Just because people are expecting Apple to revolutionize wearables with its long-awaited iWatch, doesn’t mean that there aren’t already some interesting developments going on in the wearable tech field.
I’m a massive fan of Jawbone, which has just updated its UP by Jawbone iOS app with a new fitness-oriented update — designed to focus on food-related goals, such as weight and calorie intake.
The Flappy Bird phenomenon will never die. Although the game has been pulled from the App Store, the addictive little Bird has spawned a million clones, and been ported to all manner of devices, including Android and Windows Phone smartphones, as well as the Mac.
But what you’re about to see might just be the ultimate Flappy Bird port. It’s Flappy Bird running on a vintage Apple IIc, at an astonishing 60 frames per second.
So long as we live in a world where WhatsApp can be bought for $19 billion and even an ultra-simple novelty app like Yo manages to scrape together $1 million in venture funding, people are going to go right on creating messaging apps.
One of the latest is La-La Messenger, which promises users the possibility of conducting entire conversations out of song snippets. A greeting, for instance, might be “Hello” by Lionel Richie, while “the world is a dark place if this is the future of communication” could be Sean Paul’s “Gimme the Light.”
Smartphone user habits may change depending on where you are in the world, but one thing remains largely the same: the iPhone (and Apple brand) is a status symbol.
With that in mind, Apple is tapping FPT Corp., Vietnam’s biggest listed information and communication technology company, to help grow its market share across Vietnam and Southeast Asia.
As with China, developing markets such as Vietnam represent important potential hotbeds for Apple to target, and establishing a presence early is of the utmost importance. According to Lam Nguyen, Ho Chi Minh City-based country director at International Data Corp, Vietnamese smartphone sales will increase by around 56 percent to 12 million units in 2014 alone — and Apple should be in a position to get a large chunk of those sales.
Photos have surfaced on French Apple website Nowhereelse.fr that purport to show the Touch ID sensor for Apple’s next-generation iPhone 6.
While at first glance, the images look identical to the sensor embedded within the iPhone 5s — Apple’s first smartphone to feature the Touch ID technology — upon closer inspection some tiny differences in design can be spotted. These predominantly relate to the edges of the sensor where the tiny screws will attach it to the device’s metal housing.
The two sensors can be seen next to one another in the image below:
From personal computers and smartphones, to tablets and wearables, half the fun of following Apple is trying to figure out where it's going to go next.
Looking back through the Cult of Mac archives, a lot of the rumors we've brought to light over the years did hint at innovations that eventually found their ways into the sweaty hands of excited customers. But every once in a while a rumor comes along that's so ridiculous it can't possibly be true. And more often than not, that's exactly the case.
Check out our gallery for our picks of top Apple rumors that turned out to be totally wide of the mark.
Photography is all about light, and photographers are all about light painting. There are many tricks to try, from isolating objects with incandescence outside the frame to shining light directly at the camera as in Janelle Pietrzak’s Bambi series, created using light stencils.
Creating this interesting analog photo effect doesn’t require any special equipment, just a detachable flash, some craft materials and a lot of imagination.
But Colorado artist Janelle Pietrzak spends hours cutting light stencils with a razor blade, then uses a shoebox and long-exposure photography to bring Bambi and other cuddly creatures to life inside her home.
“If you look at my photographs there is fantasy world full of mythical creatures, floating orbs, ghosts and goddesses, all created by manipulating light,” Pietrzak tells Cult of Mac. “The catch is that I hardly use any Adobe Photoshop. What you see in the images is basically what I saw on the back of my camera.”
Apple has been waging a fierce war against Flash ever since the iPhone debuted without the power to run Adobe’s battery hungry, multimedia software. Finally, seven years into the battle, Google is adding another blow by flagging Flash content in mobile search results with a warning that sites might not work properly.
IBM and Apple used to be sworn enemies, but a lot has changed since the early days of the Macintosh and the PC race. Both companies have committed to making Apple software and hardware a one-stop shop for businesses in what some consider one of the “most important and powerful tech partnerships” ever.
In an interview with CNBC, Tim Cook and IBM CEO Virginia Rometty discussed their mutual excitement about the “landmark” partnership.
Today Apple announced that it’s partnering with IBM to “transform enterprise mobility through a new class of business apps.” The relationship will combine IBM’s enterprise data specialties with Apple’s iOS hardware and software.
“iPhone and iPad are the best mobile devices in the world and have transformed the way people work with over 98 percent of the Fortune 500 and over 92 percent of the Global 500 using iOS devices in their business today,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook in a statement. “For the first time ever we’re putting IBM’s renowned big data analytics at iOS users’ fingertips, which opens up a large market opportunity for Apple. This is a radical step for enterprise and something that only Apple and IBM can deliver.”
There are four key areas that Apple will be working on with IBM:
Today Snapchat introduced Geofilters, which are location-based stickers that can be quickly applied to a snap by swiping once to the left after you take a picture. The feature could finally provide a revenue model for the startup that turned down a $3 billion offer from Facebook.
iOS users have proven they have an uncanny ability to waste obscene amount of coin on silly in-app purchases, and the latest tech-titan to cash in on all that spending is none other than reality star Kim Kardashian.
