Cult of Mac

With iOS 8, iPhone and iPad owners for the first time ever can replace Apple’s default virtual keyboard with a third-party alternative.

Doing so — with keyboards made by SwiftKey, Swype, Fleksy and others — could vastly improve your touchscreen typing experience. Not only do some of these keyboards make typing easier, but they also boast innovative features, like the ability to type words using simple swipes instead of taps. Many of these keyboards are completely customizable, so you can set their size and color scheme to suit you.

If you haven’t already installed a third-party keyboard, you’re missing out on one of iOS 8’s best features. In this guide, first we’ll tell you about the best keyboards available from the App Store right now. We’ll also run through the features that make them unique, show you how you can customize them and make them work for you, and explain some important concepts, such as “Full Access.”

The YouTuber who set the world ablaze by bending the iPhone 6 Plus is back.

Lewis Hilsenteger of Unbox Therapy has a new video out in which he tries to bend the regular iPhone 6 like the Plus. Those who are actually worried about their iPhone’s bendability will be glad to see that the 6 holds its shape much better than its larger sibling. And you’d basically need some kind of power tool to bend the iPhone 5s.

Hilsenteger also tries bending some iPhone competitors, and the most durable smartphone might surprise you.

iPhone 6 unboxing videos are a dime a dozen nowadays, expect when they come from the wildly wacky Blue Man Group.

The popular performing group released their own quirky take on the iPhone 6 unboxing video and it’s unlike any unboxing video we’ve ever seen. Rather than using traditional unboxing tools like fingers and or a knife, the blue dudes employ some saws, electric drills, and plenty of feathers.

Watch it below:

Team “Uncage the Soul” spent three days in the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains, capturing some stunning moving images with their new iPhone 6 Plus.

While videographer Ben Casales found the iPhone 6 Plus to be an amazing bit of video technology, he’s not worried about his day job.

“Is the iPhone 6+ amazing? YES. Would I bring it to a job shooting for a client? No,” he writes on the video page. “It will shoot 240fps, but it degrades and is not what you’d want full size in a polished video. The in-camera stabilizer in the Instagram Hyperlapse app is AMAZING, but it exports final video in 720 not 1080. Timelapse looks great when the conditions are stable, but changing light has the phone struggling to smoothly change exposures following the light.”

Still, check out the amazing footage below and dream of all the things you can do with it when you’re out and about in a hipster ear-flap hat and drinking PBR. Just be prepared for the very twee pop song by Hugo Hans “Wildrunners.”

If the sheer volume of tower defense games on the App Store is any indication, people (and developers) love them. Defending your base against endless hordes of creeps is a wonderful way to spend some gaming time on your portable device; they’re not super twitch-dependent, and they definitely encourage the zen-like focus a lot of us enjoy when playing games.

Add a hot property like Star Wars to the mix, and you’ve got a game full of potential. Rebels and Stormtroopers in a tower defense game? Sign me up!

This is, however, a Mobage/DeNA free-to-play joint, so it’s hard to tell exactly whether it will be a compelling bit of playtime, or just another way to spam your friends with social media requests. The pre-release sign up allows you to earn some points to be used in-game already; this does not bode well, even with a Star Wars branding.

That said, I’m still pretty excited about playing this game. Check out the developer diary below to see if you’re just as excited.

Apple just rolled out its first update for iOS 8 with a bunch of bug fixes to resolve problems with third-party keyboards, HealthKit, and other features, but what Apple failed mention is that the update also knocks out your cellular connectivity and breaks Touch ID.

If you haven’t updated already, WAIT! It seems that the bugs might be just affecting users of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus but we’ve reached out to Apple for confirmation.

In the meantime, if you’ve already upgraded to iOS 8.0.1 and want your cellular service back, here’s how to manually restore your device to iOS 8.0.

“Will it bend?” has become the hottest question in tech this week as some iPhone 6 owners have discovered that the laws of physics still apply to the aluminum frame of the new Apple phones … even when neglected in a back pocket.

