The Power Mac G4 Cube, introduced in July 2000, delivered a fair amount of Apple computing power in a unique see-through enclosure made of acrylic glass. Designed by Jony Ive, the futuristic-looking Cube offered a glimpse of the sleek industrial design that would come to epitomize Apple’s upscale take on consumer technology.

“I just remember it being this incredibly elegant, sexy machine that looked nothing like a computer,” said Randall Greenwell, director of photography at The Virginian-Pilot and a longtime Apple aficionado, in an email to Cult of Mac.

The greening of Apple: it took almost 10 years for the Cupertino company to turn around its dismal eco-scorecard.

But that worm has truly turned: in this week’s edition of Cult of Mac Magazine, author Luke Dormehl talks to former Apple exec John Sculley and other insiders about why this change is all about current Apple CEO Tim Cook.  Apple’s green day means a better future and even better products, they say.

Also this week, we’ve got reviews editor Charlie Sorrel taking a deep dive into underwater iPhoneography, plus his reviews for the best in Apple-related paraphernalia — including a mullet-style notebook (you know: business up front, party in the back.) Our tastemaker Buster Hein has once again sifted through all the offerings in the iTunes store to serve up the most scrumptious offerings in music, books and movies and Evan Killham rounds up what you need in apps.

Cult of Mac Magazine

Image: Wikipedia

When Tim Cook takes the stage at WWDC in a couple months, everyone is expecting him to unveil the latest iteration of Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS 8… the first major update to the OS since Jony Ive drastically overhauled it.

Most of us at this point have come around to iOS 7 being an improvement on iOS 6, but even so, there’s lots of room for improvement. And if iOS 8 ends up looking anything nearly as good as this concept video from TechRadar, I think we’ll all be very pleased indeed.

Remember that original Apple Lisa computer you’ve got in the basement, boxed next to your old VHS player and Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots toys? It may be time to dust it off and take it an auction house.

That’s based on the news that a Lisa 1 (a.k.a. Apple’s first computer to come with a graphical interface and a mouse) is expected to fetch $42,000 when it goes under the hammer in Germany late next month.

We’ve seen some incredible tattoos of Steve Jobs before, but this has to take the cake.

Coming off another record quarter, it’s hardly a surprise to find out that iPhone sales are looking pretty healthy globally.

A new report from research firm Kantar Worldpanel shows just how healthy they are, however, by analyzing worldwide smartphone sales over the twelve-week January-March period. The report shows that strong sales of Apple’s flagship iPhone 5s have helped regain market share in places such as Europe, Japan and Australia.

Remember when your first discovered Wikipedia and spent hours hyperlinking from page to page, reading random entries on everything from the numbering of U.S. highways to John Cage’s “As Slow As Possible?”

I had that feeling again over the weekend when I found Das Referenz, a new iPad app which takes it inspiration from old encyclopaedias and typeface design to create what is almost certainly the most beautiful Wikipedia browsing experience out there.

Jailbreaking your iPhone is of questionable wisdom these days, but this new tweak is pretty cool.

Called Convergance, it promises users a complete, all-in-one Lock screen replacement package for iOS. The package’s features extend across four main areas: widgets, theming, HTML, and APIs for developers.

Anyone whose iOS device is missing a certain speedy blue hedgehog can rejoice this week, thanks to a new sale that has seen Sega drop the price of several of its Sonic iOS games.

Currently both Sonic The Hedgehog and Sonic The Hedgehog 2 can be picked up for just 99¢ each (down from their normal price of $2.99), while Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is now available for free.

With Apple recently making OSX Beta Seed downloads available to the general public, Cult of Mac’s Ste Smith shows you how to prep your Mac to install the latest software. Get the latest OSX updates before general release by following the simple steps shown.

Take a look at the video to see what you need to do.

ComiXology has long been one of my favorite iOS apps, but I’m not a big fan of the latest update, which makes it impossible to purchase comics from within the app.

For the longest time, ComiXology was the easiest and best way to buy comics on a mobile device. Now the app has become solely a comic book reader: You must visit ComiXology’s website to buy new issues. You can still browse comics in the app, and download free ones, but the actual payment part must be done elsewhere.

Why has ComiXology gone all supervillain on us?

HTML5 is a language that is designed to work on all platforms. That means you can code your app or website and it will work on mobile devices, tables and computers. The best part is that you can put these HTML 5 apps right into an Xcode project – meaning you can design and program an HTML 5 app and upload it to the App Store – without having to write more than a couple lines of code in Objective-C. You won’t find a more efficient way to publish your hit app idea – and Cult of Mac Deals has a video course on sale that will help you deliver the goods!

With over 12 hours of content, the Master Web Apps Video Course will show you how to code in HTML 5 and deploy it to a native environment. Right now you can can get this course from Cult of Mac Deals for just $69 – a savings of 86%!

For the moment, the Apple doom-mongers have been silenced by another record quarter. But there’s one area where things are down, and still dropping. It’s the iPod division, and it’s the closest thing Apple has to a dead man walking.

Sales of the music player continue to plummet as more people buy iPhones than ever, and listeners move away from music downloads toward streaming services like Spotify, Pandora and iTunes Radio.

Should Apple ditch the iconic product line that first signaled Apple’s expansion beyond computers — or is there some way the business can be turned around?

Read on to find out where things currently stand.

Hundreds of new games come out every week in the App Store. A select few are the next must-play title that everyone will be talking about for the foreseeable future. Most of them are perfectly decent but may not receive the attention they deserve. And then you have the third group: games so odd, bizarre, and head-scratching that you’re not sure what to make of or do with them.

