Rumors that the iPhone 6s will be getting a vastly improved camera are picking up steam.
According to a new report coming out of China, the next-generation Apple handset will boast a 12MP camera with a special Sony sensor to improve the performance of shooting in low-light conditions.
Living in a world where the iPhone dominates, and rivals don’t so much compete by doing things differently as by offering cut-rate versions of the same core technology, it can be easy to forget how much of a disruption Apple’s handset actually caused when Steve Jobs unveiled it in 2007.
A new book chronicling the rise and fall of BlackBerry tells the story from the perspective of the one-time king of (semi-)smartphones. And the reaction was every bit as full of shock, awe, anger and denial as you might expect.
Because iPhone and BlackBerry don’t have to compete for customers, right? Right?
The India government has previously blocked Apple from opening any brick-and-mortar retail outlets in the country because Apple don’t manufacture any products in India.
That could be about to change, however, thanks to a recent rumor claiming that Foxconn has been given permission to open new iPhone-manufacturing plants in Maharashtra, the heavily-populated state in the country’s western region which claims Mumbai as its capital.
The factories would benefit from government funding aimed at bringing more manufacturing companies to India.
Rapper and entrepreneur Jay Z made waves when he claimed that there is a racially-motivated component to why Apple and others are “hating on” his new Tidal streaming music service.
But if you thought the whole hip hop community would stand behind Jay Z on the topic, you’d be wrong. In particular, “Pump It Up” hit maker, Slaughterhouse member (and Apple fan?) Joe Budden hit back with comments in a recent interview.
His take on the situation? That people don’t buy products based on their love of a particular company. They do it because that company makes the best products. And right now, Apple does and Tidal doesn’t.
Oh, snap!
I used to live the classic geek lifestyle, forever hunched over a MacBook, munching on comfort food. Until one day cancer forced me to take my health more seriously.
Now I run marathons and lift weights for fun. But the geek is still strong in me. From GPS watches to bioelectrical impedance analyzers, I’ve used pretty much every kind of fitness gadget.
Here’s the story of how fitness gear helped me get in shape for the first time in my life and swap my middle-aged dad bod for a six pack.
This we week we got lost in the vast oasis of Instagram searching for some great photographers to recommend. We wandered down the road searching for fun feeds featuring motorcycles, adventurers, dogs and, oddly, pigeons.
What we found, once again, was how many people are using this amazing visual delivery tool to tell their stories. Sure, we found a ton of poorly done selfies and cliche sayings, but check out what cool stuff we found for you this week.
This week: ok sure, Apple may have forever shelved plans for a proper television, but reports of a souped-up Apple TV debuting at WWDC will make you forget all that. Plus: the good stuff in Apple’s first Watch update; new Macbook Pros and iMacs get faster specs and bigger price tags; and Steve Jobs teaches bad actors a lesson they shan’t forget.
Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. Squarespace 7 is live, and it’s their biggest update in years. Now building a beautiful website is faster and easier than ever. Learn more at Squarespace.com/seven and use code “CultCast” at checkout for 10% off any order.
Show notes ahead!
A young Russian woman who posed for a selfie with a 9 mm handgun accidentally shot herself in the head.
Police report that the 21-year-old found the weapon in the building she worked in after a security guard left it behind while he went on vacation.
The App Store is a busy place, and it’s easy to miss an awesome new release, much less an update to an old app that makes it worthy of re-downloading.
That’s why we’ve done the work for you and collected the very best new app releases from the past week.
When you’re ranting about Apple and its products, don’t forget to breathe.
One incredibly angry man learned that crucial lesson the hard way: His profanity-laden diatribe about the Apple Watch ended when he broke into a coughing fit. You can see the whole NSFW rant and its shocking twist ending below.
We’ve got a host of new stuff to show off this week, from Killian’s look at the new MacBook and iMac lines to Luke’s exploration of all things bacon (emoji). We’ve got Rob’s essential Apple Watch tips, a new credit-card sized cell phone, and Luke’s take on the new non-trivial QuizUp update.
All this, and a ton more, in this week’s Cult of Mac Magazine.
UC Berkley researchers have hit a major milestone in the creation of usable AI. They’ve created a new set of algorithms that will allow robots to learn through trial and error — much like humans learn new tasks.
With this kind of educated automaton, there’s nothing they won’t be able to do. Think of mechanical beings assembling your next iPhone, building skyscrapers, or exploring Mars.
Is this where we see the first inklings of the robot apocalypse?
If you grew up in the 80’s one of your earliest video gaming memories was probably playing Oregon Trail on an old Apple II or Macintosh, but you haven’t experienced Oregon Trail until you’ve played it on a 27-inch Apple Cinema Display. In color.
Voltaire was the first. Now Vader is a wax figure.
Madame Tussauds has been in the business of meticulously sculpting lifelike models of the famous since 1777. Now, in a gallery far, far away (well, London), the wax museum has produced 11 famous sets featuring 16 Star Wars characters. And a new video shows the tedious, behind-the-scenes creative process, which involves much more than just pouring hot wax into molds.
