News - page 1411

Cult of Mac Magazine wants to help you get it together in 2014: you are probably already using your iPhone, iPad and Mac to track the bejesus out of your habits, right? We’re calling it iFitness (*yeah, I know!) because Apple devices have kickstarted a new way of thinking about and monitoring everything we do.

But maybe in between logging your couch to 5K you’ve discovered that your iPhone isn’t always the best running partner — or that it still can’t kick you out that line for the cronuts.

Cult of Mac talked to a bunch of fitness experts, including personal trainers, on how to make sure your iPhone or iPad and those apps you love can help you reach goals you’ve set yourself for this new year and lessen the more painful fitness fails.

Reporter Sarah Stirland also examines the growing body of health-related apps and discovers what’s on the horizon for this burgeoning business and why doctors are keen on keeping track of patients this way.

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Since the iOS 7 jailbreak came out, one of the hottest new iOS hardware features that hackers have been looking to utilize is Touch ID in the iPhone 5s. For example, a tweak was just recently released that allows jailbreakers to use Touch ID to simulate pressing the home button.

The coolest use of Touch ID I’ve seen in a jailbreak tweak so far is AppLocker, which was updated to version 2.2 today in Cydia with 64-bit and iPhone 5s support. The premise is simple: AppLocker lets you lock individual iOS apps (stock or third-party) with a password. On the 5s, you can now use Touch ID to unlock.

Here’s a hands-on look:

Today Corning announced that it’s ready to manufacture a new 3D-shaped Gorilla glass for availability this year. The new glass is designed with curved phone and wearable displays in mind.

As the main glass supplier for iOS devices, Corning’s 3D Gorilla glass could very well end up in future Apple products.

Last month, we told you about a new startup called Typo Keyboard that’s backed and co-founded by TV/radio personality Ryan Seacrest. The story behind it was that Seacrest was so frustrated with the iPhone’s lack of a physical keyboard that he decided to personally invest $1 million in a solution.

We called the Typo keyboard accessory “BlackBerry-inspired” at the time, which was a mild way of saying that it looks like a complete ripoff of Blackberry’s layout. Blackberry isn’t happy, and the company has now sued Seacrest’s startup.

The Yahoo! Sports app just received an update, bringing the interface more in line with iOS 7. The company also added a new feature to the app–Loops–which will let you and thousands of other sports fans create short animated gif-like clips of your favorite moments in sports.

Nothing says “I’m a super sports fan” than a carefully crafted photographic meme, complete with wacky motion and large outlined text.

Apple’s new Mac Pro is quite the work of art. It might look like a trash can at first glance, but when you stop and think about everything Apple packed into its new high-end machine, you can’t help but admire its efforts. Measuring just 9.9 inches tall and 6.6 inches deep, it’ll squeeze into the smallest of spaces atop or beneath your desk.

But if for some reason you’ve decided you don’t like it stood in an upright position, you can lie it down. Apple designed the Mac Pro to work in both vertical and horizontal positions, and it says it’s fine to use the machine on its side — as long as you take some simple precautions first.

Best Buy has knocked $75 off all iPhone 5s models for a limited time, making the 16GB model just $124.99 when bought with a two-year contract extension on AT&T, Sprint, or Verizon. It’s one of the lowest prices we’ve seen for the device since it made its debut last September, but you’ll need to grab yours soon.

The Consumer Electronics Show used to be the premier trade show for the unveiling of major products from big tech companies. But it’s been years since Apple made an official appearance at the Las Vegas convention, and recently the show’s relevance has been questioned as titans like Google and Microsoft have packed up their booths.

Still, Apple’s presence will be strong at International CES 2014, most significantly in the iLounge Pavilion, a sprawling section of the massive show floor that houses hundreds of Apple accessory makers. It’s bigger than last year, even if the actual number of exhibitors has shrunk.

There are several apps in OS X that may want to use your location data, including apps like Maps, iPhoto, and more.

If you want to see which apps are currently requesting and using your data, simply click on the little compass icon in the menubar and your Mac will show you.

To have a bit more control over which apps can use or not use your location data, all you need to do is drop into System Preferences.

Acclaimed biographer Walter Isaacson is crowdsourcing editorial comments for his new book — which will focus on innovators of the digital age. The book will begin with 19th century computer pioneer Ada Lovelace, and continue to the present day.

So far Isaacson has released a draft section — entitled “The Culture That Gave Birth to the Personal Computer” — that “sets the scene” in Silicon Valley during the 1970s: the decade in which Steve Jobs and Wozniak first started Apple.

Accessory manufacturer iDevices has announced a couple of new grilling tech products to be showcased at CES 2014 next week.

