SoftBank, Japan’s third-largest carrier, has this morning announced that it will acquire Sprint in a deal worth $20.1 billion. The company will purchase $8 billion in newly-issues shares from Sprint, in addition to $12.1 billion in existing shares — giving it a 70% stake overall.
There are times, believe it or not, that you just need a basic web page (or site), and using WordPress is just getting in the way. Maybe you need to layout a table in HTML. Maybe you just need a splash page as a place holder. Regardless of the why, the need is clear and you need an app to make it happen.
Oh, sure, you can code by hand. You know how to code complex tables by hand and maybe toss in some in-line CSS too, right? Right, neither do I. That’s why I have a copy of RapidWeaver. Yeah I got it years ago (in an app bundle) and I’ve installed it, deleted it, and reinstalled it several times now (I’ve finally wised up and I’m not deleting it again). Why? Like I said above, sometimes you just need a solid WYSIWYG HTML editor—Create Powerful Websites With RapidWeaver 5: Build Beautiful Websites & Get Realmac’s Nobility Theme to Get You Started.
Amidst the criticism of Apple’s new iOS 6 Maps app, many users have been (not so patiently) waiting for Google to release their own official Maps application. While Google has confirmed that they have yet to submit an application to the App Store, they certainly have one in development. If these photos that were leaked today are to be believed, we could have our first glimpse of Google’s new Maps app.
While the interface isn’t impressive by any means, it sure beats the likes of Google’s miserable Gmail app it released last year. From the blurry pictures posted by developer Ben Guild, it appears that Google has brought over some Android design language into the app. Ben says the app will support the iPhone 5’s increased resolution, and will offer similar two-finger rotation gestures as the current iOS Maps app.
The Jabra Freeway ($100) is Jabra’s flagship bluetooth car speakerphone. The Freeway has loads of top-rung features like hands-free voice commands, caller announcements and FM music-streaming, wrapped around three loud, powerful speakers accompanied by noise-cancelling dual microphones — making it a very attractive option for drivers who want to add a hands-free speakerphone to their cars.
It seems like every time we get a new gadget from Apple, we spend the next weeks (and months) complaining about all the little features we think aren’t as good as they should be.
Well, the world has noticed what complainers we all are, and on yesterday evening’s Saturday Night Live, our bemoaning and grumbling was put in the proper perspective.
Thanks: Stephen
This is short and sweet for a Sunday. Have an iOS device with a 30-pin (old school?) connector? Have extra chargers, car charger, cable, or headphones? No? You should. Keep a set in your car. Keep a set in your bag (a set that doesn’t come out of your bag except on the go). Right now we’ve got a power bundle for $20—Stay Charged With The iOS Power-Pack Bundle: Charging Adapters, Headphones, & an Apple Dock, Oh My!—than is just the ticket to have extras around. Snap this up, it’s a great deal.
It’s back to the Mac on this week’s CultCast, and on our newest episode, we’ll tell you everything we know about Apple’s rumored 13-inch Retina Macbook Pro, and why you might be seeing it before the year is through.
Then, is Apple’s Passbook really going to take over the world of tickets, coupons, and payments? It’s tough to imagine, especially with how little Passbook can do now. But imagine coupons on your lock screen right when you need them and making payments with nothing but your iPhone. Ready to leave your wallet behind? Passbook may soon let you do exactly that.
All that and our three favorite Mac apps on our latest CultCast! Subscribe now on iTunes, or easily stream The CultCast via Apple’s free Podcasts App.
Read on for the show notes!
Kicking off this week’s must-have apps roundup is a brand new Newsstand publication that’s “loosely about technology,” from Instapaper developer Marco Arment. We also have an awesome new email client that turns items in your inbox into tasks and to-dos, a great little iPhone app for remembering recommendations, the ultimate unarchiver, and more.
The Patagonia MiniMass commuter bag ($69) is my first taste of Patagonia’s gear, and I’ve always wondered if their stuff was worth the hype. The company has a bit of a reputation — perhaps fair, perhas not — as the outdoor industry’s bourgeois player, probably due to generally higher prices than the competition, an innovative design ethic and the use of green materials throughout their line.
But Patagonia has also spawned a fanatical following. I once worked with someone who literally camped outside the company’s Southern California headquarters (it sits literally right aross the road from the beach) in the hopes she’d be hired. She wasn’t, but toting around my tablet in the the fantastic little MiniMass let me grasp why she tried.
The MiniMass is the smallest sibling in Patagonia’s family of courier bags (all of which end in “Mass” — a nod to the Critical Mass bicycle movement). This makes the MiniMass a perfect tablet carrier. And even though it isn’t explicitly to ferry tablets, it excels in the task.
This week’s must-have apps roundup includes two classic console games that have been reborn on iOS, including Sega’s hugely enjoyable Crazy Taxi, and Acclaim’s 1999 classic Re-Volt — both of which first made their debut on the Dreamcast. It also includes a great little action platformer called Ivy The Kiwi?, a wonderful puzzle game called Girls Like Robots, and more.
Another year, another iPhone. Since 2007, Apple has been churning these gadgets out like it’s a bodily function. Each iPhone is undeniably better than the last, although sometimes not in every respect.
iPhone fans always say it’s the best phone because it has the best overall user experience, best out-of-box experience, best industrial design, best selection of apps and a few other things perceived as being “best.”
But the iPhone itself is not the best thing about the iPhone platform. It’s the universe of crazy customization and expansion products that support the iPhone.
It’s the weekend, and if you’re looking for a cute little romp through the monster-battling arena for some down time, Mo’ Monsters just went live. It’s a free to play game from Rumpus, a development studio out of San Francisco, and it’s fairly typical tap-tap-tap fare, with some cute characters and fun monster capturing mechanics in addition to the standard battling.
If you’ve been wanting to play The Witcher, CD Projekt’s well-regarded RPG based on the book series by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, now might be a great time to do so. The game has just been patched with support for Lion and Mountain Lion, letting more modern Macs join in the fun.
As you know, the upcoming media event for Apple’s smaller, thinner, and less expensive tablet, the as-yet-named iPad Air iPad mini, is being widely reported as happening on October 23,2012.
While the invites haven’t gone out yet, we’re seeing a rumor that the event will focus on iBooks, which makes a ton of sense considering that a smaller iPad is in the same market category as a device like the Amazon Kindle Fire, which is kind of like a souped-up eReader, with media consumption its main purpose, at least from Amazon’s perspective.
While this seems like a plausible rumor, I’m not ready to fully embrace it yet.
I bet you weren’t aware of the real reason why Batman couldn’t save Rachael in The Dark Knight or why Katniss had a bit of trouble finding the Cornucopia in Hunger Games? What if I told you it was all Apple’s fault? Well it is! Don’t believe me? We’ve uncovered the deleted scenes to prove it.
Enjoy!
Grove has long made some of the sexiest Apple accessories around, hewing them out of polished bamboo and then laser etching them with attractive designs of your choice, so it’s no surprise that the Portland, Oregon based outfit now have cases available for the iPhone 5. Also unsurprising is just how gorgeous they are, especially in their etched incarnations.
You’ll pay, of course — Grove’s iPhone 5 cases start at $79 without any engraving, and go up from there to $99 for one with a design and $129 for a custom engraving. Fashion never comes cheap.
Source: Grove
In our Ten Killer Tips for iOS 6 feature, we showed you how easy it is to reply to a phone caller with a text message in iOS 6. When the call comes in, tap on the little phone icon in the lower right and slide up. You’ll get the option to either reply with a message or have your iPhone remind you to call the person back later.
If you choose to reply with a text message, you get a couple of built in replies–Call you later, I’m on my way, What’s up–or you can type a custom message. Ever wanted to change those pre-written messages? I know I have. Here’s how.
The Internet is filled with tons of beautiful wallpapers to decorate your iPhone 5 with. The problem is in order to find the high quality ones you have to sort through an endless pile of crap. You don’t got time for that, so one benevolent person has created this massive collection of high quality iPhone 5 wallpapers just for you.
You’re bound to find something you like in the collection, and the layout of the Tumblr page is great for quick browsing on your desktop, and it works fine on the iPhone 5 too. Hurry up and dig in.
Source: iPhoneFiveWallpapers Tumblr
Need to round out your app toolkit? New a few new WP themes? How about some graphic elements for projects? Oh yes, it Productivity bundle time and we have another fantastic value pack for you—The Mac Productivity Bundle 2.0: Get 11 Best Selling Mac Apps & Design Goodies For One Shockingly Low Price.
Remember, picking up bundles isn’t about needing all the apps, but needing a few of the apps or goodies that you need right now and tapping into the others when you need them.
Apple Maps have received a WWE beat down of bad publicity since iOS 6 launched a few weeks ago, but maybe all the drama was a bit overblown. In a survey of 4,300 customers conducted by ChangeWave Research, ninety percent of iPhone 5 owners claimed they “haven’t experienced any problem” with Apple’s Maps app. Six percent of those surveyed said that they think Apple Maps is somewhat of a problem, and only three percent claimed it’s a very big problem
The survey also discovered that one-in-three consumers plan to buy the iPhone 5 in the future, and that 31% of consumers think that Apple switching to the new Lightning port will be “somewhat of a problem” because of the extra costs of buying new cables and adapters.
Source: ChangeWave Research
Going down a storm on the App Store this week is the brand new version of Crazy Taxi from Sega. Yes, it’s just like Crazy Taxi you used to play a decade ago. And that’s a good thing.
When Apple first unveiled the 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro back in July of this year, they used two images to specifically highlight the incredible resolution of the new display. The first was a shot of a herd of zebras running through the grass captured by photographer Steve Bloom. And the second? A photograph of an eye in full Ziggy Stardust make-up, taken by Swiss photographe Sabine Liewald.
The only problem with that latter photograph? According to the photographer, Apple never properly licensed it to be used in Retina MacBook Pro marketing materials. And she’s now suing over it.
Passbook is supposed to be one of the big new features of iOS 6. Its magical card keeping system is supposed to help you ditch all your coupons, tickets, passes, rewards cards, and maybe even replace your wallet all together someday. The only problem is that there aren’t a lot of places you can actually use Passbook yet.
It’s not that Passbook isn’t a great feature. It’s awesome. People really want to use it. The MLB wants it to replace their ticketing system someday. But because it’s only been out for a few weeks, there are a limited number of apps that take advantage of it, which makes it seem like a bit of a let down. On the CultCast last night we talked about how we haven’t had the opportunity to use Passbook much, but we’re wondering what your experience has been with it so far. Have you actually used it? If so, what do you think? If you haven’t used it, what can be done to get more businesses and people on board?
Click here to go to the Cult of Mac Forums and tell us about your experiences with Passbook so far.
I was craving a pumpkin spice lattee from Starbucks the other day. I didn’t have time to go get one myself, but one of my friends was going later in the day. He offered to pick one up for me. Yay!
Starbucks recently added support for Apple’s Passbook service in iOS 6, and I hadn’t yet been able to try paying for Starbucks with Passbook. I had already added my Starbucks Rewards Gold card to Passbook on my iPhone 5, and I like using my Gold card to pay whenever I can because it earns me points towards free drinks. So I had three choices: pay my friend back in cash, give him my Starbucks card from my wallet, or let him use my Passbook. I went with the third option, and it was as easy as taking a screenshot.
It’s been just three weeks since the iPhone 5 started shipping, and Apple’s latest smartphones already accounts for more web traffic than the Samsung Galaxy S III, according to a new report.
It’s thought the handset’s “record-breaking sales numbers” — which have made it the fastest-selling iPhone to date — plus its “new 4G browsing speeds which encourage data usage” are just a couple reasons why the iPhone 5 is so big when it comes to web browsing.