Siri, Apple’s voice-based virtual assistant is a mixed bag of good things and bad. And Siri faces an increasing competition in the market, especially from Google.
I believe Siri is probably the single most important feature Apple offers for three future Apple devices. In fact, I think Apple is betting the entire company on Siri. However, many users often wonder why is Siri so bad compared to its competitors, raising concerns about its limitations.
And that’s why they’ve got to fix it.
I don’t know about you, but I’m finding it hard to keep up with all these awesome Black Friday deals. If you’ve picked up a reduced iOS device from Apple — or another third-party retailer — during today’s sales, you may want one of ThinkGeek’s iCade controllers to accompany it. The company is now offering up to $50 off.
Danny Trejo’s Vengeance: Woz With A Coz, the new iOS game featuring Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak that we told you about earlier this month, is now available to download from the App Store for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Priced at just $0.99, the 8-bit retro platformer sees Woz teaming up with Danny Trejo in an effort to save Woz’s wife, “J-Woz,” who has been kidnapped.
While you all were picking the choicest dark and white turkey meats for your plates and piling high glistening mountains of mashed potatoes, we here at Cult of Mac were stuck in our broadcasting dungeons recording another brand new CultCast, cause guess what? We’re just. That. Professional.
Ok so we actually recorded Wednesday. But with so much great Apple news and topics to cover this week, we just had to hop on the mics before the holiday gorging commenced.
Apple’s Black Friday sales; Oprah’s love for the iPad; Tim Cook’s favorite Thanksgiving accoutrements—it’s all that and more on this gravy-smothered over-stuffed CultCast! Subscribe now to The CultCast on iTunes, or easily stream new and previous episodes via Apple’s free Podcasts App.
Read on for the show notes and to learn how you could promote your product or service on one of our future episodes.
Just two months after it made its much-anticipated debut, the iPhone 5 is already available from AT&T starting at just $99 — that’s $100 off its regular price. That price is for the 16GB model — in black or white — while the 32GB and 64GB options are also available for $199 and $299 respectively.
Apple’s Black Friday sale is now live at Apple.com. As expected, the Cupertino company has reduced the price tags of several Macs, the iPad and iPad mini, and the iPod nano and iPod touch. A lot of its own accessories, such as iPad Smart Covers and the Magic Mouse, are also included in the sale.
Readdle, the developer behind some of the most popular productivity apps for iOS, has discounted a few of its best offerings for Black Friday. Some of which are down by as much as 80%, while PDF Expert for iPhone is now completely free. We’ve got a complete list of the reductions below, but remember: they’re only for a limited time, so grab the while you can.
Happy Thanksgiving! This year to observe the holiday we asked each of our writers to tell us a bit about the things they are most thankful for in 2012: specifically, the Apple product, app, service, third-party accessory and person they most relied upon and were grateful for this year. All through the rest of the day, we’ll be posting these thanksgiving observances. Here’s Cult of Mac News Writer Alex Heath’s list of the things he’s most thankful for this year. You can find the rest of our Thanksgiving Smorgasbord entries here.
Happy Thanksgiving! This year to observe the holiday we asked each of our writers to tell us a bit about the things they are most thankful for in 2012: specifically, the Apple product, app, service, third-party accessory and person they most relied upon and were grateful for this year. All through the rest of the day, we’ll be posting these thanksgiving observances. Here’s Cult of Mac Reviews Editor Charlie Sorrel’s list of the things he’s most thankful for this year. You can find the rest of our Thanksgiving Smorgasbord entries here.
This kind of giveaway is just too good to ignore. In a nutshell, two lucky winners will walk away with an iPad Mini. That’s just…awesome.
So if you’ve ever hoped, wished, dreamed, or thought about getting an iPad Mini this iPad Mini Giveaway is right up your alley.
Happy Thanksgiving! This year to observe the holiday we asked each of our writers to tell us a bit about the things they are most thankful for in 2012: specifically, the Apple product, app, service, third-party accessory and person they most relied upon and were grateful for this year. All through the rest of the day, we’ll be posting these thanksgiving observances. Here’s Cult of Mac News Writer Killian Bell’s list of the things he’s most thankful for this year. You can find the rest of our Thanksgiving Smorgasbord entries here.
Samsung successfully had the iPhone 5 added to its patent infringement complaint against Apple earlier this month, but the Korean electronics giant hasn’t quite finished there. It’s now going after Apple’s latest iOS devices, and has requested that the iPad mini, the new fourth-generation iPad, and Apple’s latest iPod touch are also brought into the case.
Happy Thanksgiving! This year to observe the holiday we asked each of our writers to tell us a bit about the things they are most thankful for in 2012: specifically, the Apple product, app, service, third-party accessory and person they most relied upon and were grateful for this year. All through the rest of the day, we’ll be posting these thanksgiving observances. Here’s Cult of Mac Deputy Editor John Brownlee’s list of the things he’s most thankful for this year. You can find the rest of our Thanksgiving Smorgasbord entries here.
“All work and no play makes Homer something something…”
Fans of The Simpsons will know that all work and no play actually made Homer go crazy – so to celebrate Thanksgiving – and the forthcoming Black Friday weekend – Cult of Mac Deals has a pretty sweet ride that will keep you entertained for hours. And (hopefully) keep you from going crazy.
