Cult of Mac

We’re hearing some rumblings and grumblings that Apple might start producing original content to go along with an updated version of its Apple TV streaming box, and do you know who isn’t worried about it? Netflix.

Reed Hastings, CEO of the giant streaming service, spoke to CNN to discuss his company’s new availability in Japan and its future plans to expand into all of Asia, and he could not have sounded less concerned when the interviewer asked about the rumors of the Cupertino company getting into content creation.

History is full of DIY flying machines, including the occasional Joe who ties a bunch of helium balloons to his lawn chair.

So it was only a matter of time before someone would figure out the number of drone propellers it would take to put a man in the air The answer is 54.

A British man may have made the first manned drone flight, if there can be such a category, when he fastened a 54 rotors from quadcopters to make a personal helicopter he dubbed the Swarm.

I’m just about tired enough of my green Apple Watch Sport band to be ready for a new color soon.

Lucky for me (and probably the rest of you who feel the same way), the latest rumor out of the blogosphere is that Apple will announce new colors at the September 9 event at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium next week.

Amazon’s Wi-Fi enabled Dash buttons are finally here, turning your home into a veritable vending machine for essential home items like laundry soap, pet food, paper towels, and more.

Better yet, when you order one — each costs about $5 — you’ll get your five bucks back the first time you use it to purchase an item from Amazon, making the buttons essentially free.

More and more these days, mobile websites will pop up a prompt to download an app associated with the site. This “app install interstitial” hides most of the actual web page and bugs users to essentially stop browsing the web and head to an app store and install an app. App install prompts suck.

“Our analysis shows that it is not a good search experience,” Google asserts in a new blog post, “and can be frustrating for users because they are expecting to see the content of the web page.”

As of Tuesday, web masters can use Google’s updated Mobile-Friendly Test page or Google’s mobile usability tools to find out if they have any offending pages.

The NFL’s 2015 season is set to kick off next week and to provide more coverage than ever of this year’s gridiron action, CBS announced that it will stream two regular season games, four playoff games and the Super Bowl 50 to Apple TV for free

The Polaroid Snap is a new 10-megapixel camera that instantly prints out photos you take without any ink. It works with ZINK paper that produces 2-inch-by-3-inch prints and essentially lets you keep physical copies of photos you’d put on Instagram and probably quickly forget about.

Believe it or not, it’s also pretty affordable.

The release of iOS 9 is upon us, so the time is nigh to get familiar with Apple’s powerful new operating system. We’ve found a bundle of courses with over 50 hours of hands-on training that’ll get you all caught up with the essentials of developing for iOS and its Swift coding language. These courses teach key lessons by building actual, working apps. Even better, these hundreds of courses are going for 87 percent off, just $49 at Cult of Mac Deals.

The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus haven’t even been revealed yet, but the rumor mill is already spitting out new details about next year’s iPhone 7, which could boast a big display upgrade.

Apple is supposedly considering moving back to the same touchscreen technology it used in the original iPhone, according to a new rumor citing supply chain sources, saying Apple has requested samples of glass-on-glass (G/G) displays for consideration.

Project Titan, Apple’s hundreds-strong car initiative, may be continuing to ramp up, but according to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, it’ll be a while before we see an Apple car.

In a new research note to clients, Munster suggests that an Apple-branded automobile is close to a decade away — although that’s not going to stop it from affecting Apple’s stock price in the meantime.

Because who needs more than rumors to decide how Apple’s doing, right?

Maybe your Apple Watch doesn’t always do its best work on your wrist. There are functions and situations that need rapt attention, making looking down at your wrist inconvenient, or even risky.

For those moments, the Apple accessory manufacturer Satechi has come up with an Apple Watch grip mount, ideal for bike and motorcycle handlebars, steering wheels and treadmills.

Apple may have been the first to put Force Touch technology in a smartwatch, but Huawei has beaten the Cupertino company to putting it inside a phone.

At the IFA trade show in Berlin today, Huawei used the Force Touch display in its new Mate S smartphone to weigh an orange, a week before the technology is expected to make its way to the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.

