Cult of Mac

If you live in a house divided in the smartphone wars, where some members cling to their Androids while you relish the joy of your iPhone 5, you probably have a plethora of USB cables in your house that are completely useless to you. Apple now has a solution.

You can pick up a Lightning to Micro USB Adapter from Apple for $19 now. Use the adapter to connect an iPhone, iPad, or iPod with Lightning connector to a micro USB cable to sync and charge, or to a compatible micro USB charger to charge your device. The adapter is available online, or at your local Apple Store.

Following the introduction of the new Evernote 5 design for Mac, the cloud-based note company has announced that a major redesign is coming to iOS as well, bringing a major new look along with changes that make it faster than ever to find the notes you want.

Meet Nick. Nick D’Aloisio. He’s 17, lives in London, and his new news app Summly is attracting quite a lot of interest over in the UK. It seems to me that most of the media coverage is because of Nick’s age than the app he’s created. So let’s take a closer look at that app and see what all the fuss is about.

The iPad mini already seems to be a huge hit with buyers, with Apple’s diminutive little tablet already selling out at the 5th Avenue Apple Store. You know, the one in New York City, a town ravaged by Hurricane Sandy that it is still half-flooded and half without power? Even a natural disaster can’t seem to keep people away.

Wondering whether that iPhone you plan on buying off of craigslist is truly unlocked like it says in the ad? Want to make sure that your iPhone is able to switch carriers after a legitimate unlock from your current carrier? Grab your iPhone and open a new web browser window; we’re going to show you how to find out.

Apple’s cracking down on apps that have no other purpose but offering emoji — that cute emoticon character set popular with some text messengers — and are kicking developer’s apps out of the App Store if they do nothing else. The reason? iOS 6 already does emoji.

By now you’ve had enough time to run to your Apple Store, buy an iPad mini and bring it back to your house in a loving embrace. If not, well you’ll get one later today, or whenever the delivery man finally makes his way to your house. We just posted our thoughts on the iPad mini, but we’d love to hear from you guys about what you think.

What are your first impressions of the iPad mini? Is it worth the price? Is the display really as bad as some people are saying? Does portability make a huge difference for a tablet? Come over to the forums and let us know what you think are the most important aspects of the iPad mini.

Click here to go to the Cult of Mac Forums and share your first impressions of the iPad mini with us

The iPad Mini is here, and it is lying naked and vulnerable on your desk/bed/lap/passenger seat. And that’s ok, because today is all about tweaking and configuring your settings, installing apps and seeing which of your pants have back pockets big enough to carry it (don’t sit down!)

But what of tomorrow? Soon you’ll start searching for cases, speakers, docks and other accessories for the latest tiny addition to your family, and that’s where we come in. Yes, you can use most of your iPad and iPhone accessories with the new Mini, but here are some add-ons which work particularly well with Apple’s littlest tablet.

Despite millions of people living without power, or gas, and a crippled public transit system, New Yorkers have flocked to the Apple Stores in record numbers to buy the iPad mini.

Yesterday we assumed that the 5th Avenue Apple Store would see shorter crowds thanks to the effects of hurricane Sandy. The lack of public transportation combined with the financial cost of the hurricane damaged seemed like they would knock prevent people from wanting to buy an new Apple device, but reports are showing that the iPad mini has drawn big crowds.

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We just published our review of the iPad mini, and while we think it’s an extraordinary device, it’s not quite as magical without a Retina display. We think you’d be better off waiting till the 2nd generation iPad mini, but maybe we’re wrong. Let us know if you agree by voting in the poll above.

Here are the two things you need to know about the iPad mini. The form factor’s perfect, it’s beautifully designed, you will love holding it… but the screen’s awful and the performance is lacking, especially in graphics. Even at the price, it’s a deeply disappointing product that most people should think twice about buying right now.

Apple has lost its battle to secure the ‘iPhone’ name in Mexico and may have to cease selling its device under a court injunction. The Cupertino company attempted to secure the name in 2009, and wanted a local company to cease using the name ‘iFone’ under the grounds that it sounded too similar.

Unfortunately for Apple, the iFone name was secured four years prior to the launch of its smartphone, and the Mexican firm has won its bid to get the device banned.

The iPad mini is going to be a hit. It’s perfectly small, light and affordable which means that people should be flocking to the Apple Store to buy it. But today, lines at the Apple Store have been reported to be a lot shorter than other product launches.

Apple is the only consumer electronics company in the world that consistently releases new gadgets that sell in their millions during the first few days of availability. During their respective launch weekends alone, Apple sold 3 million third-generation iPad units, 4 million iPhone 4S units, and 5 million iPhone 5 units.

In fact, the company’s iOS devices have become so popular that they’re now considered a failure if they don’t sell several million within their first 72 hours on the market. According to one analyst, the iPad mini has to shift at least 3 million units this weekend for it to be considered a successful device.

