More iOS 9 news and reviews than you can handle! Cover: Stephen Smith/Cult of Mac
We’re excited about all the cool new “whiz-bang” features in iOS 9 as well as the hundreds of tiny little improvements that will make your iPhone and iPad much better to use.
This week, we’re sharing that joy with you as we take a deep dive into iOS 9’s killer new features, how to upgrade the right way, an abundance of tiny tricks you need to know, and some of the best apps already rocking iOS 9.
Take a look at Cult of Mac Magazine to fill your head with all this great content.
Is it fair to compare (adoption rates)? Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
iOS 9 has been out for two days, and it’s already running on more than 20 percent of compatible devices, according to the latest data. In comparison, Google’s latest Android release, version 5.1 Lollipop, is running on just 5.1 percent of devices ten months after it made its public debut.
These figures highlight the staggering difference between updates on Android and iOS. But is it fair to compare adoption figures between these two platforms, and do users really care?
Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight between Cult of Androidand Cult of Mac as we battle it out over this very topic!
Developer Marco Arment pulled his iOS 9 content blocker from the App Store two days after launching it. He says it “just doesn’t feel good” to be profiting from his app Peace while taking money away from advertisers and publishers. He’s even offering refunds to anyone who already bought Peace expecting updates and support down the line, which they now won’t be getting.
Keep your dirty words out of the Notes app. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
The busier my life gets, the more disorganized I become. I fumble for a notepad when I’m out and want to get someone’s phone number. I think of get short story ideas when I’m in the shower, and I have tons of books and movies I want to get (usually when I’m broke). Don’t get me started on shopping lists. Who has time to write those out?
My digital life is just as disorganized. There are web links to save, photos of stuff I want to share with friends, and notes I need to refer to while writing articles on the web. They’re each in their own separate apps or websites, making pulling everything together a pain.
Notes in iOS 9 solves this dilemma by allowing us all to keep all our photos, notes, shopping lists in the one place we’re most likely to find it: on our iPhones.
Better yet, you can dictate an idea for your next screenplay right out of the shower, then pick up your iPad when you get to work and resume it right there.
Here’s how to get the most out of your new Notes app, and never be disorganized again.
For the first time ever, Apple fans will soon be able to buy an Apple device directly from the company’s Cupertino headquarters.
Apple’s Company Store at 1 Infinite Loop is set to reopen this weekend, and along with selling special products like shirts, jackets, mugs, pens, the Company Store will now stock iPhones, iPads, and Macs for visitors to purchase.
Tim Cook has said bringing Apple Pay to China is a top priority. Photo: Photo: Adrian Korte CC
Apple Pay is a bit closer to making its debut in China — thanks to a new company, Apple Technology Service (Shanghai) Ltd., which Apple has set up to operate in the Shanghai free-trade zone with the express purpose of running its mobile payment service.
Apple has reportedly seeded the new company with registered capital of $13.4 million, and names Apple’s VP and corporate treasurer Gary Joseph Wipfler as its legal representative and chairman.
Get 6 months of Pandora One, with zero ads, more 'skips', and improved audio quality. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
Pandora basically invented a whole new way of listening to music when it unveiled its brand of personalized internet radio. While many of us use the freebie version of Pandora’s service, with limited functionality and regular ads, right now you can get a great deal on a 6-month subscription to Pandora One, their top tier option, for just $24 at Cult of Mac Deals.
The polls don't open for several months, but you can express your feelings with art about Republican candidate Donald Trump. Illustration: David Pierini/Cult of Mac with Paint with Donald Trump
Just when voters thought the 2016 presidential election was a blank canvass, Donald Trump’s face started making a splash. Now you, too, can make a splash with Trumps face on a blank canvass.
The website, Paint with Donald Trump, lets you select from eight different faces of the billionaire Republican candidate and three different sized brushes, which clone his likeness with every click and drag.
Apple Watch just racked up another well-deserved award win — being named the year’s best gadget at top U.K. consumer technology event, the T3 Awards.
“Once again Apple have produced a product that has galvanized a market,” said T3 editor Rob Carney. “In a year of outstanding new products, this stood out to all of the judges and voting public as THE outstanding tech of 2015. The tech and fashion media have nothing in common, yet both enthused about Apple Watch. That says it all about this high-style, high-tech, highly personal device. It’s a worthy winner of the 2015 Gadget of the Year.”
Tim Cook allegedly plans to use the BMW i3's body for Apple Car. Photo: BMW
Apple met with officials at California’s Department of Motor Vehicles to discuss plans to test its self-driving Apple Car on public roads, according to a new report.
What does this mean? Quite possibly that we’re set to get a glimpse of the Apple car a lot sooner than most people figured.
Corning's could have a new Samsung-shaped rival in its future. Photo: Corning's
Not content with making displays, memory chips, storage, and whatever else for rival handsets, Samsung is reportedly looking to take on Corning’s with a shatterproof Gorilla Glass alternative — currently code-named “Turtle.”
