Cult of Mac

The genre of tower defense has been fairly represented on iOS over the past several years, with notable entries like Fieldrunners and Kingdom Rush turning in fantastic examples of fixed and variable path classic tower defense gameplay.

iPad-only RoboMouse HD, then, is a new, well-balanced entry to the genre, and while it brings nothing innovative to the table, it’s adorable and provides a solid set of features that make it an essential entry to any tower defense fan’s gaming library.

Getting kids to read 19th century literature is virtually impossible unless you attach a grade to it these days. While I was content with thick tomes of Brönte(s) and Austen in high school, my classmates were quick to avoid most books not written by popular authors within the last 20 years. If only someone made an infinite runner with book passages as the levels so children would have to look at words when playing games!

Stride & Prejudice by No Crusts Interactive is a surprisingly simple yet elegant way to read Pride & Prejudice without abandoning your love of repeatedly tapping your phone. You control the novel’s heroine Elizabeth (Lizzy) Bennet as she leaps daringly from sentence to sentence. Depending on which gameplay mode selected, you can actually read all of Pride & Prejudice at a leisurely pace.

The Commodore Amiga has become a classic target for nostalgic gamers to relive their early gaming experiences. iOS has seen its fair share of releases from the retro computing platform, including Battle Squadron One, Alien Breed, Babylonian Twins, and Defender of the Crown, just to name a few. There are several more in the works, as well.

Today, however, developer Cope-Com announced the release of classic two-player shoot-em-up, Battle Squadron, for OS X and PC. It follows up a successful iOS release in 2011 as well as one for Android in 2012.

Winter’s coming, which means colder weather. And we all know how annoying it is to use our smartphones with gloves on, constantly taking them on and off to make calls and send texts.

Well, no more. The touch-screen compatible gloves use sensor technology to conduct your skin through the material, and enable you to use any touch screen as if you had no gloves on at all. Grab a pair (or 5) of the perfect stocking stuffer for only $14 during this limited time offer courtesy of Cult of Mac Deals.

Former Apple CEO John Sculley has confirmed that he and a group of investors were lining up a bid for BlackBerry, but they waited too long and lost out. In an interview on Bloomberg Surveillance, Sculley reveals how he was surprised when the struggling smartphone maker announced a $1 billion investment deal earlier this week.

Apple is reportedly teaming up with new suppliers to boost production of the iPhone 5c and the iPad mini to meet strong consumer demand, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Wistron Corp., a manufacturer based in Taiwan that already produces smartphones for BlackBerry and Nokia, will be tasked with assembling the iPhone 5c; while Compal Communications, which currently works with Acer, Dell, Lenovo, and others, will manufacturer the iPad mini.

OS X Mavericks has been designed to optimize your Mac. Whether it’s an older Mac or a new one, a desktop or a laptop: Mavericks just makes everything work better.

One feature that helps in the effort to keep your battery from running out as fast as it could is App Nap, a way for your Macbook to put the apps that aren’t being actively used on a low-energy mode, which consumes less power, and helps your battery stay fuller, longer.

However, you can also turn this feature off for a specific app that you want to run at full power all the time.

If you have a lot of passwords — and who doesn’t these days — LastPass is one of the best, free ways to keep track of them on all your devices. With iOS 7, though, the old LastPass app was looking a little long in the tooth. It needed a new coat of paint. And now the iOS 7 update is here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3x-bAWZWPM

Will flexible, bendable smartphone screens ever become a reality? Samsung thinks so. In fact, if you ignore the hysterically douchetastic concept video they are using to promote the foldable Galaxy tablets of the future, Samsung says we should have folding displays on the market by 2015.

If you have been trying to find a gold iPhone 5s or a new iPad Air in stock, you probably know about Apple Tracker, a simple web app that checked Apple’s inventory in order to help you find the precise model you were looking for in stock.

Or, rather, knew about it. Because it’s dead. And Apple killed it.

In 2011, Jayna Murray was slowly, brutally murdered at a Lululemon shop in a Bethesda, Maryland shopping area. She was bludgeoned with a hammer, slashed over 320 times with a box cutter, then strangled to death. Next door at the Apple Store, employees heard her tortuous screams, but didn’t lift a finger. Not to help her. Not to call the police. Nothing. It was just a day after the iPad 2 launched.

Although no one in the Apple Store was complicit in the murders, it was still a PR disaster for Apple’s retail outlet. Now a new book called The Yoga Store Murder by Washington Post reporter Dan Morse delves into the murder and its aftermath.

The Lollipod is a portable trips that’s meant to come along with your where other tripod couldn’t, wouldn’t or shouldn’t. It’s an ultra lightweight camera stand that works with anything from an iPhone to a GoPro to a real camera.

Rdio promised us back in September that recommendations were on their way, and you’ll find them now inside the app’s latest iOS update. The release also delivers a redesigned stations player, various user interface improvements, and some bug fixes.

Booq’s new Viper hardcases are tough, zip-up versions of the regular Viper sleeve, an already very protective case to carry your MacBook or iPad. The hardcase is sized to fit an iPad, an 11-inch MacBook Air or a 13-inch MacBook Air. MacBook Pro users can suck it – it’s not like you ever leave the house with your giant computers anyway.

Music streaming service Deezer has today announced that it now has more than 5 million paid subscribers worldwide, and it’s launching a new native Mac app that will improve the Deezer experience on your desktop. The app will sync with your existing iTunes library, and it will allow you to store music locally for offline access.

Drawing apps on the iPad are pretty neat, but it always seemed to me that they cleaved to strongly to the limitations of the physical world. Why, for example, should your piece of virtual paper be limited in size and shape like a piece of paper paper? It shouldn’t. And that’s the premise of Sketchology, a vector app with an almost infinite canvas.

Remember those old “home of the future” TV episodes from the 1970s, which invariably ended up with something going wrong and an automated voice yelling warning messages?

Well, someone at Apple does too (hopefully minus the “something going wrong” part), since Apple’s latest patent — issued by the U.S. Patent Office — describes a wireless communication system able to predict when to turn on devices such as your lighting or air conditioning based on your current location as opposed to a pre-programmed routine.

Apple pushed out a nice new update to its Apple Store app for iPhone on Tuesday, which brings Apple Store gift cards to Passbook in the United Kingdom and other countries. The feature made its initial debut just over a year ago, but until now, it was only available to users in the United States.

It might have been the unsaid mission statement for quite some time, but now top executive Shin Jong-kyun has puts his cards on the table, telling analysts that after overtaking Apple in smartphones, Samsung aims to be the world leader in tablet computers, too.

Shin noted that Samsung tablet sales will exceed 40 million units this year — more than doubling the sales in 2012.

“Samsung tablet shipments started to grow remarkably since the second half of last year,” he said.

Everpix was euthanized yesterday, and is currently in read-only mode until the developers can figure out how to let users download their archives. Everpix, for those who don’t know, was an amazing service that slurped up all of your photos from your iPhone, your Flickr, your Instagram, your Gmail (!) and more, and put them all in one place. It removed duplicates, send you a daily mail showing you pictures from the same day in the past, and was generally the best solution to the problem of digital photo overload.

I’m working on a piece about alternatives (I have been using a few other services along with Everpix for the last few months), but until then I thought I’d remind you about Photojojo’s PhotoTimeCapsule, a semi-replacement for the Everpix Flashback.

I just found out that Aviiq’s sweet portable charging station comes in a mini version, and it’s made of felt. As someone who loves felted wool so much that I have both iPad bags and slippers in the magical material, I’m stoked about this tiny portable power package.

Just in time for the new iPad Mini, iDevices — the company best known as the makers of the iGrill wireless meat thermometer — has announced the launch of its new iGrillmini, an ultra-compact version of the device equipped with Bluetooth smart technology.

I’m an unashamed lover of Rickshaw bags, and the new Commuter 2.1 looks as good as any of the SF-based makers other bags. I actually tested the original Commuter way back in the mists of time and found it to be excellent but a little to bulky for me.

Now, though, my daily commute actually involves a bike ride across town instead of a two second lurch from bed to desk, and I do that ride on a Brompton with a front bag. And for this, the new Commuter looks to be ideal.

I’m pleased to formally introduce my new book on Apple’s head designer, Sir Jonathan Ive — Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products.

Published by Penguin Portfolio on November 14, it’s the first full-length biography of the worlds’ most-celebrated designer.

I’m super psyched about it. It turned out great. I managed to talk to a bunch of inside sources, who reveal some of Apple’s most guarded secrets about how the company really works.

Everpix, the young photo storage startup that aimed to solve your Photo Stream woes, is no more. Due to a lack of revenue and the inability to scale, the company’s founders announced today that the service will be shutting down in the coming weeks.