We pointed out yesterday that any smartphone made of metal will bend when subjected to pressure, but the Internet has jumped on the BendGate controversy like a joyful Steve Wozniak pounding through the polo fields on his mighty Segway.

#BendGate, #BentGate and #BendGhazi started trending on Twitter within the last 24 hours, and while Apple’s PR machine remains silent, the Internet has given its hilarious opinion on the controversy.

Here are some of the funniest BendGate reactions:

Update: iOS 8.0.1 upgraders are reporting problems with Touch ID and cellular connectivity after installing Apple’s update. You should wait before taking the plunge. If you’ve already installed iOS 8.0.1, here’s how to downgrade to iOS 8.

Apple has pulled an iOS 8.0.1 update that fixed problems with HealthKit and various other features after iPhone 6 and 6 Plus users discovered the update broke Touch ID and blocked cellular connectivity.

The iOS 8.0.1 update was also supposed to improve Reachability on the iPhone 6, but it has already been removed while Apple addresses the nest of new bugs it unleashed.

More than ever before, our connected world is a mobile one. What good is having a strong web presence if it isn’t optimized for use with mobile devices? That’s where having your own app comes into play. It allows your audience to connect with you in a personalized way.

Now, you too can build breathtaking apps with The Complete iOS 8 and Swift Developers Course, available for a very limited time at 90% off from Cult of Mac Deals.

The iPhone 6’s sleek design is undeniably sexy, but the big glass display and those sexy curved edges can cause problems if you leave your phone sitting on a smooth surface.

If you’re not careful, you could find your iPhone in pieces on the floor.

Many Apple fans were hoping the company’s first timepiece would ship to stores in time for the holidays, but with the release slated for ‘early 2015’, a new report claims you’ll be lucky if you even get to Digital Touch your lover on Valentines Day.

The Information reports that even Apple employees and partners were expecting to see the Apple Watch in 2014, but complications with the project have pushed its release to mid-February at the earliest.

Nearly half of iPhone and iPad users have already upgraded to iOS 8 in the first week, but if you’re looking for stability, you might want to stay for a few weeks more.

Crash analytics data from Crittercism found that iOS 8’s crash rate is 78 percent higher than that seen on iOS 7, with an average crash rate of 3.56% across all devices.

Apple has cemented its place atop the American Customer Satisfaction Index, a sort of Michelin guide for customer service, for the eleventh straight year.

In a new report released by ACSI, Apple continued its lead over big name rivals such as Dell, Acer, Hewlett-Packard and the catch-all “All Others” when it comes to satisfaction with computing devices — including desktops, laptops and tablets. Scores are based on everything from pre-sale customer expectations, to perceived value and quality, customer complaint incidents and overall consumer loyalty.

The difference between an iPhone 5, and iPhone 6, and an iPhone 6 Plus sounds like it would obvious, but it’s not: a 4.7-inch iPhone 6 has a 38% bigger screen than an iPhone 5, and the 5.5-inch iPhone Plus has a screen that is almost 89% larger than the 4-inch iPhone 5s. The point is, it can be hard to mentally visualize the difference between a 4-inch iPhone, a 4.7-inch iPhone, and a 5.5-inch iPhone.

Apple knows this. That’s why in the latest issue of Rolling Stone, Cupertino’s advertising department has taken out a full page ad, showing the actual size of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. All you need to do to see how much bigger an iPhone 6 is over your current phone is place it next to the magazine.

Very simple, but also very brilliant. For the iPhone 6, Apple’s selling size, not speed, and this is a great way to make it relatable to everyone. Nicely done, Apple.

Source: Mac Observer

Apple’s new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus carry the best smartphone cameras you can buy right now, according to the camera and lens experts at DxOMark. Both devices achieve an impressive rating of 82 out of 100, beating the Samsung Galaxy S5, the Sony Xperia Z3, and even the 41-megapixel sensor in the Nokia 808 PureView.

Former Guns N’ Roses lead guitarist Slash has praised U2’s poorly received iTunes album giveaway as a clever marketing strategy.

