Mobile menu toggle

News - page 1278

OS X Yosemite’s Mail app is a Mac-crashing memory hog

By

OS X Yosmite 10.10.1 is comes with Exchange support for Mail. Photo: Apple
Yosemite's new Mail app has a big memory leak. Photo: Apple

OS X Yosemite is supposed to make Macs run more efficiently than ever, but some early upgraders have discovered a huge memory leak that causes memory pressure to skyrocket and productivity to drop.

The updated Mail app appears to be the culprit of the memory leak that is triggered whenever multiple files are dragged into an email to be added as attachments. Over 100 hundred users have confirmed the memory leak on Apple’s Support forum with screenshots of Mail hogging up to 24GB of RAM.

Apple wants to replace transit passes with iPhone 6’s NFC

By

A war for mobile wallet dominance is on the horizon. Apple Pay. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
A war for mobile wallet dominance is on the horizon. Apple Pay. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

iPhone 6 owners have only started using Apple Pay to buy items at local stores, but Apple is looking to expand the technology behind its mobile payments system to eventually replace everything from building security cards, subway passes, and bus tickets.

Apple representatives have reportedly been talking to potential partners about using the iPhone 6’s NFC for other uses, reports The Information, with the aim to replace all the tickets and passes you carry in your wallet too.

This app turns your iPhone into a handheld 3D scanner

By

GIF by Dacuda.
GIF by Dacuda.

Do you take pictures of all your meals to share with your friends on Facebook and Instagram? Wish there was a way to share even more of it with your FOMO-ing virtual friends?

Well, you can’t share the taste, or the smell, but 3DAround is an upcoming iOS app that lets you share the food you’re eating in all of its three-dimensional glory. And you can do it with other things too.

How Steve Jobs brought skeuomorphism back to Apple in 1999

By

Photo: Dokas / CC Flickr
Photo: Dokas / CC Flickr

Although he gets most of the blame for it, skeuomorphism wasn’t really Scott Forstall’s fault. He was just following the orders of his boss and mentor, Steve Jobs. The man who gave the world the first skeumorphic consumer operating system, the Macintosh, loved computer interfaces with gaudy textures that made them look more like real-world things.

In fact, if it were not for Steve Jobs’s love of skeuomorphism, Apple’s design language might have been a lot flatter a lot earlier. When Steve Jobs came back to Apple in 1999, the company was moving away from skeuomorphic design… but Jobs bought it back, with the famous brushed metal texture in the Quicktime app.

Once you see this small typography tweak Apple made in OS X Yosemite, you can’t unsee it

By

Wn0BS2V


Can you see how Apple has improved the typography in OS X Yosemite? Photo: Reddit
Can you see how Apple has improved the typography in OS X Yosemite? Photo: Reddit

Apple pays more attention to the details then anyone else. Sometimes the details they pay attention to are so small, you don’t notice them at all for a long time… but once you see what they’ve done, you can never unsee it, or accept anything less.

Here’s a great example from OS X Yosemite. Compare the two images above. The top is from OS X Yosemite, the bottom from Windows 7. Notice anything? One of these images has much better typography than the other. But can you tell why?

I’mma let you finish, but Kanye West’s daughter is the biggest Apple fan of all time

By

Kanye West
Kanye West in all his Apple-loving glory. Photo: Rodrigo Ferrari/Flickr CC
Photo: Rodrigo Ferrari/Flickr (CC)

If both of your parents are unabashed Apple fans, there’s every chance that you’ll grow up as a Cupertino addict as well.

That appears to be the case for 16-month-old North West, a.k.a. the daughter of Kanye West and Kim Kardashian. With North’s dad having previously proclaimed himself the next Steve Jobs, and her mother likely to rake in an ungodly $200 million from her very own iOS app by the end of 2014, it’s no surprise that North seems to have a budding interest in all things Apple, as well.

What kind of interest? In an interview with PEOPLE.com, Kim Kardashian described her less-than-two-year-old daughter’s extreme iPod love, with her playlist apparently including a soothing mixture of lullabies and, well, Kanye West tracks.

Hate OS X Yosemite’s look? Here’s how to give it a classic makeover

By

OS 9 returns in OS X Yosemite! Photo: WonderHowTo
OS 9 returns in OS X Yosemite! Photo: WonderHowTo

With its candy-like icons, gradients, and transparencies, OS X Yosemite is a major departure from the look and feel of the Macintosh operating system. But if you don’t like that look and feel, here’s a few things you can do to make OS X look less candy-like, hearkening it back to the design language of OS 9.

