I live on the east coast, but I have been to Silicon Valley twice; visiting Apple’s mothership was a must-do for me.
Perhaps you feel the same way. It’s exciting for us fans, though all you can really do is park, take pictures out in front of the main 1 Infinite Loop building, and the Apple sign near the street, then visit The Company Store. It’s a special treat as they don’t sell Apple devices, they sell logoed items not found anywhere else. I don’t know if I would go so far as to call my visit a pilgrimage, but it was a top priority for me, if I was going to be anywhere near Silicon Valley.
Now i-Free has clarified matters. They pulled the app themselves… but not because they think they did anything wrong. In fact, they’ve gone as far as to say that it is “unethical to pick a scapegoat to talk about the privacy concerns. We see this wave of negative as a serious misunderstanding of the app’s goals, purpose, abilities and restrictions.”
Tim Cook has been in office as Apple’s official CEO for over 200 days now, so how’s he doing? Is he still living in Jobs’ shadow, or has he been busy leaving his own mark on Cupertino. And what about those crazy new rumors about the iPhone we’ve been hearing? Is there any truth to them? The latest episode of The CultCast seeks to answer those questions and more including brief special appearance from Ars Technica’s Chris Foresman.
Once you’ve heard our take on things, comeback and leave a comment telling us your opinion and we just might read your thoughts on the next CultCast episode.
What the world needs now isn’t love, sweet love. It needs more companies like Apple.
Critics slam Apple for not giving more to charity. It’s a reasonable complaint. Apple should be more philanthropic. Under Tim Cook they probably will be.
However, Apple helps the world in a far more profound way than some annual contribution to United Way.
Apple represents an approach to business that “lifts all boats,” to quote a well known cliche.
Apple is the global economy’s single most powerful economic force opposing a great death spiral in which margins are squeezed, goods get shoddier, people make less money and our lives just get cheaper in every way.
No one likes to spend an inordinate amount of time on their computers doing mundane tasks. And let’s face it…going through all of the duplicates, missing album art and mislabeled tracks in your iTunes Library are just those types of tasks.
That’s why this Cult of Mac Deals offer is ideal. Cleaning up your iTunes Library has never been more powerfully simple (or simply powerful) than with The TuneUp Bundle. TuneUp hooks up with iTunes to organize and categorize your music from top to bottom. And today’s your last chance to get it for just $30!
LG's new flexible display heading into mass production.
Some might think that a flexible display is something out of a Sci-Fi film, however, they’re actually real. Samsung has already shown off its OLED flexible display, and today, we’ve gotten word that LG has now put its flexible e-ink display into mass production. Are these leading the way for a larger flexible display to land on the next iPad?
My friend Chris Herbert has released another wallpaper pack, and this time he’s made 200 beautifully minimal designs for the new iPad’s Retina display. His new collection, Subtle Papers II, is available for free now, and you’re sure to find at least one wallpaper that suits your fancy. A lot of sweat and love when into this collection, so be a kind soul and share it with your friends!
Notorious girl tracking app Girls Around Me had its API cut-off by Facebook in response to Cult of Mac's story earlier today.
In direct response to our story from earlier today about Girls Around Me, an iOS app by Russian-based app developer i-Free that tracks and gives personal information about women without their knowledge, Foursquare has released a statement announcing that they have officially killed Girls Around Me’s access to their public API.
This app is meant to all be in good fun, but it's potentially a weapon in the hands of stalkers.
“Boy, you sure have a lot of apps on your phone.”
“Well, it’s my job.”
“What’s your favorite?”
“Oh, I love Daisy Slots, with so many casino games options, I couldn’t choose. But hey, want to see one to set your skin crawling?”
It was the flush end of a pleasurably hot day — 85 degrees in March — and we were all sipping bitter cocktails out in my friend’s backyard, which was both his smoking room, beer garden, viticetum, opossum parlor and barbecue pit. I was enjoying the warm dusk with a group of six of my best friends, all of whom seemed interested, except for my girlfriend… who immediately grimaced.
“Girls Around Me? Again?” she scolded. “Don’t show them that.”
She turned to our friends, apologetically.
“He’s become obsessed with this app. It’s creepy.”
I sputtered, I nevered, and I denied it, but it was true. I had become obsessed with Girls Around Me, an app that perfectly distills many of the most worrying issues related to social networking, privacy and the rise of the smartphone into a perfect case study that anyone can understand.
It’s an app that can be interpreted many ways. It is as innocent as it is insidious; it is just as likely to be reacted to with laughter as it is with tears; it is as much of a novelty as it has the potential to be used a tool for rapists and stalkers.
And more than anything, it’s a wake-up call about privacy.
Music streaming service Spotify has announced that it will continue offering unlimited listening to its free customers in the United States. In case you didn’t know, all that free music you’ve been listening to won’t last forever. Spotify said from the very beginning that free users would only have unlimited listening for 6 months, and it’s been 9 months since the streaming service went stateside. Looks like the honeymoon will last a little longer.
A specific date for the unlimited listening discontinuation has not been given, so you may want to think about coughing up $10 per month for a Spotify Premium account. There’s also some good news for certain Spotify users in Europe.
Apple and Samsung have been duking it out in court for quite sometime now, with Apple claiming that the Korean electronics giant has been “slavishly” copying its iOS products to use in Galaxy line of smartphones and tablets. In its case against Samsung’s Galaxy Tab, Apple has leaned heavily on two specific patents for its defense, both having to do with the exterior of the iPad.
As if to point out the absurdity of Apple patenting the exterior of a tablet, Judge Koh, presiding over the case, notably held up both the Galaxy Tab and iPad side-by-side and asked those in the court to tell which was which from a distance. It took lawyers on both sides of the aisles a few seconds to answer the question correctly.
The judge’s point seems simple. Sure, the Galaxy Tab may look like the iPad, but Apple can’t patent that appearance… and to prove her point, she made note that in 1994, a television network portrayed the look of a tablet much before the iPad or Galaxy Tab came on the scene. If true, this could seriously destroy Apple’s case.
Note: Title has been changed to reflect “in-app” revenue
You may have seen this report around the web about the Amazon Appstore generating more in-app revenue than the Google Play Store. While that in itself it impressive, everyone seems to be missing the most important detail of the report: Android is generating more in-app revenue than iOS. At least that’s what this report is claiming.
The folks at FireCore have released a new jailbreak for the latest Apple TV iOS version that Apple released on March 7th. The set-top box’s interface was revamped alongside the release of the third-gen Apple TV, and FireCore’s tethered jailbreak will work on the second-gen Apple TV running iOS 5.0.
New versions of Seas0nPass and aTV Flash (black) have been released to enhance the Apple TV experience on the latest software.
Is Apple's e-textbook ecosystem ready for the 2012 - 2013 school year?
Many schools in the U.S. haven’t even had their spring break yet, but school administrators are already planning for the next school year. For public schools that means determining how best to allocate scarce financial resources and trying to determine how far they can push their budgets before the residents and homeowners in their district will vote them down. School IT departments meanwhile are beginning to consider what major projects and upgrades they’ll be doing over the summer recess.
Although this decision-making process tends to run like clockwork for most schools and districts, this year there’s a new factor to consider: Apple’s iPad-based iBooks 2 e-textbook initiative (as well as the iPad itself).
SiriSports makes it easier to check scores on your iPhone 4S
A tweak called SiriSports gives you access to MLB, NBA and NHL game times and scores in Siri on your jailbroken iPhone 4S. Developed by Evan Coleman, SiriSports requires no configuration and is available for free in Cydia.
“Did the Knicks win last night?” “Are the Yankees winning?” These types of question can be answered once you have SiriSports installed.
Engadget spotted that in OS X’s own Dictionary.app, the definition of Apple is woefully out of date, not even mentioning Cupertino’s biggest products: the iPhone and iPad.
Sadly, the dictionary is also out of date in other ways… namely, in how it lists Steve Jobs.
The instruments browser offers a range of keyboards, guitars, basses, amps and effects, and a sampler.
