Mobile menu toggle

Street artist claims that Apple ad stole his slogan

By

Screen_Shot_2014-05-12_at_08

A New York street artist claims Apple stole his trademark slogan for its latest ad campaign. The line “You’re more powerful than you think” is used in conjunction with shots of people using their iPhone in various different lines of work.

46-year-old James De La Vega says that he’s been using the trademarked line for almost a decade as part of his “Become Your Dream” series. The line has been used in various murals and designs, and was even (by permission) incorporated into a graffiti motif used for a recent line of handbags and accessories.

Apple relies on Samsung more than ever for iPad displays

By

892378-new-apple-ipad

Think Apple is free from Samsung after defeating it yet again in court for flat out copying the iPhone infringing on several Apple patents? Think again!

In fact, when it comes to the iPad Apple is more reliant on Samsung than ever, according to a new report which suggests that the South Korean tech giant became the largest supplier of iPad displays in the first quarter of 2014.

Forgotten by Dre: How two Beats founders were cut out of the $3.2 billion deal

By

beatssteve

If you’ve read Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs biography, you possibly know the name Ronald Wayne. That’s the investor who dropped out of Apple 12 days into its existence as a company — losing around $35 billion after selling his shares for just $800.

In the wake of a reported deal with Beats, we have a repeat of that story — courtesy of the one key party that won’t see a scratch from the rumored $3.2 billion acquisition.

Although Iovine and Dre get all the credit for Beats, it was Monster CEOs Noel and Kevin Lee who designed and developed the world’s very first pair of Beats headphones, and did the engineering and technology distribution for the company’s first five years.

These iPhone 6 schematics reportedly come straight from Foxconn

By

iphone-6-s-02_converted

New images, reportedly showing the new 4.7-inch iPhone, have hit the Web, offering more details about the smaller of Apple’s next generation smartphones.

The images are renders and supposedly hail from parts unknown key Apple supplier Foxconn. They depict a longer, wider 4.7-inch handset with dimensions of 138 by 67 mm. As with recent reports, the pics suggest that the iPhone 6 will feature smoothly rounded corners and a relocated power button. They also makes us think that the iPhone 6 will feature an all-aluminum rear shell.

Samsung chairman suffers major heart attack

By

post-278529-image-b6fc9ebc74d254406799a353f5572464-jpg

Lee Kun-hee, the 72-year-old chairman of the Samsung Group, is reportedly in stable condition after suffering a heart attack.

Lee is currently at the Samsung Medical Center after undergoing heart surgery following a resuscitation. He is one of the wealthiest men in Korea, having inherited the company from his father but led the transition in turning it into the Samsung of today: a company involved in everything from smartphones to ships. Despite ongoing lawsuits for patent infringements, Apple uses Samsung to manufacture its semiconductors.

Saturday Showdown: Apple TV vs Roku 1

By

post-278525-image-ea71374f7b2635445215db70a7c77145-jpg

Since the release of the Apple TV back in 2007, it’s evolved into an essential gadget for all media streamers, and with that, Apple has invented some competition with the likes of Amazon Fire and the Roku. This week Cult of Mac puts the $99 Apple TV against the entry-level $49 Roku 1.

News Roundup: iPhone 6 and Apple buys Beats?

By

post-278497-image-6e9572b2e7b0540d11269ad8685083b6-jpg

With yet another week in the past your host Joshua Smith is here to give you a wrap-up on some of the latest and biggest news features. Touch iD coming to the iPad, Apple to buy Beats by Dre and more iPhone 6 rumors are among just some of the featured stories in today’s rundown. Take a look at the video and be sure to return next week for another.

Subscribe to CultOfMacTV on youtube.com to catch new episodes of the roundup and other great video reviews, how-to’s and more.

This Week in Weird: 4 games about gettin’ them dollas

By

Weird games header
Photo courtesy of Meghan Stratman

Hundreds of new games come out every week in the App Store. A select few are the next must-play title that everyone will be talking about (and ripping off) for the foreseeable future. Most of them are perfectly decent but may not receive the attention they deserve. And then you have the third group: games so odd, bizarre, and head-scratching that you’re not sure what to make of or do with them.