GTA: San Andreas looks better than ever on iPhone 6 and 6 Plus

By

Photo: RockStar Games
Photo: RockStar Games

I still think it’s a mini miracle that Rockstar Games managed to compress the gang-banging goodness of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas onto a device thinner than a deck of cards and capable of fitting in my pocket.

That’s exactly what happened last year, however, and courtesy of a new update, the game’s remastered, high-resolution graphics now look pristine on your brand new iPhone 6 or 6 Plus thanks to the addition of native-resolution support for Apple’s next-gen handsets.

CVS and Rite Aid block Apple Pay as mobile wallet war heats up

By

A war for mobile wallet dominance is on the horizon. Apple Pay. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
A war for mobile wallet dominance is on the horizon. Apple Pay. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Two major pharmacy chains have stopped supporting Apple Pay as merchants in the U.S. take sides on which mobile wallet platform to embrace.

Reports from a couple days ago revealed that Rite Aid had started disabling its NFC terminals, thereby forbidding the use of Apple Pay and Google Wallet. Now CVS has reportedly started shutting down its NFC terminals.

Reviews are in on iPad Air 2 and our day with Apple Pay on The CultCast

By

cultcast-bono

This week: the iPad Air 2 reviews are in, and not everyone’s feeling the love; Cult of Mac spends a day with Apple Pay; Yosemite and iOS 8.1 Continuity features delight; a potential cure for the painful #6PlusPinch; some welcome changes rumored for Beats Music; and we wrap with our favorite movie trilogies of all time on an all-new Get To Know Your Cultist.

Titter 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 lynda.com for sponsoring this episode! Learn virtually any application at your own pace from expert-taught video tutorials at lynda.com.

cultcast-150-post-player-image-thin

Show notes ahead, mateys.

News roundup: Apple Pay reviews, Christian Bale as Steve Jobs and more

By

post-300905-image-01cb9bfbc2359c759fe95a9a583374b0-jpg

Apple Pay is here at last. With U.S. customers giving the new payment method a try, results — and opinions — vary widely.

In this week’s news roundup, we talk about Cult of Mac’s first day with Apple Pay, the new Marvel movie leak, Christian Bale landing the role of Steve Jobs in an upcoming biopic and much more. Get your weekly fix of news in just minutes.

Subscribe to Cult of Mac TV on YouTube to catch all our latest videos.

Go berserk with Brad Pitt and this week’s other top picks

By

Cult of Mac's weekly picks.
Cult of Mac's weekly picks.

So you don’t have to slog through a lake of reviews and tips to find something you’re just going to put down after 10 minutes, Cult of Mac has waded through the web to compile our weekly list of the coolest new bits in movies, music, gadgets and anything else that should be on your radar.

This week we’ve been treated to a media blitz by Brad Pitt that’s produced one of the week’s funniest videos, an epic World War II tank movie, and a hilarious break-dancing competition. We’ve also found a nonfiction book with enough violence and betrayal to rival Game of Thrones, and a gorgeous iPhone 6 case that will replace your wallet much better than Apple Pay.

Take a look:

Why Apple Pay is the future

By

Apple Pay. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
About to test Apple Pay at the local Walgreens. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Critics are fond of saying Apple doesn’t innovate any more. But Apple’s new electronic payment system, Apple Pay, is innovation of the highest order. After a relatively smooth rollout this week, I honestly believe Apple Pay is the future of payments.

Even so, Apple Pay must clear some big hurdles if it’s to become the universal standard. For now, it’s limited to Apple’s latest iPhones and a relatively small number of retail partners, but the basic system — using your fingerprint to validate a purchase on your mobile phone — is the way we will pay for goods and services in the future.

Once again, Apple has shown the world how things should be done.

Apple design guru’s latest masterpiece is a custom double-barreled shotgun

By

Classic double-barreled 486 Paralleo shotgun Photo: Beretta
The classic double-barreled 486 Parallelo shotgun Photo: Beretta

Italian firearm maker Beretta has enlisted Apple’s new design guru, Marc Newson, to create a hunting double-barreled shotgun.

Newson has created a custom version of the classic double-barrelled 486 Parallelo shotgun for Beretta, which will be officially unveiled at an event in London on November 13th.

