As I shrieked in jubilation on Twitter, it’s here, it’s here, it’s finally here! Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition — the modernized port of one of the best RPGs of all time — has finally landed on the iPad!
And if you, like me, ever spent six months in 1999 slowly turning your skin translucent under the X-Ray glow of an old CRT monitor massacring half the Sword Coast with a chaotic evil gnome, well, say good bye to your social life, boys.
This is theGOODbook. It is a book, and it is very, very good. It’s so hot that even though I’m a dedicated non-user of cases, I have the product page primed and ready to place my order.
A TSA agent caught stealing iPads and numerous other electronic devices was arrested this week following a sting operation at New York City’s John F. Kennedy Airport. Sean Henry, 32, joins the growing list of TSA workers who have been accused of stealing from passengers as they pass through airport checkpoints across the United States.
We already posted the transcript to Tim Cook’s full interview with Brian Williams on last night’s NBC Rock Center, but here’s the video, covering everything from his CEO role at Apple, the failure of iOS 6’s Maps, the future of the Apple TV, and more.
Part one is above, and part two is below the jump. Sorry, NBC insists on posting their videos in Flash, so you’ll need to watch this on a Mac or PC.
Apple CEO Tim Cook practically never grants interviews, and rarer still, one where he talks with such candor about the future of Apple, the legacy of Steve Jobs, and why Apple products aren’t currently made here in the USA, but soon will be.
Join us on our newest CultCast as we discuss Mr. Cook’s recent interviews, his frank comments about Apple’s “intense interest” in TV, and why that new Apple-stamped mystery set could be built right here in the U.S. of A.
All that and more on our newest CultCast! Subscribe now on iTunes, or easily stream new and previous episodes via Apple’s free Podcasts App.
KitCam has quickly become one of my favorite photography apps for the iPhone — featuring in last week’s must-have apps roundup — and it has just been updated to add a number of handy features. In addition to photo importing from the camera roll, KitCam now has a time lapse timer, and better zoom functionality.
“All work and no play makes Homer something something…”
Fans of The Simpsons will know that all work and no play actually made Homer go crazy, so to celebrate those brief times when we get to play, Cult of Mac Deals has a pretty sweet ride that will keep you entertained for hours. And (hopefully) keep you from going crazy.
This remote-controlled hyperspeed stunt flier is the most dynamic of its kind – and Cult of Mac Deals has it for just $49…but it is a deal that is wrapping up very soon!
As jailbreakers wait with eager expectation for an untethered jailbreak that works on iOS 6 and the iPhone 5, Cydia developers are still hard at work. One of the community’s most popular hackers, Grant “chpwn” Paul, has updated many of his popular tweaks. His most famous tweaks, Infinidock, Infiniboard, and Infinifolders, have all been completely rebuilt and made compatible with iOS 6. Collectively they now form Infiniapps 2.0.
Some of Paul’s other iOS tweaks have also received minor updates, like VoiceActivator and Zephyr.
The Big Four US mobile carriers–AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile–have just sent out a press release committing to push the issue of text to 911 capabilities, hopefully sooner than, but at least by, 2014.
These major players, plus The 911 Association and the Association for Public-Safety Communications Officials International, have decided to work together on standards and procedures to make this happen with a seamless transition to text to 911 services across the US.
NBC Rock Center just aired its exclusive interview with Brian Williams and Apple CEO Tim Cook. In his first real TV interview, Cook was candid about his CEO role at Apple, the failure of iOS 6’s Maps, the future of the Apple TV, and more.
Here’s the full transcript of tonight’s Rock Center segment with Tim Cook:
Zazzle Instant is an iOS app that lets you add your own pictures to a ton of different products, including Macbook and iPad sleeves, iPhone cases, messenger bags, playing cards, and a whole lot more.
The app has updated recently to include some great new features, like integration with your Facebook photos, easier adjustment to images, and new panoramic photos (in case you were wondering what to do with all those new iOS 6 panoramic photos). The folks at Zazzle promise to unleash new features on the app for the next few Saturdays, as well, so now is a great time to try it out.
Last night The Iconfactory released Twitterrific 5, a completely new iOS version of the grandaddy of Twitter apps. I reviewed the new app in detail when it came out, and the releases seems to have been met with a lot of positive feedback.
One of the developers behind Twitterrific, Craig Hockenberry, has lifted the curtain to give a behind the scenes look at the making of Twitterrific 5. A lot of work goes into making a great app.
The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today pushed for a wider use of electronic portable devices in-flight.
In a letter to Michael Huerta, the acting administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski called for the FAA to “enable greater use of tablets, e-readers, and other portable devices” during airplane travel.
About time, right?
