Cult of Mac

One of my favorite runners to be released in the last year is Gameloft’s Spider-Man Unlimited. Released last month, it would probably be the best runner I’ve ever played, if not for it’s onerous free-to-play mechanics which make leveling up or unlocking new Spider-Men a total grind if you don’t pay out money.

It’s a testament to how good the core gameplay is that even though the free-to-play mechanics are so bad, I keep coming back for more. And now I have even more reason to be addicted, because the first major update to Spider-Man Unlimited is here, bringing more Spider-Man, more villains, new environments, and a new gameplay ‘issue’ to the already content-packed runner.

How many ghost movies have you seen? How about werewolf or zombie flicks? With filmmakers churning out copycats constantly, the horror formula can get a little stale.

We’re here to help. This is Cult of Mac’s fourth list of horror movies for your consideration (be sure to check out the classics, monsters, and anthologies from the past few days), and this time we’re tipping you off to movies that take those old standard tropes and put an interesting spin on them. But don’t worry — they’re not so different that they aren’t still horrifying.

If you’re an app-maker looking to rake in the money, you’re better off creating apps for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus than you are for smaller-screened phones, according to a new study.

Analysts at IHS claim that the larger screen size of the iPhone 6 family devices correlate with higher engagement in the form of increased minutes of app usage — in turn leading to more revenue through in-app purchases and advertising.

NASA’s unmanned Antares rocket exploded at launch above Wallops Island, Virginia, yesterday on route to dropping off supplies at the International Space Station.

A lesser casualty of that explosion? One rocket watcher’s iPad, which was blown to smithereens by the explosion.

But don’t worry. Cupertino did the right thing: They replaced it.

By now you’ve probably seen the HP Sprout computer, an oddly-named, yet undeniably original desktop computer/tablet/projector combination that allows users to scan physical items and then manipulate them on screen using their fingers.

One day after the $1,899 system got the tech world talking, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office has published a continuation patent application from Apple — originally granted in 2011 — describing a very similar-sounding 3D imaging and display system.

Beats Music may have Apple’s support behind it, but it’s still got a long way to go before it tops the crowded online marketplace.

According to new figures from app analytics firm App Annie, Beats is currently trailing industry leaders Pandora and Spotify. In September, both of those services racked up more downloads and earned more revenue than Beats, across both the App Store and Google Play.

Beats was the ninth most downloaded music app in September, with once again Pandora and Spotify taking the lead — but also the likes of Shazam, SoundCloud and even Apple’s own GarageBand receiving more downloads.

Samsung may ship more devices, but there’s no doubt that Apple is winning the war.

That’s the takeaway from Samsung’s latest earnings report, which stated that the Korean smartphone maker’s Q3 operating profits were just $3.8 billion, a 60 percent drop over last year.

And things are even worse in the mobile division, which dropped 73.9 percent year-over-year.

Now compare those numbers to Apple.

In a beautifully written personal essay, Apple CEO Tim Cook has just come out as gay, finally confirming rumors that have circulated since he took over as Steve Jobs’ replacement in 2011.

Reports about a Microsoft wearable device have been circulating for a while, and now the good folks from Redmond, WA have finally made it official: a Microsoft fitness band is here, and it works on both Android and iOS.

Like the Apple Watch and Galaxy Gear, the appropriately-named Microsoft Band tracks steps and heart rate, as well as showing you phone notifications in the form of text, email, and Twitter alerts.

“It’s the most advanced band we’ve seen in terms of technology on the wrist,” Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President of Devices and Services told The Verge. “[I]t’s really designed to do two things: have people live healthier, and be more productive, by having a band that can serve on the opposite side of your watch, worn 24 hours a day, and get some of the most accurate data that you can possibly get.”

That’s not the end of Microsoft’s fitness-tracking ambitions, though.

With China, India and Korea all representing growing markets, Apple’s expanding into more countries than ever here in 2014. One place you’d be forgiven for not expecting Tim Cook and co. to show up in, however, is Iran.

It seems that this assumption may be wrong, though, as according to the Wall Street Journal, Apple is in preliminary contact with U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, as well as Iranian distributors, about possibly entering the country should Western sanctions ease sufficiently.

Buoyed by expectation-defying earnings, Apple Pay, and an apparently insatiable demand for the iPhone 6, AAPL stock closed Wednesday at a new all-time split-adjusted high of $107.3.

Apple was trading at $92 at the time of the 7-to-1 split, which means that its current value is up by more than 10% since the division earlier this year. According to Google Finance, Apple ended the day with a market cap of $626 billion, and $629.67 billion as per Yahoo Finance.

The iPhone 6 is obliterating Samsung’s Note 4 in sales, and could even outsell it 10x according to a Korean analyst.

In a note to clients, Shinhan Investment’s Kim Young-chan wrote that the iPhone “will outsell the Galaxy Note 4 by tenfold, with 80 million units shipped worldwide in the October-December period.” Young-chan adds that, “Other market watchers also are expressing doubts about the performance of Korean tech giants.”

Apple has kept quiet on why its sapphire supplier suddenly went bankrupt, but after weeks of court wrangling, GT Advanced Technology’s COO has filed a revised declaration that reveals why Apple’s dream of sapphire iPhones went up in smoke in less than a year.