The price tag for the redesigned Apple TV will start at $149, according to a new report that also outlines how Apple plans to set its new set-top box apart from Roku and Amazon’s offerings by making it ridiculously easy to use.

There are more than 1.6 million iOS apps, but if you had to guess the top downloaded games and apps of all time worldwide, chances are good you would get a near-perfect score just by looking at your iPhone.

Four of the top 10 are apps from to Facebook, while Candy Crush, Fruit Ninja and Angry Birds continue to dominate the games section of the iOS App Store.

Apple’s iPhones might be on the verge of a big refresh this month, but that doesn’t make them any less appealing to those looking to take a break from Android.

In Europe, 27 percent of smartphone shoppers swapped their Android for an iPhone last quarter, while 9 percent of consumers made the same switch in the U.S.

Android Wear made the leap to iOS yesterday, meaning that iPhone owners can now buy and use Android Wear smartwatches should they feel so inclined.

One thing they can’t do, however, is to use Apple’s HealthKit platform to monitor their Android Wear fitness data. According to Apple, data such as step count and heart rate can only be tracked via the Google Fit dashboard — meaning that health-conscious users will want to hang onto their Apple Watches.

And somewhat surprisingly, the decision was entirely Google’s.

Apple’s eagerly-anticipated $5 billion “spaceship” Apple campus is coming along nicely, according to a new drone video shot by Silicon Valley-based photographer/videographer Duncan Sinfield.

Using a DJI Inspire 1 drone to fly over the construction site, Sinfield’s skilfully-edited video not only includes annotated descriptions of what viewers are seeing, but also progress comparisons with footage from early August, and even a nifty voiceover from none other than Steve Jobs — taken from his Cupertino City Council pitch in 2011.

Check it out below.

Chances are that when you hear about an iPhone saving someone’s life it’s by letting them call emergency services at a crucial time, or maybe alerting them of a potential medical disaster.

During a recent armed robbery, however, iPhones demonstrated another use: saving a Fresno State student from a potentially life-altering shooting by stopping a bullet in its tracks.

Not content with competing with Apple in the smartphone and wearables category, noted ripoff artists Xiaomi are reportedly considering unveiling their very first notebook computer early in 2016.

Finally! Apple has added a small yet incredibly useful feature to the way iOS 9 handles Bluetooth devices.

In the past, you’d have to drop into the Bluetooth settings, tap on an offending Bluetooth device, and tell your iPhone or iPad to Forget the device, just to re-pair it or use the built in speakers. I can’t tell you how much time I’ve spent doing that, especially when I get a call while connected to a speakerphone-capable audio device; I have a lot of Bluetooth speakers.

Now however, Apple’s added a little extra so you can disconnect from a Bluetooth device instead of Forget it entirely, making it much easier to, say, stop using a specific speaker and return to your iPhone’s built-in speaker.

Here’s how.

Looking for the closest legal medical marijuana dispensary? How about a like-minded 420-friendly soulmate to share your life (and stash) with?

A new batch of pot-centric apps are now available that let you join in on the high times from the comfort of your own smartphone.

One way I can often determine if an app is worth my time is by putting it through a specific test. If I get so sucked into an app that I forget I’m actually supposed to be gathering thoughts to write up a review, it’s because that app is generally pretty awesome. I had this somewhat rare experience with Recolor, a new coloring book app for adults on iOS.

Apple is looking to create its own original content, and according to a new report, that almost included signing former ESPN ‘Sports Guy’ Bill Simmons to provide an exclusive podcast for Apple users.

ESPN abrupty announced that they would not be renewing Simmons’ contract earlier this year, which led Apple media boss Eddy Cue to gauge the ESPN star’s interest in creating an exclusive audio podcast deal, before he decided to sign on a multi-platform deal with HBO.

With a mere $1,259.95, you can now buy a professional camera drone from the Apple Store.

Called the DJI Phantom 3, it shoots 4K video with a bottom mounted 12 megapixel camera, has a 3-axis stabilization system, and you can run it all from your iPhone or its own remote controller.

You know, for all those legal drone shots you want to take.