Apparently, the hot new thing is to stick your iPad to the kitchen wall and then immediately start chopping red peppers. Luckily for those new to this emerging fashion, there is both a product and an instructional video available to help out. The product is the MagBak, and it consists of a pair of rubbery, magnetized pads that stick onto the back of the iPad.
How many people do you know that have an expensive home security system that they never turn on? Maybe that person is you. Security systems can cost a lot, and unless you’re protecting a million dollar home or your drug money (or both), most of us don’t need something so fancy.
Canary is a new product that calls itself “the world’s first smart home security device for everyone.”
While some radio stations started sending out recordings of broadcasts in 2001, podcasts came onto the scene in 2004, got onto iTunes in 2005, and have since “transformed the media landscape,” according to Apple’s new iTunes splash page celebrating a milestone one billion podcast subscriptions.
Those billion subscriptions are held up by 250,000 unique podcasts across over 100 languages. More than eight million episodes have been published on the iTunes Store, according to Apple.
Auroch Digital just announced the development of a digital version of a classic Games Workshop board game from 1987, Chainsaw Warrior, coming to iPad and Android soon.
The original board game is one of the only single-player board games I know of, putting you in the role of the only hope for humanity as scary creatures come flooding through a dimensional rift in the heart of Manhattan, circa 2032. Of course, you’re the guy that must come out of retirement to battle the evil monsters, which have already destroyed the world’s bravest and brightest. It’s up to you to chainsaw your way through wave after wave the evil hordes. Wait, that sounds like a video game, doesn’t it?
Last Thursday, Apple’s online Developer Center went down for maintenance. While the regular outage typically lasts a few hours, it wasn’t until Sunday night that Apple acknowledged the issue. In a message to its developer community and the press, Apple explained that an “intruder” had breached the Dev Center’s database. Apple claimed that no personal data was stolen from its users, but the threat was great enough to warrant a complete rebuilding of the site’s backend.
A Turkish security researcher by the name of Ibrahim Balic has come forward as the person responsible for the hack, although he claims no foul play and has submitted his bugs to Apple. More information has been revealed regarding how Balic got past Apple’s security.
Apple’s Dev Center has been down since Thursday, but that isn’t stopping the company from releasing new beta software to developers.
Earlier today, we cautioned that the hacking of the Dev Center could result in delayed updates to the iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks betas. But Apple has still pushed out the fourth developer preview of Mavericks today.
Until the Dev Center comes back online, developers won’t be able to login and directly download the new version of Mavericks. The update is only currently available in the Mac App Store for those already on a previous version of the beta operating system.
The third developer preview Mavericks came out two weeks ago. We’ll let you know if there’s anything of note in today’s version.
Have you ever wished you could record your iPhone’s screen activity? Short of a tool on the Mac like Reflector, it’s hard to capture video of iOS in action. Apple doesn’t allow apps in the App Store that can record video of anything on the screen… until now.
A new app called xRec has managed to slip into the App Store, and it can fully record the iPhone’s screen, including any audio.
Got a Wi-Fi-only iPad, but want to access a location on Google Maps when you’re out and about in the car? How about looking at your map when the signal on your iPhone isn’t strong enough, or even when it’s non-existent?
Well, the latest iOS version of Google Maps has been updated, and one of the less publicized features is the ability to save locations for access offline. The Android version has had this feature for a while, but this is the first time the iOS one has gotten the ability.
The way you activate this feature is also kind of cute, so check it out.
Today AT&T unveiled two new Mobile Share plans. The carrier’s shared plans originally debuted last summer, and now two more options are being brought into the fold. For $20 per month, subscribers can have 300MB of shared data for $20 and 2GB for $50. The new plans will be available to all subscribers on Friday, July 26th.
When I received the Truffol “Signature” case in the mail, I was prepared to be underwhelmed. After all, how much can a case maker bring to the table that hasn’t already been brought (broughten?) several times over?
It turns out the answer to that question is, “quite a bit.”
This precision-designed metal and leather case is a striking combination of frame and backing piece, and it genuinely makes my iPhone 5 feel like a whole new luxurious device, waiting to be touched.
A couple of days ago, it was reported that Apple had bought HopStop, a mapping app that specializes in transit directions. Apple confirmed the acquisition shortly after the news surfaced. HopStop is currently a top navigation app in the iOS App Store.
Now HopStop’s Windows Phone app has vanished. Big shocker, right?
Google copied pretty much every aspect of iOS when it came up with Android, so I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised that the Search Giant is now shamelessly copying Apple’s patents… right down to the drawing.
As noticed by Patently Apple, on the left you have Apple’s already granted patent for a wider MacBook trackpad that would be able to use the Facetime camera to detect whether someone was just resting their hands on the trackpad, or actually using it.
On the right? A new Google patent for a Chromebook that can detect a user’s presence based upon the forward-facing camera. Notice the line drawings used for both are essentially identical. Ballsy, Google!
Source: Patently Apple
Since Apple launched the iPhone in 2007, smartphones have really taken off , and more than 1 billion people worldwide now own one. Last year alone, smartphones generated $293.9 billion in sales, but the cost of the average smartphone has begun falling.
More than half of cellphone owners in the U.S. and other developed markets already own a smartphone, and those in emerging markets such as China and India aren’t able to pay for high-end devices like the iPhone. As a result, cheaper options are becoming increasingly popular.
Wow. Animated GIFs are everywhere now… even on a vintage Apple II Plus!
Nathan Griffith put together an awesome bit of code that makes it possible to display animated GIFs on an Apple II+ with only 64K of RAM.
Let’s be honest…pecking away at a smart screen is okay when you’ve gotten used to it but it doesn’t replace the feel and speed of a true keyboard. Now – thanks to Cult of Mac Deals – you can get complete enjoyment out of your Bluetooth-enabled devices with a real keyboard: The Ultra-slim Bluetooth Keyboard from Urge Basics.
This ultra-slim and sleek bluetooth keyboard is compatible with the iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab, and most Bluetooth-enabled tablets and devices — so you’re pretty much covered across the board. Plus, when powered with 3 AAA batteries (not included) you’ll get up to 80 powerful hours of usage time so you won’t have to worry about running out of juice any time soon.
And for a limited time you can get your hands (and fingers) on this keyboard for only $21.99 – a savings of 68%!
Apple announced Logic Pro X last week, and alongside it an iPad companion app called Logic Remote that allows users to record, mix, and play virtual instruments remotely. The Cupertino company has now moved to trademark the app’s icon.
Just a friendly note. Apple has so far been releasing new betas of iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks every other Monday, like clockwork. But with the iTunes Developer Center, down for almost four days now (because of a hack that might have been committed by a researcher) and no end in sight, if you’re expecting iOS 7 Beta 4 and OS X Mavericks Beta 4 to drop today, you might not want to hold your breath: if Apple can’t get the Developer Center up and running this afternoon, releasing a new beta isn’t likely.
Apple’s Dev Center mysteriously went down for several days last week, and the Cupertino company revealed over the weekend that “an intruder attempted to secure personal information of our registered developers.” The site was closed immediately so that the potential for further threats could be eliminated.
It looked like Apple’s website had been hacked by someone trying to obtain our personal data, but according to one security researcher, it was his discovery of 13 bugs in the system which prompted the company to take action.
Sometimes, when using the Recent Items feature of the Apple menu, you might like to find a specific file or app without opening it. Maybe you just want to find it, and then copy it or move it to a different drive, or email it to a friend.
It’s super simple, and it works in both Mountain Lion and the new OS X Mavericks beta, as well.
Apple has refunded Briton Lee Neale £4,000 ($6,131) after his 8-year-old daughter Lily spent the cash on virtual items in her favorite iPad game. Lily knew the password for her father’s iTunes account, but no one expected her to use it to rack up a huge bill on in-app purchases.
I don’t know about you, but I spend a lot of time deleting spam messages from my inbox — despite using a junk mail filter. But the issue is about to get a whole lot worse, with Google gearing up to deliver adverts to our Gmail inboxes. The messages will appear under the new Promotions tab that was recently introduced in a Gmail update, and Google is testing them on a small number of users now.
Dumb phones had a few advantages over today’s smartphones. First, their batteries lasted for what seemed like weeks between charges. And second, if the battery did die, all you lost was the ability to call and SMS people. You didn’t lose your e-mail, your camera, your iPod, the book you’re reading or the movie you were planning to watch on the train home.
So you carry a spare battery. But what if you could eliminate the need for that spare, and also ditch that creepy wrist-strengthener you insist on pumping all the time like some hyperactive pervert?
Good news! With the Mipwr Dynamo Case, you can do both.
This is the Cambridge Camera Bag, and it is supposedly inspired by the schoolbags of English children. Perhaps this was the case in past years, when only the privileged offspring of royalty and wealthy industrialists attended school, because these days English schoolkids drag their crap around in the same battered Eastpak backpacks as anyone else.
Not that this makes the Cambridge Camera Bag any less desirable. Quite the opposite, in fact, if you’ve ever met a genuine English hooligan.
A new experimental add-on for DSLRs brings Lytro-like refocus-able photos to any camera, and tosses in a few extra clever features for good measure. The KaleidoCamera, as it’s called, is a unit that sits between your lens and your camera and performs some clever magic on the light that streams into it.
UPDATE: Lucky Frame has provided us with some updated stats: Gentlemen! now has over 6,000 players on Android, with just 50 paid downloads.
Gentlemen!, a brand new title from Scottish development studio Lucky Frame, made its debut on Android and iOS last week. It’s been a pretty big success so far, with plenty of acclaim from reviewers, a mention in a British newspaper, and thousands of players worldwide.
But it’s not all good news for Lucky Frame. You see, only 20 of the players on Android actually paid Gentlemen!’s $4.99 price tag, the company revealed to Cult of Android.
The other 3,000 stole it.