Cult of Mac

Apple has released iOS 8.1.1 to the general public today after weeks of beta testing the update for its mobile. The update is the first software release since iOS 8.1 last month, and brings some minor tweaks to the Health app, as well as bug fixes for the iPad and iPhone 4s.

iOS 8.1.1 is available as an over-the-air update or via iTunes, and while it doesn’t contain any major new features, a number of performance enhancements have been added. Apple has also released an update for Apple TV 3 version 7.0.2. Major features aren’t included in the update, but

Here are the download links:

Super Evil Megacorp stole the show during Apple’s iPhone 6 keynote in September thanks to ‘Scarf Guy’ and the kick-ass MOBA he was demoing called Vainglory. Now they’re ready to steal your afternoon by making their highly anticipated game available in the U.S.

We’ve been dying to enter the battle of Vainglory ever since we got our first look behind the scenes of the game, and now after months of waiting, the online battle that’s designed to push your iPhone 6 to its graphical limit is finally ready for all the destruction you and your foes can handle.

Apple has apparently put its faith in Samsung to build the A-series application processors for its next generation iPhones and iPads, according to a new report coming out of Korea.

As of recently, Samsung was competing with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) to build the chips, which carry a contract said to be worth “billions of dollars.”

Unlike conventional memory chips, application processors reportedly count as logic chips and are said to carry much higher margins. From 2016, Samsung will supply 80% of the APs used in Apple devices, while TSMC will provide the remaining 20%.

Many would-be game designers never make their games a reality because they don’t possess the artistic chops to create the graphics their game depends upon. But not being able to draw didn’t stop Ivan Grachyov, a computer science student at Moscow State University, and the resulting game might just be the next Flappy Bird.

The Russian designer’s creation? Emoji Cosmos, a game made of nothing but emoji!

Making neon signs is a sadly dying craft, but there’s no better way to learn about the beauty of the art than this video, showing a master neon craftsman create a replica of our favorite shape on Earth: the Apple logo!

Update: Uber and Spotify have confirmed a partnership that will let Spotify Premium subscribers become backseat DJs in Uber cars in 10 cities. The service starts Friday in London, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Nashville, New York, San Francisco, Singapore, Stockholm, Sydney and Toronto.

“The integration couldn’t be easier,” the companies said in a press release. “Simply connect your Spotify account via the Uber app, request a ride, and when you get matched up with a Spotify-enabled Uber, select music that suits your mood. Your tunes will be playing when your Uber arrives, and you can change it up at any time.”

Ever since Apple bought Beats for $3 billion back in May, Cupertino has slowly but surely been integrating the headphone maker’s products and services into the official Apple portfolio. It’s added Beats Music to the Apple TV, officially listed it as an Apple app on the App Store, and rolled out a Beats by Dre section at Apple Stores.

Now it looks like Beats by Dre headphones will officially be an Apple product in the biggest way that counts: You’ll soon be able to get them repaired or replaced at your local Genius Bar.

Apple has announced that its China App Store, the second biggest in the world, is now accepting UnionPay as a payment option for customers.

As the most popular payment card in China — with over 4.5 billion cards issued to date — the move will make it simpler and more convenient for Apple users in China to purchase apps, since customers can now easily link their Apple ID with a UnionPay debit or credit card.

“The ability to buy apps and make purchases using UnionPay cards has been one of the most requested features from our customers in China,” Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services, is quoted as saying in Apple’s statement. “China is already our second largest market for app downloads, and now we’re providing users with an incredibly convenient way to purchase their favorite apps with just one-tap.”

New York’s Times Square is about to get one of the world’s largest advertising video screen billboards — and Google is its debut customer.

The screen is an epic eight stories high, runs an entire block, and is made up of a mind-blowing 24 million pixels. According to reports, Google snapped up the ad space the moment it became available and paid for an exclusive, long-term deal. The search giant will take over the screen on November 24, with an as-yet unrevealed campaign that runs through the New Year.

It’s not currently known exactly how much Google shelled out, but according to the owners of the megascreen, ad space costs an enormous $2.5 million for four weeks, making this one of the most expensive outdoor ads in the world.

With a cutesy, one-eyed protagonist named Zak and colorful graphics aplenty, upcoming game Flyhunter Origins looks like it could be a big-screen animated movie.

That’s not too shocking, since the game was developed by Steel Wool Games, a San Francisco Bay Area-based startup composed of Pixar employees past and present. But while the story of a space janitor who becomes wrapped up in an intergalactic insect-catching adventure sounds like it could come from the next Brad Bird movie, what the team has crafted is a compelling 2-D platformer that owes as much to Super Mario Bros. as it does to Toy Story.

“What we admired about those early games is what they did with very limited technology,” says Andrew Dayton, a 20-year veteran of computer visual effects, whose day job sees him working as senior technical director at Pixar. “Back then you couldn’t hide bad gameplay with pretty pictures. Playability was everything for us.”

Although it’s never been in either Apple or Nintendo’s graces, GBA4iOS has long been one of our favorite apps on iOS. An excellent Gameboy Color and Gameboy Advance emulator for the iPhone and iPad, GBA4iOS was long available to install on iOS 7 and above, no jailbreak required.

That all changed with iOS 8.1, though. To install itself without going through the App Store, GBA4iOS required users to set back their date by at least one day, but Apple patched it out. It was a huge bummer, but guess what? GBA4iOS is back, it works on iOS 8.1, and there’s still no jailbreak required!

When the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus were announced, many Android fans laughed at the “pitiful” 1GB of RAM of Apple’s flagship smartphone, when Android flagships tended to ship with 2GB and sometimes more.

But specs don’t always — or even most of the time — tell the whole story. As it turns out, an iPhone 6 with 1GB of RAM runs much faster than a similarly specced Android smartphone with 2GB of RAM. And it all has to do with the fundamental difference in the way iOS and Android handle apps.

Between Pirates of Silicon Valley and Jobs, there have already been two Steve Jobs biopics. How is Aaron Sorkin’s upcoming joint going to be able to differentiate itself from them? Apparently, by casting Steve Jobs’ estranged daughter as the film’s protagonist.

It’s time to highlight the best stuff that was offered this week at Cult of Mac Deals.

As always, if you don’t see anything you like below, go to the Cult of Mac Deals page and you are sure to find something that is more your scene.

This week: Huge news in the fight for an open Internet; YouTube’s music service confuses us; Apple Pay is, like, the payment method of the future, man; big Black Friday deals on Apple’s newest gadgets; the go-to apps we keep on our home screens, and sooooo much more.

Hem and haw your way through each week’s best Apple stories! Stream or download new and past episodes of The CultCast now on your Mac or iDevice by subscribing on iTunes, or hit play below and let the chuckles begin.

Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. Squarespace 7 is live, and it’s their biggest update in years. Now building a beautiful website is faster and easier than ever. Get started with a free trial at Squarespace.com and use code “CultCast” at checkout for 10% off any order.

Show notes ahead!

At Cult of Mac Deals, we love cool tech and tech related products, especially when they are offered at prices that can’t be beat anywhere else.

As the old saying goes, though, all good things must come to and end. The four deals we highlight today are soon to ride off into the sunset, so jump on them now before it’s too late.

With the holidays just around the corner, many of us are getting ready to travel. Whether we are going back home to our families or just getting away from it all, there are things you can take with you to make your trip more enjoyable.

Today we feature four products available at Cult of Mac Deals that you can take with you to make sure you have happy travels.

The Smart Travel Router

Aaron Sorkin parodies have been doing the rounds since The West Wing started, but this one from Late Night with Seth Meyers is one of the best I’ve ever seen. Somewhat bizarrely it also does the best job of anything I’ve watched so far convincing me exactly why Sorkin is the perfect (and possibly the only) person who should be bringing a Steve Jobs movie to the big screen.

From the fast-speaking walk and talks, to the angry rants, to the sentimental, rousing speeches, not only are all of Sorkin’s tropes perfectly lampooned here — but they also fit perfectly with what most of us are hoping for from a Jobs movie.

Sorkin had said that his Jobs movie will take place as three 30-minute scenes, each depicting the backstage goings-on at an Apple product announcement at different stages in Jobs’ career. I can’t wait to see it!

Let’s just hope they get a new actor locked in place soon.

“So, what do you cosplay as?” asks this geek girl in the comic book shop. “Slutty Hawkeye? Slutty Thor? Slutty Iron Man?”

The video below is one of those “funny because it’s true” situations, as many women who love superheroes and comics hear the same kinds of questions and face the same sort of dismissive candor from geeky men who can’t seem to realize that everyone loves comics and superhero movies.

Check it out and see how annoying it would be to face this kind of discrimination.

Retailers and consumers alike love Black Friday for all it represents: pure, unadulterated consumerism. Gamers love sitting on their couches all day, playing video games. Lucky for both groups, you can have it all next weekend.

If you’re looking to save big bucks on hotly anticipated holiday gifts, you’re going to have to get out into the feeding frenzy the day after Thanksgiving and elbow your way to the front to grab some of these amazing gamer-centric deals.

Best Buy,  Toys R Us, Walmart and Target have some great upcoming deals for Black Friday, including some fine Sony PlayStation 4, Nintendo Wii U, and Nintendo 3DS hotness.

The iPhone 6 is outselling the iPhone 6 Plus by a margin of 3-to-1 in the U.S., but that’s no knock on Apple’s giant-sized handset, according to a new report from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners.

The research firm’s sales breakdown looked at the first 30 days the iPhone 6 family of handsets were available to buy. It concluded that the iPhone 6 represented 68% of iPhone sales, with the iPhone 6 Plus making up 23-24%.

Combined, this means that the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus represented a massive 91-92% of iPhones sold in the United States. The remaining iPhones were previous generation iPhone 5s and 5c units. This figure is even more impressive when you consider that last year the then-new iPhones represented a smaller 84% of iPhone sales after the first month.

Marc Newson is tag-teaming design at Apple now with Jony Ive, but that’s not stopping him from working part-time on some incredible part-time projects. We saw Newson redesign the beer keg, now he’s taking aim at redesigning Berretta’s classic shotgun.

Berretta unveiled Newson’s redesign of its 486 shotgun at an event last night in London. The boomstick has been updated with a 21st century design, adding a new opening lever design to go with the intricate engravings.

Take a look:

AAPL shares closed at an all-time high yesterday, putting the company’s market cap at $663.2 billion. Never before has Apple been so profitable. In fact, Apple makes so much money, it’s now worth more than the entire Russian stock market.

Check out the chart below:

Although many — including Apple — would argue that Bendgate is overblown, and the iPhone 6 is no more prone to bending when treated right than any other smartphone, there’s a small but vocal minority that disagrees. If you’re one of them, there’s now a resource to track Apple Stores that will be sympathetic to your plight.