Cult of Mac

Yesterday, I visited the nerd-o-rama that is the annual Barcelona comics convention, and along with the overweight folks in too-tight superhero costumes, there were overweight folks in black t-shirts and sweatpants taking lots of photos. And their comfy clothing choices were explained by the fact that they had to carry like 20 kilos of glass in their camera bags.

Next year, they might be able to dress a little better whilst also saving their spines, using the Schneider iPro Series 2 lenses for the iPhone 5.

Microsoft is designing a new smartwatch that could allow it to compete with upcoming devices from the likes of Apple, Google, and Samsung, The Wall Street Journal reports. The company has already asked suppliers in Asia to ship components for the device, which will reportedly boast a “touch-enabled” display.

Messaging standards are great! Maybe that’s why we have so many of them.

Don’t look now, but people communicate via the Internet. Whichever company can get the majority of users on their system wins. To quote Newman, the Seinfeld mailman: “When you control the mail, you control… information!”

The reason is that communication is where most of the online eyeballs are. And the network effect factor is overwhelming. (Network effect is: more users make a network more valuable to users, and users want to use networks that are more valuable.)

The carriers want everybody texting. It costs next to nothing to deliver text messages, but carriers can charge a lot and, for some reason, people pay. It’s free money, as far as the carriers are concerned.

Thousands of app makers want you to give up SMS and embrace some app-based communications system. Some work like texting. Others like an intercom system. Many of them are really great, but they’ve got an uphill battle getting everyone to embrace them.

Apple wants to get all OS X and iOS users messaging via iMessage.

Facebook wants to leverage Google’s Android to get everyone embracing Facebook Home.

And Google’s hatching a killer service based on Google+ called Babel. Allegedly.

Steam! That’s what Steve Jobs would have had rocket from his ears when he heard about Facebook Home. We’ll explain why on our newest CultCast, but also covet aloud the one feature we hope Apple borrows for iOS. Plus, inside Leander Kahney’s Jony Ive book; Ron Johnson father of the Apple Store takes a boot to the rear; and we wrap with an all new Faves ‘N Raves, the segment where we pitch our favorite tech and apps then vote on which one’s best!

Stream or download new and past episodes of The CultCast on your Mac or iDevice by subscribing now on iTunes, or hit play below and let the good times roll.

Click on through for the show notes.

Apple is working on the use of flexible-glass touch displays. Which products will Apple use flexible displays in?

The answer is: all of them.

When people think about flexible displays, they think about small-screen gadgets like iWatches and curved-glass iPhones. What most don’t realize is that flexible displays can bring some amazing benefits to a device, even if the display itself isn’t curved.

And Apple has patents on all of it.

Here’s how Apple might deploy flexible displays to transform every product they make.

Looking for a toy that is both fun, creepy, and lets you use your cherished iOS devices all at the same time? Then this Cult of Mac Deals offer will be right up your alley.

This little robotic bug looks and moves just like a real insect, but is completely controlled by your iOS device. That’s right – you can control this creepy crawler with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod – and we’ve got it at a 27% discount for a limited time. Thanks to Cult of Mac Deals you can get this tiny tech toy for only $29!

Your Mac is a machine that can do a whole lot for you – but even your Mac needs some fine-tuning every once in a while. What if you could not only have a means to maintain your Mac…but also enhance it?

Enter MacKeeper – an award-winning all-in-one system utility that includes 16 powerful maintenance features that fully optimize, protect, control, and clean your Mac. We’ve got it for you here at Cult of Mac Deals for a limited time at an amazing price – only $29. And for that price, you’ll receive the Standard version…which gives you MacKeeper coverage on 2 of your Macs.

As a user of Google calendar, I’ve often ignored Mac OS X’s Calendar app, formerly iCal, for the bright internet lights of the easy to use, sharable online calendar from the folks in Mountain View, California.

I forget, though, that Calendar has a ton of great features for folks who really don’t need or want to use Google’s option, or who just want to stick with Apple products. There’s a dedicated group of folks out there that use nothing but Calendar, because it integrates well with iOS, comes free with every Mac, and pulls other calendars in, like Google Calendar.

So, here are five great tips to help you master this ubiquitous OS X app, Calendar (née iCal).

Create A Quick Event Using Natural Language

One of the cool features that I didn’t realize Calendar had until recently is natural language event creation in Calendar itself.

Even before I ever dreamed of writing and taking pictures for a living — I’ll just pause here to let my fellow journalists and bloggers finish laughing hysterically at the idea that earnings from journalism could be considered “a living” — I rocked one of those photographer’s jackets. You know the one — zippers and pockets everywhere. I was a Geek King in the jacket, but I didn’t care; it let me carry all my gizmos and, yes, sometimes even photography gear.

Only the most wizened, old-school photographers use those vests anymore. And there are far better ways to shlep a quiver of gadgets — like the magnetic-sleeved, 22-pocket, Personal Area Network-equipped Tropiformer by Scottevest. Oh yeah.

Bill Campbell, an Apple board member as well as the chairman of the Intuit board, sat down for an hour long chat with Intuit’s CEO today to talk about technology. This is a rare move for Campbell, who’s known for his behind the scenes work (as well as his salty language, apparently).

Without giving away Apple secrets, Campbell talked about a new era of technology, one that will include all sorts of “intimate objects” as our new devices.

While the term intimate objects may mean completely different things to some folks, I’m betting he was talking about tech that you wear on your body, like glasses, or watches.

Zynga, the veritable king of social game publishing, is bringing yet another card battling game to mobile platforms, starting with iOS today. War of the Fallen is a digital collectible card game, one that mirrors real-life card games like Magic: The Gathering. Zynga’s game is free-to-download now on the iOS App Store, and will come to the Google Play store, soon.

For the first time since Steve Jobs died, his widow, Laurene Powell Jobs, will speak on TV — in this case, in an interview on Rock Center with Brian Williams this evening, in just a few hours.

Pebble has updated its Bluetooth smartwatch OS with several notable additions and bug fixes. Battery life has been improved, and push notifications requesting permission to pair appear less frequently on iOS devices. Developers now have access to the SDK for creating custom watchfaces.

Twitter’s rumored music app technically exists, and it even has its own website. But normal people can’t use it yet. Twitter was expected to unveil a standalone music app to the world sometime today, but it turns out that the social network is doing a promotion with celebrities to generate more hype. This is all timed with the Coachella music festival this weekend, of course.

So for the next week or so, you’ll see some celebrities on Twitter sharing how much they love the music app. “There’s a serious dance party happening,” they’ll say. But you won’t be able to jam with them because you are a normal. Welcome to the real world. Time to wait another week.

Source: AllThingsD

Steve Wozniak is no stranger to gaming, having met Steve Jobs while working at Atari and even programmed his own version of the classic video game, Pong.

Did you know, though, that the Woz is a huge aficionado of the classic Gameboy game, Tetris. Well, he is… so much so that Nintendo Power magazine back in the 1980s refused to publish his scores anymore because he’d dominated the #1 spot for too long!

What can you hope for when you’re the last major U.S. carrier to get the iPhone? That at least a few people get in line to buy one on launch day.

Considering that the iPhone 5 has been out since last fall, you wouldn’t expect many lines to be forming outside of T-Mobile stores today. But surprisingly enough, people are showing up. “Uncarrier” FTW!!!

You probably already knew about how to tap and hold on the .com button in your iOS version of Safari to bring up the top level domains that come with the basic web keyboard, right? Tap into the URL bar at the top of Safari, and the web keyboard will show up. Tap and hold on the .com button and you’ll see all the top level domain suffixes for .com, .edu., .org, .net, and the like (if you’re in the US).

But what if you want to be able to quick access domains not in your main country, like Australia (.au), Canada (.ca), or the UK (.co.uk)? With a quick trip into the Settings app, you can add these and others, super easily.

This Cult of Mac Deals offer is for Boom, a sweet little Mac app that both boosts your Mac’s volume and equalizes and enhances its sound. Boom seamlessly integrates itself with your Mac so all you have to do is adjust the volume as you wish. As for the deal….we’ve got it here for just $4 for a limited time.

Don’t you hate it when your earbud cable gets tangled? I know I do (but not as much as I hate Apple’s stupid earbuds themselves). Luckily, Dotan Saguy has come up with the Smarter Stand for the iPhone, a pliable plastic widget which not only acts as a place to wrap your earbud cable, but also as a handy-dandy stand for the iPhone.

I have been using one for a little while now and it turns out to be a pretty useful little gadget.

Even as companies like T-Mobile try to loosen the restrictions and obligations you sign up for when you get an iPhone, Verizon is tightening them up. The nation’s largest wireless carrier has just announced that they are ending their early upgrade eligibility program, which allowed customers on a two-year contract to upgrade their devices every twenty months. Instead, you’ll have to wait until your contract expires.

Here’s some fantastic analysis on what ex-Apple retail chief Ron Johnson did wrong at JC Penney written by legendary Apple ad man Ken Segall, who completely rejects the idea that Ron Johnson didn’t understand JC Penney’s brand identity, and even wandered around quoting the company’s founder, who detested sales gimmicks. So what was the problem?

Nope, it’s not just you: iMessage and FaceTime are experiencing issues this morning, with loads of users on Twitter (and, for that matter, my girlfriend) reporting problems. Yesterday, iMessage and Facetime also reported a number of issues. Jeez, Apple, get it together.

Source: Apple

Brian White of Topeka Capital Markets has been making some zany predictions lately, perhaps best exemplified by his recent claim that Apple’s forthcoming HDTV will be controlled using a Green Lantern like power ring called the iRing.

Almost as if to apologize for releasing a report written so clearly after an all-night bender, White is now making a more sensible prediction that falls in line with other reports: that his sources in the Asian supply chain have told him the iPhone 5S’s killer feature will be a fingerprint scanner.

Apple could introduce a redesigned backlighting system to the fifth-generation iPad to help make the device thinner and lighter, according to NDP DisplaySearch. The Cupertino company will have to make significant changes if it is to bring the iPad mini’s sleek and slim form factor to its bigger brother, and this is one of the areas in which it could reduce bulk.

I recently switched to a MacBook Air for writing, and it is easily the best Mac I’ve owned in terms of speed and comfort. But, like the sports car your friends assume you’ll sell now that you have kids on the way, the Air is also lacking in space1.

Now, I’m using this 128GB (with 4GB RAM) 13-inch MacBook Air primarily for work, but that doesn’t mean I want to ditch my music, TV shows and photos altogether. Luckily, with modern Internet™ Technology™ I don’t have to. I can use cloud services and a little judicious tidying to make my New York walkup-sized MacBook Air feels like a mansion.