I think Mad Skills Motocross 2 saved my life.

It’s not because it taught me a valuable lesson about not mixing chemicals or that someone shot me, and I had Mad Skills Motocross 2 in my pocket, and it stopped the bullet. And it didn’t swim out and rescue me when I went beyond my depth in the grown-up pool.

No, Mad Skills Motocross 2 saved my life by teaching me that I should never, ever, attempt to ride a motocross bike. Because I will die.

I’m not very good at this game, is what I’m saying. But it’s still pretty good.

Going into Mobile World Congress this year, the one device everyone was waiting to see was Samsung’s new Galaxy S5. We knew it was coming — the South Korean company made that pretty clear with all of its teasers beforehand — and we couldn’t wait to see what the 2014 flagship would bring.

The Galaxy S5 wasn’t the only smartphone on show that was worth getting excited about, either. Sony brought its new Xperia Z2, HTC unveiled the impressive midrange Desire 816, there were some nice new additions from LG and ZTE, and of course, we also saw the first Android-powered handsets from Nokia.

Smartphones certainly stole the show for another year, then, but there was another product category we couldn’t help but take note of. No, I’m not talking about tablets — which were just as disappointing this year as they were in 2013; I’m talking about wearables.

Have you been looking for in-ear headphones that look and sound good? This Cult of Mac Deals offer brings you modern design that you can hear.

The New Spark Hi-Def In-Ear Headphones deliver full, resonating bass, intense mid-range, and clear, defined treble sure to bring a smile to any audiophile’s face. With precision acoustics, unique, modern design, and precise ergonomic fit, these headphones come ready to play and your going to love what you hear! And the pricing – only $37.99 – can’t be beat!

This week Cult of Mac Magazine looks into why your Mac gets crufty and what you can do about it.

You know how your friendly technician always tells you to just reboot the computer, but there’s got to be more to it than that, right?  

The good news is there are some things you can do. And, perhaps, adopt some more efficient computing practices for yourself along the way to keep those nasty clog-ups at bay. Apple Certified Consultant Adam Rosen, aka our Mac RX columnist, will show you the four most common causes of slow, bogged-down Macs. Going through Adam’s quick fixes will give your Mac a much-needed tune up in less time than it would take to clear a path from your workbench to the car in your garage.

You’ll also get our top picks from the iTunes store for music, books, movies as well as the apps worth downloading, for reals, plus words of wisdom from an actual Apple Genius.

Comments? Suggestions? Complaints? Email me directly or from the “send” button top right.

Cult of Mac Magazine

Three U.K. has confirmed that all customers have now been switched to a 4G tariff, allowing them to connect to LTE networks where available at no extra cost. Three’s LTE coverage now spans 36 towns and cities across Britain, including London, Birmingham, Manchester, and Liverpool.

Apple has won the dismissal of a 1.57 billion-euro ($2.2 billion) German lawsuit, relating to an IPCom patent it was supposedly infringing upon.

While no oral explanation has been given for the verdict, the court in Mannheim, Germany decided that Apple didn’t infringe on the property of IPCom, and also dismissed a similar case against mobile manufacturer HTC.

BlackBerry has confirmed that it will address BBM’s measly 6MB transfer limit in its next update. The company says it has “heard users loud and clear,” and it has vowed to allow the transfer of larger files over the popular instant messaging service.

Think Apple’s “Misunderstood” Christmas ad would have been improved with the addition of a random piano drop, ghost bride, or chainsaw-wielding madman?

If so, you can re-create the commercial your way using Picadelic’s FxGuru: Movie FX Director app. Previously an Android exclusive, the app lets you incorporate a variety of Hollywood-style horror, sci-fi and action movie effects to any iPhone video — with virtual guidelines showing you how to incorporate effects seamlessly, while 24 different “Cinematic” filters allow you enhance the atmosphere of any scene.

Skateboarding legend Tony Hawk has revealed that he’s working on a new skateboarding game for mobile devices.

Hawk made references to the game in two recent interviews: one with Larry King and the other with Bloomberg.

MOGA’s Ace Power, the world’s first iOS 7 compatible game controller, was only released in November, but the company is already teasing its follow-up.

The first released image clearly shows a Bluetooth button, suggesting that the new gamepad may be a wireless device — unlike its MOGA Ace Power predecessor which requires a Lightning connection.

This also might mean that it will work on all iOS 7 devices including the iPad, in contrast to the Ace Power which only supported the iPhone 5 and later, as well as fifth-generation iPods.

This image showing aspiring Silicon Valley legends sure looks… familiar.

Don’t worry, though: this isn’t the cover of a strikingly original new Samsung biography, but rather a teaser poster for Mike Judge’s upcoming HBO comedy series, Silicon Valley.

