It’s hard enough to sing and play guitar at the same time, let alone manage a floor full of guitar effects pedals. Add to that trying to create vocal effects like most listeners expect and you’ve got a solo musician’s worst nightmare.

The folks at TC-Helicon have come up with a couple of pretty nifty floor-style pedal boxes that have you covered though: You can dial in a fantastic guitar sound for either acoustic or electric guitar, fill a room with amazing vocal effects and backing harmonies, and even loop musical phrases to create a song with multiple parts on the fly. Dubbed Play Acoustic and Play Electric, these simple stomp boxes contain some serious technology in an easy-to-use platform.

Here’s how it plays out.

Apple has begun contacting developers to tell them that it’s time to submit their apps for OS X Yosemite ahead of its public release later this fall. The email encourages the use of new Yosemite functions like app extensions — as well as Swift, Apple’s “innovative” new programming language.

2014 will be the year the iPad turns golden, according to a new report from Bloomberg.

After introducing gold as a color option in the iPhone lineup with the 5s last year, the second-gen iPad Air will reportedly also be offered in gold.

iOS 8 and Yosemite work together unlike any other operating systems Apple’s ever created, but after removing one of Continuity’s most promising new features – the ability to send and receive SMS texts from Messages on a Mac – Apple has restored the feature to OS X Yosemite slightly ahead of schedule.

Apple removed the feature from the Yosemite beta earlier this month, stating it would be available again in October, but it looks like today’s Yosemite GM has restored SMS Continuity to iMessages

Here’s how to enables it from an iPhone running iOS 8.1 beta 1:

New bicycling game Zwift cruises along at the crossroads where video game nerds, bike fanatics and the land of the long winter come together. Launched in beta today, Zwift lets you compete with friends in a massively multiplayer cycling game designed to turn indoor rides into something more exciting.

The basic premise is this: You pick your avatar, pick your whip, pick your kit, pick your route and then pedal with/against your friends, no matter where they are in the country. You watch the action on the virtual terrain on a computer (most any reasonably modern desktop or notebook will do).

Apple Pay’s launch in the U.S. next month is being supported by some of the biggest players in the payments industry in the country except PayPal, but according to a report from Banking Innovation, Apple actually wanted PayPal to be the “preferred payment process” for Apple Pay.

Talks between PayPal and Apple began at the early stages of Apple Pay’s development, but after PayPal decided to partner with Samsung on the Galaxy S5, Apple execs got so mad they nuked the talks altogether.

Apple is still trying to work out the last few details of its first wearable, but with an early 2015 launch just months away, plans to manufacture and assemble the Apple Watch are being finalized. But AppleDaily reports production isn’t scheduled to ramp into high gear until January 2015.

To manufacture its first wearable, Apple has turned to its old partner Quanta Computer to churn out the first units, and they’re already hiring an army of assemblers for the hyped release.

Apple announced today that its financial earnings call with investors for Q4 2013 will be held on Monday, October 20th at 2PM PT.

AAPL shares have been holding steady around $100 after breaking the century barrier last month, but the price could start ticking upward after announced record breaking iPhone 6 launch week sales with over 10 million units sold.

 Apple is busy putting the finishing touches on its next operating system, but Microsoft gave the world an early look at the next version of Windows today that is set to run on everything from smartphones to PCs.

Microsoft says its next version of Windows will be the most comprehensive platform ever, and while the company is retreating from the disaster that was Windows 8, it’s bringing back some classic features and stealing a few things from the Mac too. If you’re considering making the jump between operating systems, here’s a guide on how to switch Mac to Windows with all the essential steps.

Here’s everything Mac users need to know about Windows 10:

An iPhone 6 bend test left a German tech magazine with bigger worries than a needlessly broken smartphone: The publication was reportedly banned from future Apple events and told it would no longer receive the Cupertino company’s latest products for review.

The official release of Yosemite is nearly here, as Apple has just seeded the Gold Master of OS X 10.10 to developers.

OS X Yosemite GM Candidate 1.0 is now available in the Mac Dev Center or via the Mac App Store to members of Apple’s developer program. The new GM is accompanied by a new Xcode 6.1 GM seed and OS X Server 4.0 Developer Preview.

Apple also released a beta version of Yosemite to the public that received its 4th preview today, though it appears that some of the public beta testers aren’t seeing the available update quite yet.

Yosemite brings a revamped UI to OS X along with a host of new features aimed at making your iPhone and Mac work smarter together. No official word from Apple on what’s inside the Yosemite GM but we’ll let you know what we find as soon as its installed.

Apple’s release of iOS 8.0.2 brought a number of bug fixes to the new operating system, but many iPhone users have reported Bluetooth connection problems with automobiles, including some of us here at Cult of Mac.

Since the iOS 8.0.2 update, iPhone users have taken to Apple’s Support forums to report that they’re unable to initiate calls over Bluetooth. The bug seems to affect a range of iPhone models and automobile makers, but there’s a quick solution that can get you back on the road and slinging cars while you drive.

