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Apple Watch will be ‘lucky’ to ship by Valentine’s Day

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valentinesdayapplewatch

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.

iOS 8 crash rate is 78% higher than iOS 7

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iOS8

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 tops customer satisfaction survey for 11th straight year

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Who makes the best computers around? We think you know the answer to that. Photo: ASCI
Who makes the best computers around? We think you know the answer to that. Photo: ACSI

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.

Apple advertises the iPhone 6 in Rolling Stone by showing actual sizes

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rollingsont

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

iPhone 6 beats its biggest rivals in smartphone camera tests

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iPhone-6-Plus-cam

Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

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.

Slash defends U2’s unique deal with Apple

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Photo: Wikipedia CC
Photo: Wikipedia CC

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.”

Little Pixels’ new photo app turns your iPhone camera into a manual

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Photo: Manual
Photo: Manual

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.

From Dick Tracy to Apple Watch: 70 years of smartwatches

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The Pulsar might have been the reality of digital watches around the time that Apple started, but what was predicted by the age’s futurists? The 1979 Usborne book Future Cities: Homes & Living Into the 21st Century describes the arrival of

The Pulsar might have been the reality of digital watches around the time that Apple started, but what was predicted by the age’s futurists? The 1979 Usborne book Future Cities: Homes & Living Into the 21st Century describes the arrival of "wrist-phones" or “ristos.” These devices, the authors predicted, would work with cellphones and GPS equipment.

"City dwellers of tomorrow could have a small gadget of enormous benefit — a wristwatch radio-telephone,” the book notes. "With a wristwatch radio, you could talk to anyone, wherever you happened to be.... If you were late for an appointment, it would be easy to let the other people know.... It ought to be impossible to get lost in tomorrow's world, in a city or out of it.... The wrist-phone can provide guidance back to the nearest town.” Pretty accurate, no?

Picture: EDC Publishing


Samsung moves Note 4 launch date to beat iPhone 6 into China

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The iPhone 6 came in like a wrecking ball... Photo: Vevo
The iPhone 6 came in like a wrecking ball... Photo: Vevo

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.

More music lovers are paying for their tunes with in-app purchases

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August was a good month for streaming music services with in-app purchases.
August was a good month for streaming music services with in-app purchases. Photo: Pandora

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.

How to use Continuity and Handoff with iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite

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Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac
Continuity and Handoff are great — at least the parts that work. Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

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).

How iPhone 6 camera compares to all other iPhones

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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 buys Prss, a publishing platform for iPad magazines

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Photo: Prss
Photo: Prss

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.

Square plans to add Apple Pay and Bitcoin support to next register

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squareregisteripad

Apple Pay is threatening to put mobile payments companies like Square and PayPal out of business when it launches next month, but according to Square co-founder Jack Dorsey, Apple Pay isn’t actually a threat to his company.

Dorsey revealed yesterday that Square is hoping to use Apple Pay to its advantage by building a new register for sellers that accepts Apple Pay and pretty much every other form of payment you can slide across a counter.

Get bent: The shocking history of bent smartphones

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Apple's new aluminum will kill Bendgate.
Apple's new aluminum will kill Bendgate.
Photo: Unbox Therapy

Bend-Gate is slowly taking over the Internet this morning as Apple fans discover the startling fact that when pressure is applied to an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus frame, it bends – just like every other smartphone ever made of metal.

The bending problem has been reported by a number of iPhone 6 owners who pocketed their big iPhone 6 only to retrieve it later with a significant curve in the frame. Some sites are deeming the new iPhones “more fragile than expected,” but the truth is we’ve seen this problem almost every year.

In fact, last year ran we an article titled “iPhone 5s Bending in People’s Pockets.” Any phone made of metal is still subject to the laws of physics, but to reiterate that this isn’t exactly a problem exclusive to the iPhone 6, here’s a look at other Android and Apple phones that have bending problems.

CarPlay is still on track to arrive in 2014

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carplay

Apple consolidated the lineup of CarPlay partners on its website Tuesday morning and left off mention of 2014 availability, leading some Apple fans to conclude that launch of the iOS-in-your-car functionality would be delayed. However, Cult of Mac has learned that there was no hidden reason behind the site change this morning, and that CarPlay is still on track.

Sources at Apple told us speculation that “Apple is no longer promising CarPlay support from any auto manufacturer this year as it has done since its debut in March” is far off and inaccurate. CarPlay has been supported since iOS 7.1 and many manufacturers are still on track to roll out CarPlay integration this year.

In fact, you can already spot CarPlay in the wild.

Have internet access on the go with The Karma Go 4G LTE Hotspot [Deals]

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CoM_Karma Go

Having access to the internet is just about as necessary to us these days as eating and breathing fresh air. When we are away from home, we rely on our mobile data plans and, for our mobile computers, wi-fi to stay connected. Sometimes, though, finding a suitable wi-fi connection can be difficult and inconvenient.

Meet The Karma Go 4G LTE Hotspot. This little marvel allows you to take the internet with you where ever you go for one low price, so you’ll never have to go looking for a connection ever again.

The Apple Watch is thin as a Rolex

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Screen Shot 2014-09-23 at 7.31.42 AM

From the iPhone to the iPad, immediate reactions are always mixed on new Apple products, as the public struggles to wrap its head around Cupertino’s next bold idea. And so we hear a lot of warrantless criticism until the product actually lands on shelves.

One refrain we’re hearing a lot from Apple Watch critics is that Jony Ive may have dropped the ball with the Apple Watch design. The problem? To these critics, the Apple Watch’s casing looks shockingly thick.

As it turns out, though, this is largely an optical illusion. The Apple Watch isn’t really any thicker than a Rolex.

46% of users are already running iOS 8 a week after launch

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iOS 8 adoption is pretty much over. Photo: Apple
Less than a week after its release, 46 percent of users have upgraded to iOS 8. Photo: Apple

Almost half of all iOS users are using the latest version of Apple’s mobile operating system, according to figures released by Cupertino on its App Store Distribution page.

The figures show that as of September 21, 46 percent of users had upgraded to iOS 8, slightly down from the 49 percent of users on iOS 7. A tiny minority (just 5 percent) of users are still using earlier firmware versions.

How to use iCloud Drive the right way

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Hacker who tried to extort Apple for $100k is spared prison
With these handy tips (and warnings), you'll master iCloud Drive in no time. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

If you haven’t been scared off cloud services by the Fappening or past horrors like MobileMe, you might want to try iCloud Drive, Apple’s answer to Dropbox and Google Drive. It’s a pretty great concept, an extension of the Apple philosophy from way back – documents are identified by the apps they were created by. Before, though, you needed to export a file from a drawing app to use it with a painting app. With iCloud Drive, you’ll be able to move from one app to another much more easily.

Before you begin, make sure you’ve read and understand the warning about using iCloud Drive if you haven’t yet installed OS X Yosemite on your Mac. If you haven’t installed the Yosemite public beta, apps on your iOS 8 devices will be unable to share data with companion apps on your Mac. Consider yourself warned.

If you choose to enable iCloud Drive on your iOS 8 device, and you have an OS X Yosemite beta installed on your Mac, here’s how to use it the right way.