For the kid expecting a Lionel model train set under the Christmas tree, unwrapping a pack of copper wire, a couple of magnets and a battery is sure to disappoint.
But show them how to make a train out of those items, and you just might spark their curiosity and instill a love of science. Now that’s a gift — here’s how it works.
A class action suit accusing Apple of violating antitrust laws with the iPod and iTunes will continue — despite every plaintiff in the case being disqualified.
U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers disqualified the last remaining plaintiff in the case on Monday, after Apple’s lawyers successfully argued that she did not buy any of the iPods she is seeking damages for.
Apple wanted the case thrown out of court, but Judge Rogers has given the plaintiff lawyers one more chance: ordering them to find more iPod customers ready to step into the case. The qualifications of these new plaintiffs will be analysed at a hearing on Tuesday, to take place out of earshot of the jury.
Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin previously claimed that Steve Jobs’ life was rich enough that it could make 10 movies. Based on the evidence we’ve been presented with, however, it’s having a tough enough time making one.
This week’s setback is the news that Natalie Portman, who was reportedly in talks to play a role in the movie, has decided to part ways with the project for unknown reasons.
This is the latest in a long line of challenges for the movie adaptation of Walter Isaacson’s bestselling movie. Multiple A-list actors and directors passed on the project early on, before Sorkin’s handpicked Steve Jobs thesp Christian Bale was cast as Apple’s co-founder, only to later throw in the towel.
Most recently, the movie was put up for sale by its original studio Sony, which wound up selling to Universal Studios for development costs only.
Apple’s new interpretation of a particular iOS 8 feature could severely cripple countless third-party apps like Dropbox and Evernote.
The new interpretation came to light after Panic, a very respected indie developer, was told to remove the ability to send files to iCloud Drive in its file transfer app Transmit. And because of the way iOS 8 is designed, the app can no longer send files to any other storage provider.
What’s worse is that Apple provided little to no explanation for why it was implementing the policy change, and there’s no telling which app will forced to comply next.
Bose’s lineup of headphones and speakers were kicked out of the Apple Store earlier this year after the company filed a patent lawsuit against Beats Electronics, but now that the beef has been squashed, it appears that Apple is having a change of heart.
Apple Stores are set to bring Bose products back to shelves in time for Christmas, according to a source at iGen.fr, which claims some stores have already received inventory.
Tim Cook has been shortlisted again for Time magazine’s Person of the Year award following a remarkable year that saw record stock prices, iPhone sales, and the Apple Watch, as well as Tim Cook opening up about his personal life.
Steve Jobs never managed to earn the Person of the Year award, but Tim could become the first Apple CEO to nab the honors if he manages to beat out Vladimir Putin, Jack Ma, and Ebola.
Classic adventure game Grim Fandango is getting a brand new coat of paint, with a newly restored version of the noir/Day of the Dead mashup coming to Mac and other gaming platforms in January.
The game will have all-new advanced lighting effects, high-resolution textures, and remastered audio for today’s high-end gaming devices. It wall also have all the charm and cleverness of Tim Schafer, the designer who created many other classics of the genre first at LucasArts, and later at his own company, DoubleFine Productions.
Grim Fandango is one of the more influential games of the late 1990s, with 3D environments and a high quality level of writing and plotting that is rarely seen in video games. This new version will bring the legendary title to a whole new generation of gamers, letting them experience the genius alongside those who just want to re-live the joy of the original game on a machine that they currently own.
Smartwatches may have a lot of firepower, but what about a wearable that lets you shoot actual flames from your hands?
The PYRO Fireshooter puts fireballs right up your sleeve. It attaches to the underside of the wrist and contains four individually triggered barrels, each able to launch a fireball 10 feet.
MasterCard is keeping the Apple Pay party going with a new ad featuring Gwen Stefani who’s been armed with a ‘Surprise launcher’ to blast cardholders with sweet prizes each time they use Apple Pay.
The ad is part of MasterCard’s new Priceless Surprises campaign that rewards customers with everything from handbags and golf clubs, to concert tickets, or a chance to hangout with the No Doubt queen herself. Gwen’s new single “Spark the Fire” is featured in the playful new ad directed by Sophie Muller that also includes a cohort of fashionista minions to help hone her aim.
Check out the full ad below:
NASA’s Orion spacecraft is the most futuristic spacecraft to ever be built, but the tech inside it is shockingly old school, like the onboard computer powering the entire mission, that’s basically only powerful as an 11 year old G3 iBook.
On Earth scientists are all about pursuing the bleeding edge of tech, but in space the number one concern is reliability. Thanks to the higher amounts of radiation astronauts will travel through on the way to Mars, NASA’s engineers have to use a system that’s been tried and test. So to power their computer they’re are using an IBM PowerPC 750FX, that debuted in 2002 and isn’t even as powerful as an iPhone 6.
The minister of the Cyberspace Administration of China got a sneak peek at the Apple Watch during a recent visit to Apple’s Cupertino headquarters. Photos published by a state-owned website show Apple CEO Tim Cook demonstrating the device to Lu Wei, who also stopped by Facebook’s campus to meet Mark Zuckerberg.
Apple’s got some great things planned for 2015, but before we get there we need to look back at the year that was 2014.
With that in mind, today marks the release of the company’s annual iTunes Store awards — highlighting the best music, movies, books, podcasts, apps and games from one of Apple”s most eventful years in history.
If you’re looking for the best possible recommendations for enjoyably passing the time this holiday season (at least until Cult of Mac announce our own “best of 2014” lists), you can find out Apple’s list of winners after the jump:
A crooked former Apple manager will serve one year in prison and pay a whopping $4.5 million fine for leaking details of future Apple products.
Paul Shin Devine faced a maximum of 20 years behind bars for selling secrets to suppliers, which allowed them to negotiate more favorable deals with Apple. Devine was a global supply manager at Apple from 2005 until his arrest in 2010.
Three years ago he pleaded guilty to wire fraud, conspiracy and money laundering after his home was raided and investigators discovered more than $150,000 in cash hidden away in shoe boxes — with more cash apparently kept in safety deposit boxes.
A British politician has owned up to sneaking a quick game of Candy Crush Saga during a particularly dull parliamentary debate.
Nigel Mills, a Conservative MP for Amber Valley in the U.K., was photographed getting his Crush on during a Work and Pensions Committee debate. In a statement to tabloid newspaper The Sun, Mills admitted that his attention wandered during the session, at which point he turned to the sugary fun of freemium games for a pick-me-up.
“There was a bit of the meeting that I wasn’t focusing on and I probably had a game or two,” he said, adding that he shall “try not to do it in future.”
Over the weekend, Apple debuted its latest ad for the iPad Air 2, named “Change.” As with all of the ads in Apple’s “Your Verse” campaign for the first generation iPad Air, the upbeat “Change” demonstrates the flexibility of the iPad Air 2, as it’s used by motorbike enthusiasts, teachers and artists to carry out a variety of tasks.
The ad also showcases the thinness of Apple’s slimmest ever tablet, by featuring a clever letter-boxing effect that gradually closes in over the course of the ad — eventually revealing itself to be the thickness of the iPad Air 2. In this way, the ad is reminiscent of Apple’s pencil ads for the iPad Air, in which the extreme slimness of the tablet is likened to a an everyday household object.
Check out the ad after the jump.
I recently decided it was time to get a proper desktop computer. I needed it predominantly for work, but I wanted it to be powerful enough to play the latest games in 1080p without worrying about stuttering or terrible frame rates.
The new Mac lineup didn’t offer a perfect fit — the Retina 5K iMac was too expensive, and the new Mac mini simply wasn’t powerful enough — so I set myself a goal: To build a gaming machine with a dedicated video card, capable of running OS X, for around the price of a Mac mini.
I set a budget of $650 for my build. That’s $150 more than the base model Mac mini, but $50 less than the midrange model. In this piece, I’ll take you through the components I purchased and why I chose them, and how I put them all together. Next week, I’ll show you how I installed OS X to turn my DIY gaming rig into a Hackintosh.
This week: warm up the telly—Woz is getting a tech-tastic reality TV show; we divulge our favorite new iPhone and Mac apps; we answer some ridiculous listener questions in an all-new Get To know Your Cultist; and finally, Steve Jobs denies Leander Kahney’s attempted handshake not once, but TWICE. Leander recounts the tale. We die laughing.
Quietly chuckle your way through each week’s best Apple stories! Stream or download new and past episodes of The CultCast now on your Mac or iDevice by subscribing on iTunes, or hit play below and let the chuckles begin.
Our thanks to Boom 2 for supporting this episode. Ever needed to turn up your Mac’s volume louder than it could go? Boom 2 can bolster your Mac’s puny volume to righteous levels your ears probably can’t handle. Try it out free for 7 days and save 20% off any a license with code CultCast at checkout.
When I was a kid, I wanted to be a drummer. When it came time to assign instruments in elementary school, I started on a practice drumming pad.
The music teacher never let me graduate to a real drum because he knew what he was hearing on the rubber pad would be a disaster on a simple snare. But an aspiring drummer in Japan has mastered the pad — the iPad, that is. His fast-moving fingers earned him the title of “sickest drummer in metal right now” on Digg.
I just recently got into writing in Markdown, a special syntax that lets you easily convert to HTML for publishing on the web. There are several decent Markdown editors out there, but the best one I’ve used has to be Typed, a new app from Realmac Software.
The discreet word count view, keyboard shortcuts, and preview options are all great, but my favorite feature is Zen Mode. Typed goes fullscreen and plays six ambient, soothing music tracks in the background to help you focus. Don’t knock it till you try it.
Realmac is most well known for making Clear, a quality todo app for iOS that’s pretty popular. Typed serves a little more of a niche market, but for those interested in a minimalist, easy to use Markdown editor for the Mac, it’s an excellent choice.
Check out this video walkthrough for a more detailed rundown of the app’s main features.
Available on: Mac
Price: $19.99
Download: Realmac Software
NASA’s spaceship of tomorrow might make a critic of skeuomorphic design cringe.
Orion, which flew successfully on an unmanned test Friday and is seen as a critical first step toward flying a crew to Mars, is guided by sophisticated computer control panels.
But instead of a modern digital interface, NASA designed the controls to look like something from the Gemini missions from the ’60s. Orion’s computer screens are full of virtual flip switches and levers that would put Yuri Gagarin at ease.
It’s a little like Apple putting a virtual rotary dial on an iPhone.
Protesters streamed into an Apple Store in New York City on Friday to stage a “die-in” and call attention to a man who died at the hands of a police officer.
The peaceful Apple Store invasion came on the third night of protests after a grand jury failed to indict the cop who killed Eric Garner, a 43-year-old black man who was stopped on the street for selling cigarettes. Garner, who was asthmatic, died after Officer Daniel Pantaleo applied an apparent choke-hold.
What does the bacon above have in common with The Amazing Spider-Man 2? Both were created with 3D animation software called Houdini by Toronto-based Side Effects Software.
The newest release is coming next month, and, as you can see in the stunning video below, it’s going to further revolutionize the world of 3D animation in movies, TV and video games.
Check the video out below, and try not to lick your screen when the bacon shows up.
The $350 million class action lawsuit against Apple might not even have a legitimate plaintiff anymore, but the trial continued in Oakland today with one of the key witnesses being none other than Steve Jobs himself.
The late Apple CEO appeared on a TV monitor in court today in an unreleeased deposition video that was filmed six months before his death in 2011. CNET reports that in the video Steve Jobs maintained the same stance as Eddy Cue and Phil Schiller earlier this week, that Apple wasn’t trying to block competitors and hurt customers by removing some songs off of iPods. It was simply protecting iTunes from hackers and trying to not violate its record label contracts.
Jobs’ demeanor and responses reportedly suggested he wasn’t taking the antitrust case very seriously, and that Apple didn’t perceive any competitors as legitimate threats.
The only thing missing from Friday’s Orion test flight was a black-and-white live stream and the voice of Walter Cronkite calling the moment of the capsule’s splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
Orion may be the future of deep-space travel, with ambitious missions planned for an asteroid in the next decade and eventually Mars, but the event had a nostalgic feel, like a 1960s or ’70s living room with all eyes on a black-and-white television set.
Smartphones have been linked to rising crime in New York and San Francisco thanks to their allure among thieves, and according to the FCC it’s getting even worse, with a new study finding 10% of all robberies now involve the theft of a smartphone.
For iPhone owners there is some good news though. The FCC says theft of iOS devices has been on the decline ever since Apple added Activation Lock in iOS 7. Thieves in San Francisco are reportedly passing up on the iPhone now that users have a kill switch, leading to a 38% decline in iPhone robberies.
iPhone thefts in New York City were also down 19% in the first five months of 2014, and in London they’ve dropped 24%. Android owners aren’t as lucky though.