Cult of Mac

Over the weekend, a fascinating little post over on the Panic weblog revealed that the Lightning AV adapter meant to send video out from a connected iPhone or iPad over HDMI had an interesting little secret to it: it’s not a converter so much as it is a tiny ARM-based computer with a tiny SoC and 2GB of RAM!

The guys at Panic had a theory that this meant that the Lightning AV Adapter booted a miniature version of iOS every time it was connected, and that it was using a bizarre, hardwired version of the AirPlay protocol to do its streaming. That’s not actually the case, but an anonymous Apple engineer has now given the backstory behind this fascinating little bit of engineering.

Bloomberg recently revealed that Apple has a team of 100 people working on its new iWatch, and according to its latest report, the Cupertino company is hoping to launch the device this year. The smart wristwatch, which could make calls, provide maps, and offer a pedometer, is expected to become more profitable than Apple’s much-anticipated television set.

Ever since OS X 10.7 Lion, the Finder has a new sidebar section, called All My Files. It’s a list of, predictably, all the files on your Mac and it can be customized to show them in any style you like, sorting by Name, Date Created, Kind, Date Modified, and more. The trouble is, though, that all new Finder windows open to this All My Files section by default. Some folks might not like this, though, and wish for the long-ago days of, say, Snow Leopard, when Finder windows opened to the Desktop or some such.

Luckily, to make this happen takes just a quick trip into the Finder preferences to sort out. Thanks, Apple!

Lockdown Pro, a popular tweak that allows you to password-protect the apps and folders you have installed on your jailbroken iOS device, is now available on the iPad. The new tweak recently hit Cydia, alongside an update to the iPhone version, which now allows you to hide apps and adds a number of other new features.

Wacom is readying a pressure-sensitive tablet of its own. The source of this “rumor”? Wacom itself, via its Facebook page. And being from Wacom, it’ll have a pressure-sensitive pen, plus multi touch and some more mystery features.

Got a new Mac? Trying to get the most out of it – or perhaps the one you’ve had for a few months? There are countless tools out there than can help – but rarely can so many of them be found in a bundle such as this: The Mac Essentials Bundle.

Cult of Mac Deals has assembled 9 apps that can take your productivity on your Mac to the next level…and we’re offering it at a fraction of the regular price. You can get The Mac Essentials Bundle for only $49.99 for a limited time – that’s 84% off the price you’d pay for all of these apps separately!

Apple has demonstrated muted contempt for podcasting, with its passive-aggressive stewardship of the content and its apathy about the low quality of its own Podcasts app. 

I believe podcasting is the future of all audio and video media — the future of radio and television — and I’ll tell you why below.

So if Apple doesn’t want to own the future of TV and radio, maybe Google should take over the leadership role from Apple?

Who’s ready for Droidcasting?

It’s ba-ack!

Today’s Cult of Mac Deals offer is going to give you a chance once again to get your hands on the Micro Drone – and it won’t cost you a whole lot, either. This deal is just $49!

Apple treats podcasting like an unwanted stepchild. 

I think this is a huge missed opportunity for Apple — and for audio and video content creators.

Here’s what Apple is doing wrong, and how they could do it right. 

We’ve got a great offer for you at Cult of Mac Deals today – not only because it is jam-packed with hundreds of high-quality vector files, PSD files, icons and more. It’s because this bundle – dubbed The Premium Designer Freebie Bundle is available at no cost whatsoever!

Have any of your Instagram photos ever gotten over 20,000 likes? Yeah, mine either… But Cory Staudacher’s images do all the time. WithHearts is his name on that popular social service, and by posting one beautifully captured image each day, every day — all taken with only an iPhone — he’s become one of Instagram’s most popular users, now with just a hair under 206,000 followers.

Want to learn how he does it? Join us on this week’s CultCast as WithHearts reveals the photo apps he loves, workflows he lives by, and editing tricks he uses to create some of the most captivating iPhone photographs on the internet. He even surprises us with a few tools we never once considered using.

Subscribe to The CultCast now on iTunes to download our newest episode, or easily stream new and previous episodes via Apple’s free Podcasts App.

Show notes coming up next.

Have you ever tried to do any serious videography with an iPad? I don’t recommend it casually, but the iPad can be a great HD video tool, combining high resolution video capture abilities with a large screen for monitoring. Connecting it to a tripod, however, can be a trial.

SerialKickers aim to solve this problem with a new product for iPad, the ArchMount, an ultra-portable mounting system that will let you attach your iPad to a camera tripod for use in video, tele-prompter, or music applications.

IK Multimedia is a powerhouse of music peripherals and apps for the mobile musician, with a range of products including the iKlip mic stand mounting series for iPad and iPhone, the iRig Mic and iRig Pre, and a host of guitar, voice, and recording apps for iOS.

Recently, the company released iLectric Piano, an electric follow up of sorts to its iGrand acoustic piano app of a few months back. iLectric provides 19 different electric pianos, sampled from the instruments themselves, and placed in a fun, easy to use, useful iPad app that’s just brimming with the funky, groovy sounds of electric piano the likes of the Wurlitzer 200A and the Hohner D6 Clavinet.

