When you’re one of the closest things the programming world has to a rock star, you might assume that — when the time comes to pass your godly coding powers onto the next generation — you’d hand your offspring a brand new iPad and a crash course in the likes of Swift: the insanely popular state-of-the-art iOS language unveiled at last year’s WWDC.

Try telling that to John Carmack! The legendary coder behind the smash hit games Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Quake (today working at Oculus VR) recently shared a picture of his young son’s home computer lessons. Carmack’s choice for suitable hardware and software? BASIC on the 1984-era Apple IIc.

He’s kicking it old-school!

Along with today’s release of iOS 8.3 beta 2 to developers, Apple has also seeded a new version of OS X 10.10.3 on the Mac Dev Center.

The second beta preview comes two weeks after Apple released the OS X 10.10.3 to developers with a preview of the new Photos app. The new preview build 14D87h can be found in the Mac App Store or in the dev center.

Apple added two-factor authentication, an improved emoji layout, and paved the way for racially diverse in emoji in the last beta build. The release notes don’t mention any new features, but we’ll let you know what we find once it’s installed on our machines.

We’re still waiting for the release of iOS 8.2 but Apple just pushed out the second beta build of iOS 8.3 to developers.

The software update was made available this morning in the iOS Dev Center. Along with iOS 8.3 beta 2, Apple released beta build 2 of Xcode 6.3, which includes Swift 1.2. There’s also a new pre-release version of Apple TV beta for the third-generation Apple TV.

The iOS 8.3 beta 2 release notes don’t mention any new features, but we’ll tell you about all the goodies we find as soon as it’s installed on our iPhones. In the meantime, check out our feature on the new additions in iOS 8.3 beta 1, which included a new emoji layout, CarPlay features, two-factor authentication for Google, and Apple Pay support for China. Or use  the direct download links below to jump into iOS 8.3 beta 2:

Google is stepping up its game in the mobile payments space this year by striking a deal with AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile to pre-install Google Wallet on all Android phones.

The move comes after Apple Pay has started to take over the mobile payments space, despite launching less than six months ago. With the new pre-installed Google Wallet deal, Google will hopefully add more consumers to the feature that’s been around since 2011 but hasn’t grown as quickly as the company hoped.

If you were a fan of The Jetsons cartoon, you probably marvelled at the home automation features that George Jetson and his brood enjoyed. While we may not yet have robot maids who can console us after our daily firing from Spacely Sprockets, there have been a number of advancements in home automation technology.

Check out these gadgets at Cult of Mac Deals that are sure to streamline your home and get you on the road to one day having your own contraption that’ll automatically put on your clothes for you. Man, that’d be sweet.

Toyota was one of the first car manufacturers to announce it would support CarPlay, but the company is pulling back on its plans to embrace Apple’s car infotainment system. Despite still being listed among Apple’s CarPlay partners, Toyota says it’s sticking with its own Entune systems.

The company says that while it has talked frequently to both Apple and Google about CarPlay and Android Auto, it has no plans to bring the technologies to its cars in the United States anytime soon. Toyota’s manager of advanced technology communications, John Hanson, told the New York Times, “We may all eventually wind up there, but right now we prefer to use our in-house proprietary platforms for those kinds of functions,” Mr. Hanson said.

While Toyota’s not so hot on CarPlay, other manufacturers like Ford, BMW, Volkswagon, and GM are more bullish on Apple’s car offerings. Here’s a full breakdown of which service auto makers currently support:

YouTube Kids, the brand new app designed to make YouTube a safer and more enjoyable place for our little ones, is now available on Android and iOS.

In addition to a selection of curated videos ideal for young viewers, the apps make it easier for kids to find and navigate their way around suitable content, and they block out anything that’s not fit for small eyes.

A somewhat surprising lack of interest in the iPhone 5c means Apple’s unlikely to have another stab at a more affordable iPhone category for a long time, but these beautiful mockups of a would-be iPhone 6c make us wish that wasn’t the case.

iTunes might currently be flagging compared to rivals like Spotify, but it seems that Apple has some big ideas to bolster its music services — and unlike many companies in Silicon Valley, they’re not going to be based solely on better algorithms.