Is the Apple Watch still searching for that magical "must have" app? Photo: Apple
The Apple Watch is still searching for its “killer app,” claims a new report — arguing that the lack of a “must have” use-case is stopping Apple’s wearable device from achieving its sales potential.
The analysts in question suggest that the Apple Watch will sell between 9-12 million units this year.
Move to iOS wasn’t made by Apple. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Android
Apple brought its first Android app to the Play Store earlier this week, making it easy to transfer all of your data to an iPhone should you choose to switch. But it turns out the app isn’t really Apple’s; it’s actually a rebranded version of an existing Android app.
The EU wants gadgets that are easier to fix and upgrade. Photo: iFixit
We’ve gotten our first look at the guts of the latest Apple hardware thanks to an iPad Mini 4 teardown that’s appeared online, and the new tablet from the Cupertino company is looking really familiar. But we don’t mean that in a bad way.
Repair-advise site iFixit has sacrificed one of the devices in the name of science and education, and its findings reveal that at its heart, the iPad Mini 4 is a smaller version of the upper-tier iPad Air 2. Here’s what the carnage revealed.
These apps are garnering a ton of attention and reaching the top of the paid app charts. With so many content blockers out there, what’s the difference? Why choose one over the other? It’s so confusing, so we did a little digging. Here’s what we’ve found out.
We're finally seeing some visible progress on the new Apple Campus. Photo: Above Reno (via YouTube)
Just when we thought we were getting bored with Apple Campus 2 flyover videos, one has arisen that shows how cool this building is going to be.
If you do a YouTube search for Apple’s future headquarters in Cupertino, you can follow its progress from a huge hole in the ground to something that looks like it might, one day, possibly be a building. But YouTube user Above Reno went 250 miles out of its usual domain to capture some impressive, 4K footage over Labor Day weekend that shows that things are coming along now.
The booq Shadow keeps what you're carrying in the dark. Photo: booq
A shadow is a form of great substance that keeps its details hidden. Such was the inspiration for the designers at booq with a new messenger bag aptly named for what it does not reveal – your expensive tech gear.
The Shadow, available in gray and black, is elegantly spare in its look, which is part of its m.o. to discreetly carry your computer and other valuables.
Be careful how you unlock these Samsung devices; Apple might sue you.
Samsung might soon be legally forbidden from continuing to rip off Apple.
In a 2-1 decision today, a federal appeals court ruled that the monetary damages another court ordered the South Korean company to pay Apple last year wasn’t enough; it also had to stop using those design elements that infringe upon Cupertino’s patents.
Best Buy is preparing for shoppers wanting iPads. Photo: Apple
If you want to use the new gee-whiz features of iOS 9, like Picture in Picture to FaceTime with your significant other while you write a paper in Pages, or you want to Slide Over a Twitter app to keep track of all the goings on while you surf the web, you’re going to need a newer device.
However, all is not lost if you have an older device. Most of the power of iOS 9 is under the hood, making even older devices just a little more battery efficient, just a bit more useful.
Lucidchart takes advantage of iOS 9's productivity upgrades to make digital diagramming simple. Photo: Lucid Software
This post is brought to you by Lucid Software, maker of Lucidchart.
Visual diagrams are one of the best ways of conveying complex ideas to audiences and collaborators. Making them is also an invitation to get frustrated by how little diagramming software has apparently advanced in recent years (people still use Visio?).
We live in an age of sleek design and intuitive user interfaces, so why is it still easier to scrawl a simple chart on a napkin than to draft one on a computer or iPad?
Microsoft's CEO loves the iPhone. Photo: Salesforce
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was spotted using an iPhone at Salesforce’s Dreamforce conference this week, and while Nadella insisted the device wasn’t actually his, he was all too proud to show off the amazing apps his company is making for it.
Nadella even gave his device a new name, dubbing it the ‘iPhone Pro’ (a little knock on the iPad Pro that was recently announced) because it was running all of Microsoft’s apps.
Uvex's Variotronic sunglasses darken up at the touch of a button. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
LAS VEGAS — If you noticed a substantial drop in leg-shaved and Lycra-clad bicyclists on the roads in your part of the world it is because they are all taking a spin in Sin City.
They didn’t come for the penny slots, forced air and big-ass beers, though. They made the pilgrimage to Vegas to attend the annual mega-bike show known as Interbike. It brings out industry giants like Giro and Shimano, but the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well too, with small builders and garage tinkerers showing off their latest big ideas.
Cult of Mac walked the show floor on day one look at it all. Here is some of the coolest new stuff we found.
The Miragii pendant can project messages onto your hand and stores an earpiece for calls or music. Photo: Miraggi
Some fashion and tech pundits have written that the Apple Watch is a little industrial looking or too geeky to appeal to women. Why can’t a woman be connected in feminine style?
A startup company says she absolutely can with a smart necklace that looks like a stunning piece of jewelry while equipped with a tiny projector that displays texts and calls onto the hand.