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Shadowgun: DeadZone Is Now Available For Free On Your Mac

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Shadowgun: DeadZone, the award-winning multiplayer shooter that has attracted millions of players on Android and iOS, is now available to download on your Mac.

Like its mobile counterparts, the desktop version is completely free, and you can even sign into the same account you’ve already been playing with — so all the characters and weapons you’ve upgraded will be available to you right away.

How Jobs Director Brought ‘Brutally Honest Character’ To Silver Screen

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Joshua Michael Stern, who directed Jobs, calls the late Apple leader a purist. Bingo!

It’s not easy making a posthumous movie about the world’s most well-known and beloved control freak. Just ask Joshua Michael Stern, director of new Steve Jobs biopic Jobs. The film delves into the early days of Apple Computer as Stern paints a picture of a man he calls a “brutally honest character.”

Don’t go into the PG-13 Jobs expecting any bombshells about Apple’s late, great maximum leader — you won’t find any. Instead, what you’ll get is a straightforward cinematic take on Jobs’ early partnership with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (played mostly for comic relief by Josh Gad), a healthy dose of Hollywood-style boardroom intrigue and a few glimpses into Jobs’ personal life. Many of the scenes, whether factually accurate or not, have been woven into the tapestry of tech history. And Jobs, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2011, obviously isn’t around to fact-check the past or exert his famous control over the final product.

“Part of the shackles for me as a director was, we really had to do everything that was sort of public domain, you know, we couldn’t stray too far off of what we basically knew about Steve,” Stern told Cult of Mac during a recent interview at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in San Francisco. “But the interesting thing about Steve, being such an enigma, there really isn’t that much more to know at all. I mean, everyone knows what they know.”

Bloomberg: Samsung To Unveil ‘Wristwatch-Like Smartphone’ At Galaxy Note III Event

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A Samsung smartwatch mockup.

We first heard that Samsung may be planning to announce its new “Galaxy Gear” smartwatch at its September 4 Galaxy Note III event earlier this month, but the rumor just got even stronger after it was confirmed by Bloomberg’s reliable sources.

They claim that the South Korean electronics giant will unveil a “wristwatch-like smartphone” powered by Android that will go head-to-head with the new Sony SmartWatch 2, and a potentially competing product from Apple, one of Samsung’s biggest rivals.

Jobs: A Spoiler-Free Review Of The Movie All Apple Fans Must See

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You're going to see; here's what to expect.
You're going to see it. Here's what to expect.

Look, I’ll be straight with you, I’m not a movie critic. Nope, just an average moviegoer. But I am an Apple fan, and probably, like you, one who greatly admired Steven P. Jobs.

So ever since last Tuesday, when I got to sit through an early screening of Ashton Kutcher’s much-hyped new movie, Jobs, people have been asking me what I think of it. Is this a film that lives up to the buzz? Did Kutcher deliver? Or more often, “Just how bad was it?”

Well…

Manage Parental Controls For Your Kids’ Mac Remotely [OS X Tips]

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Remote Parental Controls

Parental controls are a wonderful thing, letting you filter internet content, restrict your kids to certain apps, and even keep them from accessing the Mac during times they should be sleeping or doing homework.

Did you know, then, that you can manage the Parental Controls in OS X from another Mac on your network? This means that you can make changes and add or remove restrictions on the fly from your own Mac, rather than having to brave the bedroom of, say, a grumpy and smelly pre-teen daughter who might not be overjoyed to see you messing about on “her” computer. I mean, hypothetically.

Here’s how to set up your child’s Mac to be able to do this.

Here’s Why It’s Not Too Soon For A Good Steve Jobs Biopic [Infographic]

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Ashton Kutcher (left) plays the late great Apple leader in new biopic Jobs.
Ashton Kutcher (left) plays the late great Apple leader in new biopic Jobs.

You might think it’s too soon for a movie about Steve Jobs. After all, the Apple co-founder walked off the world stage just 676 days before Friday’s premiere of Jobs, the movie about him that stars Ashton Kutcher.

I had that same uneasy feeling sitting through the interminable 122-minute Jobs, a PG-13 movie that frequently stalls like a spinning beach ball.

Editorial For iPad Might Just Be The Best Text Editor On Any Platform

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Editorial might just make you ditch your computer altogether as a writing machine. It’s a new iPad text editor from Ole Zorn, the man behind the incredible Pythonista app (Editorial actually features a built-in Python editor). Editorial could just be used as a really polished, really well-designed text editor, but it also has customizable, Automator-style workflows that let you do pretty much anything with the text you have in the app.

U.S. District Judge Throws Out App Store Antitrust Case

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If I told you that Apple had a monopoly over all of the apps sold through the iTunes App Store, what would you say? Would you stammer for a little bit, eyes boggling, trying to understand how an injustice like this could happen in our tightly regulated markets? Or would you say, “No kidding, Sherlock. The App Store is their exclusive proprietary platform. It’s a walled garden,” and then, perhaps to emphasize what an idiot you think I am, slowly twirling one finger around your ear while using another to rapidly flick your lower lip up and down while googling your eyes?

I can’t blame you; I’d probably do the latter myself. Yet would you believe that an antitrust complaint was filed against Apple because there aren’t third-party app stores allowed on the iOS platform? Of course someone did. The case has been dismissed by a U.S. District judge, but not because it was a stupid complaint, but because the plaintiffs made a procedural mistake.

iPhone Quick-Draw Holster Features Best Kickstarter Video Ever

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I should probably start a Tumblr for weird and amazing Kickstarter videos, but I’m sure someone has made it already. If I was starting one, then my first video would be this one, from Dave Garcia and GearLeash. The product is called the iPhone Bumper Case and Holster, which will probably conjure up images of polo-shirt-and-chinos-clad office drones practicing their Travis-Bickle-style quick-draws in the bathroom mirror.

