Cult of Mac

Over the last couple months, we’ve seen Apple fanboys’ obsession move away from an Apple TV set, and focus on the iWatch. As rumors have ramped up that Apple might make their own wearable computer very soon, people have wondered what an iWatch might look like.

We’ve seen a lot of concept renderings of iWatches over the past two years, and while many of them have been a bit crazy, some are pretty neat and feasible. We don’t really know much about the iWatch other than it will have a curved glass display and be worn on the wrist, but if you combine a few aspects from each of these concepts, you might get a ballpark idea of what the iWatch will look like.

iOS 6.1.2 is out now, quashing some battery life and Microsoft Exchange issues… but is it safe to update if you’re a jailbreaker?

Right now, the answer to that question is a qualified no. If you want to keep your jailbreak, you shouldn’t update yet, but according to Team Evad3rs member Planetbeing, iOS 6.1.2 will in all likelihood be jailbreakable in very quick time. [Update: Planetbeing now says that Evasi0n will be updated tonight with iOS 6.1.2 support!]

So, you can scour the internet to get tips on what kinds of things you can ask Siri to do, right? Heck, we have several specific Siri tips right here on Cult of Mac.

But what if you just want to have a nice list of the commands that Siri will know and answer you with? Well, ask her!

Having all but dumped my iPad for an iPad mini, I’m now back in the bag dating pool, searching for the perfect match for my little friend and his favorite accessories.

The Polly bag certainly isn’t that perfect match – it’s a girls’ bag and it’s for the big, ugly retina iPad – but when it turned up on my dating radar I figured that it’s totally worth a look.

V-Moda likes to say their new Crossfade M-100s ($310) are the first pair of “crowdsourced” headphones on the market today. Put simply, that means they culled product feedback from forums and social media, and solicited input from audiophiles, journalists, and enthusiasts to create them.

I applaud the endeavor—working with so much public input definitely had the potential to backfire on them; have you seen the Homer car? But V-Moda, somehow, someway, was able to weave the wisps and whispers of public and professional feedback into a a set of headphones so good, they just earned the highest review score I’ve ever given.

What Happened?

According to Apple, a “small number” of its employees computers were compromised due to a vulnerability in Java.

How Did It Happen?

It appears that this zero-day exploit is the same one that resulted in a number of Facebook employees having malware installed on their laptops as a result of visiting a mobile developer website that had been compromised: Apple says their employees were infected “through a website for software developers.”

Following up on the news that Apple experienced a recent attack by hackers who infected some Macs with malicious software, Apple says they know how they did it.

In a statement released to All Things D, Apple says that the hackers accessed a number of Mac systems through a vulnerability in the Java plug-in for browsers.

Here’s the full statement:

Like an idiot, I just last week gave The Lady my old aluminum MacBook to replace her dying plastic one. And now I see the Vool, a MacBook stand so gorgeous that I want to buy a can of silver spray-paint to somehow steal back my old MacBook without her noticing.

There’s a lot of things you have to keep track of in outer space. How much oxygen you have. Whether cosmic rays are irradiating your fellow crewmen. Which of your fellow astronauts are possible Russian saboteurs. How much murderous sentience your onboard space computer is exhibiting. And, of course, whether or not you are maintaining a balanced diet.

Right now, there’s not an app for that, believe it or not… but NASA and TopCoder, a program competition company, are working on that. And they need your help.

According to a report from Reuters, Apple says it was attacked by a group of hackers who infected a small number of its Mac computers.

The admission from Apple comes just a few days after Facebook admitted that they were hacked by an unidentified hacker group that has been traced back to China. The group has staged sophisticated attacks by infiltrating Apple employee’s laptops, but Apple claims no user information was compromised.

Apple has released iOS 6.1.2 for all of its iOS devices, including the iPad mini and iPhone 5. The release notes say that a bug with Microsoft’s Exchange accounts has been fixed. This public release follows iOS 6.1.1, an update that was made available for the iPhone 4S on February 11th.

The minor 6.1.2 update is available now OTA. Apple has previously said that it would fix a lockscreen passcode bug in a future update to iOS 6. This update most likely patches the Evasi0n jailbreak as well, so jailbreakers beware!

We’ve got the direct download links below the break.

