News - page 1343

If you ever want to see the difference between Apple and Google as companies, look no further than the fact that Google’s latest Chrome update for the simply-named iOS 7.0 is the bafflingly-titled version 34.0.1847.18.

That minor irritation aside, the mobile update does add some nifty new features — including a new “feature tour” that shows off the browser and its new enhancements to first time users.

There’s also an included tweak to Chrome’s omnibox, which means that the omnibox now supports right-to-left languages: something that should prove useful to some international users.

I’ve always hated running. When I’m asked, I jokingly say that the ten years of life I probably lose by not focusing on cardio-vascular exercise, I make up for by not feeling compelled to jog in a big circle each day after work, or talk about running shoes at dinner parties.

But if there’s one thing that could get me running it’s a zombie apocalypse — in which members of the once-dead rise again to try and feast on my brain and internal organs. And I’m definitely not the only one.

Gamified fitness app Zombies, Run! was launched a couple of years ago, but has just been updated with a number of new features.

For those unfamiliar with it, Zombies, Run! replaces your regular running soundtrack with a zombie story in which you are the main character — with your level of physical exertion playing a part as you outrun zombie hordes, collect supplies, and eventually return (brain intact) to base camp.

Clear, everyone’s favorite swipe-based to-do list app, now integrates with the native Reminders app on the Mac and iOS. Originally planned for February, the latest update lets you get reminded to do things on that list.

Next time some jerk mimes playing the world’s smallest violin at something you said, just whip out the miniscule Fretpen guitar, bellow something defiantly rock-themed at them, and relish in their stunned silence as you headbang triumphantly while shredding your way through Van Halen’s Eruption!

Yes, I see how it may seem as if I’ve let my rock fantasy get a little out of hand. But I strenuously maintain it’s completely appropriate when introduced to the FretPen, a tiny-yet-playable guitar that connects to an accompanying app on the iPhone via low-energy Bluetooth, then rocks out with customizable effects.

We know the iPhone emits radiation, but how much? The answer: Apparently enough to light up luminous glyphs on the back of an iPhone case. A bunch of inventive Ukranians — the same ones who brought us the iBlazr LED phone flash — figured out this little trick, and created the Lunecase, an iPhone 5/c/s case with symbols on the back that light up when you receive a text or phone call.

We’ve seen no shortage of iPhone 6 part leaks recently, and now an alleged mold of the unreleased device has surfaced. French site Nowwhereelse.fr has shared pictures of what it’s claiming is a “physical model” of the iPhone 6.

The source of the model is unknown other than it came from a Chinese forum, so we’re filing this one under very sketchy. But based on existing rumors, the design could be close to what Apple is planning.

A funny thing happened on the way to the iPod’s funeral. When we laid out the reasons we think the music player is nearing the end of the line, we clearly struck a nerve.

A lengthy and fascinating conversation broke out in the page’s comments section, on Facebook and on Twitter as Cult of Mac readers articulated all the reasons Apple shouldn’t kick the iPod to the curb. Reasons ranged from forward-looking strategies for expanding the iPod’s appeal to old-fashioned love for a perennial favorite product.

Here are highlights from eight of the best:

Who’d have thought that four tiny stick-on plastic corners could make such a great iPhone “case?” Yet the Bezl, a case so minimal it doesn’t even have room for vowels, is one of my favorites. That might not be surprising for someone who avoids cases altogether, but they’re pretty useful for something so tiny.

Apple suppliers in China have finally started producing the iWatch, according to a report from China Times that claims Jony Ive’s wristwatch masterpiece will land in the U.S. this Fall, and it might be even smaller than we thought. 

Apple is working on its own mobile payments solution, per multiple reports from places like The Wall Street Journal. Exactly how the company plans to implement such a service remains to be seen.

Tim Cook has made it clear that Touch ID was created with mobile payments in mind, which makes sense when you consider that it’s such a secure form of authentication.

A new concept called EasyPay takes the Apple approach to mobile payments on the iPhone, and it looks great.

Here’s what I use on a fairly daily basis: external hard drive, iPhone, iPad(s), gaming mouse, flash drive full of media and DSLR camera.

Man or woman, I’m willing to bet you’ve got a similar load of peripherals that you use with your MacBook Pro or Air. With the MacBook’s two USB 3.0 ports, there’s never enough to go around when I want to plug in more than, say, two devices at once. Sure there’s two Thunderbolt ports, too, but I’m just not that fancy.

