News - page 1616

Few apps have managed to generate as much hype as Mailbox, a new email client for the iPhone. The company behind Mailbox, Orchestra, first teased the app late last year. Mailbox made its triumphant debut in the App Store this past week. Our own John Brownlee gave it a glowing review and called it, “a flawless execution of a great idea that will completely change how you deal with email.” Sounds promising, no?

Most apps do private beta testing until they’re ready to be unleashed on the world. Orchestra, the app company behind Mailbox, has done things differently. You can download Mailbox in the App Store, but the vast majority of people can’t actually use it right now. There’s a reservation system in place that shows where you are in line and how many people are behind you.

There are currently over 800,000 subscribers to Mailbox, and the vast majority are still waiting to be let in. Frustrated you can’t use Mailbox right away? There’s a good reason you have to wait.

We’re huge fans of Orchestra’s email inbox management app, Mailbox, here at Cult of Mac. Less popular around here? The extraordinary queue that Orchestra forces you to sit in before they’ll let you into the app.

The reason Orchestra has set it up this way is to prevent demand from crushing their servers, but that doesn’t make it any less annoying (for more info on Orchestra’s rationale, see this article). When we download apps, we expect to be able to use them right away, not sit in a queue for an indeterminate amount of time.

We can’t help you get to the head of the Mailbox queue, but we can tell you roughly how long you’ll have to wait based on how fast Mailbox has let people into the app in the past. Here’s how.

I have a love-hate relationship with Spigen’s line-up of Glas.T screen protectors.

On the one hand, they just feel great. If there’s any truth to the notion that screen protectors are to smartphones what prophylactics are to sex, the Glas.t feels like wearing nothing at all. The extra millimeters of glass help protect your screen from scratches, but still feel like you and your iPhone are going bareback.

The problem? Glas.t screen protectors are made of glass, and so they crack, they chip, and they break. The glass is tempered (hence the ‘t’) so they never downright shatter, but they do tend to break in other ways fairly easily. If you’re invested in keeping your screen protector pristine as well as your iPhone display, replacing Glas.t’s can become expensive quick.

Now, here comes the Glas.TR, Spigen’s new and improved glass screen protector for the iPhone 5. The ‘R’ at the end stands for “Rounded,” and it stands for rounded corners, which Spigen says makes the new Glas protector much more resilient than they were before. But what’s the truth?

Apple has released iOS 6.1.1 for the iPhone 4S following data connectivity concerns with iOS 6.1. This morning we told you that European carriers warned iPhone 4S users not to update to 6.1 because of cellular bugs in the new software. Many users have also complained about poor battery performance after updating to 6.1 as well.

According to Apple, 6.1.1 “fixes an issue that could impact cellular performance and reliability for iPhone 4S.”

Bill Gates is doing an IAmA on Reddit right now. Basically, he’s telling everyone what it’s like to be a super-rich philanthropist who wants to rid the world of polio and other diseases. Bill’s a pretty cool guy. He likes to tour garbage dumps and missile silos with his kids. He loves Weezer. And he even liked Pirates of Silicon Valley.

One thing you didn’t know about Bill Gates, though, is that he uses a ginormous touchscreen computer. Like, yeah, he’s got a Surface Pro, but that’s not enough for him right now. Look at the size of that beast in the picture above.

I just got my Surface Pro a week ago and it is very nice. I am using a Perceptive Pixel display right now – huge Windows 8 touch whiteboard. These will come down in price over time and be pervasive…

So while we’re all over here happy with our new 7.9-inch iPad mini screens, Bill is living it up on a touchscreen that’s bigger than your living room wall. And you know what? For a guy who’s trying to rid the world of HIV and reduce carbon emissions, we think he deserves every pixel on that humongous display.

iOS 6.1 has already been out for a few weeks, but we’re now seeing reports that it’s causing problems for a lot of upgraders.

Multiple users have taken to Apple’s iPhone support forums to report that their battery life has dropped significantly since the iOS 6.1 upgrade. Others have claimed that iOS 6.1 has given them a slew of problems when trying to connect to 3G networks, and Apple has yet to respond.

The Nike Fuelband was one of my favorite gadgets last year. It tracks all your movement to help you stay in shape. It syncs everything with your iPhone. Plus, it looks pretty freaking cool.

Nike Fuelband is part of the wave of futuristic wearable fitness devices. In a couple of years we’ll all have something like it, but for now, the Nike Fuelband only syncs with your computer or iPhone. There’s no Android app, and according to Nike, you shouldn’t hold your breath waiting for one.

Pages+ is a new tweak for jailbroken iOS devices which promises to supercharge your home screen. It adds some great features, like home screen “cards” and multi-page wallpapers that change as you flick through them — and it’s compatible with other popular tweaks like Barrel and Winterboard themes. Check out the demonstration video below.

Warning: This article might deal in stereotypes. Why? Because no matter how much your woman friend might truly appreciate that power drill she’s had her eye on for the last six months (to the point of leaving a copy of Lady Power Tool magazine open on your desk with the page turned to a Makita ad), you’re still going to buy her some horrible pink iPad case with Hello Kitty ears.

So if you’re willing to make the stereotyped move, then so can I. I’ll recommend fancy lotions and cooking gadgets and the amazing (and mythical) “FourSquare for leg waxing.” But probably not for the reasons you’re expecting.

It’s not often that Tim Cook speaks at a non-Apple event, but for the second year in a row, Tim is heading to New York City to speak at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet conference.

Last year, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook presented at the Goldman Sachs tech conference where he spoke about working conditions in China, why Apple TV is just a hobby, the popularity of the iPad, and much more.

Even though we have yet to see some truly credible evidence to support the countless claims that Apple will release a cheaper iPhone sometime in 2013, that’s not stopping another analyst from jumping on the cheap-iPhone train.

Analyst Brian White, at Topeka Capital, released a report this morning claiming that his research supports the claim that Apple will sell a cheaper version of the iPhone in order to attract new growth opportunities in China and elsewhere around the world.

Apple’s retail operations were mocked by everyone on the planet when the first Apple Store was opened. But now that the Apple Store is the most profitable retail store in the world, everyone wants to copy what Apple’s doing.

Thanks to some inspiration from the Apple Store, BMW has decided that starting in 2014 they will require all dealers to hire young tech-savvy employees to handle questions from customers about the vehicles on the showroom floor. They’ll even be equipped with iPads and be called Geniuses.

How happy are you with your smartphone? According to a survey of 92,825 smartphone user in the United States, the Motorola Atrix HD delivers the most satisfaction with an impressive 8.57 out of ten. Another Motorola device, the Droid RAZR M, is ranked second with 8.5 out of ten, while the iPhone 5 is ranked fifth with just 8.23 out of ten.

Google pays Apple around $1 billion a year to be the default search engine on iOS, according to Morgan Stanley analyst Scott Devitt, and that figure is going to rise in the years ahead. That’s more than a lot of companies turn over in a year, and Apple banks it for doing literally nothing.

Overseas customers of Apple products often feel like they are paying a premium for Apple products, but Australians believe they have it extra rough, and Australian parliament wants answers: Apple, Microsoft and Adobe have been called in to appear before a committee investigating potential price fixing in the land down under.

Is this the iPhone 5S? Leaked images purported to come out of Foxconn are claimed to show Apple’s next iPhone, and it looks pretty much identical to the iPhone 5, although some have noted that there’s at least one small change: the iPhone 5S uses the iPhone 4S’s softer vibration component instead of the louder rotating one used in the iPhone 5.

A pair of European carriers have told iPhone 4S users not to upgrade to Apple’s latest iOS 6.1 firmware due to the 3G connectivity issues that come with it. Both Vodafone U.K. and 3 Austria have reported the issues, which sometimes makesit difficult for the device to connect to the network, or make or receive calls and texts.

Apple is secretly building an iWatch deep within the confines of its Cupertino headquarters, according to a new report from The New York Times. The device uses curved glass to bend with the movement of the human wrist.

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard rumors of a mysterious iWatch. The Times reported that Apple was prototyping such a product in 2011. But with competitors like the Pebble smart watch starting to ship, the era of the iWatch may be drawing near.

Borderlands 2 is unequivocally the best first-person shooter available for the Mac. Right now it’s half off at the Steam store, making it $30, meaning you can snag a deal better even than the Mac App Store price of $45.

like its predecessor, Borderlands 2 combines fast-paced combat with role playing concepts like a skill tree, a witty, well-written storyline and a staggering degree of weapon selection. The Steam version also includes multiplayer, something the Mac App Store version doesn’t currently support. Better hurry if you want to catch the deal, though — Borderlands 2 is back at full price tomorrow morning.

This week’s must-have apps roundup kicks off with Mailbox, the best third-party mail client that’s available on iOS. If you haven’t already downloaded your copy and joined the queue, do it as soon as you can. Mailbox is accompanied by AudioBox, a new player for all of your cloud-based music; the latest game from Kairosoft, and more.

Michael T. Jones has a helluva fun job. He’s the Chief Technology Ambassador for Google, and as such, he not only gets to work for one of the coolest companies in the world, he also gets to cruise around the world and tell people why Google is so darn awesome.

When it comes to Apple, you would think that Michael Jones would have some really mean things to say. In a recent interview with ABC News in Australia, Michael Jones actually praised Apple and said that customers can trust Apple with their private data. But then he added that using Apple Maps might kill you.

We’ve been hoping for a quick and painful death to Flash for a while now. It’s been slowly coming, but we’re getting closer to the day of no longer needing the crash crazy, disease injecting plugin.

Flash is still everywhere though even if you don’t want it to be, and it’s still causing problems. Adobe announced yesterday that they’re releasing an emergency patch for Patch player to fix vulnerabilities that are being exploited to install malware on Apple’s Macintosh platform.

Apple makes some really great software and hardware. We love it. But sometimes there are certain little things you want out of your computer that Apple can’t or won’t provide. That’s why we have jailbreaking and modding.

We love it when someone takes an Apple product and morphs it into something completely different. There have been a lot of Apple hardware mods that have crossed our desks over the last few years. Some have been simple, while others have required over a hundred hours of work. Here are the five greatest Apple hardware mods we’ve ever seen.

The evasion jailbreak took longer than any other iOS jailbreak to come out, but it appears that the wait was worth it for millions of iOS users.

After only four days of being available to the public, nearly 7 million iPhones, iPads, and iPod touch owners have bulldozed through Apple’s walled garden and jailbroken their devices so they can customize each and every facet of their experience.

If you were ever a dork like me, goofing off in Trig class to play Wolfenstein 3D on your graphing calculator, this will be exciting: Texas Instruments has brought their graphing calculator software to the iPad.

The new software mimics the functionality of TI’s TI-Nspire calculator, and it’s Texas Instrument’s first entry into the graphing calculator app world.