News - page 1176

What happens when you try to get a broken Apple Watch repaired? Not much of anything!

I know this because my Apple Watch broke last week and I have a repair order pending.

Luckily, the watch is covered by Apple’s AppleCare+ extended warranty, which covers accidental damage. It also offers two-day express replacement. No downtime without your new precious.

This would be great, but Apple doesn’t have any watches to replace it with. Apple’s watches are in such short supply, it might be Christmas before a replacement is available.

Quanta’s vice chairman has seemingly denied rumors that the Apple Watch has low yield rates, and that Apple was so upset about it that it’s considered outsourcing orders to other manufacturers.

In fact, according to him, Apple Watch production is no longer a problem “in both technology and quality,” despite a few hiccups early on in the production process.

No gadget ever caused me to lose as much sleep as the Apple Watch.

I wish I could forget about Apple’s shiny new smartwatch, but the damned thing has me under its spell. It’s the curse of Cupertino, and I’m just another hapless a victim.

Everything about your vibe – the earbuds, furiously typing fingers and intense body language – says do not approach. But the steady stream of co-workers stopping by your desk can’t take a hint.

You could tell people “Can’t talk now!” but you’re afraid to come off as rude. Your politeness is killing your productivity.

A Utah startup called Wired In has come up with a simple, sleek desk accessory that does the talking for you. It’s a light-up sign that lets people know you’re in the zone without insult or anxiety.

So here we go. A new video series featuring, of all people, our Editor and Publisher Leander Kahney.

You’ve heard him on the CultCast. You’ve read his books.

You’ve been educated, entertained and occasionally enraged at his stories here on Cult of Mac. And now he is going to come into your lives in talking pictures with his new video series, Kahney’s Korner. The format is pretty loose, but he is never at a loss for words, so this should be pretty fun.

Luxury carmakers Bentley have once again turned to the iPhone to shoot the company’s latest short film: A video showcasing four major designers on London’s Savile Row, each given a commission to create a bespoke “driving jacket” for the high-end auto company.

Check out the short film and a special behind-the-scenes video below:

The iPhone 6s is set to get a considerable camera boost, as per a Weibo posting from Kevin Wang, IHS Technology’s research director in China.

After years of using 8MP cameras in its iPhones, Wang claims the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus are likely to boast 12MP cameras — theoretically greatly improving the current standard of iPhone photography, which is already pretty darn high.

But there’s a twist.

Former House Speaker and architect of the “Contract with America” Newt Gingrich has joined Mashable as a tech blogger.

You did not misread that.

The new reviewer took to Twitter this evening to ask for some suggestions for his upcoming coverage of the Apple Watch, and he probably should have suspected he’d get some weird responses.

RadioShack’s bankruptcy proceedings have hit another interesting bump; Apple has joined the states of Texas and Tennessee in trying to prevent the liquidating company from selling off its customers’ data.

The latest complaint is just one more obstacle to RadioShack’s already checkered attempts to go out of business.

Mad Max: Fury Road is crushing it, according to spectacular early reviews all over the ‘net. Review aggregator Metacritic has the apocalyptic film pegged at a 91 out of 100 based on 39 reviews and competitor Rotten Tomatoes has its own aggregate hitting the 99/100 mark, based on 133 reviews.

That’s a lot of awesome right there.

The new post-apocalyptic car-fetish reboot comes to theaters this Friday and if the early reviews of the film, written and directed by original Mad Max creator George Miller, are any indication, it’s one hell of a ride.

Let’s take a look at a few of the better reviews to see what all the fuss is about.

It’s been nearly a year since Apple unveiled the HomeKit platform, and we’re still waiting on an official launch. A report earlier today claimed that Apple is delaying the launch of its home-automation platform until August or September, but an Apple spokesperson has refuted the report, saying everything is ontrack for the June launch.

Legends of Tomorrow is the latest DC Comics-inspired bit of television from The CBS/Warner Television Network (The CW) to get a preview trailer, with quite a lot of awesome packed into its four minutes.

You’ve got a girl with wings and a past-lives complex (Hawkgirl), a deceased assassin (White Canary from Arrow), a pair of criminals (Heatwave and Captain Cold from The Flash), a goofy billionaire a ton of tech (The Atom, also from The Flash, played by Superman Return‘s Brandon Routh) and a combustible half a hero (Firestorm) played by venerable character actor, Victor Garber. Oh, and a Dr. Who favorite (Arthur Darvill) playing a time traveler (Rip Hunter) from the future.

