Cult of Mac

This time on The CultCast: we’re live from Las Vegas and ready to report the best and worst tech from the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show! We’ll call out some of our favorite Apple accessories too, and some will surprise you. Plus, did you hear about the Michael Bay meltdown at the Samsung keynote? Well we were in the room when things got weird… let us regale you with the whole story.

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Enjoy a few laughs whilst getting caught up on each week’s best Apple stories! Stream or download new and past episodes of The CultCast now on your Mac or iDevice by subscribing on iTunes, or hit play below and let the audio adventure begin.

A good, strong password may be the only thing standing between your identity and some cyber criminal lurking in the shadows of the web. With mSecure you can be sure your information is 100% safe from hackers and identity thieves.

Right now you can get mSecure for 55% off the regular price – just $9 – courtesy of Cult of Mac Deals.

LAS VEGAS — Audiofly has been busy since we last visited the company at CES two years ago. This year, Audiofly is finally ready to ship its long-promised AF140, albeit with a radical redesign, and are introducing the quad-driver AF180.

The Aussie crew also showed us the over-the-ear set of cans they’ve been working on.

LAS VEGAS — You know those convertible, touchscreen Windows laptops with screens that flip around and do all kinds of twisty tricks? iHome has a new keyboard case that turns the iPad Air and Retina iPad Mini into one of those.

LAS VEGAS — Walking the long, dusty road between the Encore Hotel and the CES Convention Center, I was approached by two guys. They offered to give me a ride. I know I should never accept rides from strangers but their offer was to good to pass up. It was the most creative and original marketing ploy I’ve seen at CES.

This week, Cult of Mac Magazine takes you to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show, CES.

Our intrepid writers — Leander Kahney, Traci Dauphin, Alex Heath, Buster Heine, Eli Milchman and Erfon Elijah — tested smart toothbrushes, electric bikes and heat-sensing iPhone cases.

All while balancing cocktails!

Our CES roundup brings you the best of what was on show in Vegas so you know which gadgets to look forward to in the spring.

As always, we’ve also got the best in new apps, music, books and movies on iTunes, plus the inside scoop from a real Apple Genius on what goes on behind the slick facade of the retail stores.

Cult of Mac Magazine

A seriously condensed condenser mic, Blue’s Nessie (named after the famous Loch Ness monster) advertises itself as one of the premier USB microphones out there, a device capable of capturing studio-quality recordings for everything from polished music demos to broadcast-standard voiceovers.

The Vegas show floor was packed with options to make your work day a little more fun — whether it’s how you get there with a great computer bag or keeping your iDevice cords out of the way. Or, at the very least, sound better, judging from the number of speakers blaring through the crowd.

Here are Cult of Mac’s picks!

This is Cult of Mac’s exclusive column written by an actual Apple Store Genius who answers all your questions about working at an Apple Store. Our genius must remain anonymous, but other than “Who are you, anyway?” ask anything you want about what goes on behind that slick store facade.

This week our Genius answers why the iPhone screen can be repaired in stores while the iPad has to be shipped away from special care. We also discuss whether working at the Apple Store can be turned into a solid career, plus the top 5 most annoying things customers do at the Apple Store.

Got a question you want the inside scoop on? Send us your questions and the answers will be published first in Cult of Mac’s Magazine on Newsstand. Send your questions to newsATcultofmac.com with “genius” in the subject line.

Q: Is it tough to work in an Apple store? What are some of the skills required to be a good Apple store employee?

Tough is relative. It’s not like I’m breaking my back with arduous labor to help people, although the job can be draining, both mentally and emotionally. The toughest part about it for me is dealing with unruly customers. It requires a lot of patience and composure. Customers tend to throw a fit if we do not “surprise and delight” them with their options while managers keep us busy pushing upgrades and services.

Add in the unrealistic work loads and it is a combination for madness. During our busy times, which seem to be most of the time at our store, I may be helping three people at a time while those who wait stare at me wondering when I’m going to get to them. Multitasking abilities are a must.

Q: How do I get rid of “Find my iPhone” or the activation lock on an iPhone I bought from a non-owner?

My first bit of advice before purchasing a used iPhone is to make sure the previous owner has disabled Find My iPhone and erased the contents. If the seller erases the iPhone from the settings app find my iPhone will prompt the user to turn off Find My iPhone. If you have purchased an iPhone that has the activation lock, the only way to remove the lock is to contact the seller.

They can remove the lock in two ways. The first is by entering the Apple ID and password on the device will remove the lock and them you can proceed with the setup. If the seller can’t come and unlock the device for activation, you can have them remove the device from their iCloud account on iCloud.com. First turn the iPhone off. Then have the seller log into iCloud.com and go the Find my iPhone web app.

At the top of the page is the “All Devices” button, click it to show the devices linked to the account and select the sold iPhone. Click Remove from Account on the page that shows the sold iPhone. You should now be able to power up the iPhone and set it up.