$328,671. That’s how much it would cost to buy 999 base model iPad minis. While you’re probably not going to be buying that many iPads anytime soon (at least I hope not), you may like to know that Apple now lets you buy more than two iPad minis at once. Each customer could previously only purchase a maximum of two.

Apple usually has this kind of restriction for new product purchases during the first few months of availability. Once supply catches up with demand, the restriction is lifted. In Apple’s online store, the iPad mini only recently became fully in stock after months of delayed shipping estimates. Now Apple is saying that it will ship new iPad mini orders within 24 hours.

Source: Apple Store

Via: iPhone in Canada

Apple has lost nearly half of the $1 billion in damages it was awarded last August after beating Samsung in a high-profile U.S. patent lawsuit. The presiding judge over the case, Lucy Koh, decided to invalidate $450.5 million of the original damages owed to Apple in a new ruling today.

Damages were incorrectly calculated for 14 Samsung devices related to the trial, and Koh has ordered a retrial for the updated damages amount.

Yesterday, I tipped you off about #NoCrop for Instagram, an app that lets you submit full-sized photos to the social photo service with very little effort.

Today, I want to look at Recygram, another free app that works with Instagram, letting you send photos from your voluminous Instagram archive to Flicker and Tumblr, as well as download them or compress them for sharing. Sounds like a great way to archive all those Instagram pics, right?

Here’s what to do.

Apple announced today that they have updated Safari’s web plug-in that blocks older versions of Adobe Flash Player.

The update comes after Apple, Facebook, Twitter, and Microsoft experienced a slew of malicious attacks on their computers via a Java exploit. Blocking the Adobe Flasher Player plugin should protect users from vulnerabilities.

We’ve seen quite a few rumors over the last couple of months that the next iPhone will come in a variety of colors. Last month we even detailed exactly how Apple will colorize the iPhone 5S, and it looks like we’re probably right.

Apple just posted a new job listing today that shows they are looking for an Anodizing Engineer to help add color to the next generation of Apple products like the iPhone 5S.

Last week, three earnest audiophiles rang my doorbell and stormed into my living room to show me a handsome Bluetooth speaker that they claimed was going to reinvent the world of Jambox-alikes and transform Bluetooth speakers into “objects of desire.”

The guys in question? Three gents from Grain Audio, an up-and-coming audio company. And the product they wanted to show me was a prototype of their upcoming Packable Wireless System, or PWS: a walnut-enclosed Bluetooth speaker with some seriously good sound for its class.

The PWS won’t be available for sale for a few months, still, but it’s a speaker worth keeping an eye on. Here’s why.

The app industry is growing incredibly fast and that means opportunity is here. And now you have the opportunity to learn everything it takes to get your app idea to market without having to type a single line of code.

This course is for those looking to outsource their idea so they can get their iPhone app idea to the market quickly and save a boatload of cash doing so. Why develop one app at a time when you can streamline and skyrocket productivity and earn more money? With this Cult of Mac Deals offer, you’ll earn the secrets now — with over 58 lectures and 4.5 hours of content for only $69 – that’s 76% off!

So you went out to drink with your friends and you forgot to charge your battery. What an idiot. At one point in the evening you know you’re going to get one of those dreaded “20% of battery remaining” notifications, but by that point you’ll probably be too drunk to care about conserving battery.

Maybe if the iPhone’s low battery notifications had a little bit more sass we’d listen to them more? I don’t know. But it sure would be a hell of a lot more fun if they were like these mockups from College Humor.

Source: College Humor

Via: Gizmodo

Apple is hoping to have a group lawsuit alleging it collected data from million of customers while they used approved apps thrown out of court after arguing that the plaintiffs have failed to prove their claims. At a hearing in San Jose, California, on Thursday, lawyers asked U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh to give the designate the suit a class action — but Apple says they cannot prove any harm has been done.

Over the last couple of weeks a ‘silly sideshow’ has been playing out between Greenlight Capital and Apple Inc. Greenlight Capital’s CEO, David Einhorn, has been trying to force Apple to offer preferred stock plans by suing Apple in court, while Tim Cook and Apple disagree with his proposals.

Even though Einhorn has won at least one small victory over Apple in court, it’s been reported that Greenlight Capital just dropped their lawsuit against Apple.

Kids love the iPad; download a few children’s games and it’ll keep them entertained for hours. But don’t leave them unsupervised too long, because it could cost you. Sharon and Greg Kitchen from Bristol, England, found that out the hard way when their five-year-old son Danny spent $2,550 on in-app purchases in just 10 minutes.

The latest App Report from research firm Appthority has found that free apps downloaded onto iOS devices are more likely to collect your personal data than free apps downloaded on Android, with 60% of the top ten App Store downloads sharing data with advertising and analytics networks.

The report suggests that due to the volume of titles in the App Store, iOS developers are more likely to collect your data and pass it on as an alternative revenue stream.