Cult of Mac

Some voters in Florida’s Republican primary elections will be choosing the man they want in the White House with the touch of a finger using iPads.

Although Lori Steele, Chairman & CEO of Everyone Counts, the company behind the iPad voting scheme, was tight-lipped on details about how many of Apple’s magical tablets will be ticking boxes in today’s elections, she was quick to say that a similar program in Oregon led to an increase of voter participation by 1,500%.

One thing she’s certain of though: the iPads will ensure there’s no hanging chads or lost votes.

Cult of Mac asked her about the cost, security and software behind it. We’re planning to follow up on how the battle between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich played out over touchscreens.

It seems that lengthy report looking into the poor working conditions in Chinese factories assembling Apple products is going to haunt the Cupertino company for some time yet. The latest backlash comes from consumer group SumOfUs, which has launched a petition calling for Apple to “stop worker abuse,” with over 35,000 signatures collected in just 24 hours.

Despite recent reports detailing the mistreatment of factory workers assembling Apple products in China, there’s still a huge demand for jobs at the Foxconn factory. Thousands of people lined up for hours outside a recruitment agency in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou in the hope that they would be chosen to build iPhones at the Foxconn factory.

Apple has issued what it describes a “significant” update to its Final Cut Pro X software today, adding a number of features that many users missed with the initial release. Those features include multicam editing, XML support, advanced chroma editing, and more.

Starting April 5th, T-Mobile will begin capping the Domestic Roaming Data Allotment. Unlike their data throttling, once a user goes over their designated allotment,they will simply be cut off from data altogether, until they return to the T-Mobile network or connect via WiFi. While this change is unlikely to affect the majority of us (when’s the last time you used data while roaming?), T-Mobile will send out warnings via text message when your domestic roaming data allotment has reached both 80% and 100%.

If you have a snapshot of yourself as a login picture, read on to learn how you can make it substantially more funky…

Having obtained the licenses necessary to launch its new iPhone 4S on the China Telecom network earlier this month, it was only a matter of time before Apple’s deal with a second Chinese carrier came to fruition. China Telecom subsidiary Beijing Telecom has now issued a press release confirming that it will launch the iPhone 4S from as early as the end of February.

Apple has issued an update to its AirPort Utility application for the Mac, introducing a new user interface that looks a lot like its AirPort Utility app for iOS. It has also updated the firmware for its AirPort base stations, and the Time Capsule.

Replacing retail genius Ron Johnson wasn’t an easy task for Apple. The company has been seeking a replacement since he announced he was leaving to become CEO of JC Penney back in June. But it seems it has now found its man, after announcing that John Browett, who has been CEO of Dixons Retail in the U.K. since 2007, is the new Senior Vice President of Retail.

Autodesk makes industry-leading software for animators, architects and industrial designers, so maybe the fact their Pixlr-o-matic  app is a stunning, gasp-worthy photo-effects tool for the iPhone (and iPad) shouldn’t be surprising; what is a surprise, though, is that it’s free.

Fitness buffs love Runkeeper (and its accompanying iPhone app) for its ability to gather data from a wide variety of cloud-based services and gadgets they might use, so it can be stored and viewed in a central location; we haven’t exactly counted, but it’s a good bet that the all-knowing fitness service can import data from more fitness apps, services and gadgets than any other cloud-based fitness service on the planet. But with the nine more they added today, well, now it’s just getting ridiculous.

If you think about it, it’s pretty convoluted having a separate data plan for both your iPhone and iPad when you could just pay your carrier a lump sum and share a data allowance between the two. Verizon and AT&T certainly think so: they said as far back as June last year that they were investigating shared data plans.

Now, just a couple months before the iPad 3 is expected to debut, Engadget has gotten a tip that suggests that Verizon is getting ready to roll out shared data plans sometimes soon, allowing one account holder to share a data pool between multiple devices for just a $9.99 fee.

What is the best way to protect your iPhone 4’s depressingly shatterable glass touchscreen? A InvisibleShield style plastic film protector? A rugged case? Wrong. It’s glass! More glass! What is this madness?

Outstanding reliability is just one of the reasons why we fall in love with our Apple products. But unfortunately, everything goes wrong from time to time. That’s why we have the Genius Bar.

Did you know it’s incredibly easy to book Genius Bar appointments on an iOS device using the official Apple Store app? Here’s how to do it.

Since carriers aren’t allowed to install their own crapware on iPhones the way they do on other smartphones, their forced to release their own apps on the App Store. There’s myAT&T for AT&T customers and My Verizon Mobile for Verizon customers, but up until now, Sprint customers haven’t had a companion app to manage their mobile and data plans.

If you’re a Sprint customer, then, you’ll be glad to know that there’s now an official Sprint app on the App Store called Sprint Mobile Zone, which lets you manage your online account. It also sprays you with promotions and Sprint-related news articles, as well as gives you information about your device, including battery stats, data info, space remaining and more.

Thrillsville, I know, but these apps are occasionally useful to have floating around on your device, so if you’re a Sprint customer, you may as well get downloading.

For years now, I’ve been singing the praises of Koss Porta Pro headphones whenever anyone asks me which headphones they should by. Really, for the price, absolutely nothing beats them: they are rugged, extremely comfortable, and sound better than headphones that cost twice as much, all by-products of a classic, time-tested design that has kept mobile audiophiles pleased for decades now, and which Koss stands behind with a lifetime warranty.

The only problem with the Porta Pros is that their design is so classic, so time-tested that it doesn’t feature one of the major necessities of a good pair of on-the-town headphones of the last few years: an in-line mic and remote for answering calls on your iPhone. So hooray! Guess what the Porta Pro KTC (Koss Touch Control) fix?

Did you know you can move a window from one space to another by dragging and dropping it to the edge of the screen? If so you’ll know there’s a delay before the space will switch to the new one, but a simple tweak can speed that up. Read on for more info.

I have some amazing news for our friends over in the UK. T-Mobile UK has announced that they will be bringing the UK its first mobile phone plan to offer consumers the freedom to make unlimited calls, send unlimited texts, and use as much mobile internet as they want – with no fair use restrictions. This is a breakthrough plan for the UK and one I wish all carriers would adopt. The Full Monty plan will kick off tomorrow and will be available via T-Mobile stores, online, telesales and in-direct partners.

Following the violence that spoiled Apple’s iPhone 4S launch at a number of retail stores throughout China earlier this month, the Cupertino company has introduced a new iPhone lottery system in Hong Kong that will make it incredibly difficult for scalpers to purchase the device. Those hoping to bag the device in-store must first request an iPhone reservation, then provide government-issued ID when they arrive to collect the handset.

Well, the shortage finally appears to be over: a quick check of Apple’s online iPhone 4S order page shows that all models of iPhone 4S are “in stock” and available for immediate dispatch for the first time since the device’s debut in October.

There are a couple of solutions on the market that combine simple hardware with an iOS app to take control of your entertainment system, but Peel is probably the coolest and most easy to use solution that we’ve played with. Peel invisibly controls your entire entertainment system — TV, cable box, Blu-ray player, AV receiver, Apple TV, and more — without the extra hassles of plugging stuff into your phone and dealing with network passwords. Normally the Peel system retails for $99, but for the next 3 days you can pick one up from Fab.com for only $45.

Tim Cook was outraged by a recent report from The New York Times that provided a detailed look at the poor working conditions for Chinese factory workers assembling our Apple gadgets. It seems he’s not the only one. The BSR, a leader in corporate responsibility which works with Apple to develop sustainable business strategies, has labeled the report “inaccurate” and “misleading,” and has requested that it is corrected by the NYT.

Meet the HP Envy 15, a laptop that Engadget says “unapologetically copies the MacBook Pro” but “stumbles in several critical areas” including being heavier than the MacBook Pro and having a worse display, touchpad (pictured), keyboard and battery life.

Completely shameless, no? It’s the tech equivalent of The Third Man’s Harry Lime selling counterfeit penicillin on the post-war Viennese black market. Accept no substitutions.

[via Reddit]

Insult, meet injury. Microsoft has just inadvertently ended up buying 1,400 iPads to schools in Madison, Wisconsin. Bet they wish they were Windows 8 tablets instead.

Back in 1981, Bill Gates co-wrote a PC game called Donkey, commonly known (as some apps were back in those days) by its filename, DONKEY.BAS. If you’re old enough to remember those days and old enough to yearn for them, you might enjoy playing Donkey all over again on your iPhone.