Cult of Mac

SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD/IWORLD 2012 — Rain Design’s new one-piece MacBook stand is made in the same factory that makes Apple’s unibody Macs, says the company.

SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD / IWORLD 2012 — One of the Macworld Best in Show winners that caught my attention during the past few days is an audio solution by Australia-based Dev-Audio. The Microcone features a revolutionary technology that innovates the way multiple tracks are produced.

The Microcone is an incredibly intelligent microphone that is unbelievably simple to use and can help anyone manage group conversations. While it’s not going to be something everyone can use, there are some practical applications beyond traditional meetings that are worth looking at.

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Want to know about everything you’ll get in the Mac SuperBundle? Head over to Deals.CultofMac for the full scoop and to make your purchase.

SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD / IWORLD 2012 — I’ve been looking for a docking station for my 11-inch MacBook Air ever since I picked it up a few months back. Not only has there not been anything that has caught my eye, but there haven’t been many available to even look at.

But there’s a Kickstarter-backed docking station that is on display here at Macworld/iWorld that is on my radar: LandingZone.

SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD/IWORLD 2012 — There seems to be more beautiful models here at Macworld than ever. Models are a great asset for companies. Especially the newer companies. I spoke to a few girls this afternoon to get some insight into their job.

This is what they told me…

Laaaaaaaaaaadies and Gentlemen, welcome to Friday Night Fights, a new series of weekly deathmatches between two no-mercy brawlers who will fight to the death — or at least agree to disagree — about which is better: Apple or Google, iOS or Android?

After this week’s topic, someone’s going to be spitting teeth. Our question: Should The iPhone Allow You To Easily Swap In And Out Batteries? A lot of Android phones let you swap in and out batteries if you’re low on power, but Apple’s never done so. Is this just another example of Apple hardware oppression, or do they have a good reason?

In one corner, we have the 900 pound gorilla, Cult of Mac; in the opposite corner, wearing the green trunks, we have the plucky upstart, Cult of Android!

Place your bets, gentlemen! This is going be a bloody one.

Yahoo has decided to do some pre-Spring cleaning and has announced they will no longer be supporting their lesser used apps. This may make some of you Yahoo app addicts sad, but for the rest of us, I’m sure we won’t mind. Yahoo has stated that as the mobile space moves at an insane rate, they too must keep up with what users want and are looking for in today’s market. That’s why they have decided to cease support of the following apps in order to make room for the future:

ATTENTION all devs, designers, geeks, engineer-newbies, iLovers, creatives, and dreamers who want to learn the mastery of iPhone app design from the beginning – we have a special offer that will BLOW you away!

This iPhone app design course not only comes with a complete video tutorial overview of how to design your first iOS app, but also comes equipped with 40MB of pixel-perfect photoshop templates to accelerate you along the way.

Microsoft founder and renowned, mega-rich philanthropist Bill Gates recently sat down with The Telegraph to talk about current affairs and his relationship with the late Steve Jobs. Despite their professional rivalry, Jobs and Gates had been good friends for many years.

Gates revealed in the interview that he sent Jobs a personal letter that was kept by his bedside during his last days.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAvPrZePEd4

SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD / iWORLD 2012 — Next time you’re nodding off at school or in the office because there’s too much C02 in the room, a sensor can open the window and wake you up.

This is just one of the cool functions that a group of uber-smart high school students and an affable professor have designed through virtual reality in Hawaii.

Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone at Macworld on January 9, 2007, to thunderous applause. The revolutionary phone — a product that has now made Apple the top smartphone manufacturer in the world — then went on sale June 29, 2007, to long lines of eager customers and fanboys.

Several years later, Jobs announced that the iPhone’s software would be called “iOS.” These two names, iPhone and iOS, have not only become a part of Apple’s core, but also staple, household names worldwide.

Most people don’t know, however, the story of how Steve Jobs took both names from an enterprise/infrastructure company by the name of Cisco. Took? Well, steamrolled, really.

SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD / IWORLD 2012 — One of the highlights on the agenda on the second day of this year’s expo is the appearance of Rob Corddry (The Daily Show, Childrens Hospital) for a live recording of the popular Mac Power Users podcast. Both he and Merlin Mann of 43Folders fame were in fine form during the 45 minute session led by podcast hosts David Sparks and Katie Floyd.

The theme of the episode revolved around Corddry’s workflow, including the tools he uses to get his work done and some of the strategies he employs to keep on top of his myriad projects.

Apple’s excellent innovation of lining the sides of the iPad 2 with magnets is one that is distressingly uncapitalized upon by accessory makers. Oh, sure, a few case makers slap a magnet into their iPad 2 case to turn the screen on and off, but where’s the imagination?

That’s why I’m so pleased by the idea of the Magnus. It’s an iPad 2 stand that uses the magnets inside the tablet’s hinge to keep itself upright on your desk. Brilliant!

Once you’ve connected to a Wi-Fi network on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, your device remembers its credentials and, for your convenience, connects automatically next time. However, this isn’t always helpful. Sometimes we connect to hotspots accidentally, and it’s frustrating when your device connects to a network you don’t want it to.

You can prevent this by “forgetting” the networks you’ve previously connected to. Once forgotten, your device will no longer connect automatically, and only when you tell it to. Here’s how to forget a Wi-Fi network.

SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD/IWORLD 21012 — Silo Ink’s refillable ink cartridges are the last inkjet cartridges you’ll ever buy, according to the company. It offers a lifetime replacement guarantee to back that up.

Once installed, the cartridges are refilled from bottles of ink, which cost about $15 and are good for 10 refills. A special chip that makes the cartridges appear as new to the printer after a refill.

A set of refillable cartridges cost between $100 and $200, depending on how many you need for your printer.

Here’s a quick look at the system, which is being showcased here at Macworld.

Silo Ink.

I’m not a huge fan of The Big Bang Theory, but this clip from the latest episode is too good not to post.

What if Siri wasn’t just Wolfram Alpha stapled onto a smart text-to-speech program, but instead an actual woman, working a call center, and just as slinky and sexually promiscuous as any bro showing off in front of his drunken friends by asking for a blow job could ever hope?

That’s probably not many people’s fantasies, but it is the hilarious chimera of Big Bang’s Raj, who is as cripplingly shy as he is addicted to his new iPhone 4S.

Getting ink inspired by your favorite company is a huge commitment. Our Portuguese friend Francisco decided he was ready to take the plunge and recently got this Steve Jobs portrait inked on his forearm.  We’ve seen quite a few Apple tattoos over the years but Francisco’s is one of the best.

So what would compel someone to get a Steve Jobs portrait tattoo?

SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD/IWORLD 2012 — One of the closing events from the first day at Macworld / iWorld was the RapidFire session. If you wanted to learn about one cool thing about a variety of Apple-related stuff, it was the place to be.

Each presenter delivered a quick-paced talk that offered information, tips and tricks that shed some light on a little known or understood piece of software or hardware. The scope of the talks ranged from unconventional uses of Photo Booth to how to fix some of your Apple devices on your own, but here were the ones that I felt were the best of the bunch.

SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD / iWORLD 2012 — If you want to create great photos from your iPhone, start by shooting everywhere. Including the dentist’s office or out the window of a friend’s bathroom.

Photographer Jonathan Marks has snapped his evocative pics in both those places, plus waiting at a traffic light and at a Whole Foods parking lot. He shoots and processes everything directly on his iPhone, thanks to a handful of key apps.

This is my last regular news post for the Cult of Mac. Since my arrival at the site’s inception, there have been many changes in the Apple landscape — and on these pages. It’s time to move on.

We already know from previous reports that Apple is working on a magnetic charging system for iOS devices, similar to the MagSafe connectors on its MacBooks. But one hurdle that stood in the company’s way was the MagSafe’s inability to transfer data.

However, a newly published patent entitled “Programmable Magnetic Connectors” seems to confirm that Apple is making progress on a magnetic connector capable of transferring power and data, which could spell the end of its 30-pin dock connector and even the headphone jack.

A Brazil-made iPad has been in the offing since July 2011. However, plans by Taiwan’s Foxconn to build the tablet in South America were held up by negotiations surrounding taxes that could double the cost of Apple’s tablet. Now comes word the government has exempted the iPad, freeing Foxconn to begin churning out iPads stamped “Made in Brazil.”

SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD/IWORLD 2012 — I spent the afternoon on the floor hunting down unique products and people.

The show is about the same size as last year: about 300 exhibitors. It’s not all iPhone cases, as it has been in years past. There are some interesting products tucked away, especially at the edges of the show floor. There are also plenty of booth babes. If you’re into that sort of thing.

Counterintuitively, for the fourth year running, the winners of 148Apps annual “Best App Ever” contest have just been announced at Macworld / iWorld 12012. And my girlfriend’s going to be positively giddy, because the app that she’s spent most of the last year grinding her fingers down to the bone playing has won: Halfbrick Studio’s Jetpack Joyride!

Although Apple sells millions of iPhones, 500,000 of the smartphones spell the difference between being No. 1 and runner-up in the race against South Korean rival Samsung. New numbers reveal the Cupertino, Calif. tech giant retook by a nose the crown of top smartphone maker in the world.