This is what happens when you put all your eggs in one Apple basket. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
More evidence is piling up suggesting that iPhone sales may be weakening, with multiple Apple suppliers reporting lower revenues as a direct result of “weak iPhone 6s and 6s Plus sales.”
When your standard smoke or carbon monoxide detector starts shrieking, the Leeo Smart Alert leaps into action. Photo:Traci Dauphin
If you’ve ever lived through a house fire, you know how devastating it can be. The fear of fire leaves many homeowners anxious, especially when they are away from home. The Leeo Smart Alert is here to save the day.
LAS VEGAS — The makers of a powerful new battery pack called the iTron claim it can be fully charged to 9,000 mAh in an astonishing 18 minutes. Even better, in just three short minutes, it slurps up enough power to recharge an iPhone 6.
To make the package even more enticing, the quick-juicing battery pack charges on a dock that offers three USB ports, so it can become a full-blown charging station for multiple devices.
Don't worry, he's still rich. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Apple CEO Tim Cook made approximately $10.3 million in 2015 — $10,281,327 to be exact. That is up only a tad from the $9.2 million he earned in 2014. The other executives at Apple all made around $25 million each for the year. Sure, it’s rough to place the word “only” in front of a ten million dollar check, but in Cook’s case, he is making significantly less than the other execs.
LAS VEGAS — Who says everything at CES is rubbish?
Well, yeah, there’s a lot crap, but that’s why we’re here — to rummage through the rubbish and find the best stuff.
And we found plenty: smart footballs and running shorts that improve your game and gait; a coffee mug that instantly cools coffee that’s too hot; and a speaker system that uses all the iPhones in a room to create a distributed, shared sound system that sounds better than you’d imagine.
Are you predicting big things from Apple next year? Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
2016 has not exactly been a spectacular year for Apple. There have been some nice highlights, like major changes to the MacBook Pro lineup and the wildly successful AirPods, but it hasn’t really been a year to remember for fans or investors.
Will 2017 be different? We know the next-generation iPhone will be big, but does Apple have more up its sleeve that will help turn around its fortunes and make the next year a spectacular one?
Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we battle it out over Apple in 2017.
Walt Mossberg has had his say on what Apple needs to fix most: its software.
Now it’s your turn to weigh in with your own opinion–which specific software should Apple fix? We’ve created two polls for you to express your opinion, one for OS X on the Mac and one for iOS on the iPhone and iPad.
Is Apple Mail giving you fits on your Mac? Does Photos on your iPad not fill you with joy? Let us know in the polls below.
If we missed the software you think should be in Apple’s sights for fixing, let us know in the comments.
Remix OS has a dedicated desktop UI. Photo: Jide Technology
Android has long been available on desktops in some form, but it has never been done right. That’s going to change later this month with Remix OS, a platform that brings Android to almost any Mac and PC — and makes it usable by adding a familiar desktop interface.
Stack even more awesome on your iPhone with these audio accessories. Photo: Stacked
Stacked, the wireless charging case that charges your iPhone with a series of stackable power banks, is expanding it’s line of useful, connected devices to help simplify your life and fill it with music.
The company is showing off it’s two new audio accessories at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this week in Las Vegas. The Audio Dock and Boost Speaker connect to your iPhone via the magnetic system of the Stacked power case, reducing wires and making sure you never forget your external speaker at work again.
The first is a charger for their 20-pound battery packs; the second is a website that lets wannabe owners nominate their hometowns to become Gogoro hubs.
The Saratoga wireless speaker. Photo: Acoustic Research
If music is one of the lights of your life, then shouldn’t your speakers shine, too?
Acoustic Research introduced a new line of wireless speakers that offer quality sound, a design attractive indoors and out and a customizable, multi-color LED light to fit the mood of your music and social scene.
Easily clear out your iPhone's hidden files to release gigs of needlessly wasted storage. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
Behind your iPhone’s sleek exterior is a messy interior life, the electronic equivalent of beer can pyramids and old pizza boxes. iMyfone is there to clean up your iPhone’s (or iPad’s or iPod’s) act, cleaning out your device’s digital junk drawers and freeing up space that shouldn’t have been taken up to begin with. It’s a surefire way to kick your mobile’s hoarding habit for $15.99.
Think you have game? PIQ will give you the data to help you prove or improve. Photo: PIQ
Your god gave you athletic gifts, or so you believe. But don’t listen to yourself or buddies who play alongside you and talk trash about your skills.
PIQ, a multi-sport sensor, can quickly tease out the divine delusion with Earthly performance metrics that, if you’re honest with yourself, can help you improve your game, whether its golf, tennis, skiing or 21 other sports.
