Sony’s Digital Paper is so odd that if it were released tomorrow on April 1st, I’d wonder whether or not it was just a cruel prank. But apart from the absurd price, digital paper is a pretty great-looking product.
Over at the Hotel Club, they’ve posted a fantastic interactive infographic showing the differences between traveling at the dawn of tourism — 1863 — and today, 150 years later.
But this particular section, showing how the gadgets and guides that people relied upon in the Victorian era when traveling overseas have been totally made obsolete by the iPhone, really stood out to me. We’ve previously seen how the iPhone made everything Radio Shack sold 20 years ago obsolete, but as this infographic shows, the iPhone has made centuries — not just decades — worth of gadgets obsolete. It’s one of the most important inventions ever.
Source: Hotel Club
Do you like Facebook’s Chat Heads as a notification system for Facebook messages? On Android, Chat Heads can run universally in any app, but on iOS, they only show up in Facebook, Paper or Facebook Messages. It’s in-app only. But if you have a jailbroken device, a new tweak will allow you to break Chat Heads out into the rest of the iOS operating system.
It was just a few hours ago that we told you that Apple had patented new transparent texting system which would help users who walk while typing be more aware of their surroundings.
If you thought the patent sounded like a great idea for a jailbreak tweak, you weren’t alone. CamText is a new tweak for jailbroken devices that replaces the default Messages.app background with a live stream from your camera’s video feed.
So if you have a jailbroken iPhone, why wait until iOS 8 to get Transparent Texting today? It’s fully compatible with both Messages and BiteSMS, although not the iPad. You can buy it through Cydia today for just $1.50.
Via: iClarified
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHbiPjxFqIQ
Last week, we posted a video by iOS hacker extraordinaire winocm, showing that he had managed to hack an iPad 2 so that it could boot between iOS 5, iOS 6 and iOS 7 at will. At the time, we said “elite skills necessary to hack your iPad to dual boot operating systems is beyond the ability of most of us mortals, and it’s unlikely winocm will ever make this process friendly for the everyman.”
Well, we’ve got egg all over our face on this one, because that’s exactly what winocm intends on doing. The legendary hacker has said on Twitter that he’ll be releasing the hack to the public. Unfortunately, there aren’t many details outside of that, including what devices this hack will work on, but if you want to have a schizo-iPad that can dual boot between Scott Forstall’s skeuomorphic iOS 6 and Jony Ive’s flat iOS 7, it’s coming!
Via: Redmond Pie
Getting a new Mac delivered to your door is always an exciting experience… but imagine opening the door and seeing, not your postman, but Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak at your door? You’d lose your mind, just like the girl in this video, Emma, does when she realizes that er idol is at the door. As Emma’s father notes, it’s like having your lightbulbs delivered by Thomas Edison!
Source: Sploid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MyTEfBRCjg
Before iOS 7 came along and Apple borrowed its approach to multitasking wholesale, Auxo was one of the best reasons to jailbreak your iPhone or iPad. Since iOS 7 took many of its tricks, though, we’ve been waiting to see what, if anything, an updated version would look like.
We’ve just gotten our hands on the first trailer of Auxo 2, and while it’s just 30 seconds long, it’s enough of a look to get us excited. Featuring iOS 7’s advanced animations, a beautiful new split-paned Control Center view, the ability to close all running apps at once, and much, much more, Auxo 2 is shaping up to be just as revolutionary to jailbroken iOS devices as Auxo was to iOS 6 devices.
It looks as if Auxo 2 will be released on Cydia on Wednesaday, April 2nd. There’s no word on pricing yet, although the original tweak cost $1.99. We’ll let you know when it’s out!
It’s no secret that Steve Jobs was inspired by the incredible work Xerox was doing over at PARC Labs when he came up with the Mac: he borrowed the computer mouse, the desktop, and even the Macintosh business plan from the famous tech think tank.
Now, it looks like we also owe the ubiquitous hamburger icon — widely used in iOS as a menu shortcut, as well as a way to order draggable lists — to Xerox PARC as well. It turns out that the first example of the hamburger icon shows up in a 1981 video for the Xerox Star workstation.
Here’s an interesting financial. Robert Paul Leitao, founder of the AAPL Independent Analysts, shows how Apple’s revenue has grown over 1,127% since 2006, and earnings per share has grown an incredible 2,457%.
Fiscal 2011 and fiscal 2012 have been particularly kind to Apple: 66% in 2011, and 54% in fiscal 2012, largely thanks to new deals such as the Verizon Wireless iPhone deal, and the announcement of a new product line in the iPad. In 2013, though, Apple grew only 9.2%, and so far, Apple’s guidance for the latest quarter suggests nearly no growth at all.
Leitao’s conclusion? Apple’s growth is dependent on the successful release of new and currently unannounced new products. “Apple is an episodic enterprise,” he writes. The best reason to believe that Apple has an iWatch coming this year is that, without one, Apple will stop growing.
Source: Posts At Eventide Via: CNN
Considering their nearly ubiquitous status in retail cuture, it’s easy to forget that the Apple Store is a relatively new creation. Although Apple brought in over $7 billion in revenue last quarter across 400 physical locations, the first one was opened in just 2001… but ever since then, the Apple Store has spread like wildfire across the planet.
Here’s a great reminder of how far Apple has come, courtesy of Business Insider. Watch this animated map showing Apple Stores’ openings internationally. Check out how far the greatest retail success story since Wal-Mart has come!
Source: Business Insider
Sick of colliding with lampposts and the elderly whilst walking and texting? A new Apple patent for ‘Transparent Texting’ might be right up your alley, using your iPhone’s video camera to pipe through a live feed of what’s happening in the real world behind your Messages window.
We’ve descended upon San Francisco for Macworld 2014! Join us for our show expectations, plus plenty of news, rumors, and discussion on: why 2014 might be the year for Retina Macbook Airs; Apple’s plans for a streaming TV service with Comcast; Office coming to iPad; the problem with emojis; and why iTunes needs to be more like Spotify.
Snicker 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.
SAN FRANCISCO — Moscone North has been packed with exhibitors for the last three days as they peddle their latest wares to the Apple faithful. We combed through all the booths, and while there were a ton of underwhelming products, Macworld 2014 did feature some really cool stuff and a couple surprises.
After some fierce debate among the Cult of Mac editors, we’ve settled on seven things that are truly deserving of a “Best of Macworld 2014″ title. So without further adieu, here they are:
SAN FRANCISCO — Cult of Mac is on the ground for Macworld/iWorld 2014 at the Moscone Center. We’ll be roaming the show floor and sitting in on workshops all day to bring you the coolest Apple-related stuff we can find.
You can follow us throughout Macworld on the liveblog below. No need to refresh the page; new posts will appear automatically!
SAN FRANCISCO — Right in the middle of the Macworld show floor, there’s a circle of 12 tables. They’re showing off a range of cool gadgets, like a combination battery/wall charger and a clever foldable iPhone stand.
The dozen products all started life as successful Kickstarter projects, and can be found for sale on BiteMyApple.co, an online store that sells Apple-related Kickstarter products.
The site is the brainchild of Chris Johnson. After founding the site three years ago, Johnson has grown it from $45,000 in annual revenues to more than $500,000. He runs the whole operation himself out of his small apartment in New York.
He’s even making a profit on the 12 tables here at Macworld.
FTL: Faster Than Light came out in September of 2012, and we’ve done nothing but rave about it since then.
The only thing missing from the FTL experience, though, was the ability to play the dang thing on an iPad. “How sweet would that be?” we thought.
Today’s our lucky day, then, as the developers behind the hot space-sim rogue-like have righted the wrongs in their universe by letting us all know that FTL would be available for the iPad (along with an Advanced Edition for the Mac and PC) this coming April 3.
