Think Tank’s new Airport Commuter camera bag ($199) is something of a paradox: Though it’s the size of a normal backpack, it manages to fit an abnormal amount of glass, gear, a full-size a Macbook Pro, and an iPad.
But could such a compact bag hold so many precious items in harmony? I packed it up, strapped it on, and set out to find out.
If you have faith in the supernatural deity named Gene Munster, and believe with all your heart that Apple is going to release the iTV in 2013, then you’ve probably got all your pennies saved so you can drop some fat stacks on Apple’s flatscreen next year.
Apple products usually aren’t cheap, and we figure the iTV will be no different if Apple ever releases one, but according to a new survey, over 46% of Americans are totally fine with having to pay over $1,000 for an iTV.
Today’s Cult of Mac Deal sounds great…literally!
The AFS1 Portable Bluetootk Speaker offers great sound – wherever and whenever you want it. You can easily sync this powerful little speaker to your tablet, phone, computer, or bluetooth compatible music player to enjoy stereo quality tunes anywhere. And for only $39 you’re gettinga deal that sounds great on a whole other level!
Ever want to see the robot computer code language Siri actually thinks in before she translates it to English? Well if you’re in the U.S. and ask Siri why she doesn’t speak Danish, German, Portugese, Mandarin, French, Russian, or a number of other languages, then her answer will come back in a goop of unintelligible robot-speak. Well, unintelligible for people who have little understanding of coding.
It looks like there’s something wrong on the server end of Siri and she’s unable to retrieve the proper answer. Rather than answering in English, or offering to do a web search on your question, she orates the code version of the answer. We’ve yet to find any other questions that prompt a similar response from Siri, but this is another simple flaw that Eddie Cue and his team need to fix whenever they get done saving people from Apple Maps.
Have you seen similar code-based answers from Siri for other questions? Let us know in the comments.
One of the better Yuletide traditions is the venerable holiday Advent Calendar, in which each day of December leading up to Christmas is marked off on a special calendar by opening its corresponding door to find a small gift, toy or chocolate squirreled away inside.
This year, we here at Cult of Mac decided we wanted to give our readers their very own Apple-themed advent calendar, filled with the year’s best apps, gadgets, stories and other curios. So each day in December, we’re going to lovingly peel back the door on the Cult of Mac 2012 Advent Calendar to reveal another delicious morsel, something really special that came out this year that we think every one of you should enjoy.
What hidden behind door number 11? How about something that will help you burn all those Holiday Calories – The Nike Fuelband.
The original Angry Birds game for smartphones, the title that started it all back in 2009, celebrates its third birthday this week. And what better way to do that than with lots of new content. In addition to support for Apple’s new iPhone 5 (finally!), you can look forward to 30 brand new levels and more on Android and iOS.
Update: Shortly after this article was published “Dream JB” turned out to be a complete fake. The person behind the website literally rick rolled everyone and shut the site down. It was all apparently a “social experiment” from the beginning, and there was never an actual jailbreak for any kind. If a jailbreak release isn’t coming from known and respected hackers, don’t trust it. The source link to the site has been removed from the bottom of this post.
A mysterious hacker has begun teasing the first untethered jailbreak for the latest devices running iOS 6, including the iPhone 5, the iPad mini, and the fourth-generation iPad. The hack will not come from the usual suspects — the iPhone-Dev Team — but rather from an individual calling himself “Dream JB.” He promises it will arrive on December 22, but are we getting our hopes up over nothing?
https://youtu.be/Ha_4nrGyGPk
AgileBits has overhauled its 1Password app for iOS for version 4.0, and its begun teasing the release with a new trailer ahead of its December 13 launch. The video doesn’t give away any of 1Password’s new features, but it does show off its new look. Although you will have to keep your eyes peeled if you want to see it; blink and you’ll miss it.
Google rolled out a major update to its Gmail app for iOS last week, and it seems Yahoo! is keen to keep up. The company just introduced a brand new look to its Yahoo! Mail app for iPhone, which introduces a brand new look that I’m a big fan of. It’s not too dissimilar to Gmail’s, in fact. And in some ways it’s better.
Guy Kawasaki was one of the Apple employees behind the legendary marketing of its 1984 Macintosh, and he’s well known among the Apple community for being a former evangelist of the Cupertino company. You might think, then, that when Kawasaki’s phone rings, it’s an iPhone he pulls out of his pocket.
Well that couldn’t be further from the truth. Kawasaki’s a diehard Android fan, and he has been for about a year. He no longer uses any iOS products at all — not even an iPad.
Best gadget of the year? According to Time Magazine, it’s the iPhone 5. Oh, and Apple or people who have worked for Apple are responsible for another two out of the top ten spots as well.
Foxconn’s problems with worker rights are well known, and for the last year, CEO Terry Gou has been openly talking about an obvious solution to the human rights issue: replace as many of his human workers with robots as possible.
It makes sense. Robots can’t be underpaid, or overworked, and you certainly don’t need to hang suicide nets around their dormitories. Terry Gou is so enamored with the idea that he’s been openly talking about employing one million robots within the next three years.
Now it’s happening.
The future of Microsoft’s SkyDrive service on iOS looks bleak today as the company appears to have entered into a fight with Apple over its 30% cut of App Store revenues. Microsoft recently gave iOS users the ability to upgrade their SkyDrive subscriptions from their iPhones and iPads, but until the company agrees to give Apple a 30% cut of the in-app purchases, it won’t get any future updates approved.
A critical bug fix that prevents the app from crashing has now had to be placed on hold. Should Apple’s rules be a little more flexible in certain cases?
It is with bad memories of Apple’s original iPad case in my mind that I write about Elecom’s Ultra-Compact USB Memory. Forcing that hideous black rubber monstrosity on the beautiful iPad was like marrying a supermodel and forcing her to wear a wetsuit.
But thanks to Elecom, we never need to do this to our svelte MacBooks Air – this tiny USB dongle might be easy ot lose, but until you do, it’ll hand around looking beautiful. Just like that hot model (soon-to-be-ex-) wife of yours.
Are you constantly sending your buddies in the office links to funny Imgur pictures or hilarious YouTube videos? Is that why your office IT department shut down any non-corporate instant messaging services on the office network? Do you still want to send your co-workers funny links to lighten the monotony of the cubicle farm you all work in?
Whatever the reason, if you want to be able to send and receive links quickly and easily without having to copy and paste them into an IM client or email, The Great Link may be the app for you. It’s easy to set up and simple to use. Here’s how.
Apple’s relationship with Google is often rocky at best. While the Cupertino company has previously utilized its services for its Mac and iOS devices, it has never really forgiven the search giant for developing Android, the biggest competitor to the iPhone. In fact, Apple’s recently been working to distance itself from Google, removing some of its services from iOS, including YouTube and of course Maps.
However, Google CEO Larry Page feels that it’s Apple’s users that suffer when it can’t work with competing companies, and says it would be “nice if everybody would get along better.”
Strong sales of the iPhone 5 have helped Apple grab more than a quarter of the global LTE device market last quarter, despite the handset’s short time on sale. The Cupertino company now commands 27% of the market share, while arch rival Samsung’s 40% share means it maintains the top spot for the seventh quarter in a row.
However, increasing competition from its rivals means Samsung’s share has quickly slipped by more than 10% from 50.9% in the previous quarter.
YouTube announced today that its Android app has been updated to match more directly with the recent updates to its web homepage. On the video host’s Google+ page, they noted that the YouTube app on an Android tabled has now included a Guide like the one recently introduced on YouTube proper. It allows you to access your favorite channels and discover new ones.
In addition, YouTube announced that the mobile website, available to iPad and other mobile users, will provide the same easy access to the Guide interface, letting you connect with your subscriptions and playlists as well as easier controls for sending video to your HDTV via AirPlay and other systems.
Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator CS6 versions are now Retina display ready, and available for download via Adobe Software Update. You can also grab the update file directly from the Adobe website.
Games Workshop announced today a Space Hulk game for Mac, iOS, and (yes) PC. It’s scheduled for release in 2013, and is based on the Warhammer 40,000 franchise board game of the same name. The current digital version is planned to be a 3D turn-based strategy game with both single player and co-op modes of play, not to mention cross-platform multiplayer across iOS, Mac, and PC.
Last year, Apple acheived spot number 15 on CareerBliss’s list of the top fifty happiest companies. This year, Apple came in at a near-bottom 42. What happened?
The list pulls info from anonymous job satisfaction reports that can be submitted to the CareerBliss site, not the most scientifically valid of methods. However, as TUAW notes, the average reported salary for Apple employees dropped from $59,559 per year to $57,269 per year this past year. Maybe that had something to do with it.
Twitter has unveiled Instagram-like photo filters for its official mobile apps on Android and iOS. It’s been rumored that Twitter would roll out this feature by the end of the year, and the time has come.
You can choose from 8 basic filters and crop/enhance your pics before sharing them in the Twitter app. This addition comes after Instagram recently shut off photo previews for links shared in Twitter.
Apple’s Maps struck again this morning when it was reported that multiple drivers were being guided into the wilderness when searching for the city of Mildura. The local police deemed the glitch in Maps a “potentially life-threatnening issue” because the Australian wilderness is not exactly a safe place to get lost in. The temperature gets really hot and there’s no water.
Since the fiasco started circulating in the media this morning, Apple has quietly fixed the inaccuracy in Maps and started pointing users in the correct direction.
Uber is a really great service, but the iPhone app has always sucked. It has been a real shame because Uber made me never want to take a taxi again. I’ve been wanting the app itself, which is arguably the crux of the whole experience, to be on par with the great driving experiences I’ve had in Uber cars.
Today Uber 2.0 went live in the App Store, and it just took everything to the next level. Not only does the app have a gorgeous new design, but you can finally get fare estimates before you book a ride. There’s also iPhone 5 support and plenty of other goodies.
A big Instagram update is now available for Android and iOS devices. The camera interface of the app has been improved with a quick preview of the last picture you took on your device. Now there’s an optional grid guide for taking pictures and a permanent grid to help you with aligning when you’re scaling and cropping. For iPhone 5 users, Instagram has included an “improved Camera Roll image selector for quick access to your last photograph.”
Today’s update also includes a number of speed enhancements, Foursquare buttons, several design tweaks, and a new filter called “Willow.”