Cult of Mac

Amazon has added AirPlay support to its popular video streaming app – Amazon Instant Video. Starting today, the new feature allows iOS users to push video from their iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad to the Apple TV. Not quite as good as having an Amazon Instant Video channel on the Apple TV, but the move is sure to satisfy Amazon Prime users for the time being.

The update also includes more IMDB integration with cast info, ratings, trivia and quotes. Amazon also says the updated app is faster, more responsive and now supports concurrent downloads. There’s also a new “Customers who watched this also watched…” feature to help users discover more movies and spend more time and money on Amazon. The free update is available now in the App Store.

Source: iTunes

Thanks: Charles!

Would you pay for your favorite app more than once? App Store developers are betting that you will.

When Apple unleashes iOS 7 on September 18th, hundreds of thousands of apps will be revamped for the new operating system in the days and weeks to come.

Each major 1.0 release of iOS marks an opportunity for app developers to go back to the drawing board. And with its radically new design language and hundreds of new APIs, devs are seeing iOS 7 as not only a clean slate, but a chance to earn more money off their existing apps.

It was an impromptu family reunion whose RSVP list grew rapidly. In celebration of the recent rebirth of two prototype Twiggy Macs, many legends of Cupertino relived memories and reconnected with old friends in a private party held at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.

Attendees, many of whom held Apple badge numbers in the single or double digits, included (among others) Steve Wozniak, Andy Hertzfeld, Daniel Kottke, Chris Espinosa, Guy Kawasaki, Jerry Manock, Terry Oyama, Larry and Patti Kenyon, Rod Holt, Randy Wigginton and Wendell Sander. The soiree was arranged by longtime Apple employee Dan Kottke and Gabreal Franklin, former president of Encore systems and owner of one of the resurrected Twiggy Macs.

Apple’s venerable alumni laughed and reminisced with each other while playing with the rare prototype, commenting on early aspects of the design and who did what. “It’s got an hourglass cursor,” Andy Hertzfeld said. “I don’t remember that. Hey, I wrote that. It seems slow to me.”

Although we thought it was a pain in the butt to assemble, one thing TwelveSouth’s HiRise dock really got right was this core concept that a dock doesn’t have to be specific to one iPhone or iPad model, but can be universal as long as it uses a Lightning connector.

EverDock is a new dock that takes that concept even further. It’s a universal dock that will work with pretty much anything, whether an iPhone, a Galaxy S3, an iPad, or something weirder all together.

Yesterday, we showed you how to record your iPhone or iPad’s screen using Reflector, an app that runs on your Mac and records the iOS device’s screen via a little AirPlay magic.

Today, let’s talk about recording your Mac’s screen. I was surprised to find out that QuickTime Player (which is already on your Mac) will do this for free. Here’s how to make the magic happen.

Over the past few months, I have installed the iOS 7 beta on a lot of devices. Maddeningly, every time, I have had to reset my app layouts manually, dragging apps into folders and onto my preferred home screens, app by app.

If you’re dealing with a large number of apps — oh, say, 64 gigabytes worth, as I am — the best way to do this is through iTunes, but even in iTunes, the app organizer leaves a lot to be desired. But iTunes 11.1, shipping with OS X Mavericks, is going to change that a little bit.

Are you looking to pick up an iPhone 5s or 5c in person on Friday? Good news: Apple and official carrier and retail partners will be opening their doors an hour early.

Although you can’t preorder an iPhone 5s here in the States, Apple opted to allow people to reserve the iPhone 5s in China in order to better handle the frenzy of the coming launch day. Less than 24 hours later, everything but the 16GB Space Gray iPhone 5s sold out, and the gold model sold quickest of all.

What is it with wooden gadgets? Cases I can understand – cases have been fashioned from wood since cases were invented, but it seems like a poor material choice for most high-tech purposes.

Then again, it looks gorgeous, just like this wireless charging sleeve from Orée.

iOS7 has a ton of tiny touches that make life easier (like automatically zooming pixel-doubled iPhone apps on the iPad, and using the retina iPhone assets even on the iPad mini), but it looks like users of older versions of iOS aren’t being left out. Or maybe Apple really, really wants developers to go iOS7-only.

Who needs to carry a clutch of compatible cables just to charge a few gadgets when you could just toss the CrossLink into your pocket/travel bag and be done? Best of all, it costs less than many single dedicated cables.

Product managers at Nikon and Canon must be getting pretty worried about their bonuses right now – First of all they’re still being squeezed by cellphone cameras at the low end, and now even their high-end compacts look absurd in the face of Fujifilm’s latest offering, the X-A1. It’s a camera which costs around the same as Nikon’s P and Canon’s G cameras ($600), only it comes with an APS-C sensor and an interchangeable lens.

Apple has started airing its first TV ads for the iPhone 5c following the availability of pre-orders over the weekend. This particular ad, “For the colorful,” features the 5c forming in different colors out of liquid. It could easily be confused with a candy commercial at first, but it turns into a classic Apple ad about halfway through.

The 5c hits shelves this Friday alongside the 5s.

Thanks: Sean

Apple has seeded the OS X v10.9 Developer Preview 8  to developers this afternoon. The 8th Mavericks beta is coming to developers nearly two weeks after the 7th preview was released that came with new wallpapers. Developers can download the new beta build via the Software Update tool in the Mac App Store or directly from the Mac Dev Center.

Now that the pre-order season is done, and purchase time is just around the corner on September 20, Sprint is one of the first carriers out of the gate with a new enticement for potential new customers.

