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.
Tweetbot for Mac has been updated with large image/video thumbnails to match the recent update to its iOS counterpart. The thumbnail option can be turned off entirely in the display settings, but I’m not sure why you would want to do that because they look great.
The app also supports three finger left/right swipes in the timeline if your Mac’s trackpad is configured that way. Some bugs have been squashed as well, so be sure to get the update in the Mac App Store. Tweetbot costs $20.
Source: Mac App Store
Medium, the publishing platform from Twitter co-founder Ev Williams, has finally released its official iPhone app. As you would expect from a site that prides itself on clean, minimalistic aesthetics, the app is quite nice.
It is also incredibly limited.
There are no editing or posting options for actually sharing content on Medium. The app is solely for reading, at least for now.
Amazon has been rumored for years to be making its own smartphone, but now, according to reputable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, it’s actually going to happen.
But the weirdest thing isn’t that Amazon’s planning on releasing a smartphone… it’s that they are going to release a smartphone with six cameras per unit. What what?
When Jony Ive ripped Scott Forstall’s spine out (metaphorically speaking) and took over as the design head of iOS, he got rid of many gradients, shadows, and other elements that made the app look, at worst, skeuomorphic.
Sadly, though, Ive hasn’t had a chance yet to take the same approach to OS X. But everyone’s expecting OS X 10.10 to flatten OS X out, and Dribbble designer Danny Giebe has a gorgeous look at what the next version of Mac OS X — which he codenames ‘Syrah’ — would look like if Ive extended iOS’s design to the Mac.
Check the full redesign out after the jump. What do you think?
Everyone at Cult of Mac knows I’m a sucker for wood-paneling all of my gadgets. I wood-paneled my iPhone 4s, my iPhone 5, my iPad, my iPad mini, and even my MacBook Air.
I have to say, though, that as understated as they are, I love Richard Clarkson’s wood-panels for the iPhone 5 most of all. They replace the tiny glass accents on the upper and lower parts of the iPhone 5 with little wood slivers in a variety of accents that looks amazingly understated and lovely.
Currently only available for the iPhone 5, Clarkson’s wooden replacement accents cost $38 a pair. There’s cheaper and easier to apply options, but we love this none the less.
Source: Richard Clarkson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3QWRY_k6V0
Sadly, iOS 7.1 finally put an end to the Evasi0n jailbreak, the versatile hack that allowed anyone running iOS 7 to iOS 7.0.6 to run unsigned (i.e. Apple verboten) code on their iOS devices.
But all is not lost! Seasoned jailbreaker Winocm has posted a video of iOS 7.1 running on a jailbroken iPhone 4, untethered.
Apple is releasing new Mavericks betas like clockwork with the last three coming one week apart from each other. Developers can now download the latest Mavericks update, OS X 10.9.3 beta 3 from the Mac Dev Center or via Software Update.
The first OS X 10.9.3 beta added support for a full range of Retina scaling modes for 4k monitors. The other have mostly focused on bug fixes with the latest seed note asking devs to focus on graphics drivers, audio, Safari, and contacts & calendar sync over USB in iTunes.
An iTunes 11.1.6 beta was also released this afternoon to devs that restores the ability to sync contacts and calendars to USB after Apple removed the option in favor of an iCloud-only approach.
Source: Apple
About a month ago, I reviewed a beautiful iPad mini case from U.K.-based BUKcase that was designed to make the device look like a simple book-bound notebook. Over the past couple weeks, I’ve been testing a handmade iPhone 5s case from Meison Morgan, courtesy of MyBanana, that has the same aim.
Manufactured in Greece using the same bookbinding process that traditional notebook makers use, this case offers not only good looks, but also all-round protection that promises to withstand the test of time.
It’s available in black and denim (blue), and it’s super affordable at €30 ($46).
Apple has updated Garageband for Mac today with the ability to export songs as MP3s, a feature that was removed in the big redesign of Garageband last fall.
Other changes include:
Today Starbucks released the big iPhone app redesign we previously told you about. The interface has been completely redone down to the icon, and the overall aesthetic improvement is drastic.
The main addition in today’s update is the ability to digitally tip baristas, which is currently available in about two-thirds of U.S. stores. Other new features include shake-to-pay, sharing options for rewards milestones, and integrated account history.
Here’s the full list of changes, including some more screenshots:
Puzzles have been stumping people for quite some time. From jigsaw puzzles to the Rubik’s cube, people everywhere have been trying to tackle their fun challenges. The app Unroll Me features lots of levels at different difficulties having players help guide a white ball to its goal. Can you slide every piece correctly and quickly enough to get a high-score?
Take a look at Unroll Me and find out what you think.
This is a Cult Of Mac video review of the multi-platform application Unroll Me brought to you by Joshua Smith of “TechBytes W/Jsmith.”
Tim Cook has been named one of the top 50 greatest leaders in the world by Fortune. The 53-year-old Apple CEO is positioned at number 33 on the list, and the only American tech CEO above him is Amazon’s Jeff Bezos at number 10.
Once again Cult of Mac has waded through this week’s endless list of new releases of books, music and movies to find the very best stuff so you don’t have to.
This week’s top selections feature a lot of post-rock, some Wall Street debauchery, and a hearty serving of cannibalism.
Enjoy!
Tycho – Awake
San Francisco-based visual artist and musician, Scott Hansen, aka Tycho, has been making gorgeous techno music for over a decade, but it wasn’t until he released his third album, Dive, that he started generating some traction. Now Hansen’s back with his fourth album, Awake, that feels like luminous dreams floating in space.
iTunes – $9.99
The War On Drugs – Lost in the Dream
Maybe rock is dead, or just dying, but Adam Granduciel isn’t keen to sit idly while it the state of rock deteriorates. His third effort with The War On Drugs has birthed Lost in the Dream, a rock album that draws influence from pretty much every major rockstar in the galaxy, giving it a sound that’s got a little something for everyone without making any concessions on a sound that’s looking to make its own mark on rock-and-roll.
iTunes – $9.99
Perfect Pussy – Say Yes To Love
If you like your rock served loud, hard, and predictable check out Going to Hell from The Pretty Reckless, but for a more intense experience pick up Perfect Pussy’s debut album Say Yes. The five-piece band’s sound is a maelstrom of energy, punk, and distortion that is both vulnerable and unapologetic in its rawness.
iTunes – $8.99
Savage Harvest
by Carl Hoffman
In 1961 Michael Rockefeller disappeared in New Guinea. As a member of one of the richest, most influential families in the world, his mysterious disappearance was hot news at the time. Rumors surfaced that he’d been killed and ceremonially eaten by the local Asmat—a native tribe of warriors whose complex culture was built around sacred, reciprocal violence, head hunting, and ritual cannibalism. The Rockefellers and the Dutch government denied the story, so Carl Hoffman has set out 50 years later to New Guinea, chatting with cannibals and other witness to track down what happened to the powerful scion.
iTunes – $14.99
All Our Names
by Dinaw Mengestu
At just 35, Dinaw Mengestu has already been showered with accolades including the National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35 award, The New Yorker’s 20 Under 40 award, and a 2012 MacArthur Foundation genius grant. Now he’s ready to unleash his third novel, All Our Names, which features an unforgettable love story about a searing affair between an American woman and an African man in 1970s America.
iTunes – $12.99
Notes from the Internet Apocalypse
by Wayne Gladstone
I sure hope the internet doesn’t randomly collapse someday – mostly because I’ll have to figure out a new form of employment – but if it does, the world will probably look similar to the one envisioned by Wayne Gladstone in Notes From the Internet Apocalypse. Twitter junkies roam the streets speaking in 140 chars to each other or force cats to perform tricks for their amusement. (Which is more gruesome? Up to you.) It’s all pretty funny while at the same time examining the question: “What is life without the internet?”
iTunes – $10.99
The Wolf of Wall Street
The Wolf of Wall Street is depraved but glorious. Leonardo DiCaprio didn’t manage to win his first Oscar for his portrayal of real-life goon-investor Jordan Belfort but what with the quaaludes, money, and debauchery that serve as props in Wolf, he sure as hell had a better time filming it than skinny old Matty McConaughey’s did with Dallas Buyers Club.
iTunes – $19.99
Veronica Mars
Backed by one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns in history, Veronica Mars the movie is finally here and it’s available in theaters and iTunes at the same time so you can follow all the action right where it left off nine years after the finale of the third season.
iTunes – $19.99
Saving Mr. Banks
The story behind the story: here’s Tom Hanks stars as Walt Disney while Emma Thompson steps into the role of Mary Poppins author P.L. Travers, who avoided signing away the rights to make her book into a movie. Armed with his iconic creative vision, Walt pulls out all the stops, but the uncompromising Travers won’t budge, leaving Walt to reach into his own complicated childhood to discover the ghosts that haunt Travers.
iTunes – $19.99
Few CEOs can hold a candle to the wrath and fury of Steve Jobs, but when it comes to epic rants, Christian Bale can certainly hold his own against el Jobso, which might make him the perfect person to play Steve in the Aaron Sorkin written film from Sony.
Director David Finch is keen on getting the Dark Knight into Steve’s black turtleneck, according to a report from The Wrap, which says the director has pegged Bale as his top choice to play Steve Jobs.
It’s that time of year when office work comes to a stand still for weeks thanks to the NCAA’s annual celebration of sweat, leather, and nylon nets. The first games have just gotten underway and thanks to the glorious blessings of technology there are more ways to follow the March Madness action than ever before.
Here’s how to keep track of your favorite teams and your brackets on your iPhone, iPad and Mac: