Back in the day, I used to care for a couple of labs full of Macs. Invariably, I’d find myself in the lab at the end of the day, shutting them all down for the night. I’d run up and down the rows of eMacs or whatever they were at the time, and hit the power button, then click on the Shut Down button. Or, if I was feeling frisky, I’d just hold down the power button until they shut off.

This took some time, needless to say. I wish I’d known of these useful keyboard commands to shut down or sleep the Macs, saving myself several minutes each day.

Keeping with the times, musician Neil Young is set to launch a storming attack on Apple’s iPhone iPad iWatch iPod with his forthcoming PonoPlayer.

Young is set to exhibit the PonoPlayer, alongside a music download store called PonoMusic, at this year’s SXSW.

Popular (and speedy) Reddit client app AMRC has just received a major update.

Adding a new icon for the app, the update also offers (for a $2.99 in-app purchase) some premium features, including night mode, search, and shortcuts to save subreddits.

The Stubilizer is an accelerometer-and gyroscope-controlled mount for GoPro cameras, and it’s designed to smooth out shaky video shot with the action sports cam. Designed by extreme sports junkie Stuart Smith, the rig is small and light enough to mount ion a helmet, and it uses little motors so it doesn’t’ need giant cantilevers and counterweights.

iPhone users may be “wall huggers” according to BlackBerry CEO John Chen, but that doesn’t mean that he’s not taking a page or two out of the Apple playbook.

Describing his vision for BlackBerry in a recent interview with the New York Times, Chen compared his present situation to that of Steve Jobs returning to a beleaguered Apple in the late-1990s.

Mujjo’s new “Understated & Low-Key” case collection is out, and if you like slick and simple leather sleeves for your devices then you’re in luck. I have my eye on two pieces: the Slim Fit iPhone 5s Wallet and the Slim Fit iPad Air Sleeve , both in tan.

iOS comic book-fans can rest easy with the knowledge that Marvel’s Avengers Alliance app is set to be updated with new missions and content relating to this year’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy movies.

The Winter Soldier missions will be available to play later this month, while the Guardians of the Galaxy content will include one-by-one introductions of the film’s characters.

The Miracle Machine is an iOS-connected device that turns bread into fish. Wait, no… It turns water into wine. Only instead of doing it lickety-split to please an angry crowd like that Jesus fella did back in the time of the dinosaurs, it does it with grape juice and yeast, and takes however long it takes for wine to ferment to make.

Arq Backup is like Time Machine for your Mac, only it uses Amazon’s Glacier and S3 for storage instead of a local disk. It also looks dead easy to use.

This is pretty neat – it’s a clutch bag for a lay-dee, and it has a pocket for the iPad, as well as a spot inside for your iphone. If you were to lead it up with your cash and credit cards too, you could get one step closer to losing all of your valuable at once.

I’d say there are enough times you’d need to protect your iPhone whilst using it outside that something like the Surf Sound Play is necessary. I’d also say that Pyle Audio can and has done better. The Surf Sound Play case might work and sound great, but it looks like somebody found it in the dumpster round back of the worst dime store on the block.

Holographic iPhones armed with pico projectors have been a favorite of concept makers since at least 2011, but some things never go out of style, as SET Solution proves with this stunning concept video of the holographic iPhone 6.

The rumors swirl that when Apple unveils the next iPhone in September this year, it will boast a much larger screen. But what would a thinner, 4.7-inch iPhone with a 1080p display, upgraded 10-megapixel camera, and a 9% thinner enclosure look like?

According to this concept by designer Sam Beckett, nearly identical to the current iPhone 5s. Yes, it would be bigger, but it would otherwise have the same proportions, short of shaving a millimeter or two off of the side bezels.

If Apple does release a so-called iPhone Air, I bet this is how they will actually do it. It will look like a natural evolution of the iPhone line so far, not a major design shift.

Despite being a world where one-third of new iOS games are Flappy Bird clones, it’s impossible to say that the App Store doesn’t serve up some genuinely original game fare from time to time.

The eccentrically titled Floyd’s Worthwhile Endeavor is one such title. Resembling one of Terry Gilliam’s surreal animated openings to Monty Python’s Flying Circus, this is a 2-D platformer, that borrows its inspiration (and its graphics) from the the 19th century photography of photo-pioneer Eadward Muybridge.

Three new security phones have come into the spotlight recently: The Geeksphone Blackphone, the Boeing Black, and FreedomPop’s Privacy phone.

These phones take similar routes to security, from what we know so far. They’re loaded with encryption, security apps and other features.

But there are two feature on at least one of these phones that should be a standard part of Android.

The $629 Geeksphone Blackphone, made in partnership with Silent Circle, uses a forked version of Android called the PrivatOS. First, the system confronts you with choices when you install an app, enabling you to choose exactly what personal information is available to each app — individual permissions on each source of data that each app requests. And second, after apps have been installed, a “Security Center” lets users enable or disable specific permissions for each app.

Why aren’t these two features built into standard Android?

Today is Daylight Savings Time in the United States, which is always a hazardous time of year for owners of iOS devices. Why? Because try as Apple might they just can’t seem to release a version of iOS that does not have that are triggered by the switch to Daylight Savings Time.

No joke: Apple has had bugs come up in iOS after the switch to Daylight Savings Time in 2010, 2011, and 2012, while 2013 saw a similar New Year’s Bug screw up Do Not Disturb for device owners. Now here we are in 2014. Does iOS 7 contain a Daylight Savings Time bug?

It does! If you open Calendar on your iOS 7 device, you will notice that while the time of your operating system is set correctly, the line marking the time in Calendar is an hour old. It’s a minor bug, but hey, how would we remember Daylight Savings Time at all if our iOS devices didn’t go wonky once a year because of it?

Thanks: Shane C!

In today’s world everyone is looking for a leg up. Train Simple provides you with an opportunity to take your craft to the next level or learn a set of skills that will prove to be invaluable.

This Cult of Mac Deals offer will help you master Adobe and web design with ease anytime and anywhere, courtesy of Train Simple. You’ll get lifetime access…for only $79!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvT0MCugb58

In collaboration with Chaotic Moon Studios, Pizza Hut has unveiled a concept for what it will be like to order a pizza in their stores in the future: on a giant, iPad-like touchscreen table, using an iPhone’s built-in NFC for user identification and payment.

From “no-button” design and multi-touch controls, to wireless technology and laser tracking, Apple mice have seen a lot of changes over the past decade or so.

Although Apple computers have come with mice since the Lisa first shipped in 1983, the company has constantly changed the look and feels of its mice over the intervening years to suit changing tastes — as well as the different ways in which we interact with our machines.

In terms of the biggest changes with Apple mice since 2000, there are few better people to talk to than Abraham Farag, Apple’s former Senior Mechanical Engineer of Product Design.

Today the owner of successful product development consultancy Sparkfactor Design, Faras was part-responsible for many of the big innovations with Apple mice named above — and was able to shed light on how they came about.

When an app reaches the Top Ten Grossing List in the “Graphics and Design” category of the Mac App Store, and remains there since its March 2012 launch, there’s a good reason behind it. The app we’re offering this time around through Cult of Mac Deals fits that description…and then some.

Need to quickly lay out documents and get them ready for publishing? Swift Publisher is a page layout and desktop publishing app that is designed to streamline your workflow – and you can have it for just $9.99.

Corning — or at least a representative executive of said company — did its best this week to shatter excitement around Apple’s Sapphire embrace — or, at least, make the benefits of Apple’s glass strategy less clear.

Corning Glass senior vice president Tony Tripeny laid on the FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) pretty thick during a Morgan Stanley conference this week.

Here’s what Corning doesn’t want you to know about sapphire iPhones. 

Hallelujah, iOS has come to the car! And on this week’s CultCast, we’ll tell you what we love and don’t about Apple’s new CarPlay-enabled automobiles. Plus: why Apple’s best years are still to come; why iOS 7.1 could drop at any moment; rumors of new iPhones every six months; and we pitch our favorite tech and apps on an all new Faves ‘N Raves.

Heartily laugh your way through 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.

And thanks to Backblaze online backup for supporting this episode! Founded by ex-Apple engineers, Backblaze was built to work seamlessly with all the Macs in your life. Get easy-to-use, unlimited backup for your Macs and external hard drives—try it for free at Backblaze.com/cultofmac.

Full show notes up next.

There is nothing worse then being stranded with no charger and no battery power. Life gets dangerous without your lifeline to the digital world.

The TOCCs Ultra Slim 10 Hour Battery Case is a lightweight and seamless solution to the inevitable battery problems of the iPhone 5/5s. Snap it in and you’ll get to continuous use on your device, completely uninterrupted for up to 5 extra hours. And Cult of Mac Deals has it for 68% off the regular price…only $24.99!

What would your desk look like if it were designed with computers — not books, pencils and papers — in mind.

Takes one to know one, Blackberry. The CEO of the beleaguered Canadian smartphone manufacturer — which recently celebrated achieving its first 0% market share since the smartphone wars started — is now calling iPhone owners “wall huggers.”