Gear S2 will play in Apple’s back yard. Photo: Samsung
Samsung is making its Gear S2 smartwatch compatible with iPhone to give it an even great chance at competing with Apple Watch and Android Wear. Its latest wearable will get an update later this year that will make it iPhone-friendly.
Walt Mossberg speaking with Steve Jobs back in the day. Photo: Joi Ito/Flickr CC
Walt Mossberg was Steve Jobs’ favorite critic, and has long been one of the most respected Apple analysts out there — with some people even arguing that he can be too forgiving when it comes to Cupertino’s mistakes.
But in a new article about what tech companies should do to improve in 2016, Mossberg has no problem taking aim at something a lot of people view as Apple’s big weakness right now: its software.
The App Store was a massive success over the holiday season. Photo: PhotoAtelier/Flickr CC
Apple had a record-breaking holiday season for the App Store, with customers spending over $1.1 billion on apps and in-app purchases in the two weeks culminating on January 3.
The first day of 2016 alone accounted for more than $144 million — smashing the previous one-day record, which was set just one week earlier on Christmas day.
Tim Cook meeting an iPhone manufacturer in China. Photo: Apple
iPhone manufacturer Foxconn is taking the unusual step of cutting the hours of employees building Apple handsets during the upcoming weeklong Lunar New Year holiday next February.
The planned slowdown follows reports that Apple is cutting orders for the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus by up to 30 percent, which is causing investors to hammer Apple stock.
Olloclip is cementing its reputation as a leading iPhone accessory maker. Photo: Olloclip
Olloclip has long been one of the best accessory-makers for the iPhone. At CES, the company introduced its latest innovation — a brand new protective case for the iPhone, which features a patent-pending integrated rail-mounting system and a series of mountable photography accessories.
Sony's Glass Sound Speaker shines a new light on portable audio. Photo: Lewis Wallace/Cult of Mac
LAS VEGAS — For all Sony’s talk about high-definition audio and video during its CES press conference, the company’s most intriguing new product is a weird glass speaker with LED lights that looks something like a tubular hurricane lamp.
Called the Glass Sound Speaker, it’s a refreshing twist on the ordinary Bluetooth speaker that is certain to add a unique ambiance to any room. I’m not sure how it sounds, but its soothing, candle-like glow practically screams sophistication.
Is this the most attractive Apple Watch band yet? Photo: Apple
Apple appears to be set to launch a brand new Apple Watch band in the form of a 42mm Space Black Milanese Loop band for Space Black steel watches — and it looks gorgeous!
Wi-Fi Assist is very useful, except when it's not. Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac
A San Francisco teenager recently found themselves on the receiving end of a massive $2,021.07 phone bill — courtesy of iOS 9’s Wi-Fi Assist feature, which automatically switches phones to use cellular service when the owner is in an area with a weak Wi-Fi signal.
Teen Ashton Finegold made the unpleasant discovery that his bedroom was such a place, which meant that while he thought he was connected to his home Wi-Fi setup, his iPhone actually clocked up 144,000 MB of cellular data.
CloudMagic is now available on your desktop. Photo: CloudMagic
For managing multiple mail accounts on the go, nothing beats the brilliant CloudMagic. It packs everything you need in an email app — and a whole lot more — and supports almost every mail service you can throw at it. And now it’s finally available on your Mac!
Okay, but does it have any LEDs? Photo: First Alert
We like HomeKit; don’t get us wrong. Apple’s automation framework has taken our relationship with our lights to strange, wonderful, and not at all awkward new places. And we like the potential of saving money on energy with smart thermostats, getting smoke and carbon monoxide alarms directly on our phones, and using our iPhone or Apple Watch like a virtual bouncer to control who gets into our homes.
That’s the problem, though — that’s basically all anyone’s done with HomeKit. And it’s mostly lights and plugs.
But First Alert has arrived to bust us out of this rut with a promising device that sounds both useful and eminently futuristic: a HomeKit-compatible safe. And if that doesn’t fill you with dreams and vision for what automation can mean, we’re sure you’ll enjoy your bulbs. We really do.
Kia's concept for a fully autonomous car, which we'll all NOT be driving in 2030. Plus, we'll all be living in gleaming Sky Discs. Photo: Kia
LAS VEGAS — It’s not gadgets that are making the news here at CES 2016, but cars.
For example, at a press event this afternoon the Korean car giant Kia said all of its cars will be fully autonomous by 2030. Not just its high-end vehicles — all the cars it makes. And that’s just 14 years away.
That means you be able to curl up in the back and sleep while the robot drives — or not be in the car at all. It’ll drive itself to the airport to pick you up.
Kia is joined by dozens of other companies with futuristic visions of the car. Both Detroit and Silicon Valley are here at CES 2016 to talk up future cars, which are mostly electric and autonomous. It includes Ford, VW, Toyota and lots of others.