Remember those goofy VHS interactive video board games they had back in the early 90s? I had one, based on Star Trek: The Next Generation. It came out in 1993, so you can pick one up from eBay for about $24 these days. I remember being just super excited that I could play a board game and fake-interact with klingons on the television set, remote in hand to pause, fast forward, and rewind as the board game told me what to do.
Imagine my surprise now when I can have a party at my house with up to 15 iOS device owners, playing a drawing charades game on a huge flat screen TV with nothing but a tiny computer that everyone brought into the house with them, their fingers, and a tiny hockey-puck sized device connected to the television. Now that would feel like science-fiction.
Draw-It, Push-It, a new game for iOS devices, purports to do just that.
Earlier today T-Mobile announced that it will finally start selling Apple products in 2013. As the last major U.S. carrier to not offer Apple’s beloved iPhone, it’s about time T-Mobile joined the cool kids’ table.
T-Mobile CEO John Legere has promised that buying the iPhone on his network will be “dramatically different” due to the carrier’s decision to abandon subsidized wireless contracts altogether. This is a huge move that could either make or break T-Mobile, and it will hopefully make buying smartphones like the iPhone a better experience for U.S. customers.
NBC has sent us a teaser clip from the show’s upcoming interview with Apple CEO Tim Cook. The exclusive segment with Brian Williams and Cook will air tonight at 10 P.M. Eastern/ 9 P.M Central on Rock Center.
In the one minute clip, Cook praises the iOS virtual keyboard and admits that he has “ditched physical keyboards” in favor of his iPhone and iPad.
Last month, HTC and Apple reached a cross-licensing settlement that would put a 10-year kibosh on any litigation between the two. While HTC’s Peter Chou was happy enough to call the settlement “A Good Ending,” Samsung saw it as an opportunity to have injunction proceedings against them thrown out.
Today Apple issued a significant update to Final Cut Pro that squashes a number of bugs. The 10.0.7 update addresses “overall stability, performance and compatibility” according to Apple, and it’s a free download for existing users in the Mac App Store.
The last Final Cut Pro update was released back in October, and it brought several key new features, including multichannel audio and RED camera support.
One of the better Yuletide traditions is the venerable holiday Advent Calendar, in which each day of December leading up to Christmas is marked off on a special calendar by opening its corresponding door to find a small gift, toy or chocolate squirreled away inside.
This year, we here at Cult of Mac decided we wanted to give our readers their very own Apple-themed advent calendar, filled with the year’s best apps, gadgets, stories and other curios. So each day in December, we’re going to lovingly peel back the door on the Cult of Mac 2012 Advent Calendar to reveal another delicious morsel, something really special that came out this year that we think every one of you should enjoy.
So what’s up with door number 6? It’s a handy little charging solution called the PlugBug that puts a spare 10 watt USB charger in your MacBook power brick.
The latest evolution of Spotify was revealed today at a press event in New York City that showed off Spotify’s new browser app, music discovery features, social additions and more.
Spotify users will now be able to get the same experience they’ve become accustomed to with the desktop client via a new web-based player. The new web-player will allow users to search and play music, create playlist, and use other new features Spotify unveiled today that will help people find newer, better, cooler music.
Hackers have long preferred to focus their attacks on Microsoft’s operating systems over the years, but there have been signs that they’re starting to target OS X as well. With the threat of security attacks looming in the background Apple has decided they need to get help from the very hackers that know how to exploit their software.
To help lock down its security issues, Apple has hired the same noted computer security researcher, and former hacker, who helped Microsoft fix Window Vista’s security bugs.
The short form: Zagg’s Pro Plus has got to be the best compact iPad keyboard I have used (and I have used a lot). It is also backlit, incredibly light and doubles as an iPad case.
But it has one fatal flaw – your iPad 3 or later will probably fall out.
Google+ continues to evolve into one of the greatest social network/community platforms available (the best in my opinion). Many skeptics claimed it would become another failed Google project, constantly referring to it as a ghost town. If you’ve ever used Google+, then you already know what a crock those claims are, and in fact, Google+ is growing faster than ever.
Earlier today, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that, starting in 2013, Apple would start investing over $100 million in local business to build Macs in the United States.
Even more intriguing, he said one model of Mac would be made exclusively in the U.S. But which one?
Tim Cook wouldn’t say, but when you think about it, there’s one obvious contender: the Mac Pro. Here’s why.
It’s December, which means that the lack of real news combined with my absurd love for iPhone and camera-related gewgaws takes over, bring a rain of plastic crap down on the pages of Cult of Mac. Sometimes this intersects with a genuinely useful accessory, and today we bring you the 3-in-1 Lightning Camera Connector.