Samsung's new smartwatch could hit Apple Watch where it really hurts. Photo: SamsungSamsung’s new smartwatch could hit Apple Watch where it really hurts. Photo: Samsung
Samsung’s new Gear S2 smartwatch is its first to support third-party Android devices, and the South Korean company is reportedly looking extend its reach even further by supporting rival platforms, too.
Apple expects the iPhone 6s to shatter some records. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
China’s smartphone market might be slowing down, but Apple’s not letting that stop it from ordering a record number of iPhone 6s units ahead of this week’s keynote unveiling.
According to sources in the iPhone supply chain, Apple has ordered higher than expected numbers of iPhone 6s and 6s Plus units.
Based on the quantities of components orders, these numbers will outstrip even last year’s record-breaking iPhone 6 and 6 Plus — suggesting that Apple expects to sell more of its next-gen iPhone than any previous iPhone in history.
Reviewers are already throwing around Oscar talk. Photo: Universal Pictures
After a rocky pre-production period which saw it switch directors, lose actor after actor, and even be ditched by its original studio, screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and director Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs biopic finally made its debut at Colorado’s Telluride Film Festival this weekend — and, boy, does it sound like it was worth the wait!
Reviews so far are all good-to-excellent, but the real surprise is the unanimous support for Michael Fassbender as Jobs. We’d noted before how little Fassbender physically resembles Steve although, as has been proven time and again, that doesn’t stop good actors from inhabiting a role — which is exactly what it sounds like Fassbender has done.
The new Apple TV remote will give it Wii-like gaming capabilities. Photo: Matthew Panzarino / Techcrunch
We’ve previously heard rumors that Apple’s new Apple TV, which is scheduled to be announced Wednesday, will feature an all-new, motion-sensing remote that will poise the set-top box as a possible console killer.
Now, the New York Times is backing the rumor up, saying the next Apple TV is being designed by Apple specifically to take on the likes of Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo for the hearts and minds of living room gamers.
One of the hallmarks of Apple’s tick-tock cycle of iPhone updates is that every other iPhone gets thinner than its predecessors. The iPhone 7, then, should be thinner than the iPhone 6 or iPhone 6s, just as they were thinner than the iPhone 5.
But how crazy thin will the iPhone 7 be? Just as thin as the iPod Touch, says one of the most reputable Apple analysts in the business.
Code Black is a sleek, feature-packed drone fit for the Dark Knight, or just your back yard. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
If you went to Wayne Manor’s back yard on a weekend there’s a chance you’d find Batman playing around with this drone. The limited edition Code Black is a palm-sized drone that manages to pack in a ton of features to satisfy pros and beginners alike — even Alfred could get the hang of it. Plus you don’t need to be a wealthy heir to buy one, right now it’s going for just $69.
Saturday? More like App-aday, amirite? (I'm sorry about this.) Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
The weekend is short enough as it is, and Cult of Mac knows you don’t want to spend it searching through the App Store for the best apps you might have missed over the past week.
Whether you’re after wacky bread-related games for your iPhone, video chatting tools for your iPad, or or a nifty travel-related messaging service for your Apple Watch, we’ve dutifully combed through the best offerings of the past 7 days to find something for everyone.
Walking out the door without your charger can be as big a headache as forgetting your keys. Solve both problems at once with the Titan Loop, a compact lightning cable that can be tied to anything else you carry around with you. Right now you can get one for $19.95 at Cult of Mac Deals.
Get ready for the Apple TV of the future. Photo: ofcom.org
This week: come September 9th, we’ll have a new iPhone 6S, sure, but how does an iPad Pro and a drastically new Apple TV sound? We’ll tell you what to expect from Apple’s Sept. 9th event, because this event is fixin’ to be a doozie.
Our thanks to Softlayer for supporting this episode. Your applications and compute workloads are different from everyone else’s, so you deserve cloud resources that meet your unique needs. Get $500 of cloud infrastructure by visiting softlayer.com/Podcast.
In Apple's fitness apps, active calories are not the same as Move ring calories. Photo: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac
Have you ever noticed that some of your workout data is missing from the Health app on your iPhone?
Apple’s Health app is designed to provide a central hub for all your fitness apps to save and share their data. You might assume this means all your Active Calories are added together, regardless of which app you use to log them. But the truth is not that simple — although you can tweak some hidden settings to customize what you see.
So much stuff. Stuffed inside. Cover: Stephen Smith/Cult of Mac
Heads up, everyone – this week is just impossibly full of news about the upcoming iPhone 6s, new Apple TV revisions, and a whole ton of fantastically fresh apps, games and gear. We’ve stuffed all that goodness into a digital magazine that can’t be beat.
Put your seatbelt on and buckle in for another rockin’ ride with Cult of Mac Magazine, available for free right now.
Apple is making its mark on San Francisco. Photo: Milo Kahney/Cult of Mac
SAN FRANCISCO — It’s not as cool as installing a gorgeous glass staircase, but Apple is definitely making its mark on the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium here.
Flags, signs, security barricades — it’s all part of the prep for Apple’s massive iPhone 6s event scheduled for next week. It’s a shabby corner of San Francisco, but Apple is totally classing up the joint.
If you want to take a real vacation, turn off your iPhone. Photo: Cult of Mac
My family and I just got back from a too-short vacation in Italy, and we learned something important while we were there: Real vacations don’t have e-mail.
