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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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post-317353-image-1687e0b8e78eb408bda16fa32051dd0f-jpg

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
Photo:

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.”

Dashcams reveal horrors of teens texting and driving

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Don't text and drive. Photo: AAA
Don't text and drive. Photo: AAA

We all know that teens are crazy drivers. But when you put phones in their hands, things get really bad.

AAA conducted video analysis of teenagers on the road and discovered that “distraction was a factor in nearly six out of 10 moderate-to-severe teen crashes.”

The video footage speaks for itself, so just watch:

First wave of Apple Watch apps lands on iTunes

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Apple Watch isn't being too closely, err, watched. Photo: Apple
Apple Watch apps are ready for your wrist. Photo: Apple

Apple Stores won’t have the Apple Watch on display for a few weeks, but anyone eager to see what the world of wrist apps will offer can already download them to their iPhone.

The first wave of Apple Watch-supported apps started hitting iTunes today, with big names like Target, Evernote, WeChat and Expedia being some of the first out of the gate. You can’t actually use the Apple Watch functionality on the apps yet (unless Tim Cook hooked you up with an early unit), but you can get an early glimpse of how some apps will dramatically change your life.

Here are some of the first Apple Watch apps you can download and their features:

Classified thermal-imaging and night-vision goodies land on eBay

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This night vision device, missing from a $750 million military program, can be yours on eBay for just over $16,000. Photo: eBay
This night-vision device, missing from a $750 million military program, can be yours on eBay for just over $16,000. Photo: The Night Vision Warehouse/eBay

If you search long enough, you can find anything on eBay and Craigslist. That includes lost, expensive military equipment that helps soldiers find roadside bombs.

The Intercept, an investigative reporting website founded by Glenn Greenwald, obtained a Navy intelligence document detailing thermal-optic-imaging and night-vision devices that wound up on a number of websites for sale, including eBay, Craigslist, texasguntalk.com and sportsfisherman.com.

Friendly indie dev wants to teach kids to think like a programmer

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Daryl Hornsby is a friendly guy  with a mission: to design puzzles that help kids think like a programmer. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Daryl Hornsby is a friendly guy with a mission. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Indie developer Daryl Hornsby has a novel approach for getting kids engaged with educational games: Don’t dumb things down.

That’s the key to Machineers, the clever puzzle-adventure game his company crafted to to lead kids through various programming logic concepts.

“When you say you want to target 10 to 15 year-olds, you’re told you have to make it overly colorful and bubbly, and that no kids read text,” Hornsby told Cult of Mac. “We’ve been able to prove that this is not quite the case. We’ve found that kids want to be treated like adults, but it still has to be approachable.”

10 surprising things we learned about Tim Cook today

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Photo: Apple.
Fortune names Tim Cook the "world's greatest leader." Here's why. Photo: Apple

Tim Cook had enormous shoes to fill when he took over as Apple CEO. After Steve Jobs’ death in 2011, doubters questioned whether the Southern engineer could keep Apple relevant. But Cook has led Apple to become the world’s most valuable company — he might be even better at running the company than Jobs ever was.

Now Fortune has named Cook the “world’s greatest leader” and published a profile full of exclusive details about Cook’s journey as Apple CEO. In the interview, Cook reveals how he developed thick skin, why he’s giving all his money to charity, and the real reasons he opened up about his sexuality.

The massive profile is well worth a read, but we’ve picked out the most interesting bits for you below.

An actual wheel iPad gamers can get behind

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The KOLOS gaming wheel is for iPad gamers who want a more realistic and comfortable experience with driving games. Photo: KOLOS
The KOLOS gaming wheel is for iPad gamers who want a more realistic and comfortable experience with driving games. Photo: KOLOS

A game like Real Racing has sophisticated graphics that, combined with the motion sensors of an iPad, give you the sensation of being behind the wheel.

The only thing missing is the actual wheel.

Ivaylo Kalburdzhiev wants iPad users to have a more comfortable drive when they play anyone of the more than 450 tilt games.

The CEO of KOLOS, slavic for colossus, has developed a gaming wheel for the iPad that launches on Kickstarter today.

Energize your brain with REBUS, a stylish but absurd logic game

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New iOS game REBUS will get your brain firing on all cylinders. Photo: Jutiful
New iOS game REBUS will get your brain firing on all cylinders. Photo: Jutiful

This post is brought to you by Jutiful, creator of REBUS.

You know what a rebus is — a graphic puzzle representing a word or phrase. An example would be a letter “M” sitting atop the word “day”: “M” on “day” equals “Monday.”

REBUS, a new “absurd logic game” from Jutiful, is an app containing more than 100 rebuses (with more on the way). Solve these stylish word puzzles to collect achievements you can share with friends.

Twitter takes on Meerkat with live video app Periscope

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I asked my colleague Killian Bell to come up with an image to show the battle between Twitter and Meerkat. This is what he came up with. The monster. Photo: Cult of Mac
Twitter is hunting Meerkats. Well, sort of. Photo: Cult of Mac

By now, you’ve almost certainly heard of Meerkat: the live-streaming social media phenomenon. Well, Twitter has too, because today it launched its own would-be Meerkat killer: a standalone live-streaming video app called Periscope.

Currently available only for iOS devices, the app was acquired by Twitter back in January for a reported $100 million. Unlike Meerkat, which works on the same disappearing media idea as Snapchat, Periscope allows users to save live streams and then replay them later.

Save big on extra storage for you Mac with the Nifty MiniDrive & more top accessories [Deals]

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CoM_Nifty

Your Mac computer is a precision device. Take care of it with quality made products designed to complement your Mac’s features, providing you with a more robust computing experience.

Take advantage of low prices and free US shipping for the Nifty MacBook MiniDrive, the ChugPlug Portable MacBook Power Pack, the Quirky ‘Space Bar’ Monitor Stand, and the Quirky Apple Accessory Bundle available now at Cult of Mac Deals.