Cult of Mac

Phil Schiller just got done revealing Apple’s new line up of MacBook Pros that promise bigger performance in a smaller package. One thing Schiller didn’t mention though is that Apple has decided to kill the 15-inch MacBook Pros with optical drives that the company has continued to offer to customers.

Over the last few years Apple has stripped optical drives from the MacBook Pro and iMac to allow for smaller device profiles, but continued to offer the 15-inch MacBook Pro with an optical drive for professionals who still need to burn DVDs and CDs. If you still want a machine with a DVD drive, Apple hasn’t done away with all of your options just yet. The Apple Store Online still offers the 13-inch MacBook Pro with a SuperDrive starting at $1,199.00.

Apple has released iOS 7.0.3 following today’s keynote. The update is rolling out via OTA, and it is also available for direct download from Apple’s servers.

Included in 7.0.3 are a host of bug fixes, including one for a nasty glitch that was causing many iMessage users to pull their hair out. iCloud Keychain has also been added back to iOS 7 after its sudden removal during the beta process. Today’s update also fixes a software bug involving the iPhone’s accelerometer that got a lot of attention for causing incorrect measurements with the iPhone 5s.

Complete change log and direct download links are below:

Apple CEO Tim Cook took the stage today at San Francisco’s Moscone Center to kick off the special keynote event that we’ve dubbed here as the iPad Event.

Cook began his presentation with some numbers, including the nine million new iPhone 5s and 5c models that were sold over the first weekend of availability. Cook called it the biggest iPhone launch, ever, and showed a video to underline his point.

Tim Cook just finished revealing Apple’s Holiday line-up of the new iPad Air, iPad mini with Retina display, and new Macs and apps galore, but the Apple Store is already back online.

You can’t pre-order an iPad Air until it goes on sale November 1st, but if you’re looking to get your hands on the new MacBook Pros, or oogle at Mac Pro specs head to the Apple Store Online and dive right in.

The day has finally come. Apple has unveiled an iPad mini with Retina display. The second-gen model packs the new 64-bit A7 processor and the expanded LTE support in the iPad Air. Apple has also added another 128GB storage option to the Retina mini.

Color options for the new iPad mini are Space Grey and Silver, so no Gold this time. Apple has raised the price from $329 to $399, which likely has something to do with the higher expense of shipping a Retina display. Availability will begin “later in November.”

The first-gen iPad mini is still being sold, and Apple has lowered the price on that model to $299.

Apple announced the successor of the iPad, but rather than just calling it the fifth generation iPad the company deviced the improved device deserves a new name, so they’re dubbing it the iPad Air.

The new device is 20% thinner than the iPad 4 at a width just 7.5mm thin and weighs only 1 pound, making it the lightest full-size tablet in the world. Apple has shaved off space from the bezel as well.

iLife isn’t Apple’s only software suite that’s getting love today. Eddy Cue also demoed new versions of iWork, Apple’s productivity suite that has been in desperate need of a redesign for years. A big addition is full file compatibility on any iOS or Mac device and on web, so anything can be opened and edited no matter where you are.

Perhaps the best new feature in the new iWork is online collaboration. That’s right, you can have multiple people edit a single document, even people who are “stuck on a PC,” as Cue said. iWork for iCloud makes it easy to log in on the web and edit if you don’t have access to a desktop app.

Apple SVP Eddie Cue announced today that a new version of iLife for both iOS and OS X will be released today. All of the apps have been coded with 64-bit support as well as heavy iCloud integration.

iPhoto for iOS has been updated with an all new look. Apple has added Photo Books to iPhoto for iPad. You can arrange your own coffee table book and send it to Apple to be printed and then shipped to your house.

After announcing new MacBook Pros, Apple’s Phil Schiller turned everyone’s attention to the Mac Pro. The all-new Pro was originally teased at WWDC in June, and today Schiller called it Apple’s “vision of the future of the pro desktop.” Schiller also revealed that the Mac Pro will be assembled entirely in the U.S, as was previously rumored.

After months of waiting, Schiller finally unveiled the machine’s base price: a hefty $2999. An exact release date has still not been announced, but Apple says it will be available for purchase before the “end of the year.”

Phil Schiller just announced Apple’s new lineup of MacBook Pros with Retina display. The new machines received beefed up graphics, processors, and RAM, but Apple has been able to drop the price on both the 13 and 15-inch models.

Apple software chief Craig Federighi took the stage today to talk OS X Mavericks. With his usual sense of humor, Federighi demoed new features in Mavericks and joked about his sense of style with his wife via iMessage. He also announced that the new OS is shipping today.

Tim Cook has finally taken the stage in San Francisco. No big announcements have been revealed yet, but Tim started his keynote off by reiterating Apple’s earlier announcement that the iPhone 5s and 5c shattered previous launch weekend records with 9 million unit sales.