You don’t have to become a copywriter – or hire one – to turn your website into a cash machine. You just need the right tools. You’ve already got the development skills. You’ve already got the product or service.

This Cult of Mac Deals offer will give you the next thing you’ll need in your arsenal: The Copy Hackers E-Book Bundle. And we’re offering it to you for 53% off the regular price – just $35!

Forget 8-megapixel pictures and HDR — if you want photos that instantly look cool, then it’s time to take a step back… all the way back to the eighties. Camera C64 is a free iPhone app that helps you relive the days when the Commodore C64 was considered cutting-edge technology by delivering authentic 16-color photos that are almost guaranteed to look good.

Everpix is my new favorite photo app. Or rather, photo service. Grab the apps for your iPhone, iPad, Mac and PC and Everpix will upload all your photos (except screenshots) to its servers and then perform some special magic upon them. For instance, the Highlights view will only show you the very best of your pictures. It’s pretty neat.

HTC’s much-leaked flagship phone, the HTC One, has just become official in New York and London, but you’ve got to be wondering how the new 4.7-inch Android superphone stacks up against the competition. Wonder no more, we’ve got a spec-by-spec breakdown on how it does compared to the BlackBerry Z10, iPhone 5, Nokia Lumia 920, Samsung Galaxy SIII and Motorola Droid Razr Maxx HD, and the answer to that question is: damn well, all specs considered.

ECBC’s new range of roll-along luggage packs a rather neat feature: a battery pack which will charge your gadgets as you travel.

Apple could launch its $330 “iPhone mini” as early as this summer to boost the company’s smartphone sales in China, according to Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty. It’s expected the low-cost device could provide Apple with an additional 20% of the smartphone market, adding to the 10% it has already claimed with the iPhone 5. And with smartphone prices now beginning to stabilize in China, now would be an ideal time for such a device.

Apple is rumored to release a Retina version of the MacBook Air this fall, according to a new report from Taiwanese publication Economic Times. The next-gen MacBook Air is expected to ship in the third quarter of 2013, and the laptop will go into production overseas during the summer months.

Both the 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air models are expecting a refresh. Apple will likely use Intel’s new Haswell processor, and the MacBook Air would be given an exterior “facelift” to complement the Retina display.

Question: What’s the only (non-gimmicky) photographic filter that can’t be duplicated in software? That’s right, you smart genius you! It’s the polarizer. A polarizer will do two things for your photography: it’ll increase the saturation of the colors in your pictures, and it’ll cut out unwanted reflections from glass and water. And Photojojo will now sell you one that’ll clip right onto your iPhone.

Firefox 19 is now available to download to your Mac, introducing the long-awaited PDF viewer that will allow you to open PDF files within the browser — rather than downloading them to open them in Preview. The release hasn’t yet hit Mozilla’s website, but you can get your hands on it by visiting the company’s servers.

Amazon Instant Video integration is one of a number of new features that has been added to the official IMDb app for iOS today, allowing users who have the Amazon Instant Video app to quickly jump from IMDb right into the movie or TV show they were just checking out. The update also brings a new Oscars section, recommendations, and more.

Did you ever paint miniatures when you were kid? Or as my mother called them, “toy soldiers,” even though they were obviously space marines and orcs. Did you ever wish you could also design the plastic or lead models underneath your amazing ink-wash and dry-brushing technique?

Then – if you also dreamed of never getting a lick of paint on your thumb ever again – I have just the app for you. It’s from the awesome boffins at Sketchbook, and it’s called 123D Creature.

Quicklook is Mac OS X’s way of letting you see any file up close with just a tap of the spacebar. When you’re in the finder, for example, and you click on a photo, you can hit the spacebar and see the photo large and up close, making it easier to figure out which images to toss, and which to save. You can do the same with any supported text file, like an rtf, doc, or pdf file to see what’s in it at a glance.

But what if you want to copy a quick bit of text to paste somewhere, like an email? Instead of opening the file, waiting for the associated app to load, and then copying the bit of text, give this trick a shot.

Apple has stopped selling the Mac Pro through its European online stores ahead of the machine’s discontinuation throughout the EU on March 1. Although the high-end desktop still appears on Apple’s website, it’s listed as “currently unavailable,” and customers are unable to order it. Some models are still available in the refurbished section, however.

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!