Cult of Mac

Apple is still trying to get a license for Apple Pay in China, but its new friends at Alibaba are bringing Touch ID payments to the mainstream in China today, with an update to the popular Alipay app that gives iPhone owners the power to make purchases with a fingerprint.

Alipay, which boasts over 300 million users in China, is the e-payment branch of Alibaba which just had the biggest global IPO ever this year. Tim Cook and Alibaba CEO Jack Ma met this year to talk about an Alipay + Apple Pay partnership, and the addition of Touch ID support is a strong sign that Apple’s mobile payments solution could be added in the future.

Apple surprised us with the untested iOS 8.1.2 update yesterday, but this morning Cupertino is dropping something a bit more exciting with the second beta release of iOS 8.2 that brings WatchKit to the iPhone.

The iOS 8.2 beta is available now in the Dev Center along with an Xcode 6.2 beta. The release notes don’t mention any new features, but there are tons of bug fixes, plus some improvements made to WatchKit. We’ll let you know if we find anything new once we install it.

Developers can pick up the beta as an over-the-air update if you’re already on the iOS 8.2 beta 1, or you can get it from the direct download links below:

In a delightful little video from Microsoft founder Bill Gates, the tech billionaire and philanthropist talks about the favorite books he’s read this year. It’s an eclectic collection: Thomas Piketty’s volume on income inequality, Capital in the Twenty-First Century shares equal space with fiction novel The Rosie Effect as well as a book from the late 1970s, Business Adventures, by John Brooks. It’s a rare insight into the mind of one of our biggest business and cultural leaders of the last several decades.

Check out the video below for the whole list, and a charmingly presented stop-motion Lego film starring Bill Gates himself.

After unveiling a partnership with IBM back in July this year — designed to combine IBM’s enterprise data specialties with Apple’s iOS hardware and software — Apple today announced the first 10 of its iOS apps released as part of the agreement.

In a press release, Apple’s Phil Schiller describes it as a “big step for iPhone and iPad in the enterprise,” and notes how “Apple and IBM are bringing together the world’s best technology with the smartest data and analytics to help businesses redefine how work gets done.”

If you felt like you just had to install iOS 8.1.2 because of its devastating “missing ringtone” bug, good news: just 24 hours later, it’s already possible to jailbreak your device.

Last year, Apple celebrated the holidays with a fantastic app called 12 Days of Gifts. Like a digital advent calendar, the 12 Days of Gift apps handed out free music, TV shows, movies, books, and apps over the holiday period.

But this year, we haven’t seen the 12 Days of Gifts app, at least so far. Is Apple canceling it? What’s the hold up?

I love the idea of being able to answer a phone call on my Mac, or even on my iPad. The convergence of this communication technology seems like it has great potential.

In reality, though, I end up getting three rings for every call, each slightly time-shifted from the rest, as I sit in my office/living room with my iPhone, iPad and Mac. You’d think that such an intelligent system would know that I had all three devices in one room, and only ring through to one specified device. Until Apple figures that out, maybe in an iOS update or OS X 10.11, there’s only one thing you can do: Disable the heck out of it.

Here’s how.

Yesterday, we were excited when a major update to the Apple TV introduced a major redesign of the set-top box’s official YouTube app. Today, though, we’re a little less enthused, because it turns out that along with getting a new look, it also got ads.

Snapchat users, rejoice! The wait is over: the popular video messaging app has finally been updated to support the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

After years without updates, September 9th was a sad day for iPod fans: it marked the formal extinction of the iPod Classic, the last of Apple’s chunky, non-flash-based music players.

Three months after the last iPod Classic was sold through Apple.com, though? The iPod Classic is more in demand — and more expensive — than ever.

Remember being lost in the 8-bit world of Atari and Nintendo? When Adam Lister was a boy, he couldn’t spend enough time in his basement playing Pong, Space Invaders or Donkey Kong.

Games and graphics, of course, evolved, and the chiptune music of those game consoles went silent long ago. But the graphic language where characters are a rough collection of cubes and rectangles still speaks to Lister.

It is the lens through which he views art history and pop culture in a series of more than 250 watercolor paintings he created over a three-year period.

It was a rocky start for iOS 8, but adoption figures continue to creep upwards. As per the latest figures released by Apple, 63% of active iOS users are now running the latest version of the company’s mobile OS, while 33% are using iOS 7, and 4% are running earlier versions of the operating system.

Apple measured usage via visits to the App Store on Monday this week.

The increase is likely related to the continued high sales of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus — which are predicted to sell a massive 71.5 million units over the holidays. Most recently, Apple released iOS 8.1.2 to the public, helping to solve the mystery of disappearing ringtones on iOS devices.

Apple’s latest class-action lawsuit made the news primarily because it featured none other than Steve Jobs as a key witness, as he appeared courtesy of a video deposition taken shortly before his untimely death in 2011.

Immediately, news outlets jumped on the opportunity to publicly release the footage, with The Associated Press, Bloomberg, and CNN filing a motion to have the tape released.

“Steve Jobs is not your typical trial witness, and that’s what makes this a unique circumstance,” said a lawyer acting on behalf of the media companies, adding that, “We’re not asking for anything other than what the jury heard.”

However, it seems like cooler heads may prevail — and we won’t see the footage after all.

My mission to build a powerful gaming Hackintosh for $650 — $50 less than Apple’s midrange Mac mini — is almost complete.

In Part 1 of this guide, I covered the components I purchased for my build and recommended extras and alternatives for those with different budgets.