Staring the same day the iPhone 5c will be available, Sprint will give you $100 off any new phone when you switch your current cell phone number over to Sprint. That includes the iPhone 5c and–when available–the iPhone 5s.

Considering that the basic 16 Gb iPhone 5c is set to retail for $99 with a qualifying two-year carrier plan, it looks like you’re going to be able to get one for what amounts to free, if you switch over to Sprint.

Apple’s new 64-bit A7 processor promises to make the iPhone 5s one of the fastest smartphones the world has ever seen, and with its launch day looming a mere four days away, Apple is making sure developers get their 64-bit apps submitted in time for launch.

A new note was posted in the Apple Developer Center this afternoon alerting developers that they can submit 64-bit apps for iOS 7 starting today: 

Mobile start-up Bump just announced that it has been acquired by Google in a blog post on Monday.

The company was founded in 2008, making a name for itself on the hot technology of bumping phones together to share contact data. The app has been downloaded over 100 million times, and continues to get updates. The same team released a fairly popular photo-sharing app called Flock last year, as well.

The acquisition was reported on AllThingsD as netting the company somewhere between $30 and $60 million.

As one of the year’s most anticipated games, Grand Theft Auto V is sure to be one of the biggest time sucks you’ve ever experienced. To keep you plugged into its action adventure open-world game more than ever before, Rockstar has launched a companion iOS app for the console game called “iFruit.”

The companion app allows GTA V players to to create their ultimate vehicle from the Los Santos Customs shop. Players can customize everything from the paint job down to the body armor, place an order, and then find the vehicle waiting in the shop when you boot up your console. You can also use the app to train and play with your canine sidekick Chop. The more you play, pet and feed your virtual Rottweiler, the more useful he becomes playing alongside Franklin once GTA V launches on consoles September 17th.

Here are the full release notes:

Robot Loves Kitty is the husband and wife team that lived in a treehouse to save money while they ran a Kickstarter project for the game that became Legend of Dungeon.

It’s out now on Mac, PC, and Linux, and it’s a brilliant combination of high tech, retro-graphics, and a strong sense of irony, not to mention whimsy. When I chatted with Alix Stolzer (Kitty) at PAX this year, she mentioned that she and Caleb Goble (Robot) liked vastly different types of games, so they decided to make one they could play together.

From those humble beginnings, they’ve succeeded, at least, in making a game that allows up to four players to explore procedurally generated dungeons together, to fight various monsters, explore environments, and try to stay alive. The game works with keyboard and mouse or console-style controllers, with a real-time battle system. Also, there are funny hats! If you take some time to give this one a play; you won’t be disappointed.

We haven’t seen any gold iPad mini 2 cases leak yet, but now that Apple’s announced the gold iPhone 5s, could a golden iPad mini with Retina display and Touch ID be on the way?

Our favorite Apple concept artist, Martin Hajek, has created a new gallery of mockups that showcase a gold iPad mini next to a space gray iPad 5, both of which are also rocking Apple’s fancy new Touch ID sensor. While we doubt Apple will release a gold iPad mini, a gold iPhone sounded crazy just two months ago, so maybe Apple will surprise us again.

Would you be interested in a gold iPad? Take a look at the pics below and tell us your thoughts in the comments:

iOS 7 is coming this Wednesday, September 18, and it’s going to be a fairly simple upgrade. You’ll be able to just update your iOS device without any trouble, most likely over the air or by connecting to iTunes. No fuss, no muss.

However, you do most likely want to make a backup in case things go awry during the update process. Chances are you already have a backup if you use iCloud or iTunes, but here’s how to make a manual backup, just in case.

Thanks to all of Jony’s changes with iOS 7, every app developer in the world is hurrying to finish their iOS 7 overhaul. Twitter is busy at work on their update too, except rather than just making everything flatter with shimmering gradients, Twitter plans to introduced a new feed dedicated to everything about TV, according to AllThingsD.

Twitter’s not just focusing on aesthetics for the iOS 7 redesign, as the company wants to make its mobile apps more appealing for casual users. According to AllThingsD, the new TV feed will become a big part of Twitter’s pitch to connect to new users:

Before Apple is able to officially unveil its free new iTunes Radio feature, popular music-streaming service Rdio has revealed that it has struck a deal with Cumulus Media and plans to bring a free version of its service to the market.

The new deal will give Rdio users access to Cumulus’ 525 radio stations which will strip out localized traffic and weather details as well as be used to create playlists and other programs based on the stations and their syndicated shows, explains the New York Times:

Alright, stop me if you’ve heard this one:

An unseen protagonist, armed only with a flashlight, sets off on an investigation into some spooky woods. With no map, our hero wanders through the forest gathering a bunch of pages for unknown reasons with a shadowy, black-clad figure in pursuit. The tormentor can appear anywhere at will, and if you look at it too long, the game will end, and you will have to start over from the beginning.

If you think that sounds an awful lot like developer Parsec Productions’ instant classic Slender: The Eight Pages, you would be correct. But that’s also the premise of 3 Cubes Research Limited’s less ominously named The Woods, which is available now for iPhone and iPad.

I’m not really sure what else to say; The Woods is Slender with more pages, a less scary antagonist, and worse controls.

Some Apple fans were holding on to hope that Cupertino would unleash new iPads on the world at last week’s keynote, but even though the keynote came and went without so much as a glimpse of a new iPad, we might only have to wait a month until the next Apple event.

According to the French Apple-blog MacGeneration, Apple will host an event on October 15th to present the new iPad. While the site has got some rumors right, it’s also missed the mark on quite a few – including when they claimed new Mac Pros would be launch in Spring 2013 – so don’t put too much hope in this rumor just yet.