This is just about the easiest DIY gadget project since the I put an iPad into a Ziploc bag and called it a kitchen-proof case.
It’s called the DIY Camera Wrap Bag, and it is one of the coolest ways to protect your camera whilst making very little effort to do so.
You know what’s better than an app-controlled, color-changing lightbulb? An app-controlled, color-changing lightbulb with a built-in speaker. And that’s just what you get if you pitch in for the AirBulb’s Kickstarter campaign.
Popcorn Time, the desktop app that acts as a Netflix for pirated content, has been resurrected by torrent site YTS.
Speaking with website TorrentFreak, YTS developer Jduncanato claimed that the (still legally dubious) service is in a better position from a copyright position because it’s built on their API:
If you ever tried to look at one of Reddit’s excellent AMAs (Ask Me Anything) on the iPad, or even the desktop, you will have experienced the a sense of futility, the feeling that there are many gems buried in the threads that you’ll never read because it’s too damn ugly and messy.
Interviewly takes these threads – where various celebs and interesting people answer questions from Reddit users – and cleans them up into something that looks more like a feature fro a Sunday magazine that a forum
thread.
Most of the apps on my iPhone that I would want password protected already are, but what happens when I want an added layer of security? That’s where Asphaleia comes in, a new jailbreak tweak from the same designer behind the Auxo multitasking switcher for iOS 6.
Not only does Asphaleia let you use Touch ID on the iPhone 5s to secure any app, but it adds other important security options to iOS with a level of polish that is unprecedented for a jailbreak tweak of its kind.
While Asphaleia is probably a little overboard in terms of catering to the security paranoia some of us deal with, it’s a good example of improvements Apple could make to Touch ID in the future.
The UK’s Sunday Times has a long interview with Apple’s head designer Jony Ive in its Sunday Magazine (warning: paywall).
It claims to be the first in-depth interview Ive has given in twenty years at Apple, but breaks absolutely no ground whatsoever. Irritatingly, I can see the fingerprints of my Jony Ive biography all over the piece, but there’s no mention of the book.
The strangest thing is that Ive recycles the same quotes he’s used in the past. Believe me, I’ve read them all. He says that Steve Jobs’ ideas sometimes sucked the air from the room (previously uttered in his tribute to Jobs) and that he wanted to be a car designer, but other students made weird “vroom vroom” noises while they worked (from an Observer interview). There’s absolutely nothing new in the entire piece including the obligatory hint of an amazing new product, which of course, he can’t talk about.
The best part is 10 random-ish questions lobbed at him, which are:
The new iOS 7.1, which Apple launched this week, contained massively improved iBeacon functionality.
Among these improvements is that Apple has cancelled an element of user permission. Once you’ve installed a store’s app — say, for example, Apple’s own Apple store app — that store can put messages on your lock screen even if the app isn’t running!
I think it’s a real improvement. But I’m surprised privacy fans aren’t freaking out.
This time ’round on The CultCast: all that we love about iOS 7.1; more rumors swirl of a 4.7 and 5.7-inch iPhone 6; an intriguing new iPod challenger gets a ton of buzz; why Flappy Bird might fly back into the App Store; 2014 brings a new MS Office; and iTunes Radio is more popular than you thought…
Guffaw 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 uproarious good time commence.
And thanks to Lynda.com for sponsoring this episode. Learn at your own pace from expert-taught video tutorials at Lynda.com.
Last week we told you about Popcorn Time, a new desktop app that was essentially like Netflix for streaming movies over BitTorrent. We were one of the first sites to pick up the app, and since then it has been featured on all kinds of mainstream outlets, including Time Magazine and The Washington Post.
Popcorn Time’s short run has come to an end. Today the app’s developers announced that the service is shutting down.
Microsoft has full versions of Office for iPhone and iPad ready for release, and now all it has to do is allegedly pull the trigger. It’s up to newly-appointed CEO Satya Nadell to make the call, according to Reuters.
Office for iOS has been rumored for years, but recent reports point towards the company finally releasing the software this year. The questions now are why has Microsoft waited so long, and has the ship already sailed?
This week Cult of Mac Magazine looks at vice in the iTunes store.
Reporter Luke Dormehl talks to the devs who are making a living — if not a fortune — skirting the Apple censors, in a store that’s intended to be squeaky clean and suitable for minors.
He also looks into why, despite the Cupertino company’s rigid guidelines and “boob ban” of years past, there are plenty of questionable apps available to all. Sex, drugs and drinking games are the available in app form by the dozens, some of them rated suitable for ages 4+. This cat-and-mouse game to keep the store family-friendly yet appeal to developers with a gold-rush mentality has also given rise to a cottage industry of consultants who help app makers get into the store with more adult content than Apple intends to allow.
If you’ve got some of that content on your device and want to hide it, we take a look into Apple’s methods to put that stuff under a virtual mattress and apps that let you “vault” material you don’t want prying eyes to see. We also look into some of the outrageous apps Apple has banned over the years after they slipped into the store as well as the risqué ones that are still available today.
As always, send your comments, feedback or any troubles you may have with the app to me via email or using the “send” button top right from our site.
Immensely popular cross-platform messaging service WhatsApp is gearing up to take on Skype with voice-over-IP (VoIP) calling — and these are the screenshots that prove it. The feature will have a similar interface as the built-in Phone app, and it boasts features like speaker phone and muting.
Mobile publishing and monetization platform Onswipe have created an infographic comparing iOS 7 adoption with that of the recently launched iOS 7.1.
Both iOS versions are tracked for the first 4.5 days of their respective releases. As the chart makes clear, while iOS 7 represented 45.90% of iOS traffic after that time, the incremental improvement iOS 7.1 showed a respectable 28.27% adoption rate for active devices.
Quick Save For Snap Chat
Apple has approved a number of apps that allow users to save, forward, email and otherwise capture that fleeting moment from Snapchat. This one, Quick Save, is approved for users over age 4, and the preview gives an idea of the kind of person whose photo you might hope to save for posterity.
This one is approved for ages 17+ — but look and feel is so ludicrous it could only appeal to people who have not yet hit the age of consent. Who is up for a fast food drive thru quickie?
iQuarters
Of the gaggle of digital “quarters” drinking games, this one promises to make “corner pubs and frat houses rejoice,” and got the green light from Apple for ages 4+.
Leafly
Think of Yelp, but for pot. This 17+ app provides the low-downon 500+ strains, sorted alphabetically and categorized by indica, sativa, and hybrid and the dispensaries near you.
Apple banned Bang with Friends, but undeterred the company returned with an app called Down that includes the same anonymous pairing feature as before in a slightly more discreet package. You will find out just which of your Facebook pals are up for something more – though beware, in our tests it also suggested family members of the opposite sex.
Adult Frames
Here’s another one that has “adult” in the title but is more likely to appeal to a much younger set – going by the cursive script and exclamation points.
Evil Apples: A Filthy Adult Card and Party Game
A riff on Cards Against Humanity, this one promises filthy fun for ages 17+. One reviewer says it’s keeping them away from “homework” and another says it’s “great fun for the obscene mind” and that you can be “so dirty with complete strangers.”
With the success of The Simpsons: Tapped Out, it’s no surprise that Family Guy would also want to get in on the mobile action.
First announced back in December, Fox and TinyCo have now released the first screenshots of the upcoming free-to-play title, which looks set to land in the App Store around April.
The game will follow an original storyline from the show’s writing staff, but will also include plenty of fan service — referencing the series’ 212 episodes — to appeal to longtime viewers.
While new movies and TV shows appear every day on iTunes, it’s rare that a movie debuts on iTunes and in movie theaters on the exact same day.
Veronica Mars does just that.
The revival of the cult classic TV show — which was cancelled after just two-and-a-half seasons — was funded via Kickstarter and is now available for viewing both in movie theaters, and (thanks to iTunes) the comfort of your own home.
Apple stuck to its guns when it came to expanding into China: refusing to compromise its brand equity by selling lower cost iPhones to compete with low-end smartphone manufacturers.
That decision seems to be paying off, since a new study in China by app and mobile advertising analytics firm Umeng shwes that Apple’s targeting of affluent users has already seen it capture more than 80% of the Chinese smartphone market, who spend upwards of $500 on their phones.
Apple is well known for its often inconsistent approach to app acceptance or rejection (more on than in this week’s upcoming Newsstand magazine), but this is a bit silly.
According to Apple, Hunted Cow developer Andrew Mullholland had his app Tank Battle: East Front 1942 rejected for App Store inclusion because it has German and Russian positioned as enemies in it.
When Apple acquired Burstly last month, the company behind popular iOS app beta platform Testflight, a lot of people questioned how it would discontinue support for Android and the wider TestFlight SDK to new users.
According to a document acquired by TechCrunch, this won’t be the only aspect of Burstly’s business looking to wind down.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has approved AT&T’s $1.3 billion purchase of Leap Wireless, as per a recent report.
As part of the deal — which works out at $15 per share — AT&T has confirmed that the Leap-owned, pre-paid carrier Cricket will offer iPhone 5 family devices.
After some confusing starts, a software update makes the neat Transporter into a true alternative to cloud services like Dropbox or Google Drive. Previously, the Transporter was a hard drive which could stay in sync with another Transporter kept anywhere, letting you have a safe and up-to-date offsite back up at all times.
Now, finally, the software has adde in features that turn this connected storage into a proper cloud service. A cloud service that’s hosted by you, and not by the NSA.
I just upgraded my desk to a 1.65-meter monster, a €40 workbench from the hardware store that I cut down to a 64cm height, and which can support up to 200 kilos. If you’re still not with the metric system (and why would you be? After all, it was only introduced like 215 years ago), that means it’s big enough for two people to work at it or stand on it.
But it still gets messy. What I need is a pal to tidy it for me. A DeskPal maybe?
Remember Horizon, the video app that won’t let you shoot portrait video, keeping the horizon horizontal however you orient your camera? Well, Orient is just like that, only for stills, and it looks pretty neat – as long as you don’t mind a drop in resolution.
Activist investor Carl Icahn is at it again — and Apple might be lending moral support to his latest target.
Tim Cook was reportedly one of several tech leaders, along with Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, who was consulted by eBay CEO John Donahoe for advice on how best to deal with Icahn.
Donahoe has been locked in conflict with Icahn regarding Icahn’s suggestion that eBay should spin PayPal off as its own company.
Remember when Google launched Gmail with 1GB storage ten years ago? It was such a massive leap from the meager storage quotas of existing email services that everyone thought it was a joke. The April 1st launch date probably didn’t help either.
Now, with weeks still to go until April 1st, Google has done it again, this time offering 1TB of Google Drive storage for just $9.99 per month, or $1.99 for 100GB. The 15GB plan remains free.