Cult of Mac

A new report suggests that Apple is making deals in the carbon fiber business, possibly ahead of next year’s iPad launch.

Japanese site Macotakara can be a hit or miss source. They were one of the first sites to leak images of what would prove to be the iPhone 5’s new display, but they habe also said that the new iPod nanos would have WiFi and that Apple’s making a Galaxy Note like phablet. So their rumors need to be taken with a grain of salt.

Now Macotakara is reporting that an anonymous source is telling them that Apple is buying huge amounts of carbon fiber. This makes sense, as Apple has shown a lot of interest in carbon fiber in the past, patenting an iPad design made out of the stuff and making key hires with the expertise necessary to mass produce carbon fiber gadgets.

By using carbon fiber for future devices, Apple could create products that weigh significantly less than the aluminum and stainless steel devices they produce today, but be just as sturdy. So it’s obvious Apple’s got a lot to gain by making this switch. The question is when it will happen? In time for next year’s iPad debut, or is carbon fiber still far off in the future?

Source: Macotakara

Remember Jonathan Mann? He became popular on YouTube for writing and uploading a brand new song each and every day, and he’s famous among Apple fans for writing a song about the iPhone 4’s Antennagate, which was played at a special press event held by Apple to discuss the issue. He also did a duet with Siri, which we covered back in October.

Mann’s now back with Apple’s digital assistant for a special happy birthday song.

The satisfaction rates of iPhone users are notorious, an industry best. That’s not surprising, considering Apple makes some of the best devices on Earth and that, for the most part, the competition can’t really measure up.

But while people are satisfied with their iPhones, iOS 6 and, in particular, its buggy, half-formed implementation of Maps has caused a dip in customer satisfaction. It’s not a massive drop, but it’s enough to show that the Maps debacle is tarnishing what is otherwise Apple’s best operating system.

We’ve heard a lot of rumors surrounding a Google Maps app for iOS over the past week, and now The New York Times is weighing in with information from its own sources. Fortunately, it’s good news: it claims Google is indeed working on a Maps app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, and that the company is hoping to have it ready and released by the end of this year.

Why’s it taking so long? Well, Google had no idea Apple was kicking Google Maps out of iOS until Apple first previewed iOS 6 back in June.

Let’s face it: the Mac App Store, and the iTunes App Store that it’s modeled on, just isn’t made for comparing apps. Let’s say you want to find the best note taking app for your Mac. You can launch the Mac App Store, search for note taking apps, and see one at a time. If you want to look at more than one, you end up clicking the back button endlessly.

Sometimes it’s just better to be able to flip through a bunch of apps at once. If only the App Stores had tabbed browsing. Luckily, you can browse more than one app at once with a bit of a workaround and your web browser.

Almost everything Apple creates is patented and trademarked in an effort to ensure that other companies can’t steal its ideas (though they do). However, sometimes the folks in Cupertino hit a stumbling block. That’s what happened when Apple attempted to trademark its Music app icon recently, only to find that Myspace got there first.

Facebook has released the latest version of its SDK — version 3.1 — to iOS developers. The update brings a number of great new features, such as native Facebook login for third-party apps, native sharing sheets, and more, and Facebook promises that it will make it “easier to build more immersive social experiences, as well as better ways to distribute and promote your app.”

Earlier this year Apple acquired Chomp – a startup app-search service – presumably to help it improve app-search in iOS. The move seemed brilliant at the time because finding apps in the iOS App Store was more painful and tedious than hiking through the jungles of the Amazon.

App Store searching has improved a bit with iOS 6, but it’s still not great. We probably wont experience the full fruits of the Chomp acquisition for many more months, but if you look at the picture above, Apple’s already implemented Chomp’s search UI into the App Store. Do you think Apple plans to do more with Chomp and their app-search technology? Let us hear your thoughts in the comments.

Source: Reddit

Gameloft is doing what it does best: teasing its upcoming titles. Next on their list is Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour and they’ve released quite the reveal trailer for us to drool over. Being released for Android and iOS this fall, the next installation in the Modern Combat series looks just as intense as the 3rd and chock full of guns, ammo and bloodshed.

We told you last week about the Humble Indie Bundle, now in its sixth iteration. Today, four new games were added, bringing the total to ten games on offer with a pay-what-you-want model that sends the purchase price along to independent developers, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), and Child’s Play, a charity that provides game consoles to children in hospitals.

While Google Maps may no longer be available as either the default iOS map app or as a standalone app of its own, the search giant’s other flagship software has been quietly updated for iPhone 5,iOS 6, and an unspecified number of “Stability and security improvements,” according to the App Store description page for the alternate iOS browser.

Apparently, Apple made the decision to dump Google maps for iOS 6 was made more than a year before the contract with Google for their map system expired, says a new post at The Verge that cites “independent sources familiar with the matter.” Further, the choice may have caused Google to start development on it’s own iOS Google Maps app before it was ready to. These same sources say the potential app won’t be ready for several months.

While you’re waiting for new docks for the iPhone 5 to come on the market, why not make your own? NYC filmmaker Casey Neistat (of iPod “dirty secret” battery fame; remember that?) shows you how. It’s perhaps the ugliest dock ever, but it works!

Don’t miss the video after the jump. Neistat always makes a good movie.

Good news for Instagram addicts: the app has finally been updated for iOS 6 and the iPhone 5’s larger display.

Not only has compatibility been added for Apple’s latest smartphone and mobile OS, but Instagram has also added an improved registration flow and password recovery tool.

It was recently revealed that Verizon sells the iPhone 5 factory unlocked out of the box. Not only can you use the Verizon iPhone 5 on another CDMA carrier, but the device will also work on non-LTE GSM networks, like AT&T. U.S. carriers will typically unlock off-contract iPhones for free, but Verizon is selling the iPhone 5 unlocked with a two-year contract as well.

Buying an iPhone 5 at the full, unsubsidized price on AT&T doesn’t guarantee that it will be unlocked, but AT&T will typically grant unlock requests for customers in good standing. The same goes for AT&T iPhone owners who have fulfilled the life of their two-year contract.

There’s been multiple theories suggested to explain why Verizon is behaving this way, but the real reason is much simpler than you would think.

MacTech Conference 2012 in Los Angeles doesn’t start till October 17th 2012, but pre-registration is ending pretty soon — and with it your chance to save $300. If you’re interested in learning about all things Mac in some world-class sessions by some phenomenally brilliant Apple fans than you need to hurry and register.

MacTech 2012 will features special sessions with people like former Apple evangelist Matt Drance, and a special NASA Jet Propulsion Lan on “Interplanetary Networking, Curiosity Style.” You’ll even get to go over to Walt Disney Animation Studios and get a behind-the-scenes look at the advanced technology Disney uses to make their films.

We all knew this was coming. It was only a matter of time before Hitler found out about Apple’s new iOS 6 Maps. As you may have already guessed, der Führer isn’t all that happy with the new service and is quite irate over the fact that his house is listed as a fountain in Austria.

Watch the hilarity unfold as Hitler is informed that a Google Maps app has yet to be approved and his army is officially all out of 30-pin connectors.

Thieves love iPhones and Apple products. But the theives in New York City? Those dudes have a fiery lustful passion for Apple products. So much so that Apple product theft now accounts for 14 percent of all crime in New York City according to the NYPD. Even though NYC’s crime rate only rose four percent this year compared to 2011, Apple product theft rose a whopping 40 percent.

The iPhone 5 and iOS 6 have brought a new, more powerful Siri into the limelight. We thought it might be time to start looking for ways to best query the spunky digital assistant for a variety of tasks, like checking the weather, for example.

Being able to use your voice to find out the forecast for the next several days is a fantastic feature that more folks might use, if only they knew the right way to ask. While Siri definitely handles natural-language questions with aplomb, you can help her understand your intent better by using the following types of questions.

The iPhone 5 is packed with all sorts of neat new hardware internals that Apple has poured their energy and R&D dollars into. Its camera is ridiculously thin, and the processor has been custom designed and manually layed out for maximum efficiency, but there’s another new hardware feature no one’s talking about.

One secret of the iPhone 5 is that it contains a chip that may have been included just so it will work on the world’s largest mobile carrier – China Mobile – giving Apple access to 700 million new potential customers.

The Wahoo Blue HR ($79) heart rate strap performs a neat trick: by pairing with your iPhone (4S or 5 only) via Bluetooth, it allows you to transform your favorite iOS device into any of the amazing heart rate monitors available on the App Store today. Even better, it works with all the best cycling and running apps too, so now you can monitor your heart and calories on your rides or runs.

iOS 6's Passbook app isn't just for big-business companies to use. Yes, you'll be able to use it to check in to your flights, and to get discounts at your favorite international coffee chain, but now mom and pop stores, your local food cart or even a stall at the local flea market will be able to offer you coupons and membership, using a new free app called People's Card.

Apple’s Find My iPhone feature is great for whenever you lose your iPhone or MacBook, but what about when you lose other stuff, like a wallet, dog, luggage, camera, keys, or anything else? There are a few GPS solutions that you can attach to everything you prize most in life, but that’s kind of costly.

FinderCodes is a new service that is trying to make QR codes actually useful by allowing people to attach one to everything they love so it can be traced back to them through the FinderCodes database. It’s simple, but more elegant than writing your name, address, and phone number on everything.

The iPhone isn’t the only thing that looks more handsome when it gets taller and thinner. Bookbindery cases get better looking too, as you can see with event he quickest glance and Pad&Quill’s new Little Pocket Book. Stretched lengthwise and squashed a little depth-wise, it’s “thinnest we have ever made,” says P&Q honcho Brian Holmes.

Remember when Buster found an iPhone at the bottom of a river while he was floating down it on an inner-tube? The previous owner had the right idea: he sealed it in a plastic bag to keep out the elements. But he forgot one thing: Even in a bag, the short, heavy, ugly iPhone 4 will sink like, well, like last year's crappy iPhone.

What he should have used was Coghlan's Dry Pouch.