Apple is expected to give potential iPhone 5c customers a cheaper option tomorrow with the launch of a new 8GB model. Leaked documents from O2 Germany have confirmed the existence of the device and its launch date, while two carriers in the U.K. have reportedly already received their first deliveries.
Sometimes, I’m standing in the produce section of my local grocery store, and I see fruit I’ve never even heard of before. And while nobody has developed an app that will let me taste them to see if they’re any good, Wholesome gives a pretty good idea of how good it is for me.
The app groups everything, mostly by color, but it also has categories for spices, meat and seafood, dairy, etc. You just pick your group and food, and then the information is all there for your perusal. You can even adjust quantities if you’re working from a recipe.
That fruit-tasting idea is free, by the way. Somebody please get on that.
I really like it when a game doesn’t treat me like an idiot. It makes me feel smart and respected not to have to sit through a tutorial that explains the most basic tenets of the game like one character on CSI explaining to another what DNA is.
But this appreciation has limits, especially when the developer doesn’t even bother telling me what the backstory is and why I’m fighting these people.
Puzzling Rush is one such game, and while I know that I don’t need much of a refresher on how match-threes work, it’s still mostly up to you to figure out how the hell to play it.
skEdit offers all of the features you would expect in a text/HTML editor, but without the complicated UX. It’s simply a product that makes your editing needs quicker and easier to complete.
And if you’re looking to dig deeper and customize, you can. Whether it’s adding scripts to do specific tasks or create your own color scheme, it’s all at your disposal – and Cult of Mac Deals has skEdit for 50% off the regular price for a limited time: just $14.99.
Asphalt 8: Airborne for iOS has become the first mobile title to adopt Twitch in-game streaming. The feature allows players to beam their gameplay to Twitch viewers all over the world, and all that’s required is an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad.
To celebrate the update, developer Gameloft is live-streaming the game for 24 hours.
Ahead of the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco this week, Google has announced a number of changes and improvements it is making to Google Play Games. In addition to adding support for cross-platform multiplayer gaming with iOS, the search giant will also offer virtual gifting and support for multiplayer game invites.
Microsoft today launched a new OneNote application for Mac after more than 10 years of desktop exclusivity on Windows. You can download it now from the Mac App Store, and just like its iOS counterpart, it’s completely free.
SAN FRANCISCO — The Game Developers Conference is an odd beast, less a trade show and more a topical conference that caters to the folks actually making the games you while away the hours with on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac, plus that console under your TV.
Cult of Mac will be on the scene when a gaming tribe of 23,000 comes to town — that’s about the population of Poughkeepsie, N.Y. — and here’s what you can expect.
The iPhone 5c flopped in the U.S. — and now figures released by Umeng, China’s largest app analytics platform, suggest that things aren’t much different in China.
In the fourth month since its launch in China, the colorful iPhone 5c accounted for slightly less than 2% of all active iOS devices on Umeng’s app analytics network.
By comparison, the iPhone 5s represented 12% of the market — while the iPhone 5 remains a consistent seller.
Fancy playing a strategy game that takes you back to the heyday of the genre, with classic series like Heroes of Might and Magic?
Newly-launched iOS game Braveland is a turn-based game that lets you begin as a humble warrior’s sun and rise up, using your wits and skill, to become a commander of your own army.
Taking place on a hexagonal battlefield, it includes RPG style elements that allow you to evolve your hero and customize your army, as well as high definition illustrated cartoon art.
I’m no fan of keyboard cases that try to pretend that the iPad is in fact a miniature laptop, and I expect that if I used the FAVI Swivel Screen Portfolio Case with Bluetooth Keyboard (iPad Air) I’d hate it as much as any other. But I figure it’s worth a mention becasue of its neat modular design.
According to a new report, the iPhone 6 will feature a range of new in-built sensors — including one for temperature, one for atmospheric pressure, and one for humidity.
The report comes for sources who spoke to Sun Chang Xu, news chief analyst at ESM-China, suggesting that Apple will include new sensors on its next generation iPhone to match (and possibly better) those features found in the Samsung Galaxy S4.
This is just about the easiest DIY gadget project since the I put an iPad into a Ziploc bag and called it a kitchen-proof case.
It’s called the DIY Camera Wrap Bag, and it is one of the coolest ways to protect your camera whilst making very little effort to do so.
You know what’s better than an app-controlled, color-changing lightbulb? An app-controlled, color-changing lightbulb with a built-in speaker. And that’s just what you get if you pitch in for the AirBulb’s Kickstarter campaign.
Popcorn Time, the desktop app that acts as a Netflix for pirated content, has been resurrected by torrent site YTS.
Speaking with website TorrentFreak, YTS developer Jduncanato claimed that the (still legally dubious) service is in a better position from a copyright position because it’s built on their API:
Can you solve the Rubik Cube? As an 80s child, I can, but I can’t do it in anywhere near as fast as a robot. David Gilday and Mike Dobson’s Cubestormer 3 can take the puzzle from haphazard mess to ADD-friendly uniformity in just 3.253 seconds, powered by the brain of an Android phone.
If you ever tried to look at one of Reddit’s excellent AMAs (Ask Me Anything) on the iPad, or even the desktop, you will have experienced the a sense of futility, the feeling that there are many gems buried in the threads that you’ll never read because it’s too damn ugly and messy.
Interviewly takes these threads – where various celebs and interesting people answer questions from Reddit users – and cleans them up into something that looks more like a feature fro a Sunday magazine that a forum
thread.
Most of the apps on my iPhone that I would want password protected already are, but what happens when I want an added layer of security? That’s where Asphaleia comes in, a new jailbreak tweak from the same designer behind the Auxo multitasking switcher for iOS 6.
Not only does Asphaleia let you use Touch ID on the iPhone 5s to secure any app, but it adds other important security options to iOS with a level of polish that is unprecedented for a jailbreak tweak of its kind.
While Asphaleia is probably a little overboard in terms of catering to the security paranoia some of us deal with, it’s a good example of improvements Apple could make to Touch ID in the future.
The UK’s Sunday Times has a long interview with Apple’s head designer Jony Ive in its Sunday Magazine (warning: paywall).
It claims to be the first in-depth interview Ive has given in twenty years at Apple, but breaks absolutely no ground whatsoever. Irritatingly, I can see the fingerprints of my Jony Ive biography all over the piece, but there’s no mention of the book.
The strangest thing is that Ive recycles the same quotes he’s used in the past. Believe me, I’ve read them all. He says that Steve Jobs’ ideas sometimes sucked the air from the room (previously uttered in his tribute to Jobs) and that he wanted to be a car designer, but other students made weird “vroom vroom” noises while they worked (from an Observer interview). There’s absolutely nothing new in the entire piece including the obligatory hint of an amazing new product, which of course, he can’t talk about.
The best part is 10 random-ish questions lobbed at him, which are:
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?