Cult of Mac

Should an Android app instructing people how to chop walnuts ever get developed, don’t be surprised if the first order of business is this: Place walnuts on surface of Galaxy S6. Then begin smashing nuts with another S6.

A pair of YouTube videos showing people using their S6 to crack walnuts may be a commentary on the durability of the Samsung phone versus say a certain smartphone that some say bends over time in a tight pocket.

Both videos end with the hands of the nut smasher flipping the phones screen up and turning them on to show they still work. Before you halt your search for your misplaced nutcracker, it is not known whether the videos are the products of pranksters using some sort of visual trickery.

Apple is leading the charge in environmental responsibility, and it’s only just getting started.

That’s the message from the company’s 2015 progress report, which details all the ways Apple is striving “to leave the world better than we found it.”

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We cover all the best Apples stories on each week’s CultCast, but this week we take it to the next level. Hit play to hear: why trying on the Apple Watch will make you a believer; our WWDC hardware predictions; why a recent acquisition might mean a revolutionary new iPhone camera; and Leander reviews the new Macbook.

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Full show notes ahead!

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Apple’s new Activity and Fitness apps for Apple Watch might signal the end of the company’s long partnership with Nike.

So what does this mean for the millions of us who were introduced to Nike+ by Apple in 2006 and have been logging our runs this way ever since? Are we about to get caught in a Kramer vs. Kramer-style tug of love?

This post is brought to you by iFlicks.

Are all your videos hidden in a bunch of folders or stored haphazardly in the cloud? Wouldn’t you rather they were all as easy to sort and locate as your iTunes content, with metadata like movie posters and cast credits?

Using iFlicks 2, you can easily import your video collection into iTunes. This gives you the ability to watch your third-party videos directly in iTunes or transfer them to your Apple TV, iPad, iPod or iPhone. On top of that, iFlicks downloads metadata (information or visuals related to your videos) and lets you tweak the metadata manually. Managing your video collection in iTunes has never been this easy!

Imagine an iPad Air sliced in half. The top half peels up to reveal a pin-sharp high-res screen. The other half has a full-size keyboard that’s almost flat.

This is the new MacBook. As usual, Apple’s latest crazy-thin laptop is dividing the tech punditsphere.

Because it comes with only one port, some think this machine is too radical, too new. It’s been called a glorified netbook — short on features, and, to really rub it in, high on price.

But I’m smitten. We have one in here at the Cult of Mac offices, and I’ve been putting it through its paces. Here’s what I found.

If Batman’s going to take on Superman, he’s going to need some extra protection and firepower. The first trailer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice gives us our a glimpse of the armored batsuit — complete with glowing white eyes — the Dark Knight will don in the superhero smackdown flick.

I think we can safely assume Jony Ive isn’t designing products for Bruce Wayne. The armored batsuit looks anything but thin and light.

We’re starting to learn more about what excommunicated Apple executive Scott Forstall is up to after years of flying under the radar. The former head of iOS is an advisor to Snapchat, and although he will likely continue to be involved in the tech scene, his interests are quite eclectic.

The man who was famously kicked out of Apple after numerous disputes that ended in the Apple Maps disaster is now a Broadway producer.

In Mac OS X, you’ll spend much of your time in the Finder, the part of your operating system that manages files and such. While you might think you know all there is to know about it, the Finder is a complex and wonderful app — with its own special tricks to master.

Here are 10 essential Finder tips that will help you get the most out of your time working or playing on your Mac.

Luke Skywalker does his best flying with R2-D2. Now customers of Japan’s All Nippon Airways can fly with the beloved Star Wars droid, thankfully without taking fire from TIE fighters.

Is this a new era of marketing directly to stoners?

In Ben & Jerry’s new ad for its in-shop confection, the Brrr-ito, a young woman wearing an ice cream server’s uniform runs into a room of slack-jawed young men staring at a screen showing a boring old ice cream bar.

What happens next should be no surprise to those of you who remember Ridley Scott’s famous ad for Apple in 1984 introducing the Mac.

