News - page 1352

So far, we know that the iPhone 6 will be the thinnest, lightest iPhone yet. We know it will pack a new 64-bit A8 processor. We know it will come in at least two sizes: a 4.7-inch model, and a 5.5-inch model. But is that it?

According to a new report out of Japan, no. Not only will the iPhone 6 have a bigger display, thinner profile, blazing fast processor, and ultra-light weight, but it will be the first iPhone since the 2G to boast an all-aluminum rear shell… and will also have a curved display. And that’s not where the curves stopped: like Marilyn Monroe, the iPhone 6 will also have curves that fit nicely in the hand.

A lot of rumors are swirling that Apple plans on radically updating its MacBook Air line-up this year. Impressively, Apple is said to be readying a thinner, lighter, 12-inch MacBook Air with Retina Display for release later this year.

Now a new report suggests that Apple will be releasing new MacBook Airs as early as next week. Could this be the 12-inch Retina model everyone’s been anticipating? Sadly, no. We’re going to have to wait a few months yet for that.

I’m going to ask you to do something dirty, but it’ll be totally worth it. But before we get to that, let me tell you what this is about. Project Naptha is a browser extension that lets you copy and paste text from images. That’s right. Those times when some helpful web designer puts all the relevant info into a JPG need no longer drive you into an impotent rage.

The catch? It’s Google Chrome only for now.

A pair of manga artists have teamed up to create a new ongoing comic series, based on the early collaborations of Apple founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

Although Apple’s early years have been fodder for comic books before, this one isn’t a business management case study — but more of a buddy comedy.

Personally we’re not sure that we see it. Abbott and Costello, Dan Ackroyd and John Belushi, Tommy Chong and Cheech Marin… and Jobs and Wozniak? It doesn’t exactly seem to scream comedy hijinks.

But maybe we’re missing something.

Apple turned what could have been a deathly boring financial ritual into an occasion for celebration Wednesday, posting record numbers and making headlines with some unexpected moves.

Here’s our take on everything you need to know from the latest quarterly earnings call.

The app store is notoriously known for having tons of endless runner games. While some developers are sticking to the running genre, others have taken to jumping. The new app Jumping Jaxx is an endless jumper where players must swipe platforms on the screen to keep the character from falling into a giant wave. Dodge piranhas, catch powerful boosts and collect as many flowers as possible to reach a new high-score and purchase upgrades. How high do you think you can help Jumping Jaxx reach?

Take a look at the video to see what you think.

Tim Cook will put his iPhone on speaker this afternoon to tell the world how much money Apple has made selling us insanely great gadgets, and we’ll be liveblogging the call.

During the quarterly earnings report, which starts at 2 p.m. Pacific, Cook and company will share details about Apple’s Q2 financial performance with investors and the rest of the faithful.

Some analysts predict a yawn-inducing “business as usual” earnings report, but you never know – Cook might have to sing some fancy arpeggios if the numbers don’t jibe with predictions made last year, when he crowed about exciting products in the Apple pipeline.

Whether Tim’s talk leads to boos or a standing ovation, Cult of Mac will brave the recital of all the mind-numbing money-speak to help you tune in to the true meaning behind it all. Keep this page open as we post all the interesting bits.

The iPod might be a dying business, but “dying” businesses for Apple are still businesses the competition would kill to have.

Apple’s iPod business, for example, is still worth $5 billion. Here’s an interesting metric to show how big the iPod still is in comparison to other companies, though. New mobile ad traffic data from Opera Mediaworks suggests that just a single iPod — the iPod touch — accounts for more web traffic than BlackBerry and Windows Phone combined.

Last month, we reported that always reliable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo was predicting that when Amazon finally gets into the smartphone business, it challenge the iPhone with a smartphone with as many as six different cameras. Kuo predicted that at least four of these cameras would be used for gesture control, allowing users to operate the smartphone without touching the touch panel.

We had a hard time wrapping our heads around it at the time, but now more data has come to light about how the system will work. And it sounds kind of dumb.

When Apple reveals its Q2 2014 sales numbers later today, few people are expecting any miracles: Mostly, Wall Street expects that growth will have stalled. All the more reason why Apple needs a major new product like the iWatch to give them some of their mojo back.

One business that everyone definitely expects to have declined this quarter, though, is the iPod. Apple CEO Tim Cook has himself said that the iPod is a “declining business” and sales have been dropping ever since 2008.

The bad news for iPod fans is that at least one analyst thinks the iPod business is in such serious decline for Apple that they won’t bother updating the line at all in 2014. But the good news? He thinks the iWatch will replace the iPod.

As rumors start to coalesce into likely fact that the iPhone 6 will come in two larger sizes — a 4.7-inch model and a 5.5-inch ‘iPhone Air’ — one big question that arises is what will happened to the iPhone 5c. Will Apple shelf their ‘budget’ iPhone, based upon poor sales? Or will they reinvent it when the iPhone 6s finally comes around?

