Cult of Mac

We all remember the Zune. Microsoft’s failed attempt at an iPod competitor gained about as much traction as Windows Phone 7 has during the last two years. Apple already had its hands around the music industry’s neck with the iPod and iTunes — there was no room for something like the Zune. It wasn’t that the Zune was a bad product, it was just too late to the game.

Former Microsoft executive Robbie Bach was in charge of the Zune division, and in a recent interview he acknowledges that Microsoft made a mistake releasing the Zune in the first place.

Got a tattoo? Want one? Want another one? Want something unique? Once more, iOS comes to the rescue in the most unexpected way: a one-dollar app that designs tattoos for you. Oh yes.

Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) will be the source of many new announcements from the Cupertino company in the coming weeks. iOS 6 is widely expected to be demoed for developers, and there are whispers that we may even see some new hardware. Expect June to be a crazy month.

A new report from The Wall Street Journal says that Apple is planning significant upgrades to iCloud that it will announce at WWDC. New photo sharing features for posting and commenting on pictures in iCloud will be announced alongside the ability to wirelessly upload and sync videos across iOS devices.

You probably hate cable just as much as I hate cable, right? There’s like five shows on this planet that I want to watch, but I have to wait around for them to air or record them to my DVR, and I can’t take them with me unless I want to be naughty and download them illegally. Getting video wherever, whenever you want it should be a staple of the 21st century but cable companies aren’t making that easy because they refuse to embrace new technologies like Apple’s AirPlay service.

In a telling interview, Time Warner Cable’s CEO, Glenn Britt, admitted he doesn’t know what the heck AirPlay is, and thinks it’s too hard to get video from your computer to play on your TV.

I have a love/hate relationship with destruction videos. Love because, well, who doesn’t love seeing how tough our gadgets really are? And hate because smashing up perfectly good items shows everything that is shameful and bad about our wasteful modern society.

So it is with mixed feelings that I bring you Kai W of DigitalRev TV and his series of ever-more-cruel ordeals for the Canon 7D SLR.

Last week, Adobe created a firestorm of user unrest when it issued a series of security bulletins impacting three applications of its Creative Suite and said that users must pay to upgrade to the latest versions of the apps if they wanted patches that would close the vulnerabilities.

The company was quickly besieged by users, technology professionals, and security experts demanding that it reverse course and offer security patches to users who couldn’t afford the upgrades (or didn’t want to spend the money). Even though company quietly backpedaled and announced it would offer security updates without acknowledging the reason for its about face or offering an apology, the gaffe raises concerns that Apple’s yearly OS X release cycle might lead it down a similar path.

Remember when Siri was saying that Nokia’s Lumia 900 was the “best smartphone ever?” Obviously it wasn’t Apple that programmed such an answer; Siri uses WolframAlpha to those kinds of questions. In this instance, it was a case of out-of-date information and poor review ranking.

Now that the whole fuss is over, you can ask Siri “What’s the best smartphone ever?” and get the correct result. Looks like Apple changed the answer. Who would have thought our iPhones would have their own egos in the year 2012.

Last week a Chinese news site called ChinaDaily published a report saying that Foxconn CEO Terry Gou said his company was “making preparations for iTV, Apple Inc’s rumored upcoming high-definition television.” The statement was then turned into a whirlwind of Apple iTV/HDTV “confirmed by Foxconn CEO” stories that made the rounds.

Foxconn is now saying that its CEO did not confirm Apple’s rumored television set in any way.

The federal government along with U.S. wireless providers will be rolling out a new Emergency Text Alert System this month. The service will be free and will provide geographically targeted wireless emergency alerts for life-threatening events such as: tornadoes, flash floods, hurricanes, typhoons, tsunamis, dust storms, extreme winds, blizzards and ice storms. The text alerts will be brief and will inform consumers to seek additional information or immediately seek shelter if necessary. You may have experienced such alerts via third party weather application or private services but this will be the first national service by the federal government and the wireless industry.

The world’s best podcast network just launched an app. Now you can live stream podcasts direct to your iPhone from Dan Benjamin’s amazing 5by5 network using the new 5by5 Radio app.

If you still think your Mac is immune to malware and malicious infections then it’s time to stop kidding yourself. The recent Flashback trojan has proven that these a real issue for Apple’s desktop operating system, and as long as Mac OS X continues to grow, so will its infections.

But Apple is now working to prevent them. It issued a fix for the Flashback infection after it became apparent just how huge it was, and the Cupertino company is now teaming up with security specialists Kaspersky to identify other vulnerabilities.

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak recently made some comments concerning Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook’s upcoming IPO. In an interview with Bloomberg, Woz said that Zuckerberg was a combination of himself and Apple’s other co-founder, Steve Jobs. Woz cited Zuckerberg’s shrewd business sense combined with his passion for engineering and tinkering, with the latter set of qualities embodying Woz’s expertise.

Not only did Woz praise Facebook for its upcoming IPO valued at $96 billion, but he also said that he would invest in Facebook regardless of the opening price.

Apple made it into the top 20 companies on the Fortune 500, nabbing 17th place – an impressive feat for a company that ranked at number 71 just three years ago. When it comes to ensuring a happy workforce, however, Apple didn’t measure up to Fortune’s standards.

Fortune’s list of the 20 best employers drawn from its list the 500 top companies was published over the weekend. Apple didn’t make the list, though some of its competitors did. One of them actually topped the list – Google.

Does the name of the day contain the letter “y”? Then it must be time for a new Kickstarter project. This time we bring you the Day Maker, a rather ingenious toaster-like alarm clock which pops up your iPhone when it’s time to get your lazy ass out of bed in the morning.

DigiTimes reports that Apple’s manufacturing partners in Taiwan are said to be bending over backwards to secure orders for the company’s latest devices by constructing specialized plants that will be dedicated to producing parts and components for the iPad mini and the next-generation iPhone.

The hacker known only as pod2g has been working an a new untethered jailbreak for iOS 5 that’s been in the works for several months. Pod2g’s jailbreak was originally set for iOS 5.0.1, then 5.1, and now it’s been confirmed that it will work on the newly-released iOS 5.1.1. The only catch is that the third-gen iPod, iPhone 3GS, and third-gen Apple TV won’t be able to install the untethered jailbreak while running Apple’s latest version of iOS.

Pod2g has posted a short FAQ detailing some more info about the upcoming jailbreak.

The iPad’s design and capabilities have always made it intriguing option for doctors and other healthcare providers. Shortly after Apple launched the iPad two years ago, technophile doctors began bringing them into their offices and a number of hospitals began launching pilot programs centered around it.

That initial burst of interest and enthusiasm hasn’t slowed in the slightest according to a new report from Manhattan Research. In fact, iPad use by U.S. doctors has nearly doubled in the past year and adoption is set to continue at a meteoric rate over the next twelve months.

Leica seems to be on a roll, at least when it comes to making up crazier and crazier prices for its cameras. And nothing screams “overpriced” more than a special edition. Well, nothing except a special edition with “Hermes” in its name.

OK. There is one thing more expensive, a special edition Leica, with “Hermes” in its name, and with the whole thing written in French. Behold: the “Leica M9-P ‘Edition Hermès Jean-Louis Dumas’,” a camera that costs just $50,000.

Sparrow for iPhone — the third-party email client that has left Apple’s built-in Mail app redundant on my device — has received another major update today, which introduces a number of helpful features and quashes a handful of bugs.

One thing it doesn’t add, however, is that much-anticipated push support. That’s coming later, but you’ll have to pay for it.

As a writer, I need to know the number of words in my textual musings on a fairly regular basis. I’m sure many of you might have the same need, if even to count the characters in those funny Tweets you’ve been thinking about for weeks. Today’s tip should help you out, in a super cool DIY style.

Just a heads up: we’re running low on sizes of Cult of Mac’s vintage Apple-inspired In Love With Lisa graphic tee, and once we sell out, we’ll likely be out forever — so stop dilly dallying!

Our new is tee made in the beautiful USA, is crafted from 100% super-soft cotton, and ships worldwide. Tees come in men’s and women’s sizes too, so grab one for yourself or for your GF Lisa before we sell out over at MightTees.com.

An “iPhone 5” SIM tray that was leaked by one parts supplier earlier this month suggested Apple’s sixth-generation iPhone may not get that long-awaited redesign after all, launching instead with a look that resembles its last two predecessors, the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 4S.

However, a new headphone jack & earpiece component that has been leaked by the same supplier contradicts that belief, and indicates that the new iPhone will indeed sport a whole new look.

Research in Motion showed off its BlackBerry 10 operating system earlier this month at its BlackBerry World event in Florida. While many have branded the release too little too late, it does have some features that actually look pretty nice.

One of those is its gesture-based predictive text keyboard, which allows you to swipe a single key to input common words. Thanks to one iOS developer, this feature will be available on jailbroken iPhones before it gets its official debut on a BlackBerry 10 handset.

New iMacs are coming pretty soon, with Ivy Bridge processors that will make them faster than a jack rabbit hyped up on Mountain Dew. Apple is expected to release the new iMacs sometime this summer, but it looks like benchmarks for the new machines have already been revealed, giving us a glimpse at just how speedy Apple’s new all-in-one PCs will be.

Apple is expected to refresh its MacBook Pro lineup this summer, and rumors have widely agreed upon a May-June announcement timeframe. The upcoming notebooks are expected to feature Intel’s new Ivy Bridge processors and possibly sport higher-res, Retina-like displays.

Benchmarks have been revealed for what could very well be one of Apple’s upcoming MacBook Pro models.  The mysterious computer runs an unknown build of OS X Mountain Lion and features one of Intel’s high-end quad-core Ivy Bridge processors.