They aren’t necessarily bad; they’re just confusing and weird. And worst of all, people may never know that they exist. But that’s why we’re here.

Here are some of the strangest games to drop into the App Store this week, and they’re all weirdo versions of other titles. What you do with this information is between you and your iPhone.

Take this with a pinch of iSalt, perhaps, but a new set of alleged iPhone 6 renderings have surfaced online.

Hailing from the Ukrainian website UkrainianiPhone, they confirm a lot of what we’re already expecting — including the relocated sleep/wake button (moved to the side to make it more easily usable with the larger form factor) and a circular iSight flash.

One notable difference between this design and the mock-ups we’ve seen in the past, however, relates to the device’s rear shell. While previous renderings show a solid back cover, these shots suggest that Apple is leaving breaks in the chassis for the antenna.

We never thought they’d do it, but Apple is splitting their stock 7-to-1—and on our newest CultCast, we discuss that and other surprising (and non-boring) notes from their recent financial call. Plus, the best way to get the Apple stuff you want at lower prices; OS X betas now available to all; Apple Maps spots Nessie; Apple celebrates Earth Day with some great new marketing; why we’re crazy about Apple Campus 2; and forget Ashton, how about Leonardo DiCaprio as the next Steve Jobs?

LOL 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 audio adventure begin!

And thanks to our friends at New Relic for sponsoring this episode. Yes, New Relic, the all-in-one web application performance management tool that lets you see performance from the end user experience, through servers, and down to the line of application code. Put simply, New Relic helps the people who build modern software understand the stories their data is trying to tell them. If you’re ready to make your software run better, head over to https://newrelic.com/cultcast for a free 30 day trial.

Click on for the show notes.

The weekend is upon us, and Cult of Mac Deals has a few select offers that you’re going to want to check out while you can.

We’ve got special pricing on Mac Video Converter Ultimate, an app that allows you to easily convert movies and videos for any format or device. You can get it for 66% off – just $19.99. We’ve also got the Essential Shock-Proof Case, a case that will always keep your iPhone 5/5s protected, for only $15.99.

When Nike announced it was shutting down its FuelBand division and exiting the hardware business, many speculated that the company would be teaming up with Apple for the long-awaited iWatch.

Nike didn’t exactly do much to cool the rumors either — issuing a statement that claimed the two companies would “continue to partner on emerging technologies to create better solutions for all athletes.”

Now Nike Chief Executive Officer Mark Parker has poured more fuel on the fire, saying that sportswear company is committed to focusing on software, and is “excited” about its relationship with Apple.

SITU — a smart food scale created by a former Apple employee — is close to reaching its Kickstarter goal, and there’s still time to get involved.

An attractive Bluetooth scale which talks to your iPad, SITU works by showing you the exact nutrition content of any food you place on it — letting you see the exact number of calories, sugar, salt, protein, vitamins and minerals of whatever it is that you’re about to eat.

With just six days left to go, and £32,124 ($54K) already raised of the £35,000 ($59K) target, creator Michael Grothaus spoke with Cult of Mac about the project, and his history with Apple.

Does your iPhone 5 suffer from a dodgy power button? If so, Apple will repair it free of charge, according to a new announcement made by the company.

“Apple has determined that the sleep/wake button mechanism on a small percentage of iPhone 5 models may stop working or work intermittently,” Apple states. “iPhone 5 models manufactured through March 2013 may be affected by this issue.”

iPhone users experiencing the problem can visit Apple’s website, enter their phone’s serial number and — hey presto! — see if their device is one of the faulty ones Apple is referring to.

You know what time of year it is? Spring. And you know what kind of product is perfect to launch in your store during spring? According to the folks at Reign23 who sent me the PR email, the perfect spring accessory is gloves. Warm, hand-toasting gloves.

Or rather, a dab-on liquid which turns any gloves into touchscreen-friendly gloves.

Roll the dice, as many times as you like, and add the results together to create a huge attack number. Use that number (and a ridiculously large sword) to bash in the heads of random dungeon monsters.

Roll a one, though, and your turn is over. This cost-benefit system comes right out of a slot machine in Vegas and it’s got me hooked.

As the game editor here at Cult of Mac, I spend a lot of time with a controller or touch screen in my hand. Of all the fun games out this week on the iPhone and iPad, I’ve got to say, Tiny Dice Dungeon is the one I’ve spent the most time playing.

If I was forced, say, to choose my iOS Game of the Week (and I’m not), I’d pick this one.

Amazon’s rumored smartphone might be loaded with radical new hardware and strange UI gestures, but its most powerful feature could be its ability to drive down mobile data prices.

A specialized data plan called Amazon Prime Data will make its debut on Amazon’s phone, according to a report from BGR attributed to “multiple trusted sources.” If the anonymous sources’ information proves accurate, Prime Data could take the sting out of binging on streaming movies, TV shows and music. More importantly, Amazon’s bold initiative could force the entire industry to lower prices, much like Bezos has done with books, online shopping and tablets.

Recycling is generally perceived as a good practice to help save the Earth. In the new game Scrap Squad, it’s quite the opposite: You sort and recycle to dominate the world.

Tap and drag bottles, cans, paper and other refuse down a conveyor belt and into corresponding colored robots as fast as you can. Do you think you’re a good enough evil genius to top the high-score charts?

Take a look at the video and see what you think.

Charging cords get caught or tripped on all the time. It’s time to eliminate the tangled mess and start charging with a hassle free wireless alternative – and the WiQiQi wireless charger offers a new era of powering up your iPhone.

And this tiny little powerhouse – the receiver is smaller than a credit card – is available from Cult of Mac Deals for a very limited time at the low price of $54.99!