Cult of Mac

This week: get’em while they’re hot! The Apple Watch is ready for pre-order, but the reviews are in, and they’re a mixed bag. Plus: what’s good in iOS 8.3 and OS X 10.10.3; Robert Baratheon makes HBO NOW a no-brainer; Samsung is up to their old tricks; the new Macbook didn’t benchmark well, but it might not matter; and things get weird in an all-new Get to Know Your Cultist!

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Full show notes ahead!

Going, going, almost gone.

There are new offers cropping up all the time at Cult of Mac Deals. As new ones appear, though, older deals must ride off into the sunset. Don’t miss out on a good thing. This could be your last chance to save big on the Extreme Micro-Drone 2.0, a pair of Wireless Feather Buds, and more.

Customer reviews on the App Store are good for business. It’s not just that good reviews can improve your app’s ranking. Reviews have also helped me build a better app.

But with all the fake reviews and haters out there, it’s sometimes hard to see the wood from the trees. The trick is to know exactly which reviews to pay attention to — and the secret is all in your stars.

Want to try on the super-fancy $10,000 Apple Watch Edition? You might have to do a bit of driving, because in a whopping 75 percent of the United States, it’s totally impossible to demo the solid gold Apple smartwatch.

Only 12 states (and the District of Columbia) have Apple Stores taking appointments to check out the Apple Watch Edition. That leaves 38 states that are apparently not fancy or fashionable enough to offer demos of the schmanciest Apple Watch of all. To see if you live in one of them, check out Cult of Mac’s handy map below, but be prepared to weep.

SAN FRANCISCO — Like a lot of people, I took the midnight plunge and bought an Apple Watch before I’d even tried it on.

But today, I got to see the device I bought last night. I went down to the flagship Apple Store in San Francisco and tried on a range of watches.

I wish I’d done this before, because I might have ordered differently.

Not content with only Apple Watch pre-orders and a slim new MacBook, Apple has quietly classed up the Beats Solo 2 wireless headphone line with some fairly familiar colors: Silver, Gold, and Space Gray.

You know it’s an Apple joint when Space Gray shows up.

Tim Cook was spotted at the Apple Store in Palo Alto this morning, greeting customers who had come in to get a first look at the Apple Watch.

The Apple CEO said he was impressed with the enthusiasm behind Apple Watch, stating “customers have been giving us great feedback and orders have been great, as well.” Apple Watch pre-orders sold out within hours this morning, with all units now not shipping until June.

Before Cook left he gave fans a glimpse of the stainless steel Apple Watch he’s been wearing with a custom red Digital Crown. Check out in the video below:

Helsinki-based developer Everywear Games surely had to rethink the way they pitch when they decided to make an Apple Watch game. Runeblade, the team’s casual fantasy-adventure made only for the Apple Watch, will launch onto Apple’s diminutive third screen later this month.

“The game is designed to be played in 5-15 second sessions and builds over time as you progress through the journey,” said CEO Aki Järvilehto in a statemnent. “We’re excited to help pioneer game development on Apple Watch with a fully original title designed specifically for smartwatch gaming.”

The team has released a trailer to tease the game, and it looks interesting, if a bit tiny. It is a game meant to be played on your wrist. With one hand.

When #TheDress went viral, you might have tweeted about it, or argued over the color with your Facebook friends. You may have forwarded that video of the Llamas giving merry chase, or the Left Shark messing up its dance moves during Katy Perry’s halftime show.

Indie game developers, however, saw an opportunity.

With games like Left Shark Dance Attack, Super WeaselPecker, and the addition of The Dress to the existing game Fashion Story, these game makers seized the opportunity of the moment and brought these viral memes into the digital realm for fun…and hopefully a quick profit.

“We understand these types of games have a short shelf life,” Evan S of Left Shark Dance Attack‘s Best Apps LLC told us, “but most games on the App Store have a short shelf life.”

For nerds of all stripe, this Sunday night will be an imploding black hole of greatness, with the Season 5 premiere of Game of Thrones, and, right after that, the Season 2 debut of our favorite tech-themed dramedy, Silicon Valley.

In the delightfully awkward trailer, you’ll see the boys rounding up their VC resources to compete with Google stand-in Hooli, who’s hot on the Pied Piper trail to get their algorithms for data compression to market first.

Get your Apple TV ready, because Sunday is all HBO.

With reports that it can break elements of Touch ID, there are plenty of reasons to consider not upgrading to iOS 8.3, the latest version of Apple’s mobile OS.

But here’s a very good reason to: according to security researchers, the update fixes a vulnerability which has the potential to render your iPhone almost useless.

Game of Thrones…is coming. The fifth season takes over your Apple TV this Sunday and we’re all pumped for the latest intrigue, dragons, and deeply menacing looks. Not to mention all the great naked people.

If you’ve missed the first four seasons of Game of Thrones, however, you have two choices.

You can binge watch all 40 hours of HBO’s take on George R.R. Martin’s blood and sex-fest, or you can catch up in two minutes, 49 seconds, with this absolutely hilarious recap from comedy duo Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele.

CHICAGO — It didn’t matter that Mel Torgusen had already ordered her Apple Watch at 2 a.m.

She still had to be at the Apple Store on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile at 10 sharp — just to touch one.

“Ever since the announcement, I’ve been counting down the days,” said Torgusen, standing at one of a dozen stations the store had set up for prospective buyers to try the watch. “I’m an Apple person and I didn’t need to try it on to know I’d want one.”

A steady stream of the curious and devoted filed into the store Friday for the big Apple Watch preview. There were about 20 people who had signed up for the early appointments lined up outside the store when the doors opened. Others who did not schedule appointments for a personal tour went past a showcase of watches, then quickly registered for private showings.

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After China, India is the next big developing market Apple wants to conquer — and apparently the Indian government couldn’t be happier about it.

Meeting with Apple’s regulatory head for Europe, Middle East, India and Africa on Friday, India’s Communications and I.T. Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad urged the company to consider opening a Research & Development facility in the country — legitimizing India’s booming tech industry in the same way that Apple’s R&D facility in Israel does for that country’s.

“Apple is an effective brand in India and personally I requested them to consider opening a good R&D centre in India,” Prasad said, following the meeting.

There’s no question that Google Chrome is one of the best web browsers you can get, but it’s long been a resource hog under OS X. By simply avoiding it on the new MacBook, your battery could last more than three hours longer in between charges.

If you haven’t already pre-ordered your gorgeous gold MacBook, you’re going to be waiting 3-4 weeks for it to ship. Initial supplies have already been claimed since the device went on sale this morning, but the silver and space gray models are still available in 1-3 days if you live in the U.S.

One of the things highlighted in this week’s Apple Watch early hands-on reviews is that the device’s constant stream of notifications has the potential to drive you nuts.

With rival companies never wanting to miss out on a chance to parody Apple while it’s gaining so much attention, Netflix has taken a shot at Cupertino with its joke ad for an even more distracting wearable: the Netflix Watch, which provides on-the-move access to Netflix’s vast archives.

Check it out below.

Now that the Apple Watch is officially available for pre-orders, Apple has opened up its new Concierge service, allowing you to schedule appointments with Apple Specialists for official Watch fittings.

Provided you can find an available slot, that is!

The Apple Watch is now available for pre-orders, and with it Apple has revealed a few more details about the cost of its AppleCare+ service for the wearables — ranging from $49 for the cheapest option all the way up to $1,500.

Find out what you need to know below.

Did you get to your computer too late to get one of the earliest shipping Apple Watches? No problem: Confirmed preorders are already showing up on eBay.

At a premium, of course.

Shipping dates on the Apple Watch may have already slipped back as far as August in some cases, but there’s one surefire way to get your hands on Apple’s hotly-anticipated wearable: be a big name celebrity.

As users around the world counted down the seconds until they could preorder an Apple Watch, both Katy Perry and Drake posted pictures to their Instagram accounts, showing themselves posing with their brand new Edition devices.

Is it too late for me to start a career in pop music?

The gold Apple Watch Edition is expected to be big in China, but if the first hour of pre-orders are any indication, Tim Cook’s going to need to order up a lot more gold.

Within the first hour of pre-orders going online the Apple Watch Edition has already sold out in China.

You can finally pre-order the Apple Watch of your dreams, but if you want one ASAP skip the Space Gray or fancier models.

Shipping times for the Apple Watch have already slipped into May for the Apple Watch Sport, while some of the Apple Watch and Apple Watch Edition models won’t ship until June or even August.

Apple Watch pre-orders just went online, but if you’d like to go try-on Jony Ive’s amazing timepiece before you buy it, you can now schedule a one-on-one appointment to go through the different models.

Apple Stores have been outfitted with new viewing tables and demo stations for the pre-order launch. Reservations only last 15 minutes, (unless you’re buying the Apple Watch Edition), but that should be enough time to find the right case and band combo to match your style. Some readers overseas have sent us pictures of their Apple Watch try-on sessions.

Take a look at the store makeover: