MagBak made a name for itself last year as the maker of the world’s thinnest iPad mount. Consisting of a wall holder (called the MagStick) and a strong, yet thin magnetic grip which adheres to the back of the tablet, the project was a huge success on Kickstarter.
Now the team behind MagBak have returned with their latest product iteration: a MagBak designed for the iPad Air and iPad mini. With around three days to go, the Kickstarter campaign has already raised close to twice its $15,000 funding goal.
Everyone knows Apple is incredibly profitable, but did you know that the top-earning tech company brings in more money than Hewlett-Packard, Google, Intel and Cisco combined?
That’s according to the San Jose Mercury News’ newly published Silicon Valley 150 list, which ranks 75 tech companies using data from Bloomberg and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
Cups is an amazing proposition, and it’s going to be fascinating to see if it works. The app/service gives you unlimited coffee in NYC, from $45 per month. Yup, subscription coffee, just like Netflix or Spotify.
New leaked images purportedly taken inside a Foxconn plant show the iPhone 6 chassis and a handful of manufacturing molds for Apple’s upcoming smartphone.
The photos, posted on Chinese microblogging website Weibo over the weekend, appear to confirm that Apple will increase the size of the iPhone.
This is the Gallery Waist Pack. It’s the answer to the question, “What if we made a fanny pack for the iPad?”
That’s not quite as simple as it would seem. After all, the fanny pack is the preferred bag of the middle-aged and style-free. It’s the bag for somebody who values practicality over everything else.
And while the iPad is not completely the opposite of this, it is at least opposed to the beige pleated-pants crowd.
Folks who work with words have Drafts. People who want to capture a quick picture have a home-screen shortcut to the built-in camera. But what do musicians have to remember a tune when it pops into their head? Now they have Hum, an iPhone app for capturing song-writing ideas.
Samsung has redesigned its SD and microSD cards with color coding that makes it easier to spot the difference between product lines – regular, Pro and Evo. Unfortunately, this is the wrong way to color-code cards.
Dorks of the world, rejoice. Runnur has designed the perfect way for you to carry your iPad on your belt and not look cool. Countless hours doubtless went into making sure that the Hands Free would be not only secure and reliable, but also make you look like an utter drongo when you use it.
Remember Brett Terpstra’s Total Numbers service from last week? Good, because now it’s available in and even more useful and labor-free form as a PopClip Extension.
Now all you need to do is highlight a bunch of numbers with the mouse, and the new “Sum” extension will add them all up for you.
As the weekend comes to a close and a new week is set to begin, Cult of Mac Deals has two deals that are worth exploring.
Macbooster clears your hard drive of unnecessary files to free RAM space and deliver an instant performance boost. It also cleans out junk and unwanted files to free up more hard drive space. And the course offers you the understanding of how Heroku works while learning how to optimize your app to get the most out of the resources provided. Macbooster is going for $19.99 for a limited time and the Rails course is only $29.
There’s a familiar look you see on the faces of parents at theme parks. It’s a look their children are rarely able to understand — caught as they are in the clutches of school vacations and roller coasters with names like Afterburn and the Dahlonega Mine Train. It’s a look that says, ‘No matter how much fun this is, the credit card bill at the end of the holiday is going to be hell.’
RollerCoaster Tycoon 4 Mobile by Atari Category: iOS Games Works With: iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch Price: $2.99 w/ in-app purchases
I wanted to be the carefree kid when playing RollerCoaster Tycoon 4 Mobile. After all, this is a sequel to a game franchise I loved to death growing up. There are few better things in life than riding roller coasters — but designing them may be one.
When I sat down to play RollerCoaster Tycoon 4 Mobile, however, I quickly found the childlike innocence behind my eyes fading. Not only did I want to put away childish things by the time I stopped playing — I wanted to smash my iPad and send the bill to Atari.
And I would have been entirely justified in doing so.
Parallels Inc. is the leader when it comes to allowing you to be able to view your applications across different operation systems. They specialize in delivering an unmatched experience that emphasizes making your personal and work life simpler and in our eyes, simpler is paramount. Parallels Access ‘applifies’ your Windows and Mac applications, letting you remotely access and experience them as if they were made for iPad.
Who wouldn't want the team behind Monument Valley rethinking the way we drive. Photo: Ustwo
Have you played Monument Valley yet? Our previous choice for ‘Game of the Week,’ this surreal, M.C. Escher-inspired puzzle game has proved an absolute phenomenon since its launch in the App Store.
But what if you’ve already finished ustwo’s masterpiece, and are now on the lookout for more of the same?
Never fear, gentle reader — we can help. Although there are precious few games which be described as similar to Monument Valley (some people aren’t even convinced it’s a game to begin with), Cult of Mac spoke with lead designer Ken Wong for his picks of the top games currently available on iOS.
It seems that Nintendo has no plans to bring its extensive back catalog of games to the App Store, but fans looking to play Nintendo DS titles on their iOS devices can now pick up a new, jailbreak-free emulator.
Venus — the 256-foot super-yacht, commissioned by Steve Jobs — has been sighted in Ensenada, Baja California.
A coastal city in Mexico, on the Baja California Peninsula, Ensenada is a popular cruise ship destination. Photos of the vessel in dock were sent in by Cult of Mac reader Felipe Cornejo. Cornejo notes that he did not see any of Jobs’ family at the site, and that dock workers he spoke with weren’t aware this was Jobs’ boat.
From the highs of the Steve Jobs portrait made out of 20lbs of electronic waste, to the lows of the hideous statue that looked like a totem from Hellraiser, there have certainly been some “uneven” tributes to Apple’s late co-founder.
So which camp does this creation fall into, then?
Called “Baked Apple,” the fountain-sculpture depicts a deformed Apple II sitting on top of a column (previously the base lamp), adorned with images of Jobs and the Apple logo. It was created by artist Robbie Schoen, who once attended Jobs’ alma mater. Schoen, and made his creation with the aid of a real-life Apple II, formerly belonging to the school’s science department.
Remember when Tim Cook said he wanted Apple to be a “force for good” in the world, in terms of sustainability?
In keeping with Apple’s plans to use 100% renewable energy to power all of its facilities, it has recently taken over a small hydroelectric project at a Central Oregon site, near to the company’s data center in Prineville.
Since these data centers consume massive amounts of electricity (read: the equivalent of a small city), Apple has been keen to explore alternative sources of energy to keep them in clean, renewable energy.
Apple has reportedly hired Karl Heiselman, chief executive officer of branding agency Wolff Olins, to join the company in a new marketing communications role.
The former CEO and branding expert has been with Wolff Olins for a total of 14 years — and during his seven years as chief executive officer has worked with a number of high profile clients, including Apple.
Forged in the fires of Silicon Valley and backed by venture capital power players comes Lyft® – a service revolutionizing public transport. You request a ride through the free iOS or Android app, then watch on a real-time map as your driver approaches.
Faster than a speeding bullet, ComiXology has scaled the ranks in the App Store in what seems like a single bound.
As one of last year’s top-grossing iPad apps, the digital comics platform has sold an astonishing 6 billion comic book pages since its 2009 debut — 4 billion of those coming in 2013 alone.
In helping revive an industry that was almost dead on its feet, ComiXology has done for comics what iTunes did for legal music downloads.
At the height of its success, it’s now been snatched up by Amazon for an undisclosed amount of money — prompting the question of whether Apple has missed out. (Particularly when taking into accounts the reports that Amazon is reportedly set to debut a smartphone of its own — capable of busting out 3-D.)
After all, ComiXology’s CEO David Steinberger has always had big ambitions. He once wrote that his “crazy goal” was to turn everyone on the planet into a comic reader. Sounds just like Steve Jobs.
Before the acquisition, CEO David Steinberger told Cult of Mac ComiXology’s backstory and its deep ties to Apple. Sometimes the Cupertino company has acted as its Krypton-esque home planet, and other times more like its Lex Luthor-style nemesis.
Need an all-in-one movie player for your Mac? Leawo Blu-ray Player for Mac is exactly what your looking for. This comprehensive Mac media player gives you the ability to play Blu-ray, DVD, HD video, audio and ISO files on your Mac in lossless quality.
Mac Blu-ray playback software allows you to adjust subtitles, audio and video for a high-quality video experience that allows full playback control and detailed navigation that will deliver a better movie-viewing environment. And Cult of Mac Deals has this all-in-one movie watching solution for only $9.95 during this limited time offer.
By now you’ve heard all about the catastrophic Heartbleed bug and how it has siphoned passwords, credit card numbers, emails and other data to the vampires who would drain all of us dry. From your love life (OKCupid) to your tax returns, there’s a lot at stake.
Since 66% of web servers are vulnerable to the bug, that means you’re faced with only task more fun than decluttering the garage: changing your passwords.
To help you on your password resetting chores, we’ve compiled the best tools to make the process as quick and painless as possible. Also, they’ll sync your new passwords to your iPhone — all in under 10 minutes. Leaving you time to watch Silicon Valley again. You’re welcome.
Elder Scrolls Online is a new massively multiplayer role playing game by Zenimax Studios and Bethesda Game Studios that attempts to compete with the behemoth of the premium subscription MMO, World Of Warcraft, on its own turf in the fantasy genre. While the base gameplay is fairly similar — go on quests, fight bad guys, level up, game with thousands of other players — this new MMO has a lot that’s unique to offer gamers.
What Elder Scrolls Online brings to this competitive gaming genrea is a long history of games set in fantasy world Tamriel, beginning in 1994 with The Elder Scrolls: Arena and continuing through three the present day with four sequels: Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim. There’s a ton of lore and backstory here, as much as any high-fantasy Tolkien-esque novel you might read, and this deep infusion of fictional reality — as well as the action gameplay style of the original single-player games mentioned above — is a solid asset in Bethesda’s favor.
Reviewing any MMO is a massive undertaking itself, and so we decided to dig in deeper than we usually do to give you a better sense of the world of the game, filtered through the eyes of a new Elder Scrolls Online player.
Imagine a world where you can summon a drone from your iPhone like an Uber car. Flying minions help you navigate traffic and find where to eat. It’s a futuristic kind of reality that feels pretty cool and scary at the same time.
Gofor was created as a concept to explore what an on-demand drone service would look like for normal people. While the service is obviously not real, the finished product is packaged together so well that it almost seems possible.
It has been months since I opened Reeder, my longtime app of choice for RSS. I don’t have anything personal against Reeder, it’s just that RSS has lost a lot of its appeal for me. Twitter is where I mainly get my news now.
Reeder 2 for Mac, which launches as a public beta today, might just make me give RSS a second chance.
