Cult of Mac

Tim Cook just had the best week ever, ya’ll! On our newest CultCast, we’ll tell you what President Obama did during the State of The Union address that had Mr. Cook blushin’ like a school girl.

Then, the iWatch rumors are back, but this time, they may have some credence. We’ll tell you what we know. Plus, Cult of Mac Editor-in-Chief Leander Kahney tells us about his new Jony Ive book and we answer your Facebook queries in an all-new CultCastQNA.

Eager to listen but not sure how? Easy! Subscribe to The CultCast now on iTunes, or easily stream new and previous episodes via Apple’s free Podcasts App.

Show notes coming up next.

Rumors (and credible leaks) about Microsoft Office for iPad have been swirling for at least a year, but so far, the best you can do is load up Office 365 in your iPad’s web browser. If you want a tablet that natively runs office, you have to buy a Surface.

There’s a reason for that. Microsoft knows that Office is the biggest reason why someone might buy a Surface over an iPad. But by refusing to release Office for iPad, Microsoft is leaving a lot more money on their table than they are taking from it in Surface orders, at least according to one analyst.

Jony Ive has received a whole host of awards for his design efforts at Apple, but as a life-long fan of children’s TV show Blue Peter, none of them may be as special as his latest from the BBC: a gold Blue Peter badge. Apple’s Senior Vice President of Industrial Design now joins a list of just 1,000 people awarded with a gold badge, which also includes David Beckham, JK Rowling, and the Queen.

There are many times you might want to knock out the background of a particular image on your Mac. Typically, I pop into Photoshop or Fireworks to use the Magic Wand tool to select all the white space of that image, and delete from there. These programs cost hundreds of dollars, though. Isn’t there a free way to do this?

It turns out that Preview, the free image & PDF viewing (and now editing) app that comes with OS X will do the very same thing, without you having to spend an extra dime on image editing software. Here’s how to do it.

The official Dropbox app for iOS has today been updated to add push notifications and an all-new PDF viewer. With version 2.1, users will now receive an alert when a folder has been shared with them. The update is available to download from the App Store now.

The Mac Game Store knows your love for Mac games. So much so, that it’s putting a ton of them up for sale this weekend, all in the name of Valentine’s Day. While we’re not above taking a crack or two at the commercialism of V-Day, we’re not about to look this gift (horse) in the mouth, either.

It looks like there are over 150 games on sale in the Mac Game Store app, the portal for MGS that’s also available on the Mac Game Store website. Most of the games seem to be going for 30 to 50 percent off, which isn’t a bad discount, really.

Some of the standout titles include Amnesia: The Dark Descent for half off at $10, the same price and discount as Assassin’s Creed 2. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood can be had for $15, while the deluxe edition with all the DLC trimmings will run you a tidy $20, half off the regular price. Batman Arkham Asylum is similarly $15, and Call of Duty: Black Ops is now going for a wallet-friendly $25. Driver: San Francisco is a healthy 67% off at ten bucks, and Duke Nukem Forever has the honor of being the full 75% off, coming in at $5.

All in all, with so many Mac games to choose from, you’re bound to find something you like, or something you’re willing to toss a few bucks at. The sale lasts through Sunday, so head on over to the Mac Game Store and scroll through them all.

Apple recently made some minor updates in its accessories department. The company has started offering an even shorter 0.5 meter Lightning to USB cable for $19, which is still the same price as the normal 1.0 meter cable. We’re not sure why you would pay the same amount of money for less cable, but there you go. A shorter 0.5 Thunderbolt cable was released last month.

Interestingly, Apple’s in-ear headphones have also been updated, but not in the way you would think. The remote/mic has been slightly redesigned to match the look of the EarPods. Apple’s in-ear headphones haven’t received a major update since 2008. They sell online for $79 with free shipping.

Source: Apple Store

How does one go from leading the most profitable retail division in the world to a London-based clothing retailer? Just ask John Browett. He spent less than six months as Apple’s senior VP of retail. Before Tim Cook brought him on at the beginning of 2012, Browett was the CEO of Dixons in Britain. After getting fired this past fall, Browett has returned to his roots.

If you’re one of the 700,000+ iPhone users waiting to get into Mailbox, then you may be waiting for awhile. The third-party Gmail client underwent a massive outage today that lasted for more than 10 hours. Service has started to come back for the app’s existing user base gradually, but it could take a little while longer for everyone to regain access.

11Bit Studios has released a couple of fantastic iOS games, Anomaly Warzone Earth and the follow up Anomaly Korea. Now, however, they’re setting their sights on the desktop gaming scene with a new secret game that they won’t even tell you about. Oh, and they’ll let you pre-order it, without even knowing what it is or what it’s about, for $7.49, which is half off the expected $14.99 they’ll release the game for on Steam sometime between March and June.

Intrigued? The developers hope you are, as they’ll only make this offer until February 28th, when they actually announce the game. If you pick it up now for $7.49, you’ll get a Steam code for the game when it comes out sometime in Q2 of this year, as well as a code for the multiplayer beta sometime near the end of March.

Bump, the free, easy file sharing app for Android and iOS, has just updated to version 3.5.6 on both the Apple iTunes App Store and the Google Play Store. The new version of the app will let users share any files on their smartphone or tablet with a computer. Previously, Bump users were only able to share files from mobile device to mobile device.

Earlier today we told you about a lockscreen bug in iOS 6.1 that allows someone to get past your passcode and into your contacts and photos. The process of replicating the bug is pretty tedious, but it’s still a nasty security bug Apple needs to fix.

