Cult of Mac

All the major mobile platform companies, including Apple, are working on solutions for “contactless payments” and digital wallets — the use of a phone as a credit card. Google’s Android supports NFC, or near-field communication. Google Wallet enables payments from phones.

Everyone has been waiting for Apple to catch up. The company has a pile of patents that reference a mobile digital wallet service called “iWallet.”

An analyst this week predicted something shocking: Instead of (or in addition to) adding NFC to future iPhones, Apple will use Bluetooth 4.0 for iWallet, a story first reported on Cult of Mac by John Brownlee.

One stunning fact about this prediction is that the wireless hardware has already been deployed at scale. Every major product Apple has shipped in the past year, including the iPhone and iPad, supports Bluetooth 4.0.

All Apple needs to do to make iWallet a reality is ship an app.

Another stunning fact is that Bluetooth 4.0 has a range of over 160 feet. That means participating retail stores can function like Apple Stores — without cash registers. The point of sale can be anywhere in the store. Restaurant diners can pay from the table — without the waiter being involved.

I think Apple wants to kill the cash register. Here’s why they might succeed.

Remember when people used to say that the iPad was a “content consumption device” useless for real “content creation”?

It’s a weird thing to say about a gadget offering a gazillion content-creation apps, but people said it. People still say it.

Pundits and writers say the iPad sucks for “real work” in general and writing in particular. I have come to believe the opposite: To me, the iPad is the best writing tool I’ve ever used.

And I think Ernest Hemingway would agree. 

We all know that Steve Jobs acquired Pixar in 1986. The studio released it’s first mega hit, Toy Story, in 1995, continuing on to win award after award with fantastic storytelling and groundbreaking computer animation techniques. A creative studio like Pixar needs a creative workplace environment, no? Andrew Gordon tells the story of one such secret place in the Pixar compound in an animated (natch) YouTube video.

According to Foss Patents, Apple filed a motion for an immediate US ban of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 yesterday. This comes in the wake of Monday’s Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruling that was partially in favor of Apple.

If Apple’s motion succeeds, there will then be a US ban in place against three major Android device makers. Last December, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) banned specific HTC products based on an Apple patent and this past Friday, the ITC banned some Motorola devices based on a Microsoft patent. Seems like litigation is the new weapon of choice in this war of supremacy.

It’s been nearly two years since Sonic The Hedgehog: Episode I made its debut on consoles, and Sony has finally managed to deliver a sequel. Thankfully, it was worth the wait — and it leads this week’s roundup of must-have iOS games.

We’ve also got Bejeweled for the iPad, a Doodle Jump knockoff that’s even better than the original, a monkey that flies an airplane, and more.

There are currently two movies about Steve Jobs in the works. The one we’re most excited for is based off Walter Isaacson’s official biography and is being made by Sony in conjunction with Oscar-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin. An indie film dubbed jOBS and starring Ashton Kutcher as Jobs is also underway. More information about the second film has been released.

We’ve already seen pictures of Kutcher in the infamous black turtleneck, and now the people behind the film have confirmed that parts of jOBS will be shot in the garage where Apple was started.

The Macquarium has been around for decades, starting as a project to make use of old compact Mac cases. Subsequent iterations have seen many different variations – beige Performas, G3 iMacs, G4 Cubes, etc.. But this latest iteration is unique, and probably has the best structural integrity of them all.

Steve Shaw recently created his Macquarium from a PowerMac G5 case (mislabeled as a Mac Pro in the video), elbow grease and some powertools. He did a nice job, bright and airy. I love the Apple logo in the rear and overall industrial look. And the totem head.

Next up we need a Siamese fighting fish in a Mac Mini…

Source: Gizmodo

The iPad is already a big hit with the healthcare industry. A new pilot project being run by Veterans Affairs Department could encourage the iPad to be used as a longterm home care solution as well. As part of the agency’s Family Caregivers program, the VA will deploy 1,000 iPads to family members of veterans suffering from injuries and disorders associated with military deployments after 9/11.

The VA program was created to help disabled veterans remain at home with loved ones providing personal care. It already provides a range of important resources for caregivers including a monthly stipend, travel expenses for care-related activities, health-related training, counseling services, and respite care.

May is Mobile Management Month at Cult of Mac, where we will be profiling a different mobile management company every weekday. You can find all previous entries here and read our Mobile Management manifesto here.

Symantec has long and solid track record in delivering enterprise systems. The company’s full lineup of enterprise solutions are practically a one-stop shopping list for IT departments offering everything from virus and malware tools right through every IT task (deployment, Mac/Windows workstation management, help desk operations, even inventory). As you’d expect, Symantec Mobile Management integrates quite nicely with other Symantec enterprise tools creating a streamlined single source IT infrastructure.

Even as a standalone product, however, Symantec Mobile Management is an attractive offering. It has a powerful focus security and includes secure file management features. It’s also extremely scalable and makes almost every IT/mobile management processes as hand-off and automatic as possible. Even device enrollment is simple and designed to be accomplished by end users with little or no input from IT. That makes it particularly attractive to larger enterprise organizations.

Ok, I’ll admit it: I still haven’t kicked my RSS addiction. As hard as I try to just use sources like Twitter and Flipboard to get my news, there’s something about having every article from every site I follow in one place. And in my line of work, it’s very important to stay on top of the news cycle.

