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The most awesome new apps you might have missed this week

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It’s the weekend, which means it’s time to catch up on all of the hot new apps you might have missed throughout the week.

Twitter sets the live video world ablaze with Periscope, a couple great iPhone photography apps, the best way to calendar on the Mac, and some others made it into this week’s roundup.

Without further ado, here are this week’s awesome apps!


Awesome Apps

Hot deals ending soon: VPN protection for life, Dragon Dictate, BatteryBox & more [Deals]

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CoM_VPN Unlimited Lifetime

You’ll find supremely awesome deals on cool products for your Mac, iOS device, and more every single day at Cult of Mac Deals.

The offers at Cult of Mac Deals are so good, though, that they just cannot stick around forever. This may be your last chance to save 70% on a lifetime subscription to VPN Unlimited, or to get Dragon Dictate for Mac 4 at half off, plus more. Read on to check out all the hot deals ending soon.

Apple TV rumors and our future robot overlords take over The CultCast

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Come with us if you want to CultCast.
Come with us if you want to CultCast.

This week: more rumors of a souped-up Apple TV coming in June, and we examine the softer side of Steve Jobs, as described in a new unofficial, Apple-backed biography. Plus: Skynet is the stuff of movies, but Elon Musk, Steven Hawking, and now Steve Wozniak, all believe AI is a big threat. Should we worried? You’re gonna want to unplug your Segway after this discussion.

Our thanks for Freshbooks for supporting this episode. FreshBooks is the easy-to-use invoicing software designed to help small business owners get organized, save time invoicing and get paid faster. It also makes tax time a cinch. Get started now with a 30-day free trial.

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Full show notes ahead!

How App Store optimization can harm indie developers

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iOS App Store.
Critical errors can do real damage as you try to rise to the top of the App Store.

I followed the advice of an App Store optimization expert last year in an attempt to promote my iPhone app. Big mistake. It felt wrong at the time, and it did more harm than good. Now I’ve learned to trust my gut instincts instead.

The only good way to brick your MacBook

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Seriously, how could you resist? Photo: Brik Case/Gizmodo

 

I pretty much love Apple and Lego in equal measure, so the idea of somehow combining the two is never going to fail to win my approval.

Assuming that I’m not the only person to feel this way, allow me to introduce the Brik Case: a fantastic Kickstarter campaign intended to raise the cash needed to manufacture a MacBook case that can be decorated with Lego bricks, to create any design of your choosing.

How to use a PS4 controller with your Mac

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Get your game on -- wirelessly -- with a PS4 controller and your Mac. Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac
Get your game on -- wirelessly -- with a PS4 controller and your Mac. Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

Now just might be the best time ever to be a Mac gamer, as a ton of big titles for PC and console are also available for Apple computers via the Mac App Store, Steam or GoG.com. It’s a golden era of cross-platform goodness, and it’s easier than ever to find a game you’ll love on the Mac.

Some of today’s hot titles demand a good controller, though. One of the best is Sony’s DualShock 4 controller (the same one that comes with the PlayStation 4). If you’ve got one, you’ve got easy access to a fantastic, ergonomic and just plain great gaming controller that will work with your Mac, requiring very little setup to make it happen.

Here’s our recipe for great wireless Mac gaming.

Comcast denies talking with Apple about TV service

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Apple isn't talking with NBC's parent company about a TV service. Photo: NBCUniversal
Apple hasn't approached NBC's parent company about a TV service. Photo: NBCUniversal

It turns out Apple isn’t talking with NBCUniversal about partnering for its forthcoming TV service. At least not yet.

How do we know? Because Comcast, NBCUniversal’s parent company, hasn’t been approached by Apple at all. But that doesn’t mean NBCUniversal’s content won’t be on Apple’s service when it launches.

Slack has been hacked

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Cult of Mac runs on Slack. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Cult of Mac runs on Slack. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Slack, the cool new communications app that many of the world’s top companies have flocked to, just revealed that it’s been hacked.

Attackers were able to access a Slack database, the company said Friday morning. There’s no indication the hackers were able to decrypt passwords stored on the server, but Slack is immediately ramping up security efforts in response.

iFührer: Hitler is an Apple fan in Chinese smartphone ad

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Whether it’s arguing over market share vs. profit margins, or Google Now vs. Siri, the war between Android and iOS users can sometimes can a bit heated.

But up until today, no matter how anti-Apple the crowd, I’ve never heard anyone stoop to compare Tim Cook’s company to Adolf Hitler, the mass-murdering Nazi Party leader.

That’s all changed now, however, as a new ad from Chinese Internet video site service, Jia Yueting, is drawing on the massively offensive parallel to promote its new Android smartphone.

The 3-D printed TV with a tiny 2-inch screen that really works

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This miniature1950s-inspired television was made on a 3D printer and built around electronics that brings it to life. Photo: Formlabs/YouTube
This miniature1950s-inspired television was made on a 3D printer and built around electronics that brings it to life. Photo: Formlabs/YouTube

About the only thing you can’t print on a 3-D printer is a time machine. However, the creators at Formlabs have managed to bring forward a staple from many 1950s living rooms.

OK, so 3-D printing a miniaturized replica of a Philco Predicta television isn’t exactly time travel, but you can ignore that when you realize the TV actually works.

