Apple maintains its position as the world’s most valuable brand for the third year in a row, according to this year’s Brand Finance Global 500 study.
After Apple, the other positions in the Top 10 were filled out by Samsung, Google, Microsoft, Verizon, General Electric, AT&T, Amazon, Walmart, and IBM.
“What sets [Apple] apart is its ability to monetize [its] brand,” Brand Finance CEO David Haigh said in a statement. “For example, though tablets were in use before the iPad, it was the application of the Apple brand to the concept that captured the public imagination and allowed it to take off as a commercial reality.”
When Google Translate received its post iOS 7 update last September it was missing one important feature: the iOS 7 keyboard.
That has been amended in the free translation app’s latest update, which builds on the streamlined and modern look and feel of the previous update, but also adds an iOS 7-optimized keyboard and status bar.
BiteSMS, the best jailbreak tweak for SMS addicts, has just been updated to version 8.0, coming out of beta officially and gaining iOS 7 and iPhone 5s support.
A lot of the artistic assets of Flappy Bird were ripped pretty much wholesale from Super Mario Bros.. So what happens when you beat Flappy Bird? Do you face Bowser? As this parody video show, it’s not the King of the Koopas you have to fear: it’s gaming’s favorite stereotypical Italian plumber, who certainly won’t let you flap your way past pipe 999.
Do you love playing Minecraft on your iPhone or iPad? So do we, but you’ve got to admit, there’s some compromises in playing Minecraft: Pocket Edition compared to the Mac, not least of which the size of the worlds. On the Mac, Minecraft worlds are infinite, but on iOS, they are extremely limited. But according to a new blog post, that’s about to change soon.
Apple won’t come right out and say so, but the iPhone 5c is a (comparative) dud. But why? Legendarly Apple ad man Ken Segall has his theories, and it all comes down to the fact that with the iPhone 5c, Apple violated Steve Jobs’ prime directive: Apple doesn’t do cheap.
Do you think Blackberry is dead? So does T-Mobile, which is why they tried to get Blackberry customers on the network to switch over to Apple’s smartphone. But apparently, Blackberry has some life in it yet… or enough, at least, to get pissed off about T-Mobile counting the Canadian smartphone maker out.
Love Clear, the slick iPhone to-do app? So do we. But if you’ve never tried Clear before — or if you bought Clear+ and want the minus version without paying for it — you’ll soon be able to download it, free of charge.
Remember GBA4iOS? It was a Gameboy Advance emulator for iOS that took advantage of an App Store enterprise deployment loophole to let you play GBA games on your iPhone or iPad, no jailbreak required. Unfortunately, Apple closed the loophole… until now.
It’s time to return to the bizarre and unpredictable planet of Pandora with Borderlands 2…and Cult of Mac Deals will you help you do so without putting a dent in your wallet.
A true role playing first person shooter, you can embark on campaigns solo, or invite three friends to join you in the mayhem that is sure to ensue. This game is just pure, unadulterated, shoot-em-up fun that’s wrapped in an absurd, colorful, and interactive package. Add to that four-player online and co-op goodness, and you have an addictive game everyone can love. And all for just $9.99!
3-In-1 Macro Lens by Olloclip Category: iPhoneography Works With: iPhone 5/S, iPod Touch 5g Price: $70
Olloclip’s 3-In–1 Macro lens is extremely limited, but that’s by design: It’s a set of close-up lenses for the iPhone 5/S and fifth-gen iPod Touch (using the included adapter) which let you magnify the tiny world around us and put these wonders where God intended: on Instagram.
Here’s a handy little tip if you shut down your Mac with the options in the Apple Menu.
Typically, when you choose Restart or Shut Down from these menu options, you’ll get a dialog box that checks to see if you’re absolutely, positively sure you meant to choose the menu option that you just…chose…sigh.
Photo-sharing social apps like Instagram are fine and all, but most of them have one flaw: You can’t tell them not to show you pictures of people’s lunch if you don’t want to see them. Enter Just…, a quick-and-easy place to post and look at photos that asks you upfront what you want to look at. So far, it includes 11 categories including Automobiles, Cats, Dogs, and, yes, Food, if you’re into that.
It’s easy to put up your own work and like and share others’, and the feeds already have some beautiful pictures for your enjoyment.
(Apologies to Mr. Albano for the crop job up there.)
Fans of Cartoon Network’s megahit Adventure Time are probably familiar with “Card Wars,” an episode in which heroes Finn and Jake square off in a ludicrously complicated collectible card game.
Card Wars: Adventure Time by Cartoon Network Category: iOS Games Works With: iPhone, iPad Price: $3.99
If your first thought after seeing that installment was “I have to play that crazy-ass game,” you’re in luck: It’s now available for your iPhone or iPad. While not quite as complicated as the on-screen version, Card Wars offers the same basic card-and-board gameplay with 3D monsters battling it out for fortune and glory.
And behind its zany exterior lies a deceptively deep experience with Floops galore.
Want to help yourself and others in need at the same time? Then this latest offer from Cult of Mac Deals is for you.
Our team has partnered with 8 influential instructors to bring you the first-ever Name Your Own Price Learn To Code Bundle. You pay what you want for Programming Java for Beginnings and PSD to HTML5/CSS3, and if you pay more than the average price then you’ll receive all the courses in the bundle.
Realmac Software is throwing in the towel on Clear+ and making its original Clear release the priority. A new update that’s rolling out today brings iPad support to the app at no extra cost, while support for Reminders is coming soon.
This post is brought to you by RAGE Software, creator of EverWeb.
Remember iWeb, Apple’s website builder for its MobileMe online service, discontinued 2011? When Apple pulled the plug on MobileMe, users had to move their iWeb site over to another host or lose it. Now RAGE Software presents EverWeb, a new website builder meant to replace Apple’s iWeb. EverWeb has a similar interface to make users feel comfortable moving from iWeb to EverWeb. Users can copy and paste text, images and other elements from an iWeb-built site over to EverWeb from their published website. Watch the video and learn more here….
In 2001, Apple changed the way music was distributed with the arrival of iTunes, its online digital media store. Since that time, the digital age has evolved rapidly into an era where cassette mix tapes and compact discs are no more. As we enter an era in which the internet serves our every need, alongside digital distribution and the iTunes Store are an increasing number of on-demand music streaming services have become today’s most popular and possibly cost-effective means of accessing the equivalent of walking into your local music store and buying everything.
Unlike Pandora and iTunes Radio (which we’ll cover shortly in another column), on-demand streaming radio allows you to listen to any music in the service library as often as you like.
The competition between the unlimited all-you-can-stream music services is fiercer than ever before, and with the launch of Beats Music this past month, it has become even more difficult to pinpoint the most suitable music subscription for our needs.
However, after hours of research, a comparison of the seven on-demand services on offer (including Beats Music, Spotify, Rdio, Xbox Music, Rhapsody, Sony Music Unlimited, and Google Play Music–see our table below), and some hands-on testing, we’ve managed to narrow down the overwhelming choice to a select few that offer the best overall features and usability. So let’s crack on with the results, shall we?
Apple has launched the second story on its new Your Verse microsite.
The campaign — which focuses on showing the iPad in unexpected real world situations — this time chronicles the work of mountaineers Adrian Ballinger and Emily Harrington, who take the iPad with them on their extraordinary climbs.
Ballinger and Harrington use the iPad — along with the Gaia GPS topography app — to plan and navigate their ascent, while also using the device’s access to social networking tools to post photos and progress updates during various junctures of the journey.
A new Apple patent, published Tuesday, reveals how future Apple earbuds and headphones might incorporate health-monitoring features.
The patent shows how a monitoring system could be cleverly built into Apple earphones, and used to track activity such as speed and distance traveled during exercise. The device would also be able to sense other biometric data relating to metrics body temperature, perspiration rate, and heart rate.
First unveiled in November last year, the newly-released Second Chance Heroes gives gamers the chance to take part in an epic, arcade-style coop action-adventure in which you save a world overrun by werewolves, zombies, and sentient cheeseburgers.
Apple may call Andy Rubin — one of the original creators of the Android platform — during next month’s Apple v. Samsung trial, according to court documents.
Rubin left the Android team to work on Google’s robotics projects in March 2013. Should he be called to the stand during the forthcoming trial, he would be cross-examined on the development of Android features which Apple claims infringe on it own patents. He may also be asked to discuss “Google documents relating to such development.”
If Apple calls Rubin, this will be his first time testifying in the various legal battles between Apple and Samsung.
DoubleTwist — the company behind the AirSync tool which allows users to wireless sync their iTunes data — has released a new Mac app, letting users rip songs directly from iTunes Radio.
Called AirPlay Recorder, the app basically tricks iTunes into thinking that it’s an AirPlay device, so that it will stream music. It then records that audio for later offline playback.
San Francisco artist Jason Mecier has just unveiled a new portrait of Steve Jobs, composed entirely out of e-waste.
Created using 20lbs of electronic waste — including cell phones, iPods, headphones, Mac keyboards, CD-Rs, batteries, mice, and memory sticks — Mecier’s portrait is a meticulous recreation of the iconic 2006 Albert Watson photo of Jobs originally commissioned by Fortune magazine.
The original image was most famously used for the hardcover jacket of Walter Isaacson’s 2011 Steve Jobs biography.
