Cult of Mac

There’s just one day to go until Apple reportedly unveils its long-awaited iWatch and — as if anticipation couldn’t be any higher — a Reddit user just posted what he claims to be half a dozen technical images of Apple’s wearables device.

The user claims that the device will feature a microphone, speaker, and Siri virtual assistant. It is also reported that there will be a flexible multi-touch screen, that it will be waterproof to a depth of 20 meters, and that Apple will announce the availability of 4 colors and 2 different sizes.

If you’re a free Spotify user, prepare for your experience to get a lot more annoying: video ads are coming to the a la carte music streaming service.

Text shortcuts are one of the most useful settings in iOS. Having the potential to just hit a couple of keys to input an entire string of text is a wonderful time saver… as long as you have the foresight to set them up first.

Alas, most of us never delve into text shortcuts on iOS 8. But here’s a shortcut anyone can take advantage of: a text shortcut that allows you to cycle rapidly through your email addresses with just a single keypress.

Former Apple exec Jean-Louis Gassée has posted a new edition of his always enjoyable Monday Note blog, arguing that Apple isn’t intending to disrupt banks and credit card companies with its entry into the mobile payments world.

It’s an interesting read, and makes a whole lot of sense: pointing out that Apple’s mobile payment drive is simply an extension of the company’s current strategy.

In just a little over 24 hours, Tim Cook and Co. will take the stage of Flint Center for the Performing Arts in Cupertino, California and unveil at least one 4.7-inch iPhone 6. From previous leaks, we know that this iPhone 6 will have a 1,810mAh capacity battery, a 14% beefier battery than the 1,560mAh battery used in the iPhone 5s. It makes sense it would need one: it will have a sizably bigger display to light up.

But what about the 5.5-inch iPhone 6? Won’t it need a bigger battery even than that? It will, and a new leak out of Apple’s supply chain suggests that it will be a massive 2,915mAh battery, a battery 86% larger than the current iPhone 5s battery.

In addition to near field communication (NFC) as part of its mobile payments drive, Apple will be incorporating something called “tokenisation” technology, according to sources who spoke with Bank Innovation.

As the report explains, “Financial institutions — card issuers and networks — prefer token technology because it replaces primary account numbers, those 16-digit card numbers on the front of credit and debit cards. Instead, the tokenization technology uses complex codes that are easily transmittable over the air and between devices, but that are used only once, so even if they are intercepted, are of no use to fraudsters.”

Apple has been investigating tokenization technology for several years, with multiple patents relating to the process dating back as far as 2009.

Although we know that Apple has spent a lot of money to team up with GT Advanced to created a sapphire glass manufacturing facility, we haven’t up until now had any direct confirmation on whether or not it that glass would be used for the screen of the iPhone 6. All we’ve heard are rumors, which right now say that sapphire glass will be limited to the most premium models of Apple’s latest smartphone.

But thanks to a rather loose-lipped former GT Advanced employee, we might have our first real confirmation that Apple and GT Advanced have been working to ship the iPhone 6 with a sapphire glass display.

It happens all the time: The subject of a portrait tries to put their best face forward but the photographer senses a more authentic expression locked inside. To get to something real, the photographer utilizes a range of tricks and charms to peel back the subject’s veneer.

South Carolina photographer Patrick Hall used 300,000 volts.

Shockingly, close to a hundred people got zapped with a stun gun for Hall’s series of still photos and a slow-motion video that went viral soon after it was published on the Fstoppers website, which Hall co-founded.

“I wanted to start making more photo series of things I don’t normally do,” Hall told Cult of Mac. “Why don’t I get reactions of people doing something painful or joyful that is more than the standard portrait? What could I do to consistently get reactions?”

So ends another week at Cult of Mac Deals. Every day we put a spotlight on a gadget, software, or training that will enrich your life.

Today, we highlight a few of those deals so that you don’t miss out. Read on to see the best of the very best that we offer right now. Of course, you can peruse all of our current offers at the Cult of Mac Deals page.

This week: With Apple’s big Sept. 9 media event just around the bend, we dust off our crystal balls and reveal our iWatch and iPhone 6 predictions! Plus: The Fappening. How did so many high-profile celebrity nudies leak for all to see? And is an iCloud flaw responsible for the debacle? We’ll tell you what happened, how it happened, and what you can do to help keep those sensitive selfies safe from prying eyes.

Softly chuckle 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 Lynda.com for sponsoring this episode! Learn virtually any application at your own pace from expert-taught video tutorials at Lynda.com.

I don’t do a whole lot of up-close computer-based gaming, but when I do, I prefer to have a decent set of headphones to keep the sound to myself so that the rest of the household doesn’t need to hear the full complement of explosions and combat sounds that typically accompany gaming on my Mac. There are an array of headsets out there with gaming microphones built in, many of them in the $300 and up range.

