Now you can hide some of those less-proud moments from prying eyes. Photo: Cult of Mac
Let’s face it – not all of us want every purchase we complete via the iTunes or App stores available to anyone who uses our iPhone, iPad, or Macbook. Some things just need to remain, well, private.
Luckily, it’s pretty easy to hide the evidence from unauthorized users via a quick trip to the iTunes app on your Mac or PC.
Apple is set to discontinue the iPhone 5c next year, according to a new report from Taiwan’s Industrial and Commercial Times. The news outlet claims that Apple will continue producing the handsets until the middle of 2015, at which point assemblers Wistron and Foxconn will wind down production.
This news follows on the back of a similar report from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who claims that Apple will do away with both the 5c and 4s, despite both doing well in emerging markets. This is part of an effort to streamline Apple’s handset business, and will mean that all available iPhones will feature the Touch ID technology at the heart of Apple’s mobile payment ambitions.
These unofficial methods will ease Wi-Fi problems in iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac
iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite users have been plagued by a host of Wi-Fi problems since Apple’s two latest operating systems were released. Apple has released updates for both, but to no avail: People keep suffering through Wi-Fi drops, seemingly at random.
What the heck’s going on? According to one developer, the issue is caused by the custom technology that Apple uses for AirDrop and AirPlay on both iOS 8 and OS X. And there’s a way to fix it!
For a brief moment, there was a report of Google buying Apple. Photo: Google/Apple
Apple has spent a great deal of time distancing itself from Google ever since its erstwhile partner launched Android back in 2008. Google Maps and YouTube haven’t been bundled as default apps on iPhones or iPads for years, and rumors keep swirling that Apple will kill its partnership with Google as a default search engine in Safari on both iOS and OS X.
But now? Now it looks like Apple might finally pull the trigger, ending all of its Google partnerships for good.
In a marketing campaign I can only assume is some kind of meta-parody designed to go viral, BlackBerry is offering a so-called “Trade-Up” program designed to get iPhone owners to jump ship to the new BlackBerry Passport.
From December 1 until February 13, disgruntled iPhone owners can “upgrade” to the BlackBerry Passport and receive up to $400 for their iPhones, plus an extra $150 (or $200 CAD) from BlackBerry. To take advantage of the “deal” customers must pick up their BlackBerry Passports from either ShopBlackBerry.com or Amazon.
A simple new circuit could double iPhone data speeds. Photo: Apple
Your iPhone can send data pretty fast over a wireless network, but it’s hobbled in at least one regard: the wireless antenna design can’t send data while receiving data at the same time. That means that the data speeds of your iPhone are potentially cut in half, just by the nature of wireless technology. But a new circuit could allow future iPhones to double their data speeds without making any other changes.
Apple is big on secrecy: both its own and its users’. Earlier this year, the company tweaked its software to ensure that even Apple would be unable to crack a passcode set by one of its customers.
“Unlike our competitors, Apple cannot bypass your passcode and therefore cannot access this data,” Apple wrote on its website. “So it’s not technically feasible for us to respond to government warrants for the extraction of this data from devices in their possession running iOS 8.”
Users have generally praised the decision, but government officials have been less than impressed — even going so far as to say Apple’s decision could potentially result in the death of a child.
While most people can see through this kind of scaremongering, the U.S. Justice Department isn’t giving up that easily. According to a new report in the Wall Street Journal, the DOJ is turning to a 225-year-old law called the All Writs Act to try and solve the problem of password-protected cellphones.
Gorilla Glass is the go-to material for today's touchscreens. Photo: Corning
Corning’s relationship with Apple looked doomed earlier this year. Having manufactured the touchscreens for every iPhone since 2007, the Gorilla Glass bosses were all but sure they were being ditched in favor of synthetic sapphire crystal, set to be supplied by Apple’s hot new partner, GT Advanced Technologies.
But while Apple’s affair with GT has imploded spectacularly, Corning is back on Cupertino’s crush list after stepping in at the eleventh hour to create super-sized displays for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Now Corning is convinced its latest technological advance — Gorilla Glass 4, its toughest version yet — will banish sapphire suitors for the immediate future.
“Sapphire is a really, really nice material that’s very good for reducing scratches,” Dave Velasquez, Corning’s director of marketing and commercial ops, told Cult of Mac. “However, we feel very strongly that glass is the best material for touch panel cover glass. When you weigh up everything from cost to drop-testing, to the amount of energy that’s needed to make it, in our opinion Gorilla Glass is clearly the best material to use.”
Touch ID might have just made it to iPads, but Intel wants to go one step further: bringing enhanced biometric passwords to PCs, which it plans to do before the end of the year.
“Your biometrics basically eliminate the need for you to enter passwords for Windows log in and eventually all your websites ever again,” Kirk Skaugen, senior vice president and general manager of the PC Client Group at Intel, recently revealed.
The software, which will arrive courtesy of the Intel-owned McAfee, will allow PC users to replace the 18 passwords that the average user reportedly has with a combination of fingerprint, gesture, face and voice recognition.
Sail away to Neverland next summer. Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures
You think you know Peter Pan’s story? Guess again, because director Joe Wright (Anna Karenina, Pride and Prejudice) has got an entirely new tale to tell.
Pan is the origin story of the boy who never grows up. He’s an orphan, left on a doorstep with a mysterious note from his mother. He’s secreted away to Neverland, where he mixes things up with Tiger Lily, Blackbeard (played by an almost unrecognizable Hugh Jackman) and a young, idealistic Captain Hook.
Check out the gorgeous trailer below for the full details.
The holidays are approaching fast which means parties and family gatherings. It also means that your local police force will be stepping up patrols to find people guilty of driving under the influence.
Now you can take the guess work out of deciding whether you can safely operate a vehicle after imbibing with The BACtrack Vio, only $42.99 for a limited time at Cult of Mac Deals.
Sea World's going under, but at least we've got Jurassic World. Photo: Universal Pictures
It’s been over a decade since the last time Hollywood took us to the magical world of friendly and fun dinosaurs, but the first trailer for Jurassic World has been released, and from the looks of things, everything’s changed and yet nothing is different at all.
The park is open and humans are back on the menu. Chris Pratt is all over the first trailer, playing a genius paleontologists brought to the island to investigate the disappearance of a genetically-modified super dinosaur, created by Jurassic World’s air-head scientists, who obviously didn’t learn from the past three movies.
Holiday gift shoppers take note: Your job just got a lot easier.
Now you can purchase what may be the coolest gift of the season for the tech lover on your list. The SKEYE Nano Drone, perhaps the smallest quadcopter currently on the market, is 40% off for a limited time only at Cult of Mac Deals.
Yep, Apple's worth a whole lot of money right now. As if you didn't know that already. Photo: Pierre Marcel/Flickr CC
AAPL shares sure have experienced a crazy roller coaster ride this year. Splitting 7-to-1 earlier in 2014, a fantastic run of product launches and announcements since then has driven Apple stock higher and higher. Earlier this month we noted that Apple was now worth more than the entire Russian stock market, and today it has hit a personal-best market cap of $700 billion.
This happened as Apple’s share price rose to the $119.65 mark, bringing it to a pre-split price of $837.13. For those keeping tabs at home, not only is this better than Apple’s last high point, when it was valued around $650 in late 2012, but it also represents a massive 50% increase since January this year.
Kinect-like gesture control comes to the Apple TV. Photo: Onecue
We know that Apple is interested in giving the Apple TV Kinect-like motion sensing abilities — they bought the 3D motion tracking company behind the tech last year, after all — but who knows when, if ever, it will actually come to living rooms.
If you want to start waving your way through your Apple TV’s interface now, though, meet the Onecue. It’s a cool little gadget that grafts Kinect-like functionality into your home entertainment system.
This delightfully colorful video game had kids throwing apples and leaping across dangerous bazaar stalls to re-enact some of the crazy scenes from the Disney animated movie of the same name. The title blended some Prince of Persia gameplay with the easy-on-the-eyes color palette of the Disney hit to create a very playable video game experience.
T-Mobile has tried to make a reputation for itself lately as the most honest wireless carrier around… but the FCC just had to rap the so-called Uncarrier’s knuckles for lying to its customers about how fast their data connections were after they passed their monthly data caps.
Great Apple deals can be hard to come by on Black Friday, but here’s a nice exception: If you’re looking to get your hands on an Apple TV, Staples is having a killer deal, selling Apple’s set-top streaming media box for just $79, a $20 savings..
What is happening with iCloud within Apple? Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
iCloud was hailed by Tim Cook back in 2012 as “not just a product. It’s a strategy for the next decade.” Yet these days, iCloud is something of a mess: Not only has it not gained significant features since launch, but a slate of very public hacks have made it a rare black mark on Apple’s security record.
What the heck happened? According to a new report, iCloud isn’t living up to its potential because, organizationally, it’s an orphan within Apple.
Which hands are Jimmy Fallon's vs. Justin Timberlake's? Screenshot: Cult of Mac
With Black Friday just a few days away, Apple has just debuted two new television ads for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus: one focused on how great the iPhone is at gaming, and the other showing off iOS 8’s impressive new Continuity features.
App Store downloads hit a new high in October. Photo: Apple
The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are shattering all kinds of sales records, and that knock-on effect is starting to be felt elsewhere: The overwhelming interest in Apple’s next-generation handsets pushed iTunes App Store downloads to new heights last month.
How much of an increase are we talking about? In October, the top 200 free iOS apps hit a collective 7.8 million app downloads per day, according to new research from Fiksu, a Boston-based marketing firm.
The city of Cupertino’s website makes note of a schedule for the project, noting that earthwork is set to continue until the middle of next year, while construction on the building itself will be completed by late 2016.
From music to MacBooks, these gifts will resonate with students. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
You might think college students are tricky to shop for, but in reality that couldn’t be further from the truth. Since they’re constantly swamped with homework and simultaneously managing a busy social life, all they want is stuff that makes their lives easier and more fun.
If you’re stressing about what to get the student in your life this holiday season, never fear. We’ve collected some great gift ideas, handpicked by college students for college students:
When it comes to making Steve Jobs light up the sliver screen, poor Sorkin just can't cut a break.
Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay on Steve Jobs has been in a seemingly perpetual state of flux for months. Multiple A-list actors and directors passed on the project, with Christian Bale most recently bowing out of the leading role after being all but confirmed by Sorkin himself.
Then the studio financing the movie, Sony, put it up for sale—a good sign that a project isn’t going smoothly in Hollywood. Luckily, Universal has swooped in to save the day.
It’s a pretty common sight: Using an iOS device that is short on battery life while it’s charging with an even shorter Lightning cable.
Now you can get the range of motion you need to comfortably use your iOS device while it’s charging with The 10 Ft. Apple-Certified MFi Lightning Cable, half price for a limited time at Cult of Mac Deals.