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Austin City Council Throws Apple $8.6 Million For New Campus

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Apple's existing campus in Austin, Texas.
Apple's existing campus in Austin, Texas.

City officials in Austin, Texas, have agreed to pay Apple $8.6 million in incentives over the next ten years after the Cupertino company revealed its plans to invest $304 million in a new campus. Additionally, it will also receive $21 million from the Texas Enterprise Fund, and possibly a further $6 million from Travis County Commissioners.

Here’s How To Snap Award-Winning Pics With Your iPhone [Interview]

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2008 IPPA winner Michael Hopkins.
2008 IPPA winner Michael Hopkins.

In the five years since the iPhone Photography Awards (IPPA) launched, the iPhone camera has gone from disappointing to out-snapping Nikon as the most popular camera on Flickr.

As the March 31 deadline for this year’s award approaches, IPPA founder Kenan Aktulun talks to Cult of Mac about his favorite pics, the distinction between good and great iPhone photos and why apps may not help you create them.

Mystery Job At RIM Is For “Advanced” iPhone/iPad Management

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RIM needs iOS developers for unspecified
RIM needs iOS developers for unspecified "advanced" iOS management options

Yesterday’s news that RIM is looking to hire iOS developers with the intention of creating iOS apps unleashed a lot of speculation about what the BlackBerry manufacturer might be planning to release for iPhones and iPads. After initially being tight-lipped and refusing to comment on the job posting, RIM’s PR team revealed that its iOS app development plans center around its BlackBerry Fusion product.

BlackBerry Fusion is RIM’s new mobile device device management solution. The product, which RIM launched earlier this year along with the first major update to its PlayBook tablet’s OS, can manage BlackBerry and PlayBook devices. RIM plans to and support for managing iOS and Android devices as well.

RIM’s statement was pretty vague beyond confirming that it’s new management solution will be the focus of this position, leaving room for speculation as to what additional features an on-device app will enable under RIM’s new management console.

Nokia Says Their Crazy 41MP Symbian Phone Also Trounces iPhone In Audio Recording

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https://youtu.be/p8RHQC0eS_k

When we saw Nokia’s 808 PureView at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, we were grudgingly — but decidedly — impressed. Nokia’s 41MP+ camera phone seemed like a joke at first blush, but using satellite imaging technology and pixel oversampling, Nokia has managed to get SLR-quality shots out of a cameraphone. It simply blows the iPhone 4S’s camera out of the water.

But is the 808 PureView just a great camera strapped to a mediocre phone? Not entirely. Sure, as an actual device, the iPhone 4S is leaps and bounds above the Symbian (!) based 808 PureView, but if you want a great multimedia recording device in your pocket that’s also a phone, the 808 PureView comes out ahead.

Facebook Adds Retina-Ready Photos, But Not For The New iPad

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Facebook will now serve Retina-ready images, but not to the iPad
Facebook will now serve Retina-ready images, but not to the iPad

You and I may hate Facebook, but with almost a billion users, it’s the place where most people put their photos. And now, at least you won’t have to totally slum it if you visit: The customer-hostile social network will now serve hi-res photographs, but not — oddly — to the iPad.

Best Buy Is Selling Almost As Many iPhones As Apple

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Best Buy's reach across the U.S. means it's selling almost as many iPhones as Apple.
Best Buy's reach across the U.S. means it's selling almost as many iPhones as Apple.

Apple’s decision to make Best Buy an official partner for the iPhone is certainly paying off. With 1,100 outlets across the U.S. and an online store, the retailer is now selling almost as many iPhones as Apple itself, according to a survey of customers who purchased the device between December 2011 and February 2012.

Porthole Streams Mac Audio Over AirPlay

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Stream any audio from your Mac to your AirPlay speakers, not just iTunes
Stream any audio from your Mac to your AirPlay speakers, not just iTunes

Porthole is a Mac app which will stream all the audio coming from your computer to AirPlay speakers, instead of just the music from iTunes. It’s kind of like Rogue Amoeba’s excellent AirFoil, only much less fine-grained in terms of control.

Samsung Designer Denies He Copied Apple’s Devices, Is Confident He’ll Match Jony Ive One Day

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More people are recognizing Samsung because of its legal battles with Apple.
More people are recognizing Samsung because of its legal battles with Apple.

Apple and Samsung have battled in court over the design of a number of Samsung’s Galaxy products, which Apple believes were “slavishly” copied from the iPhone and iPad. However, the Korean company’s chief of mobile design maintains that the Galaxy is “original from the beginning,” and believes that one day, he will match Jony Ive by designing a truly iconic product.

The Mysterious Way Safari Handles iPad Retina Images

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Apple's high-res hero JPG, scaled down to fit on this page

A weird bug in Mobile Safari means that your iPad might refuse to show you hi-res images on your new Retina Display, instead scaling them down and making them look just as bad as they would if they were low resolution to begin with. Weirdly, this issue only affects JPGs, and then only certain JPGs. What’s going on?

Apple Updates iTunes Movie Trailers App For The New iPad’s Retina Display

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Apple has finally updated its iTunes Movie Trailers app for the new iPad’s Retina display. I say ‘finally’ because most of Apple’s own iOS apps were updated with Retina graphics on March 7th, but the Trailers app was left out.

You can download the update for Trailers in the App Store now, and it looks fantastic.

Unlike the Netflix app, Apple’s Trailers will let you stream video in stunning on HD. If you haven’t been using Trailers on your iPad and iPad, download it now and discover what you’ve been missing. Not only can you view trailers for upcoming movies, but there’s a handy calendar view for release dates, charts, favorite starring, and ticket/showing info. A great app just got even better.

We’ll Be At JailbreakCon This September, Tickets Are On Sale Now!

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Cult of Mac is an official media sponsor for JailbreakCon 2012.
Cult of Mac is an official media sponsor for JailbreakCon 2012.

Click here to see Cult of Mac's full jailbreak archives!

Cult of Mac is proud to announce our official partnership with Craig Fox and the rest of the team at WWJC, the first jailbreak convention to hit the United States. As we told you before, JailbreakCon, or the World Wide Jailbreak Convention, will be taking place on September 29th in beautiful San Francisco, California.

Bug Uncovered In Safari On iOS 5.1 That Can Spoof Your Address Bar

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Yikes...
Yikes...

Apple’s iOS Safari browser has been the source of many vulnerabilities in the past, and a new discovery reveals a scary bug in the latest version of iOS. When browsing the web on iOS 5.1, there’s the potential that you could run into some address bar spoofing.

What does that mean exactly? Basically, a site URL could be displayed in the address bar that doesn’t actually match the webpage you’re visiting.

Why Your iPhone Or iPad Will Probably Be The Remote For Apple’s Upcoming iTV

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Imagine a world where your iPad or iPhone controls everything in your living room.
Imagine a world where your iPad or iPhone controls everything in your living room.

With all the rumors surrounding Apple’s intense negotiations to acquire licensing agreements with Hollywood studios for its upcoming television, it can be easy to forget about another aspect of the equation that needs to be reinvented: the remote. When Apple does unveil its long-awaited ‘iTV’ to the dismay of cable providers, you can bet that it won’t come with a clunky clicker like every other TV on the market. If there’s anything that needs to be changed about the industry, it’s the tool we use to communicate with our TV sets.

How would Apple do its own remote? Some have speculated that the iTV will be completely controlled by Siri, but there’s more to the puzzle than just voice control. In fact, you probably already use the future iTV’s remote every day.

Mysterious Job Posting Shows RIM Looking To Start Developing iPhone/iPad Apps

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RIM's next new hire may very well be an iOS app creator
RIM's next new hire may very well be an iOS app creator

RIM has making some interesting choices regarding its future over the past year. The company launched its PlayBook tablet with what was really a beta release of the OS. It expanded its device management platform to include support for managing iOS and Android devices (though many saw that move as too little openness too late in the game). And it introduced support for Android apps in last month’s PlayBook OS update.

In another move that will leave observes scratching their heads, RIM is looking to hire iOS developers. Unlike RIM’s recruitment of Android developers, this doesn’t appear to be in any way aimed at porting existing apps to the PlayBook. The job posting, which lists RIM’s Bellevue, WA location, is for an internal Senior iOS developer that would be creating enterprise-focused iOS apps for the iPhone and iPad.