The recently-updated version of GarageBand — Apple’s popular music-making app for the iPad — finally turns it into a serious tool for bands rather than something limited to solo artists and their session collaborators. With a shared connection, up to four band members can play or jam to a piece of music, be it a pop song or a classical overture. For the first time, it brings live performance to the iPad app.
For every American male, every stage of your life can be marked by what magazine you are subscribed to. When you are in your thirties, it’s The Economist. When you’re in your late twenties, it’s The New Yorker. When you’re in your mid-twenties, it’s Playboy; your late teens, Maxim.
And what magazine subscription kicks off being twelve? Harvey Kutzman and William M. Gaine’s eternal paean to grade school parody, Mad Magazine, which is now coming to the iPad.
Who doesn’t like YouTube? Well, besides Vimeo. No one, that’s who. If you’re a true YouTube user, however, chances are you have your own account, channel and merchandising deal. For the rest of us with only an account to track, having it synced up to our iOS devices makes a lot of sense. Here’s how.
Find My Facebook Friends — Locating your significant other has never been so easy
Apple introduced Find My Friends ahead of iOS 5 last year. The iOS app allows you to see where your friends and family are located around you. Apple pitched the service as something for a family to use at Disneyland, but honestly, it feels more like a tool for digital stalking.
My colleague John Brownlee highlighted a major issue with Facebook privacy earlier today, so it’s only fitting that we take a look at another app from the same vein. Although you won’t be able to stalk random women with Find My Facebook Friends, you will be able to see your friends on a map. The only difference is that Find My Facebook Friends takes user privacy pretty seriously. If only the app was less buggy.
Koss's PortaPro KTC Headphones with in-line mic and remote.
The most common reaction people have when they see me wearing my Koss PortaPros is: “Don’t you work in tech? Can’t you afford some Skullcandies or something, instead of those hand-me-down headphones from the 70s?”
I always want to smack these people for their shameful ignorance and misguided elitism, but don’t… mostly because this is exactly the same reaction I had when, two years ago, I saw a pair of Koss PortaPros perched upon Cult of Mac review editor Charlie Sorrel’s lank, salt-and-peppery head.
Since then, I’ve converted a dozen friends to Koss PortaPros the same way Charlie converted me: by taking them off his head and making me put them on and listen to them for a few seconds. Everyone I’ve converted has sworn by Koss, just like Charlie and I do.
Koss’s PortaPro series isn’t old or antiquated: they’re design and quality are timeless. There’s a difference. But that doesn’t mean a timeless design can’t be improved or added upon, and with the PortaPro KTC line, Koss has done it.
How? How else. A built-in mic and in-line controls for your iPhone. Those sneaky devils.
Real-life Ethan Hunts have been officially approved to use an iPhone
We’ve already seen some pretty crazy uses of the iPad and iPhone in spy movies, but it looks like iOS is getting an official nod of approval as a mobile operating system worthy to be used in spy games. The Australian government just approved iPhones and iPads to be used for the storing and sharing of classified documents, meaning Ethan Hunt wannabes Down Under can look even more bad ass in their espionage attempts.
I'd trade my crappy square Nano in for one of these in a second
We love us a good iConcept design here at Cult of Mac, and we especially love those which appear to be better than the Apple product they are based on. So I’m happy to bring you Enrico Penello’s iPod Nano Touch, a great-looking update to the terrible iPod Nano.
BYOD may be the poster child for the consumerization of IT (CoIT) movement, but employee-owned mobile devices are just one of the consumer technologies that are steadily making their way into the workplace. Consumer cloud services are another big headache for IT.
Consumer clouds represent a way for data to easily leave office and the office network. Files can be placed in a consumer cloud very easily and often without IT even knowing about it. Despite that big security concern, cloud services like Box and Dropbox are popular with workers because they’re an easy way to ensure access to files and documents while out of the office and/or while working on a mobile device.
While blocking specific cloud services is a possibility, it’s little more than a stop-gap measure. Truly solving the problem means addressing the underlying need – users needing mobile access to data – in a secure way, which enterprise file management company Accellion aims to solve with a new Secure Mobile File Sharing service and sync capabilty dubbed kitedrive.
