Apple Watch supply is finally catching up with demand. Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac
Apple is getting ready to offer customers the chance to pick up their new Apple Watches in brick-and-mortar retail stores, according to a new option on the Apple Online Store describing the service as “available soon.”
Unlock the secrets of developing apps for the Apple Watch for only $19 with the Mammoth Interactive WatchKit Developer Course from Cult of Mac Deals. Saving 93% on the retail price, you’ll learn how to create a variety of essential app types, showing you how to get the most out of the technology and kick-start your development future.
“I’ve been wearing the Watch since I posted that hoping to get a small profit,” he said. “Part of me hoped nobody would offer me the extra few hundred because I really wanted to wear this gorgeous first-gen product! I haven’t worn a watch in 10 years.”
How much would you pay for lunch with Tim Cook? Photo: Apple
If you fancy sitting down over lunch with Tim Cook, along with being the Apple CEO’s guest at a future Apple keynote, you’d better hurry.
That’s because today marks the end of the annual Tim Cook Lunch auction to raise money for Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights — with the bidding currently standing at $200,000.
So long as the next episode doesn't include antitrust violations, that is. Photo: Beats Music
Apple may be struggling to finalize deals with record labels ahead of its Beats Music rebranding this summer, but that’s not stopping the U.S. Federal Trade Commission from scrutinizing it for potential antitrust violations, according to a new report.
The reason? Despite currently experiencing an 8 percent drop in its iTunes popularity, Apple’s history as the largest seller of music downloads means it could theoretically abuse its position to put rival companies on the back-foot.
Because the texters gonna text, text, text, text. Photo: David Shankbone/Wikipedia CC
In her songs, Taylor Swift always seems to have the perfect sassy, finger-snapping comeback — and now you can too, courtesy of the new TayText custom keyboard for iOS. Yes, really!
Steve Jobs and Johnson at Apple's Fifth Avenue Apple Store grand opening. Photo: Richard Agullar Photo: Richard Agullar
Ron Johnson, a.k.a. the former Apple retail guru who played a key role in launching the Apple Store, has officially launched his new startup.
Called Enjoy Technology, Johnson’s website sells dozens of high-end tech gadgets, including smartphones, laptops, speakers, tablets, and drones — only with the added twist that customers get free home setup from an expert at no extra cost.
Tattoos are no problem with Apple Watch Hand. Photo: Team Coco
Apple Watch has a known issue where it doesn’t exactly play nice with tattoos. For some wearers with dark wrist tattoos the device can’t detect if you have a pulse, but according to Conan O’Brien, it’s not really glitch if Apple can sell you a fix.
So far Apple’s only advice seems to be, “just don’t get wrist tattoos,” but the late-night TV show host has come up with his own hilarious way to fix the TattooGate problem.
Gene testing, coming soon to an iPhone near you. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac Photo:
The next big feature for the iPhone might involve a lot of spitting. Apple is planning to launch new Research Kit studies at WWDC in June that will focus on DNA studies, according to a new report, claiming Apple is collaborating with researchers in the U.S. to create two new apps.
The new apps will be based on ResearchKit, Apple’s software platform that helps scientists and hospitals run medical studies on the iPhone. If successful, the new studies could give many iPhone users their first look at their genetic information by sending a ‘spit-kit’ to an Apple-approved laboratory.
Is this the “simplest user interface you could imagine” that Steve Jobs told Walter Isaacson about when he claimed he had “finally cracked” the way to build a perfect TV?
If so, we’ve combed through the patents to reveal how it might work.
Reports of Home Depot blocking Apple Pay are greatly exaggerated. Photo: The Home Depot
After confirming that its terminals aren’t currently working with Apple Pay, Home Depot has said it plans to fully support Apple’s mobile payments service after its systems have been upgraded.
Play your tunes on the big screen. Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac
Playing music on the Apple Watch is a lovely thing. You can control your iPhone’s Music app using the Apple Watch Music app, choosing playlists and adjusting volume on the fly.
You can even start apps like Spotify or Rdio on your iPhone, then use the Music Glance on your Apple Watch to forward, reverse, pause or play music from these streaming services.
Did you know, however, that you can also send music from your Apple Watch to your Apple TV or any AirPlay-enabled speaker?
Will.i.am cheesin' with Apple retail chief Angela Ahrendts at the Apple Watch unveiling. Photo: Leander Kahney/ Cult of Mac Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac
Stealing Angela Ahrendts away from Burberry didn’t come cheap for Apple. The new VP of retail operations quickly became one of the top paid execs at Apple in 2014, and according to a new report, the former Burberry CEO has already become the highest paid woman in the U.S., beating out Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer.
Beats redesign might be MIA at WWDC. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Apple is planning to unveil its big redesign and rebranding of Beats Music this summer at WWDC, but according to a new report citing industry insiders, Jimmy Iovine and Eddy Cue are having a hard time finalizing deals with major labels.
