2016 hasn’t been Apple’s best year by a long shot. While the company is still making money hand over fist and has seen its Services division go from strength to strength, Apple also consistently stumbled for the first time in years.
While we remain loyal to the Apple brand, here are our picks for the year’s biggest disappointments.
A restaurant in San Francisco has begun serving food on iPads. Quince is using the popular tablets as plates in an apparent effort to appeal to younger diners. Each iPad plays a video of a water dog searching for truffles while you eat your meal off its screen.
Seriously.
Our take on Apple’s new wireless AirPods may be that they “just work,” but one thing that isn’t quite so seamless is picking up a pair in person at your local Apple store.
That’s according to airpods.isinstock.com, a website dedicated to providing at-a-glance stock levels for Apple’s AirPods at every Apple retail store in the world. The current grand total of stores stocking the AirPods? A big fat zero.
We’ve all seen the mess a room can become with all the power cables and power strips our electronics share with our lamps, TVs and other stuff. Lucky for us, GorillaPower has come out with a centralized charger that cuts the clutter, and keeps all your essential electronics juiced up. This sleek, space saving hub can handle as many as 7 devices at once, and right now you can get it for just $59.99 at Cult of Mac Deals.
More iPhones and iPads were activated over the festive season than any other company’s handsets and tablets, according to data published by analytics firm Flurry.
Analyzing data about phone and app activation throughout the week leading up to Christmas day and the start of Chanukah, Flurry found that 44 percent of all new activations were for Apple devices — more than twice the number of nearest rival, Samsung.
Apple Watch owners will be rewarded with a special achievement medal for completing the New Year Challenge. Users will have four attempts to complete the challenge, which starts on January 2 and runs through to the end of the month.
The name might not make sense, but a “Jet White” iPhone 7 could soon be on the way, according to renowned Apple leaker Sonny Dickson, who posted pictures of just such a handset online this week.
The Jet Black iPhone 7 was one of the hottest iPhone models when the handset first launched back in September. A similarly glossy handset in white could therefore prove to be a nice mid-year iPhone sales booster should Apple choose to go in this direction.
Check out a video of the alleged handset below.
If you’re experiencing a post-holiday spending hangover, don’t fret! There are still plenty of Apple deals available for anybody on a budget. Score factory-refurbished Apple Watches and a popular productivity app at the best price we’ve seen. You’ll find those deals and more in this week’s best Apple deals.
Researchers on Apple’s artificial intelligence team have published the first ever research paper ever from the iPhone-maker, ending Apple’s long standing ban that safeguarded company secrets.
The paper details methods on how to train AI algorithms to recognize images. Apple’s researchers reveal that they have tried using both computer-generated images as well as real-world images to train to algorithm, but each have serious drawbacks.
Handbrake has been our go-to tool for all types of video conversion how-tos for years and now after 13 years in ‘beta’ the free software is officially ready for its official launch.
Next year’s Plus-size iPhone might come with a slightly different dual-lens camera, according to the latest rumors out of Asia.
Citing supply chain sources, the new rumor claims Apple will reposition the secondary telephoto lens on the iPhone so that it sits below the traditional wide-angle lens.
Hard drives, like bodies, can develop issues that need expert help. Whether accidents on the part of the user or just run-of-the-mill file corruption, Disk Drill Pro 3 offers a powerful and simple tool for recovering what would otherwise be lost. It’s a single click disk recovery, and right now you can get a lifetime license of Disk Drill Pro 3 for just $34.99 at Cult of Mac Deals.
The standard Apple USB interface for wall outlets is compact and nice looking, but it’s not much use if you aren’t around a wall. NomadPlus doesn’t replace the outlet, but enhances it, adding a 1800mAh backup battery and the ability to charge on the go. It’s like carrying a wall outlet around in your bag, but less weird. And now is your last chance you can get a NomadPlug for just $18.99 at Cult of Mac Deals.
If you find yourself at a loose end today, perhaps after overindulging on the eggnog and looking to sit down for a few minutes, why not check out our picks for the top apps of the last week?
Whether you own an iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch or MacBook, we’re confident you’ll find something to enjoy on our list!
No matter how well you take care of an Android phone, the time will come for it to count its last electric sheep. Selling a smartphone, even a functioning one, can be a hassle — and less than rewarding when dealing with the typical Android buyback program or Craigslist buyer.
If you’ve got a Samsung, LG or HTC phone, even one that’s gone completely kaput, Cult of Mac’s buyback program makes it easy to trade it in for the best price.
Working with teammates on their own computers, it sure helps to be able to get whatever’s on your screen onto theirs. CloudApp makes that easy.
It’s an all-inclusive platform for capturing, annotating and sharing everything from screenshots and GIFs to screen video recordings, all via super-quick links and integration with a hundreds of productivity services. It’s used by the likes of Slack, HBO, Facebook, The New York Times, Tumblr, GitHub and many more, and right now you can get a year of CloudApp for your team for a mere $30.
Covering Cupertino is more than just statistics and rumors about upcoming products. There’s plenty of weird Apple news, whether it be a Chinese billionaire buying iPhones for his pet dog or the revelation that, in some alternate universe, Tim Cook could become vice president of the United States.
With that in mind, here are the weirdest Apple news stories of 2016.
Rocket League is undoubtedly one of the finest and most enjoyable games to grace the current generation of consoles, but it’s yet to make its way to mobile. Soon we won’t need it, because Turbo League for iOS promises to be just as good.
Space sims — like flight sims — maintain a niche following. The game genre mixes the fun of flight with the extreme physics involved in sending things to freaking space. Mac (and PC) game Kerbal Space Program manages to scratch the rocket science itch while also being genuinely entertaining and accessible.
This great take on the space simulator is winning praise all over the gaming world and boasts an active community of modders and enthusiasts. Right now you can get a Steam ticket for Kerbal Space Program $13.59.
A new report claims that the next-gen iPad Pro, set to be unveiled early in 2017, could be delayed due to lower-than-expected yield rates on the 10-nanometer A10X chips used in the device.
Consumer Reports just unloaded a mighty smackdown on the new MacBook Pro lineup, citing “highly inconsistent” battery life as the reason the latest Apple laptops failed to earn a coveted recommendation.
It’s the first time the well-regarded reviews organization flunked an Apple laptop. And the test results should give serious pause to anybody who is considering buying a new MacBook Pro.
Apple’s EarPods have always been a go-to favorite for me. They’re included with every iPhone, always sound good enough for what I need, and I’ve always found them comfortable. Even going back to the good old iPod days, I’ve always kept a pair close to hand.
But now Apple’s moving on into the “wireless future” with its new AirPods. These completely wireless earphones let you listen to music and podcasts, make phone calls and talk to Siri. But just how do they measure up?
Pokémon GO is finally ready for Apple Watch. The iOS game, one of 2016’s biggest breakout hits, got an update today that includes the long-awaited Apple Watch app.
According to the game’s maker, Pokémon GO is a perfect match for Apple’s wearable.
This post is brought to you by Digiarty.
Unless you’re a teenager, you’ve probably got some DVDs lying around from back when people still used DVDs. Ripping those old movies and TV shows not only keeps their contents from being lost or damaged, it also means you can print fresh copies from scratched discs (without those annoying FBI warnings or region codes, thanks to built-in DVD decryption), and have digital versions ready to edit for your own projects.
The holidays are a great time to hide away from visiting relatives and enjoy a good book. Fortunately, when it comes to tech-centric books released this year, there’s a great crop to pick from.
Here are our choices for the best tech books of 2016 (and no, we’re not including Jony Ive’s $300 tribute to himself).