Air New Zealand uses The Hobbit to make the most epic air safety video ever

By

Maybe they'll take the bird all the way to the destination, for a change. Photo: Air New Zealand
Maybe they'll take the bird all the way to the destination, for a change. Photo: Air New Zealand

Tired of the same old boring pitch that flight attendants have to give you in accordance with FAA regulations? Well, Air New Zealand decided to make its own briefing a lot more epic in the latest video for the official airline of Middle Earth stand-in country.

Watch as Elijah Wood and other cast members grace this light-hearted, good natured air safety briefing, complete with fake Gandalf explaining how to position yourself in the event of a crash landing.

Ralph Nader tells Apple to screw investors, not workers

By

Foxconn employees accused of $43 million iPhone scam
Tim Cook with a Foxconn worker Photo: Apple
Photo: Apple

Ralph Nader has a message for Tim Cook: Stop listening to Carl Icahn.

In a scathing letter to Cook published in today’s Wall Street Journal, the former presidential candidate takes Apple’s CEO to task for bending to the will of billionaire investor Icahn and issuing more stock buybacks, rather than listening to its workers and addressing the horrendous working conditions at its factories in China.

Nader’s letter proposes Foxconn workers’ hours be cut to 40 a week and their pay doubled, which would only cost Apple an extra $5.4 billion annually.

iTunes music sales drop for second straight year

By

iTunes is down!. Photo:
iTunes music sales are diving. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple revolutionized the music industry with the introduction of iTunes in 2003, but even Cupertino is having trouble selling albums these days.

iTunes revenue dropped 13% over the last year reports the Wall Street Journal, marking the second straight year that Apple’s digital music sales have declined, after falling 5.7% in 2013.

Amazon Rewards credit card now supports Apple Pay

By

Amazon Rewards Visa in Passbook. Screenshot: Alex Heath/ Cult of Mac
Amazon Rewards Visa in Passbook. Screenshot: Alex Heath/Cult of Mac

Amazon added Apple Pay support today for its Amazon.com Rewards Visa.

Since Chase, the Amazon rewards card issuer, was an Apple Pay launch partner, some speculated that Amazon intentionally opted out of Apple’s mobile payments system. But Amazon quickly confirmed this week that it was working on adding support for its credit card in the near future. Now it’s followed through.

Apple locks up top execs until 2019 with $27 million golden handcuffs

By

Photo: H. Michael Karshis/Flickr CC
The only handcuffs that presumably come with a free Apple Watch and iPhone 6 thrown in. Photo: H. Michael Karshis/Flickr CC

Apple will be holding on to its top executives until at least 2019, if the granting of new stock options by the Apple board has anything to do with it.

Angela Ahrendts, Eddy Cue, Phil Schiller, Craig Federighi, CFO Luca Maestri, VP of hardware engineering Daniel Riccio, lawyer Bruce Sewell and COO Jeffrey Williams all received stock grants potentially valued at a total of $27 million, based on the high closing price of AAPL stock Thursday.

Crystal Baller: Apple’s wearables partnership with Nike and other juicy rumors

By

crysalballer1

We get slammed 24/7 with new Apple rumors. Some are accurate, most are not. To give you a clue about what’s really coming out of Cupertino in the future, we’re busting out our rumor debunker each week to blow up the nonsense.

We're one month into iPhone rumor season and even though the rumormill has been quiet about upcoming hardware this week, we've got plenty of rumors surrounding Apple Pay's future, as well as some gossip that Nike and Apple are working on making some wearable together. Step up to the crystal ball and see which of this week's juicy rumors are full of fluff.


Tim Cook makes China top priority for Apple Pay

By

Photo: Adrian Korte CC
Photo: Adrian Korte CC

Tim Cook has described his desire to bring Apple Pay to China as “top of the list” in terms of priorities.

Cook was quoted on Friday, following an interview he gave with China’s official Xinhua news agency. “China is a really key market for us,” he said. “Everything we do [in terms of services in the U.S.], we are going to work it here.”

Why Christian Bale will play an amazing Steve Jobs

By

christianbalestevejobs-618x400

Christian Bale is Steve Jobs. The Oscar-winning actor has officially signed on to play the late Apple co-founder in Sony’s upcoming movie based on Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay. Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle is attached to the project, but no other cast or crew members have been confirmed.

A lot of big Hollywood actors, including Leonardo DiCaprio, have been in talks to play Jobs at some point, but Bale’s name stayed in the hat till the very end. Looking at Bale as an actor, it’s easy to see why. Here’s why he will play the perfect Steve Jobs.