Cult of Mac

The problem with buying any iPad used is the undeniable knowledge that the previous user has, without any shadow of a doubt, used that exact same tablet while sitting upon the toilet. Yet if you try to use that fact as a negotiating point, it quickly becomes a touchy subject.

For the person who uses his or her iPad in the john unapologetically, yet doesn’t want to feel the icy cold touch of the aluminum casing against their exposed genitalia, how about this iPad Pedestal Stand, replete with attached toilet roll? $45. You’re welcome!

Source: CTA Digital
Via: Macplus

I could get lost in Reddit for days. It’s beautiful. It’s horrible. If it weren’t for Alien Blue my Reddit binging would be confined to my desktop, but alas, they make a hell of an app that feeds my addiction on the iPhone too.

To make things even better (or worse), Alien Blue just received a major update this week that makes browsing Reddit from your iPhone more alluring than ever. They’ve added a crapload of UI improvements, some new moderator tools, better navigation, and a ton of other stuff all for free.

Here are the release notes on everything new in version 2.7:

Even though she can barely understand me, Siri can do some pretty cool stuff. She can find the answers to movie trivia and tell me if it’s raining, but she still can’t do really useful things yet, like turning off the lights or adjust my thermostat, even though home automation is going to be Apple’s next big thing.

A YouTube user by the name of Elvis Impersonator decided it’s time to take Siri to the next level, and make her a truly great personal assistant. So thanks to a Raspberry Pi, Siri can now open and close his garage door, turn off his house alarm, change his TV channel and so much more.

Here’s a video of this awesome Siri home automation hack in action:

BlackBerry — previously Research in Motion — launched the new BlackBerry Z10 last week, the first smartphone to run the company’s new BlackBerry 10 operating system. Originally set to launch in late 2012, the Z10 has been a long time coming for BlackBerry fans, and it’s a hugely important milestone for the Canadian company.

Many see this as BlackBerry’s last hope of survival in today’s cutthroat smartphone market. It’s been rapidly losing market share to Android and iOS devices over the past five years, and it hasn’t evolved quick enough to put up any sort of a fight. But it’s better later than never.

BlackBerry 10’s here now, and with the help of the Z10 — and later the Q10 — it’s going to be trying to persuade you to give up your iPhone or Android-powered smartphone in favor of a brand new platform. But is it good enough?

I’m a long-time iOS user who recently made the switch to Android, and I’ve been really curious to see if the Z10 is any good. I’ve been using the device almost exclusively since its release; here’s Cult Of Android’s review.

Struggling to find a gift for your loved one this Valentine’s Day? If you get really desperate, you could always buy them something from the App Store. Seriously. That’s what Apple’s suggesting with its new Valentine’s Day Gift Guide, which features a collection of apps and games suited to music lovers, writers, photographers, foodies, and more.

Even though Android has been dominating the smartphone marketshare, the tablet wars are a completely different story as the iPad is clearly the most popular device while all Android tablets are struggling to gain significant usage.

In a new report from the Chitika Ad Network, Apple’s iPad now accounts for 81% of U.S. tablet web traffic. The iPad is so far ahead of the Android tablets, that even if you combined the top 3 performing Android tablets marketshare, they still would look insignificant next to the iPad’s numbers.

Apple has today announced that its iTunes Store has set yet another record as it surpasses more than 25 billion songs sold. The 25 billionth song to be downloaded was “Monkey Drums” by Chase Buch, and it was purchased by Phillip Lüpke from Germany, who will receive a €10,000 iTunes Gift Card from Apple.

Apple has been improving Siri since the intelligent assistant first made its debut on the iPhone 4S back in October 2011, and has also been working to expand its availability; it’s now available on all the latest iOS devices, and some older ones, too. It seems inevitable that Siri will one day be introduced to the Mac as well, and that day could be getting closer as Apple searches for new engineers who will be tasked with bringing it to the desktop.

Forget about lame-o portable Bluetooth speakers for your iDevices and take a look at this monster instead. It’s the PylePro soundbar, and it’ll sit up on your wall and blast 300 (three hundred) watts of sound into your living room.

Display Recorder, a popular tool that records what’s happening on the display of a jailbroken iOS device, has today been updated to support the iOS 6.1 firmware. The update follows this week’s evasi0n release, which became the first untethered jailbreak which supports the latest iOS devices — including the iPhone 5 and the iPad mini.

MultiMarkdown, the (surprise!) MultiMarkdown editor for OS X, has just launched its new 2.0 version, and it’s fantastic. If you write articles in MarkDown on your Mac, or even on your iPad, then you should probably just go spend the $5 right now.

Remember all the stupidity about 500px getting pulled from the iOS App Store because it was possible to see artful photographs of professional models exposing body parts that literally every person on the Earth has underneath their clothes? Which was all the more hysterical because Apple’s “Editor’s Choice” at the time was Vine, an app in which you are just a click of the #porn tag away from seeing an endless stream of anonymous masturbators wave their foreskins at you?

Well, 500px solved its problem with Apple by adopting a 17+ iTunes rating, and now Vine is doing the same.

Although Apple did not revamp the aged Mac Pro line last year, Tim Cook and Apple executives have reiterated their commitment to the Pro segment in the last six months on at least a couple of occasions, and it is believed — somewhat skeptically, true, by some current Mac Pro owners who want to replace their dying machines — that Apple will release a freshly redesigned Mac Pro in 2013, especially since they can no longer sell existing Mac Pros in Europe starting March 1.

Now an anecdotal report confirms that an Apple representative has confirmed to a French computer seller that a “new range of Mac Pro will be released in spring 2013.”

This could mean anything. It could be wishful thinking, it could confirm a new Mac Pro range that is changed just enough to get around new E.U. environmental regulations that prevent the Mac Pro from being sold there, or it could harbinger an exotic new Mac Pro design in total. We’ll have to wait and see.

Source: Macg.co
Thanks: Anthony N.

Well, so far this week, we’ve shown you how to tweak the Finder and change up some user interface types of things, all using the power of Mac OS X’s Terminal app, a window into the back end of your Mac. Today, we’re going to spend a little time with the Terminal commands to make your Mac just a bit more secure and private.

It takes no more than about 30 seconds to run a cloth over your smartphone or tablet display and free it from greasy fingerprints. But if you’re just too darn lazy to do that, check out this tiny little autonomous robot that does it for you. From Takara Tomy, the Automee-S is a 2.75-inch Roomba-like device that (slowly) makes its way around your smartphone or tablet display and gives it a good clean.

Are you a designer? New to the trade or simply wanting to add more creative juice to your arsenal?

We’ve got over 4,400 high-quality vector graphics on tap – plus an extra 100 stock photos – so if you’ve been hunting for some creative juices you’ve come to the right place. With this Cult of Mac Deals offer you’ll be able to create more eye-catching graphics and bring your design game to a whole new level.

We understand being a designer can be tough especially when you have a lack of resources and is why we’re excited to bring you The Vector Collection Bundle for just $49!

Apple may lose its right to use the iPhone name in Brazil, according to a report on Reuters today. The trademark has been given to Gradiente Eletronica SA, a Brazilian electronics maker who registered the name in 1998, well before Apple had an iPhone to even trademark. The decision is set to be made public on the 13th of this month.

Apple can still challenge the ruling in Brazilian courts once the announcement is made.

There’s nothing quite like hunting for something misplaced to drive one crazy. If you’ve ever lost a set of keys or Bluetooth headset under a couch pillow, you know exactly what I’m talking about. And if just the thought of a scenario like that triggers a burst of panic, you’ll want to pay close attention here — because Item TrackR just might keep you from losing more stuff, along with your remaining marbles.

Apple is unlike any other company in the world when it comes to press relations. Most companies have to beg for coverage and shower journalists with free trips and gear, but Apple is known for giving a notoriously cold shoulder to the vast majority of publications. If you’re not on the shortlist, then you get no help from PR and certainly no sneak peaks at future products.

According to a new report in The Wall Street Journal, some recent changes within Apple PR “represent a recognition that competition is heating up:”

That’s right — instead of a case that turns your iPhone into a wallet, Wally, the latest Kickstarter project from Distil Union, sort of does the opposite. It’s a slip of leather that attaches to the back of an iPhone 4 or 5 via something called “micro-suction,” and creates a cavity with just about enough space for three of your most-used cards.

As Apple matures iOS every year with new features, many worry that jailbreaking will lose its appeal. Are the glory days over? All signs point to no.

A highly-anticipated jailbreak called Evasi0n was unleashed yesterday for the full gambit of iOS devices, including the iPhone 5. So many people jailbroke at once that Cydia, the jailbreak alternative to the App Store, buckled under the weight for hours. Based on early traffic numbers, iOS 6 has been jailbroken by millions of users in less than two days. Evasi0n reveals that jailbreaking is far from dead.

It seems like every year it takes longer and longer to jailbreak the latest iPhone… which is because, ever since the release of the iPhone 3G, it has been true. To date, the number of days it takes for jailbreakers to release a public jailbreak for the latest iPhone has increased by an average of 67.58% every year… and the recent evasi0n jailbreak for all iOS 6.1 devices landed a record 136 days after the iPhone 5 went on sale.

Looking forward, we were curious what that meant for the iPhone 5S. Given historic trends, how long will it take jailbreakers to release a public jailbreak for Apple’s next phone? Here’s what we found.

It used to be that in order to call a number overseas from the U.S., you’d dial a number like this one: 011 44 55 5555 5555. These days, however, it’s more common to see a number like this: + 44 55 5555 5555. But where do you find that plus symbol?

We’re here to tell you.

Made from rare woods, leather, and nickel-plated aluminum, Element’s Ronin iPhone 5 case is definitely one of the most beautiful and finely crafted cases I’ve seen. But at $180, its price might be hard from some to swallow.

STM has just busted out a whole new range of tech-carrying bags, from small purse-a-likes to hefty schlep-it-all backpacks. But the one I fancy most out of the new lineup is the Velo 2, and not just because it sounds like you’re meant to use it while riding a bike.