They aren’t necessarily bad; they’re just confusing and weird. And worst of all, people may never know that they exist. But that’s why we’re here.

Here are some of the strangest games to drop into the App Store this week, and they’re all about playing with fat stacks of cash. Or change. What you do with this information is between you and your iPhone.

The future of headphones — streaming music built right in

By

Matthew Paprocki, cofounder of the audio company Soundfreaq, suggests Apple may turn Beats into next-generation, music-everywhere streaming stereos.
Matthew Paprocki, cofounder of the audio company Soundfreaq, suggests Apple may use Beats to create next-generation, music-everywhere streaming stereos.

At the giant Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year, the exhibit halls were packed with wireless audio products. It’s all thanks to the mobile revolution. These are the listening devices of the future.

But future speakers and headphones will be quite different, predicted Matthew Paprocki, co-founder of Soundfreaq, a Southern California company that makes a range of critically acclaimed speakers.

Paprocki’s predictions may have implications for Beats, which Apple is rumored to be buying for $3.2 billion. Beats, of course, makes headphones and has a subscription based music streaming service, but Apple’s plans are unclear.

“They could take all the ingredients that Beats has and bake it into a new cake,” Paprocki said.

WWDC hardware expectations plus a big fake Apple rumor on our newest CultCast

By

cultcast-iPad-Mini-new-logo.jpg

This time on The CultCast: No, those rumored new EarPods won’t measure your pulse. Last week’s biggest Apple rumor was a fake made up by a guy on a toilet! Plus, why you shouldn’t expect new hardware at June’s WWDC; iPhone warns you when the NSA wants you for drug trafficking; Apple’s newest executive gets a HUGE payday; Katie Cotton, Apple’s long time PR lead and Steve Jobs confidant, calls it quits; Cupertino will take on Samsung with more Guerrilla-style marketing; and since you asked, we reveal the jobs we’ve always wanted on an all-new Get To Know Your Cultist.

Have a few LOLs while we catch you up on 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 audio adventure begin!

Our thanks to Smile Software for supporting this episode! If you haven’t tried TextExpander from Smile software, you’re missing out on one of the most useful apps available for the Mac. With TextExpander, you’ll save time and effort by expanding short abbreviations into frequently-used text and pictures. Try it out yourself for free at smilesoftware.com/cultcast.

Click on for the show notes.

Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine will take senior positions at Apple in Beats deal

By

beatssteve

Both Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre will take senior positions at Apple as part of the Beats Electronics deal, according to people close to the matter.

While neither would move to Cupertino, they would reportedly commute to Silicon Valley (or wherever is needed) from Los Angeles. Although it’s currently unknown what role Iovine and Dre would fulfill at Apple, it is thought that Iovine might become a “special adviser” to Tim Cook on creative projects. Dre was recently seen celebrating becoming “the first billionaire in hip-hop.”

So who are these two possible new members of the Apple brain trust, and what would they bring to the table?

Gadget roundup: Retrotastic gear takes us back to the future

By

From ax player Jack White's new high-tech vinyl album to a high-tech wood-chopping ax from Finland, here is everything you missed in product announcements this week.
From ax player Jack White's new high-tech vinyl album to a high-tech wood-chopping ax from Finland, here is everything you missed in product announcements this week.

This week our inboxes filled up faster than a tummy at an all-you-can-eat crab leg buffet.

The theme that emerged from this week’s plethora of product press releases was “everything old is new again.” From the stunning leather-and-canvas bike bag from the talented folks at Tanner Goods to the retro speaker from Veho, it seems our fascination with yesteryear and retro continues unabated.

May your thoughts of relaxing in a cushy easy chair, whittling away with your new table knife while listening to Jack White’s new Ultra LP, helps you get through the weekend.

Until next week.