And that would be pretty rad. But Dave has managed to go one better: His Kickstarter promo features muggers, gymnastics and girls leaping down stairs. And that’s just for starters.

PhotoSync 2.0 Adds Fifty New Features, Most Of Them Awesome

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PhotoSync is one of the most used apps on my iDevices. It lets you share photos between iOS devices, as well as from iOS-to-Mac (and PC), and it’ll do so over your Wi-Fi network, or automatically over Bluetooth (with no configuration).

v2 has jsut been released as a free update to existing users. I’ve been using the beta for a month or so, and it is awesome.

Compellingly Frustrating ‘Doodle Fit 2: Around The World’ Is Apple’s App Of The Week

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Apple spotlights a new iOS app each week as a special pick: the App of the Week. Last week, it was a gorgeously designed alarm clock, Rise, that caught Apple’s editorial fancy.

This week, it’s Namco Bandai’s Doodle Fit 2: Around the World, a delightfully drawn puzzle game that’s sure to keep you frustrated yet coming back for more with its maddeningly simple concept.

Apple Seeds iOS 7 Beta 6 To Developers With iTunes In The Cloud Fix

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We weren’t expecting Apple to drop a new iOS 7 beta so soon, but Apple just dropped iOS 7 beta 6 in our laps this late Thursday afternoon. Developers can download the new beta build from the Dev Center or as an OTA update.

Once we dive into the beta we’ll let you know if there are any big changes, but it looks like it’s mostly just a fix for an issue with iTunes in the Cloud.

Here are the direct download links:

Why Apple Paid Millions For A Small Internet Video Startup

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Apple doesn’t buy other companies very often, so when it does, there’s usually a very strategic reason. When it was reported that Apple had acquired Matcha a couple days ago, the reason seemed obvious.

Matcha was a small startup that specialized in aggregating programming guides from sources like Netflix and Hulu into a nice interface. Apple has been getting more serious about maturing the Apple TV, so the two seemed to fit like a glove.

But according to a recent report, Apple wanted Matcha for something else.

Public Launch Of Automatic Car Assistant Delayed Again

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Automatic is a really cool product that has been in private testing for quite some time. A little dongle attaches to your car’s onboard computer and communicates with a beautifully designed iPhone app. The app tells you things like when you’re braking or accelerating too hard, a report of your gas mileage and more.

Today Automatic announced that it is delaying shipment of its Link hardware again. Instead of shipping to non-beta testers by late August or early September, the release has been pushed back a few weeks.

Game Workshop’s ‘Space Hulk’ Is Available Today For Mac Via Steam, iPad Version Coming Soon

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This highly anticipated game set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe is now available on Mac and PC via Steam. The digital game is based on the popular two-player board game of the same name from Games Workshop, originally published in 1989.

The current digital iteration will feature a single player campaign of 15 missions, each set on the giant derelict spaceship (the “hulk” of the title), “Sin of Damnation.” There will also be multiplayer head-to-head action, oh yes.

Corel Makes Its Mark Once Again With AfterShot Pro [Deals]

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Remember Corel? They were the company behind CorelDRAW, which was arguably the most popular vector graphics editor software of its time. The company hasn’t exactly gone away over the years, but they’ve been less inclined to throw their name on products. Corel has acquired a slew of companies (including Roxio and Pinnacle), but I’ve rarely seen the name “Corel” on many products since the days of CorelDRAW.

AfterShot Pro changed that — and it can change how you deal with photos on your Mac. And AfterShot Pro is just $39.99 for limited time through Cult of Mac Deals.

Create A Better Home Screen Icon For Web Sites With Mobile Safari [iOS Tips]

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Ever go to add a website to your Home Screen in mobile Safari and notice it just looks like a jumbled, unidentifiable mess?

This doesn’t happen too often any more, as most sites have learned how to create a special icon for Home Screen bookmarks on iOS, but every so often, you’ll come across a site that won’t have a custom icon.

When that happens, here’s a quick and easy way to make that Home Screen icon look a bit better.

WatchESPN Adds Split-Screen View, Live Toolbar, And Free ESPN3 For College Students

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Before college football season gets underway, ESPN is pushing out an update for its WatchESPN app that lets users stay plugged in to more games than ever before. The update adds a new split-screen view so you can watch two games at once, while keeping tabs on game day with the new live tool bar that displays scores and video highlights.

ESPN is also beefing up the content on WatchESPN by adding “ESPN on ABC” events to the app, but you’ll be pulled over to the WatchABC app when you choose them. To top it all off, WatchESPN users who connect through a military or college network now get access to ESPN3 events automatically.

Here are the full release notes:

Plants Vs. Zombies 2: Better Plants, Bigger Worlds, And Phenomenal Cosmic Powers [Review]

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PopCap has finally gotten around to releasing the new zombie game that everyone and their grandmother has been waiting for — Plants vs Zombies 2: It’s About Time.

Plants vs Zombies 2 by PopCap
Category: iOS Games
Price: Free

It’s been three long years since we were swept away with the original Plants vs Zombies, but we’re happy to say that Plants vs Zombies 2  is just as fun and addictive as ever, if not more so. Yes, you still plant sunflowers, harvest sun, and then use that to get more plants to destroy armies of zombies. But even though the gameplay is still the same, the adventure is more fun than ever.