I can’t wait for the virtual reality future to finally go mainstream, but with company’s like Oculus talking about charging people over $1,500 for an entire Rift package, VR is virtually out of my price-range. Thankfully, Google is coming up with an easy-to-use VR solution that’s not only as cheap as a piece of cardboard, it works on Android and iOS too.
When a camera bag claims to be water resistant, it feels a little like the brand is hedging its bets. It will protect your gear up to a point.
But the designers at miggo have a bag they declare confidently is storm-proof and all-weather. They even say with certainty the ironically named Agua will remain protective for five minutes in rain falling at 10 liters a minute with up to 22,000 pounds of force.
If you’re in a Biblical hard rain, you may have bigger problems then keeping your camera dry. miggo just wants you to feel comfortable with Agua if you’re out on a typical rainy day.
Google’s first attempt to revolutionize mobile payments didn’t work out so well. Nearly four years after introducing Google Wallet, the company announced at Google IO this morning that it’s replacing its first mobile wallet solution with a new app called Android Pay, and it basically works just like Apple Pay.
Google Now is about to get far more powerful, thanks to a promising new feature called Now on Tap that leverages contextual search to offer quick answers to quick questions from within various apps.
“We’re working on a new capability to assist you in the moment — right when you need it, wherever you are on the phone,” said Google Now product manager Aparna Chennapragada as she previewed the impressive new functionality during Thursday’s kickoff keynote at Google I/O 2015.
For instance, asking, “What’s his real name?” while listening to a Skrillex track could return the DJ’s name from within a music app, making Google’s hive mind more accessible than ever. (FYI it’s Sonny John Moore.)
Organizing the flood of photos and videos we all have is the central challenge of today’s photos apps.
Director of Photos for Google, Anil Sabharwal, took the stage Thursday morning at the annual I/O conference to detail the company’s new offering that aims to solve this problem: Google Photos.
While initial screenshots on stage looked quite a bit like Apple’s own Photos app, the functionality of Google Photos uses machine learning and algorithms to create what may be turn out to be the most useful way to store and share your photos.
If you’re in and about New York after June 13 you’ll have an extra Apple Store to check out, since that marks the date when Apple will open its new retail location on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
Signage was put up overnight, revealing that customers have just over two weeks to wait until construction is finished on the impressive 4,000-square foot upmarket retail outlet.
Not that everyone’s happy about it, of course.
Want to show off your vacation photos on a larger screen than your phone? Or quickly pull up a presentation that’s only on your friend’s iPad? We’ve all at some point wished there was a simple solution for streaming videos, apps, and games from a phone to a Mac or PC. Well, the AirServer is it—and we have it for $9.99 at Cult of Mac Deals.
The best camera is the one that is with you, so the saying goes. But if that is indeed your iPhone, what is the best photo app? You have several thousand from which to choose.
This can be particularly maddening to older generations, for whom robust digital living seems foreign and frightening. They like the ease of the smartphone camera, but they just want to share their pictures with a few people and store securely without all the extras, like locators, timelines or random followers.
Sherish – an iOS app whose name combines the words share and cherish – was developed for the older user who just wants a few functions, a couple of screens, easy album management and, of course, privacy.
Apple just can’t get rid of its shady antitrust compliance monitor.
After making another appeal to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York to disqualify Michael Bromwich as its monitor, Apple was rejected by the federal court this morning, even though the judge said Apple’s allegations against Bromwich ‘give pause.’
Google is expected to announce Android Pay, its new Apple Pay competitor, during its I/O keynote today. But before the service is official, the company has inadvertently confirmed its arrival with a whole bunch of Android Pay signs that are dotted around Moscone West.
The potato is one of the least colorful of the good Lord’s creations. But somehow, two French inventors figured out how the dud spud could help put color in our photographs using a process they called Autochrome.
Before brothers Louis and Auguste Lumiere tinkered with taters, photographers were shooting three different pictures of the same scene through colored filters — red, blue and green — and then sandwiching the images for projection.
In 1904, the Lumieres pulverized potatoes into a starchy powder, which they then divided into three separate batches for dying violet-blue, green and orange-red. When mixed together and applied to a glass plate, the microscopic grains of potato filtered the light, creating a negative that could produce a color photo. That was Autochrome.
Once, Jawbone was king of the fitness tracking set. Then, after a series of missteps and disastrous, half-baked product launches, Jawbone’s popularity waned in favor of Fitbit.
Now, of course, the Apple Watch rules the roost, but Jawbone and Fitbit are still at war… and Jawbone just dragged it all into the courts.
When Samsung dropped its Iron Man-themed Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge variant, I had a feeling I’ve never experienced in my days as an iPhone owner: Android envy.
Fortunately that brief emotional response can now be banished to the furthest limits of the Negative Zone courtesy of this gorgeous, metallic-flake-finish “Hero Collection” adhesive skin for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.
No, it’s not Tony Stark’s titanium alloy, but in so far as it gives your iPhone the familiar metallic red-and-gold look associated with everyone’s favorite billionaire philanthropist superhero, it’s pretty darn good.
As one of the best Photoshop competitors on Mac and iPad, the superb photo editing tool Pixelmator is finally available for iPhone.
Promising to be more powerful than other iPhone image editing apps, Pixelmator’s universal app boasts support for layers, in-depth color adjustments, pro-level photo retouching, real-time photo warping, and even digital painting.
Check out a preview video below:
The rumor mill continues to churn about what the hell Apple is going to do with Beats Music. It’s been a year since Apple paid $3 billion to acquire the upstart music service and headphone maker, but we are no closer to understanding why Cupertino laid out the cash.
When Apple purchased Beats Music and Beats Electronics, it did so with a splash it generally reserves for the unveiling of a game-changing product like the Apple Watch. Since then, it’s basically been crickets.
It is clear Apple has a way to go to compete in the streaming music game against Spotify, Pandora and the other services scrambling to get a piece of the music industry pie. But what form will Apple’s next music play take?
If you’re sick of not being able to just swipe your iPhone or Apple Watch in front of a terminal at Target, here’s some welcome news: Target plans on rolling out Apple Pay terminals at the chain of mega stores soon.
Every report we’ve heard suggests that Force Touch is practically a lock for Apple’s next-generation iPhones, but a rumor coming out of Taiwan claims that the feature was originally planned as a handset exclusive for the iPhone 6s Plus.
According to supply chain sources, the iPhone 6s Plus alone was originally designed to include Force Touch sensors, although Apple has since changed its mind and decided to incorporate the technology into both the 6s Plus and smaller 6s.
That’s certainly good news if — like the majority of customers — you plan to buy the smaller 4.7-inch iPhone 6s, but still want to take advantage of the latest Apple tech.
The “secret” developer port on the Apple Watch has yet to be harnessed by third-party developers, but it definitely possesses cool powers, as this new video shows: The tiny port hidden by the Apple Watch band can actually charge your device faster than normal.
In case you hadn’t noticed, Apple is pretty darn keen on making Apple Pay into the de facto mobile payments solution.
With that in mind, the company is reportedly set to announce a new Apple Pay Rewards Program at next month’s Worldwide Developers Conference, offering exclusive perks to customers who use the service, while driving people to return to participating merchants.
We’ve had a new Steve Jobs biography and documentary already this year, with a movie biopic based on the Walter Isaacson book just around the corner.
If you thought Jobs’ life hadn’t been explored enough by biographers, however, think again! The National Geographic Channel is getting ready to a air a new documentary series called American Genius, which will explore famous business rivalries throughout history.
And it’s kicking off with an episode about Steve Jobs and Bill Gates.
Everyone knows that talking on your cellphone while driving will get you a ticket in most places, but one driver in Canada recently found himself taking heat from the police after he was caught tapping his Apple Watch while behind the wheel.
The Cult of Mac faithful have spoken: Apple’s cuddly co-founder The Woz will be the latest tech icon recreated in wax as a Madame Tussauds statue.
Beating out other possible candidates including Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak will take his rightful place alongside the waxen visages of Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg at Madame Tussauds’ San Francisco museum this fall.
You can spend $90,000 on a Richard Prince “piece of art.” Or you can get the same thing from the original source he ripped off at a 99 percent discount.
Prince used screenshots of people he followed on Instagram and converted them into a large inkjet paintings he then sold for thousands of dollars. Prince did not alert the subjects their Instagram shares were being displayed and sold.
Some of the images were from the popular trend-setting SuicideGirls, whose founder has offered the same pictures printed in the same way for sale for $90 on its website.
Need a new Lightning cable right now but don’t have time to drive all the way to the Apple Store? Starting today you don’t even have to leave your couch to get your Apple fix, now that the Apple Store app has added same-day delivery via Postmates integration.
Designer Frank Costa uses his iPhone 6 Plus for lots of things, but he noticed that when typing on it one-handed, the anatomy of his thumb use wasn’t as ergonomic as it could be.
Costa decided to design a new kind of keyboard for the thumbs, one that would only need you to tap and then move your thumb a short distance away from wherever you tapped. This would require less stretch and — perhaps — less stress on the thumb joints.
“So, being a designer,” Costa writes on Medium, “I played with the idea of a keyboard thought (out) for the thumb. A keyboard requiring only a single tap and some short swiping to construct words and sentences.”