The good news is that Apple is aware of the lockscreen flaw, and the company has confirmed that it will be fixed in a future iOS update.

Guys, gals, ladies, gentlemen! In order to keep that special someone in your life, you’ve got to work on your relationship. I know! It’s Scary! However, there are many iPhone apps out there to point you in the right direction. So, while cooking the perfect meal, dressing well, and bathing regularly are important, if you’re a selfish jerk on the inside, it won’t matter.

With that in mind, check out the following three apps that will help you connect and communicate to become a better person and partner in your own right. Still, bathe regularly, ok?

iPhone use and dating don’t really mix very well. Even if you follow our Gentleman’s Guide To Using Your iPhone On A Date, you’ll still probably do something really dumb if you try to pull out an iPhone on a date. Their feelings might get hurt. Heck, your feelings might get hurt. You’re both going to walk away more sexually frustrated than ever. It’s a bad idea.

Yes, there are apps out there that can help you get some action on Valentine’s Day, but the regular apps on your iPhone are probably going to destroy the hard work you put in.

Here are five stories that should encourage you to just leave your iPhone at home on Valentines Day.

planetbeing — the famed hacker who is part of the team behind the latest iOS 6 jailbreak — is now taking part in a Reddit AMA, answering questions posed to him by the community.

Although the AMA has just begun, Planetbeing has already opined on the future of iOS jailbreaking… and he says that while it’s too early to be sure, his belief is that iOS 7 will be a much tougher nut to crack than iOS 6.

Out of all the junk that I own, there are a few objects which I love to use. And I mean “love” on a base, visceral level. These are the things that are so well suited to their tasks that they not only never get in the way, but they make doing that task better.

When I heat milk and cocoa in my small De Buyer saucepan, alone in my quiet kitchen late at night, I smile when I unhook the pan from its hanger and feel its durable heft; I smile again when I pour the cocoa into a thermos and feel the pan’s perfect balance. Even washing it and hanging it up again is a pleasure.

I also love to use my dented, stainless steel Klean Kanteen “Reflect” water bottle. It’s design is so simple, just two pieces of steel, a silicone ring and a bamboo disk, but it does its job so well that I really do take it everywhere with me. And it’s so trustworthy that I’ll toss it into my bag along with my iPad and never worry about it leaking.

Which is to say, some things are not just well designed, they’re actually wonderful objects in their own right. And Twelve South’s SurfacePad for the iPhone is one of those objects.

Here’s a little something that might get you formatted-text nerds excited: Rich Notes, yet another new text-editing app, lets you write on the iPad in rich text. That is, you can italicize and embolden your words right there on the page. Yes, this works with some other apps, but Rich Notes lets you use keyboard shortcuts to do it. If you have an external keyboard hooked up, CMD-B and CMD-I will do just what they do in every desktop app.

Rich notes comes from the developer DenVog, who also makes the excellent Index Card app for iPhone and iPad. It’s due to launch on February 20th. Let’s take a look:

Steve Jobs wasn’t known as the most generous man in the world. While working at Atari, he recurited Wozniak to build a version of Pong in a weekend, then lied about how much money was involved and stole the majority of it from his best friend in the world. And when Pixar was just starting up, he’d fire people without any notice and without any severance.

There’s at least one guy out there, though, who thinks Steve Jobs is the most generous guy in the world. In fact, Jobs once gave him a Porsche as a reward for selling the most Macs in the United States. That number? A paltry one hundred and twenty five.

Do you get frustrated when you’re in the middle of an intense workout and your earphones fall out or the cables get in the way? MEElectronics feels your pain and has created the solution (along with a little help from Cult of Mac Deals).

The Sport-Fi line and Sport-Fi S6 workout package allows you to forget about your earphones and fully immerse yourself in your activity. Pump your jams, stay focused, perform better, and keep your pockets fat with this $22 steal!

Intuit has today released QuickBooks Online for the iPad, a free app that allows QuickBook subscribers to manage their customers, invoices, estimates, and expenses on the go. Intuit’s customers have been increasingly turning to mobile devices to manage their finances, so its new iPad app is sure to be a big hit.

Apple has confirmed that a bug affecting Microsoft Exchange accounts in iOS 6.1 will be fixed in an upcoming software update. In the meantime, the Cupertino company has provided a temporary fix, which will prevent the excessive communication with Exchange servers that users have been experiencing.

Jim Balsillie, the former co-CEO of BlackBerry (then Research in Motion), has dumped every single one of his 26.8 million shares in the company, ahead of the American launch of the BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry OS10.

Wunderlist 2 has finally arrived on the iPad today, just under three months after making its debut on the iPhone, Android, Mac, and PC. This update introduces a whole host of new features and functionality, in addition to speed and performance improvements under the hood. And as usual, it’s completely free.

McAfee has told customers of its antivirus applications for Mac to “just allow untrusted certificates” after a company administrator accidentally revoked the digital key used to certify its software. For more than a week, users have been unable to install McAfee products on a Mac, and the company’s only workaround so far is to allow untrusted certificates, which could pose risks to its customers’ machines.

Moves is that rare thing on the modern App Store — a free app that has an enormous amount to offer. It’s magical in its simplicity, an app that asks no more than you switch it on and forget about it.

All you have to do is carry on with life. Moves tracks your movements, intelligently works out whether you’ve been walking, running, cycling or using transport of some kind, and provides you with a helpful summary at the end of each and every day.

Best of all, though, it does so without any need for input from you. You don’t have to tell it that you’re going out for a run. You don’t have to tell it you’re walking from A to B.

It just knows.