Worldwide smartphones shipments reached a whopping 251.4 million units during the third quarter of 2013, up 45% from the 172.8 million units sold during the same quarter last year, and 81.3% of them were running Android. The iPhone’s share fell to 13.4%, while Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform reached 4.1% — an improvement over last year’s 2.1% share.
iPad Day is less that 12 hours away if you live on the East Coast – or already here if you live in Japan. Either way, Apple fans across the globe are already lining up in front of the nearest Apple Store, waiting anxiously to fork over their cash for the new iPad Air.
We don’t expect to see quite as long lines as at the iPhone 5s and 5c launch last month, but early indications show that Apple’s new lightweight tablet will be in high demand over the weekend. One reader in Hong Kong told us their reservation system filled up in 15 minutes.
If you’re planning to brave the night in front of the Apple Store, tweet us a pic @CultofMac. If not, check out all these people crazy enough waiting for their iPad Airs.
Who doesn’t love bugs? Kids of all ages love them, of course, and in new educational app, Grandma Loves Bugs, they’ll get a chance to explore the wonderful world of the many legged creatures with ten super fun mini games and eight instructional bug videos for young kids.
The mini games include Spot the Difference, Magic Coloring, Letter Match, bug Spelling, Counting Fireflies, and more. The live action nature videos are fully narrated and teach kids all about the wonderful world of bugs, too. The artwork and pedagogy are spot-on, as well, so parents can feel comfortable releasing their tiny bundles of joy onto their iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch.
Check out this adorable video to see what we mean:
Boo Halloween — Entertainment — Free
Alright, so today’s app isn’t the most practical one you’ve ever seen. It’s not even the most clever. But it’s fun and easy to use, and it’s Halloween, damn it. Boo Halloween is a quickie photo app that lets you put a variety of spooky faces on pictures of you and your friends using reasonably accurate facial recognition. It comes with six masks — four of which are pumpkins — and you can buy nine more for a dollar if you think your buddy would look better as Batman, a zombie, or Billy, the puppet from Saw. Not much to it, but it’s silly, and it made me chuckle.
While malware isn’t as widespread or as common on Macs as it is on PCs, you’re kidding yourself if you still believe OS X is immune to it. It’s a very real threat, and if you’re not careful about what you download and install, you could end up with a serious problem. But there are ways in which you can avoid it.
There are anti-malware programs that will detect threats, of course, and OS X now has some nifty tools built-in that prevent software from running on your machine if it’s not from a trusted source. And if you’re a Google Chrome user, you’ll soon find that malicious downloads are blocked automatically.
Yesterday, I reviewed the first part of The Hunting, an interactive zombie film for iOS devices. I had some issues with its actual interactivity, which mostly amounted to swiping to put on pants and a meaningless choice between leaving a house through a window or a door.
Part 2 is out now, and unlike the first installment, it costs money. But it’s longer, has more interesting decision points, and is scary as hell.
So basically, remember the problems I had with the first one? Forget them.
The FAA has today announced that it will finally allow the use of certain electronic devices during all phases of flight — including takeoff and landing. We’ve long been able to use devices while the plane is in the air, but you’ll no longer be forced to turn them off and put them away at certain times.
We know clothing isn’t our niche but geeks still need to look good…right?
If your goal is to become the biggest rock star the galaxy has ever seen, then pay homage to the original guitar “Solo”-ist with this galactic t-shirt courtesy of Cult of Mac Deals at a price that also rocks: $15.99.
Following on from the news that Samsung shipped 2.6x the number of smartphones that Apple did last quarter, new figures released by research firm IDC show that Samsung tablet shipments grew by 123% to 9.7 million tablets over the same period. While Apple still leads the way with 29.6% of the tablet market, this is down considerably from the 40.2% share the company captured during this same quarter last year. Samsung meanwhile holds a company record 20.4% of the market, while Asus holds 7.4% (representing a 53% year on year increase). The two biggest growth companies for tablets are Acer and Lenovo — with their shipments increasing 346% and 420% respectively to represent 0.9% and 1.1% of the overall market.
If you’re trying to download the free OS X Mavericks upgrade via the Mac App Store and it’s getting stuck, you’re not alone. As you can see int he image above, some folks are seeing a paused download when trying to upgrade to Apple’s latest and greatest Mac operating system.
Roberto Baldwin over at the Wired GadgetLab has a fairly easy solution, and I figured I’d share it with you.
Unofficial iDevice chargers have taken the form of everything from the hand crank to to the camp stove, and now it seems that Apple is getting in on the act too by taking out a patent for portable solar panel chargers. The patent application — filed with the US Patents & Trademark Office — details a power management system incorporating a solar panel accessory, compatible with both Macs and iDevices, and potentially attached by way of a USB connection. By turning solar energy into electricity, this could then be used to charge future iPhones or MacBooks without the need for a mains power charger.
What are the most popular colors of the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c? According to new data, it’s the space gray iPhone 5s and blue iPhone 5c. But availability may have more to do with that than anything else, at least for the iPhone 5s.
If you love Epic’s trilogy-concluding game of immortal swordsmanship, Infinity Blade III, things are getting better. As is their wont, Epic has opted to release a massive 1.1 Infinity Blade III update that adds a huge number of improvements, as well as new content including a new location and an enemy, the fearful Deathless Bloodmage.
The iPad Air is the first 9.7-inch Retina iPad to ship without an A-X series chip. Put more simply, it’s the first such iPad to forego bolting more graphic cores onto the core chip to drive the massive 2048 x 1536 display.
