With one WWDC special episode already already under our belts, you think we’d be good, but with so much great hardware and software coming out of Apple’s big 90-minute keynote, we had to make the pleasure last.

Join us for another new CultCast, this time with Wired writer and special guest Christina Bonnington, as we discuss our favorite iOS 7 features and why its current look is still a big “a work in progress.” Plus—we asked, you answered—we’ll read your thoughts on iOS 7’s radical new look and the new features you love.

All that and more on this week’s second CultCast! Stream or download our new and past episodes on your Mac or iDevice by subscribing now on iTunes, or hit play below and let the good times roll. Show notes up next!

Apple made a lot of significant changes in iOS 7, and some of those will be instantly familiar to those who are running the latest versions of Android. As is often the case, Apple has “borrowed” certain features from rival operating systems, and we’ve counted at least seven that were part of Android first.

The new Mac Pro is tiny. How tiny? It’s only slightly bigger than a roll of paper towels. And yet inside it is the power to render, I dunno, a jillion 3D models of them.

Via: Reddit

Europeans will next year be able to take their smartphones anywhere within the EU and enjoy calls, texts, and data without paying a penny more than they do at home. Expensive roaming fees are set to be scrapped by July 1, 2014, after the European Commission voted to fast-track a major overhaul of telecoms regulation.

iBooks has been a big successful venture for Apple — despite the ongoing price fixing case from the Department of Justice — but it’s a service that may never have been if Eddy Cue hadn’t convinced Steve Jobs it would be awesome on the iPad.

Before Apple was gearing up to launch its popular tablet in late 2009, Steve Jobs wasn’t interested in the iBooks idea, and he felt e-books had no place on desktops and small smartphone displays.

TweetDeck for Mac just got a pretty nice update via the Mac App Store that introduces a new user interface and a number of new features. Users will find it’s now easier to navigate their way around the app thanks to a new sidebar, while the built-in translation makes it easier to communicate with foreign friends.

Got wood? Good. Then you won’t be interested in the new Clic Wooden case from Native Union. It’s a rather slick little number featuring a solid cherry wood back panel with a high-gloss plastic insert.

Mango is yet another browser-based text editor from Hog Bay Software, the folks behind apps such as TaskPaper and FoldingText. This one is a Markdown editor, but as usual with anything made by Jesse Grosjean, it has some clever twists.

Microsoft has launched Office Mobile for iPhone today, allowing Office 365 subscribers to access and edit their Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents stored in SkyDrive, SkyDrive Pro, or SharePoint from virtually anywhere. The app boasts support for charts, animations, SmartArt graphics and shapes, and more.

As fantastically well-made as they are, I only use a Pad&Quill case permanently on one of my devices: the Kindle Paperwhite. For my iPads, I prefer something less bulky. If I used an 11-inch MacBook Air, though, I’d be all over the brand new Cartella Linen, a beautiful case which seems much more in keeping with the larger proportions of a notebook computer.

It’s a long way to December, but write this one down on the list of gifts you’re planning to buy me this Christmas: the Lomo Konstruktor, a plastic kit that turns into a plastic camera. As a photo geek who likes to make things and tinker, this is just about perfect.

Nestled amid the gentle rolling hills of my old stomping ground of Westlake Village sits Blue Microphones, little more than a half hour north of Los Angeles. There’re actually two lakes in the area: beautiful Lake Sherwood, and the grubby, man-made boating pond of Westlake Lake. Neither, to my recollection, has ever had a reported sighting of a monster.

Blue Microphones’s new USB mic is named “Nessie,” which I guess means now the area has at least one lake monster. Only in this case it’s the good, super-friendly kind of monster.

Apple introduced a few new wallpapers in iOS 7. Since the software is only in its first beta, there are only two new static images to choose from. iOS 7 also supports animated wallpapers, and Apple has included two of those to try out. If you’re interested in exploring more about the iOS 7 background, take a look at all the new wallpapers in iOS 7.

If you’d like to get iOS 7’s hi-res wallpapers on your iPhone right now, then you can download them directly from here and here. A zip file with the static version of the two dynamic wallpapers is also available here. These wallpapers are optimized for the iPhone 5 and 5th-gen iPod touch’s 4-inch Retina display.

You can also download Apple’s new OS X Mavericks wallpaper in full resolution for your Mac. It actually looks great cropped on the iPhone’s screen.

Another cool feature in iOS 7 is the ability to use panoramic photos as wallpapers. Apple will hopefully add more wallpapers before iOS 7 ships in the fall.

There are a few popular apps that already look like they were designed for iOS 7. Twitterrific 5 by The Iconfactory is one such example. Months before Apple unveiled iOS 7, Twitterrific started using the general design aesthetic Apple has now implemented across the entire OS. It’s almost like the makers of Twitterrific knew what was coming.

Following the unveiling of iOS 7 and Apple releasing the software in beta form to developers, Twitterrific’s downloads have spiked considerably, sending the app towards the top of the App Store’s charts.

Apple’s new ‘iWork for iCloud’ suite of browser-based apps are now ready for testing. Developers received a notification today that iWork for iCloud is up and ready for a test drive.

iWork for iCloud allows users to edit any iWork document from a web browser. The programs will run on a PC or Mac as long you’re running Safari, Chrome, or Internet Explorer. iWork for iCloud includes browser-based versions of Pages, Numbers, and Keynote.

To access the new service, developers can head to beta.icloud.com and log in.

Source: Apple

Via: FSM

iOS 7 is clearly how Apple sees the future of mobile design. It’s a radical departure from anything the company has ever done before. The general aesthetic also feels a lot more like Android and even Windows Phone 8.

Whether it’s intentional or by pure coincidence, Apple’s internal nickname for iOS 7 happens to be the same as Microsoft’s for Windows 8, according to a new report.

The App Store in iOS 7 has an new ‘Wish List’ feature designed to help you keep track of all the paid-apps you’re lusting after.

You can access Wish List from anywhere inside the new iOS 7 App Store by tapping on the Wish List icon in the upper-right corner. Apple’s put the Wish List icon on pretty much every page in the new App Store so it looks like they’re hoping users will really get into the new feature and buy more apps.

Here’s how Wish List works:

Remember when the Smart Cover for iPad was first announced, and it turned out Apple was apparently inspired by Japanese bath mats when coming up with their design? Looks like Jony Ive looked around his hotel room during a recent trip to Tokyo and let another everyday Japanese object influence the design of one of Apple’s latest products.

As the summer vacation season hits in our neck of the woods, there’s bound to be plenty of photos being taken of people having fun in the sun. Whether you’re using a simple point-and-shoot, a high-end DSLR, or even your smartphone – the photo-taking process doesn’t end once you take the shot. You’re going to want to make that shot look as great as possible afterward – and that’s where the latest Cult of Mac Deals offer can offer you a big hand.

With The MacPhun Photo Editor Bundle, you’ll get three stellar photo apps in Snapheal, FX Studio Pro, and ColorStroke. Buying all of these apps outside of this offer would run you $69 – but Cult of Mac Deals is offering you a 56% savings on these apps in this bundle. You can get all three apps in The MacPhun Photo Editor Bundle for just $29.99 for a limited time.

If Apple is going to update the iPad mini with a Retina Display a year after it’s debut, they need to get cracking on sourcing the 2,048 x 1,536 resolution, 7.9-inch displays that will drive them. Now a new rumor suggests that Apple has contracted good ol’ frenemy Samsung to make them for them.

Over the past few years Amazon has risen to be one of Apple’s biggest competitors, but before Apple launched the iBookstore, Apple and Amazon almost struck a partnership that would have allowed the two companies to control both music and books.

At Apple’s trial against the Department of Justice today in Manhattan, Senior Vice President, Eddy Cue, took the stand and testified that Apple had considered striking a deal on e-books with Amazon, but decided to join with publishers at a higher price.

Hypothetically, the partnership could have brought Kindle e-books integration into the iPad (and possibly iTunes), while the iTunes music library would  have been used in the Kindle Store.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Andrew Stone, an indie NeXT developer who worked with Steve Jobs for almost a quarter century, believes that Jobs would’ve never let Apple be a part of the United States National Security surveillance program PRISM.

Even though we don’t know the release date or price, people are absolutely drooling over the new Mac Pro that Apple announced at WWDC. It’s tiny, black, and powerful as hell, so who can blame them.

But what if Apple announced a completely different Mac than the one we saw on Monday? What if, Apple announced the Big Mac? Check out this hilarious WWDC keynote mashup video from Simon Balch to see just how incredible it’d be if Apple and The Golden Arches joined forces:

In iTunes 11, Apple gave us the ability to redeem iTunes and App Store gift cards using the FaceTime camera built into our Macs, and it is bringing the same functionality to our iOS devices with iOS 7. Instead of typing in lengthy codes, just point your camera at the gift card to redeem it.

With every new OS X release comes a fancy new wallpaper, and for Mavericks, Apple has provided us with a beautiful shot of an ocean wave. And it’s even more beautiful when you put it on a high-resolution display, because it was a whopping 5120×2880 resolution. In fact, it’s the perfect size for a 27-inch Retina iMac or Thunderbolt display.