'Appy weekend everyone! Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
A great music-making app recreating one of the all time great synthesizers on iOS is just one of our picks for this week’s “Awesome Apps of the Week.”
In addition, we’ve got a superb Twitter client app update, the world’s most popular battle royale game, and a gamebook RPG recreating some of the genre classics of the 1980s. Check out our selections below.
Save tons of time on your next WordPress project with this massive library of themes and templates. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
Anyone who works in design knows the value of a good library of assets and templates. That definitely applies for WordPress, where getting designing a page can quickly add up to hours.
This classic alarm clock comes with 4 USB ports and some other cool features. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
Having reminders on our phones is super convenient. But no touchscreen can replace the satisfaction of slapping an actual snooze button on a good old alarm clock.
Siri is surely going to get smarter with Apple hiring 100+ for the development team. Photo: Apple
Apple wants to hire 142 people for Siri-related jobs, almost twice as many as this time last year. Clearly, the company is serious about turning around its troubled voice-driven digital assistant.
A pop-up in iOS 11.3 gives Apple's commitment to privacy. Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
Apple is giving developers new tools that will allow iPhone and iPad users to download and delete any personal information being stored in iCloud.
Developers received word of the new tools today which were created in order to help developers comply with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation that goes into effect this May. The new laws mean developers will be forced to comply anytime a customer requests to access manage, restrict or delete personal data.
Apple is working on a self-driving car, but until then its AR system would make us safer drivers. Photo: diggapple/Twitter
Bad drivers may soon get some crucial tips on the road from Apple, if the company’s latest patent ever becomes a reality.
While everyone in tech is working on driverless car systems, it appears that Apple is looking into ways to make it safer for humans to get behind the wheel too. Apple filed for a patent this week that envisions an augmented reality system for cars that shows drivers more of what’s ahead of them than they can see with their naked eyes. And it could totally change the way we drive.
This might be the cutest MIDI keyboard kit ever. Photo: Roli
Roli’s new Songmaker Kit is a kick-ass portable music-making setup that hooks up to your iPad, iPhone or Mac. It consists of a mini version of Roli’s amazing Seaboard keyboards, along with a couple of the company’s modular Blocks. Everything connect via Bluetooth, creating a custom music workstation that’s easy to use and extremely portable.
Let’s take a look at the Roli Songmaker Kit and see how you can use it to make music anywhere.
In today’s edition of Deals & Steals, we found a brand-new 12-inch rose gold MacBook for $400 off. We also have great deals on a Logitech universal remote bundle, a surprisingly stylish router and a cheap smartphone.
You can now order the new 9.7-inch iPad online and pick it up the same day at Apple stores across the United States. Customers who already ordered the iPad after it was unveiled on Tuesday should also start receiving their shipments today.
The smugglers used a DJI Phantom 4 to fly iPhones over the border. Photo: DJI
Criminals in China have discovered a brilliant new use for drones: smuggling valuable iPhones.
Authorities in China arrested 26 suspects that were found using drones to smuggle $80 million worth of iPhones between Hong Kong and the mainland in what is reportedly the first case of drones being used in cross-border smuggling crimes in China.
HomePod isn't as bass-heavy as it once was. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Apple’s software update released yesterday for the new HomePod may have altered the sound quality on its smart speaker.
Many angry HomePod owners that installed the update yesterday have taken to Twitter and Reddit claiming Apple’s fine-tuning of the speaker with the update has totally ruined how some songs sound.
Mac owners can finally use an external GPU to boost their computing power now that Apple has released macOS 10.13.4 to the public.
The software update has been in beta testing with developers for months and is now available to everyone for the first time. macOS 10.13.4 brings a number of improvements to the Mac, including some updates to iMessages, Safari and more.
Give your iPhone a solid grip, for steadier photos and videos, and access to other attachments and accessories. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
Your iPhone takes great pictures, but it doesn’t feel like a camera. After all, cameras are easy to grip and hold steady, and that’s by design. But the design for phones focuses on being sleek and slim enough fit in your pocket.
Apple's new iPad is powerful, cheap, and a great deal. Photo: @YSR50
This week on The CultCast: Apple has powered up the new iPad so much, it’s hard to resist! We’ll tell you why we’re so excited. Plus: What you need to know about iOS 11.3; everything Apple revealed at its “field trip” event; a reliable report says Apple Watch Plus is incoming; and you asked, we answer — from the best Home apps, to our Mac mini predictions, to Commando versus Predator, we answer your most burning questions.
Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. It’s simple to accept Apple Pay and sell your wares with your very own Squarespace.com website. Enter offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10 percent off any hosting plan.
The Velo by Juuk — an aluminum, three-link band shown here in Obsidian. Photo: Juuk
Juuk’s precision-made aluminum Apple Watch bands are always on point. The Velo is the latest style in Juuk’s lineup of amazing steel bands — the Locarno, the Revo, the Ligero and the Vitero — and is decidedly different in design from its predecessors. Redesigned and reengineered from the ground up, the Velo Apple Watch band features a three-row link design.
This beautiful band comes in three different finishes — Midnight, Silver and Ruby. Obsidian and Cosmic Grey are currently in production. Check out Juuk’s latest lineup below!
A pop-up in iOS 11.3 gives Apple's commitment to privacy. Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
Apple will soon let you download all the information it has stored about you, modify it, or even delete it.The privacy change is required by a new European law, but is also in-line with Apple’s policy to not spy on itscustomers. This sets it apart from rivals like Google and Facebook.
A discreet backpack that holds more than you think. Photo: David Pierini/Cult of Mac
Marketing language often invites a reviewer to find the flaw in the claim. So skepticism was in order when the OnePack arrived with the declaration of being the “Most Functional Backpack.”
I have a backpack for every time I heard that one. But of all the backpacks I’ve shouldered for reviews, OnePack at least comes close to keeping its word.
audioOS 11.3 doesn't bring any cool new features to Apple's HomePod. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
The software update Apple just released for the HomePod doesn’t include AirPlay 2, the most anticipated new feature. In fact, this new version doesn’t seem to have any enhancements, though maybe that’s to be expected from a smart speaker that just launched last month.
Nothing is as annoying as really drums. Apart from children, I guess. Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac
Are you a table drummer? Then here’s a fantastic way to annoy your family and friends this weekend. It’s a iPad and iPhone app called AAS Objeq, which uses the iPad’s microphones to listen to your ceaseless, OCD tappety-tapping, and transforms it into more drumlike sounds. That it, the sound of you whacking the table becomes a bass drum, a chopstick on a water glass can become a hi-hat, and so on. The possibilities for irritating those around you are almost endless.
Facebook is one of many tech giants that builds is business on user data. Photo: Facebook
Thanks to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, a backlash is brewing against the way tech giants like Facebook monetize data. This could result in government regulation, which has the potential to upend the business models of some of the world’s biggest companies.
Luckily, Apple is practically immune. Here’s why 2018’s biggest tech scandal could actually help the world’s biggest tech company.
Making a killer video could be the best way to promote your killer app. Photo: Terje Sollie/Pexels CC
This post is brought to you by MacPaw, maker of Setapp.
As indie developers, we can get too caught up in how things work — what features our product has, what users can do with it. It often seems like if we can just explain how our product works, everyone will become a devoted user.
We spend lots of time pulling together onboarding videos and tutorials. But there’s a whole other front in the battle of promotion and conversion: making an emotional connection between a potential user and your product and brand.
iOS 11.3 Safari doesn't automatically fill in user names and passwords. Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
The just-released iOS 11.3 requires Safari users to tap in web pages to AutoFill their user names and passwords. This means extra work for you, but it’s also more secure.
Another change in the latest version of iOS adds warnings when entering private information onto non-encrypted web pages.
Image galleries are easy to add, and look great. Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac
The new Apple Pencil-friendly version of Pages for iPad also has a couple of other big new features. One of these is iBook creation, which we’ll look at in another post. Today we’re going to see how to add an Image Gallery to a regular Pages document. This is handy if you need to include lots of pictures into a document, but don’t want to use pages and pages to do so.
You could, for instance, include galleries of vacation photos in a newsletter for family and friends, with images stacked into daily galleries, or organized by event. Or you could pile a bunch of diagrams into one Image Gallery, allowing you to include a lot more information without cluttering the document. Better still, you can export your Pages document as an eBook, and the galleries become fully interactive.
Apple Watch is on top of the wearable market Photo: Apple
Apple Watch owners can finally download the first big software update of 2018 for Apple’s wearable. watchOS 4.3 launched to the public this morning, adding a bunch of small new features and performance improvements that make the Apple Watch tick better than ever.
iOS 11.3 comes with four new Animoji. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
The first major iOS update of 2018 has finally arrived, bringing a host of new features and improvements to the iPhone and iPad.
Apple initially released iOS 11.3 yesterday just for the only available to download on the new 9.7-inch iPad Apple. Now the software update is finally available to all users worldwide.