Looking to get up to speed on the week’s hottest apps? We’ve got your back!
Since my colleague Evan Killham has already covered the latest hot iOS games, I’m focusing on non-gaming apps this week: whether that’s an all-new custom keyboard, relaunched Q&A platform, or an update to an existing live-streaming favorite. Check out our picks below.
Spring is here (finally) and that means we’re clearing out our Cult of Mac Store. Below you’ll find some of our favorite gear and other goodies going for at least half off of their normal price, from an ultra thin battery case to a private VPN service to a massive bundle of top notch apps that you can name your price for.
Take a gander:
Apple’s executive team is optimistic about the company’s future, despite a bleak earnings call. And why wouldn’t they be? Apple’s slump brought in more money than most other tech companies out there.
Read all about the positive spin in this week’s Cult of Mac Magazine, along with a trick to making your iOS folders look round with no jailbreak required, a frank appraisal of the Apple Watch one year in, 8 killer Instagram tips, the world’s biggest Apple Museum and much, much more.
Here are the top stories for this week.
April has arrived, which means that the cold and snowy weather is ostensibly behind us. In my case, I’ve traded it in for cold and rainy weather. But it’s still an improvement, so I’ll take it.
And if you’re looking for a way to celebrate the slightly improved temperatures, what better way than taking some cool, new iOS games for a spin outside? Just go to a park, sit in the sun, and jam your nose into your iPhone or iPad and ignore all of the beauty and wonder that surrounds you. Because we live in the future now, and that’s what we do.
Plus, these games are really good. Check them out.
Another week, another round of super useful apps priced to move. And this is a diverse bunch: HDR photography, finance management, streaming video capture and more. We wouldn’t share them with you if they weren’t useful, and they’re all available for at least half off:
Apple released a redesigned support site for desktop and mobile Friday afternoon, using its official Twitter account to call it out.
Now you’ll spend lest time trying to figure out the support site itself, Apple hopes, and get to the help you need faster, whether you’re using your iPhone, iPad or your Mac.
We’ve seen a lot of people do a lot of things with Apple’s debut wearable, but one hacker wasn’t satisfied merely to summon the ghosts of ancient first-party mobile and desktop operating systems. No, hacker Nick Lee set himself the goal of putting the venerable Windows 95 on Apple Watch.
Lee set out on the project out of nostalgia for the computer he grew up with in the ’90s (oh, kids), and he succeeded by patching some files in the native WatchKit development framework to sneak in his own app. In this case, that app was the 20-year-old disk image. And it works, provided you have a bit of time to wait for the new system to boot up.
Seriously, it takes a while. See it in action in the video below.
Hermes isn’t the only high-end fashion company that wants to capitalize on Apple Watch’s popularity.
Coach reportedly plans to unveil a complete line of Apple Watch bands that will be available for fashionistas to purchase sometime this summer, and they’ll be much cheaper than those disgusting Hermes bands.
Here’s what they’ll look like:
Apple’s Q2 2016 earnings have been disasterous for the company’s share price, as AAPL stock suffered its worst week in three years.
Wall Street has suddenly soured on Apple, including Carl Icahn, who revealed earlier this week that he dumped all of his shares. With investors offloading shares, the company watched its market capitalization shrink by $65 billion in a mere three days, which is about the equivalent of Cambondia’s net wealth.
Apple just reported its worst quarter in 13 years.
Right now, that’s just a small blemish on an otherwise darn near perfect record. But the concern is that it could signal the start of a much greater decline, ushering in an era in which Cupertino is no longer the overwhelmingly dominant force in all things shiny and aluminum.
Should Tim Cook and Co. really be worried about declining demand, and should fans be worried about Apple’s future? Or will our favorite gadget maker be back with a bang?
Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight between Cult of Android and Cult of Mac as we throw hands (not literally) over these topics and more!
I don’t try to get my screens all fingerprinted and gross — they just get that way all on their own. It’s inevitable, really; we touch most of the screens we use throughout the day, and our hands are way dirtier than we think. I own more microfiber cloths than I do Lightning cables, but apparently my hands are grubbier than a normal human’s, so I need some more help. And apparently, that extra step is Whoosh Screen Shine.
It’s a screen-cleaning system that adds a bit of spray into the mix and claims it can repel fingerprints. I tried out the Duo+ version, which includes both desk- and travel-sized bottles, and it’s made my endless smudge hunt much more bearable.
Apple’s VP of Marketing Phil Schiller has revealed that pretty much everyone pronounces Apple’s product names completely wrong — and they don’t even know it.
Saying the plural form of “iPhone” seems like a fairly straightforward deal. It’s “iPhones,” right?
Not so, says Schiller, who unleashed a tweetstorm lecture on the official way to tell your friends that you own lots of Apple smartphones.
Google is working on a new app called Trips that will help users plan their next vacation by automatically pulling information from their emails. The app will also help travelers find things to do while they’re away, and offer reviews from locals.
For something as personal and prominent in everyday life as our smartwatch, tossing it onto a tabletop or shoving it in a drawer to charge seems a bit…crude. Nomad has a couple alternatives, two ways to give your Apple Watch a place of privilege that’s fitting in style and function.
Atari founder and Steve Jobs’ first employer Nolan Bushnell has announced that he is teaming up with Amsterdam developers Spil Games to create a series of original mobile games.
As part of the deal, Bushnell will develop three new games, with the first set for release in 2017. During his time at Atari, the entrepreneur oversaw the development of such classic games as Pong, Adventure and Breakout — the latter of which also happened to be the first collaboration between Jobs and fellow Apple founder Steve Wozniak.
This week on The CultCast: Apple’s 13-year record revenue streak is broken; our best picture yet of iPhone 7’s features; rumors point to a faster, untethered Apple Watch 2; Apple has a huge increase in R&D spending, but where’s the money going? And stick around for more stories from the Cult of Mac. This time, a 15-year-old builds one of the world’s most impressive Apple collections.
Our thanks for Freshbooks for supporting this episode. FreshBooks is the easy-to-use invoicing software designed to help small business owners get organized, save time invoicing and get paid faster. Get started now with a 30-day free trial.
When you’re looking to create special, one-of-a-kind photo on your iPad, you might be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of choices out there. We’ve taken some time to find the best apps for photo editing on the iPad and create some step-by-step how-tos to ensure you get the best results.
Whether you’re just looking to out-game your Instagram buddies or create a stunning double exposure photo on your iPad, here are the 7 best ways to make your photos pop.
While we’ve heard reports of smartphones catching fire before, usually this is the result of dodgy third-party charging cables being used.
Not so with a new report claiming that one user’s Samsung’s Galaxy S6 edge+ suffered a similar fate — while being plugged into an official Samsung charger!
The feds may not have paid quite as much money as we previously thought to unlock the iPhone at the center of the San Bernardino shooting case — with a new report claiming that it was less than the $1.3 million+ sum widely reported in the media last week.
Whether it’s hosting a show on Beats 1, sporting a vintage Apple jacket, or having his music tirelessly promoted in Apple Music ads, Drake’s about as established a part of Cupertino these days as Eddy Cue’s collection of Hawaiian shirts.
No surprise then that everyone’s favorite Canadian Degrassi actor-turned-bad-boy-rapper just chose iTunes and Apple Music as the place to debut his new, fourth studio album Views.
The tragic death at Apple’s 1 Infinite Loop headquarters this week has been identified by police as 25-year-old software engineer Edward Thomas Mackowiak.
Police were called to Apple’s HQ at 8.35am on Wednesday, along with paramedics. Mackowiak was discovered dead in a conference room, reportedly as the result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Investigators have revealed that “no foul play” was involved, and that this was an “isolated incident.”
Apple has released a major update for Apple Music for Android that adds support for music videos to the app. The app, however, continues to remain in beta.
Apple doesn’t spend the least of any huge company on security for head Tim Cook, but it’s way less than we expected.
Considering the iPhone maker is the biggest company, well, ever, we thought that its board might be especially interested in shelling out some major coin to keep Cook safe. But we looked at several different corporations, and Apple’s spending on CEO security is on the lower end.
Like the way lower end. As in, you would not believe how much Facebook pays to keep founder and head Mark Zuckerberg alive.
What a magical world we live in. We can lift our Apple Watch up to listen to music, talk to our friends, and (yes) even tell the time.
If you’re an Apple TV user, you can send your Apple Watch tunes to the big screen, and you can even control your Apple TV right from your wrist.
Simply magical. Here’s how to control your Apple TV with your Apple Watch.
We’ve got a pair of refurbished Apple gadgets, as well as an impressive bundle for the current-gen 27-inch iMac. Find these deals and more in our roundup of this week’s best Apple bargains.