So many variables, it could go either way, of course. Check out the promising trailer to make up your own mind.

Blake Reynolds, lead artist at Dinofarm Games (Auro, 100 Rogues), has come to the conclusion that “pixel art” is over. He’s decided to hang up his digital pencil tool and create art for games that current audiences can understand.

“Auro,” he writes, “is likely to be the last Dinofarm Games title to feature pixel art.”

Francesco Orru has a guitar that would make H.R. Giger proud and put Sigourney Weaver on edge.

The designer used a Delta Wasp 3-D printer to create a guitar with a body shaped like the killer creature from the 1979 sci-fi classic Alien.

Pieces of the guitar could be yours for around $150, but be prepared to also shop for volume and tone pots, a neck and Stratocaster neck plate, humbuckers, tuning pegs, a bridge and, of course, strings. Plans are also available for free download at MyMiniFactory.com to do your own 3-D printing.

Presidential hopeful Jeb Bush hasn’t officially announced that he’s running for office, but he’s already hitting the campaign trail and he’s brining his Apple Watch with him.

In Tempe Arizona today, Jeb held a town hall meeting at the Chamber of Commerce and stopped to rave about his Apple Watch. It’s so amazing, he says he even thinks it should replace Obamacare.

Apple announced its HomeKit platform at last year’s WWDC, but fans hoping to get a closer glimpse of Apple’s home automation platform will have to keep on waiting, as a new report claims Apple is delaying the launch of HomeKit until August or September.

The remote camera shutter and viewfinder is one of the most useful Apple Watch features, but there’s just one problem: It only works with the default camera app.

Apple hasn’t opened up the remote shutter API to developers yet, however, there’s still a way to turn your Apple Watch into a remote shutter for apps like Snapchat and Camera+. Instead of using the remote shutter app, you can actually use the volume slider in Music glance to snap pictures with your iPhone.

It’s super easy. Just follow these steps:

You can add all the high-tech features you want, but ultimately one of the best ways to make people buy gadgets is to ensure that the devices are the same ones already used by their friends.

That’s the concept behind a newly-published patent application, titled, “Collaborative Location-Based Search Results.” It describes a way in which multiple iPhone users in different locations can search for shared information — say, finding a restaurant or movie theater that’s equally convenient for every member of a group of friends to reach.

Never mind that espionage is a dangerous line of work. The secret agent game promises plenty of intrigue and lots of fun spy gadgets.

 If I knew exactly what today’s tools of the trade are, someone would probably have to kill me. Politics and enemies change but spies’ needs are essentially timeless: Disguises and false papers maintains a cover, tracking and listening devices record movements and conversations, and small, secret cameras copy documents and photograph dubious characters.

A hidden weapon can get a spy out of a jam. A concealed cyanide pill — so the intensely devoted might say — beats interrogation.

We love our spy stories. It is why the James Bond film franchise endures, James Patterson sells books and there are spy museums from Prague to Washington, D.C. (where there are two). Here’s a less-than-clandestine peek into the shadowy spy gadgets that filled the world of espionage over the years.

According to a new research note issued by UBS’s Evidence Lab, the latest quarterly sales for the iPhone are set to be even more impressive than most people are anticipating.

And given that nobody is sleeping on the iPhone’s success as it is, that means some astonishingly big numbers.

Your shiny new Apple Watch? It’s a lot more vulnerable to being stolen than you might know.

The Apple Watch is expected to do big things in China — with even the high-end Apple Watch Edition selling out within its first hour of preorders in the country — but one place the company’s debut wearable device won’t take off is the Chinese army.

That’s according to a recently released memo in which Chinese military leaders argue that wearable devices such as smartwatches and fitness trackers are sure to compromise soldiers’ security.

Rumors have suggested that Apple might return to the 4-inch iPhone form factor with the next-generation of iPhones, but what would a new 4-inch iPhone even look like?

If this video is anything to go by, it will be crazy thin … even thinner than the iPad Air, from which it would also borrow its moniker.

If you’re an owner of a new Leica M Monochrom camera — a beautiful digital camera specializing in beautiful black-and-white photographs, which Leica released on May 7th — you may want to avoid hooking it up to your Mac right now.

According to a new advisory, a nasty bug affects the Leica M Monochrom which can cause it to destroy your entire Apple Photos library. Whoa!

In a scary situation which took place on Wednesday, employees at a Californian Apple Store had to be evacuated and rushed to hospital when they became dizzy and nauseous after handling a package which was delivered to the store.

And, no, it wasn’t a Samsung handset!