In a new job posting, Apple makes clear that it wants to lead the way when it comes to specialized employees who know their music. In particular, the company is seeking an editorial producer, based in London, with a background in both music journalism and pop culture.

Apple is continuing to provide credible reasons that it may be working on an electric vehicle, as a new report suggests that Cupertino is in the midst of hiring away battery experts from major companies involved with the car industry.

The latest company to be allegedly targeted? None other than longtime Apple rival, Samsung.

In his breathtaking profile of Jony Ive in the latest issue of The New Yorker, Ian Parker drops a bombshell. You know that crossguard lightsaber in J.J. Abrams’ new Star Wars movie? The gnarly, rough-around-the-edges one seen in the latest trailer? You can give Ive credit for inspiring it.

That got Martin Hajek thinking. The Dutch CGI modeler, who always loves rendering potential Ive designs, wondered what it would look like if Apple produced a lightsaber. Not something rough and spitty, but just as refined as any other Apple product. And so, the iSaber was born.

If you want to switch over to Virgin Mobile from your existing network for its low prices, you’ll have to go Windows Phone or Android: Sprint’s pre-paid subsidiary seems to have stopped selling the iPhone.

After hints that a broader international rollout was imminent, Apple Maps Connect has officially come to Germany, France and Canada.

Martin Scorsese’s iPad ad wasn’t the only Apple-related spot at last night’s Oscars. In addition, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak popped up in an advert for Cadillac, in which he was described as “a college dropout [who invented] the personal computer.”

Selective history notwithstanding (the Programma 101, Micral N and Altair all have claims to being the first personal computers, while the Commodore PET was the first mass-market model), the ad is particularly interesting given the recent news about a possible Apple Car.

Check out the ad after the jump:

Attention all Mac developers! You know how when your city changes its trash-collection policies it leads to months of confusion? That’s about to happen on the Mac App Store: If you want to continue selling apps there, you’ll have to switch how you collect your garbage.

Apple plans to open two new data centers in Europe, its biggest European project to date. Located in Ireland and Denmark, the twin data centers will power the company’s online services including the iTunes Store, App Store, iMessage, Maps and Siri for local customers.

As an iPhone owner, I’ve been curious about Android Wear, Google’s smartwatch platform, from the get-go. The problem is Android Wear requires an Android smartphone to work, leaving everyone out to dry.

That might be changing though. An independent developer has just released a tantalizing video, showing iOS sending notifications to an Android Wear smart watch.

Ahead of tonight’s Academy Awards, Apple released a new video celebrating how iOS devices can help filmmakers.

You will find killer deals on the tech products you need and want for your Apple devices and more at Cult of Mac Deals.

Read on for some examples of our best offers or go to Cult of Mac Deals to see them all.

Samsung has just released another teaser video of its upcoming flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S6. But will this be the iPhone-killer Samsung needs?

Jony Ive and his infamous design team aren’t simply creating the Apple products you use and love, their influence is reshaping Apple itself. On this episode, we look back at Jony’s humble start, and examine how Sir Ive and team became the powerful core of the world’s greatest company. Plus, we bet you just can’t wait to get behind the wheel of your very own Apple-made … minivan? We’ll fill you in on the latest Apple car rumors.

Our thanks to Sanebox.com for supporting this episode. Sanebox’s algorithms learn which emails you want to see and puts the rest into a daily digest you can review and delete with one click. See how accurate it is with a free trial.

Full show notes ahead!

For accessories and software that are designed to work with your Apple product, Cult of Mac Deals is the only place you need to go.

Check out hot items like the Revogi Bluetooth LED Bulb, Jump Desktop for Mac, and more at big discounts and all with free US shipping. We’d advise you to hurry though, because the end for these deals is nearing.

The mysterious Apple minivans roaming the roads in California, Florida and elsewhere are generally assumed to be self-driving cars, but they are not. They are almost undoubtedly collecting data for maps.

They are “almost certainly a mapping vehicle,” said Paul Godsmark, chief technology officer with the Canadian Automated Vehicles Centre of Excellence, who examined photos of the mystery vehicles at Cult of Mac’s request.