Cult of Mac

iOS 7 was a major reinvention of Apple’s mobile operating system, but despite all of the new colors, animations, and fonts, it’s still just a grid of apps in a day in which every other smartphone OS has moved on.

Nepalese designer Sangam Bhandari thinks Apple can — and should — further. In his latest concept, he imagines a new home screen that is more than just an app launcher, but something like a mash-up between Notification Center and the current Home Screen.

We think it looks great. Check it out after the jump and tell us what you think.

Timshel (“Time Shell”) is a pretty great looking new service that sends you prints of your own photos once a month. You know those cool apps which mail you your old photos every once in a while? It’s like that, only with real photos.

The creators of The Simpsons love poking light-hearted fun at Apple and its devices, so when Siri made another guest appearance alongside our favorite animated family this weekend, she was never going to be on her best form. But that’s okay, because as you’ll see in the clip below, it makes for an hilarious joke.

I just moved to Germany, which means that I get a lot more weather than when I lived in Spain. There, a quick once-a-week check was plenty to know whether you should get the umbrella from the attic. In Germany, I check every time I want to leave the house.

And now there’s a great app which will will let you customize your own weather notifications, right there on your iPhone.

Imagine Dropbox. That was easy, right? Now imagine that instead of having all your files stored on some NSA-bait server somewhere on the internet, those files are instead stored on a hard drive of your own. And yet they’re still as readily accessible from all your devices via the internet.

That was, admittedly, a little trickier to imagine. But it was worth it, because our collective thinking has somehow magicked the new Transporter Sync into existence.

If, as Tim Cook predicts, “it’s going to be an iPad Christmas” then December 25 has come early to Cupertino, on the back of reports that the iPad Air saw adoption rates of five times those of the iPad 4 following its opening weekend.

Do you like to enjoy the bounties of your own body while you’re on an audio-only Skype call? Who doesn’t, right? And so you’ve probably also “accidentally” enabled the camera and inadvertently revealed your shame at some point, too. What you need, my pervy, flashing friend, is the iShutter, a $15 strip of steel with a hole in it.

If you believe the reports, Apple is currently working on a way of charging iOS devices using solar panels. If you’re not content to wait, however, and want a quick-and-easy means of charging your iPhone or iPad right now, you might want to consider investing in this Indiegogo crowd funding campaign to create a mobile wireless charging solution for Apple products.

Based on the increasingly popular Qi inductive electrical power transfer system, iQi Mobile Wireless is set to bring true, low-cost wireless charging to iOS device. This is done without the fuss of plugging and unplugging wires, since charging is achieved simply by placing your iPhone or iPad on a Koolpuck charger.

Editorially is a web-based text editor that I wish I used. It has a gorgeous interface, lots of great collaborative features, and now it even exports to Dropbox and WordPress, which would let me write pretty much anything I ever need to write in it.

Sadly, I have no need for collaboration, and I swore of writing anything but an email address in the browser years ago after losing work to crashes.

ISkin’s Gravity collection will gather up anything and everything that wanders into its orbit and trap it in its dorktastic embrace. The range consists of two cases, the best of which is the Agent 6 Sling, a utility pack that even an infantryman would find hard to make full use of.

Google’s algorithmically-driven cars may be partially designed to give commuters more time to surf the Internet (using Google, natch!), but if a new report from ABI Research is anything to go by, it’s Apple who have the real early adopter advantage in terms of connected in-vehicle infotainment systems.

ABI Research forecasts that shipments of such infotainment systems, equipped with one or more smartphone integration technologies, will grow substantially over the next five years — reaching 35.1 million units globally by 2018. Of these, ABI projects an impressive 49.8% will be running Apple’s “iOS in the Car”, the standard for allowing iOS devices to work with manufacturers’ built-in in-car systems as unveiled during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference back in June.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has written an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal arguing in favor of the Employment Nondiscrimination Act, a proposed piece of U.S. legislation that protects against sexual identity and gender discrimination in the workplace. Cook occasionally gives media interviews, but him writing something like an op-ed out from under the umbrella of Apple is pretty significant.

iPads might seem the perfect device for government meetings (if only for a quick game of Angry Birds when things get boring), but not if you’re a member of the UK Cabinet.

This isn’t a review of the Nexux 5. Rather, it’s a review of Google’s new strategy of integration as displayed in the KitKat-running Nexus 5.

You’ll find a gazillion reviews on the Nexus 5 over the next month, some detailing every feature and function. In general, these reviews will tell you that the Nexus 5 is a great phone with a great form-factor and exterior design, incredible screen, good battery life and excellent general performance. They’ll also point out that nothing even comes close to the Nexus 5’s value for money ($349 unlocked). And Nexus5/KitKat has little surprises (such as LTE tethering, even on AT&T).

I’m here not to add yet another review to the mix, but to zero in on what really matters: How Googley is this phone, exactly?

The short answer is: pretty Googley but not Googley enough.

To the extent that Nexus 5 succeeds (is better than other phones), it succeeds with integration. To the extent that Nexus 5 fails, it fails to integrate.

Here’s what I’m talking about.

I picked up one of Apple’s new iPad Airs on Friday. I didn’t think I’d be impressed — but I am. It’s light, fast, and beautifully constructed. Is it the perfect tablet? It’s pretty close. Here’s all you need to know:

• It’s amazingly light. It almost feels hollow. It’s much lighter than you expect. Which means that it’s effortless to hold for reading and carrying around. It’s a big and important difference. It’s super portable.
• It’s plenty fast. Annoying little lags on previous iPads — like slow rendering Web pages with multiple tabs — are gone. It’s much more useable than my iPad 3.
• Battery life is great — more than 10 hours of continuous use.

And there you have it. It’s almost as light as the iPad mini with the speed and big, beautiful screen of a full-size tablet. Go get one. It’s great.

He may have been misquoted about disliking the new iPads, but Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak recently had something else to say which might prove even more controversial: that Apple and Google should work together.

“Sometimes I say ‘Go to Joe’s Diner’ and [Siri] doesn’t know where Joe’s Diner is,” Woz told the BBC’s UK technology program Click — adding that, “Usually I find out that Android does.”

Don’t look now, but kids want iPhones for Christmas. Well, a third of them do, anyway.

A survey of 12- to 17-year-olds conducted by Ebates found that an iPhone tops the wishlist. One third — specifically 32% — of those surveyed want an iPhone. (Some 12% want a Samsung Galaxy phone.)

Ho, ho, hold on a second. Is this a good idea? Should children “own” wireless gadgets?

If not, why not? And if so, which one?

Well, I’m going to tell you.

Do you have what it takes to bring Batman back to life?

When Batman is imprisoned alongside Gotham’s most notorious, he must discover Arkham City’s true purpose before it’s too late. Batman: Arkham City is an intense, atmospheric sequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum plunges Batman deep into a gothic nightmare from which he will need all his wits, gadgetry and skill to escape. And Cult of Mac Deals has it for just $14.99!

Here are just some of the gameplay elements that this game offers:

This week’s Cult of Mac Magazine is all about the mobile art revolution.

Thanks to its brilliant touchscreen, the iPhone put a sketchpad in our hands and then the iPad gave us a little more room to doodle. Just a few years on, mobile art has graced the cover of The New Yorker and been hung on the walls of traditional museums.

This issue explores the landscape of mobile art – we profile a host of iArtists on how they bring their work into the real world, take a close look at David Hockney’s iPad works writ large at the de Young Museum in San Francisco and give you tips on how to power up your mobile toolkit with tips on styluses, apps and more.

If you want to get your iArtwork in a museum, in front of kids in a classroom or printed in a book, we’ll tell you how Matthew Watkins, Sumit Vishwakarma and David Scott Leibowitz did just that.