This remote-controlled hyperspeed stunt flier is the most dynamic of its kind – and Cult of Mac Deals has it for just $49 for a limited time!
If there’s one thing I’m thankful for this Thanksgiving, it’s iOS developers. They price their apps at tremendously great prices, then make big reductions at almost every opportunity. This Thanksgiving, EA, Gameloft, Sega, and more are slashing the prices of their most popular iOS titles — most of which are now just $0.99.
So that you don’t miss a bargain, we’ve compiled a list of the best titles that are now going cheap. Check it out below.
Happy Thanksgiving! This year to observe the holiday we asked each of our writers to tell us a bit about the things they are most thankful for in 2012: specifically, the Apple product, app, service, third-party accessory and person they most relied upon and were grateful for this year. All through the rest of the day, we’ll be posting these thanksgiving observances. Here’s Cult of Mac Reviews Editor Giles Turnbull’s list of the things he’s most thankful for this year. You can find the rest of our Thanksgiving Smorgasbord entries here.
Steam has kicked off its autumn sale by reducing some of the best games for Mac by as much as 75%. The sale runs until November 26, and Steam will add new games each and every day. Some of the Mac titles kicking off the sale today include The Walking Dead, Civilization V, Borderlands 2, and many, many more.
Happy Thanksgiving! This year to observe the holiday we asked each of our writers to tell us a bit about the things they are most thankful for in 2012: specifically, the Apple product, app, service, third-party accessory and person they most relied upon and were grateful for this year. All through the rest of the day, we’ll be posting these thanksgiving observances. Here’s Cult of Mac Social Media Editor Buster Heine’s list of the things he’s most thankful for this year. You can find the rest of our Thanksgiving Smorgasbord entries here.
Gameloft is gearing up to release Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour — the best Call of Duty alternative you’ll find on Android and iOS — later this year, but not before it’s teased us with more videos. The latest takes a look at the game’s 12-player online multiplayer mode, and the different game types it offers.
After announcing back in October that it will bring Grand Theft Auto: Vice City to Android and iOS to celebrate the game’s 10th anniversary, Rockstar Games went quiet on the release, leaving us all to wonder when it would finally arrive. It even had me searching the App Store for ‘Vice City’ on a daily basis in the hope that it would suddenly appear.
The company has now confirmed, however, that Vice City will hit the App Store and Google Play on December 6, priced at $4.99.
Check this video out – it’s a developer who’s used a Siri development plugin to control his Phillips Hue IP-controllable light bulbs. While the video is short, the guy who did it, Brandon Evans, has posted the code and instructions needed to make it happen on your own iPad, assuming you know what he’s talking about.
Evan has this to say about the project:
The Philips Hue hardware was first intriguing to me because they explicitly mention that it’s a ZigBee certified product on the packaging and labels. ZigBee is a wireless technology that is different from WiFi in a few important ways: Low power, equivalent range and intended for light data mesh networks. It’s popular with DIY hardware makers (think Arduinos) for this reason, as well as that it’s much cheaper than WiFi modules. It seems like it may be the wireless standards of choice for consumer home automation systems that are coming to market. As an example, the Nest thermostat was also found to have ZigBee hardware inside, although it isn’t supported in software yet. Because of all this I wanted to see exactly what hardware Philips was using, and if it would be possible to replicate the Hue system.
Looks like a great first step to using off-the-shelf technology to control home systems. Bravo, Mr. Evans!
Source: Brandon Evans
Via: Loop Insight
Popular third-party mail client Sparrow was recently bought by Google, but that hasn’t stopped the app’s developers from pushing out updates for their existing user base. Today Sparrow for iPhone received a long-awaited update that brings support for the iPhone 5’s taller display and iOS 6’s Passbook.
This very update was rejected by Apple earlier this month because of a mixup with Rich Text support in iOS 5. Sparrow has obviously ironed out the kinks with Apple, as users can download the update now in the App Store.
Apple's forthcoming Campus 2 is set to become Silicon Valley's most envy-inducing headquarters: the kind of futuristic home base that belongs in a James Bond movie.
With work progressing nicely, en route to a 2016 opening, we thought the time was right to look at some of the (fictional) headquarters it will be competing against for title of best secret lair of all time.
Scroll through our gallery to take a look at some of our other picks. You never know when Tim Cook will decide to incorporate an underground cave or shark tank into Apple's new home...
Earlier this morning, we told you that construction on Apple’s new, futuristic campus had been pushed back a year to 2016. Apple had originally wanted to break ground on the 176-acre piece of Cupertino property this year.
While most of the plans for the spaceship-like headquarters (referred to by Apple as “Campus 2”) have remained intact, a revised proposal was submitted to the city of Cupertino, California.
Apple has now issued an official comment on the delay of its new headquarters saying the company is approaching the build “with the same care and attention to detail we pay when designing any Apple product.”
Podcasts can be great fun, but they tend to have long segments of audio that you may or may not want to listen to. Which is fine, if you could sip through it easily. And, let’s face it, you might not be fully paying attention to them when they’re on, so you might miss things. Things you want to back up to hear, for example.
Well, guess what? You can do both with iOS 6, in the Podcast app.
Look, it’s the day before Thanksgiving, it’s a slow news day, whatever. Here’s a baby squirrel eating a pair of Apple earbuds in the cutest way possible. You’re welcome.
Via: TUAW