Q: How can I replace my Apple headphones when my store is 100 miles away?

If you don’t have an Apple Store near you can request service or replacement for your Apple products at getsupport.apple.com. Select the device that your Earbuds came with on the support website and follow the given steps to request service. You will be given the option to send them in and have a replacement sent to you. You will need to enter the serial number of your device when prompted to check your coverage. If you purchased just the EarPods, you can set up a call for support online or just call 1-800-MY-APPLE and ask to have the EarPods replaced since the “Send in for Service” option online requires a serial number. Have your proof of purchase ready for verification and they can set up a replacement and have you send back your old pair.

One of the first video games I ever finished was 1985’s Kung Fu, a port of a Japanese arcade game (Kung Fu Master)for the original Nintendo system. It was a side-scrolling beat ’em up about a guy fighting through five floors of a goon-filled building to rescue his girlfriend, and even though it’s probably not nearly as good as I remember, it’ll always have a special place in my nostalgia bank because I was so good at it back then.

Fightback is a new free-to-play fighter from developer Ninja Theory (makers of super-shiny console games like the PlayStation 3’s Heavenly Sword and the recent reboot of Devil May Cry), and it’s basically an updated version of Kung Fu. It even has the same 2D gameplay and girlfriend-rescuing premise and graphics and music that call back ridiculous action films from the ’80s.

So needless to say, I like this game a lot.

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!

Best Albums

Patterns – Waking Lines

Patterns broke into the British music scene in late 2011 thanks to their brokenhearted single Induction but rather than quickly releasing their debut album the group has been slowly crafting one of the best albums we’ve heard all year. Maybe that’s not saying much seeing how it’s early January, but the band’s theme’s of late-night hallucinations and dream states are filled with chilly/wavy sounds that remind me a lot of Youth Lagoon.

iTunes – $8.99

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – Wig Out At Jagbags

The new year has only just begun, meaning most artists are still waiting til the holiday season settles before releasing new tunes, but Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks released the first album to really get me excited with their sixth effort – Wig Out At Jagbags. If you’ve been hungry for a solid new alternative album filled beautiful guitar riffs, tonal shifts and a stream of witty lyrics, snap this up.

iTunes – $9.99

John Newman – Tribute

I’m not going to lie, when I quickly glanced at this album title, my CES-addled brain thought it was a musical tribute to Paul Newman. It’s not. Then I saw John Newman play his single Love Me Again on Jimmy Fallon and, holy moley, this dude can sing and perform like no other. The album has been out in the U.K. since October, but U.S. listeners can finally grab it from iTunes this week.

iTunes – $7.99

Best Books

Why I Read: The Serious Pleasure of Books
by Wendy Lesser

Reading more is one of the most popular New Years Resolutions which makes Wendy’s Lesser’s book, Why I Read, so timely and the perfect book to motivate you to read more. Wendy Lesser explores literature in all forms – plays, poems, essays, and more – as she examines the works from perspectives like “Character and Plot,” “Novelty,” “Grandeur and Intimacy,” and “Authority.” If this book doesn’t spark your desire to read you might as well give it up entirely.
iTunes – $11.99

The Secret History of Las Vegas
by Chris Abani

I just spent the last five days slogging through the horrors that CES has to offer in Vegas this year, but unfortunately I never had time to actually explore the city. Chris Abani’s book takes readers on a crazy ride through Sin City as Las Vegas detective Salazar is determined to solve a recent string of murders in this offbeat crime novel packed with explosive prose.
iTunes – $9.99

Belle Cora
by Phillip Margulies

Belle Cora is loosely based on the life of a 19th-century prostitute of the same name. It’s written as a two-part memoir by one of San Francisco’s wealthiest old women who inherits a fortune from her deceased husband. The book travels through the heroine’s story of her rise and fall, from living on a farm, working in mills to eventually bumping shoulders with the elite of New York before being drawn to California in the gold rush.
iTunes – $9.99

Best Movies

Blue Jasmine

Woody Allen is old. He’s made tons of movies. Like 71 total. You’d think by now he’d just start sucking harder than a Hoover vacuum, but Blue Jasmine is proof that the 78-year-old director from Brooklyn has no plans of slowing down with this excellent tale starring Cate Blanchett as a troubled New York socialite looking for a fresh start in San Francisco.

iTunes – $17.99

Inequality For All

The widening income gap between the mega-wealthy and all the rest of us is starting to become the hot button topic in politics as the U.S. barrels toward mid-term elections this year. Former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich takes the issue head-on in his new documentary Inequality For All as he looks to raise awareness of the country’s widening economic gap and the consequences it will have on democracy itself.

iTunes – $9.99

Bad Grandpa Uncut

Johnny Knoxville and the Jackass crew have been making me laugh since I was in high school. You’d think their inappropriate stunt humor would be stale by now, but Johnny’s managed to mix it up just enough with some new twists by suiting up in his grandpa costume to take on the persona of 86-year-old Irving Zisman who takes a trip from Nebraska to North Carolina to take his 8-year-old grandson, Billy, back to his father.

iTunes – $19.99

If you made a New Year’s resolution to start hitting the gym, eat better, or improve your overall health, this Bluetooth-capable body scale is the perfect way to track your progress.

This sleek, futuristic-looking scale does more than just tell you how many holiday pounds you’ve packed on (or lost!), it also measures and records weight, fat, BMI, water, muscle, and bone indexes, giving you a detailed picture of your body composition. And Cult of Mac Deals has it for only $99.95 for a limited time.

Google controversially brought Gmail and Google+ closer together this week by introducing a new feature called Email via Google+, which allows anyone with a Google+ account to send messages to your Gmail inbox — even if they don’t have your email address. Unsurprisingly, most Gmail users aren’t so keen on it.

But you’ll be pleased to know there is a quick and easy way to disable Email via Google+ — just follow the steps below.

Android-powered video game consoles like the Ouya haven’t exactly been a huge success, but Chinese electronics maker Huawei is hoping to change that with Tron, a device that looks remarkably similar to Apple’s new Mac Pro — albeit a lot smaller. It’s powered by a quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 4 processor and 2GB of RAM, and it’s expected to cost less than $150.

Siri has a dark side. Try to send a text in a movie theater, and you might feel the life-destroying wrath of Apple’s perky AI helper.

That’s the message delivered in a new PSA-style video that’s the Alamo Drafthouse‘s latest salvo in the war on rude moviegoers. The creative clip, which will be shown ahead of screenings of Spike Jonze’s Her at the indie tastemaker’s theaters, uses the voice of Siri to send an anti-texting message.

Speaking to Apple employees who worked at the company during its first decade, the people who seemed most frustrated were the ones tasked with getting big business to buy Apple computers, instead of the IBM units they were used to. What a difference a day several decades makes.

Although Windows is still the operating system system you’ll find in most corporate and government offices today, a new study by Forrester Research shows how the popularity of iDevices is prompting corporate tech managers to change their traditional buying habits.

Yesterday came and went like any other day, but it was in fact the seventh anniversary of the iPhone launch, which took place back in 2007.

What better way to celebrate, then, than with a free game of Pac-Man, which was part of the first wave of games for the iPhone when the App Store first opened?

Panasonic, maker of everything from vacuum cleaners to bikes, can now count itself as a maker of awesome lenses. The brand-new Leica 42.5mm f1.2 for Micro Four Thirds cameras is not only impressive specs-wise (it’s an ultra-fast 85mm equivalent portrait lens) but by all accounts it takes some pretty amazing pictures.

Pogoplug, the official iOS client to the Dropbox alternative of that name, has been updated for iOS 7.

The iOS 7-optimized features offer several enhancements, in addition to matching the look and feel of Apple’s latest mobile OS.

Here’s another keyboard from Matias to get you through this post-CES Friday. This one is called the SecurePro, and it’s target market might be the smallest intersection of any Venn diagram ever: Users who want a stylish Bluetooth keyboard AND who require 128-bit AES encryption of its wireless connection.

We first reported on it back in May last year, and now Apple’s latest Beijing store has finally opened.

The store is located in China Central Place, a large mall area on the east side of Chaoyang district which is home to a number of high-fashion and other luxury brands.

Photoful is a great photo-browsing app that offers an alternate – and in many ways better – view of your iOS photos. You can see all your pictures on one long scrolling timeline, and when it comes to adding captions and tags, Photoful makes iOS’ Photos app look like something that crawled out from under a PC.

From multimedia robots to genuinely stylish smartwatches, there’s a lot of tech at CES that falls into the “would like to have” category. There’s relatively little, however, that classifies as a genuine “must have.”

That may have changed with the appearance of the Finsix laptop charger, which used a high frequency switching technology developed at MIT to impressively shrink the size of a standard laptop charger to something that could charge your iPhone.

Cult of Mac reader Christian Kos wrote to ask a couple of questions about shooting photos on a camera and importing them to the iPad using the camera connection kit. Specifically, he wanted to know

1. If there was any difference between slurping the pictures into the iPad using the SD card adapter in the camera connection kit, or connecting the camera direct via USB cable and
2. Whether the iPad actually gets the full-res pictures from the camera (in Christian’s case, a Fujifilm X100S (great choice BTW!)

Long answers below. Short answers: No and yes.

Danilo’s Command-C app is cool in many ways, but here’s just one thing it can do that’ll make you smile. With the app installed on both your Mac and your iPhone, you copy a URL on your Mac, click the menubar item for your iPhone, and your iPhone gets a notification. Whatever your copied is now on your iPhone’s clipboard, ready to paste, all without launching the iOS version of the app.