Cult of Mac

In my review of Temple Run 2, I called it an “awesome sequel.” Millions upon millions of people seem to agree. Temple Run 2 has become the fastest downloaded mobile game in history with 50 million downloads in just two weeks. The previous record was set by Rovio’s Angry Birds with 50 million downloads in 35 days.

Temple Run 2 for iOS hit 20 million downloads after its first week on the App Store. Imangi Studios, the company behind Temple Run, has since brought the game to Google Play on Android and the Amazon Marketplace.

    SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD/iWORLD 2013 – Whether you’re excited for Ashton Kutcher’s upcoming film JOBS or not, there’s no denying that Kutcher poured his heart into this role.

Throughout his keynote this morning, Ashton waxed philosophic on the things that he learned as he tried to become Steve Jobs. At one point he was even on the brink of tears. At the end of the interview, Ashton was asked what he want he wants people to get out of seeing the movie, and he shared these three things.

The International Electrotechnical Commission has forced Apple to stop selling the Mac Pro in European countries. Apple has officially announced the news to its retail partners, and all sales for the Mac Pro will come to a halt after February 18th. The U.S. remains unaffected.

The reason for the sales ban has to do with updated European regulatory requirements relating to fan guards and electrical port protection. Apple has previously confirmed that a new Mac Pro is coming later in 2013, and the updated product should pass inspection just fine.

Penultimate for iPad has today received its first major update since it was acquired by Evernote back in May 2012. In addition to Evernote syncing, the app offers a number of nifty new features, the most impressive of which is handwriting search — which uses handwriting recognition technology to allow you to find notes you’ve written by hand. And if that wasn’t enough, the app is now completely free.

Given what a smash success the iPad mini is, it’s reasonable to assume that the next-generation iPad might borrow a few design queues from it’s little sibling. Indeed, we’ve already heard the first rumors of just that. Technologically speaking, though, how will Apple make the iPad 5 as thin and light as the mini? By aping the mini’s display technology.

 SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD/iWORLD 2013 – Steve Jobs isn’t here at Macworld to kick off the show with one of his famous Stevenotes. But we got the next best thing – an shoddy actor who played Steve Jobs in a movie.

Ashton just opened Macworld with a Kutchernote, and unfortunately he didn’t come out in his full Steve garb, but he did give us some insight into what it was like to play Steve Jobs as well as his “geek credentials,” but more importantly, he said that Steve Jobs is his idol and that he tries to emulate him when he’s doing his angel investments.

Thanks to the increasing popularity of Google’s Android platform, Google Play revenue increased more than sixfold during 2012. The boost has helped the search giant gain ground on Apple’s App Store, but it still has a lot of work to do. Despite that growth, the App Store still rakes in 3.5 times more cash than Google Play does.

It’s the new year, so it’s out with the old and in with new cases!

I’ve got two new high-end cases from the London Company Knomo — a leather snap-on for the iPhone 5 and a leather folio for the iPad Mini.

As soon as the samples arrived, I put them on my iPad and iPhone — and they haven’t come off since.

Apple is leading the post-PC revolution, and the numbers prove it. Research firm IDC has released its results for the fourth holiday quarter of 2012, and tablet shipments were threw the roof. The iPad is leading the way with 43.6% market share. Samsung and Amazon are trailing behind in a distant second and third.

22.9 million iPads were sold last quarter alone. Shipments were bolstered by Apple’s release of the iPad mini and fourth-gen Retina iPad. What’s crazy is that the iPad is still so unbelievably dominant that every other tablet competitor is barely a blip on Apple’s radar.

SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD/iWORLD 2013 – After you’ve brushed up on your iPhone photography skills and checked out the gadgets on the Expo floor, there’s still a few Apple-related things to do in San Francisco.

It’s a bit disappointing that the strip clubs have decided to stop offering their usual MacWorld free passes – and we don’t recommend you follow Apple maps to the Tenderloin to visit “My Butt,” either — but here are a few ideas.

Steve Jobs. Bill Gates. I’ve always relished any opportunity to see either of the two information-age titans reference the other (this ultra-rare instance of the two sparring side-by-side during an All Things Digital conference still gives me goose bumps).

In this case, it was Bill Gates in his first appearance on the Stephen Colbert show last night when Colbert gingerly brought up Steve in the last moments of the conversation.

Hands up if you remember Dial-a-song. You don’t? Man, those were the good days. Even if you don’t remember them, now’s the time to re-live them on your iPhone. Like it’s an old phone. A dial-a-song phone.

Rovio’s latest “Escape from Hoth” update to Angry Birds Star Wars is out today, adding 20 new levels, mynock pigs, and an epic boss battle. It’s available to download now on Android and iOS, and it’s completely free to those why already own the game.

SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD/iWORLD 2013 – Maintaining a Mac is a lot easier than a PC but it still requires some work. After a few years of use, your hard drive space starts to shrink and finding the right files to delete isn’t always obvious.

MacPaw is releasing a new app to help people free up more space on their Macs. It’s called CleanMyMac 2 and it will dive deep into your harddrive to clean out all the crap you don’t need.

Wunderlist for Mac has today been updated to introduce a number of new features including the ability to email and print your to-do lists. It also adds contextual menus, makes performance and stability improvements, and adds additional languages.

SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD/iWORLD 2013 – Some people are really serious about the work they get done on their iPad. Take our Reviews Editor, Charlie Sorrel, for example. Dude, takes his iPad everywhere with him on his crosscountry bike rides to bang out his awesome posts.

The problem with doing serious work with the iPad is that it’s a fairly delicate device. You drop it once and your entire iPad world can be shattered. There are a few cases that can handle a few blows, but the iKey StreetCase is ready to go to war for you.

With Tuesday’s’s announcement of a 128GB iPad 4, Apple is clearly signaling that the iPad is not only suitable for serious work, but that it can be the primary machine for many users. Most commenters have fixated on fitting extra movies and other consumables into the extra 64GB of space, but they’re forgetting about work.

In fact, I’d say that the iPad With Retina Display, as Apple now insists on calling it, is the new desktop machine, and the iPad mini is the new laptop. Why? Let me explain:

 SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD/iWORLD 2013 – I don’t believe in covering my gorgeous iPhone with a case. I want it to be naked. Free. Yes, it might gather some battle scars in the process, but I think those give it character. I also don’t use a case because I just don’t want any extra bulk in my pocket, and most cases add a half inch of thickness to my svelte iPhone 5.

TwelveSouth has heard the complaints of iPhone users like me who hate using cases. They know that some of us don’t want to hide the iPhone’s beautiful design. They know I just want to be able to slip it in and out of my pocket with ease. But they also know I worry that my screen is going to get scratched or shatter, and they think they have the perfect solution.

Adobe has been making their “creative suite” for years, and while it is robust on so many levels, it is also daunting on just as many. There’s so much to learn and wrapping your head around each component is key in order to get the most out of each of them. Our latest Cult of Mac Deals offer will give you a chance to get the most out of Adobe Creative Suite 6 so that you can get more results from your creative work.

The Adobe CS6 Training Bundle offers over $891 worth of education on Adobe Creative Suite 6 – with over 1000 lessons making up over 100 hours of practical training – and Cult of Mac Deals has it available for only $99 for a limited time!

Valve co-founder Gabe Newell has revealed that he sees Apple TV as more of a threat to the Steam Box than consoles like the Xbox or PlayStation. The Cupertino company has an “obvious pathway” into the living room with its platform, Newell told students at the University of Texas — and competitors must try to establish themselves before Apple does something about it.

What fun the Option key is in OS X, right? Adding it to clicks and keystrokes makes many features accessible that would otherwise be hidden. We’ve spent the last few days talking about how to maximize the Option key in your power-user Mac workflow, in the Finder, the Menu Bar, and in iWork apps.

Now, we’re going to head over to Apple’s built-in browser, Safari, and show you how the Option key can make your Safari life just that bit better.

There’s a new Android statue on Google’s Mountain View campus today. Made from what appears to be chrome, the little guy is hanging out of Building 45, which is situated opposite the lawn where the other Android statues sit. Its arrival has sparked speculation that Google is ready to release a new version of Android, but according to the company, we’re reading too much into it.

The upcoming evasi0n jailbreak that will will allow users to hack iOS devices running Apple’s latest iOS 6.1 firmware has been completed for Mac and Windows ahead of its public release. The team behind it the exploit confirmed the update on Twitter this morning. All that remains is the Linux client and “some testing.”

Adobe has been making their “creative suite” for years, and while it is robust on so many levels, it is also daunting on just as many. There’s so much to learn and wrapping your head around each component is key in order to get the most out of each of them. Our latest Cult of Mac Deals offer will give you a chance to get the most out of Adobe Creative Suite 6 so that you can get more results from your creative work.

The Adobe CS6 Training Bundle offers over $891 worth of education on Adobe Creative Suite 6 – with over 1000 lessons making up over 100 hours of practical training – and Cult of Mac Deals has it available for only $99 for a limited time!

The new year is well underway, and we’ve got a bundle lined up for you here at Cult of Mac Deals that will help you make the most of your Mac over the months to come. And the best part is that you’ll get all 8 of these time-savings apps for free as part of The Mac Freebie Bundle.