Consumer Reports has revised its earlier rating for the new MacBook Pro lineup and now recommends the laptops, after a software update fixed battery problems found in testing.
The respected consumer watchdog previously cited the new laptops’ “highly inconsistent” battery life as the reason it couldn’t give out one of its coveted recommendations — the first time an Apple laptop had failed to make the grade.
If you’re a decent person (we’ll assume you are since you’re a Cult of Mac reader), you don’t leave your old TV on the sidewalk when it’s outlived its usefulness. The same consideration for your neighbors and the environment should extend to your old Apple TV.
Whether you’re abandoning your old Apple TV to upgrade, replace a busted unit or to give up TV entirely (yeah right), the Cult of Mac buyback program will make sure you get the most money possible. Even better-known companies like Gazelle and Walmart can’t offer as much, and you’ll be making sure your dated or defunct device ends up in the right place.
Former Apple VP Tony Fadell has dispelled the popular rumor that Apple had two rival teams working on different user interfaces for the first prototype iPhone.
Video of two prototype operating system builds for the original iPhone surfaced this week as Apple celebrated the iPhone’s 10th anniversary. One of the UIs proposed adopted the iPod’s click wheel interface and, according to Fadell, it actually worked really well.
There was just one problem: It sucked at making calls.
For some of us, “new iPhone” is another way of saying “cool thing I definitely can’t afford.” Instead of sitting on the sidelines staring sadly at your wheezing old mobile and waiting for the contract to turn over, you can jump at the chance to get a shiny new iPhone 7 Plus in this amazing giveaway.
This is not a drill, folks. Now’s your chance to win the latest and greatest mobile device around.
Apple calls iOS “the world’s most advanced mobile operating system,” but it was almost the world’s worst.
Before deciding on the icon-based user interface we know and love today, Apple designed an awful prototype UI that was based on the iPod’s software and controlled with a virtual click-wheel. Check it out in the video below.
To take great pictures, even with your smartphone, you need a tripod. Here’s a tripod for your smartphone fits in your wallet. Pocket Tripod PRO is a cleverly engineered, versatile platform for your mobile that folds into the size of a credit card. It’ll make for a huge leap in your phonetography that won’t put a dent in your pocketbook. Right now you can pre-order a Pocket Tripod PRO for just $19.99 at Cult of Mac Deals.
Joe Cunningham loves the original iPhone so much that he carries two of them — one for calls and texts, and one for taking trippy photos enhanced by a mysterious glitch in the decade-old device.
Like the kind of haunted handset you’d find in a Stephen King novel, the second iPhone exhibits a strange quality: It takes pictures that look like they’re the result of a bad acid trip.
“The psychedelic iPhone only gets used as a camera because I want to extend its life as long as possible,” Cunningham told Cult of Mac.
You love your MacBook Pro and think it can do just about anything, even make change.
That is literally true for some MacBook users, who have been reporting on tech forums of the odd placement of a random quarter or penny in their machine’s SuperDrive, discovered when the bottom plate was removed.
With the new year come countless resolutions to do more and better work. That’s why we’ve rounded up some of the best deals on productivity services in the Cult of Mac Store. We’ve got a lifetime of cloud storage, a time-saving virtual assistant, a Gmail-powered task manager, and a tool for mapping your thoughts and ideas. They’ll all bring your day-to-day workflow to a new level. Read on for more details:
With macOS Sierra, Apple Pay finally comes to Macs so you can use the mobile payment service to buy stuff online. The feature works best on the new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, but don’t worry Pad if you own an older Apple computer: You can still use Apple Pay if you’ve got a 2012 or newer Mac, as long as you have the latest software and an iPhone or Apple Watch with Apple Pay enabled.
To get started, just follow our handy guide on how to use Apple Pay on Mac. You’ll be spending money online in no time!
The original iPhone nearly came with a digital click wheel that mimicked the iPod’s interface, according to video of an alleged prototype running the software that has not previously been made public.
Former Apple engineers confirmed in the past that Apple created a click-wheel-based solution for the iPhone’s software during the early stages of development, but until now, no one outside Apple had seen what it looked like.
This week on The CultCast: We run you through the most ridiculous gizmos at CES 2017 — stuff that nobody on earth actually needs. Then we spice things up with our most hotly anticipated tech of 2017.
And finally, we’re gonna be real with you guys…. Apple had a rough 2016. But that’s all behind us now. It’s a new year. It’s a fresh start. We discuss what Apple needs to get right in 2017.
The iPhone and Instagram get credit for being the first shoot-and-share social network, but even Steve Jobs would say that’s wrong. The Polaroid camera introduced a social component to taking pictures in the late 1940s, the first instant photography with three steps — shoot, shake and share.