For the longest time I’ve used Reeder to scan RSS feeds on all of my devices. The iPhone, iPad and Mac apps are about as good as it gets for RSS, but I’ve been longing for some competitive apps to come on the scene. On the Mac, a RSS client called Caffeinated may have way it takes to dethrone the reigning champion, Reeder.

While newer iOS devices come in sizes up to 64 Gb, it takes up a lot of space to store a ton of videos there. Likewise, synchronizing the videos you think you might want to watch later can be an exercise in futility, trying to second-guess yourself and your future video-watching tastes. And let’s not forget the time consuming task of converting videos from a non-Mac or iTunes friendly format to ones that work a little better with our chosen OS platform. Today, however, we have an app that will help with these problems.

“Nice murse,” the supercilious toad said, burrowing his chin into his neck pouch.

There’s no shortage to information out there about Apple’s HDTV plans, but most of it focuses on specs, designs, and user interface (including coverage from our source who has seen one). With the device being a near certainly, other questions are being raised. Will it be an instant hit? How different will the experience be compared to the existing Apple TV set-top box? How much revenue could it net for Apple?

According to calculations by Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty, an Apple HDTV would be a huge windfall for Apple. She sees it as likely to double the money that U.S. households spend annually on Apple products within three years.

You know Keynote was made especially for Steve Jobs because all other presentation tools, well, sucked? Right. So wouldn’t you like to know all the secrets of Keynote so you can make Jobs-worthy Keynote presentations (actually I would too)? This is where Keynote for Startups comes in. Think of it more like “learn how to make amazing Keynote presentations and demos that will blow peoples’ minds”. Learn the art (and science) of clickable prototypes, mockups, video demos for only $19!

I write a ton on my iPad these days, which lets me work wherever I like (usually in bed) and concentrate way better than I can working on my giant-screened iMac. Thanks to our complex blogging back end here at Cult of Mac, it’s still easier to add pictures and other bits and pieces with the Mac, but the writing part is so much better on the iPad that I try to do it as often as I can.

I figured I’d show you a few of the apps I used. Below you’ll find my favorite writing apps for the iPad.

How do you take a life that was lived so fully, with so much drama, triumph and failure, and condense it into a 2.5 hour movie that will effectively express Steve Jobs as a person? It’s a monumental task that will be nearly impossible for any screenwriter to accomplish.

No matter how great a job Aaron Sorkin does adapting Steve Jobs’s biography into a screenplay, some people are going to hate it and say parts were left out while other were embellished. Sorkin’s not aiming for Sony’s movie to be historically accurate though, so what do you think he should focus on?

Our friend Ken Segall, who worked closely with Steve for over a decade, has some great ideas on what the focus of Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay should be.

Looking for a “pro” camera app for your iPhone? There’s no shortage of options on the App Store. This week, we’re taking a look at one that has the most descriptive name: ProCamera.

If you thought a little hurdle like mortality would stop His Steveness from selling you a new iPhone you are wrong my friend. Scott Beale was wondering around Mid-Town yesterday and came across a tiny version of Steve in the Cellular Express store ready to sell him some insanely great products.

Source: Laughing Squid
Image: Laughing Squid

Are you a fan of plain-text files? Are you nerdy enough to stuff your todo lists into a todo.txt file? What if I told you that you could bring a lick of modernity to the your old-fashioned, candlelit ways? It’s called TaskBadges, and it adds a numbered badge to any plain-text list telling you how many uncompleted tasks are left inside.

Forget nano-coatings that render the individual components oin your iPhone waterproof. And forget bulky underwater cases that make your svelte phone look like something Nokia put out ten years ago. What you need for total iPhone protection is this amazing Japanese condom.

Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference is swiftly approaching (June 11th!), and we know they have some big announcements up their sleeves. Will we see new “Air like” Macbook Pros with SSDs and no DVD drives? Are updated iMacs with Retina displays on the horizon? And what about iOS 6? We tell you what we know on our brand new CultCast.

And then a segment we love: listener questions! You’ve tweeted at us and we’re ready to answer all your queries.

Our all-new CultCast is on iTunes now — subscribe to listen and read on for our show notes!

Say the word apprentice to most people and you’ll conjure up the image of Donald Trump. You probably won’t conjure up the image of Apple products, data centers, or IT consultants. Apprenticeships were once the most common form of training for a career, but in today’s world college and universities are far more likely to be how most of us launch our careers.

With the demand for IT skills growing, however, the idea of adopting an apprenticeship model is an attractive one. Although IT apprenticeships are rare in America, they’re gaining popularity in Europe as a way for young people to join the workforce while receiving substantial training and real-world experience.

London-based consulting and training group Amsys has adopted an apprenticeship model that’s specifically oriented towards training Mac IT professionals.

Lomo, the surprisingly successful maker of crappy plastic film cameras and accessories, has just launched a 110 film for its Orca camera. The emulsion is called Orca 110, and it is a high-contrast B&W film rated at ISO 100.

CloudPic is a great new Kickstarter project which connects your DSLR to your iPhone using Bluetooth 4. By plugging a dongle into the side of the camera, a fast connection is formed and you can beam photos to the iPhone, and from there have them upload automatically to the cloud service of your choice.

Earlier this month, iOS hacker Pod2g released an FAQ for his upcoming iOS 5.1.1 untethered jailbreak, which stated that the iPhone 3GS and the third-generation iPod touch would not be compatible. He did say, however, that this situation “may change,” and it has.

In a recent tweet, Pod2g confirmed that he has now discovered “a way through for iPod 3G and iPhone 3GS users.”