The U.S. Congress Asks 33 Popular Devs To Explain How iOS App Privacy Works

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App updates appear to be a little snappier in the latest iOS 6 beta.
Path's iPhone app was recently updated to ask permission when accessing your contacts. Image courtesy of 37prime.news

The app privacy scandal caused by Path’s iPhone app is still leaving its mark, as members of the U.S. Congress have sent out letters to 33 prominent App Store developers to better understand the issue. “We want to better understand the information collection and use policies and practices of apps for Apple’s mobile devices with a social element.”

Apps like the official Facebook and Twitter clients are among the list. Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Henry A. Waxman and Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade Subcommittee Ranking Member G. K. Butterfield have requested that the developers behind such apps reveal how Apple imposes its privacy standards and how the standards are implemented.

Lightroom 4 Adds Few Features But A Lot Of Polish [Review]

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Maps is the most obvious new feature of Lightroom 4, but it's far from the best
Maps is the most obvious new feature of Lightroom 4, but it's far from the best

Lightroom 4 isn’t nearly as big of an update as versions 2 or 3, but that’s more of a sign of a mature product than anything else. There are a few all-new features, but the one thing that will really, really want to upgrade is the new Highlights and Shadows section. It really is good enough to justify this point-release upgrade all by itself.

Please A Hipster, Turn Your iPhone Into A Rotary Phone With This Dock

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rotary
This is the closest you'll get to using a rotary phone

I used a rotary phone once at my grandma’s house back when I was like 6 years old. It’s the only childhood telephone memory I can recall, but most kids my age have never had the pleasure of seeing the dial slowly rotate back into position with each successive twirling of a number. The iRetroPhone is the closest thing to a rotary phone you’ll find today that also utilizes the best mobile phone in the world. Most people will either cringe or laugh when they see it, but we’re pretty sure hipsters across the globe are gonna love this thing.

Bioware’s D&D Classic Baldur’s Gate Is Coming To iPad!

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One of the best D&D games ever is heading to iPad.
One of the best D&D games ever is heading to iPad.

One of my favorite games of all time is the sprawling Advanced Dungeons & Dragons based RPG, Baldur’s Gate II. Featuring over 200+ hours of content, the game sees your character raised from a hero to a god as he takes on vampires, Beholders, dragons and drow. It’s the closest thing to a real nerds-and-basement tabletop RPG session you’ll ever have on a computer, and in the ten years since it has been released, nothing else has come close to its scope or its writing, and since all of the game’s levels were hand-painted, it still even looks pretty good.

Now Baldur’s Gate and Baldur’s Gate II are coming to the iPad. Excuse me while I tear off my clothes, smear myself in vasoline and go absolutel bananas.

Last Chance For The Mac Designer Bundle [Deals]

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DesignerBundleCoM

We’ve got another great Cult of Mac Deals deal for our readers this time around that is set to wrap up today. It’s one that offers 7 inspiring Mac apps for only $50 that will help you take your ideas from concept to reality with elegance and ease.

Among the apps you’ll get as part of The Mac Designer Bundle is acclaimed calendar app Fantastical, the stellar website creation tool RapidWeaver 5 and the time-saving keyboard shortcut tool, KeyCue. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg!

How Safe Is Your Data In The iCloud?

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AppleiCloud
iOS users in Germany will no longer see iCloud emails pushed to their devices thanks to Motorola.
Photo: Apple

Sure, iCloud’s convenient, but how safe is your data? No need to be alarmed: it’s actually about as well secured as it can possibly be, as long as you’re not an idiot.

Hipstamatic’s New Instagram Sharing Is Convenient But Somewhat Cramped [Review]

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It's direct sharing all right. But very densely packed.
It's direct sharing all right. But very densely packed.

As we reported yesterday, the latest Hipstamatic update adds something that’s not just new for the app, but new for the App Store: direct access to the Instagram API.

Does it make a startling difference to the way you use Hipstamatic? No, not really. Only regular users of both Hipstamatic and Instagram will notice a substantial difference.

Reveal All Of Those App Store Purchases That You’ve Previously Hidden [iOS Tips]

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Just because you've hidden them, it doesn't mean they're gone forever.

Back in October, we highlighted one of the new features in iOS 5 that allows you to hide previous App Store purchases from your ‘Purchased’ list. It’s great for removing all those apps and games that you may be ashamed of, such as Hello Kitty Parachute Paradise. But what happens if you want to reveal those purchases again?

Well, thankfully it’s easy to unhide them.