In the past, when anyone has talked about the possibility of a low-cost iPhone aimed at the budget market, most have assumed that Apple would essentially take the iPod touch — currently the cheapest iOS device, after subsidies, which saves on cost in a number of key regards like screen quality, speed, storage and more — and graft some cellular modems onto it. Yet when Apple unveiled the iPhone 5c, what they showed was a smartphone that was essentially an iPhone 5 in a plastic shell. In other words, a last-gen iPhone that was cheaper for Apple to make, but not necessarily to buy.

Yet according to new court documents coming out of the latest Apple vs. Samsung case, such a vision for the ‘cheap’ iPhone was not always meant to be. In fact, Steve Jobs himself believed that the budget iPhone should be based off of the iPod touch.

Like some sort of corporate Willy Wonka, Apple has thrilled 5,000 eager coders by inviting them to the Worldwide Developers Conference this June. But, like the fictitious candy man, Cupertino also crushed the dreams of thousands of would-be attendees who didn’t snag a golden ticket to the Apple event of the year.

“I’m going to WWDC!!!!” tweeted Kevin Sliech after he got an email Monday saying he had been selected to buy a WWDC ticket. “So incredibly pumped it’s absurd.”

Thanks to a new lottery system, this year’s rush to get WWDC tickets didn’t result in a crippled website that sold out in 71 seconds. Still, the odds of securing a spot at the San Francisco event were probably higher than ever, since developers could register for a chance to buy a ticket without ponying up the $1,600 in advance.

New York is known for its architectural beauty and intense surroundings. With so many buildings, lights and more there is plenty of action to take place. In the new app Skyline Skaters you can become a part of that action, as you skate from the authorities jumping from roof to roof. Grind on railings, hop over rockets and so much more. How far do you think you can make it before you get caught in this new addition to the endless runner genre?

Take a look at the video and find out what you think.

Apple has already shown us how the iPad is used to explore the deepest oceans and tallest mountains, but in for its newest segment of the ‘Your Verse’ campaign the iPad has gone totally Bollywood.

Famed Bollywood choreographer Feroz Khan stars in the new Your Verse microsite on Apple.com that chronicles how he’s integrated the iPad into his entire production processes and how it helps him create spectacular Bollywood dance numbers.

I’m kind of a stickler for a clean hard drive, especially since I started using Macbook Airs a few years back, what with their tiny little SSD units. I’ve moved most of my music to the Cloud and my iPhoto library to an external hard drive, but there’s still a ton of cruft that ends up on my system.

So, once a month or so, I sort my Movies, Applications, and Downloads folders by size, and delete the biggest things I don’t need anymore. Or I move them to an external hard drive for access later.

What I’ve never done before is use Spotlight to find these files easily across all my folders.

All the down time must get painfully boring after serving as the most powerful man in the world for eight years, which is how former George W. Bush somehow tumbled into painting.

Bush just picked up a brush two years ago, but the former president’s portraits have been all over the news the past few days and it’s all the iPad’s fault.

Prepare for a major upgrade in processing and graphics performance from next year’s Android-powered flagships. Qualcomm today announced its next-generation Snapdragon processors with 64-bit architecture, which promise a better mobile computing experience in almost every way.

In addition to support for 4K Ultra HD displays, the Snapdragon 808 and Snapdragon 810 processors are expected to bring even faster LTE connectivity, better graphics for your games, and blazing-fast devices you haven’t experienced on Android before.

It can be stressful when you have way too much stuff to do, and it’s hard to keep track of everything.

Candooit is a new app that lets you add your obligations with a few simple gestures and then presents it all in an attractive, easy-to-read infographic. Once you select the type of activity (the app includes eight color-coded categories with numerous sub-items), you drag left and right to set the start time and up and down to set the duration. You can make notes, view by week or month, and even sync with your Google calendar.

And the busier you are, the cooler it looks. So that might actually be kinda dangerous.

Source:CandooIt – Free | Panurge

Here’s yet another retro-style arcade shooter you might want to check out.

Hectic Space is as pared down as you can get. It’s just your ship, a bunch of nasty enemies, and one simple control. You can only move up and down, so you can just drag anywhere on the screen to line up your shots, avoid the bad guys, and grab power-ups. But it’s not so bare-bones that the screen isn’t always full of … just … stuff.

Crazy stuff. All the stuff, basically. It’s nuts.

In our multi-device, multi-user, multi-tasking world, you need a speaker that lets you control the music right from the palm of your hand, helping you discover, share and enjoy new sounds on the daily. Cult of Mac Deals a speaker that certainly fits the bill.

The Sound Step Lightning is Soundfreaq’s next-generation Bluetooth speaker. Featuring a dock for Apple’s Lightning 8-pin connector (on iPhone 5/5S), Bluetooth connectivity, USB audio and line-in playing – it gives you audio playback versatility. and it can be yours for only $99 – a savings of 23% – through Cult of Mac Deals.

Sure, it’s nice to know you have a bunch of unread email messages. And it’s understandable that iOS apps notify you about every little activity. But after a while, all the little numbers in the red circles on my iPhone’s home screen start to feel like a chore.

I hate having to open up apps just to clear out the taunting little numbers. I could ignore them, but they’re designed to bother me (or, more politely, to get my attention). I mean, I have healthy emotional boundaries, but this is getting ridiculous.

So I turned them off — and you can, too.

Each week we pull the best Apple-related gadgets from the Cult of Mac and collect them here for your perusing pleasure.

Dorky Ruck Pack Is Like A Giant Kids Back Pack For Astronauts

The Ruck Pack is a big box for your back, with zip-up pockets no the back and a clip-closure flap on the top. I like that the square design lets you fill the main bag without stressing the iPad you can keep in the bigger rear pocket, and I also like that this iPad pocket is protected by both its own zipper and the main flap, making it a little harder for pickpockets to lift your iPad out on a crowded subway, say.

Buy it $70

Each week we pull the best Apple-related gadgets from the Cult of Mac and collect them here for your perusing pleasure.

Sick of waiting for your iPhone to finish charging? By 2017, your iPhone could completely charge from 0% to 100% in just 5 minutes, in a portable, consumer-friendly package that will make long charging times a thing of the past.

The new Galaxy S5 boasts a ton of fancy new features, but one of the things Samsung has been pushing most since the handset was unveiled back in February is its built-in heart rate sensor. But just how revolutionary is that new sensor?

Well, as it turns out, not very. In fact, based on the hands-on video below, you can get the same results using your smartphone’s camera and LED flash with an app like Heart Rate Monitor from Runtastic.

If you’re like Cult of Mac Magazine staffers, you want to use your iPad as more than a photo album.

Our reviews editor Charlie Sorrel even went as far to ditch his Mac for the magical and revolutionary tablet back when it first came out – before having to give up the ambitious plan, and not for the reasons you’d think. This week, he delves into all the ways you can power up your iPad for work without sacrificing your sanity.

Business owners who use the iPad for retail will likely want to check out the latest update of point-of-sale app ShopKeep POS, which has just been updated to version 2.0.

A significant update, ShopKeep Version 2.0 radically overhauls the look and feel of the app, with an attractive new interface inspired by iOS 7.

The app also features streamlined functionality — allowing vendors to ring up customers faster than ever with a Single Sign On feature that means that both managerial functions and ringing transactions can be done with one code.

Having launched its iPhone trade-in program back in August last year, Apple has now expanded the program to cover Apple Retail Stores throughout Germany.

The trade-in program lets customers trade in older iPhone models and receive gift cards of up to €230 ($315), which can then be used toward the purchase of a brand new iPhone.

Popular video-sharing website Vimeo has added another update to its official iOS app.

Up front, the single most prominent update relates to the in-app search feature — something that was initially absent when Vimeo made the jump to iOS 7, then restored but hidden, and now made constantly visible within the app. Since search is of vital importance on video sharing sites, this improvement means that Vimeo users can breathe a sigh of relief.

Looking for a more explosion-filled egg hunt this Easter?

If so, you may want to check out the latest version of popular third-person shooter Respawnables which adds a new Easter Egg Hunt mode, where players must gather as many Easter eggs as they can and collect prizes in doing so.

Growthy is an app that finally – finally! – replaces the biro-etched notches on your kitchen door frame with a series of in-app purchases, codifying your precious memories as stars on your iPhone screen. Welcome to the future.

Are we finally getting closer to the existence of the Apple TV set Steve Jobs told Walter Isaacson he had “finally cracked?”

According to a new rumor/report from the South Korea-based Korea Herald, an “unnamed” South Korean display manufacture is currently making 65-inch organic light emitting diode (OLED) panel samples for Apple’s proposed “iTV,” which the company expects to “be mass-produced next year.”

Of all the ambient noise apps I’ve tried, myNoise is the best. Based on the well-regarded website of the same name, myNoise for iPhone is a “noise generator,” not just an app that plays recordings of rain and coffee shops.

And it also looks as good as it sounds.

Ever wanted to take photos of people without them knowing? Perhaps a sneaky shot of a pretty girl to help you “remember” her later, or some equally creepy bit of deceit? Well then, we have good news for you, you pervert: it’s the COVR Photo, an iPhone case which lets you shoot in secret.

PhotoSync, the best iOS-to-iOS-to-Mac-to-Windows photo transfer app out there, is now fully iOS 7 compliant, and adds support for Android. Yes, Android. LOL.