“There’s a lot less opportunities in the record business to get a deal and get a record out there, and there’s not a lot of radio play for it,” he told Ultimate Classic Rock magazine.

Describing the music business in 2014 as “like the wild, wild west,” he continued that this was “one of those kind of tactics that only U2 could really get away with doing.”

With its improved lens, sensors and image stabilization, the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus offer the best camera seen yet on an Apple handset. But one of the biggest changes was one that took place behind the scenes of iOS 8, with an API allowing third-party developers to have precise control over the workings of the iOS camera functions.

The result is more professional photo apps, which are transforming your most-used camera into your best one.

One of these new breed of photo apps is Little Pixels’ Manual custom exposure tool. Giving you a powerful camera app with full control over each image, the app lets users quickly and easily adjust all the parameters of their images, including focus, white balance, and exposure. If you’re looking for a guide on how to manually focus an iPhone camera, you can refer to this detailed tutorial on iPhone camera manual controls.

The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus is a 10 million unit selling wrecking ball — and Samsung is running scared.

Trying to boost its falling mobile sales, Samsung announced on Wednesday that its new Galaxy Note 4 smartphone will go on sale in China and South Korea as early as this Friday, with the handset available on all mobile carriers in both countries by the end of the month.

For those keeping track, that’s before much of the rest of the world, including the U.S.

Why are China and South Korea getting Samsung’s flagship handset before nearly everyone else? Because the iPhone 6 isn’t available in these markets yet, which has caused a mad dash for the South Korean company to try and get in there first — particularly since the massive iPhone 6 and 6 Plus has now neutralized Samsung’s big-screen differentiator.

New figures released by app analytics firm App Annie show that mobile users are more likely than ever to pay for music services by way of in-app purchases.

Looking at figures from August, streaming music offerings from Spotify, Pandora and Beats Music were among the top earning apps in terms of revenue.

President Obama, sadly, does not have an iPhone 6. But he totally wants one, leading him to openly lust after Apple’s newest handset in a meeting Tuesday at the United Nations.

Continuity and Handoff sound great on paper. They let you transfer certain documents and data between your Mac and your iPhone or iPad, provided both are running the latest Apple system software — iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite, which is currently in public beta.

When Continuity and Handoff work, it’s a brilliant display of Apple’s vision for truly interconnected devices. When they don’t, it’s frustrating. Some of the features work flawlessly for me, while others don’t function as advertised (at least on my gear — here’s a compatibility chart that will tell you if your gear is new enough to work with Handoff and Continuity). It’s probably because Yosemite’s in beta — it makes sense that not all features work right now. Your mileage may vary, as they say.

Ready to take the plunge? Here’s how to get set started, plus a brief look at the Handoff and Continuity features I was able to get working (and a few more that I was not).

Apple has made big improvements to the iPhone camera with each successive release, and while the iPhone 6 didn’t get a huge new sensor, the redesigned 8MP sensor is better than any camera Apple’s ever made.

To see just how well the iPhone 6 stacks up against every other iPhone camera Apple’s released, Lisa Bettany took the same shots with the original iPhone, 3G, 3Gs, 4, 4s, 5, 5c, 5s and iPhone 6 and found that along with the faster shooting and focus, images taken with the iPhone have greater detail and are significantly better in low-light.

Here’s a comparison of back-lit photos:

Apple has acquired Prss, a Dutch company that lets users easily create magazines for iPad and iPhone by way of a simple drag-and-drop interface, for selling in Apple’s Newsstand and other services like Kiosk.

An inside source first reported the acquisition, before Apple confirmed it. Company co-founder Michel Elings recently moved to the Bay Area, alongside other members of the Prss team — indicating that a deal might have been made over the summer.

Prss’s service shut down in July, and has not been active since then.

Ron Johnson revolutionized the retail shopping world when he left Target in 2000 to join Apple and design the entire Apple Store shopping experience with Steve Jobs.

Now, coming off a 17-month stint as the CEO of JC Penney, Ron is ready to reinvent shopping all over again, by getting rid of stores completely.