The analog types can argue technology has removed a lot of the magic from photography. The wonder is gone. We see the picture on our screen the very moment after it’s taken. The crappy shot from today would be cherished 10 years down the road, but you’ll never realize it because you deleted the picture.

Photojojo has developed an app to restore the wonder and magic. It turns your iPhone into a disposable camera – well, the wonder part anyway. You keep your phone.

Download the app for free on iTunes. You then pay $12.99 each time you want a camera in the app. On each camera are 27 exposures that become a set of prints sent to your doorstep about 10 days after the 27th pictures is snapped. You do not get to see the photo after you have made it – classic wonder – so the app prevents you from foolishly deleting some eventual important piece of your personal story.

The Apple Watch is on display at the Salone Del Mobile design exhibition in Milan, Italy today. Attendees can see the Watch at the Carlo e Camilla in Segheria, a classy restaurant that’s been converted into an exclusive display area.

The high profile showcasing has Apple designer Marc Newson and longtime marketing exec Phil Schiller in attendance. Newson helped design the Watch with Jony Ive and was brought onto Apple’s payroll last year. Schiller is in charge of all the marketing behind Apple’s products.

This year will reportedly mark Apple Pay’s expansion outside of the United States. The mobile payments service is on track to arrive in Canada as soon as this fall.

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Stop chewing your fingernails now. You may be biting off a new frontier in wearable technology.

Researchers at MIT have devised a way to turn the thumbnail into a wireless trackpad that will allow users to control their devices when their hands are full.

Imagine using the neighboring index finger, moving it across the thumbnail to help answer the phone while cooking, send a text message or toggle between symbol sets while texting.

The greatest Apple mystery of the last few years hasn’t been the next iPhone or Apple Watch, but a man named Scott Forstall.

Since getting kicked out of Apple in late 2012, the former head of iOS and friend of Steve Jobs has had absolutely no profile in the tech scene whatsoever. He rarely even gets spotted in public. It’s like he’s fallen off the face of the earth.

Until now.

This week, Leander takes some time to try on the Apple Watch in-store, finding out whether the hottest smartwatch out there is worth your time or money, David heads into an Apple Store on Magnificent Mile in Chicago for a fitting and to get some customer reactions, plus a ton of news about this latest wearable tech that you’ll want to read from cover to cover. We’ve also got Stephen with some travel tips for you and your trusty MacBook, as well as Luke’s take on why you want to upgrade your iOS to 8.3 right away (hint, it’s not emojis). Rob also walks you through a couple of how-tos, including one way to make sure your iOS gaming sessions aren’t interrupted with a simple tweak to Do Not Disturb.

Make sure to head on out and download Cult of Mac Magazine to get your own “hands” on the great content we dose you with every week.

Two roommates in Tulsa, Oklahoma, took fanboyism to a whole new extreme after stabbing each other with broken beer bottles during an iPhone vs. Android debate.

The Los Angeles Unified School District is demanding a multimillion-dollar refund from Apple following a failed iPad program that was set to give more than 640,000 students a tablet for education.

It is thought that the Board of Education is exploring the possibility of litigation against the Cupertino company as it seeks to claim back money that has already been lost on the scheme.

J.J. Abrams whetted our appetite for more lightsaber dueling action with the first Episode VII teaser last year, but today’s release of a new trailer has got us counting down the days until Christmas.

We’re still eight months away from Star Wars: The Force Awakens‘ public release, and while plot details for the highly anticipated movie are being kept under wraps, there’s a ton of fresh info to glean from the new trailer. We’ve diced the entire trailer up into GIFs so you can rewatch each scene to look for new clues.

Here are 18 things we learned from the new trailer:

One of the cooler hidden features of Photos (and iPhoto before it) is the ability to create more than one photo library. You can make one for your home photos, work photos, photos from a different camera, or those racy photos you don’t want the kids tripping over.

It’s pretty simple, but not totally intuitive – there’s no menu item to select to create a new library.

Follow our recipe to create as many different libraries as you like for separate but equal Photos access.