Cult of Mac

The appropriately named Transit app for iPhone has already gotten a lot of love in the App Store, including Editor’s Choice, and it is getting featured again because of a major update that’s out today.

Transit is designed to provide you with realtime data on public bus and train systems in 62 metropolitan areas around the world.  Today’s update includes a more streamlined way of figuring out the right route to take, the ability to search locations using stop codes, a drastically improved offline mode, and more.

Here’s the full list of changes:

Apple has been talking to record label executives about launching its own on-demand streaming service, according to a new report from Billboard. In what would certainly be a shocking turn of events, Apple is allegedly considering an iTunes app for Android as well.

“The surprising discussions are part of a multi-pronged strategy to deal with the double-digit decline in U.S. download sales at Apple’s iTunes Music Store,” according to the report.

If you want a successful app you will need to get across a large amount of information in a tiny amount of space – and that is where these Webbicon icons come in handy.

With over 1200 vector icons, you will have all of today’s hot categories covered with these high-quality icons. The collection includes 5 different sizes for each icon so you will have every option covered. And Cult of Mac Deals has it for only $19 – a savings of 86%!



Image credit: Wired

Flappy Bird came onto the scene with a bang, ruffling feathers from Hanoi to Hannover. Dong Nguyen, the developer of this seemingly overnight sensation, was as taken aback as the rest of us, evident from his shocking decision to stop offering the game for download as well as his recent decision to bring it back.

Game developers and publishers can only hope to reproduce this kind of crazy success. And each and every one of the people we talked to at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco were eager to share their opinions on how Flappy Bird happened, how it might happen again, and why it was such a runaway hit to begin with.

In case you’ve been holed up for the last few months, Flappy Bird is a one-button game with absurdly simple mechanics: tap the screen to keep a goofy-looking Nintendo-styled bird in the air as he rushes across the world, avoiding hitting randomly placed Super Mario-inspired pipes. The difficulty is brutal; super-low scores are common, even among gamers who love twitch games.

There have been several jailbreak tweaks over the years that have attempted to revolutionize the concept of multitasking in iOS. Few, if any, have come as close as ProWidgets, a new widget framework that’s available in Cydia now.

I say close because I don’t think ProWidgets solves a better way to multitask on the iPhone and iPad. However, it is a valiant effort that allows other developers to create third-party widgets that live outside of the traditional app experience.

Here are some of the more curious sights spotted at GDC, where legions of developers, journalists and marketing folks from around the globe descended on San Francisco…

Analog In The Mix

Surprise: it wasn’t all digital. Here are some folks playing Tash-Kalar a board game with wizardry from the Czech Republic.

Look To The Skies

A GDC goer tries on the Oculus Rift Development Kit 2 for size. It will go head-to-head with the Sony Morpheus Playstation headset, also showed off here in San Francisco.  3D and VR were some of the major themes of the show.

Back To The Future?

Even with all the bells and whistles offered by 3D and VR, it was worth whiling away a few minutes with early interactive game Zork,  especially since it was offered up on these vintage Macs!

Tastes Great With Kashkaval

Photo: Rob LeFebvre

Cold War “comedy adventure” game Jazzpunk’s promo swag at the indie games festival was crazy topical, or wildly insensitive given the recent events in Crimea. We’re still not sure, but either way, we’re keeping the box for posterity.

Paper or Plastic?

With dozens of sessions, pressers, conferences and events, keeping track of what to do next required brain power and a lot of planning.

Unless otherwise noted, @all photos courtesy Official GDC, CC-licensed on Flickr.

SAN FRANCISCO — We’re gearing up for our weeklong foray into the world of video games at the Game Developers Conference here. Cult of Mac will bring you the best of the conference, from heartfelt chats with independent developers to wacky schwag we find on the expo floor.

Stay tuned as we add real-time posts to this liveblog all week.

While many have developed puzzle video-games, not many have compared to the popularity of the hit game “Tetris”. Symbol Link is a new puzzle app created by Alexey Pajitnov, the mind behind Tetris, that has players connect symbols in the least amount of paths. Do you think you can link all symbols and get a high-score?

Take a look at Symbol Link and find out what you think.

This is a Cult Of Mac video review of the iOS application Symbol Link brought to you by Joshua Smith of “TechBytes W/Jsmith.”

Unlike iOS and Windows Phone, Android devices don’t have an iTunes or Zune alternative that helps them manage all their data in one place. But that doesn’t mean it’s not easy to sync your music, photos, and videos with your Android smartphone.

In the previous edition of our iPhone to Android switching guide, we explained how to transfer your contacts, messages, and calendar entries. In this one, we show you how to sync your iTunes music library, along with your photo and videos, the right way.

Picking the right word can be challenging. Or maybe you’re just trying to make yourself sound smart by using something that would be a formidable figure on a Scrabble board. Either way, Thesaurasize can get you those synonyms but quick. All you do is type in the boring word you’re starting with, and it spits out a list of other candidates.

Just make sure you read the definitions Thesaurasize provides so that you know what the synonyms mean, though. You don’t want come off sounding fatuitous.

Source:Thesaurasize – Free | Next Wave Services Inc.

I don’t own a whole lot of Lego at the moment, and that’s intentional because if I did, I’d just sit around building things all day, and none of these reviews would happen.