Not everyone can afford this sort of luxury, so most brands have less-expensive versions of their headsets to appeal to a more budget-conscious gamer. The HyperX Cloud is just such a set of headphones aiming for the entry-level gamer who may not have much more than $100 to spend on their gaming audio gear.

Every week, we highlight deals on tech, software, and training that we believe will improve your life in some way. Though these deals are pretty special, they unfortunately can’t be offered forever.

Today we put the spotlight on 4 deals that are ending soon. We don’t want to see anyone miss out, so have a look and jump on these deals now before they’re gone forever.

Pictures of what is allegedly a working iPhone 6 have surfaced on the Chinese social network Weibo. While tons of parts have leaked up to this point, this is the first time we’ve seen what appears to be the device powered on and running iOS 8.

The 4.7-inch device looks legit, although it’s authenticity cannot obviously be confirmed. On the screen, there’s a new Passbook icon. This hints towards the mobile payments platform Apple is expected to unveil at next week’s event.

As much as Apple wants the tech press on its side, tech writers aren’t the only journalists being invited to Cupertino’s September 9 event, where it’s heavily rumored the iWatch will be unveiled for the world to see.

Lending even more credence to the idea that Apple is set to announce its entry into the world of wearables, the company has reportedly been inviting unprecedented numbers of fashion editors and bloggers to the event.

“I assume it’s because they are unveiling a wearable,” Lea Goldman, features and special projects director for Marie Claire magazine told Reuters. “This suggests Apple is serious about tapping into the fashion world, which often sits on the sidelines.”

The iPhone 6 may be currently filling your newsfeed, but there’s somewhere else it’s filling too: the skies.

According to several sources, Apple is currently shipping so many new devices from its factories to sales outlets that it’s causing big delays for even “top tier” rival manufacturers.

Apple shipments via FedEx and UPS are said to be “incredibly high” for the holiday season, largely based on the new iPhone 6 and iPad refresh. It was previously reported that Apple had ordered an “unprecedented” number of iPhone 6 devices — more than twice that of the initial iPhone 5 order.

You’re most probably familiar with the expression “out of the frying pan into the fire.”

Having seemingly settled its e-book price-fixing lawsuit by agreeing to pay $450 million, Tim Cook and other top Apple execs are now being sued by Apple shareholders, claiming that the incident has damaged the company.

As per a complaint filed at the end of last week, Cook and other Apple executives were told that they should accept “responsibility for ensnaring Apple in a multi-year anticompetitive scheme.”

Trusting the Internet can be one of the silliest things you can do, especially when it comes to private matters. While what you do within the comfort of your own circle deserves to stay within its parameters, sometimes things don’t play that way.

Some celebrities found that out the hard way this week when their “personal” photos were hacked from their iCloud accounts and leaked online. With the world frantically sharing the photos left and right, this has turned all eyes toward Apple and the security of its cloud operation.

Apple is looking to replace your wallet with a new mobile payments platform, and according to Recode it will get a big head start by signing up two of the biggest pharmacy stores in the country.

Walgreens and CVS are both partnering with Apple to be a part of its mobile payments platform that will be revealed next week, allowing customers to pay for items at the counter by whipping out their iPhone, or tapping an iWatch.

Apple just lured one of the top designers in the world onto the mothership, and it just so happens that he’s a genius at designing timepieces.

Marc Newson created the luxury watch company Ikepod in the mid-’90s, pushing out gorgeous timepieces with unique, simplified form factors and made from unconventional materials. It took other watchmakers years to catch up with his work. Newson hasn’t been involved with the company for more than two years, but he’s also dabbled in jewelry design, with a necklace based on fractal theory, as well as Atmos clocks bigger than a Mac Pro.

In a rare interview with Dezeen, Newson offers insight into his career of building time pieces, from sketching concepts in the ’80s to setting trends that watchmakers are still emulating today. This is the future of Apple design.

Check out the full interview below:

Apple could be less than one week away from unveiling its long-awaited iWatch, and surprisingly for an industry as competitive as tech, pretty much everyone is rooting on it to succeed.

The reason? Because once Apple cracks open a market and shows how it can be done, everyone else can dive in and make more money.

Famed designer Marc Newson is joining his BFF Jony Ive to serve as part of Ive’s famed design team, reports Vanity Fair, filling a hole at Apple vacated by Steve Jobs: someone brilliant enough for Ive to bounce ideas off.

Ive and Newson have been close friends for years, but rather than joining him at the mothership, Newson plans to still live in the U.K. where he’s earned fame as an industrial for working on projects for Ford, Nike, Qantas Airways, but he’ll make frequent trips to Cupertino.

Jony Ive had the following to say about Apple’s new hire: