This week on The CultCast: With the FBI-versus-Apple privacy battle heating up, some lawyers say Tim Cook could land in jail; why Siri in the next version of OS X may point to redesigned MacBooks; and, just how much would you pay for a box of Steve Jobs’ old crap? Plus we pitch you our favorite tech and apps in an all-new Faves ‘N Raves!
Apple avoided a potentially embarrassing incident by altering OS X marketing materials on its website to make the word “click” in the slogan “There’s more to love with every click” look … well, less like a certain term for the male sexual apparatus that begins with a “D.”
More and more videos are being shot on iPhones and iPads, and if you’re looking for a great video editing app to help you make the most out of your footage, you’ll find it with Videoshop — the ultra-popular movie editing app which currently carries a 4.5-star rating in the App Store, following more than 2,100 reviews.
The best news? Right now, it’s available for free, down from its usual price of $1.99.
Everyone associates the Mac’s creation with Steve Jobs (with very good reason), but there is another person without whom we wouldn’t have Apple’s iconic home computers: user interface guru Jef Raskin, who passed away on February 26, 2005 — exactly 11 years ago today.
Raskin not only named the Macintosh — after his favorite type of apple, the McIntosh (even though that spelling was already being used by an audio company) — he also gave the lovable computer some of its lasting personality traits.
Anyone who eats out with friends has likely used their iPhone to split the bill at some point, perhaps making a few extra pluses or minuses according to whether your friend ordered the gold-plated lobster thermidor while you went for a salad and a glass of water.
But a new iOS app in the making promises to make bill-paying a whole lot more contentious: by splitting it based on the race and gender of those people eating at the same table.
Because why should billionaire Oprah Winfrey have to pay the same amount as my pallid white Cult of Android friend, Killian Bell?
Color us somewhat unsurprised, but all five remaining GOP presidential candidates are siding with the FBI over Apple in the ongoing disagreement over whether Apple should help hack the iPhone of one of the dead San Bernardino shooters — thereby setting a potential precedent regarding future user security.
We fully support efforts to reuse and recycle garbage, but two Apple Watch scammers are using their conservation powers for evil.
The Encinitas, California sheriff’s department is on the lookout for these men (pictured above), who have worked out an effective and completely infuriating way to convert a water bottle and a few paper towels into hundreds of dollars. And authorities are offering a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to their arrest.
Selfie sticks are bad enough, and while we’ve not seen anyone taking photos with an iPad and a long stick yet, here’s something even wackier: a MacBook on the end of a stick.
Created by an artist collective and showing on the streets of New York City, the oversize selfie sticks seem to be making the point that perhaps the technology that serves our obsession with selfies should be as outsize as our egos.
Apple has officially asked a judge to dismiss a court order requiring the company to unlock a terrorist’s iPhone at the FBI’s request.
We knew the legal filing was coming, but now we have the actual defenses Apple is using to defend its refusal to create what it calls a “GovtOS” that would let officials potentially bypass the security measures of millions of iPhones. The 65-page document released today details Apple’s history of assistance in the case — and the reasons it believes the original order is both bothersome and possibly illegal.
The FBI’s demand that Apple build a backdoor into a terrorist’s iPhone has done the seemingly impossible by getting Microsoft, Google and Apple all on the same team.
Many of the country’s top tech firms have revealed that they will file friend-of-the court briefs in defense of Apple’s position that no company should be compelled by the government to break its own security and thus put the public safety of millions of users at risk.
The new Apple Store coming soon to San Francisco appears to be making decent progress. Leo Cheng snapped a nice photo from Solano Labs across the street from the new location and tweeted it at us. The store still looks like a hot mess, but the workers are apparently working on the glass doors for the entrance in this picture. Take a look.
Want to get your hands on the latest, greatest iOS and OS X features for your iPhone, iPad, and Mac before anyone else does? Do you love checking out all the new stuff in iOS 9 and OS X El Capitan so you can be the first to comment on them?
All you need to do is sign up for the Apple Beta Software Program, and you’ll be able to access the public betas of these flagship operating systems before they’re available to the rank and file.
Here’s how to sign up for (and install) Apple’s latest public betas.
The U.S. House Judiciary Committee announced both FBI director James Comey and Apple’s general counsel Bruce Sewell are testifying at a congressional hearing on encryption March 1. The saga is far from over, since both will state their cases on the matter of whether the government should have access to users’ iPhone data.
The congressional hearing ultimately revolves around a single question: how can the FBI efficiently do what’s necessary to combat threats without invading users’ privacy and potentially making iOS a more vulnerable operating system? Right now there are two polar opposite positions.
As we store more and more of our information digitally, it becomes more important than ever to make sure our data is safeguarded. To ensure security, you should always use strong and unique passwords.
Password manager apps aren’t hard to use, and once you get started, they actually offer you more convenience than any other way of maintaining and storing passwords. Not convinced? Let me help you understand….
Apple released a very small update for third-generation Apple TV owners today. The update still shows up as iOS 8.4.1 but has a new build number, so it’s probably just a bug fix update. If you plan to stick by your third-gen Apple TV for a while, it’s probably worth downloading.
Google’s neural network continues to amaze. With a new deep-learning machine called PlaNet, which has been trained by 126 million images and their accompanying EXIF data, it has picked up the “superhuman” ability to pinpoint the location of almost any photo.
Apple plans to make future versions of iOS so secure even it can’t hack it, and the company is wasting no time stocking up on talented developers that specialize in encryption.
One of the iPhone-maker’s most recent hires, Frederic Jacobs, was previously a lead developer for Signal, which has earned a name as one of the most secure messaging apps available. It’s so good, it’s become a favorite of former NSA-contractor Edward Snowden who says he uses it everyday.
You can’t beat the sound quality (or comfort) of a good pair of on-ear wireless headphones, but working out with most pairs can be an exercise in moisture management with a side of stink-appeal.
These new Hellas headphones from Urbanears solve that problem with a removable, machine-washable headband and ear cup. You simply pull off the mesh-covered bits, toss them in the provided net laundry bag, and drop them in your washing machine. You’ll never have to deal with smelly, sweaty headphones again.
Apple TV does apps, and you could be the next breakout star of the App Store with these new educational videos straight from the mothership.
Apple’s providing developers with 11 new video tech talks to help you understand how it all works, in hopes that even more developers and designers will choose Apple TV for their next project.
One of the best email clients for the iPhone just got even better. Spark, which promises that “you are going to like your email again,” is now available for the iPad as well. And this isn’t an all-too-common instance of developers just stretching out the iPhone version of their app and calling it a day. Spark is fully optimized for the iPad’s larger display.
Caution: Weasel-words ahead! FBI director James Comey today defended iPhone hacking again, this time in front of a congressional panel — saying that it was absolutely a one-off case which wouldn’t set a precedent, only to acknowledge that the verdict “will be instructive for other courts” in future.
Comey also said that he thinks this question needs to be resolved by Congress — backing up an argument that Apple has made this week.
Think of someone burning an address on a folded slip of flash paper and maybe you imagine a bad guy in a gangster movie. But it’s an approach that’s good for anybody who wants to keep their information private, and Blur does the digital equivalent.
It’s a surefire way to keep your digital dealing private and secure, and right now it’s only $29 for a two-year subscription.
If, like me, you live in the U.K., you get bad weather, gray skies, and a baffling international reputation for bland cuisine and poor dental hygiene — but also free London travel for certain Apple Pay customers on selected days in January.
That’s because MasterCard is revisiting its pre-Christmas promotion, by offering more of its “Free Fare Mondays” on the London Underground to promote Apple Pay.
Not a bad trade-off if you ask me!
Do you know FaceSwap Live? It’s this wonderfully grotesque app created by Laan Labs that lets you switch faces with anyone using your iPhone camera.
There’s all sorts of awesomely surreal uses for the app, but I don’t know a better one than what Rhett LeCompte did: He used FaceSwap Live to sing every single part in the 1985 supergroup classic, “We Are the World.”
We don’t know if Apple head Tim Cook’s office got a good going-over before ABC News stopped by last night, but we like to think that it’s always that tidy.
The CEO appeared on World News Tonight to discuss privacy and the company’s ongoing conflict with the FBI, but it was significant for another reason. And both Cook and anchor David Muir couldn’t help but point it out.
“Thanks for having us in your office,” Muir said. “I don’t think we’ve ever done an interview in your office before.”
“I’m not sure I’ve ever done an interview in the office,” Cook replied.
So what does the head of Apple keep handy when he’s hard at work? A lot of cool stuff, actually.