Cult of Mac

Halt and Catch Fire isn’t Silicon Valley where the presence of a woman in a skirt sends the coders into a tailspin. This is the dying cry of the zipless f**k, before everyone got spooked about AIDS. This is hot neon, the smell of the soldering gun on a circuit board, and the deep empty place inside that drives creative people to do crazy things, think different, and meet each other where the metal meets the code.

Unfortunately, dismal ratings may possibly keep the show, whose plot hinges on a rag-tag group of misfits reverse engineering the IBM PC around the same time Woz & Jobs were busy home-brewing in the garage, from being picked up for a second season.

You can watch Halt and Catch Fire, named for the machine code (HCF) that was able to cause a computer to stop working, on AMC or iTunes.

We feel so strongly about this retro-tastic show (Coleco! Pong! Texas Instruments!) that we put up a petition to save it. Here’s why you should sign:

Reports of the Apple’s ban in China have been greatly exaggerated according to the country’s chief procurement center, which has denied a report from earlier this week that claimed MacBooks, iPhones and iPads have been banned from state use by the Chinese government.

Security concerns were allegedly the reason for the banning in the first, but according to a Reuters report, Apple’s short exclusion from the country’s procurement list was just a simple misunderstanding.

The iPhone 6 seems to get nearer and nearer each week as Apple fanboys and other tech enthusiasts await an official reveal date with mounting anxiety, but the age of the iPhone 6 might finally be close at hand. A year’s worth of leaks, rumors, and theories regarding the iPhone 6 are finally about to be put to rest, thanks to sources who revealed this week exactly when we can expect Apple to reveal their next generation iPhone.

Watch today’s Cult of Mac news roundup for all the details on the rumored iPhone 6 keynote date, as well as iOS 8 beta 5 details, and even why one piece of technology has Kanye West filing lawsuits like his name’s Johnnie Cochran.

Of course, don’t forget to subscribe to Cult of Mac TV on YouTube and catch all our latest videos.

A federal judge has rejected the $324.5 million settlement Apple and others have agreed to pay after facing accusations that the company colluded with Silicon Valley’s top tech firms to avoid poaching each other’s employees.

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh rejected the proposed settlement from Apple, Google, Intel and Adobe, saying that the total amount “falls below the range of reasonableness.”

Apple is bringing some much needed relief to your wallet with the addition of iOS 8’s new Family Sharing feature that lets your friends and family enjoy the apps you’ve paid for without purchasing them again, and to make it clear which apps support the new feature, Apple has added some extra info in iTunes and the App Store.

Apple has donated 10 million yuan ($1.6 million) to support relief efforts in China following the major earthquake in the country’s Yunnan Province earlier this week.

The 6.5-magnitude earthquake is the worst disaster to have hit the area in a century, and resulted in the deaths of 615 people. A further 2,400 were injured in the quake, while rescuers have evacuated 230,000 further people, who are now displaced from their home.

Apple has updated its Chinese homepage to reflect the disaster, and Tim Cook personally sent out an email to Apple employees noting that the company is eager to hit with relief efforts.

Creating iOS applications for your business or project is a smart thing to do. Really smart. Some don’t do it, however, because it’s either too expensive or too time intensive.

If you want to get into designing iOS apps, then check out Cult of Mac Deals today. They have three deals on now for a combined 80% off that’ll give you the tools needed to design killer apps. What’s better, they’ll make designing iOS apps easier and will save you cash!

We already know that once iOS 8 comes around, AgileBit’s password manager 1Password is going to be great. Not only will it use Touch ID to make remembering your password a thing of the past, but it will integrate with third party apps.

Pretty cool. The only problem, though, is that 1Password for iOS generally retails at $17.99. Pretty expensive. But for a limited time only, 1Password is going on sale for just $9.99… and in case you’re wondering, yes, the Touch ID compatible iOS 8 version will be a free update if you buy it at this price. And that’s not all: 1Password’s sister app for Mac is also currenly on sale for just $34.99, down from a cool $50.

If you have any dreams of being able to surplant all your internet passwords with your fingerprint come iOS 8, I suggest you get a move on.

Source: iTunes

Sporting a larger screen size, case redesign and various under-the-hood improvements, the iPhone 6 is widely expected to be the biggest refresh of Apple’s smartphone in years. That anticipation is having a major knock-on effect with Apple’s component makers, too.

We reported last month that Apple has placed an unprecedented number of orders for the iPhone 6, and that seems to be backed up by recently announced July sales for Taiwan-based Apple casing supplier Catcher Technology.

Based on growth in the Apple-driven smartphone sector, the company had its second best month in history, with monthly earnings of $154.6 million. This marks a whopping 36.8 percent increase compared to the same month in 2013.

Everyone wants to make a mint in the App Store. But while some developers slave away in coding dens on original ideas, others see a get-rich-quick shortcut through copying.

The result is an App Store littered with clones, frustrated devs, and Apple stuck playing a never-ending game of whack-a-mole to police the rip-off apps.

Recently the developers of micro-messaging service Yo — this year’s most unlikely App Store success story — were shocked to discover that another eerily-similar app called Yolo was hoovering up its potential downloads.

“I noticed a clone that was an exact replica, including the exact same UI, same App Store screenshots, and same App Store description copied word-for-word,” Yo creator Or Arbel tells Cult of Mac.

Sometimes a video game movie spinoff comes along that is so left field that you you a) check to see that it’s not April Fool’s Day and b) makes you wonder if the developers have actually seen the film in question.

Joining 2004’s Fight Club video game, which turned the epic David Fincher mindf*ck movie into a straightforward beat-em-up, is a new Forrest Gump iOS game, which mutates the beloved Oscar-winning comedy-drama into an endless runner. Yes, really.

Called Run Forrest Run, the game “celebrates” the twentieth anniversary of the movie by stripping it of whatever complexity it had, and transforming it into a game in which Tom Hanks’ simpleton character runs into traffic and collects coins like a “stupid is as stupid does” Super Mario impersonator.

An exhibit full of tortoises with iPads glued to their shells. Is this the next evolutionary stage of the family testudinidae? Hardly. It’s an art exhibit in Colorado’s Aspen Art Museum that has animal activists hopping mad.

Apple has dropped a new version of its iTunes app, solving a continuing problem for podcast listeners where subscribed podcasts stop updating with new episodes.

The iTunes version 11.3.1 refresh also fixes another podcast related issue, which saw iTunes become unresponsive while browsing through different podcast episodes.

Yesterday we wrote about the exciting news that Ace Attorney 5 (known outside Japan as Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies) had landed in the Japanese App Store.

Although it came with no official announcement of an English language release, we noted that we remained hopeful — particularly since the game had already received such a translation for a Nintendo 3DS version in 2013, which went on to be heavily praised by various outlets.

Well,  developers Capcom didn’t keep us in suspense for very long, since already the company has confirmed that English-language audiences can expect to play a version of the hit game “quite soon.”

Barnes & Noble has decided to team up Google in an effort to reclaim its King of Book Retail title from their mutual rival Amazon.

Starting today, the two companies are partnering up to bring same-day delivery of books from local Barnes and Noble to customers in Manhattan, West Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area, giving both companies an answer to Amazon’s same-day offerings.

A new set of leaked iPhone 6 photos from luxury iPhone upgraders Feld & Volk reveal that Apple’s next handset may come with recessed volume buttons, a protruding camera lens, and an embeddable Apple logo that might be made of Liquidmetal.

The iPhone 6 is expected to be unveiled next month, but a plethora of leaks flooding out of Shenzhen have already given fanboys an idea what to expect, and these new photos add a few more pieces to the puzzle with details on how Apple will slim the profile of the device and make your shiny Apple logo scratch-resistant.

Take a look at the allegedly leaked parts below:

We all enjoy stuffing our iOS devices with enough movies, music, photos, and other content to keep your iPhone entertainment system pumping for decades, but overtime your device can get too full.

New games, songs and even an iOS update can put users in quite the dilemma about where to trim some gigs of fat. Luckily when not wanting to part ways with your favorite iOS content there’s other convenient ways to free up more storage space.

Today’s video takes a look at 5 tidying tips that can free up more storage on your iOS device for when you need it most. Uncover how to manage your storage, address the dreaded “other” space on your device and find even more by simply using these tips.

Subscribe to Cult of Mac TV on YouTube to catch all our latest videos.

Buying a home can be seriously stressful, but mobile app Zillow has been providing folks with great real estate information on local homes for a while now. I’ve used it several times to compare prices across homes I was interested in buying, as well and to just check out the kind of home my friends can buy, because I’m pretty nosy like that.

The Zillow app just updated with a fantastic new feature, too: instant mortgage pre-approval. This is a huge deal, as being pre-approved can make sure that your offers on homes, especially in hot markets like San Francisco and New York, are taken seriously. Pre-approved home loans are a great way to make that happen.

Apple added a new Beats by Dre section to its online store that makes it quicker than ever for shoppers to locate Tim Cook’s new favorite headphone brand among the mountain of iPhone and iPad accessories.

Team Chaos has a reputation for publishing quirky, fun, colorful games like Cat vs. Aliens, Flappy Stache, and Dragon Academy (a “hatch-three” puzzle game).

With Space Colors, they’ve done it again. This time, you’re an Asteroids-style spaceship trying to destroy and mine asteroids, kill all the baddies, and avoid dying for as long as possible while gaining experience points and credits, which can be used in the in-game store to purchase weaponry and armor upgrades.

It’s stylish, easy to learn, hard to master, and is truly a lot of fun.

Apple dropped a slew of new beta releases earlier this week for iOS 8, Yosemite and Apple TV, but the company is also patching up Mavericks with the second beta build of OS X Mavericks 10.9.5.

Football madness kicks off in four more weeks and to satisfy your hunger for everything related to the gridiron, the NFL just launched its new NFL Now app for iPhone and iPad, that brings a deluge of video content for your favorite teams, all for free.

NFL Now includes highlights, interviews, Hard Knocks, and decades of old games from NFL Films. Best of all, the app is highly personalized based on your favorite teams and players that you pick when you first log in to the app.

SACRAMENTO — The state where the iPhone was born came a step closer to a law that might help keep it in your hands.

State Sen. Mark Leno’s Smartphone Theft Prevention Act (Senate Bill 962) passed the state legislature this morning with a 51-18 vote. Now it will move on to the Senate for a vote on amendments.

California won’t be the first state to flip the kill switch – that distinction goes to Minnesota, which heeded the call from consumers in May. If the law passes in the most populous state in the U.S. and the birthplace of the iPhone, it may mark a sea change in similar legislation. California’s law will affect any smartphone manufactured on or after July 1, 2015.