Building something from scratch is satisfying, and if it has a function to perform and succeeds, it’s even better. Loco Motors plays on this by letting you build your own vehicle and then use it to complete tasks on a test ramp. It’s essentially two puzzle games in one: one in which you build a car that will run, and another where you let it loose on the track to complete specific tracks.

And luckily, it has an interface that lets you do these things both easily and quickly.

Next time you hit the road, this Cult of Mac Deals promotion will help you bump your favorite tunes with ease.

The TOCCs Car Music System solves your boring over played radio experience and gives you the ability to play all your best tunes as loud as you want with no static interference. And you can get it for only $27.99 during this limited time offer.

Since taking over the Tonight Show from Jay Leno, Jimmy Fallon has brought in a host of stars to sit down and goof around with him in the studio. Last night was no exception as singer Billy Joel stop by and the pair form an improvised Doo-Wop group using nothing more than an iPad app.

They got a bit of help from The Roots to really bring it home at the end but for only mixing it up on the spot with an iPad even Tim Cook himself was impressed.

Check this out. @jimmyfallon and @billyjoel with iPad and a cool app called Loopy HD. Magical. https://t.co/dWlZr6Lsm6

— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) March 21, 2014

Yesterday it was reported that Oscar-winning actor Christian Bale was in talks to play Steve Jobs for David Fincher’s upcoming biopic with Sony and Aaron Sorkin. While nothing has been confirmed, the rumor has already fueled some imaginations, as evidenced above.

Reader Ste Smith sent us this Photoshop job of Bale in the iconic Jobsian pose. It’s pretty believable, if we do say so ourselves.

Bale is known for his intense process of getting (and sometimes staying) in character. He’s great at losing and gaining weight, and he has already played balding characters multiple times. Is there really anyone more perfect to play Jobs?

And lets not forget that he already auditioned for the role like five years ago.

Thanks: Ste

It’s well known that Apple products are regularly the target of pickpockets, but apparently iThievery extends to less evolved primates also.

A 10-year-old girl visiting New Zealand’s Auckland Zoo had her brand new iPod touch (a combined birthday and Christmas present) pilfered by a sneaky spider monkey.

Three months after its launch, kart racing game Angry Birds Go! has received its first major update.

The update ushers in a change in weather by adding a snowy theme, which sees a brand new track covered in slippery ice.

Want to take good night photos using your iPhone, but find that the device’s in-built flash — consisting of a couple of LEDs — doesn’t result in the kind of pictures you want?

If so, you may be interested in this Kickstarter campaign to build a new iPhone 5/5s case, packing a whopping 56 LEDs into a hard case to provide a bright panel of lights for all your nocturnal photographic needs.

Jony Ive has made it to the final ten to crown the UK’s Designer of the Year at The Drum Design Awards in April.

“This is the cream of the UK’s design crop,” says The Drum editor Gordon Young. “Each individual here is a pioneering presence in design and thoroughly deserves to be celebrated for their ongoing contribution to this dynamic industry”.

Pop quiz:

Is the iTie

a) A derogatory term used by older English people to insult Italians?
b) An electronic collar which uses a tie as a flexible screen – kind of like an iPhone, only a tie?
c) All of the above?

The answer is of course c), and we have the pictures to prove it.

You know how you see folks running or jogging and holding those pathetic little half-kilo (one-pound) dumbbells in their hands? And you know how sometimes you also see runners carrying their iPhones in a hand?

What if there was a product which was both a weight and an iPhone case? Somewhat predictably, given the title of this post, now there is. It’s the ToneFone, and it is billed as “The World’s Heaviest iPhone Case.”

In a world where Apple’s far and away the most valuable brand in existence, it’s easy to forget that once upon the time it was “the little guy.”

Which is why it’s nice to see Apple highlighting indie game developers in a new section of the App Store called “Indie Game Showcase.”

The section looks set to highlight different indie developers on a regular basis — both shining some much-neeeded light on particular titles, and also offering behind-the-curtain looks at particular indie studios.

Leitz’s Icon is a label printer for iOS (and other mobile) devices, and it actually looks good enough to be an Apple product – the shape is clean and pretty, yes, but it also looks dead easy to use.

There was a time when practically every new console or games computer you bought came with a title called something like Winter Olympic Games.

That time was the 1980s — and the games in question tended, for the most part, to suck. While it was probably just a way of getting rid of unsold stock, the games seemed purposely designed to rob your excitement at receiving a new console — featuring uninspired graphics, repetitive sound, and controls that didn’t work worth a damn.

Jump forward a few decades and I had severe flashbacks of that sinking feeling while settling in to play Cubed Snowboarding.

What was your first Tweet? Now you can find out with a cool new tool from Twitter that shows you the first public Tweet of any user. My opus is above, and not as embarrassing as I’d expected.

To use the tool, just follow the link and tap in a user name. That’s it, so without further ado, let’s embarrass the rest of the Cult of Mac morning crew by publishing what they wrote, and seeing who joined Twitter earliest.

Byword on iOS just got around 100 times more rad, and way easier to use, with the addition of one single feature: keyboard shortcuts. It doesn’t sound like much, but in addition to adding bold and italics using just the keyboard, you can also control pretty much every aspect of the app, all without reaching up to touch the screen.