Now that the iPad mini’s been on sale a few hours, it’s time to address the issue you’re all itching to know about. I’m talking, of course, about the drop test. Apple’s new tablets have been put to the test against Google’s $199 Nexus 7, and the iPad mini does surprisingly well, only sustaining any real damage when dropped on its face onto concrete.

iFixit has now performed its customary teardown on Apple’s fourth-generation iPad, and it seems like a lengthy case of déjà vu. While there are some differences between this model and its predecessor, such as the introduction of Apple’s new A6X processor and Lightning connector, it seems the device remains largely the same — inside and out.

I just switched from a giant, 27-inch iMac back to a little ol’ MacBook, and while my desk looks a lot bigger, my shoulders and neck hate me for it. What I might need, then, is the new HiRise for MacBooks from the fine folks at Twelve South. All it really does is raise the notebook up off the desk so you don’t get a crick in your neck from looking downwards all day long, but it does it with such style that it might just be worth the $70 asking price.

Especially if your whole reason for ditching a bigger computer is to make your office look cooler.

So, we take a lot of screenshots here at Cult of Mac. Especially here in the Tips section, it seems like I’m always hitting Command-Shift-3 for a full screen picture or Command-Shift-4 for a selection of the windows I can drag across to select the image area.

Turns out that there’s a modifier for Command-Shift-4 that lets you take a screenshot of an individual window, or even one of those sheet things, a window that drops down from another window and is attached to it, as in the screenshot above.

Apple’s statement regarding its battle against the Samsung Galaxy Tab in the United Kingdom has begun to appear in British newspapers today. You’ll have to search carefully if you want to find it, however. Like the statement the company made on its website earlier this month, this one appears without any Apple branding, and with a dull Arial font that attempts to disappear into the background.

This week at Apple, two important executives just got picked off the tree, and on our newest CultCast, we’ll tell you what the departure of long time exec Scott Forstall and the just-hired John Browett means for iOS, OS X, Apple Stores, and all the great Apple products you adore. Plus, Jony Ive’s about to get even more design control over all the Macs you love to own, but the question is, is that a good thing?

Then, get out your lightsabers and prepare the X-Wings, we’re diving deep into the Disney acquisition of LucasFilm and what that means for everyone’s favorite space movies.

If this doesn’t end in another Spaceballs movie, we’re gonna be upset.

Subscribe to The CultCast now on iTunes, or easily stream new and previous episodes via Apple’s free Podcasts App. And please note, if episode 40 isn’t yet showing up for you, subscribing will fix that problem right quick.

Read on for the show notes!

Apple’s iPad mini goes on sale today, and a lot of you who are reading this are likely going to pick one up, or will be waiting in for yours to be delivered. One person who probably won’t be buying the device, however, is chat show host Jimmy Kimmel, who calls it “a bigger but not gigantic iPod you cannot talk on.”

Evernote 5 beta, which was teased last week, has been launched to great success. In fact, it has been so popular that Evernote has had to shut down the option for Mac App Store customers to use it. Why?

This is due to large numbers of users re-syncing their entire accounts as part of the transition from a Mac App Store download to a direct downloaded version of Evernote

We’ve mentioned Apparent’s Doxie Go portable document scanner a few times in the past. The flexible, battery-powered scanner is a trusty tool for any mobile professional; anything fed into its maw can be turned into 300 dpi images on a Mac, iPad, the cloud — or Doxie can simply keep the scanned images for later download.

The new Doxie One, unveiled today, comes without the $200 Doxie Go’s rechargeable lithium battery — but at $150, it’s also considerably cheaper.

I have a plan for trouble. When it rears its ugly head again, I’m grabbing my all-hell-has-broken-loose list, dumping the items on the list into my trusty backpack and hauling ass. I figure there’s still the zombie apocalypse and the Mayan whatsit (which may well be the same thing) to worry about, so I might as well be prepared.

I’ve populated the list with things I would need in a disaster scenario: things like a sleeping bag, first-aid kit and rum. Of course, my iPad is also on the list. Oh, I’ll be taking my phone for sure — but the iPad’s large screen will be invaluable in any disaster situation as a navigation tool, for work (yes, even in a zombie apocalypse, blogs must be updated) or just keeping up with current news; mine’s a wifi+cellular, so I suppose wifi-only versions would be somewhat less useful in that last role.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: “A disaster zone, Eli, is no place for an iPad.”  That’s true only if you don’t have the right gear to accompany it. The following list will show you how to turn your iPad from a liability into an asset when things go very wrong.

With the holidays coming, maybe there’s no such thing as “too many photobook makers.” At least, that’s probably what Mixbook is banking on with their new Mosaic app, which lets you quickly create a hard-cover photobook for $20.

This one’s a little different though: Not only can you create and order your photobook with your iPhone, but the books are created with an unusual effect where photo thumbnails peek through windows in the book’s cover. Definitely  attention-grabbing.