Both the iGrill2 Bluetooth Smart Meat Thermometer and the iLP Bluetooth Smart Liquid Propane Monitor are app-connected products which aim to improve the user’s grilling efficiency.

DigiTimes is reporting that Apple is experiencing difficulties in its long-rumored iWatch development — meaning that the (as yet unannounced) consumer launch may slip back further during 2014.

The not-always-reliable news site cites sources from the upstream supply chain, who report that the iWatch production slowdown is the result of the device’s body design. Apple is “reportedly seeing less than 50% yield rates due to difficulties applying surface treatments on their metal injection molded (MIM) chassis.”

Want to know which “freemium” (free to download, but with in-app purchases) game may just rule the App Store in 2014? Say hello to Farm Heroes Saga.

From the creators of social games including Candy Crush Saga, Bubble Witch Saga, Pet Rescue Saga, Papa Pear Saga, and License To Print Money Saga (note: the last one may not exist), Farm Heroes Saga is essentially an agriculture-themed variation of Candy Crush Saga — in which players must switch and match three “cropsies” in order to stop Rancid the Raccoon from spoiling the farm lands.

Would you pay $7,800 for a suitcase full of carbon fiber and aluminum tubes? No, me neither, but clearly somebody will, or Shadowcam wouldn’t be hawking its crazily-priced S–5 camera stabilizer, a three-axis gimbal rig that would keep your shots steady even if you stood on a vibrating table with a bowl of jello on your head.

Apple’s shares closed at 1.4 percent lower for Tuesday’s trading — ending the day at $553.13.

The reason in a nutshell: that Wells Fargo changed its rating for Apple from “outperform” to “market perform”. While this downgrade wasn’t accompanied by a change in valuation (which remains in the $536 to $581 range) the rating essentially shifts recommendation away from “buy” to “neutral” (which actually means “sell”).

The Mummy Case is one of our all-time favorite iPhone cases, and now it has a sequel. No, it’s not the execrable The Mummy Returns. It’s the Straightjacket, and it looks pretty rad.

MaxStone is yet another way to trigger your camera from your iPhone, with all the usual timer and detection options to fire the camera’s shutter from afar. But this one takes a different approach to the hardware. Instead of running a cable from the iPhone to the camera, the MaxStone uses a combination of Bluetooth and IR.

What could possibly go wrong?

This Week, the app which we said “beats iOS Reminders app at its own game,” is now a universal app with newly-added iPad support. And it’s still way better than Reminders for adding dated tasks.

Having previously been labeled the “least green” tech company by Greenpeace due to its reliance on coal at data centers, Apple is keen to live up to its “force for good” mantra by demonstrating the environmental credentials of its products.

And when you’re speaking about the Mac Pro, those credentials are pretty damn impressive.

Every week Apple picks an app to showcase in the App Store as app of the week, and to kick off the new year Readdle’s Scanner Pro has been selected. The app is designed to turn your iPhone or iPad into a portable scanner that can store all kinds of documents, whether it to be a receipt for dinner or a work visa.

There’s a lot more to this app than meets the eye, so get it now if only to have it in case you ever need it one day. It supports iCloud sync, and you can share documents via Dropbox, Evernote, Google Drive, email, or print. Scanned documents are automatically fixed up to look they best they can when added to the app, and everything that’s scanned is turned into a PDF.

Scanner Pro normally costs $7, but as part of Apple’s week-long promotion, it’s available now in the App Store for free. The deal ends the 9th. Such a steal.

Source: App Store

The Consumer Electronics Show kicks off in Las Vegas next week, and today it was announced that Apple’s iBeacon technology will be used to organize a scavenger hunt on the show floor for attendees.

Rather than slogging through a lake of reviews to find something you’re just going to put down after 30 minutes, Cult of Mac has once again waded through the iTunes store to compile a list of the best new movies, albums and books to come out this week.

Enjoy!

Every time I walk into a bookstore, I want to buy a book. Or three. Sadly, my budget doesn’t cover that all the time, because I go into bookstores quite a bit. To scratch that itch, I’ve turned to taking a photo of the book covers with my iPhone; that way, I get the satisfaction of doing something about my book lust without having to pull out the wallet each time.

Shoots & Leaves is a new iOS app that aims to solve the same problem, but for all those things you need to be reminded of, not just books you want to buy (though you can use it for that, too, I suppose).

Referred to as “Swipey”, a new jailbreak tweak allows iOS 7 users to access six different apps via a left swipe from their iDevice lock screen — giving you all the features associated with a lock screen launcher, minus the clutter.

According to reports, Apple’s speculated-upon iPad Pro will come not only with a larger screen and greatly improved resolution, but also with eye-tracking technology.