ICYMI: Inside Apple’s secret health lab

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All the great stories from the past week that you might have missed. Photo: Stephen Smith
All the great stories from the past week that you might have missed. Photo: Stephen Smith

This week, Alex has a quick look inside Apple’s secret health lab, Leander has some of his own thoughts about the hot new Becoming Steve Jobs book, Luke has important info about how hackers are brute-forcing simple passwords, Rob gives you a quick how-to on marking all those unread iMessages as read, and David has a pretty neat story about Crazy Aaron’s Thinking Putty. Wild, fun, and all Cult of Mac — that’s what we have for you in this edition of Cult of Mac Magazine!

Could the iOS 8.2 jailbreak be released today?

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Even jailbreakers need to unjailbreak sometimes.
Could the next iOS jailbreak land today? Photo: Redmond Pie
Photo: Redmond Pie

iOS 8.2 was released to the public over a week ago, and already, jailbreakers are champing at the bit for a jailbreak solution that works with the latest and greatest version of Apple’s new operating system. Now it seems as if TaiG, the Chinese jailbreaking team that cracked open previous versions of iOS 8 to the public, could release an iOS 8.2 jailbreak as early as today.

How to set up a paperless office using your Mac or iPhone

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It's time to go paperless.  Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
It's time to go paperless. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
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Sick of the mountains of paper stacking up in your inbox? You’ve probably heard about the joys of having a paperless office, maybe even thought about setting one up, but didn’t know how.

Well, here’s how. Not only is it easy to set to do, it can totally change your life.

Here’s how to use your Mac and iPhone to effortlessly set up your own idiot-proof paperless office … the right way.

It’s time for Apple Watch mini-stores

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Mr. Selfridge will be selling Apple Watches. Photo: Cult of Mac/ITV
Mr. Selfridge will be selling Apple Watches. Sort of. Photo: Cult of Mac/ITV

If you’re in the market for an Apple Watch, and you live in London, Paris or Tokyo, consider yourself in luck: Apple will be opening mini store-within-store kiosks in luxury local department stores, dedicated to selling its eagerly-anticipated smartwatch.

The pop-up stores are planned to open Friday, April 10, when the Apple Watch first goes on preorder, which means you can be among the first to see the Apple Watch in person.

Instapaper gets faster than ever in latest update

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Reading articles in Instapaper just got faster than ever. Photo: Instapaper
Reading articles in Instapaper just got faster than ever. Photo: Instapaper

If you haven’t used Instapaper for awhile, it might be time to dig the app out again. It’s just received a great new update to version 6.2, adding some slick features like speed reading, the ability to tweet screenshots of text, and more.

WWE Immortals gets an upgrade just in time for WrestleMania

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Update our apps? Ooh, yeah! Photo:
New playable characters? Ooh, yeah! Photo:

This weekend is WrestleMania and, even as a kind of lapsed fan, I still can’t help but be excited about the prospect of Daniel Bryan, Brock Lesnar, Antonio Cesaro, Dolph Ziggler and pals plying their trade on the grandest stage of ’em all.

Which, of course, makes this the perfect time for Warner Bros. Interactive and WWE to update its WWE Immortals card-based fighting game for iOS — adding the characters “Macho Man” Randy Savage and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, plus an all-new Events System, to what was already a fun gaming experience.

This is what Steve Jobs looked like as a high school freshman

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Steve Jobs back when he had the same net worth as you or I. It didn't last long. Photo: Austin Belisle/Homestead High

When I think of young Steve Jobs, I typically picture the long-haired hippie who worked at Atari or the brilliant-but-immature co-founder who started Apple with Steve Wozniak. But here’s something I’ve not seen before: a photo of Jobs as a cherubic-but-undeniably-recognizable high school freshman.

The photo comes from the Homestead High yearbook from 1969, when Jobs was 14, and is far less well-known than the high school senior picture with which I’m already familiar.

How Tim Cook persuaded Angela Ahrendts to join Apple

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Photo: Mac Otakara/Twitter
Angela Ahrendts at the opening of a new Apple Store in Tokyo. Photo: Mac Otakara/Twitter

Much has been made of the managerial differences between Tim Cook and predecessor Steve Jobs, and unsurprisingly that extends to their respective approaches to recruitment, too.

Jobs famously recruited Apple engineer Bob Belleville by telling him that, “Everything you’ve ever done in your life is shit, so why don’t you come work for me?”

Tim Cook, on the other hand, takes a slightly softer tack — as evidenced by a new Fortune article, revealing how Cook recruited Apple’s retail guru Angela Ahrendts to join the company from her previous prominent role as CEO at Burberry.

Create a more secure iPhone passcode with special characters

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There has to be a safer solution.
Make your iPhone even more secure with special characters. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Sure, you’ve got Touch ID set up on your iPhone 6, but you’ll still need a passcode to keep your iPhone secure. If you have an older iPhone without Touch ID, or your fingerprint isn’t recognized for any reason, you’ll need to fall back on a passcode.

If you want to make your passcode even more secure, try using our recipe for a code with special characters instead of a simple number-based solution.

Woz: Apple wasn’t built to sell $17,000 watches

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Steve Wozniak. Photo:
Steve Wozniak seems to have mixed emotions about the upcoming Apple Watch. Photo: HigherEdWeb/Flickr CC

Steve Wozniak seems to have a complex relationship with both modern-day Apple and, particularly, the Apple Watch. In an interview at the Automate/Promat Show in Chicago yesterday, Apple’s co-founder said Apple’s foray into high-end wearables marks a very different turn for the company he helped to found.

“It didn’t seem like the company we started,” he said. “That’s not the Apple that moved the world forward.”