SAN FRANCISCO — The New York Times is launching a new iPhone app on April 2nd in the App Store. Called NYT Now, the app will aggregate news from the Times as well as other publications. All stories will be handpicked by a 10-person team of Times editors and complied in daily reports.
If that sounds familiar, it’s because the Yahoo News Digest app is based around the same model. The difference with NYT Now is that it’s a paid service with the full backing of one of the most influential papers in the world.
It was a close call this week in our games department, as reviewer extraordinaire Evan Killham lobbied hard for his favorite, Words & Cards. Granted, it’s a great game, but I had to push back a bit. Plus, I’m the editor, so I win.
Star Wars Assault Team is kind of the perfect blend of role-playing game stickiness with digital collectible card game features, all put together with your favorite Star Wars characters to boot.
The writing is great, with plenty of nods to the iconic movie series, and we finally get to see something new: how you spell Chewbacca’s roars. Really, that’s worth the download right there.
Here’s our Game of the Week video below to show you a bit of the game play.
I’m always on the lookout for some nice accoutrements to make my working day a bit more delightful, and as an Apple fan, the better something looks and works, the more I want it.
Take these sweet Macbook lap desks and iMac risers–made of walnut and oak with a birch core–from Danish design firm Nordic Appeal: they’re light, super functional and as elegant looking as I’ve ever seen.
Ergonomically, it’s useful to bring your Mac screen to about eye level, and having these little risers and wedges will certainly help you do that, no matter what desk, coffee shop table or lap you ultimately do your work on.
The gym is good for helping you lose weight, gain muscle and so much more. In the app Nerdy Workout players must help a nerd try to bulk up and improve from his trainee ranking. By tapping and holding the left and right sides of the screen, players can continuously help the nerd lift reps of dumbbells. As monsters fly by you must be careful and time your lifts to keep your arms from being bitten off. How many reps do you think you can do before it’s game-over?
Take a look at the video and find out what you think.
This is a Cult of Mac video review of the iOS application Nerdy Workout – Joseph Rothenberg, brought to you by Joshua Smith of TechBytes W/ Jsmith.
It’s become a begrudgingly accepted part of the App Store that the moment a popular game appears, the clones roll in with miniscule differences.
While most of us laughed at some of the ridiculous variations that emerged for a popular game like Flappy Bird (Flappy Beard Hipster Quest anyone?), it’s not quite so funny if you’re the developer of the original game in question.
With that in mind, the creators of hit puzzle game Threes recently took to their blog to complain about the growing number of ripoffs that have emerged in the App Store as of late:
Fancy yourself an MC in the making?
AutoRap by Smule, a popular app which transforms regular speech into legit rap, has just been updated to version 2.0 with several significant improvements.
Apple TV may have scored sales of $1 billion in 2013, but that hasn’t stopped Roku CEO and founder Anthony Wood from branding the device a “a money loser” and questioning why Apple would want to keep selling it.
The comments were made at the inaugural Code/Media event on Thursday, hosted by technology site Re/code. They arrive at a time when Apple is reportedly preparing a new version of the Apple TV that will integrate with Comcast’s network to provide users with a streaming TV.
Ahead of its April 4 U.S. theatrical release, Gameloft’s movie tie-in Captain America: The Winter Soldier – The Official Game has arrived in the App Store.
An original adventure co-scripted by Marvel, the game lets you play as Captain America as you lead a S.H.I.E.L.D. Strike Team to take down enemies. The game promises intense combat with plenty of tactical elements, RPG features which let you learn new fighting techniques and upgrade weapons, and an asynchronous multiplayer mode.
Citing people close to the situation, a new report by the WSJ claims that Amazon is planning to introduce an advertising-supported streaming television and music-video service.
This free service would represent a break from Amazon’s policy of linking video to its $99-a-year Prime subscription service. According to the rumor, Amazon would feature both original series and licensed content — and has discussed the effort with the creators of “Betas,” a show about a Silicon Valley startup produced for Prime last year.