Cult of Mac

I was checking for new mail in my Cult of Mac mailbox the other day and ran into a new message from Cult of Mac reader Justin Kurian.  He wrote:

…’Apple iMac Users Experience More Graphic Anomalies‘

Hi David,

I was reading your article and noticed the picture of the task switcher in Lion. How do I access that? I hate how they got rid of the swipe function for it.  Thanks!

– Justin

Accessing the Task Switcher in Mac OS X Lion is easy and I’ll show you how to do that today. Plus we’ll look at using swiping gestures while the Task Switcher is active.

We’ve been anticipating an entire range of new Thunderbolt-equipped gadgets since Apple announced the technology with its latest line of MacBook Pros, and today, the first high-speed external hard drive featuring Thunderbolt technology has hit the Apple Store.

U.K.-based iPhone app developer Candid Innovations Ltd. has buried £2000 worth of gold sovereigns somewhere in the U.K. The secret location of this treasure is hidden inside an iPhone app — all you have to do is solve the clues to locate the gold.

Following that questionable leak from Case-Mate last week, another iPhone 5 case has emerged that reinforces rumors of a device with a significantly larger display than that of the iPhone 4, coupled with a thinner, tapered design.

One of the main staples of iOS is its iconic “Slide to Unlock” lock screen. The interface makes sense on a touchscreen device — just swipe your finger from left to right to unlock.

An app called Lock Screen 2 brings the “Slide to Unlock” screen from iOS to the Mac. Practical, right?

In a world of heavy data consumption, TruConnect Mobile is partnering with Sprint to offer pay as you go internet for as little as $4.99/month.

Instead of adopting a set in stone pricing structure like the carriers do for smartphone and tablet usage, TruConnect Mobile is offering a true ‘pay as you go’ internet service to subscribers. Customers will only pay for the data they use.

Who doesn’t love a good deal on Mac apps? The Fusion & Carbon “10 Reasons to Fall in Love and Get Things Done” Productivity Bundle offers 10 great Mac apps for only $30.

It would normally cost you over $360 to purchase all ten of these apps, and this great deal will only be offered for 6 more days. Time to act fast!

When I recommend an iPad video player, I tend to recommend CineXPlayer, which will throw pretty much any format you throw at it without converting it. It does have one crucial issue, though: it can’t handle AC3 sound.

Enter the rather awkwardly named app “It’s Playing 2.0.” Like CineXPlayer, it’ll play any video on your system, including FLV, AVI, MKV, OGG and WMV. It can load subtitles. You can scrub through a movie using variable speed controls. And it does AC3 sound! Hurrah.

Wow. As of writing, Apple is hovering above $410 a share, with a market share $25 billion ahead of Exxon Mobil, the world’s second most valuable company. This all without Steve at the helm. How high will it go?

We are getting more indications why Apple suddenly put in orders for more iPhone 4 components. The tech giant will unveil an updated version of the stalwart iPhone 4 tailored for the China market, a Wall Street analyst told investors Monday.

Every Mac sold since the launch of OS X 10.5 (Leopard) has had a copy of Apple’s backup software, Time Machine, included.

And thank goodness for that, because backups were the elephant in the computer industry’s room. Everyone knew it was essential to keep backups, and everyone knew that most people just didn’t bother.

Netflix, the DVD by mail service that killed the corner video rental store, is now Qwikster. The announcement comes as the company attempts to save its profitable streaming business from a consumer revolt.

One of the big annoyances of the jailbreaking process is downloading the right IPSW file for your jailbreak program of choice to crack. Not only are IPSW files — being mirrors of a particular iOS image — pretty huge, but Apple doesn’t distribute anything but the most recent one, which means that if you’re trying to jailbreak an older version of iOS (one, say, that still has a particular vulnerability to exploit), you need to dig around torrent sites and the like.

Fooey. Luckily, the latest version of jailbreak utility Redsno0w 0.9.9b1 gets rid of that whole IPSW business, and handles downloading them for itself.

We’ve been pretty confident since Apple announced the iPad 2 that the next-generation iPhone would feature the company’s dual-core A5 processor, but in case you needed photographic evidence, here’s what is claimed to be an iPhone 5 logic board with that A5 processor built-in… But we’re not sure it’s really an iPhone 5.

Sprint appears to be adjusting its service in preparation for possibly getting the iPhone. After killing a program letting long-term customers update handsets more often, the No. 3 carrier cut its return time in half.

Are you fed up with listening to the same old albums all the time? Sure, that UB40 compilation you made in 1983 has some pretty decent tracks on it, but wouldn’t you like to discover something new?

GimmeMusic for the iPhone is a free app from NexStudios that will help you discover new music. The beauty of this application — apart from that ‘free’ price tag — is that it’s incredibly simple to use. In fact, all you have to do is listen.

We’ve already shown you the world’s youngest Apple programmer, and we’re back this time around with a great selection of reader submissions to the Me and My Mac series.

Even before it has even appeared on shelves, the iPhone 5 already is set for a lawsuit. Samsung plans to challenge Apple in court to prevent the next-generation handset reaching South Korean soil, according to a Monday report.

Mac OS X Lion came with a new version of iCal an application that people either love or hate. It sports a new look and a new feature called Quick Add. It is a new way to quickly add events to your calendar.

Matt Pearce made this great little video about some of Apple’s early prototypes that show strong echoes of its modern products.

Many of the rumors surrounding the iPhone 5 in recent months have claimed that the device won’t feature near-field communications technology, however, that doesn’t mean you can’t get it on your iPhone. One South Korean carrier is offering an NFC service to its customers with a new ‘Apple Certified’ case.

It’s now easier than ever to buy the latest Apple gadgets in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and the United Arab Emirates, thanks to the company’s expansion of its online store.

Apple’s preparations for the launch of iCloud and iOS 5 this Fall will see the Cupertino company reset iCloud backup data on Thursday, September 22 — which will mean any backups made before this date will no longer be accessible.

Take a gander at the flock of reader comments under any canalphone review and one thing should become quickly apparent: canalphones are kinda flimsy.

The few chances we’ve been given to play with V-Moda’s creations have given us the solid impression that the company is paying much closer attention to the survivability of its canalphones; and that maybe they’re paying more attention to that factor than any other outfit. In fact, the three-button, microphone-equipped V-Moda Remix Remote ($80) seems like it should be the most bombproof  canalphone in its range — and it hasn’t proved us wrong yet.

Steve Wozniak took some time recently with Patch to talk about his friendship with Steve Jobs, the origins of Apple Inc., Apple’s future and whether he would go back to work at Apple. Woz, as he is affectionately called, co-founded Apple with Steve Jobs designing the Apple I and Apple II computers that got everything started back in the early days of the company.