Instagram found a way to decipher emojis. Photo: Cult of Mac Photo: Apple
Emoji have gone from cute little pictograms only teens use, to a near-universal method of expression for all languages in about four years. Instagram has been tracking the use of emoji in posts and noticed an explosion of emoji after Apple added the keyboard to iOS in October 2011.
Today, nearly 60% of all Instagram posts in Finland use emoji, while users in countries like France, U.K., Russia, Italy and U.S.A. include emoji in 40% – 50% of posts. Using a tool called word2vec that reads through text and predicts the context around a given emoji, Instagram’s engineers have combed through millions of posts to decipher the true meaning of emoji.
Here are the most popular emoji and their definitions:
Six new hero skins are here! Photo: Super Evil Megacorp
If you’re like us, you’ve been playing the crap out of the amazingly addictive online arena game, Vainglory, since it came out for the iPad and iPhone, ganking enemies from the safety of the bushes, releasing the Kraken, and pushing down the lane to smash the opposing team’s base crystal to win the game.
While the development team at Super Evil Megacorp has released updates in the past, they’ve just dropped the most major update yet: the introduction of a character skin system to customize the look of your heroes as they dash across the map, wreaking havoc and crushing the enemy team.
There are six new heroes with two tiers of customization out in the update today, with a ton more to come.
Apple Pay on Apple Watch. Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac
An outcry from customers who found that Home Depot no longer accepts Apple Pay resulted from an upgrade to the hardware chain’s in-store payment systems.
Stephen Holmes, Home Depot’s director of corporate communications, told Cult of Mac the problem is not specific to Apple Pay. This means that nobody, including Google Wallet users, can make electronic payments right now because the company is working on its NFC terminals.
“We don’t have the capability to accept [Apple Pay] online, and our NFC is currently inactive as we upgrade our systems,” he said.
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Apple TV gained some new channels today. Photo: Cult of Mac Photo: Cult of Mac
The redesigned Apple TV and its accompanying streaming service are still nowhere to be seen, but Apple beefed up its channel offerings for its little black box today, adding new icons for USA Now and CBS Sports.
The new Apple TV’s channels offer viewers access to on-demand sports, TV shows, and movies to customers in the United States, and Apple’s also added Shomi and Crave TV for users in Canada. Both new channels are available as an over-the-air update and should be showing up on users’ boxes today.
This ugly sensor is IWC's answer to Apple Watch. Photo: IWC
If you need more evidence that the luxury Swiss watchmakers are as truly screwed as Jony Ive predicted, look no further than IWC’s laughable answer for keeping up with the Apple Watch.
The luxury watch company is adding a smart sensor called IWC Connect to the strap of its Big Pilot watch, a favorite of horologist collectors including John Mayer. Details on what the fitness sensor can actually do haven’t been revealed, but IWC created a ridiculously dramatic teaser trailer for the new strap that you can watch below:
Good news, Pebble Time backers! Your brand new smartwatch has now entered mass production and is on track to begin shipping later this month. To get you even more excited for its arrival, Pebble is offering a sneak peek at more of the wearable’s new features and some details on what’s to come.
I just want someone to share my heartbeat with! Photo: Apple
One of the most original features of the Apple Watch is the ability to send your heartbeat to a friend or loved one. With only a small fraction of Watches having shipped, however, early adopters are turning to the Internet to try and find other Apple fans willing to test out the new feature.
I can’t quite work out whether this is depressing, or the perfect hook for a 2015 update of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan’s You’ve Got Mail.
With its small screen and 0.46-inch thickness, the original iPhone from 2007 looks like an antique these days. Put it next to the Apple Watch, however, and it’s remarkable how similar the two devices look in terms of their design language.
At 0.45 inches, the Apple Watch is ever so slightly thinner, but its rounded edges, color and overall aesthetic certainly appear reminiscent of the first-generation Apple handset, don’t you think?
Apple's iPad business may not turn around any time soon. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
The iPad has had five consecutive quarters of negative shipment growth, and according to Apple’s supply chain, that’s not changing any time soon!
According to a new report coming out of Asia, Apple’s supply chain manufacturers expect iPad shipments to fall another 20 percent on-year in 2015 — and they’re pinning the blame on the increased demand for plus-sized smartphones.
Inside Tracks by photographer Rick Smolan makes use of the Aurasma smartphone app to bring some of the photos to life. Photo: Against All Odds Productions
Rick Smolan, creator of the Day in the Life series, has made a career out of turning complicated ideas into groundbreaking photography books. His latest book is more personal — and equally innovative. It’s a collection of photographs he made in 1977 that seemingly come to life with a smartphone app.
Inside Tracks combines Smolan’s photographs of a woman’s trek across the Australian Outback with a smartphone app that, when pointed at one of the pictures, brings the reader to a corresponding scene from a movie about the epic journey.
“It’s the best book I’ve ever done,” said Smolan, a New York Times best-selling author. “It has done amazingly well, especially for it being self-published. The smartphone feature has fascinated people. It’s an inspiring story with cool technology.”