Fight for sanity and safety in addicting arcade game Aliens Drive Me Crazy

By

post-278464-image-1d40d68e9ad372fb9aaef1c7def898ee-jpg

It’s impossible to know what humans would really do if aliens invaded Earth. While that scenario gets talked about on all types of platforms, the new app Aliens Drive Me Crazy brings the experience to life. Swipe to play as you drive your way through the city, taking out all enemies and climbing rooftops to attack enemy bases. Do you think you have what it takes to bring every district to safety and restore sanity?

Take a look at the video to see what you think.

Elegant iOS game Kiwanuka will charm you with puzzles

By

Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Thank goodness for a game with just a few things to learn how to do.

Too many environmental puzzle games try to do too much, packing in all sorts of stuff you have to figure out to solve the ever-increasingly difficult levels.

Not so with Kiwanuka, an elegantly smart game that only has a couple of mechanics, but tons of fun levels to solve with them.

Oh, and it’s a little bit weird, too.

Here are two new iPhoneography apps to check out this weekend

By

Screen Shot 2014-05-09 at 7.02.18 PM

I’m constantly checking out new photography apps for the iPhone, and like many out there, my favorite remains VSCO Cam. There’s a new contender on the scene that was released this week, and it’s definitely worth trying if you like experimenting beyond VSCO’s filters.

A new video app from the Hipstamatic team also just came out in the App Store, and it has some of the best filters for mobile video I’ve come across.

How to use your email as a powerful to-do manager

By

Here's how to turn your inbox into a problem solver. Photo: Charlie Sorrell/Cult of Mac
Here's how to turn your inbox into a problem solver. Photo: Charlie Sorrell/Cult of Mac

They say your email inbox is a terrible place to manage tasks. I’d disagree. I think it’s the perfect place. After all, most of my tasks come in via email, and any app that can share information can share it via email. Why bother dickering with an extra app, keeping all that important stuff in two places, when it can all be easily managed in one spot?

I’ve been doing exactly this ever since I ditched OmniFocus, which is so long ago I can’t remember how long ago it was. With a little bit of setup in your everyday news and browsing apps, you can turn your inbox into a proper universal task list. Here’s how.

OS Experience brings desktop multitasking to iPad for jailbreakers

By

OS X brought to iOS
OS X brought to iOS

What would it look like if Apple let you work in multiple apps side by side on the iPad? Apple’s competitors like to poke fun at the iPad’s lack of desktop-class multitasking. But plenty of people are using the iPad to get work done, which begs the age-old question: is less really more?

Imagine OS X’s Mission Control ported to the iPad, and you’ve got the jailbreak tweak OS Experience. It’s an ambitious idea that is executed with surprising finesse.

With Beats, Apple buys the unobtainable: street cred

By

If and when Apple enters the wearables market, its biggest problem will be persuading people to wear the technology. A big part of that will be attracting the right early-adopters.
If Apple enters the wearables market, the biggest challenge will be persuading people to wear the technology. Attracting the right early adopters will be key to Apple's success.

If the rumors are true, Apple’s forthcoming purchase of Beats Electronics for $3.2 billion is all about one thing — making wearable technology fashionable.

Apple is poised to introduce a line of wearables that likely goes beyond the long-rumored iWatch. While the technology Tim Cook’s team is cooking up might be amazing, getting people to wear it — especially cracking the crucial mass market — will be one of the biggest challenges Cupertino has ever faced.

Injecting style into wearable tech notoriously difficult. Even Nike got flustered and discontinued its FuelBand fitness tracker. So far, no company has really cracked the code and turned gear into a fashion statement for the cool kids, with one giant exception: Beats, a phenomenally successful wearable technology brand that dwarfs the rest of the industry because it’s pulled off the hardest trick in the book.

ChargeCard is a credit card-size cable for when you need a charge [Deals]

By

redesign_charcard1

The best type of charging cable is the one you have on you. So stay prepared and leave that tangled mess behind with ChargeCard.

ChargeCard is your iPhone lightning cable, shaped like a credit card. It’s designed to fit into your wallet so you’ll always have a charging/sync cable on hand. And Cult of Mac Deals has it available for just $24.99 for a limited time.