See, my wife was worried about us racking up unspeakably high bills while we were abroad, so we ended up almost completely disabling our iPhones for the entire trip. How we fared without them is the subject of this week’s Kahney’s Korner.
Imagine working on a sketch with a reference photo right next to it, or writing a paper while copying citations from an iBook. Or, heck, running YouTube in Safari while writing a post about Split View on the iPad (hypothetically).
iOS 9 brings this multitasking joy to your iPad, provided you have the latest and greatest iPad Air 2, since it’s the only device that can currently manage the power needed to run such a double screen.
So the next time you need to FaceTime with your boss in San Francisco but still take Notes on your iPad, you can easily make it happen.
Who wouldn't want to watch House of Cupertino? Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Apple’s getting ready to sink its teeth into original programming, according to recent reports, and there are suggestions it will launch a new video streaming service for Apple TV. The Cupertino company has already taken the fight to Spotify with Apple Music, so why not Netflix next?
The big question is, does Apple have what it takes to produce shows as good as House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt all by itself? And would it really want to?
Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight between Cult of Androidand Cult of Mac as we battle it out over Apple’s supposed invasion on Netlix’ turf.
Nuyu’s fitness tracker can be worn on your wrist, belt, laces, and more. Photo: Health o Meter
Tracking your activity and fitness doesn’t have to be expensive. With Nuyu, you can keep an eye on how many steps you taken, the distance you’ve traveled, how many calories you’ve burned, and even how well you’re sleeping for under $50.
Apple is about to take the wraps off the new Apple TV. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
We’ve been waiting years for Apple to wow us with a new Apple TV that embraces gaming, controls the home and is super-easy to use — and that appears to be just what we’re going to get.
Thanks to a steady stream of leaks from the rumor mill, we already have a pretty solid idea what Apple will show us next week when it finally unveils the new Apple TV. It’s been years in the making — here’s what to expect.
Rich single men must choose their watch carefully. Photo: Apple
Wearing a gold Apple Watch might get a lot cheaper really soon, according to a new report that claims Apple is looking to create a less expensive gold version of its famous timepiece.
The current Apple Watch Edition currently costs between $10,000 – $17,000 but ‘people close to the product’ have told the New York Times that Apple is exploring new metal finishes for the Apple Watch, and they may even be ready in time to debut at next week’s iPhone 6s event.
Not everyone's excited about the new iPhone. Photo: 6S Marketing
A New York ad agency is begging Cupertino not to name the next Apple device the “iPhone 6s.”
6S Marketing has launched a tongue-in-cheek campaign to get Apple’s attention in hopes that the iPhone maker might be persuaded to forego the 6s moniker. The company’s written Apple an open letter, purchased billboards in Times Square and even rolled one of its giant billboards past the iconic Fifth Ave Apple Store.
Checking out Maps while browsing the web. Screen: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac
Our digital lives are busy. We send iMessages while we’re browsing the web, type in phone numbers and addresses while FaceTiming, and bounce between apps on our Macs constantly.
Now, with iOS 9 and a modern iPad, you can quickly browse the web, respond to a text message, or jot something down in a note, then slide that app away so you can focus on your original app.
This feature, called Slide Over, is going to make using your iPad a lot more fun and useful.
Here’s how to make it happen, assuming you have an iPad Air, iPad Air 2, iPad mini 2, or iPad mini 3.
This clear case lets you see and touch your phone the way Apple intended. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
Summer’s almost over, along with all its bounty – the beautiful weather, the backyard barbecues, and Cult of Mac’s summer blowout sale. Here are three ways to take advantage of the end of season savings by decking out and protecting your iPhone. These are already heavily discounted, but with the coupon code eos5off you can get an extra 5% off.
Barricades have already been erected for the big day. Photo: Apple Nieuws Vlaanderen
Good news Belgian Apple fans! The country’s first brick-and-mortar Apple Store will open later this month on Saturday, September 19.
For those keeping track at home, that’s right around the time the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus will arrive in stores — perhaps increasing the chance that the opening will be attended by a big-name Apple employee or two.
Apple is dominating pay TV thanks to its range of devices. Photo: Fortune/Adobe Digital Index
We’re less than a week away from Apple’s refreshed Apple TV service being announced, and a new report published by Adobe Digital Index is sure to bring a smile to faces in Cupertino.
That’s because an analysis of 1.49 billion TV Everywhere streams — referring to the paid streaming of shows through tablets, smartphones, computers and set-top boxes — suggests a whopping 61.9 percent is done via an Apple device.
The reason Apple Stores should come with a mandatory IQ test before sales are made. Photo: Trevor Thomas
We’ve all seen the adorably hilarious videos of kids making us feel old by responding with general bafflement to ancient technologies like, erm, the original iPod. But you’d hope for the good of our future that people of driving age are a little bit more educated than that.
Not according to a photo that’s currently going viral on Facebook, showing what’s claimed to be the work of a young driver who has mistaken the cassette deck in their car for an iPhone dock — with disastrous results.
Apple Music has already cracked the charts in a big way. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
There have been mixed reports about the success of Apple Music — with the project’s senior director leaving Apple, reports of declining listenership, and Apple acknowledging that the platform still needs a lot of work.
However, according to a new ComScore report, Apple Music is certainly catching the attention of users. The digital analytics company claims that Apple’s Music service was listened to by 44 million users in the U.S. during the month of July — putting it in the top 15 smartphone apps in the U.S.