Cook also showed off a new video celebrating the iPhone 5s launch and announced that over 200 million devices were running iOS 7 after the first week of shipping, making it the fastest software upgrade ever. Over two-thirds of iOS devices are now running iOS 7.

iTunes Radio now has 20 million users since its launch this Fall and over 1 billion songs have been streamed. Apple also announced it’s paid over $13 billion to developers of the App Store.

Everybody loves the circus, right? You know, except for the animal abuse and the crowds and the terrifying clowns? The rest of it’s alright, though: Trapeze artists and human cannonballs and food that makes you wonder why we ever bothered inventing food before we had batter to dip and fry it in.

It’s in the spirit of the good parts of the big-top experience that we have Ring Run Circus, a self-described “ringformer” (like a platformer but with rings) by developer Kalio. It’s a two-button affair where you control one of three acrobats who skate around the surfaces of giant rings to pick up a key and take it to the lock to release the celebratory, end-of-level confetti.

It sounds simple, but its controls belie an intricate, complex puzzle game with impressive variety and challenge.

Looks like these dudes are trying to crash Apple's iPad event pic.twitter.com/oEyq4ntNUL

— Jon Erlichman (@JonErlichman) October 22, 2013

We’re less that 30 minutes away from the official unveiling of the iPad 5, iPad mini 2 and whatever other goodies Tim Cook and the gang have instore for us. The press are just about to be let in but it looks like some Android fanboys are trying to crash the party in their Android Bot costumes.

No idea if they’re from Google or just some happy fans doing some Android proselytizing for fun. Good luck getting in.

Source: Jon Erlichman

Backstep – Travel – Free

If you’ve ever traveled to an unfamiliar city, found a new café, or parked at a SuperTarget, you know the value of being able to get back to where you were. Backstep wants to help. It’s a new app by developer D Leak that lets you drop a waypoint at your current location with a single tap on your screen. You name the waypoint, then call up your various pins individually, and Backstep will show where you are in relation to it and update as you head back to your starting point. It’s a simple app with the cleanest of interfaces, and it might save you a few fights over which arbitrarily named row your car is in.

Backstep

Apple has a gorgeous shot of the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco on its website right now because that’s where today’s big iPad event is happening. We’re less than an hour away from kickoff, and Apple is live streaming the event on its website for the world to watch.

The image of Yerba Buena makes a great wallpaper. Here it is in full resolution for you to scale to your iOS device:

Forgetting the disaster that was Battlefield 3: Aftershock, I’ve always thought EA’s other Battlefield titles for iOS were pretty good. But the company has promised a new “high-end” and “high-performance” Battlefield title for mobile that could come a little closer to its console counterpart — and may even be able to “inter-operate” with it.

Apple’s iWork for iCloud apps have been made unavailable ahead of today’s iPad event, pretty much confirming that we will see updates for Pages, Keynote, and Numbers during the keynote. “In just a few short hours, you’ll be able to create and edit documents, and enjoy great new features,” a notice reads.

The Apple online store has gone down ahead of this morning’s special event event. When it comes back up, you can expect to see new iPads, updated MacBook Pros with Haswell processors, and possibly even a new Apple TV.

Even though most of the focus has shifted t the iWatch, people can’t seem to stop talking about Apple’s mythic HDTV, the iTV. Case in point: ahead of today’s iPad event, a Tokyo-based analyst has gone on record out of the blue saying 4K 55-inch and 65-inch iTVs are coming next year.

The Spotify app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch has finally been updated to support iOS 7. There are some subtle interface changes that better fit iOS 7’s new design guidelines, but it’s not quite the overhaul you may have been expecting.

Need a spot to stow your stylus when you’re not using it ti draw on the screen of your iPad mini? No, me neither. But I could find space for a case which holds a regular old ink pen, which Adonit’s Jot Tote will doubtless manage just fine. Hell, the slidey-out metal drawer could even be used to store a little chocolate snack as you read.

In OS X Mavericks, websites will be able to send you push notifications in Notification Center. This means, for example, that every time Cult of Mac publishes a new article, you could get a notification through Mavericks.

Sounds potentially maddening to me, but some big names are coming on board, with NBA.com and The New York Times enabling push notifications on their sites.

Who cares?

That’s the question I was asked time and time again when I told people that BBM was coming to Android and iOS. But it seems a lot of people care. In fact, when BBM finally made its cross-platform debut yesterday, the app was downloaded over 5 million times in just eight hours.

When you’re the head of one of the nation’s four largest mobile carriers, you’ve got access to a lot of phones. You’ve probably got to try them out all the time. But do you ever have access to so many phones that you forget which is which, or that the iPhone in your hand is not, in fact, a Samsung Galaxy phablet?