Cult of Mac

Here’s another way the iPhone is revolutionizing medicine — it’s now a cheap, portable tool for detecting cataracts, the leading cause of blindness worldwide.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed Catra, a cheap plastic lens that clips onto the iPhone’s screen. Using a simple vision test, the Catra software creates a map of cloudy areas that may indicate the onset of cataracts.

The Catra software can provide a diagnosis within minutes and requires no training. It also works on the iPod touch and other smartphones. It’ll be a boon for use in developing nations, the researchers say.

Below is a video explaining how it works. Catra will be shown off at Siggraph in Vancouver next month.

Apple famously solved the copy-and-paste touchscreen challenge with their innovative hold-and-drag-corners approach first introduced in iOS 3.0, but is there a better way? Microsoft thinks so. They think they’ve got an even better way to copy text in the latest version of their Bing for iPad app. It’s called the lasso.

After years of gamers clamoring, one of Nintendo’s hottest properties is coming to the App Store in a unique, exclusive title not available on the 3DS or Wii. That’s right, Pokemon is finally coming to an iPhone or iPad near you…

Ever wonder how Apple can bring out products year after year that are so far ahead of the competition in construction and materials that they seem downright futuristic… all while maintaining huge profit margins? It’s because Apple is using its enormous pool of cash-on-hand to lock up cutting-edge tech years before the competition has even heard of it.

It’s finally happened, the window is closing. Verizon has killed off its unlimited iPhone data plan and has instituted tiered data caps. Here are the new plans, going into effect on Thursday. Warning: for most people, they kinda suck.

While we patiently await the release of Skype for iPad, which was supposed to land last Tuesday, the Skype application for Mac just got a fancy new update that introduces background video calling and group video chat.

Could the MacBook Air offer a future for notebooks? That’s the belief of one Wall Street analyst who says notebooks could make a comeback with tablets coming out on the losing end.

The reviews of HP’s would-be iPad-killer are in, and they all agree on one thing: the HP Touchpad is no iPad, but webOS has a huge amount of promise.

Now an internal email sent out to HP staff has leaked, written by Palm’s Senior Vice President, and it compares webOS’s rough edges along with its promise to Mac OS X ten years ago.

If you were on the fence about whether or not to pay $199 for an iPhone 4 from Verizon Wireless with the iPhone 5 around the corner, will another $50 off get you to commit. A new rumor says that Verizon is planning on dropping the price of the iPhone 4 to $150.

After five years without any contact, Shufang Zhong, a 71-year-old Chinese shoeshiner, was reunited with her daughter thanks to the power of the iPhone and social networking.

Apple became the latest target of the infamous hacker group Anonymous over the holiday weekend as user data of visitors to a website were released on Twitter.

While the release of JailbreakMe 3.0 is expected to be imminent, those of you struggling to wait any longer can now set up your own web-based jailbreak for all devices running iOS 4.3.3 and below. Here’s how!

I’ve recently had the opportunity to carry a second phone (a while with Android, awhile with Windows Phone) in addition to my trusty and increasingly busted 3GS (missing volume buttons, broken lock button). I say “opportunity” largely because I’m kind of annoyed that I didn’t buy an iPhone 4 when I had the chance, and now it’s looking like the fall before I’ll get to upgrade to an iPhone 5 or whatever Apple chooses to call it. This makes now an ideal time to take a close look at what the competition is up to. The worst kind of fan is the unthinking, in my view, so I jumped at the chance to know whether my iOS admiration was warranted, and, if not, actually get to preview a handset I could contemplate switching to at some point (for obvious reasons, I would not run the same experiment with other tablets. The iPad really is the only game in town).

Join me, then, for the Apple maniac’s up-close tour of the distinguished competition, through peril, triumph, and confusion, as I take a long, hard look at life with a Nexus S 4G and an HTC HD7, representatives of the very mature Android (Nexus) and the practically beta Windows Phone 7.

JailbreakMe, undoubtedly the easiest method of jailbreaking an iOS device, is set to return imminently with version 3.0 — the all-purpose jailbreak for any device, including the iPad 2, running iOS 4.3.3 and below. Comex has updated the site for the second time in the past week, leading some to speculate the relaunch of the new service will be today.

Thanks to the continued growth of Apple’s iOS devices, the iTunes platform that includes the App Store and the iBookstore is set to grow at a rate of 39% over the next three years and rake in a whopping $13 billion in revenue during 2013.

Despite being accessible only to a select few for the time being, the official Google+ app for the iPhone will hit the App Store anytime soon — possibly before the service even goes public.

A Taiwan-based component maker in Apple’s supply chain is reportedly set to produce 15 million units of the fifth-generation iPhone, according to a new report — readying the device for a September launch. Though it may not boast that major redesign many had been hoping for.

Within a day of a black iPhone 4 prototype hitting eBay, a similar set of iPhones has just hit the popular shopping site. These white iPhone 4s appear to be  early prototypes, which are missing the silver ring around the camera, as well as any signs of  model numbers or capacities on the back, both of which are X’d out.

Magic Hour is a photo app for people who love the filter effects you get from apps like Instagram and Hipstamatic.

In addition to a fancy new processor and Intel’s super speedy Thunderbolt technology, Apple’s upcoming MacBook Air may also boast the latest high-speed 400MBps flash memory.

Our roundup of must-have iOS games this week includes 1-bit Ninja — a unique new platformer that boasts retro gameplay in a stylised 2D side-scrolling world, which you can drag into 3D at any time to reveal hidden paths — like no other platform game you’ve ever played.

Also on our list is Pocket Academy, the latest release from Kairosoft, the developers behind Game Dev Story; and the official Transformers game from Electronic Arts.

Later this month AT&T will finally do away with dedicated iPhone insurance plans and introduce the device to its standard mobile insurance plan at $4.99 a month.

As my colleague Mike Elgan points out, the iPhone has changed the world in profound ways.

Now an ex-colleague, Brian Chen of Wired.com, has just published one of the first books to take an in-depth look at how, exactly, the smartphone world is shaping up.

Always On: How the iPhone Unlocked the Anything-Anytime-Anywhere Future — and Locked Us In is an excellent overview of how the iPhone is changing the computing landscape.

I follow Apple closely, yet I was surprised at how much I learned about the world of mobile from Chen’s well-reported book (Full disclosure: I provided a blurb).

Personally, I don’t quite understand what’s so special about an old Apple prototype, especially one that doesn’t work. But clearly someone does, because this iPhone 4 prototype is currently getting bids of over $1,700 on eBay.

If you, like me, have lusted after the Tenori-on electronic musical instrument for years since it was first announced in 2005, then here’s some good news: an official iOS port of the device is now on sale in the App Store.