We also bring you the best in new apps, picks from what’s worth your while in books, music and movies in iTunes and our exclusive Apple genius column delves into skirting the store’s EasyPay option and how to escalate to a manager if you need to.

Do you draw, paint, or create fine art with your iPad? Let us know in the comments.

Get your silver bullets and holy water ready dear friends, because our new CultCast: some Dell laptops are emitting a mysteriously pungent smell; iPad Air gets benchmarked, is murderously speedy; our fave photo app brings darkness… out of the shadows; Apple says some 5S batteries are dieing… faster than they should; Tim Cook says upcoming Apple products will blow… your mind; and we chant… aloud our favorite apps so you can vote on which is best… it’s an all new Faves N Graves!

Put down that candy and join us for this 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 spookiness begin.

The fine folks at Gaijin Games released the sequel to their hit Bit.Trip Runner game on Thursday and we can’t seem to put it down.

Originally set to be called Bit.Trip Runner2: Legend of Rhythm Alien, Bit.Trip Run! is a super fun romp through the whimsical environments as Commander Video, the Bit.Trip mascot, of sorts. If you play long enough, you’ll unlock seven other characters, including a pickle, along with 40 different costumes to run with.

Here’s a quick video we recorded to show you the fun.

This is Cult of Mac’s exclusive column written by an actual Apple retail store genius. 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.  

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.

This article first appeared in Cult of Mac Magazine.

This story first appeared in Cult of Mac Magazine.

It’s easy to think of David Scott Leibowitz, whose work fronts this week’s magazine cover,  as kind of a renaissance man 2.0: the artist, app developer and author is a tireless champion of the new when it comes to visual arts.

The iPhone just became much more cost-friendly in the second largest wireless market in the world. India’s third largest carrier, Reliance Communications, has started selling the iPhone 5c and 5s with a two-year contract. Indian customers have previously only been able to purchase the iPhone for its full, unsubsidized price off contract.

India is a key emerging market for Apple, and this move could significantly bolster iPhone sales in the country if it catches on at other Indian carriers.

This story first appeared in Cult of Mac Magazine.

Matthew Watkins spends a lot of time fingerpainting, but has also brought his handiwork into the real world on carpets, cars, plexiglass and the more usual prints.

He caught our eye in 2009, when his one-man show went up in an Apple reseller, the first of its kind. His early playful works seemed to dance across the iPad screen or knowingly frame scenes of daily life with his iPhone. Watkins lives in Southern Italy – by way of England and Canada – and has recently been involved in iPad art mash-ups and live fashion shows in Manchester, England and Florence, Italy. He’s also a founding board member of iAMDA (The International Association of Mobile Digital Artists).

We caught up with him to find out what apps have taken over his toolkit, why you should think big when it comes to printing and how he’ll be picking up a shovel for inspiration near Verona, Italy.

Cult of Mac: What have you been up to lately?

Matthew Watkins: 2013 was a year full of travel and fingerpainting, new technology and new collaborations.

In February, I worked on a multi-discipline project with the 154 Collective.  I was invited to participate on their two Manchester dates at the Lowry theatre. It consisted of an exhibition, theatrical production (for which we provided collaborative finger painted animations) and concert with live collaborative projected fingerpainting featuring Fabric Lenny, Benjamin Rabe and myself…

March was my biggest show so far. I was given a one-man exhibition at the Verona Natural Science Museum called “Uncontainable Art.”

The show was coordinated by the University of Verona in concurrence with the yearly science event “Infinitamente” (Infinitely) which showcases a new artist every year…It figured four works about three meters high and about 40 medium 50x70cm pieces.

I kicked it off with two days of workshops. It was great to be in such an old institution in an old city. The show ran through June and counted about 15,000 visitors.

CoM: These robotic fossils are a new thing for you. How did that get started?

MW: I was shown the museums collection of fossils from Bolca. It’s the largest collection in the world. Bolca is a very small area about the size of a fair sized pub. A geological fluke of nature with stacked a motherlode of perfectly preserved fossils with unprecedented biodiversity.

Fish fossils have inspired me since I was a child, but this was over the top.  I worked on my robotic fish fossils for a couple of months. First I started with robotic fish, then I inserted common everyday elements, including a broken iPhone 3g. Imagining a distant fossilized robotic future juxtaposed with our culture. Maybe 50 to 100 million years from now.

Then a funny thing happened. I got a phone call from the head of the fossil collection at the museum.  I went back to Verona and we chatted for two hours about fossils and art. He explained all about the strange origin of the Bolca fossils, and I explained what I was thinking. T

The deeper we got into it the more it seemed like a scientific/artistic collaboration. I had just made stuff up. He told me under what conditions things fossilize and how they might be preserved. For example, a jellyfish is 99% water, but in the right conditions it will fossilize and even retain some of its color.

So I am invited back in November to participate in some digs. I will dig for fossils and inspiration. I hope to be given some samples of Bolca rock from which to make to make my own real, robotic, fossils.

CoM: What else are you currently working on?

MW: Other than the fossils I am painting imaginary cities. I am fascinated by urban decay and architectural artifacts.

CoM: What new tools or apps are you using?

MW: My favorite painting app is by far Procreate by Savage Interactive. It has a perfect painting engine, amazing brushes, awesome resolution and as of recently video playback. Almost all of my recent work is done on it.
Sketchbook Pro is a great app.  Paper53 is also a fun app.

Brushes 3  and 4 are no longer supported, but the developer Steve Sprang has made his delightful vector app InkPad open source. This should be interesting. It’s like Illustrator for your iPad. I have used it for a number of logo designs.

One of the coolest apps is Tagtool for doing live shows. It allows you to create looping moving art on multiple layers. You can connect multiple iPads in a session for collaborative work. It’s one of the more expensive apps, but well worth the money. Looking forward to getting my hands on the iPad Air. Sounds perfect for tagtooling.

There are also some fun designing apps like Phoster and Over. You can comp quick fun designs from your art. Sometimes very convincing.

Stylii have improved since we last talked. There are a number of options for a pressure sensitive stylus. I use the Pogo connect. But mostly I just use my finger.

CoM: Any advice for artists looking to get their works off the iPad and into the real world – about printing, finding sponsors, opportunities?

MW: When you create virtual art how you output it becomes very important. I would think beyond letter size glycee prints. Experiment. There are no limitations. Paper, plastics, I have had great results with plexiglass. I have been commissioned to do a glass door, I am looking forward to that.

You should get your work out there, online, social media…make connections. Don’t be timid. People will notice you. Participate in competitions. But mostly, to paraphrase the great cyclist Eddy Merckx, “Paint lots.”

CoM: What are some ways that newbies can become a part of the online community?

MW: Don’t be shy and start uploading. All social media channels are open.
It seems a lot of the community has moved from Flickr to Facebook. It’s a big tribe now with lots of great art and lots of people getting their fingers dirty, so to speak, for the first time.

They are a very sharing lot and you can’t go wrong.

CoM: What mobile art shows or conferences will you be attending in the next six months or so?

MW: The curators at the museum would like to see me set up a show with my work hang side by side with some original fossils from Bolca. I think the result would be intriguing. I think it would make a great story. I am hoping for international interest in this show as the Museum has given me permission to ship the fossils.

I am participating in a show in Phoenix with some of my original core group of fingerpainting friends. That will be nice.  The show is to start February 2014 and run for a year.

I am also talking about going back to Bosnia and Herzegovina for another show. I had a great reception last time. I would really like to do workshops and some live painting shows this time.

You can check out more of his work on Flickr or his website.  

This story first appeared in Cult of Mac Magazine.