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Internet musical asks, ‘What would Steve Jobs do?’

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Who better to turn to in your moment of need?
Photo: Burning Man: The Musical

If you ever find yourself asking “What would Steve Jobs do?” in a bleak moment of crisis, you may well find yourself enjoying the latest would-be viral video.

Called Burning Man: The Musical, the short music video portrays the excitement around the annual Burning Man hippie-fest-turned-tech-networking-event, where zillionaire CEOs get together and pretend to be penniless beatniks for a couple of days, while staying in air-conditioned wigwams and attending $15,000-per-head parties.

Oh, and the video’s got a great Steve Jobs-themed song, too.

Double the apps in your iOS dock with Doubler

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Want double the dock icons? Install Docker.
Want double the dock icons? Install Docker.
Photo: Modmyi

Let’s face it: the dock gets crowded. Even on the iPad, the short row of icons Apple gives us at the bottom of our iOS homepage is always too little.

You can fill your dock with folders if you want to cram more apps there… or you can download this neat little jailbreak tweak, which doubles the amount of icons you can put in your dock.

Steve Jobs movie isn’t really about Steve Jobs at all, says Kate Winslet

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Kate Winslet (left) plays Joanna Hoffman (right) in Steve Jobs.
Winslet says the Mac's legendary marketing guru was one of the few people who didn't need anything from Steve Jobs.
Photo: Kate Winslet/Joanna Hoffman

The Steve Jobs movie isn’t really about Steve Jobs at all, claims actress Kate Winslet, who plays Joanna Hoffman, the legendary Macintosh marketing chief, in the upcoming film.

In a new interview, Winslet opens up about the movie, and says that it is more about one man’s ability to change the world — for better or worse.

Neil Young admits his iPod competitor is having a hard time

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Neil Young's high-res audio player is having a touch time taking off.
Neil Young's high-res audio player is having a touch time taking off.
Photo: Pono

After years spent whining about how the iPod was killing the music industry, rock legend Neil Young pulled his albums from Apple Music and launched his own iPod killer, the Pono Player. It was a weird pyramid shaped device that specialized in high-resolution audio, sold through its own music store, which Ars Technica memorably declared a tall, refreshing drink of snake water.

Anyone surprised to hear, then, that even as iPod sales die, Young’s Pono Player is having trouble keeping pace with it?

Here’s definitive proof of Apple’s legendary reality distortion field

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What AAPL stock looked at close Monday.
What AAPL stock looked at close Monday.
Photo: Finviz

You might remember that on Monday, AAPL stock had a bit of a bad day before rebounding. It wasn’t just a bad day for Apple stock, though: Fueled by fears of a total collapse of the Chinese stock market, the whole S&P 500 collapsed that day.

In the first 24 hours, only Apple rebounded. It’s proof positive of Apple’s fabled “reality distortion field.”

Bus-ted! Coach driver fired for using iPad at 60 mph

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Don't be distracted by your iPad while driving a bus.
Photo: 20th Century Fox/Cult of Mac

Talk all you want about the declining market share of the iPad, but some people are still willing to risk their life over Apple’s breakthrough tablet device.

One such person is Irish coach driver Sean Purcell, who recently lost his job after CCTV showed him driving his coach with his elbows at more than 60 miles per hour so that he could operate his iPad.

Now that’s a true Apple fan. Wait, what?

YouTube Gaming makes a run on Twitch tomorrow

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It's like YouTube, but with way less cat videos.
It's like YouTube, but with way less cat videos.
Photo: YouTube

It’s a bit late in the game, but YouTube has the resources and brand-name cache to take on video game streaming juggernaut, Twitch, as it turns on the lights of its much anticipated game streaming service Wednesday.

YouTube Gaming is the new portal, separate from the Google-owned video giant’s regular video website, that will aim to capture the flags, hearts and minds of gaming’s streaming technorati, some of whom can make upwards of $8,000 per month just letting people watch them play video games.

Twitch is the 800-pound gorilla of the video game streaming world; in fact, YouTube tried to buy the service sometime before Amazon snapped it up. Will YouTube bring in both current customers as well as crushing Twitch in the process?

Hyper Light Drifter mashes up classics in a hot new sci-fi RPG

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Inspired by gorgeous games of the past.
Inspired by gorgeous games of the past.
Photo: Heart Machine

Even if this upcoming game from indie studio Heart Machine wasn’t already so hotly anticipated, I’d be caught up in its gorgeous art style.

Hyper Light Drifter seems to channel the 8- to 16-bit visual look of games like Sword & Sworcery while also connecting classic Legend of Zelda-type environmental puzzles and Diablo-style action RPG fun together in an awesome mashup that’s sure to get my attention and money when it releases next year.

Check out the second official trailer below for a better taste of what this game is promising.

How to fix weak taptic feedback on Apple Watch

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Apple Watch how-to taptic feedback
Here's how to put the tap back into "taptic."
Photo: Apple

Taptic feedback on the Apple Watch felt a little weird at first, but we’ve come to love its gentle nudges to let us know something is going on. But some Cult of Mac staffers have noticed that after time, the taptic feedback has started to feel not so … tappy anymore.

If you’re having this problem, here are a couple quick and easy ways you can try to put the pep back on your wrist.

Apple brings award-winning synth back from the dead

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logic-pro-x
The new Alchemy synthesizer is center-stage in today's updates to Logic Pro X and MainStage 3.
Photo: Apple

Apple released updates today for Logic Pro X and MainStage 3, adding a famous synthesizer and other fun goodies. This synthesizer, called Alchemy, for the most part isn’t an Apple original – it was previously an award-winning piece of software from Camel Audio, which Apple acquired at the beginning of the year. Now it has officially resurfaced in Apple’s professional audio apps.

Be the first in your family to land on Mars

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I've got my ticket to Mars. How about you?
I've got my ticket to Mars. How about you?
Photo: NASA

There’s a good chance I will be the first Pierini to land on Mars. No, I did not win some contest that sends me on a one-way trip to the Red Planet in the name of reality TV.

But I did register my name with NASA to have it embedded on a microchip headed to Mars. Now it’s your turn.

Former Apple and Samsung employee dishes dirt on rivals’ innovation

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Samsung's method of innovation is way different than Apple's.
Samsung's method of innovation is way different than Apple's.
Photo: Kārlis Dambrāns/Flickr

Apple and Samsung are bitter rivals in the tech industry that make a lot of the same type of products, but when it comes to innovation, the two are complete opposites.

Arno Lenior is one of the few people on the planet who’s worked at both companies, and while Samsung gets a bad rap for copying Apple’s products, the former Apple marketing director reveals that in many ways, Samsung takes innovation just as seriously as they do in Cupertino, otherwise it would have never been able to go from a company that sold rice nearly 100 years ago, to transforming into one of the world’s top TV and smartphone manufacturers.

Now that Lenior left Samsung back in May, MarketingMag sat down with the Australian marketer to get his viewpoints on innovation and how it’s become part of the mindset at Apple.

The quickest way to find images with iOS 9

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ios 9 photos scrubber

Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

In previous versions of iOS, finding your photos was a bit tricky, especially as you started to amass them in the thousands, what with having a high-quality camera in your pocket at all times.

In iOS 9, currently in public beta, the Photos app has gotten a new way to find the photo you’re looking for amidst the haystack of your Photo Roll. Here’s how to use this new feature.

Swatch claims ‘One more thing’ trademark isn’t a jab at Apple. Yeah, right.

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“One more thing” returned at this year's iPhone keynote. Photo: Apple.
Yep, it's just a coincidence that Swatch decided to use this phrase right now.
Photo: Apple

Swatch has denied that its trademarking of Steve Jobs’ famous “One more thing” phrase was a blatant attempt to troll Apple — arguing instead that it’s part of a new film noir-inspired watch line, referencing Peter Falk’s Columbo character.

Yes, that’ll do. And Android’s blatant borrowing of the iOS interface was just a funny coincidence too, right?

5 affordable ways to give back-to-school an upgrade for 2015 [Deals]

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The Jorg Messenger Bag adds a 11,000mAh charger to a sleek and stylish carryall.
The Jorg Messenger Bag adds a 11,000mAh charger to a sleek and stylish carryall.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

School’s changed a lot in recent years, as technology keeps creeping into every aspect of learning along with our lives. Time to get with the times — whether it’s keeping your cash and cell phone in one place, getting a bag that can charge your devices while you walk, or a cyber-secured lock for your locker, we’ve got some of the best deals for making 2015’s back-to-school actually feel like 2015.

Apple Watch demand is ‘so strong,’ says Best Buy CEO

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Apple Watch sales figures are basically analyst roulette right now.
Apple Watch sales are doing great.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple still hasn’t publicly released sales figures for the Apple Watch, but according to Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly, the wearable device is doing great.

“Demand for Apple Watch has been so strong in the stores and online,” Joly told analysts during the company’s latest earnings call.

HTC ditches its own design language to copy the iPhone

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htc-ditches-its-own-design-language-to-copy-the-iphone-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads201508phpwekfe6-jpg
Cover up the logos and you can hardly tell them apart.
Photo: Steve Hemmerstoffer
Cover up the logos and you can hardly tell them apart. Photo: Steve Hemmerstoffer
Cover up the logos and you can hardly tell them apart. Photo: Steve Hemmerstoffer

HTC appears to have given up on its own design language in an effort to make its next flagship smartphone an iPhone clone. Leaked images of the so-called HTC Aero look almost identical to an iPhone 6, with the same flat form factor and protruding camera.

Number 2 on the App Store: a social network for pooping

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Great. Just what the world needed. A social network for pooping.
Great. Just what the world needed. A social network for pooping.
Photo: Pooductive

Look, we know you’ve taken your iPhone into the bathroom with you for number two. Everyone has. That doesn’t mean you should tell people about it. But a new app, charmingly called Pooductive, is for just that. It’s dedicated to facilitating meaningful, anonymous conversation on the toilet about… you can guess the topic.

Pixeljam snubs Kickstarter, rolls out own crowdfunding platform

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Dino Run is part of Pixeljam's crowdfunding experiment.
Game developer Pixeljam is changing crowdfunding for the better.
Photo: Pixeljam

Pixeljam is no stranger to making iPhone and Mac games, but now the studio is taking on another challenge: transforming the way crowdfunding works to make it better for game developers and other creative types.

Company co-founder Miles Tillman describes the crowdfunding project as an “experiment” that’s an alternative to popular services like Indiegogo and Kickstarter. Pixeljam’s new platform lets backers donate money just like the others, but prioritizes transparent communication, instant gratification and actually making the game ahead of crowdfunding staples like producing slick videos and stressing out over fundraising goals and deadlines.

Flip off meter maids with AwareCar, an app for better parking

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It's just the size of a quarter, but this $9 dongle can supercharge your parking.
It's just the size of a quarter, but this $9 dongle can supercharge your parking.
Photo: Aware Stack

If you have trouble finding your car in a busy garage, or always find yourself coming back to a lapsed parking meter and a ticket stuck under your windshield wiper, you’re in luck. A new Bluetooth sensor, in combination with an iPhone app, can make losing your car and racking up fines a thing of the past.