Today Microsoft released an update to its Office for iPad suite that brings the ability to print from within Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. The apps use Apple’s AirPrint to automatically find a nearby printer on the same network.

If you told me I could only shop at one candy store from now on, that candy store would be Photojojo. The sweet photo gadgets that appear new in the store every week constantly test my resolve not to tap in a credit card number.

The latest temptation? The DryZone Duffel, which is a waterproof camera bag.

Are you a fan of HDR photography? Then you’re dead to me. Dead.

No, seriously.

Not really. Kidding aside, HDR can look horrible, like turning the color up on an old CRT TV set. But like all tools, it can also be used for the powers of good.

Anyhow, TrueHDR, the smash-hit iOS HDR app is now available for the Mac, letting you combine up to 100 shots into one over-egged exposure, all for just $4.

Bandai Namco’s mid-April press event didn’t have too many surprise announcements or knock-you-on-your heels demonstrations, but one upcoming PC game seems promising. It’s called Rise of Incarnates, a free-to-play, four-player fighting game where you control half of a team of superheroes battling it out in a ruined city.

Snappgrip is an add-on camera grip for your iPhone, bringing the extra manual knobs, dials and buttons you miss from your regular camera. It’s been around for a while.

But that’s not the news. The new is that a couple of great iPhone camera apps now incorporate the Snappgrip API. That is, these apps can be controlled by the buttons on the grip.

You know when you see a new tool and you think “Oh man, that’s going to be useful”? That’’s the feeling I have with Keep Everything, a Universal iOS and Mac App which saves web pages, Tweets (and pretty much anything with a URL) on your device, sharing it with your other machines via Dropbox.

But it does so much more than that, including turning those pages into Markdown text that can even be edited.

You unlock your iPhone by either having it read your fingerprint or typing in a simple passcode. On Android, you unlock your device by drawing a pattern between a grid of dots.

But imagine being able to unlock your iPhone with art. Imagine painting a smiley face, or scrawling your signature, or heck, drawing a pornographic picture on your iPhone display and having it magically spring to life.

That’s just what a new jailbreak tweak lets you do.

Sick of in-flight WiFi that blows chunks? If you’re an AT&T customer, you could have LTE at 30,000 feet as early as late 2015.

As rumors continue to swell about Apple’s long-awaited leap into wearable tech, the U.S. Patent & Trademarks Office Tuesday granted a new patent covering an iWatch-like device form factor.

While Apple only lists a “wrist-watch device” as one of the possible applications of its planned electronic device, everything about the patent is in line with what we’ve heard about the iWatch.

The patent covers the housing for a device which would include wireless circuits such as transceiver circuits, and optical components such as light sensors and cameras.

Cramming something as complicated as a camera into a form factor as thin as that of a smartphone is difficult, and with smartphones getting thinner all the time, many smartphones — from Nokia’s PureView-equipped Lumia’s to Google’s Voltron-like Project Ara — are choosing better image quality over sleek form-factor by making their smartphone cameras protrude, at least a little bit.

Will Apple follow suit with the iPhone 6 if it means better image stabilization? Come on. That’s not their style. But the camera will be getting better.

For years Macs have had the reputation of being less susceptible to malware than PCs. According to a new report, that also holds true when it comes to iPhones.

Research by Finnish security firm F-Secure looked at reports of mobile malware detected in the first quarter of 2014. Of the 277 new threats detected, they found that 275 were aimed at the Android platform — while only one targeted iPhones. (The other was for Nokia’s defunct Symbian software.)

In New York on May 20? If you are, own an iPhone, and fancy drumming up some business for local bars, you may want to get involved with the so-called “BeaconCrawl.”

An interactive bar crawl event, supporting venues in lower New York hit by 2012’s Superstorm Sandy, BeaconCrawl will use iBeacons to help gamify the experience of staggering between drinking establishments, getting increasingly legless.

Apple Maps may not shed any light on how Stonehenge was constructed (my personal favorite theory is that it was a particularly rubbish-sounding ancient team-building event), but it can now give you a beautiful 3D view of the ancient stone circle.

As expected, Apple has introduced its refreshed line of MacBook Air models this morning. The updates don’t bring any major changes, but sport faster versions of Intel’s Haswell processors, and are $100 cheaper than their predecessors.