll find in the stores. Learn more and save $50 off any order at Casper.com/cultcast.
These in-depth courses will teach you how to start a startup, the ins and outs of copywriting, designing for mobile, and lots more. Here’s the kicker — most of the courses are more than 95% off, adding up to thousands of dollars of savings.
I have a pulse. That’s reassuring. Photo: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac
When you run with Apple Watch, swiping to the right in the Workout app reveals your heart rate. Does the device display this data just for curiosity value, or can Apple Watch heart rate information actually improve your running?
New iPods are out, but should you get one? Cover: Stephen Smith/Cult of Mac
The new iPods are here, but should you even bother getting one? We’ve got our opinion on the matter, plus one on what Apple should really do to fix its built-in fitness apps.
Plus, a bit about why the Apple Watch isn’t doomed after all, a profile of another fantastic iPhone photographer, and a gallery of some cringe-worthy iPhone cases that you’ve really got to see to believe.
You can’t choose between Android and iOS without taking Google Play and the App Store into account. They’re the largest mobile marketplaces on the planet, and they both have their strengths and weaknesses — especially when it comes to control.
Apple has strict App Store guidelines, and every title is tested by a human before being approved. In comparison, Google is happy to let most things fly — so long as it’s not offensive or harmful — which gives us access to things like emulators and file downloaders that aren’t available on other platforms.
But is “open” really better, and could Apple benefit from loosening its grip on the App Store?