Our favorite armchair iDevice designer Martin Hajek thinks the latter. He thinks that the iPhone c-series will live on, and in a stunning series of renders, he shows just how beautiful the iPhone 6c could be while still leaving room for the iPhone 6s to be the ‘luxury’ device with smaller bezels, TouchID and other perks.

More images after the jump. What do you think? Would you buy an iPhone 6c that looks like this?

Nifty free voice call and instant messaging service Viber has upgraded to iOS 7.0 with its latest update — incorporating the flat design we’ve come to expect across all iOS apps.

With more than 100 million monthly active users, and having been recently acquired by e-commerce giant Rakuten for $900 million, the upgrade was definitely in order, and it looks great.

That’s not all the update brings, however. It also adds new features to the app — including the ability to send multiple photos at once, as well as the option to create a list of blocked numbers/contacts.

Police in Milan busted an iPad thief who used the device to take photos of himself, apparently unaware that the images could be accessed remotely.

Another piece of the “when will Apple release the iWatch” puzzle may have fallen in to place, with the news that Apple is actively pursuing the iWatch trademark in dozens of countries around the globe.

Of course, it wouldn’t be Apple if it was that straightforward.

Rather than trademarking the term itself, Apple appears to be using a shell company called Brightflash USA LLC to do the work on its behalf.

The firm is registered in Delaware, and has previously been tied to trademarking efforts by Apple. One indicator of the connection between Apple and Brightflash is that it is using the same IP attorney in several locations.

I keep a movie to-watch list, a plain text list somewhere in my Dropbox. And as you may have guessed, I never read it. What I probably need is an app like Moviedo, a to-do list for movies that runs on your iPhone.

Apple’s latest iPhone 5s ad debuted during last night’s Agents of SHIELD on ABC, and it’s a bit of a mixed bag.

Built around the idea that “You’re more powerful than you think,” the ad shows the iPhone being used to as a tool by people in various lines of work. In this way, it’s very reminiscent of Apple’s recent “Your Verse” campaign for the iPad.

But while it’s good aspirational fare — with absolutely nothing offensive about it — it also comes across as, well, kind of boring really.

The iOS Kindle app just got an update, and it’s a good one. The left sidebar that you can summon while reading now has direct access to the table of contents, and you can access X-Ray info just by tapping on a word.

Remember the Elevation Dock? Yeah, me too. The Kickstarter took so long to ship that everybody who’d ordered one had upgraded to the iPhone 5 by the time the dock shipped, so they needed adapters to make them fit their new phones.

Still, that won’t happen with the new Elevation Stand, which is a simple $100 aluminum brick that adds a few inches to the height of your iMac.

DC Comics comic game, Injustice: Gods Among Us, will be getting a new mobile multiplayer mode and tons of new characters, according to reports coming out of WonderCon.

Developed by NetherRealm and published by Warner Brothers, the fighting game is one of a very select few that gets it right on touch-based devices — faithfully translating the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 console game to Apple’s mobile operating system.

Until now, however, playing the game on iOS has been a solitary experience. That looks like it will be rectified in a future game update, as a video from DC All Access reveals a multiplayer mode in the works.

Barely two months after I bought the original, Logitech has updated the Ultrathin Keyboard Cover for iPad, with matching new models for the iPads Air and Mini. The Bluetooth keyboards still work as covers and stands for your iPad, but now they also hold the iPad at an adjustable angle, and have a hidden hinge that pops out when your need it.

Lytro’s new Illum field Camera is the first of its products you’ll want to buy. The original Lytro Field Camera was a nice proof of concept, but the low resolution images were pretty crappy, and the unit itself was one of the least ergonomic camera designs I’ve ever seen.

The Illum still has some ergonomics issues, but promises much better pictures.

Apple has released security patches to fix the Heartbleed bug on AirPort base stations, and SSL-based security updates for Apple TVs and Macs.

You should probably go and update all of them as soon as possible.

Apple has aired a new ad for the iPhone 5s titled “Powerful.” It’s the first TV spot dedicated solely to the 5s since “Metal Mastered” last fall.

This new ad showcases the iPhone helping with creative tasks live music. The song is “Gigantic” by the Pixies, a hit song from the 90s.

Under the watchful eye of Tim Cook Apple’s gone from the most powerful tech company in the world to the most green. Yesterday’s new ad shone the spotlight on Apple’s environmental practices but the true celebrations of going green kicked off today for Earth Day.

Select Apple Stores around the world sprouted green leafed logos to go with new Earth Day shirts and lanyards for Specialists and Geniuses, but rather than driving all the way to your local store we’ve gathered shots of Apple Stores near and far celebrating Apple’s pledge to leave the world better than they found it.

Take a look:

If pangs of jealousy hit you every time developers start waxing poetic about new OS X goodies found in a new beta update, your time has finally come to join in on the fun.

Starting this afternoon Apple has opened up its OS X Mavericks beta testing program to let everyone – not just those slick coding developers – download the latest OS X beta seeds.