All the down time must get painfully boring after serving as the most powerful man in the world for eight years, which is how former George W. Bush somehow tumbled into painting.
Bush just picked up a brush two years ago, but the former president’s portraits have been all over the news the past few days and it’s all the iPad’s fault.
Each week we pull the best Apple-related gadgets from the Cult of Mac and collect them here for your perusing pleasure.
The Ruck Pack is a big box for your back, with zip-up pockets no the back and a clip-closure flap on the top. I like that the square design lets you fill the main bag without stressing the iPad you can keep in the bigger rear pocket, and I also like that this iPad pocket is protected by both its own zipper and the main flap, making it a little harder for pickpockets to lift your iPad out on a crowded subway, say.
Buy it $70
Each week we pull the best Apple-related gadgets from the Cult of Mac and collect them here for your perusing pleasure.
Sick of waiting for your iPhone to finish charging? By 2017, your iPhone could completely charge from 0% to 100% in just 5 minutes, in a portable, consumer-friendly package that will make long charging times a thing of the past.
Business owners who use the iPad for retail will likely want to check out the latest update of point-of-sale app ShopKeep POS, which has just been updated to version 2.0.
A significant update, ShopKeep Version 2.0 radically overhauls the look and feel of the app, with an attractive new interface inspired by iOS 7.
The app also features streamlined functionality — allowing vendors to ring up customers faster than ever with a Single Sign On feature that means that both managerial functions and ringing transactions can be done with one code.
Having launched its iPhone trade-in program back in August last year, Apple has now expanded the program to cover Apple Retail Stores throughout Germany.
The trade-in program lets customers trade in older iPhone models and receive gift cards of up to €230 ($315), which can then be used toward the purchase of a brand new iPhone.
Popular video-sharing website Vimeo has added another update to its official iOS app.
Up front, the single most prominent update relates to the in-app search feature — something that was initially absent when Vimeo made the jump to iOS 7, then restored but hidden, and now made constantly visible within the app. Since search is of vital importance on video sharing sites, this improvement means that Vimeo users can breathe a sigh of relief.
Looking for a more explosion-filled egg hunt this Easter?
If so, you may want to check out the latest version of popular third-person shooter Respawnables which adds a new Easter Egg Hunt mode, where players must gather as many Easter eggs as they can and collect prizes in doing so.
Growthy is an app that finally – finally! – replaces the biro-etched notches on your kitchen door frame with a series of in-app purchases, codifying your precious memories as stars on your iPhone screen. Welcome to the future.
Are we finally getting closer to the existence of the Apple TV set Steve Jobs told Walter Isaacson he had “finally cracked?”
According to a new rumor/report from the South Korea-based Korea Herald, an “unnamed” South Korean display manufacture is currently making 65-inch organic light emitting diode (OLED) panel samples for Apple’s proposed “iTV,” which the company expects to “be mass-produced next year.”
Of all the ambient noise apps I’ve tried, myNoise is the best. Based on the well-regarded website of the same name, myNoise for iPhone is a “noise generator,” not just an app that plays recordings of rain and coffee shops.
And it also looks as good as it sounds.
Ever wanted to take photos of people without them knowing? Perhaps a sneaky shot of a pretty girl to help you “remember” her later, or some equally creepy bit of deceit? Well then, we have good news for you, you pervert: it’s the COVR Photo, an iPhone case which lets you shoot in secret.
Evernote’s web clipper extension for OS X Safari is a thing of beauty. The Evernote bookmarklet clipper (on iOS and OS X) is a slow piece of crap.
Phillip Gruneich’s bookmarklet, however, is a thing of beauty, a concerto features some of your favorite players: Drafts, Markdown, Readability, and some plain old clever thinking.
This cute little case is the Cargito, a lovely leather-lined pouch with space for the iPad mini (or Air), plus a battery to charge it as it lays inside.
The new Sony A7S is a mirrorless full-frame camera which shoots 4K video and has a top ISO of 102,400, expandable to 409,600.
Remember back in 2006 when Palm CEO Ed Colligan said this, about Apple and the iPhone:
PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They’re not going to just walk in.
If you switched Apple for Sony (those gadget guys) or Fujifilm ("film guys), and Palm for Nikon and Canon, then the same thing is happening today.
You want iPhone rumors? Well CultCast’s got’em, brotherrrr! This time: the rumored 5.5-inch iPhone 6 gets delayed and patents indicate a future of interchangeable iLenses. Plus, what FireTV has that Apple TV needs; iWork online gets an update; Office finally comes to iPad; and Facebook bought Oculus, but why?
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 audio adventure begin!
Our thanks to New Relic for supporting this episode, the all-in-one web application performance management tool that lets you see performance from the end user experience, through servers, and down to the line of application code. New Relic helps the people who build modern software understand the stories their data is trying to tell them. Start your 30-day free trial at NewRelic.com/cultcast.
Click on for the show notes.
Let’s be honest, searching in the iTunes Store sucks, especially on the desktop. It’s often slow, and the results are difficult to navigate. Apple has tried to simplify things by displaying one result at a time in the App Store on iOS, but that approach also means that it can take longer to find the specific app you want in a sea of knockoffs.
A new web tool called “fnd” makes it easier to quickly search and navigate not just the App Store, but the iTunes Store in general.
Princess Ida needs to find herself, and she’s doing so with a quest across an unpredictable and shifting landscape that takes inspiration from perspective-bending Escher art and hit indie game Fez.
You’ll need to tap on the screen to get Ida moving to her end goal, swiping and rotating dozens of different mechanical gadgets to make sure she can continue on her way. The puzzles aren’t super difficult, but they do require a bit of thought, and plenty of them are downright ingenious. You’ll feel pretty darn intelligent when you finally get that “aha!” moment.
Check out our play-through video below to get a sense of how lush and calming Monument Valley really is.
Talk of the popular app Flappy Bird has still seemed to be far from fading out. As developers everywhere continue to fuel the craze with remakes and clones, players everywhere have seemed to grow bored of many new app store releases. Although in spite of common trends, some developers have managed to channel the joys of Flappy Bird into their own creations. The new app Lightspeed Hero is one of the latest releases to do this. Avoid asteroids for as long as you can and see how far you can make it without crashing your spaceship. Just how long do you think you can last before game-over?
Take a look at the video and find out what you think.
This is a Cult of Mac video review of the multi-platform application Lightspeed Hero – Squideo Games, brought to you by Joshua Smith of TechBytes W/ Jsmith.
Apple finally announced the dates for WWDC 14 and while there won’t be a mad two minute dash to sellout this year, it might be even harder to get in thanks to Apple’s new lottery system.
Only 5,000 developers will be selected to purchase tickets to the Apple event of the year that will packed with everything from new product announcements, hands-on labs, concerts, and code melting out of your eyeballs.
Here are five reasons why WWDC 2014 shouldn’t be missed:
When you walk into an Apple Store — the minimalist design, the Macbook screens tilted just so, the approachable, encyclopedic sales staff — you might be forgiven for being a little bit speechless.
It’s not unlike walking into a Porsche or Mercedes dealership — you don’t expect to find bargain bins full of junk. The presentation is, in fact, as important as the product, and once inside, you’re going to hand over your money to get both.
Even though Apple stores have become tourist attractions in their own right where folks come from countries like Sweden and Brazil to purchase these great products at prices lower than at home, savvy customers might someday shun those stunning glass facades and signature spiral staircases for cheaper prices found elsewhere.
A new report by DealNews shows that Apple products are getting deeper discounts sooner in a product lifecycle than ever before, begging the question: is the Apple Store the best place to buy your gear?
Facebook has updated its Facebook Pages Manager app, adding several notable improvements.
Pages Manager — for those unfamiliar with it — helps admins connect with their audience and keep up with activity on multiple Pages, all in one place. Users can monitor Page activity using Insights, reply to private messages, and post media.
In addition to the usual bug fixes and performance improvements, the app’s latest update adds new pinning and editing features.
Siri can be hit in and miss in terms of quality, but a recent acquisition by Apple may result in the service being greatly improved.
Taking place last year — although only announced now — Apple acquired UK-based automatic speech recognition company Nouvaris Technologies to work on its virtual assistant tool.
When headphones look this good, who cares how they sound? Well, me, for one. After all, unless you carry a mirror everywhere you go, you never see your headphones while you’re using them. Still, Phiaton’s Bridge MS 500 headphones just got a Red Dot award, so there might be something to them other than good looks.
Sound Freaq’s Sound Rise is an old-fashioned concept wedded to new-fangled function. It’s a clock radio (remember those?) that plugs into your iPhone and charges it while sucking the sound out of your music library or favorite streaming apps.