Kim launched her first iOS game at the end of June to surprisingly great reviews, but the bigger surprise is the mountain of cash Kardashian and developers Glu Mobile are about to make off of all the fans flocking to download a piece of Kim’s Hollywood life.
The iPhone 6 isn’t expected to feature radical improvements in battery life, but that doesn’t mean Apple hasn’t had trouble making new batteries for the device. Since the next iPhone will be thinner than the current design, its battery needs to be thinner as well.
Apple has been having trouble with battery makers overseas meeting its specifications, but now it’s being reported that new suppliers have been brought on to solve the issues. The news highlights how diversifying its partners in the Asian supply chain continues to be Apple’s strategy moving forward.
We’re still waiting to get our first glimpse of Apple’s upcoming smartwatch, but according to a new report, Apple is planning to release not one, not two, but three different models of the iWatch this fall.
Citing supply chain sources in China, the Economic Daily claims Apple will make the iWatch available by the end of 2014 with three different sizes to choose from, but you’ll probably want the fatty 1.8-inch unit, as it will supposedly be the most durable of the bunch.
Earlier today we reported on how Apple’s new iTunes Pass feature hints at Apple’s interest in mobile payments. However, Apple’s not the only company interested in this area.
Last night, PayPal updated its iOS client with one important new feature, allowing it to support loyalty cards. That means that PayPal’s app can become your one-stop-shop for payments and checkins for some of your favorite stores, including Starbucks, CVS, and others.
Apple has launched a new service called iTunes Pass in several countries, including Japan, Brazil and China.
The service lets customers buy iTunes Store credit from brick-and-mortar Apple retail stores — only using Passbook, rather than the physical gift cards most commonly used. The service appears to work by letting users add a new iTunes Pass inside the Passbook app, which they can then present at their local Apple Store. The user then states how much money they would like to turn into iTunes Store credit, and this is instantly transferred to their account.
iOS 8 is just around the corner and, if the iOS 7 figures are any indicator, it’s likely to find near-total adoption.
Apple just released the latest figures for its current-generation operating system, saying iOS 7 is running on a massive 90 percent of devices. iOS 6, meanwhile, stands at just 9 percent, while earlier versions of iOS represent a minuscule 2 percent combined. iOS 7 was launched 10 months ago in September 2013, making it the fastest-adopted mobile OS in history.
SAN FRANCISCO — The latest innovation of the so-called sharing economy seems perfect for this city’s hypercompetitive rental market, where tiny apartments go for outrageous sums and space is at a premium.
Sort of like Airbnb for storage, new startup Roost connects people who need to stow some stuff — furniture, boxes of books, whatever — with individuals with room to spare in an attic or garage.
The company was founded by Jon Gillon, who came up with the idea after his older brother moved here from Texas with a Subaru full of stuff.
“We improvised,” Gillon told Cult of Mac. “I made room in my apartment in exchange for drinks and dinner. When his place was ready we were like, ‘This is a great idea.’ The light bulb went on.”
The German champions may only get one World Cup trophy, but thanks to Beats Electronics, the team members will each get a complimentary pair of 24-karat gold Beats Pro headphones.
Having previously become the hit advertiser of the World Cup with its “Game Before the Game” ad (despite being banned from press events), Beats’ follow-up is a great marketing stunt. It also adds supermodel Naomi Campbell, who was photographed with the gold-dipped headphones and a similarly shiny soccer ball, to the list of high-end celebrities associated with Beats.
Apple has been looking a lot friendlier ever since its PR boss Katie Cotton left the company last May, and even though no one has been tapped to fill her vacancy yet, Cupertino might be looking to make a huge splash by tapping President Obama’s former press secretary for the post.
Shazam got a cool update today.
The song-recognition app that Apple is baking into Siri in iOS 8 can now play back full tracks thanks to a partnership with Rdio. Users with the Rdio app installed will be able to listen to a whole song tagged in Shazam without having to the leave the app.
I only recently got into the world of animated GIF memes, and that’s mainly thanks to a group of friends that like to inundate my iMessage with random stuff 24/7. Like any good millennial, I have some of my favorite GIFs saved in my Camera Roll to whip out at an appropriate time in a conversation.
Then there’s the world of making my own GIFs, which I have never had the slightest inclination to dabble in until I stumbled onto Ultratext, a relatively new app for the iPhone. After showing it to my techie and non-techie friends alike, it’s safe to say that Ultratext is the easiest and most fun way to create GIFs and share them in a matter of seconds.
The iPhone 5s is the number one smartphone in 35 countries around the world, according to new research conducted by Counterpoint Technology Market Research.
Samsung’s Galaxy S5 came in second followed by the S4, Note 3 phablet, and iPhone 5c at fifth place. With larger 4.7 and 5.5-inch iPhones on the horizon, Counterpoint notes that Apple will have another hit on its hands if it goes after the larger-screen smartphone market.
While iCloud has been a trusty storage companion for photos and documents, Apple’s recently announced iCloud Drive upgrades what we already know and love about the service. In today’s video, we take a look at five ways iCloud Drive will upgrade your life when Apple rolls out the enhanced service alongside iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite.
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