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The i360: A Flawless Turntable That Will Give Your iMac 360° Views [Deals]

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Tired of turning your iMac or Apple Cinema Display just to share things with co-workers or to get a better vantage point when you’re working? This Cult of Mac Deals offer has got your solution.

The Rain Design i360 turntable provides an elegant and dynamic way to turn the iMac, Apple Cinema Display, and Apple Thunderbolt (24“–27”). At the push of a finger, you can share the screen during group discussion and access the back ports easily. And you can get the i360 for only $39.99 courtesy of this special offer from Cult of Mac Deals.

David Fincher Reportedly In Talks To Direct Aaron Sorkin’s Steve Jobs Biopic For Sony

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Oscar-nominated director David Fincher is in talks to direct Sony’s upcoming biopic about Steve Jobs, according to Variety. If Fincher did direct, it would team him up yet again with writer Aaron Sorkin. The last time the two worked together was on The Social Network.

Fincher is currently finishing up post-production on his latest movie, Gone Girl, starring Ben Affleck. He directed the first two episodes of House of Cards and is an executive producer for the show. The last project he directed for Sony was 2011’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Aaron Sorkin finished his script for the Jobs biopic earlier this year. He has said in the past that the story will be divided into three distinct acts, and each act will take place backstage at an Apple keynote. No rumors on casting yet.

Source: Variety

Buffalo Wings Wants To Pick Up Where Flappy Bird Left Off

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The tale of Flappy Bird is almost unbelievable. A frustratingly simple iPhone game from an indie game dev in Vietnam with no prior notoriety becomes an overnight success. It dominates the App Store charts and starts making $50,000 per day in ad revenue. Then, out of the blue, the dev decides to pull it from the App Store at the height of its popularity.

It was a story too good to be true. Except that it was true.

In the wake of Flappy Birds’s removal, countless knockoffs have tried to fill the gap. “Flappy Bird being taken off the App Store has created this vacuum,” says Jeremy Olson, founder of the award-winning app studio Tapity. In an effort to make a worthy successor to Flappy Bird, Olson and his small team have created Buffalo Wings.

Instead of a bird, you guide a flying buffalo over and under walls by tapping the iPhone’s screen. Hit a wall at any point and you have to start over. The gameplay mechanics may be the same, but Tapity is hoping that Buffalo Wings has what it takes to capture lightning in a bottle twice.

The Brain Science Behind Flappy Bird Addiction [Video]

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In the ephemeral world of Internet memes, gamers have already moved on from Flappy Bird and on to the next thing. But that doesn’t mean that developer Dong Nguyen was wrong when he claimed that the game was proving “addictive” to players.

In a new YouTube Sci Show episode, host Hank Green explains why a game that even its staunchest defenders would admit is pretty stupid proved so crazily addictive.

Matching iOS Card Game Threes! Receives Its First Update

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Popular numerical puzzle game Threes! has received its first ever update, adding several player-requested features.

For those who haven’t played Threes!, it’s a game which challengers players to come up with multiples of 3 by sliding and matching pairs of cards. The object is to gain the highest score possible by combining numbers to first make 3s, then 6s, then putting those together to get 12s, and so on.

It’s surprisingly fun and addictive, and has been met with a number of positive reviews since its release earlier this month.

Apple Files An Appeal In E-Book Antitrust Case

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Apple has filed an appeal related to last year’s verdict stating that the company violated U.S. antitrust laws by conspiring with publishers to fix e-book prices.

The appeal — which was filed Tuesday with the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York — calls U.S. District Court Judge Denise Cote’s ruling “a radical departure from modern antitrust law and policy,” and argues that it will “stifle innovation, chill competition, and harm consumers” if it is followed.

This Infographic Visualizes 15 Years Of Tech Company Acquisitions

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With the tech world still buzzing over Facebook’s $19 billion WhatsApp acquisition, business insurance provider Simply Business has put together a fascinating infographic.

Showing 15 years of acquisitions by Apple, Amazon, Google, Yahoo, and Facebook, the chart lays out in visual terms when tech giants were at their purchasing busiest, as well as how much they typically spend on deals — with the size of individual dots representing the price paid for each startup.

Mobile World Congress Day Three [Liveblog]

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This year we’re covering the Barcelona Mobile World Congress a little differently. Each day there will be one liveblog post here on Cult of Mac and one on Cult of Android.

Instead of gathering up press releases and writing them up in the press office at the show, and then hitting the parties, we’ll be posting quick photos and snippets of info from the show floor itself.

Think of it as a kind of Instagram/Twitter hybrid, only right here on the site. Currently the newest posts are at the top, reverse-chronological style. Killian has given up and gone home already, so maybe I’ll get a chance to actually check out some gadgets today (Killian is a terrible influence).

If you want me to check something out, Tweet me @mistercharlie.

Now, let’s get on with Day three, the final proper day (Thursday is for the suits and the cleaners).

Watch This Chinese Robot Beat Flappy Bird Once And For All [Video]

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We’ve seen a few great Flappy Bird machines before, but nothing as incredible as this robot that flawlessly plays Flappy Bird using a web cam, a robotic arm made from an old hard drive, and the tip of a stylus.

