Cult of Mac

In 1985, after a power struggle developed between Steve Jobs and John Sculley, Apple Computer’s charismatic co-founder was forced out of the company his vision had created. For the next twelve years, the company foundered, lost marketshare hand over fist and almost went bankrupt before Jobs returned to the company in 1997 to put things right.

We all know that story. Still, it’s amazing how just one item from the dark years can hilariously put the disconnect between pre- and post-Jobs Apple in sharp relief. Could anything better exemplify the now-amusing differences in vision between Apple under Jobs and Apple under Sculley than this 1987 relic, The Apple Catalogue?

We’ve seen this magnificent mod for the iPhone 4 before, from a U.K.-based iPhone repair specialist, but the best thing about this one from K.O. Store is that it’s available to purchase right now! The kit allows you to easily replace the rear panel of your iPhone 4 with one that features an illuminating Apple logo.

But you’ll have to be quick — it’s only on sale for two days, and could be pulled sooner if Apple steps in.

If BlackBerry maker Research in Motion were going to dinner, it would arrive five hours late, finding Apple and Google had already eaten, told the best jokes and gone home with all the good-looking women. That’s the image analysts are offering in the wake of RIM announcing yet another delay entering the smartphone market.

Mariner Software just updated veteran writing/blogging app MacJournal to version 6, with a double helping of new features thrown in.

We’re all familiar with how costly data can be on our iOS devices if we’re using them to get on the internet abroad with no access to a Wi-Fi hotspot. To prevent nasty charges, most of us turn off data roaming and avoid using our devices for the internet.

However, there’s a nasty bug in Apple’s iOS operating system that could cost you a fortune while you’re on vacation by allowing you to download apps over a 3G data network even with the feature turned off.

For all of the talk of Foxconn opening a factory in Brazil to churn out iPhones and iPads, here’s the big, overlooked reason that Brazilian Apple fans need their devices to be built locally: 46.76% of any Apple device’s cost in Brazil is made up of crazy import taxes.

Ah, wonderful. Imagine the comic opportunities that lie ahead now that Dilbert characters carry talking smartphones.

Somehow, you can tell this is probably just part of Dogbert’s masterplan for the company anyway.

New tablets from booksellers Amazon and Barnes & Noble are chipping away at the iPad’s commanding lead of the market. The Kindle Fire is expected to be the strongest challenger, dropping Apple’s market share below 60 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011, analysts write today.

While most of the components crammed inside your iOS devices are built by low-cost Asian manufacturers, its dual-core A5 processor is actually built a little closer to home — at Samsung’s new factory in Austin, Texas.

That’s right — rumors surrounding an “iPad mini” have been resurrected by DigiTimes, which claims Apple is really going to give Amazon’s Kindle Fire something to worry about next year with an 7.85-inch model of it’s hugely successful tablet.

Siri is by far the iPhone 4S’s most-desired feature, and many non-4S users have been clamoring for hackers to make the voice assistant available on older iOS devices. While Siri ports have been demoed to the public before, it’s been made clear that public distribution is not possibile at this time due to legal issues.

Apple has made a Siri port legally possible with today’s iOS 5.0.1 revision by offering wide-open access to system files that were previously encrypted.

With Apple expected to release its successor to the iPad 2 in early-2012, alleged iPad 3 parts have leaked out into the wild. The parts suggest that Apple is ready to introduce a revolutionary new design for its upcoming tablet, as the device’s internals appear to be arranged way differently.

The iPad 3’s dock connector and ribbon cable leaked a couple months ago. These new microphone parts are currently available for purchase from a Chinese retailer.

It isn’t easy being Android when you’re a fugly green humanoid robot and mad as hell. These protesters braved ridicule by dressing themselves as Google’s green mascot to bring attention to a thorny tech issue.

A new corporate accountability consumer group called SumOfUs wants Google to exit the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. If the CoC sounds about as uncontroversial as Main Street and apple pie, think again.

The Android-clad activists want the Mountain View, California tech colossus to pull out of the Chamber, for a number of reasons, including because the CoC “aggressively supports” SOPA.

Apple has released two minor software updates today. A tweaked version of iOS 5.0.1 (Build 9A406) for the iPhone 4S has been pushed for users who haven’t yet upgraded to the latest firmware (essentially replacing the current 5.0.1 build).

The second-generation Apple TV has been updated to version 4.4.4 (Build 9A406a) and features small bug fixes and stability improvements. Both updates can be downloaded now.

The internet sounded the bell a little prematurely last night, but it now appears that iTunes Match is indeed rolling out to international customers. While we all thought the service had been rolled out to most of Europe and Australia yesterday, it was later confirmed that the launch was an error, with Apple emailing apologizes to international customers and handing out refunds.

Now it appears that many countries, including Australia, U.K., Canada, Mexico, and others, are now able to access iTunes Match from the iTunes Store.

Some Columbia University students were recently robbed in upper Manhattan. While robberies happen on the streets of New York City every day, this particular instance was an interesting case of smartphone theft.

The pair of bandits ambushed three students and demanded that they hand over their iPhones. Not only did the robbers demand iPhones specifically, but they also refused to steal Droid or Blackberry phones. Ouch.

Amazon, known for its shyness about sales figures, made a bit of a splash today, announcing it had sold 1 million Kindles per week for the past three weeks. Sure, that isn’t much to go on, but it prompted some to wonder whether the No. 2 tablet maker is about to overtake the iPad.

Acer is prognosticating again – hide the babies and keep your tin-foil hats firmly in place. The netbook maker’s chairman now expects Apple’s Mac sales will run out of steam by 2014, deflated by Intel’s ultrabook. This after diagnosing overwhelming tablet demand as a “fever” and the iPad slipping in popularity. Kreskin need not be worried — and neither should Apple.

2011 has been a huge year for gaming on iOS devices. It saw the introduction of Apple’s dual-core A5 processor in the iPad 2 and the iPhone 4S, which in turn pushed the boundaries of what’s possible on a mobile device and saw the release of console-quality games like Infinity Blade II, Modern Combat 3, and Real Racing 2.

To celebrate the year’s best games, we’re on a mission to find 2011’s best iOS game and we need your help. We’ve already asked you to vote for your favorite from more than 20 titles, and now we’ve roundup up the top 10 finalists. These are the most popular iOS games as voted for by you, but we’re not done yet.

Now it’s time to vote for your number one.

The booster rockets have yet to stop for iPhone demand. That’s the word from one Wall Street analyst expecting sales of Apple’s handset to be 30 percent higher than predicted for the December quarter – and even more in 2012.

Last week, we asked you to vote for your choice of the best iOS apps of 2011. Big thanks to everyone who contributed. Here are the results.
Let’s go through the list in detail; at the end, we’d like you to vote on the best app of the year, for inclusion in Cult of Mac’s annual Best of 2011 list. Let’s go!

Despite Apple’s best attempts to get the tablet banished from Australian soil, Samsung is now selling its Android-powered Galaxy Tab 10.1 down under, and it has a whole new marketing angle that’s guaranteed to attract attention. The Korean company is now labeling its device “the tablet Apple tried to stop.”

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTpldq3myV0

We’ve seen cats enthralled by tablets and dogs who just love iPhone adverts, but this is the first time we’ve seen a reptile playing smartphone games. In this video posted to YouTube by “ThatSpecialGuy,” a bearded dragon crushes ants using her tongue in her favorite smartphone game, Ant Crusher.

The video has already attracted a whopping 1.2 million views on YouTube. Surely this is now the world’s most famous lizard?

I’ve been so excited for the iOS port of Grand Theft Auto 3 that as soon as I opened my eyes this morning, I reached over to my iPhone and checked the App Store to see if it had arrived. (Sad, I know.) As promised, it was there, and having played it for a little while this morning, I can assure you it’s better than you ever imagined.

All Macs come with a powerful word processor in the form of TextEdit. Here are five tips to let you get the most from it and maybe even avoid the need to splash out on Microsoft Word or iWork Pages.