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Apple WALT – Was This the First iPhone? [Vintage Tech]

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A rare and interesting Apple prototype surfaced on eBay recently, and although the auction has since ended we thought it notable enough to merit mention. A 1993 prototype called a WALT – Wizzy Active Lifestyle Telephone – combined a telephone, fax, personal address book and more with a HyperCard user interface. It never shipped, but this vaporware breakthrough netted the seller a cool $8000 on eBay.

Change Audio Settings Quickly from the Menubar [OS X Tips]

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Ever need to quickly change audio input or output settings on your Mac, but don’t want to hop into the System Preferences, find the Sound preference pane, then click around the tabs? Maybe you’re in the middle of a super important presentation and just need the sound to work for that amazing video you’re sharing? Well, todays quick tip will have you blasting the audience’s eardrums in no time.

OnCue Is The Music Player Your iDevice Will Thank You For

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Apple should be embarrassed by the awful iOS music app. Fix it with OnCue

Unless you really hate yourself, or are just plain weird, you probably throw up in your mouth a little every time you launch the iPad’s music app. Ugly, with tiny controls and no way to customize the various navigation buttons on the bottom row (terrible for podcast or audio book fans), it is worse in almost every way than the player it replaced.

So why not ditch it altogether? There are plenty of alternate players in the app store, but OnCue 5 has a great drag-and-drop interface, and will let you create (as its name suggests) play queues, along with a lot of other neat features.

iTunes 10.6 Will Sync Music At Higher 192kbps and 256kbps Bitrates

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iTunes no longer punishes you for low bitrate convenience

ITunes has long given users the option of scaling music down to 128kbps upon sync to their iPod or other device in order to save space. The idea being, I guess, that you could keep your master collection at a higher bit-rate on the computer’s capacious hard drive, whilst saving space on the smaller flash storage on the iPod. Bit what if you liked this idea, but hated the low quality? Well, iTunes 10.6 has your back.

Dad Warns Developers: Don’t Trick My Kids Into Buying

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Talking Tom Cat is one app Rian picks out for criticism

User experience expert Rian van der Merwe posted a heartfelt rant at Smashing Magazine yesterday, begging developers of iPad apps for kids to think a little more carefully about how they put their apps together.

Most of his comments were about UI and interface issues, but the final one was a warning a lot of parents (myself included) will support: don’t try and trick my kids into buying additional content.

Apple Upgrading Site Images For iPad Retina Display

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Apple is retina-izing its web graphics

Apple is quietly and diligently working behind the scenes to make sure its website looks great on the new hi-res iPads which will begin to drop onto our doormats this weekend. To get ready for the never-seen-before ten-inch retina display, Apple is swapping in higher resolution graphics.

iPhoto501Fix Promises To Fix iPhoto Bugs Under iOS 5.0.1 [Jailbreak]

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iPhoto501Fix promises to eliminate iPhoto crashes under iOS 5.0.1

If you’ve got a jailbroken iOS device that you can’t upgrade to iOS 5.1, then you may have installed Apple’s new iPhoto app unofficially. The problem with this is, the app only supports the iOS 5.1 firmware, and you’re likely to run into some compatibility issues that cause iPhoto to crash and freeze every so often.

But thanks to a new tweak called iPhoto501Fix, you can quash those bugs and enjoy a seamless (almost) iPhoto experience.

Springround Lets You Access Your iPhone’s Home Screen From Anywhere In iOS [Jailbreak]

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A new jailbreak tweak has been released, and it lets you access your Home screen from anywhere in iOS. It’s called Springround, and it costs $0.99 in Cydia, the jailbreak version of the App Store.

It doesn’t matter where you are or what you’re doing on your iPhone; you can quickly view your entire Home screen, all your app pages, etc. on top of the app you’re currently in. Sound interesting?

HBO Working To Make Universal And Fox Studios Content Available In iCloud

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Apple announced that movies are now available for download in iCloud last week at its iPad event. You can now view and re-download video content purchased from the iTunes Store on any authorized device, including the iPhone and iPad.

While nearly all the major Hollywood studios were onboard at the time, Universal and Fox studios hadn’t been able to close a deal with Apple for iCloud availability due to licensing conflicts with HBO. According to a spokesperson for the company, HBO is loosening its restrictions on the studios to let Apple have access to more content, specifically Universal and Fox.

This App Lets You Magically Control Your Music With The Wave Of A Hand

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The coolest thing about the Microsoft Kinect is that it makes your feel like a freaking Jedi. Controlling a device by moving your hands or feet is ridiculously awesome when the technology works. Apple has been slow to jump on the motion control bandwagon, but that’s not stopping some clever developers from taking advantage of Apple’s built-in webcams and implementing their own crazy motion control technology. Enter Flutter – the new OS X app that lets you control all of your music without having to ever click a mouse.

Blog To Impress With The WordPress Express Course [Deals]

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WordPress is one of the best content management systems around. Not only does it give you oodles of control on your own domain, complete with customizable theming and plugins – but it is one of the simplest ones to use out there. It’s a tool that has helped entrepreneurs, bloggers, and businesses create over 70 million websites. And you can build and create an online presence in no time flat with it.

That said, while it is easy to put together a WordPress site getting users to come to it is a whole other ball game. That’s why having a few “insider secrets” in your bag of tricks would be a very wise move. While WordPress doesn’t involve coding a site from scratch – that’s the beauty of it – you do still need to know where to start.

The first place to start: Pick up the latest bundle from Cult of Mac Deals and get all the skills you need to build a killer WordPress site today for only $79!

Learn All About The New iPad And More On The CultCast

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The new iPad is here, fellow Apple enthusiasts, in all its retina display glory. And on episode 3 of The CultCast, we get into the nitty-gritty covering all its new features. We’ll also tell you if it’s worth upgrading from the iPad 2.

But we go deeper than that. This was Tim Cook’s first major Apple keynote — do the Apple events still hold the magic they did when Steve Jobs was on stage?

We cover all that and more on this episode of The CultCast — the best 30 minute Apple conversation you’re going to hear all week long. Subscribe to The CultCast now in iTunes to get episode 3 and we’ll send you a fresh new episode every Thursday night!

New Yorker Sues Apple Because Siri Sucks In Real Life [Lawsuit]

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You have to hand it to the people that file lawsuits these days; they sure can be creative. A New Yorker by the name of Frank M. Fazio has sued Apple because Siri on his iPhone 4S is, “at best, a work-in-progress.” Fazio has accused Apple of false advertising in the Siri TV commercials it airs demonstrating making calls, finding directions, sending texts, etc. with the digital assistant.

The commercials convey a “misleading and deceptive message,” according to Fazio. He thinks Siri sucks in real life.

CBS CEO Told Steve Jobs That He Didn’t Know Anything About Television

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Leslie Moonves, the man who said no to Steve Jobs.
Meet Leslie Moonves, the man who said no to Steve Jobs.

It’s been rumored for many months that Apple is working on a TV subscription service for delivering streaming video content. The Cupertino company hasn’t been able to make progress for quite some time due to licensing deals and revenue concerns from Hollywood studios.

A recent report reveals that CBS CEO Leslie Moonves said no to providing content to Apple about a year ago. Not only that, but Moonves told Steve Jobs that he didn’t know anything about the TV business. What Moonves really meant was that Apple is planning to disrupt the way the world consumes video content, and that scares CBS to death.

Instaprint Wants 500K To Develop Your iPhone Pics [Interview]

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Four quirky creatives in New York want to make tangible those memorable moments snapped with your iPhone at a bar, a concert or your house – and possibly send them to your ex – with device called Instaprint.

They are the brains behind Breakfast, named the top innovative digital agency last year by Mashable, also responsible for a tweeting bike and the Conan Blimp. (Not bad, since the agency is a mere 18-months old.)

Breakfast is now handing the hat around to fund photobooth device Instaprint on Kickstarter, asking for $500,000.

Turn Your iOS Device Into A Secondary Display For Your Mac With Air Display [iOS Tips]

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Air Display turns your iPad into a secondary display for your Mac.
Air Display turns your iPad into a secondary display for your Mac.

Do you ever feel like you need a little more screen space while you’re working away on your Mac? Does your iPad sit in its dock next to your iMac staring back at your with a blank face? With Air Display from Avatron, you can put that iPad to good use by turning it into a secondary display for your Mac, allowing you to extend your desktop with an extra 9.7-inches of real estate.

Here’s how to get started with Air Display.

Coca-Cola’s New App Will Let You Literally Buy The World A Coke

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Let's hold hands and drink some Coke...and sing!

In 1971, Coca-Cola unleashed one of history’s most iconic commercials on the world. “I’d Like To Buy the World a Coke” showed people of various ethnicities and social classes standing on a hilltop, singing about how much they’d like to buy everyone in the world a soft drink originally based on coca leaf extract. The commercial was a huge success during its time, but watching it today becomes slightly unbearable with all of its cheesy happiness.

No one sings on hilltops anymore, so with a little help from Google, Coca-Cola has reimagined their iconic advertisement to be more fitting in the digital world. The end result is pretty crazy: rather than singing about buying the world a Coke, users of the Coca-Cola iOS app can actually purchase a Coca-Cola for people across the world.

Here’s the video showcasing the app: