It’s time to take your iPad entertainment experience to new levels.
And you can do that with the SoundPad – a tablet stand with built-in stereo Bluetooth speakers. The SoundPad is a creative take on the Bluetooth speaker – this innovative combo folds into a compact unit when not in use, making it ultra-portable and perfect to take on the go. And Cult of Mac Deals has it for 34% off the regular price – just $45.99!
The new iOS 7.1, which Apple launched this week, contained massively improved iBeacon functionality.
Among these improvements is that Apple has cancelled an element of user permission. Once you’ve installed a store’s app — say, for example, Apple’s own Apple store app — that store can put messages on your lock screen even if the app isn’t running!
I think it’s a real improvement. But I’m surprised privacy fans aren’t freaking out.
This time ’round on The CultCast: all that we love about iOS 7.1; more rumors swirl of a 4.7 and 5.7-inch iPhone 6; an intriguing new iPod challenger gets a ton of buzz; why Flappy Bird might fly back into the App Store; 2014 brings a new MS Office; and iTunes Radio is more popular than you thought…
Guffaw your way through 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 uproarious good time commence.
And thanks to Lynda.com for sponsoring this episode. Learn at your own pace from expert-taught video tutorials at Lynda.com.
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Last week we told you about Popcorn Time, a new desktop app that was essentially like Netflix for streaming movies over BitTorrent. We were one of the first sites to pick up the app, and since then it has been featured on all kinds of mainstream outlets, including Time Magazine and The Washington Post.
Popcorn Time’s short run has come to an end. Today the app’s developers announced that the service is shutting down.
Microsoft has full versions of Office for iPhone and iPad ready for release, and now all it has to do is allegedly pull the trigger. It’s up to newly-appointed CEO Satya Nadell to make the call, according to Reuters.
Office for iOS has been rumored for years, but recent reports point towards the company finally releasing the software this year. The questions now are why has Microsoft waited so long, and has the ship already sailed?
This week Cult of Mac Magazine looks at vice in the iTunes store.
Reporter Luke Dormehl talks to the devs who are making a living — if not a fortune — skirting the Apple censors, in a store that’s intended to be squeaky clean and suitable for minors.
He also looks into why, despite the Cupertino company’s rigid guidelines and “boob ban” of years past, there are plenty of questionable apps available to all. Sex, drugs and drinking games are the available in app form by the dozens, some of them rated suitable for ages 4+. This cat-and-mouse game to keep the store family-friendly yet appeal to developers with a gold-rush mentality has also given rise to a cottage industry of consultants who help app makers get into the store with more adult content than Apple intends to allow.
If you’ve got some of that content on your device and want to hide it, we take a look into Apple’s methods to put that stuff under a virtual mattress and apps that let you “vault” material you don’t want prying eyes to see. We also look into some of the outrageous apps Apple has banned over the years after they slipped into the store as well as the risqué ones that are still available today.
As always, send your comments, feedback or any troubles you may have with the app to me via email or using the “send” button top right from our site.
Immensely popular cross-platform messaging service WhatsApp is gearing up to take on Skype with voice-over-IP (VoIP) calling — and these are the screenshots that prove it. The feature will have a similar interface as the built-in Phone app, and it boasts features like speaker phone and muting.
Mobile publishing and monetization platform Onswipe have created an infographic comparing iOS 7 adoption with that of the recently launched iOS 7.1.
Both iOS versions are tracked for the first 4.5 days of their respective releases. As the chart makes clear, while iOS 7 represented 45.90% of iOS traffic after that time, the incremental improvement iOS 7.1 showed a respectable 28.27% adoption rate for active devices.
As the app store is refreshed every Thursday, incoming apps bring new games and ways to make life both easier and enjoyable. The app Jump! Chump! is a newcomer that brings fresh gameplay that is sure to have players playing and playing. Help Jump! and Chump! last for as long as possible by tapping their halves of the screen, and avoiding all blocks coming their way. Will Jump! Chump! become your new favorite game?
Take a look at Jump! Chump! and find out what you think.
This is a Cult Of Mac video review of the iOS application Jump! Chump! brought to you by Joshua Smith of “TechBytes W/Jsmith.”
Hey, did you know that the Veronica Mars movie is out now? I didn’t until I saw it listed on HypeDrive. I’m not interested in the Veronica Mars movie, but good looking out, HypeDrive.
It’s an app that lets you keep track of all the movies, TV shows, games, and other projects that interest you. You can add them to a list to stay up-to-date, but that requires a login. If you don’t feel like registering, you can also just look stuff up, but it won’t save. You’ll have to write it down or something. Like a caveman.
I have fond memories of waking up Saturday morning, pouring myself a bowl of Marshmallow Mateys (because Count Chocula was out of season), and plunking down on the couch to watch my favorite cartoons. And then, when the cereal was gone and the show was over, I opened my laptop and cranked out that review of Demolition Crush that went up Monday.
I am not an adult, is what I’m getting at here.
Glorkian Warrior: The Trials of Glork is a collaboration between developer Pixeljam and comic-book artist James Kochalka. It feels like a mashup between classic arcade shooter Galaga and Adventure Time, which means that it hits all the right notes for people whose favorite breakfasts still end in bowls full of chocolate milk.
It’s time to bring you another amazing bundle – one that’s stacked with 10 useful apps to give your daily grind a boost in efficiency and effectiveness.
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So, here’s a weird one–have you ever wanted to watch a window animate itself really slowly as you minimize it to the Dock? No?
Well, let’s assume you did for some reason. How would you go about it?
In Mavericks, anyway, it’s a trivial thing, and it produces a fun effect: your window will minimize to the Dock super slowly, even slower than in the animated image above.
Quick Save For Snap Chat
Apple has approved a number of apps that allow users to save, forward, email and otherwise capture that fleeting moment from Snapchat. This one, Quick Save, is approved for users over age 4, and the preview gives an idea of the kind of person whose photo you might hope to save for posterity.
This one is approved for ages 17+ — but look and feel is so ludicrous it could only appeal to people who have not yet hit the age of consent. Who is up for a fast food drive thru quickie?
iQuarters
Of the gaggle of digital “quarters” drinking games, this one promises to make “corner pubs and frat houses rejoice,” and got the green light from Apple for ages 4+.
Leafly
Think of Yelp, but for pot. This 17+ app provides the low-downon 500+ strains, sorted alphabetically and categorized by indica, sativa, and hybrid and the dispensaries near you.
Apple banned Bang with Friends, but undeterred the company returned with an app called Down that includes the same anonymous pairing feature as before in a slightly more discreet package. You will find out just which of your Facebook pals are up for something more – though beware, in our tests it also suggested family members of the opposite sex.
Adult Frames
Here’s another one that has “adult” in the title but is more likely to appeal to a much younger set – going by the cursive script and exclamation points.
Evil Apples: A Filthy Adult Card and Party Game
A riff on Cards Against Humanity, this one promises filthy fun for ages 17+. One reviewer says it’s keeping them away from “homework” and another says it’s “great fun for the obscene mind” and that you can be “so dirty with complete strangers.”
With the success of The Simpsons: Tapped Out, it’s no surprise that Family Guy would also want to get in on the mobile action.
First announced back in December, Fox and TinyCo have now released the first screenshots of the upcoming free-to-play title, which looks set to land in the App Store around April.
The game will follow an original storyline from the show’s writing staff, but will also include plenty of fan service — referencing the series’ 212 episodes — to appeal to longtime viewers.
While new movies and TV shows appear every day on iTunes, it’s rare that a movie debuts on iTunes and in movie theaters on the exact same day.
Veronica Mars does just that.
The revival of the cult classic TV show — which was cancelled after just two-and-a-half seasons — was funded via Kickstarter and is now available for viewing both in movie theaters, and (thanks to iTunes) the comfort of your own home.
Apple stuck to its guns when it came to expanding into China: refusing to compromise its brand equity by selling lower cost iPhones to compete with low-end smartphone manufacturers.
That decision seems to be paying off, since a new study in China by app and mobile advertising analytics firm Umeng shwes that Apple’s targeting of affluent users has already seen it capture more than 80% of the Chinese smartphone market, who spend upwards of $500 on their phones.
Apple is well known for its often inconsistent approach to app acceptance or rejection (more on than in this week’s upcoming Newsstand magazine), but this is a bit silly.
According to Apple, Hunted Cow developer Andrew Mullholland had his app Tank Battle: East Front 1942 rejected for App Store inclusion because it has German and Russian positioned as enemies in it.
When Apple acquired Burstly last month, the company behind popular iOS app beta platform Testflight, a lot of people questioned how it would discontinue support for Android and the wider TestFlight SDK to new users.
According to a document acquired by TechCrunch, this won’t be the only aspect of Burstly’s business looking to wind down.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has approved AT&T’s $1.3 billion purchase of Leap Wireless, as per a recent report.
As part of the deal — which works out at $15 per share — AT&T has confirmed that the Leap-owned, pre-paid carrier Cricket will offer iPhone 5 family devices.
After some confusing starts, a software update makes the neat Transporter into a true alternative to cloud services like Dropbox or Google Drive. Previously, the Transporter was a hard drive which could stay in sync with another Transporter kept anywhere, letting you have a safe and up-to-date offsite back up at all times.
Now, finally, the software has adde in features that turn this connected storage into a proper cloud service. A cloud service that’s hosted by you, and not by the NSA.
I just upgraded my desk to a 1.65-meter monster, a €40 workbench from the hardware store that I cut down to a 64cm height, and which can support up to 200 kilos. If you’re still not with the metric system (and why would you be? After all, it was only introduced like 215 years ago), that means it’s big enough for two people to work at it or stand on it.
But it still gets messy. What I need is a pal to tidy it for me. A DeskPal maybe?
Remember Horizon, the video app that won’t let you shoot portrait video, keeping the horizon horizontal however you orient your camera? Well, Orient is just like that, only for stills, and it looks pretty neat – as long as you don’t mind a drop in resolution.
Activist investor Carl Icahn is at it again — and Apple might be lending moral support to his latest target.
Tim Cook was reportedly one of several tech leaders, along with Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, who was consulted by eBay CEO John Donahoe for advice on how best to deal with Icahn.
Donahoe has been locked in conflict with Icahn regarding Icahn’s suggestion that eBay should spin PayPal off as its own company.