Some gadgets love the rugged outdoors; the iPhone, with its sensitive, water-fearing innards, is more of a house gadget. Awww. Then LifeProof stepped in to change that when it launched its $80 water-, dirt-, snow- and shockproof case last summer. Now, the company has unveiled a line of four modular mounts that fit the LifeProof case, turning the iPhone into an electro-Leatherman.
This is a guest post by Mike Daisey, who’s latest monologue, The Agony and Ecstacy of Steve Jobs, is at New York’s Public Theater through March 4. We highly recommend you go see it. It made Steve Wozniak cry. The post originally appeared here.
Stephen Fry, brilliant comedian, wonderful actor, and bon vivant just posted this in his Twitter feed:
As a fellow raconteur it’s painful to have to confront Mr. Fry with this fact, but he’s being a total idiot.
He’s in good company—most of the Mac universe is in the midst of a massive propaganda campaign, trying to convince itself and the universe that the cognitive dissonance they are feeling at this moment isn’t real.
So you’re going to see some good people, like Mr. Fry, who happen to love their Apple products very much, say some horrible things because they don’t actually understand how to reconcile the beauty and grace of their wonderful Apple products with the unvarnished, verified truth of how they are produced.
Last week we told you about Evi, an iPhone app that challenges Apple’s own Siri voice control technology. Powered by the same Nuance backend, Evi and Siri offer similar voice control/assistant features. The main difference between the two is that Evi is available on the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS, while Siri is only available natively for iPhone 4S owners.
Another App Store app has come to our attention, and its name is vokul. As the first and only 100% handsfree voice control app for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, vokul allows users to dictate text messages, make calls, and play music without ever having to lift a finger.
An update for the Corona untethered jailbreak tool has been released for all A5-based devices.
If you’re having trouble with iBooks on your newly-jailbroken iPhone 4S, you’re not alone. As with most jailbreaks, Apple’s eBook app can tend to act up and sometimes not work at all when opened on a liberated iOS device. Thanks to the most recent Corona update in Cydia, iPhone 4S jailbreakers should be able to use iBooks on the iPhone 4S. The update also addresses general stability issues for users on iOS 5.0 and is recommend for iPad 2 owners as well.
Apple just released the latest 10.7.3 update to OS X Lion over Software Update. You can download the update either through Software Update or by downloading the installer here.
Here’s the list of changes and bug fixes.
Remember that iPod nano prototype we saw this morning, complete with 1.3MP camera? A prototype for a reason, says a new report, which claims that while Apple does want to put a camera on the next-generation iPod nano, this particular prototype took pictures so crummy that Apple shelved it.
Having someone snoop into your private life is a horror that sends most Americans into a state of demonic rage. People went completely nuts over the Carrier IQ controversy, and we wonder how most people would react if the internet had transparent access to all their text messages. Unfortunately, Apple’s iMessage has revealed what such a scenario might look like, and it’s not only not pretty… it’s something that can happen so easily that even an Apple Store Genius has had his private text message history exposed, sexting and all.
Siri’s notorious inability to understand a thick Scottish brogue is pretty notorious at this point, but perhaps no video makes the point more humorlessly than this mock advertisement for Siri from Apple Scotland. It’s more than a little foul-mouthed, so if you’re at work, put some headphones on.
The ability to have mobile Safari save the usernames and passwords that we enter frequently on our iOS devices can be hugely helpful, especially for the forgetful minds amongst us. But not everyone feels comfortable having these details saved on their device. After all, if it gets into the wrong hands, anyone can login to our favorite sites at the tap of a button.
So what if you save these credentials accidentally, or you decide that you no longer want these details saved on your device. Well, fortunately, it’s very simple to delete them without having perform a complete restore on your device. Here’s how to delete saved usernames and passwords in mobile Safari.
Earlier in his life, Steve Jobs was known for his dark mop of hair, but later in life, the onset of male pattern baldness meant that Steve kept his hair closely and fashionably cropped. In other words, it didn’t exactly take that long to dry when he climbed out of the shower in the morning.
So we’re puzzled by the existence of this limited edition Chinese hairdryer, the so-called ‘iFeng 4S’ (Feng means “wind” in Chinese). It comes from a small home appliance company in Chaozhou,and only 100 9.7 watt units are available for sale for a little under $100 yuan (or about $16).
Best Buy is offering up a $50 Gift Card to anyone who upgrades to a new phone before the end of the year. The promo is actually a bit confusing as you have to already have an existing mobile number and you must register that number before February 12, 2012 to be eligible for the promo. Then, when you finally decide to upgrade your phone, you must upgrade using the number you registered and then you will be provided with your $50 gift card. Whew, I’m glad I got that cleared that up.