GTAT COO Daniel Squiller, says that the original plan was for Apple to buy 2,600 sapphire furnaces and other equipment that GTAT would then operate. However, after months of negotiations, the deal was changed so that GTAT would borrow up to $578 million from Apple to purchase furnace components and assemble furnaces that would be used to grow sapphire for Apple.

The company admits the deal came with huge risk for GTAT while shielding Apple, but because it had the potential to be revolutionary to GTAT’s business, they went ahead with it. Then everything went horrible wrong.

When you live in Apple’s world as a third-party developer, you are required to play by Apple’s rules. And sometimes those rules are subject to sudden change.

James Thomson, the developer behind the scientific calculator app PCalc, was notified today by Apple that his iOS 8 widget must be removed. The reason? A new stipulation that iOS widgets cannot perform calculations.

The reasoning behind Apple’s decision may never be known by Thomson or anyone outside the company, and that’s just the point. The App Store is Apple’s kingdom to rule, for better or worse.

Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige took to the stage at a special event at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood Tuesday to talk about the next slate of blockbuster films the company is planning to release over the next few years. The full docket, with projected dates, is as follows:

· 5/1/15 – Avengers: Age of Ultron
· 7/17/15 – Ant-Man
· 5/6/16 – Captain America: Civil War
· 11/4/16 – Doctor Strange
· 5/5/17 – Guardians of the Galaxy 2
· 7/28/17 – Thor: Ragnarok
· 11/3/17 – Black Panther
· 5/4/18 – Avengers: Infinity War Part I
· 7/6/18 – Captain Marvel
· 11/2/18 – Inhumans
· 5/3/19 – Avengers: Infinity War Part II

While most of us are clear on who The Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy are, there are some lesser-known characters getting the full movie spotlight that you may not be aware of. Here’s how they fit into the larger Marvel cinematic universe.

By far the biggest downside of the modern smartwatch is their lousy battery life. If you’re lucky, you’ll get around two days of use in between charges from an Android Wear device, but the vast majority require top-ups every night. There is one, however, that promises to last a week, thanks to its clever use of not one but two displays.

Every one loves free stuff, just like the free stuff you can find every day at Cult of Mac Deals.

There’s some seriously awesome stuff available to you right now. Learn how to make a game for iPhone. Listen to an audiobook of a New York Times Bestseller. Get Mac apps that will make you a better developer. Plus more, and all for zero cash.

Apple Pay’s biggest competitor backed by major retailers has been hacked before it even launched.
Retailers like Walmart, BestBuy, Gap, and CVS are waging a war against Apple Pay with their own mobile wallet solution, CurrentC, but the pending doom of their QR-code solution is looking even more obvious now, as the company just alerted customers that they’ve been hacked.

Customers who signed up to use CurrentC were notified today via email that hackers have “obtained the email addresses of some of you.”

Email addresses were the only information the hackers stole (because CurrentC isn’t even out yet), but we doubt this is going to make shoppers eager to share their social security number and bank account info with MCX’s partners, once the app launches next year.

Here’s the email:

Android has yet again increased its lead in U.S. market share as its rivals give up precious points, according to the latest data from Kantar WorldPanel. Google’s popular platform now commands an impressive 61.8 percent share of the smartphone market, which is close to double the 32.6 percent now held by iOS.

WhatsApp, one of the most popular messaging services on mobile, has long had plans to step up its assault against the likes of Skype and Viber with a free voice calling feature that was initially promised for the second quarter of 2014. Now the company’s CEO has confirmed that the launch is planned for early 2015 instead.

Whether you call them anthologies, omnibuses or portmanteaus, the idea is the same: These are films composed of a series of shorter plots with a “frame” connecting them (usually somebody telling the stories to an incredulous audience). This is one of my all-time favorite subgenres for its variety and wealth of content.

This is the third installment in Cult of Mac’s week-long festival of horror movies for Halloween. If you’ve already seen all of those horror classics from Monday, and Tuesday’s monster movies don’t do much for you, check out some of these anthology flicks. They contain a combined total of 28 stories, including the frames, so odds are you’ll find something to get your teeth chattering with fear.

One of my favorite games for the iPhone is Game Dev Story, an adorable and addictive game by Kairosoft that puts the player in the role of managing a team of video game developers.

Something about Noodlecake Games’s upcoming title, Bitcoin Billionaire, reminds me a lot of Game Dev Story. But befitting a game by the creators of Super Stickman Golf, it looks a lot funnier.

To paraphrase Pontius Pilate, I can find no fault with the iPad mini 3. Having said that, I can wash my hands of a proper review and allow Apple’s new half-pint tablet to be crucified in the budget-conscious court of public opinion.

Nice as it is, the iPad mini 3 truly is a gigantic ripoff when compared to its predecessor. It’s got the same specs, the same basic form factor, the same functionality and battery life.

If we were to write a review, it would read something like this: “Touch ID is a swell addition. Please read our review of the iPad mini 2 for more info. That is all.”

Following our report yesterday revealing several leaked shots for the next version of Microsoft Office for Mac, we’re hearing confirmation that not only are the shots legitimate, but that Office for Mac could be here sooner than you think.