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Spray-on Life Paint gives bicyclists a special glow

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Photo; Volvo
Photo; Volvo

When you’re flying down the road on a bicycle at night, visibility could mean the difference between life and death at the hands of an automobile driver.

Volvo has designed what it’s calling Life Paint as a way for cyclists to protect themselves on the road, but the spray’s other use cases are potentially just as interesting.

Amazon now delivers a plumber to your door

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Would you like free two-day shipping with that?
Would you like free two-day shipping with that?

Amazon already delivers your toilet paper. Now it wants to deliver your plumber.

The online retail giant debuted a new service today called Home Services. It’s designed to take the simplistic Amazon ordering approach and apply it to real-world service needs, like fixing your home computer, cleaning the gutter or teaching aerial yoga lessons.

Facebook Messenger’s app store is here, and it sucks

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Facebook Messenger's app platform is off to a pretty 'meh' start. Photo: Alex Heath/Cult of Mac

Facebook is building its own kind of app store around Messenger, or so was the pitch at the social network’s F8 conference last week.

But now that the new platform, which manifests itself as a list of approved iOS apps that integrate with Messenger, is out in the wild, it’s not that impressive.

iPad Pro details possibly revealed by leaked dummy images

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iPad Pro could prove that size mattesr. Photo: Canoopsy
iPad Pro could prove that size mattesr. Photo: Canoopsy

We still haven’t gotten a glimpse of Apple’s long-rumored 12-inch iPad Pro, but a new set of images of an alleged iPad Pro dummy unit show that the mythical giant tablet might actually be real.

Images of an alleged iPad Pro case posted to Weibo today could potentially reveal some of the new features Apple has in store for it’s enterprise-focused tablet, including a USB-C port in a very unexpected place.

Take a peek:

9 features we want to see in the iPhone 6s

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Your iPhone is about to get some new features. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Tim Cook called the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus the biggest advancements in the history of iPhone. It’s barely been six months since the bigger-than-big devices launched, but we’re already craving some upgrades.

With the first iPhone 6s leaks and rumors starting to hit the Internet, we decided to dream up what Apple could possibly do to make its next smartphone kick more ass than ever.

Here are nine upgrades we hope the iPhone 6s gets this fall:

‘Leaked’ photo offers first glimpse of colorful iPhone 6c

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Is this the future iPhone 6c?  Photo: Future Supplier
Is this the future iPhone 6c? Photo: Future Supplier

Apple decided to kill the iPhone C lineup when it debuted the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, but the colorful plastic cases could be making a comeback in 2015, based on an alleged leak out of Apple’s supply chain.

A new 4-inch iPhone 6c might debut alongside the iPhone 6s this fall, according to leaked images that show an iPhone rear shell similar in size to the iPhone 5c. But this design may come with a few tweaks.

Check it out:

This Rube Goldberg machine has plagues, pyramids and a message – ‘Let my people go!’

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This Rube Goldberg Machine made by students at Technion in Cleveland quickly runs through the story of Passover. Photo: Technion/YouTube
This Rube Goldberg machine made by students at Technion quickly runs through the story of Passover. Photo: Technion/YouTube

Who knew the Plague of Blood could be so fun.

Students at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology created a Rube Goldberg machine that covers the highlights of the Passover story, complete with falling Matzo crackers as part of the chain reaction.

Rube Goldberg machines are fun, over-engineered contraptions designed to complete a simple task, but the Passover story, by no means, is simple. There are plagues, a burning bush, a baby Moses in a basket and the parting of the sea.

Experience tech’s greatest-ever demo as an opera

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Think the Apple Watch unveiling was impressive? Not compared to this it wasn't. Photo: The Demo

If you think the 2007 unveiling of the iPhone is tech’s most impressive demo, you haven’t seen anything yet!

Back in 1968, when Tim Cook was barely 8 years old, an engineer named Doug Engelbart put on a computer demonstration at the Fall Joint Computer Conference in San Francisco.

Over the course of 90 minutes, Engelbart showed off for the first time a stream of new technologies that would shape computing for the next half-century: windows, hypertext, computer graphics, the mouse, video-conferencing, word processing, real-time collaborative editing and more.

Now those of us who missed it the first time around can see it live, thanks to a new avant garde opera taking place at Stanford’s Bing Concert Hall.

It took 800 Nanoblocks to build this insanely accurate Apple Watch replica

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The most detailed Apple Watch replica yet? Photo: Christopher Tan

Okay, this is pretty cool: a 2.6x scale model of an Apple Watch built entirely out of Nanoblocks, the tiny building blocks made popular in Japan, but with a growing international following.

With the smallest brick being 4mm x 4mm x 5mm, creating this take on Apple’s eagerly-anticipated wearable device took more than 800 bricks. It was created by Christopher Tan, a well-known Nanoblock brick artist, who has previously built scale models of everything from the Great Wall of China to zombie dioramas.

You can check out more pictures of his Apple Watch below.

Tim Cook rips discriminatory laws that ‘rationalize injustice’

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As if Tim Cook doesn't already have enough on his plate!
"Apple is open for everyone," Cook says. Photo: Apple
Photo: Apple

Among the biggest differences between Steve Jobs and Tim Cook as leaders of Apple is Cook’s willingness to use his platform as CEO to push positive social change.

Having last week shamed Indiana’s controversial “religious freedom” bill — which potentially allows a business to deny service to would-be customers if they disagree with their sexual orientation, based on religious beliefs — Cook elaborated on his thoughts in a weekend editorial for the Washington Post.