Apple Watch orders are currently coming in at a rate of around 30,000 units per day — according to analytics provided by Slice Intelligence, which combed through the e-receipts of around 14,000 online shoppers who used Slice’s services.
Although there was, unsurprisingly, a big drop-off from launch day, numbers appear to have been pretty consistent since then. So far, Apple has sold upwards of 2.5 million Apple Watches — more than the iPod, iPhone, or iPad sold during the same period of time in their first year.
Before Apple finally unveils its long-awaited update for the Apple TV, the company is reportedly looking to add a key new feature that rival streaming services don’t have: local TV.
Believe it or not, it’s been nearly a decade since The Cult of Mac got published. The book, by our fearless leader Leander Kahney, took readers on a deep dive into the world of Apple fanatics around the world. It introduced us to the creative and talented tribe of individuals devoted to Macs, iPods and all things dreamed up in Cupertino.
Now that seminal work about Apple devotees is ready for an update. As he gets ready to embark on a year of fresh reporting before writing the next chapter in Cult of Mac history, he’s revisiting the original text. And having a laugh, as you’ll see in this week’s edition of Kahney’s Corner.
If you’ve long found yourself unable to communicate effectively with your friends because of the lack of “bacon,” “shark” and “man in tuxedo” emojis, you could be in luck next year.
That’e because the Unicode Consortium, aka the Mountain View, California-based organization that standardizes characters and emoji across different operating systems — is set to add 38 all-new emojis to its Unicode 9.0 update.
Arriving in June 2016, they should find their way onto iOS not long after. Here’s what you can expect:
Kanye West is reportedly distancing himself from Jay Z’s Tidal music service and set to launch his next album — his seventh solo studio album — on Apple’s refreshed Beats Music service, rumored to arrive at this year’s WWDC in June.
Called SWISH, Kanye’s album currently has no official release date, although Wikipedia (for what it’s worth) claims it will drop on June 1. WWDC kicks off one week later on June 8 at Moscone West in San Francisco.
Apple issued its first Apple Watch software update this week, adding new emojis, fixes for Siri and more. Unfortunately, hidden among the positives is one fairly big negative: Multiple users are complaining that the 1.0.1 update stops the device’s much-touted heart rate monitor from running as it should.
Console game developers are trying to break into mobile, and they’re using casual genres to break into the scene.
For instance, when gamers hear about Insomniac Games, they might think of classic platform games like Ratchet and Clank, first-person shooters like Resistance: Fall of Man or next-gen console title Sunset Overdrive. What those hypothetical gamers might not think of is a match-three or endless runner iPhone game. But game makers can’t afford to ignore the mobile scene these days and Insomniac is no different, as evidenced by the company’s new tower-defense game, Bad Dinos.
“It’s obviously a huge market,” Brian Hastings, chief creative officer at Insomniac Games, told Cult of Mac, “and we’re seeing an entire generation of players who are getting into mobile first, before anything else.”
The Apple Watch won’t be available in stores for at least a few more weeks, but if you want to get a head start on your collection of band color options, hurry to your local Apple Store now. They’ve finally got Apple Watch bands!
I ordered an extra Sport band weeks ago after deciding the white I got wasn’t for me. I’m still waiting for it, and figured I’d probably be waiting for weeks. So as soon as I heard that some stores have bands in stock, I jumped in my car and sped to my Apple Store faster than Mad Max Rockatansky fleeing from Immortan Joe and the War Boys.
Unfortunately, bands are in pretty limited supply and only a few colors are available, but I lucked out and they had just what I needed. Here’s what it’s like to buy an Apple Watch band at the Apple Store:
Adobe is killing off its mobile version of Photoshop, doubling down on its strategy of creating simpler photo apps focused on specific tasks rather than all-in-one photo-editing software.
In a blog post detailing its strategy for mobile apps, Adobe said Photoshop Touch will be taken off the App Store on May 28. A new retouching app codenamed “Project Rigel” is in the works and will be released later this year.
Instagram users, adjust your privacy setting and remember the name Richard Prince.
Should he request to follow you, he could one day “appropriate” your pictures and make thousands of dollars off you.
Prince featured 38 screenshots from his Instagram feed in a show in New York City last fall and at the Frieze Art Fair earlier this month, and some of the people featured are just now finding out about their pictures appearing in giant form on gallery walls.
If flowers are your photographic muse, you use a macro lens to create pictures from a bee’s-eye view.
But consider what a bee sees when it flies. Voormedia in the Netherlands did, flying a drone and filming over breath-taking flower fields in bloom that may have you wanting to give your macro the day off.
Shooting is easy in Keukenhof or Noordwijkerhout in the spring where acres and acres of vibrant pinks and purples bloom at once. Watch the short YouTube video below and you’ll make room in your bag for a quadcopter and GoPro camera.