Borrowing its iconic pose from the 2006 Albert Watson portrait of Steve Jobs commissioned by Fortune magazine and used for the cover of Walter Isaacson’s 2011 biography, the poster references Jobs as the ultimate example of the startup-founder-made-good.

Apple has updated its Developer website to advise designers on how best to create iOS 7 optimized apps.

iOS 7 brought radical changes to Apple’s mobile OS when it was released in September 2013. In December, Apple announced that all new apps submitted to the App Store must be optimized for iOS 7 by February 1 — and this new tutorial helps explain just how this should be done.

Although some of the content has previously been available to access at Apple’s Developer website, a number of new documents address iOS 7 specifically. Some require users to be registered iOS developers, while others are available for public access.

Ever since Digg purchased Instapaper from Marco Arment, the news aggregator super site has been adding new features to the somewhat neglected service to better compete with the likes of would-be challengers like Paper.

Continuing that trend, Instapaper for iOS was updated to version 5.1.5 today, bringing some new features, including support for Instapaper’s trending stories, a new send to Amazon Kindle function for subscribers, better AirPlay support, gestures and more.

This week, Oasis Management founder Seth Fischer sent a letter to Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, once again demanding that the House That Mario Built release games for the iPhone, iPad and other mobiel platforms.

Want to watch the Oscars this Sunday, hosted by Ellen DeGeneres, no need to dust off the television: you can watch it right from your iPhone or iPad via the Watch ABC app. Unfortunately, though, there’s a catch, and a big one.

Many states have laws against using smartphones while driving, for talking and texting… but does that count for Apple Maps? A California appeals court has ruled no.

Amazon is reported to be in discussions with music labels to launch a streaming music service for its Amazon Prime subscription members. Will it be more like Spotify, or iTunes Radio, though?

Google has released a major update to its Hangouts iOS app. Most notably, the new version includes a design makeover that’s more akin to iOS 7. Short video messages can be sent to contacts, and location data can also be shared.

Here’s the full changelog:

The vibe will certainly not be killed at SXSW this year, as Apple has added rapper Kendrick Lamar to its lineup of artists performing at the iTunes Festival. Lamar performed at the iTunes Festival last year as well.

ScHoolboy Q, Isaiah Rashad, Band of Skulls, and Capital Cities have also been added as supporting acts. Soundgarden was added to the lineup yesterday.

The men and women who ensure the safety of Apple employees will stand against the Cupertino company to demand better pay. With some of them forced to rely on public assistance and for housing and food due to the low quality jobs provided by companies like Security Industry Specialists (SIS), they want Apple to secure a better contract for them.

As another in a long line of rallies and protests, it may be difficult to get the attention of the Cupertino-based company’s shareholders, but the security officers and their community supporters hope to make enough noise to point out that while they work for the most profitable tech company in the world, the security officers are usually hired on part-time as on-call employees.

Apple has been named Fortune’s most admired company for the seventh year in a row. Amazon ranked second and Google came in at third. Samsung and Microsoft didn’t make the top ten.

Just as expected, Samsung unveiled its flagship Galaxy S5 at Mobile World Congress on Monday evening. In addition to fancy new features like a fingerprint scanner and heartbeat sensor, the handset boasts the latest Snapdragon 801 processor, a 1080p Super AMOLED display, and a 16-megapixel rear-facing camera with rich tone HDR, selective focus, and more.

But how does the Galaxy S5 compare to some of its competitors, like the iPhone 5s, the new Sony Xperia Z2, and its cousin, the Galaxy Note 3? We’ve put together a handy comparison chart below that makes it all clear — and may help you choose the best handset for you.

Rather than slogging through a lake of reviews to find something you’re just going to put down after 30 minutes, Cult of Mac has once again waded through the iTunes store to compile a list of the best new movies, albums and books to come out this week.

Enjoy!

Music

St. Vincent – St. Vincent

Singer/songwriter/guitar-shredder Annie Clark’s fourth studio album as St. Vincent is full of twists and turns, sonic textures, and balladry, making St. Vincent her best album ever. Beyonce and Gaga may reign supreme among female entertainers, but St. Vincent asserts herself as a pyrotechnic guitarist laying down rhythmic somersaults. Lorde be damned, there’s nothing quite like her mix of vocal range and captivating balance of experimental leanings and pop sensations.

iTunes – $7.99

SchoolBoy Q – Oxymoron

Everyone’s talking about Beck this week and the new album he released after six years of silence, but while Morning Phase is great and definitely worth a listen, I’ve been addicted to SchoolBoy Q’s Oxymoron. The front five tracks are especially hard to escape from a repeat loop. It’s the best rap album so far this year and enlists collaborators such as Kendrick Lamar, 2 Chainz, ASAP Rocky, Jay Rock, Tyler the Creator and Kurupt, among others.

iTunes – $12.99

Wild Beasts – Present Tense

Present Tense, Wild Beasts’, fourth LP, is simply brilliant. After taking a full year off to recoup from a two-year tour for their last album, the band presents their most human musical portrait, even if its a bit less accessible than their other albums.

iTunes – $9.99

Books

The Future of the Mind
by Michio Kaku

Not a week passes where we don’t hear of scientist making an incredible new discovery about how the brain works but where is all that info leading us? In his book The Future of the Mind, Michio Kaku surveys the latest findings by scientists to give readers a better idea of how the brain works as well as dancing with future ideas like smart pills to enhance cognition; downloading brains neuron by neuron, or even sending our emotions and consciousness out into space.

iTunes – $11.99

Neanderthal Man: In Search of Lost Genomes
by Svante Pääbo

As fun as it is to celebrate just how damn smart humans have become, it’s also good to see where we’ve come from. Geneticist Svante Pääbo’s book Neanderthal Man analyzes what we can learn from the genomes of our closest evolutionary relatives as he searches for the mysterious answer as to why humans survived while Neanderthals went kaput.

iTunes – $19.99

The Wives of Los Alamos
by TaraShea Nesbit

Growing up in New Mexico, I was always aware that the genius scientists who researched energy sources at Los Alamos National Lab were a main fount of state pride. This is where we  first built and detonated The Bomb, after all. It’s one of only two laboratories in the U.S. where research is done on nuclear weapons, but Tarashea Nesbit’s book The Wives of Los Alamos focuses on the town’s softer side. As the bomb was being invented, babies were born, friendships were forged, children grew up and Los Alamos gradually transformed from an abandoned school on a hill into a real community.

iTunes – $11.99

Movies

The Book Thief

Based on the novel of the same name by Markus Zusak, Emily Watson and Geoffrey Rush star in this inspirational film about a girl named Leslie, whose adoptive German parents hide a Jew from Hitler’s army. As the war effort deepens, Leslie becomes obsessed with books and the escape they provide from the brutal backdrop of World War II.

iTunes – $14.99

Frozen

Indie Oscar flicks get all the attention this time of year, but for kids no movie was bigger this winter than Frozen, Disney’s latest animated journey. This epic ice capade pits Anna, a fearless optimist, against mountain man Kristoff and his loyal reindeer Sven. Of course, things go wrong after Anna’s sister is missing, so the crew sets off on an journey that’s full of mystical trolls, weird-talking snowman and enough snow to keep you cold through the summer.

iTunes – $19.99

The Great Beauty

If you don’t mind reading subtitles, Great Beauty was one of the best films to polish your eyeballs with in 2013 and now it’s finally on iTunes. The movie follows an aging socialite, Jep Gambardella, who wrote a famous novel in his 20s, only to retire into a comfortable life writing cultural columns and throwing parties in Rome. After his 65th birthday party, where he is feted at a disco party straight out of Fellini, he walks through the ruins and city streets, encountering the various characters, reflecting on his life, his first love, and sense of unfulfillment.

iTunes – $19.99

While the iOS 7 software update has brought along a total design revamp, with it has also come irritating wallpaper settings. Not being able to scale your photo to the sizes you’d like and more have been just some of the newly associated issues. The new application Wallpaper Fix claims to be the perfect fix for all of your wallpaper problems. Is Wallpaper Fix the app that will help you get your wallpapers the way you want?

Take a look at Wallpaper Fix and find out what you think.

This is a Cult Of Mac video review of the iOS application Wallpaper Fix brought to you by Joshua Smith of “TechBytes W/Jsmith.”

The folks behind the brilliant and sticky Tiny Death Star and Pocket Trains are back at it again, this time with another free-to-play title, Disco Zoo. This time, however, NimbleBit has the added talent of rock-star developer Owen Goss, a Canadian dude with a pedigree in gaming that reaches back to pre-iOS days (gasp).

Disco Zoo has the same Nimblebit retro bitizen look and feel, and the fun mechanics from Pocket Trains and Tiny Tower are out in force. You’ll take over running of the titular Zoo, adding animals and building habitats while earning in-game soft currency on a timed basis, as well as randomly on the zoo map screen.

The main part of the game involves rescuing animals from a variety of habitats–each requires the purchase of more and more expensive aircraft–and adding them to your zoo. The zoo animals will sleep after a time, which encourages you to keep checking back into the app to wake them up.