Apple may have only released iOS 7.0.6 one week ago, but it’s already showing impressive adoption rates.
According to a study by Chitika Insights, just 48 hours after the update went live, 13.3% of all iOS traffic was driven by the latest update.
You can now double the storage space of your MacBook Air by jamming Sandisk’s new 128GB microSD card into an adapter in the SD card slot. Or you can slide it into any number of devices that use the pink-nail-sized storage standard. And if you are using it in a phone or a camera, it’s fast enough to capture HD video recorded straight to the card.
A South Korean antitrust watchdog has rejected Apple’s claims that Samsung’s counter-patent suit against the U.S. firm violates the country’s fair competition rules.
Apple lawyers claimed that Samsung’s litigation concerning its SEPs (standard-essential patents) for 3G wireless technology was an act designed to abuse its dominant position in the marketplace — amounting to a violation of fair competition rules.
Fujifilm has announced the Instax SP–1 mobile printer at Mobile World Congress 2014 in Barcelona, Spain. It’s a wireless, battery powered number that spits out 3×2 prints, and is controlled by an app on your iPhone (or Android device).
And while it looks pretty neat, if you can do without the battery power then I have a much better recommendation.
One of several themes at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona has been cellphone cameras (the others were waterproof phones, crappy smartwatches, and NFC). Samsung’s new flagship Galaxy S5 ups the pixel count from 13MP 16MP, and adds 4K video capture. Nokia’s handsets can now shoot RAW pictures (or rather, record RAW pictures, as all photos are RAW to begin with) and Sony was showing off new camera modules (the iPhone uses a Sony camera).
As I was walking around the show and shooting everything with my iPhone 5, I started to wonder: who cares?
The NBA Game Time app for iPhone and NBA Game Time for iPad have just been updated, adding support for classic games.
As its name suggests, Endless Surf is pretty much an endless runner with a whole lot more water involved. If you’re looking for a true to life surfing sim, complete with realistic board dynamics and the like, you’re going to be disappointed. But if you can look past that, Endless Surf is a giant wave of fun.
Like any endless runner, your goal is to keep going for as long as possible, while simultaneously notching up the highest score you can. In your path are various power-ups — in this case including one that turns the weather temporarily stormy, therefore increasing the size of your wave —as well as an array of obstacles to negotiate. These are mainly made up of buoys and menacing shark fins, but the real threat is the constantly advancing wall of water breaking behind you. Move too slowly and you’ll get swallowed up — leading to the inevitable “Wipe Out” screen. Move fast enough and, over time, you’ll be able to customize your character and complete the various stages the game has to offer.
Although Google bought social mapping service Waze in June of last year, the iOS app is still getting impressive new updates.
The latest? Waze for iOS has just gained Calendar integration. It might not seem useful at first glance, but it’s actually a great addition.
When will the iPhone 6 be released? Ever since the iPhone 4s, Apple has unveiled the next iPhone in September, but at least one analyst is now claiming that Apple might go back to a WWDC launch in 2014.
If you have a brand spanking new Mac Pro, Apple has released a new firmware update that will help it stay quiet and not sound like the jet engine that it may physically resemble.
Recommended for all late 2013 Mac Pros, the Mac Pro SMC Firmware Update 2.0 allows the Mac Pro to enter Power Nap without running the Mac Pro’s fan for most Power Nap activities.
The update also addresses a rare issue where a low-speed USB device may not be detected at boot.
If you’ve already dropped a few grand on a Mac Pro, the good news is the update’s free. You can grab it from the link below.
Source: Apple
Here’s a hard to believe story: one of Apple’s executives behind the original iPhone has gone so far as to apologize to anyone who bought one during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week.
Why? According to ex-Apple senior director of product marketing for the original iPhone Bob Borchers: “If you had the original iPhone, I apologize; it was not a great phone, it was an OK phone.”
Unbelievably, he may have a point.
Automatic is one of our favorite iOS car accessories and while we’ve been blown away how easily it can future-proof your dumb car, the smart dongle just got a lot more intelligent thanks to an update that brings IFTTT integration into the car for the first time.
Automatic can already track your trips and tell you where you parked, but with IFTTT recipes you can now let your car Tweet, post to Facebook, or send an email to your mechanic based on a set of triggers Automatic has created.
The new Automatic Channel on IFTTT exposes some powerful triggers, including the following:
It’s hard to admit, but I know more about decluttering my closet than I do my computer. The last time I took my MacBook Pro to the Apple Store, I was humbled by the Genius who stumbled upon the virtual equivalent of an overstuffed, rat-infested garage.
It was like something out of one of those hoarding reality shows that I’m fond of because they confer a zen-like simplicity to my messy but-not-enough-to-die-buried-alive-under-belongings: there was a ton of dusty, useless, embarrassing crap clogging up my machine. With one raised eyebrow, he made me feel like a basket case for piles of applications that would never run on my current OS (and they were in the dock, too. The shame!) and a desktop so cluttered with screen shots, empty alias folders and .txt files that my actual desk looks pristine in comparison.
Enter Mac RX, Spring Cleaning Edition to the rescue. Cult of Mac readers know our long-running series on how to fix what ails your Apple device; this week we get a special decluttering take from our vintage expert and Apple Certified Consultant, Adam Rosen.
He’ll tell you what you really need to know about getting better performance from your Mac and why the machine gets clogged up in the first place. Hint: most of us don’t follow the basic tidying procedures we should.
So it’s time for a clean-up session: we’ll get you in, out and have your Mac running faster than it has in months. We stopped just short of Feng Shui for your desktop, but I have an expert for that if you’re interested.
Browsing the App Store can be a bit overwhelming. Which apps are new? Which ones are good? Are the paid ones worth paying for, or do they have a free, lite version that will work well enough?
Well, if you stop interrogating me for a second, hypothetical App Store shopper, I can tell you about this thing we do here.
Every week, we highlight some of the most interesting new apps and collect them here for your consideration. This time, our picks include something to help you read that fine print, a handy money-tracker, and a shockingly comprehensive converter.
Here you go:
I’ve covered a few list-makers before, but this one just replaced Notes as my go-to item tracker.
It’s called UpWord Notes, and it is a simple but powerful app that lets you create, manage, and update lists with just a few simple commands. You can swipe left to make bullets and mark things as important, and you cross items off with a swipe to the right. Coolest of all, you can pull down, refresh-style, to remove all crossed-off items at once.
Plus it all syncs to Dropbox, so you can rest assured that you can always get your grocery list anywhere.
UpWord Notes – $0.99 | Lau Brothers LLC
It’s enough for some people just to plunk one value into a box and watch the conversion come out the other end, but we’re savvy here, right?
The newly released free version of Aperture Mobile’s Converta app thinks you are, and that’s why it actually bothers showing you what it’s doing. The free version calculates the equivalent values of angles, lengths, mass, temperatures, and volumes, and the $0.99 paid version includes things like illumination, radiation, velocity, and energy. You can also choose between a keypad and a clever gestural interface.
I’m not sure how useful the radiation conversion would be to most people, but it’s nice to know it’s there.
Converta – Free | Aperture Mobile
Sometimes, print is too small or your eyes get tired. Or you just want to see what something looks like really close up. Enter Zoomer, a simple-to-use, completely uncluttered app that lets you magnify things up to 10x just by swiping to the left. You can swipe to the right to zoom back out, turn on your LED flash, and even reverse colors to make things look all weird (it’s probably for night-time reading, but it does also make things look totally weird).
You can also use it to look at ants close up without accidentally setting them on fire. And I’m sure the ants appreciate that.
Balance Book is a simple, easy, clean way to track your income and expenses on a daily or monthly level. You set up categories and assign colors to keep them straight, and then you just make entries based on how much money you bring in or spend. It automatically calculates your net values to give you an idea of where you are on any given day.
Now I know that I’m probably spending way too much money on sour bears. But in my defense, they are delicious.
While movie streaming applications like Netflix and Hulu Plus remain popular for what they have to offer, Disney has just released their own take on the genre. Disney Movies Anywhere is Disney’s latest application, giving users the ability to access an extensive library of Disney movies on the go. With plenty of great options and features available will Disney Movies Anywhere find its way on your devices.
Take a look at Disney Movies Anywhere and find out what you think.
This is a Cult Of Mac video review of the application “Disney Movies Anywhere” brought to you by Joshua Smith of “TechBytes W/Jsmith.”
You know how it is–you never seem to have enough battery power for your iPhone or iPad when you really need it. When I travel, I tend to use my iPhone 5 for everything possible, looking up nearby restaurants and attractions, finding directions to the nearest coffee place, and keeping in touch with friends and co-workers both near and far.
All that usage takes its toll on a mobile device, but you want to stay mobile. There are plenty of extrenal battery solutions out there, from the popular Mophie iPhone cases to less-attached solutions like the ones you can find at Brookstone for about $100.
The Naztech power bank is a surprisingly small external power pack that lets you charge up to five devices at once, including iPhones, iPads, and any other USB-charging devices. It’s a decent size for something with such flexibility, and it has a 10400mAh Lithium-ion battery in it that seemed to hold and deliver plenty of power to my iPad 3, iPad mini, and iPhone 5 while I took a trip to Las Vegas this past weekend.
The OS X app Most Likely to Induce the Beach Ball of Death, aka iTunes, was updated this afternoon to be slightly more crash-friendly.
iTunes version 11.1.5 was released by Apple as a minor update aimed at putting an end to iTunes quitting unexpectedly. The tiny update also comes with compatibility improvements for iBooks for Mac on OS X Mavericks.
Here are the skimpy release notes:
Those hoping for a little more rock and roll at SXSW will be amped to hear Apple just added Soundgarden to the lineup of bands schedule to perform at iTunes Festival during SXSW this year.
You know how it is; as a brimming young tech-savvy hipster, you need to carry a lot of gear with you as you cycle from the coffee house to the park bench, writing your magnum opus and staying in touch with your iPad, Macbook Air, and iPhone.
The thing is, that gear usually comes with a ton of support gear, with all sorts of plugs, wires, battery packs, extra mice, point-and-shoot camera and the like. You’ll be awash with the detritus of your modern monadic life in no time without some sort of organizational system that you can strap to your back while on the go.
Kastel thinks it has the answer with a Kickstarter project to fund a new line of functional, good looking bags for your gear, soon to be available in three savvy material choices, including leather and blue and grey linen.
Balance Book is a simple, easy, clean way to track your income and expenses on a daily or monthly level. You set up categories and assign colors to keep them straight, and then you just make entries based on how much money you bring in or spend. It automatically calculates your net values to give you an idea of where you are on any given day.
Now I know that I’m probably spending way too much money on sour bears. But in my defense, they are delicious.
Developer Pangea Software’s well-regarded Enigmo series of puzzle games has been around for a while, and they’ve turned over development of the latest installment, Enigmo: Explore to a new team, but the idea is the same: See that liquid dripping from a pipe over here? Get it into that jar over there.
The game gives you a suite of tools to accomplish this, including trampoline-like items that the drops bounce off of and little cannons that can send them even farther. It’s up to you to decide which items in which combinations to use to complete levels, which offers you a decent amount of freedom when you’re playing it.
But a couple other features work just as hard against you, and it’s kind of a shame.
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.
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
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.
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.