We’re all hankering for Apple to announce its iPad 3, but some lucky so and sos already have their hands on the third-generation device. One of whom has revealed photographs of its internal specifications, which confirm it will feature a quad-core processor and global LTE capabilities.
Apple did nothing towards changing the design of the iPod nano last September, but it could have something special up its sleeve for this year’s refresh. A series of images that have surfaced in Taiwan revived rumors the next device will feature a 1.3-megapixel camera, allowing you to snap impromptu photos while you’re on your morning run.
A recent Match.com survey of Canadian smartphone users has revealed some interesting patterns surrounding one’s love life in regards to the mobile operating system they use. Cell phones have become a huge part in how we communicate and build relationships, whether through talking, email, or texting. 75 percent of Canadian singles seem to agree with that, and here’s what Match.com found out about their relationship habits and what mobile OS they happen to use:
Apple’s decision to hire John Browett as its Senior Vice President of Retail has come under fire from a small but vocal minority of Apple fans who believe he may not be the right man for the job. Brits in particular, who are familiar with the Dixons stores in the U.K. that Browett used to control, are concerned he is not a suitable replacement for Ron Johnson.
But Apple CEO Tim Cook has no doubts about the company’s decision, and has labeled Browett the best man for the role “by far.”
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster has had an idée fixe about Apple’s so-called iTV for so long that before Steve Jobs said he’d “cracked” the television problem, we actually thought he seemed a bit ridiculous.
In 2012, though, it’s increasingly looking like Munster is right and Apple is planning an entry into the HDTV market. In fact, according to Munster’s own sources, Apple has been contacting major TV component suppliers about securing display panels for the iTV, which he believes will launch by late 2012.
Wunderkit, a new iOS app from 6 Wunderkid, the developers behind the popular Wunderlist task manager, has hit the App Store today, promising to help you organize and accomplish all of life’s projects, however big or small, on your iPhone.
If you’ve been paying any attention to the Presidential Primaries lately, you’ll know that the number of iPhones China makes is a big issue this year. Why are we sending so many “great” jobs to China to build America’s most iconic tech product when unemployment is such a big problem?
Well, Foxconn may employ tens of thousands of Chinese laborers to build the iPhone, but the vast majority of the labor costs associated with making an iPhone is spent right here in the States. In fact, only $10 per iPhone goes to paying workers abroad.
Late last week, Valve released an official app for iOS and Android devices that allows gamers to stay connected to its Steam community wherever they may be. It was instantly popular with the Steam users who were able to gain access to it, but the only problem was, it was in beta testing and not many had that privilege.
But today the service is out of beta and available to all.
Recording artist Neil Young has revealed in an interview Apple had plans to launch a high-definition music format that never came to fruition. Young says he met with Steve Jobs personally to discuss the service prior to his passing, but “not much” happened with it in the end.
We’ve already shown you how to sync your address book with the Facebook app for iOS to add profile pictures and other credentials, but what if you prefer to use Twitter instead? Well, fortunately for you, you can also sync your address book with Twitter, and it’s incredibly easy thanks to iOS 5’s Twitter integration.
Are you following Cult of Mac on Instagram yet? If not, you probably should because it’ll change your entire Instagram experience from “kinda cool” to “insanely amazing.” Last week we asked readers to show us where you spend your time blogging or surfing the web. You guys took to Instagram and Twitter and showered us with photos revealing small glimpses into your digital lives. There was a lot of great photos to sort through but here are the ones that we thought stood out the most.
Some voters in Florida’s Republican primary elections will be choosing the man they want in the White House with the touch of a finger using iPads.
Although Lori Steele, Chairman & CEO of Everyone Counts, the company behind the iPad voting scheme, was tight-lipped on details about how many of Apple’s magical tablets will be ticking boxes in today’s elections, she was quick to say that a similar program in Oregon led to an increase of voter participation by 1,500%.
One thing she’s certain of though: the iPads will ensure there’s no hanging chads or lost votes.
Cult of Mac asked her about the cost, security and software behind it. We’re planning to follow up on how the battle between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich played out over touchscreens.
It seems that lengthy report looking into the poor working conditions in Chinese factories assembling Apple products is going to haunt the Cupertino company for some time yet. The latest backlash comes from consumer group SumOfUs, which has launched a petition calling for Apple to “stop worker abuse,” with over 35,000 signatures collected in just 24 hours.
Despite recent reports detailing the mistreatment of factory workers assembling Apple products in China, there’s still a huge demand for jobs at the Foxconn factory. Thousands of people lined up for hours outside a recruitment agency in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou in the hope that they would be chosen to build iPhones at the Foxconn factory.