Apple just laid a royal beat down on Samsung in the U.S. court system over patent infringement. You’d easily think that the two companies are huge enemies that would gladly rip out each other’s hearts and drive over them with a steamroller.

Truth is, even though they’re enemies in the smartphone market, Apple needs Samsung’s components to build iPhones and iPads, and Samsung needs Apple to keep buying their parts to make money. Samsung products comprise 26 percent of the component cost of the iPhone, so to keep their smartphone and component manufacturing businesses separate, Samsung has created a strict ‘Internal Firewall’ to try to avoid conflicts.

Every morning, I scrape myself off of the bottom of my hangover’s hobnailed boot and try to make it down to the gym. About two-out-of-five times, I’ll oogily succeed and manage to douse myself in the pool until I’ve either done fifty laps or turned the water fifty proof, whichever comes first.

If only there was a way to be better motivated, I’ll often think to myself. Which is why I’m intrigued by a partnership between GymPack and RunKeeper, that will not only award me real money when I successfully drag my carcass to the gym, and actually penalize me money when I don’t.

There are a ton of ways to get fit and lose weight. And there are even more stupid books and fad diets that may or may not help you to slim down and get healthier. But there are really only two things you need to do: eat less and do more.

Of course, it isn’t easy. Luckily, those of a certain nerdy bent will find all the motivation they need in gadgets and apps. I have been doing just that for the past few months, and I thought I’d write a little about how to get thinner and fitter by using your iPhone.

Almost all of your friends probably own smartphones by now. If they don’t own an iPhone they probably have an Android phone, which is fine because it seems like everyone nowdays could use a personal computer in their pocket.

Smartphone adaption rates have been ridiculously high in the US and other companies over the past five-years. Flurry, a mobile application analytics company, decided they wanted to know just how fast iOS and Android devices are growing, so they compiled some data and found that the smartphone revolution is bigger than any other digital revolution in history.

We’ve already seen Tim Cook’s memo to Apple employees following the company’s landmark victory over Samsung last Friday. As expected, Samsung’s isn’t quite as upbeat or as celebratory. Released today, the Korean company’s announcement insists that it tried to settle with Apple out of court, but that Apple “pressed on with a lawsuit.” It also notes that the verdict “starkly contrasts” those recently made by courts in a number of other countries.

While bring your own device (BYOD) programs that encourage employees to use their personal iPhones, iPads, and other devices in the office increases productivity and employee satisfaction, the trend is also turning those employees into workaholics. That’s not entirely a new realization – we’ve covered the potential impact of the BYOD trend on the work/life balance before (including a recent study that showed that BYOD programs actually improve that balance for IT professionals).

The latest research on BYOD’s impact on workers shows two additional insights – a significant number of employees are footing the bill (sometimes a very big bill)  for mobile data service while on the road for work.

You’re probably going to see a lot of stories like this in the coming weeks. Apple stock opened at a record $680 a share this morning, on the first day of trading following the Cupertino company’s massive victory over Samsung on Friday. This surpasses its previous record of $674.88 a share, which was hit last Tuesday, August 21, and it pushes Apple’s market capitalization to a new high of $637 billion.

Got a spare five minutes? Want to do something fun. Then take a quick look at Gutenberg Variations, a free iPhone app which takes your typed text and turns it onto sheet music. And then plays it.

By now we’ve all had chance to digest Apple’s landslide victory over Samsung last Friday, which saw the Cupertino company awarded just over $1 billion in damages. Both companies gave their own thoughts on the verdict with press releases shortly after it was announced, but the effects of this case will be felt by more than just Apple and Samsung.

As the creator of Android — the operating system that powers Samsung’s offending devices — you’d think that Google would have some concerns that the verdict will affect its own software. However, the company maintains that the claims involved “don’t relate to the core Android operating system.”

Here’s an interesting theory from Macotakara, riffing on photos highlighted by Apple.pro last week: the square chip seen at the top of the next iPhone, to the right of the built-in iSight camera, could be an NFC chip. In fact, it looks exactly the same size as one.

Evernote’s Smart Notebook might cost $25 – double the price of the almost identical 3.5 x 5.5-inch Moleskine version – but it will likely sell by the pallet-load. Why? Because it is a genuine paper Moleskine which integrates with Evernote itself.

The Smart Notebook has special paper which – in combination with a new update to the Evernote iOS app – makes scanning and tagging easier than ever.

Built into every Mac are a host of accessibility options. People with visual disabilities may need to zoom into the screen, making everything on it bigger in order to see enough to use the Mac. Individuals who experience blindness can use VoiceOver, which has the Mac speak everything on screen, including menus and dialog buttons. Other people with visual impairments may need to invert the Display colors and adjust the contrast to help them with eye fatigue as well as seeing the items on screen.

We may still have a couple weeks to wait before Tim Cook takes the stage to introduce the iPhone 5, but as we edge closer to the big day, Apple’s surprises are quickly being spoiled. We’ve already seen almost every component that will end up inside the device — including its display and back plate. And so it’s no surprise that we’re now seeing its packaging.

But unlike the other iPhone 5 leaks, we have a feeling this one’s nothing more than a good fake. In fact, there are a number of reasons why this isn’t the iPhone 5’s new packaging at all.

Apple has now caught up with demand of its 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro, with shipping estimates dropping to just 2-4 business days this morning. But if you’re holding out for the 13-inch model, your wait could soon be coming to an end. According to one analyst, 13-inch 2560 x 1600 Retina displays have now entered production ready for an October launch.

The Retina MacBook Pro is now shipping in just 2-4 business days from the Apple Online Store. This is the shortest shipping estimate the new notebook has seen since its introduction at WWDC back in June, and indicates Apple has now caught up with demand ahead of its iPhone 5 launch next month.

If you needed any more confirmation that the next iPhone is launching during the second half of September, look no further. Verizon has put a vacation blackout in place for its employees starting September 21st, and now TechCrunch is reporting that AT&T has the same blackout in place from September 21st to the 30th.

Apple is expected to announce the next iPhone on September 12th with pre-orders beginning on the same day. In-store availability would then begin the next Friday, September 21st.

Here at Cult of Mac, we love showing off what’s in our gadget bags. It’s like a ritual: first to meticulously pack your bag with all the gear you could possibly need to get through the day, but then to empty it out, arrange it neatly and present it for the scrutiny and admiration of your fellow computer geeks.

We love seeing what’s in people’s gadget bags, so we’re throwing a contest in partnership with one of our favorite bag makers, Waterfield Designs: show us what’s in your current gadget bag and if you impress us, you could win one of three amazing new gadget bags and sleeves for your Mac, iPhone and iPad!

Here’s how to enter Cult of Mac’s “What’s In My Gadget Bag?” contest!

Raise your hand if your iPhone has run out of juice at the worst possible time? Yeah, I’m sure that’s most of you. Certainly me. That’s why I have a battery pack case for my iPhone. While it’s good, it does have a little flaw—I still need to plug it in to charge.

Now a solar pack can help eliminate some of this need. No, not all, but let’s say, a lot. The Monster Watts case acts not just as a batter pack, but it has solar panels so you can recharge your phone wherever the Sun shines!

Kicking off this week’s must-have apps roundup is a fantastic text editor called Drafts, which has quickly become my favorite on iOS. We’ve also included a great alternative music app called Ecoute; the latest Facebook app, which has been rewritten from the ground up; and a third-party web browser that prides itself on being super speedy.

Continue reading

We’ve heard little about the next version of the iP0d nano, or if Apple will even release another one at all. While a new iPhone and smaller iPad look to be on the cards, the future of the iPod lineup is a tad uncertain.

According to a new report today, the next iPod nano will come with Wi-Fi functionality for iTunes in Cloud. “iPad mini” name may also be the official name Apple decides to go with for its smaller tablet come October.

Domenico Panacea is an Italian Apple fan whose brand loyalty impresses even us – he first got on Cult of Mac’s radar when he spent about $1,300 for an LED Apple logo shirt.

To celebrate Apple’s court victory over Samsung, Panacea, a doctor by profession, was so excited that he immediately ordered up this yummy gelato cake, deeming it a toothsome tribute to the verdict.

Following Apple’s decisive victory over Samsung in court yesterday, Apple CEO Tim Cook sent out a corporate memo to Apple employees noting that it was “an important day for Apple and for innovators everywhere.”

Samsung has been ordered by U.S. court to pay Apple over $1 billion in damages after it was ruled that Samsung products infringe on Apple’s design patents.

For the past several months it’s been thought that Apple will unveil the next iPhone and rumored iPad mini in September. This past week it was suggested that Apple would instead hold two separate events for each product, with the first taking place on September 12th and the second in October.

Today a new report from the reliable AllThingsD “confirms” that Apple will indeed hold a separate iPad mini announcement in October following the release of the new iPhone.

We’ve seen lots of leaked parts for the upcoming iPhone, and even some cases for the rumored iPad Mini, but not a peep has been heard about a redesigned iPod Touch, until now. Pictures of new cases claiming to be designed for the new iPod Touch hit the web this morning, and they reveal that the fifth-generation might undergo some serious design changes when it hits the market later this year.

The cases show that the body of the 5th-gen iPod Touch might be less tapered than the current version, and it also features a mysterious hole on the back of the device that we’re not sure about.