It was created by two Chinese developers, Liu Yang and Shi Xuekun, who live in China’s Shaanxi province. According to the duo, it took four days to create the robot, which is probably 3.99 days more than Dong Nguyen originally spent programming the game himself.

Now can it beat Flapthulhu?

Sony: Apple Is “Missing Out” By Not Releasing New iPhones Twice A Year

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Apple was responsible for 15% of the world’s smartphone shipments in 2013, and as much as 56% of all the profit. Sony, on the other hand, accounted for only 3.8% of the world’s smartphone shipments in 2013, and is barely ekeing out a profit company-wide.

Despite all of this, Sony mobile chief and European president Pierre Perron told The Inquirer that Apple is “missing out” by only releasing yearly iPhone freshes, instead of flooding the market with incremental updates every few months.

CrazyTalk7 Pro: Addictive Facial Animation At Your Fingertips [Deals]

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We know making your dog talk with your own voice is entertaining and will get everyone laughing hysterically. With CrazyTalk 7 Pro you can take pets, sketch drawings, baby photos or inanimate objects to create fun and interesting videos in minutes.

And Cult of Mac Deals has CrazyTalk7 Pro available for only $79.95 during this limited time offer – a savings of 46%!

Apple Tightens Control Of iBeacon Trademark By Adding It To ‘Made For iPhone’ Program

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Up to this point, the term “iBeacon” has been used to describe just about any location-aware transmitter that can send data to a device over Bluetooth. But now it’s going to get harder for companies to market their products as iBeacons.

Apple is clamping down on its iBeacon trademark by adding specifications for the technology to its ‘Made for iPhone’ (MFi) program.

Including iBeacon in MFi gives Apple complete quality control over where the iBeacon name can be used. When a Bluetooth speaker maker wants to be approved by Apple, it has to go through the MFi program. And now the same process will be required for iBeacon.

Apple Adds TV4 Play Channel To Apple TV In Sweden

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Apple TV service might be coming soon. Photo: Apple
Apple TV service might be coming soon. Photo: Apple

Apple has added a dedicated channel to the Apple TV for TV4 Play, the country’s largest commercial broadcasting network.

Live broadcasts and original programming are available for free. Full episodes of TV4 Group shows are available for playback up to seven days after their release. Premium TV4 subscribers get access to additional content, and the window of availability for TV shows is longer.

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified Gets Three New DLC Modules On The Mac

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The Bureau: XCOM Declassified gets three new expansion packs for the Mac version of the game this week, available on the Mac App Store and Steam. The new packs–Hangar 6 R&D, CodeBreakers and the Light Plasma Pistol–bring new content and missions to the strategy title as in-app purchases.

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified is a tactical third-person shooter game set in the exciting XCOM universe, this time in the 1960s. You play as agent William Carter, helping your agency cover up and battle alien incursions on the planet.

How To Save Some Battery Life With Background App Refresh [iOS Tips]

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Many apps these days are location aware and are able to refresh themselves in the background. It’s how apps like Facebook can refresh that little red icon badge on your home screen without you having to launch the app.

All that background activity, though, can take its toll on your battery life. Luckily, Apple has included a way to turn this off for specific apps, or altogether.

Visualize Your Hard Drive Space With GrandPerspective [OS X Tips]

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When you’re running a Macbook Air or Pro with an SSD in it, you’re probably concerned about space on your drive. You can easily sort files in the Finder by size to see what you might want to delete or at least put on an external drive, but sometimes it’s nicer to visualize your data in a different way.

That’s where apps like GrandPerspective come in. This one is simple to use, works well, and is entirely free. It helps you see your data as an image, and then you can decide what to do with your files from there.

Apple Releases OS X 10.9.2 With Fix For SSL Vulnerability And FaceTime Audio

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Apple has released an new update for Mavericks that fixes the goto fail SSL vulnerability that was patched up on iOS last week with the iOS 7.0.6 update.

Along with fixing SSL/TLS vulnerability, the update brings in a couple of new features such as FaceTime audio calls, call waiting for FaceTime, the ability to block incoming iMessages, not to mention numerous bug fixes.

The update is available by going to Apple menu () > Software Update to check for the latest Apple software using the Mac App Store.

Here are the release notes:

Jump To New Heights In The Game “Hoppy Frog” [Video Review]

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Retro arcade gaming meets today’s latest hits in the application Hoppy Frog. Enjoy reminiscing the days of Frogger with the memories of Flappy Bird, as you progress your way up the high score charts. Will Hoppy Frog become your latest gaming addiction?

Take a look at Hoppy Frog and find out what you think.

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

And The Winner Is… Best Internet Radio Streaming Service

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Internet Radio has some fierce competition. Since the launch of iTunes Radio in 2013, it became much harder to single out one service in particular that reigns supreme. Does the popular US service Pandora still have what it takes to surpass all others? Is Slacker Radio more your personal preference?

Either way, following on from last week’s column where we compared on-demand music services, we have taken it upon ourselves to narrow down the competition, including iTunes Radio, Pandora,  Slacker Radio, iHeartRadio, Last.fm and TuneIn Radio; see the table below. We’ve also done some hands-on testing and in-depth research in order to determine just who has the leading edge and what they offer in terms of functionality, catalog size, features and usability.