But if you think that means the iPad Air will have weaker graphic performance than the fourth-gen iPad, you don’t know Apple very well. In fact, graphic performance is as much as 70% better than the last 9.7-inch iPad.
When is the iPad mini with Retina Display coming out? Apple would only commit to November, but Cupertino’s third-party retail partners might have more information. In fact, they seem to think that the Retina mini will debut on November 21st.
Cloud computing giant Marc Benioff has praised hailed Angela Ahrendts, Apple’s new head of retail and online sales, as the “future Apple CEO.” Referring to her in a Tuesday tweet as “the most important hire Tim Cook has ever made”, Benioff’s toasting of Ahrendts has left analysts asking whether it is simply a show of support for Burberry’s outgoing CEO — or evidence that Benioff knows more than he is letting on, following disappointing fourth quarter numbers for Apple.
It’s a natural instinct to assume that a book written in the wake of a famous (and famously litigious) person’s death might well be a cash-in — particularly when the author of said book is an ex-lover, with an all-too-apparent axe to grind. That was my first instinct when approaching The Bite in the Apple: A Memoir of My Life with Steve Jobs, whose author, Chrisann Brennan, will be well-known to Apple followers as the first girlfriend of Jobs — and the mother of his daughter, Lisa Brennan-Jobs, who the Apple co-founder denied paternity of for many years. The suggestion that this is a money grab is seemingly backed up when Brennan starts the book by claiming that she not only never considered studying history, but had little interest in writing a book either: both seeming prerequisites for a person writing what essentially amounts to a modern history book. Misgivings deepen yet further when Brennan locates the book’s origins as following on from a 2006 spate of ill-health which left her financially destitute and “virtually homeless.”
The people behind Vybe are calling it a “smart bracelet,” because it’s missing a key element included in all smartwatches: the screen. Instead of relaying information through a display, Vybe vibrates, nagging you to look at your phone.
A device that repeatedly requires halting your current activity seems to defeat its own purpose — namely, untethering you from your phone. It’s also strange that Vybe’s promotional clip suggests you pick up your phone while driving, which is illegal in many states — including California, where WearVybe, the bracelet’s maker, is based.
Just over a week after 2K announced there would be a sequel to their turn-based strategy dogfighting game Sid Meier’s Ace Patrol, we now have details about pricing and release date, along with a wee screen shot to whet our appetites.
Today Apple acknowledged that a small number of its newest 13-inch Retina MacBook Pros have an issue that is resulting in the laptop’s trackpad and/or keyboard becoming unresponsive. Any machines that could be potentially affected by the glitch would have had to been purchased since Apple announced the new 13-inch model at its Oct 22nd iPad event.
“Apple is aware of rare circumstances where the built-in keyboard and Multi-Touch trackpad may become unresponsive on 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display (Late 2013) computers and is working on an update to resolve this behavior,” said the company. An Apple support forum thread with over 48,000 views is full of users who have been experiencing trackpad and keyboard glitches.
Until the update is available, Apple suggests closing the MacBook’s display for one minute to let it reset.
Source: Apple
Via: CNET
Auctions for rare Apple equipment have attracted a lot of attention the past few years, with prices for the Apple 1 going as high as an astounding $671,000! Another Apple 1 is going up for auction in Germany next month on November 16, but in addition a very different rare Apple item will be on the same auction block. One of only two known working Twiggy Macs in the world is going up for sale.
Twiggy Macs were prototype versions of the original Macintosh and used a proprietary 5.25-inch floppy disk drive, instead of the 3.5-inch disk which ultimately shipped with the system in 1984. All Twiggy prototypes were ordered destroyed by Steve Jobs – and long thought lost – but the last couple of years have seen an eventful rediscovery of this piece of Macintosh history. Now one can be yours – if the price is right.
When you searched for apps in the App Store in iOS 6, you got a bunch of cards that you could swipe through to find the specific app you were looking for. To get back to the beginning, you’d need to swipe back as many of the apps as you’d swiped through, and that could take some time.
There’s a new little trick in iOS 7 that makes it a lot easier to pop back to the beginning of the cards.
I’m a huge fan of minimalist bags to carry about my tech items. Why drag around a massive messenger bag to just hold my Macbook Air, an iPad mini, and some power cables? Sometimes though, you need to carry more than just the basics, like a full size iPad, extra batteries, keys, wallets, books, and the like.
The Staad Slim Backpack, then, is a nice mix between these two extremes: it carries the essentials in a compact design, but has a bit more space than you’d think, letting me add in some extras, like a portable power-brick and a pair of glasses in a case.
Tellingly, this backpack is a well-designed thing of beauty, with nary a stitch or seam out of place. The zippers are solid and immeasurably useful, and the placement of pockets is ingenious. The clasp is simple yet secure, and the colors–from the chocolate leather of the front flap to the light brown of the waxed canvas to the inner lining’s patterned orange–just scream style and substance. This is a backpack I can use for a long, long time.
Maps© — Social Networking — Free
If you want to use Google’s Street View function without having to go into Apple’s occasionally dodgy Maps, you might want to check out Maps©. In addition to letting you look at people’s lawns like you’re there, you can also drop pins between two points to calculate distance (this gets less accurate the farther apart your points are), check traffic, and get directions. And if you want to see where your friends live (which is creepy, but I’m sure you might have innocent reasons), you can import their addresses from your contacts and drop pins there.
It does a bit of everything, really.
Parent thieves are the worst. They’re even more despicable when they kidnap your parents and fill the scary, nebulous cave system behind your house full of monsters!
This is Callys’ reality in Callys Caves. The evil Dr. Herbert has whisked Callys’ family away and its up to her to buy enough shotgun upgrades to slay her way to victory.