Just follow these quick steps:

Apple is investigating touch-sensitive holographic displays for future Macs and iOS devices, according to a new patent published today.

As described, the patent would emulate the current touch-based interface for iPhones and tablets, only using near-field proximity in place of physical touch.

Wouldn’t it be awesome if you could get some fab stuff? What if, while you are getting that awesome stuff, you could make the world a better place? And then, just for good measure, you could get to be the one to decide how much to pay for your the whole shebang? Yeah, that’d be sweet.

With The Name Your Own Price Bundles at Cult of Mac Deals, you get to do all that! Get killer stuff from a bundle for as little as you want to pay. Beat the average price and you get the whole bundle! Plus, 10% of what you pay goes to help out one of three charities: Child’s Play, World Wildlife Fund, or Creative Commons. It doesn’t really get any better than that.

Apple’s Jony Ive and Marc Newson rubbed elbows with the fashion industry elite today at Colette, a high-end boutique in Paris. Famous fashion designers and members of the press flocked to Colette for a one-day event to see the Apple Watch in person.

This is the first time Apple has shown its upcoming Watch publicly since its media event in Cupertino earlier this month. The decision to partner with an upscale boutique during Paris Fashion Week shows that Apple is serious about wooing the fashion industry with its new product category.

Having previously filed multi-million dollars suits against Chinese knockoff brands, Beats is now suing one of its own — or at least someone who claims to be one of its own.

In a lawsuit filed late last week, Beats filed false advertising and unfair competition lawsuit against inventor Steve Lamar. Lamar has been involved with ongoing lawsuits with Beats regarding whether or not he can claim ownership of the brand after first bringing the idea of celebrity musical artist-endorsed headphones to Iovine.

Preliminary findings by the European Commission have slammed Apple and Ireland for a so-called “sweetheart” tax deal which allowed Apple to avoid paying taxes by building up a massive offshore cash pile of $137.7bn in the country.

The deal dates back to 1991, and allowed Ireland to provide Apple with illegal state aid. Apple has had a base in the country since 1980.

In a statement, the European Commission said that “the Irish authorities confer an advantage on Apple,” and that this “advantage is obtained every year and ongoing.”

Despite complaints that the Apple Watch is just too big to appeal to women and thinner-wristed men, the Cupertino’s upcoming wearable isn’t actually that big. In fact, it’s about the same size as a Rolex.

Still not convinced that the Apple Watch will look good on your wrist? Why not print one out and see how you look wearing it?

The infamous iPhone 6 “bending video” may have reached close to 47 million hits on YouTube, but Apple has seemingly escaped Bendgate without any lasting damage — just as it has with every “gate” incident before it.

In a new blog post entitled “The Joy of Apple Slamming,” former Apple ad exec Ken Segall (the man who named the iMac) explains how Jobs created a company able to withstand the kind of damaging rumors that would permanently damage lesser rivals.

The secret? Get people to really, really love you.

Former Apple CEO John Sculley has launched a new lineup of budget smartphones in the Middle East — although he admits Steve Jobs would like not be enamoured with them.

“Steve being Steve would say, you can do alot better,” he told Gulf Business.

The range includes various animal-themed devices, including the Octopus S520, the Falcon S451, Hornbill S551, Wolverine S501, and Obi F240. They are being launched by India’s Obi Mobile, a budget smartphone brand, which John Sculley co-founded.

Here’s an important heads-up: If you keep documents in your iCloud Drive, don’t use iOS 8’s “Reset All Settings” option. It could delete files stored in the cloud.

Demand for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus thanks to Apple’s “unprecedented” orders that iPhone manufacturer Foxconn is scrabbling to fill orders.

According to a new report from Digitimes, the Taiwan-based company is on a major hiring spree to fill posts at its plants in Shenzhen and Zhengzhou, China. The only trouble is it’s having a bit of difficulty in doing so, since assembly line work is no longer as attractive as it was previously for Chinese workers.

One of iOS 8’s great new features is Quick Type, which scans your history for your most commonly used word combinations and suggests the word you’re most likely to use next, which can be selected with just a tap.

That said, Quick Type is hardly perfect… a fact made abaundantly clear by the latest xkcd comic, in which iOS 8 mangles famous quotes from Scarface, Wizard of Oz, Serenity, Goonies, Lord of the Rings and Goldfinger.

And you thought Damn You, Autocorrect was hilarious!

If you’ve ever visited the subway platforms in the Big Apple, you know they’re plastered with advertisements. That’s where a free new app called NO AD comes in.

The work of Re+Public, a team of devs who use technology to “alter the current expectations of urban media,” NO AD is an augmented-reality app that strips the New York City subway system of its ads — and replaces them with art.

Just point your iPhone camera at a billboard and, hey presto, you’ll see it vanish and a piece of street art will seamlessly appear where there was once corporate propaganda.

Pretty neat, huh?