Polaroid brought disruptive innovation to the market and also became a casualty of it when it failed to change course in time to be part of the digital photography revolution.
But a new version of Polaroid is thriving and even stirring up some buzz this week at CES in Las Vegas with new products covering iPhone photography, consumer 3D printing, camera drones and fun cameras that produce an on-the-spot print.
SAN FRANCISCO — Apple packed some amazing tech into its weird-looking AirPods. But to Nuheara co-founder David Cannington, Apple’s white-hot wireless earphones are just “dumb wireless.”
Sure, AirPods let you listen to music, take phone calls and tap into Siri, but they represent a missed opportunity because they don’t solve a crucial problem faced by many people in the modern world: hearing what’s going on around them.
As you might have guessed, Cannington’s company tackled this problem with a new product that launched at CES this week. Nuheara’s IQbuds are smart, truly wireless earbuds that do more than just make calls and deliver high-fidelity audio to your ears. They make it possible to carry on conversations in noisy environments like restaurants, bars and even massive Las Vegas trade shows.
Macs are ideal for many things, but gaming isn’t one of them. Apple just doesn’t have gamers in mind when designing its products. Fortunately, NVIDIA does, and its upcoming GeForce Now service will make almost any Mac fit for gaming.
Sports photographer Brad Mangin used to rush to an airport after a big game to get several rolls of film on the next flight to New York for processing and editing. He never saw what he shot until it was on the cover or a two-page spread in the latest Sports Illustrated.
Now his colleagues with their heavy DSLR cameras, lenses, and a laptop to transmit photos laugh when they see Mangin with his gear – an iPhone and maybe an external battery.
Developing for iOS is one of the most lucrative skills you can have. If you want in on the iOS development boom but don’t know where to start, look no further than this lesson bundle. It’s packed with over 250 hours of instruction that’ll get you busy under the hood of a range of iOS apps, interfaces, games, tools, and more. And right now you can get the whole 2017 iOS 10 Complete App Builder Bundle for $59.99 at Cult of Mac Deals.
AirPods offer some of the best battery life you can get from wireless earphones, but many users have been unable to enjoy it. An apparent glitch is causing some units to drain power when they’re not in use, but a simple reset could fix it.
Here’s what you need to do.
This year’s iPhone upgrade might have been a little dull, but we saw plenty of exciting accessories for Apple’s iconic smartphone in 2016.
From awesome new AirPods to ultraportable virtual reality headsets, they all helped make iPhone 7 more exciting. Here are our favorite iPhone accessories of the year.
When it comes to games, Apple trails behind Microsoft and the broader PC market. Though Cupertino’s hardware often sports cutting-edge specs, the fact is that gaming was never really the intended use for Apple machines.
Why this is, and whether it should prevent top titles from gracing Mac screens, is enough for its own article. Luckily, things are changing: From sprawling strategy games to genre-bending first-person titles, 2016 gave Apple fans a harvest of great titles for Mac and iOS alike.
With 2016 coming to a close, Nielsen has ranked the year’s most popular mobile apps in the U.S. and — wouldn’t you know it! — Facebook takes the top two spots with its Facebook and Facebook Messenger apps.
Despite the growth of other social media services, Facebook saw growth of 14 percent from last year, with more than 146 million average unique users each month. Facebook Messenger also picked up over 129 million unique users every month.
This week on The CultCast: It’s our epic final episode of 2016! We’ll wrap up the year with our hands-on review of the hotness themselves, Apple’s AirPods. Then … is Apple’s “Golden Era” drawing to a close? We discuss. And finally, ya’ll know we review a lot of products during the year — we’ll reveal our absolute favorite gadgets of 2016!
Apple pissed off a lot of people in 2016. In hindsight, some of Cupertino’s moves look clumsy, and others seem truly clueless, but Tim Cook and Co. also made some brilliant moves during this turbulent year.
Let’s go to our happy place and relive the smartest moves made by Apple in 2016.
A new nefarious text message has been discovered that has the power to completely crash iPhones, even those running the latest version of iOS 10.
Instead of using infected links or weird text like previous iMessage hacks, this new one allows attackers to disable a person’s Messages app by simply sending a large contact file. When iPhone users tap on the file, it’s so big and complicated that it overloads the CPU and crashes the app.
Watch the hack in action:
Accessory makers churned out some awesome new gadgets for the iPad in 2016. From cases to Star Wars toys, loads of new gear came along to boost the capabilities of the world’s favorite tablets.
Whether for the Pro line or the less-powerful Air or mini models, these are the best iPad accessories of 2016.