In Part 2, I walked you through assembly of the screaming machine.

Now it’s time to install the software.

Believe it or not, building your Hackintosh is the easy bit; getting OS X to run on a machine it was never designed for is the real challenge.

But with time, patience and a little bit (OK, plenty) of frustration, you can make it happen.

Here’s how.

For as long as there have been home computers, users have been looking for ways to increase their storage capacity. The first harddrives that entered the market in the 1980’s were difficult to install, had small capacity limits, and were remarkably expensive, even by today’s standards.

By contrast, today you can easily increase the capacity of your MacBook Air 13” or MacBook Pro Retina 15” by up to a huge 128GB for a paltry $30 with the HyperDrive MacBook Storage Expander, 25% off at Cult of Mac Deals for a limited time.

If Aaron Sorkin had his way, Tom Cruise would be Steve Jobs.

That’s one of the juicy details to have surfaced from leaked emails between Sorkin and Sony, the studio Sorkin had originally partnered with to make the film. The leaks also reveal the controversial casting decision that ultimately caused Sony to give up the film to Universal.

HBO is planning to launch a new standalone streaming service in 2015, and if you’re like me and can’t wait to watch the latest chapter in Khaleesi’s quest to become take back the iron throne, you’ll be happier than Hodor on Maiden’s Day to hear the a la carte service could land just in time for the Game of Thrones season 5 premiere.

The new HBO streaming service will offer viewers access to HBO’s entire catalog of shows, movies, documentaries and live programming without need a cable subscription, for the first time ever. There’s no word yet on pricing, but its expected to be a cord-cutter’s dream, giving Apple TV users more premium content to watch on demand.

Fortune reports development of the technology underpinning HBO’s streaming service has been rife with conflict. Rather than using in-house technology built by its new CTO, HBO struck a deal with MLB Advanced to use their white-label streaming technology. A special project codenamed “Maui” was recently killed off by HBO, after executives determined a third-party could help them offer a stand alone service faster.

Tim Cook met with Rev. Jesse Jackson on Monday in a private sit down that was described as ‘positive and productive’ by the civil rights leader.

Jackson is in the Bay Area this week to promote a workshop hosted by his Rainbow PUSH Coalition that is focused on closing the racial gap in the tech industry. USA Today reports that the Cook and Jackson talked for over an hour, and while Jackson wouldn’t mention what they talked about specifically, he said he came away impressed.

Apple Maps has been out for over two years, but it’s just finally completing its original mission to completely replace Google Maps in all of Apple’s products.

Starting today, iCloud.com users will see an online version of Apple Maps when using Find My iPhone instead of Google Maps.

Whatever she earns, Grumpy Cat has plenty of reasons to smile. The Internet-famous feline just knows her earning power would dry up if she expressed happiness.

The world’s favorite sourpuss has reportedly earned more than $100 million in two years, according to British tabloid The Daily Express. That’s more than Hollywood stars Nicole Kidman, Matt Damon or Mathew McConaughey.

Jeff Daniels is just finishing up his last season as Will McAvoy, but he could be reunited with The Newsroom creator Aaron Sorkin sooner than anyone anticipated, as Daniels is the top choice to play the role of former Apple CEO John Sculley in the upcoming Steve Jobs movie.

Daniels just won an Emmy for his role in The Newsroom on HBO, and multiple people familiar with Universal’s Steve Jobs project have told TheWrap that the studio wants to add him to the project that is set to star Michael Fassbender as Steve Jobs.

Apple released iOS 8.1.2 to the public today to help solve the mystery of disappearing ringtones on iOS devices.

The iOS update is being made available to the public despite never being made available to developers for testing before its wide release. iOS 8.1.2 fixes a bug that caused ringtones to disappear from iPhones even if they were purchased through iTunes.

To restore any missing ringtones, Apple advises users to visit iTunes.com/restoretones from your iOS device. The free update is available now via OTA download or directly from iTunes. Because this build hasn’t been tested yet though, you might want to wait for the early downloaders to report that it’s ok.

In a very strong year for iOS games, inventive platformer Leo’s Fortune was one of my undisputed favorites — a game that Cult of Mac described in its review as “one of the most beautiful iOS games” we’d seen in ages.

Currently seen as part of Google’s giant billboard display in Times Square, Leo’s Fortune is celebrating its success by going on sale for $2.99 in the App Store.

Great design doesn’t finish when you go home if you’re a member of Apple’s Industrial Design team.

San Francisco’s SFGate has published new pictures showing the home of long-time Apple industrial designer Peter Russell-Clarke, one of the inner sanctum of designers who work with Jony Ive.

Russell-Clarke is named on multiple Apple design patents — including ones for the iMac, iPod nano, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. With that kind of résumé, a house that is anything less than a stunner would be a missed opportunity.

Fortunately, Peter Russell-Clarke doesn’t disappoint.

Uber has been no stranger to delivering odd things like kittens and ice cream, but on Thursday, December 11th the ride-sharing app is teaming up with local restaurants to offer lunch on-demand to users, with the benefits going to support No Kid Hungry.

As part of its first ‘national giving campaign’ aimed at helping end child hunger in America, Uber added a $5 donate button to its app today that sends money directly to No Kid Hungry each time you request a ride. The option is available in 100 cities and can connect kids with up to 50 meals with each ride.

To promote its effort to raise funds for 3 million meals, Uber announced this morning it will deliver UberLUNCH to a users door in 10 minutes as a one day special.

Here are the cities and restaurants participating: