Apple has been in talks with record labels about releasing more albums exclusively through the iTunes Store, similarly to how Beyonce released her self-titled album in December.
According to Billboard, Apple’s VP of the iTunes Store, Robert Kondrk, had “tense” talks with label executives in January during Grammy Week in Los Angeles. Kondrk used the success of the BEYONCÉ album as evidence when arguing for the new iTunes Store model.
This time on The CultCast: hipsters have beards installed; the mysterious life of Timothy Cook; exciting rumors around the new Jobs movie; Mavericks 10.9.2’s features and fixes; why you should install iOS 7.0.6 like, right now; Netflix pays off Comcast; and we’re too sexy for this podcast.
Laugh 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.
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Apple will launch “iOS in the Car” with Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, and Volvo as partners at the Geneva Motor Show next week, according to the Financial Times.
While Apple has said that it has more than a dozen automobile manufacturers on board, the company is reportedly choosing to launch with the three aforementioned brands only. Apple executive Eddy Cue is a member of Ferrari’s board of directors.
Originally unveiled alongside iOS 7 at WWDC last summer, iOS in the Car is Apple’s interface for dash displays in vehicles. The extension of iOS lets the user navigate using Maps, make phone calls, control music, and use Siri without needing to touch an iPhone in the car.
Apple has said that iOS in the Car is a “key focus” for the company in 2014. A redesigned interface for iOS in the Car was discovered in iOS 7 last month. Automobile makers like Honda have been preparing their newer cars for the software with large touchscreens.
Source: Financial Times
Steve Jobs famously argued that if five million people used the Mac, cutting its boot time down by 10 seconds would save the equivalent of at least 100 lifetimes per year.
Taken on an individual basis, it’s difficult to know how many minutes of your life will be saved by using the KoolPuck Wireless Charger — but it’s almost certainly less than an hour over the lifespan of your typical iPhone.
That doesn’t really matter, though. In an age of convenience, the idea that you can charge your iPhone by simply placing it down on a massively wireless charger is a tempting one. Straightforward, attractive, and tiny, FoneSalesman’s iQi solution seems to tick all the boxes.
So how does it measure up?
If you buy an Apple TV by March 5th, you will receive a $25 iTunes gift card from Apple. The promotion began today and only works at Apple retail stores or through the company’s online store.
Apple rarely does deals like this, and the timing is interesting. A new Apple TV is rumored to come out as soon as March, and this time of year is when Apple has updated its set-top box in the past. But that doesn’t mean you should expect a new one in the near future.
App developers everywhere are posting their own clones of the hit app “Flappy Bird” to the App Store. While few have been able to publish their apps with many significant differences, the app developers behind the new app Flappy Fall have incorporated their own twist on the gameplay. Will you too become addicted to Flappy Fall?
Take a look at Flappy Fall and find out what you think.
This is a Cult Of Mac video review of the multi-platform application Flappy Fall brought to you by Joshua Smith of “TechBytes W/Jsmith.”
Apple just set a record for the most iPhones sold in a quarter, but while the new iPhone 5ses and Cs are flying off shelves, a new scam is booming in China where broken old iPhones are cannibalized for parts to build complete units sold with a full retail price tag.
The Apple TV made a staggering $1 billion in sales in 2013. Tim Cook shared the news during Apple’s annual meeting with shareholders today in Cupertino, California.
“It’s a little more difficult to call it a hobby these days,” said Cook during the meeting. For years, Apple has referred to the Apple TV as a hobby, but the company’s tone towards the $99 product is starting to change.
Predicting the future of Apple is probably the no. 1 party game in Silicon Valley. The venerable Churchill Club, which has been gathering luminaries to discuss tech in Menlo Park since 1985, has assembled a panel of experts who have some real insight in to the days ahead for the Cupertino company.
This Tuesday, March 4, they’re hosting what will surely be lively and provocative conversation with four Apple authors titled: “Are Apple’s Best Days Ahead?” .
Apple has won the dismissal of a 1.57 billion-euro ($2.2 billion) German lawsuit, relating to an IPCom patent it was supposedly infringing upon.
While no oral explanation has been given for the verdict, the court in Mannheim, Germany decided that Apple didn’t infringe on the property of IPCom, and also dismissed a similar case against mobile manufacturer HTC.
Think Apple’s “Misunderstood” Christmas ad would have been improved with the addition of a random piano drop, ghost bride, or chainsaw-wielding madman?
If so, you can re-create the commercial your way using Picadelic’s FxGuru: Movie FX Director app. Previously an Android exclusive, the app lets you incorporate a variety of Hollywood-style horror, sci-fi and action movie effects to any iPhone video — with virtual guidelines showing you how to incorporate effects seamlessly, while 24 different “Cinematic” filters allow you enhance the atmosphere of any scene.
Skateboarding legend Tony Hawk has revealed that he’s working on a new skateboarding game for mobile devices.
Hawk made references to the game in two recent interviews: one with Larry King and the other with Bloomberg.
MOGA’s Ace Power, the world’s first iOS 7 compatible game controller, was only released in November, but the company is already teasing its follow-up.
The first released image clearly shows a Bluetooth button, suggesting that the new gamepad may be a wireless device — unlike its MOGA Ace Power predecessor which requires a Lightning connection.
This also might mean that it will work on all iOS 7 devices including the iPad, in contrast to the Ace Power which only supported the iPhone 5 and later, as well as fifth-generation iPods.
This image showing aspiring Silicon Valley legends sure looks… familiar.
Don’t worry, though: this isn’t the cover of a strikingly original new Samsung biography, but rather a teaser poster for Mike Judge’s upcoming HBO comedy series, Silicon Valley.
Borrowing its iconic pose from the 2006 Albert Watson portrait of Steve Jobs commissioned by Fortune magazine and used for the cover of Walter Isaacson’s 2011 biography, the poster references Jobs as the ultimate example of the startup-founder-made-good.
Apple has updated its Developer website to advise designers on how best to create iOS 7 optimized apps.
iOS 7 brought radical changes to Apple’s mobile OS when it was released in September 2013. In December, Apple announced that all new apps submitted to the App Store must be optimized for iOS 7 by February 1 — and this new tutorial helps explain just how this should be done.
Although some of the content has previously been available to access at Apple’s Developer website, a number of new documents address iOS 7 specifically. Some require users to be registered iOS developers, while others are available for public access.
Ever since Digg purchased Instapaper from Marco Arment, the news aggregator super site has been adding new features to the somewhat neglected service to better compete with the likes of would-be challengers like Paper.
Continuing that trend, Instapaper for iOS was updated to version 5.1.5 today, bringing some new features, including support for Instapaper’s trending stories, a new send to Amazon Kindle function for subscribers, better AirPlay support, gestures and more.
This week, Oasis Management founder Seth Fischer sent a letter to Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, once again demanding that the House That Mario Built release games for the iPhone, iPad and other mobiel platforms.
Want to watch the Oscars this Sunday, hosted by Ellen DeGeneres, no need to dust off the television: you can watch it right from your iPhone or iPad via the Watch ABC app. Unfortunately, though, there’s a catch, and a big one.
Many states have laws against using smartphones while driving, for talking and texting… but does that count for Apple Maps? A California appeals court has ruled no.
Amazon is reported to be in discussions with music labels to launch a streaming music service for its Amazon Prime subscription members. Will it be more like Spotify, or iTunes Radio, though?
Google has released a major update to its Hangouts iOS app. Most notably, the new version includes a design makeover that’s more akin to iOS 7. Short video messages can be sent to contacts, and location data can also be shared.
Here’s the full changelog:
The vibe will certainly not be killed at SXSW this year, as Apple has added rapper Kendrick Lamar to its lineup of artists performing at the iTunes Festival. Lamar performed at the iTunes Festival last year as well.
ScHoolboy Q, Isaiah Rashad, Band of Skulls, and Capital Cities have also been added as supporting acts. Soundgarden was added to the lineup yesterday.
The men and women who ensure the safety of Apple employees will stand against the Cupertino company to demand better pay. With some of them forced to rely on public assistance and for housing and food due to the low quality jobs provided by companies like Security Industry Specialists (SIS), they want Apple to secure a better contract for them.
As another in a long line of rallies and protests, it may be difficult to get the attention of the Cupertino-based company’s shareholders, but the security officers and their community supporters hope to make enough noise to point out that while they work for the most profitable tech company in the world, the security officers are usually hired on part-time as on-call employees.
Apple has been named Fortune’s most admired company for the seventh year in a row. Amazon ranked second and Google came in at third. Samsung and Microsoft didn’t make the top ten.
While the iOS 7 software update has brought along a total design revamp, with it has also come irritating wallpaper settings. Not being able to scale your photo to the sizes you’d like and more have been just some of the newly associated issues. The new application Wallpaper Fix claims to be the perfect fix for all of your wallpaper problems. Is Wallpaper Fix the app that will help you get your wallpapers the way you want?
Take a look at Wallpaper Fix and find out what you think.
This is a Cult Of Mac video review of the iOS application Wallpaper Fix brought to you by Joshua Smith of “TechBytes W/Jsmith.”