Proclaiming that “Apple is open … to everyone, regardless of where they come from, what they look like, how they worship or who they love,” Cook makes a powerful case. Check out his thoughts below.

Apple hopes to stop China from ripping off its best retail store yet

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Why visit the Apple Store when you can get stuff deliver same day?
The gorgeous West Lake Apple Store in Hangzhou. Photo: Foster + Partners
Photo: Apple

As can be seen everywhere from Xiaomi’s not-so-original smartphone designs to the number of knockoff Apple Watches already available for sale, Apple has a problem with ripoffs in China.

But having recently unveiled its stunning new West Lake store in Hangzhou — featuring an all-glass facade and floating second floor — the company’s taking no chances: it’s filed (and been granted) a design patent to make sure that no-one tries to mimic its iconic design.

FDA is taking a ‘hands-off approach’ to Apple Watch

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Apple Watch isn't being too closely, err, watched. Photo: Apple
Apple Watch isn't being too closely, err, watched. Photo: Apple

The Food and Drug Administration is in a tough spot when it comes to health-tracking wearables. As the U.S. government agency in charge of regulating medical devices, it can’t promote health-oriented technology that doesn’t do what it claims, but it also doesn’t want to stifle innovation at a time when Silicon Valley is finally turning its attention to the field.

That’s why, according to a new report, the FDA is giving the tech industry, and particularly tech giants like Apple, leeway to develop new products without aggressive regulation.

The most awesome new apps you might have missed this week

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Awesome-Apps-of-the-Week2

It’s the weekend, which means it’s time to catch up on all of the hot new apps you might have missed throughout the week.

Twitter sets the live video world ablaze with Periscope, a couple great iPhone photography apps, the best way to calendar on the Mac, and some others made it into this week’s roundup.

Without further ado, here are this week’s awesome apps!


Awesome Apps

Apple TV rumors and our future robot overlords take over The CultCast

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Come with us if you want to CultCast.
Come with us if you want to CultCast.

This week: more rumors of a souped-up Apple TV coming in June, and we examine the softer side of Steve Jobs, as described in a new unofficial, Apple-backed biography. Plus: Skynet is the stuff of movies, but Elon Musk, Steven Hawking, and now Steve Wozniak, all believe AI is a big threat. Should we worried? You’re gonna want to unplug your Segway after this discussion.

Our thanks for Freshbooks for supporting this episode. FreshBooks is the easy-to-use invoicing software designed to help small business owners get organized, save time invoicing and get paid faster. It also makes tax time a cinch. Get started now with a 30-day free trial.

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Full show notes ahead!

How App Store optimization can harm indie developers

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iOS App Store.
Critical errors can do real damage as you try to rise to the top of the App Store.

I followed the advice of an App Store optimization expert last year in an attempt to promote my iPhone app. Big mistake. It felt wrong at the time, and it did more harm than good. Now I’ve learned to trust my gut instincts instead.

The only good way to brick your MacBook

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Seriously, how could you resist? Photo: Brik Case/Gizmodo

 

I pretty much love Apple and Lego in equal measure, so the idea of somehow combining the two is never going to fail to win my approval.

Assuming that I’m not the only person to feel this way, allow me to introduce the Brik Case: a fantastic Kickstarter campaign intended to raise the cash needed to manufacture a MacBook case that can be decorated with Lego bricks, to create any design of your choosing.

Comcast denies talking with Apple about TV service

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Apple isn't talking with NBC's parent company about a TV service. Photo: NBCUniversal
Apple hasn't approached NBC's parent company about a TV service. Photo: NBCUniversal

It turns out Apple isn’t talking with NBCUniversal about partnering for its forthcoming TV service. At least not yet.

How do we know? Because Comcast, NBCUniversal’s parent company, hasn’t been approached by Apple at all. But that doesn’t mean NBCUniversal’s content won’t be on Apple’s service when it launches.

Slack has been hacked

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Cult of Mac runs on Slack. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Cult of Mac runs on Slack. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Slack, the cool new communications app that many of the world’s top companies have flocked to, just revealed that it’s been hacked.

Attackers were able to access a Slack database, the company said Friday morning. There’s no indication the hackers were able to decrypt passwords stored on the server, but Slack is immediately ramping up security efforts in response.

The 3-D printed TV with a tiny 2-inch screen that really works

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This miniature1950s-inspired television was made on a 3D printer and built around electronics that brings it to life. Photo: Formlabs/YouTube
This miniature1950s-inspired television was made on a 3D printer and built around electronics that brings it to life. Photo: Formlabs/YouTube

About the only thing you can’t print on a 3-D printer is a time machine. However, the creators at Formlabs have managed to bring forward a staple from many 1950s living rooms.

OK, so 3-D printing a miniaturized replica of a Philco Predicta television isn’t exactly time travel, but you can ignore that when you realize the TV actually works.

ICYMI: Inside Apple’s secret health lab

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All the great stories from the past week that you might have missed. Photo: Stephen Smith
All the great stories from the past week that you might have missed. Photo: Stephen Smith

This week, Alex has a quick look inside Apple’s secret health lab, Leander has some of his own thoughts about the hot new Becoming Steve Jobs book, Luke has important info about how hackers are brute-forcing simple passwords, Rob gives you a quick how-to on marking all those unread iMessages as read, and David has a pretty neat story about Crazy Aaron’s Thinking Putty. Wild, fun, and all Cult of Mac — that’s what we have for you in this edition of Cult of Mac Magazine!