Cult of Mac

Evidence is mounting that when iOS 5 debuts at WWDC next week, it’ll feature some deep integration with microblogging service Twitter. Not only has Twitter launched a new photo sharing service just days before Apple is expected to unveil the ability to share photos via Twitter in iOS, but now blogger and tech evangelist Robert Scoble is saying that “next week will be a huge week for those of us who have lived on Twitter for the last few years.”

AT&T Chief Executive Ralph de la Vega teased his company’s customers at the D9 conference this week by announcing they are “working on” shared data plans that would allow users to save up their minutes and data plans between their devices… but when will they be available?

Interested in getting a closer look at Apple’s new iCloud logo, as spied behind the closed doors at the Moscone Center in preparation for Monday’s WWDC kick-off?. Check out this version of the logo mocked up by letemsvetemapplem.

For the tenth anniversary of the opening of the first Apple retail location, the stores themselves got new, cutting edge signs made out of iPads.

A lesser talked about gift to celebrate the occasion, given to every Apple Store on earth? A seemingly crummy poster. Make that, a seemingly crummy poster with no images or colors. Make that, a crummy poster with no images or colors packed with over eighteen hundred wordsof dense verbiage.

Don’t let your initial impression fool you, though. A poster this may be, but it’s a great read, full of fascinating tidbits about the Apple Store that I’ve never read before. Here’s some examples.

This year’s WWDC is now just a weekend away, and with announcements for iCloud, iOS 5 and Mac OS X Lion already confirmed, I can barely contain my excitement. I’m not too bothered that there (probably) won’t be a new iPhone this summer – for me, it’s all about iCloud and iOS 5.

What are you most excited for?

Telltale Games have just dropped the fourth episode of Back to the Future for iPad into the App Store, and to celebrate its release, episode one is now free for a limited time.

After yesterday’s story about Apple enforcing third-party promotions and possibly nixing iPad giveaways, we followed up with companies who are trying to give away the magical tablet.

One of them got back to us with the following email from Apple, stating that an app had just been rejected because the company was found in violation of Apple’s giveaway guidelines.

We have word from a trusted source that Apple is indeed adding location and travel information to iCal alarms.

Got a flight to catch? iCal takes note of your location, combines that with the route to the airport and says, “You’ve gotta leave in ten minutes if you wanna be there in time.”

As a tribute to Steve Jobs’ famous “one more thing” keynote concluder, Cory Smith of Cardinal Media Technologies has recorded a rap to celebrate this year’s WWDC. Want to hear it?

If you’ve been keeping up with the iPhone 4S/5 speculation recently, any hopes you had that the device would be announced at Steve’s WWDC keynote on Monday will be well and truly crushed by now. But if a new device isn’t right around the corner, why is AT&T running out of the iPhone 4?

Apple’s iCloud service, expected to be unveiled next week, completes a perfect storm of features that could accelerate Apple’s growing dominance of computing and seriously undermine Google’s cloud strategy.

Read the rest of this post.

(Picture courtesy of FreakingNews.com)

Steve Jobs can’t stop porn on Apple devices, but low FaceTime adoption can, apparently.

We’ve been following the rise of FaceTime adult chat company iP4Play since it launched in August 2010.

Now Cult of Mac has learned the company is bust: operations officially ceased last week.

iP4Play blames slow adoption of FaceTime, Apple’s videoconferencing technology, rather than any failings of the company. Not enough people are using FaceTime, whether for sex chat or anything else, the company’s CEO says.

Ouch! Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen took stage today at the All Things Digital D9 conference to be interviewed by Walt Mossberg.

Watch the smug get slapped right off of Narayen’s face after he laughably tries to claim that contrary to Steve Jobs’s argument that Flash is a dead technology, it’s currently running on 130 million Android devices.

There are many reasons to envy the British. Marmite. Branston Pickle. Savory Pies. First Run Doctor Who. Kelly Brook. Now there’s a new reason to envy them: they can pick up an iPhone 4 and an iPad 2 for just £99, or around $162.

With the last remaining label having just inked a deal with Apple to launch iCloud, music industry insiders are now talking to the press about what they know about Cupertino’s upcoming music streaming service. Specifically, they’re answering the question everyone’s been asking all along: how much will iCloud’s music streaming cost?

The last major music label has finally been wooed by Apple, just in time for Steve Jobs to present iCloud at Monday’s WWDC.

We don’t know about you, but personally we are more excited about the next version of iOS than we are the next version of  the iPhone. The iPhone 4 is fairly adequate and meets most of our needs, but iOS has a lot of room for improvement. WWDC 2011 is just around the corner and we know that Apple will be announcing iOS 5 there so here is a round-up of the current rumors surrounding the next version of iOS.

MacRumors has a sneaky spy shot of the new iCloud icon, courtesy of a banner going up at WWDC. Hope Steve Jobs doesn’t see the pic. It’s pretty sloppy work by those two banner hangers. Who thinks they’ll be fired by day’s end?

Then again, Jobs already let the cat out the bag, letting everyone know that Monday’s keynote will be about iCloud, iOS 5 and Lion.

And here’s another, better pic:

Just like last year, Apple’s kicking off WWDC a little earlier than its June 6th start date with an official WWDC 2011 app, which is now available for download on the App Store.

While much has been made over Apple’s uncharacteristic pre-conference spilling of the beans regarding the impending announcement of a new, web-based service called iCloud, no one really knows what this “amazing,” “fantastic” and “magical” new service is going to look, feel or sound like — and won’t — until Steve Jobs unveils it to the audience at San Francisco’s Moscone West auditorium next week.

Still, we can put together a reasonable idea of the service iCloud will provide based upon Lala, the streaming music service Apple bought back in 2009. Assuming that Apple is basing iCloud on Lala and filling in the blanks with the latest industry reports and rumors, here’s a complete overview of what we think iCloud will look like when it’s announced on Monday.

I’m not exactly sure that this custom sewn slipper for the aluminum foot of an iMac or Cinema Display is worth €29.00 when my girlfriend could probably sew one up for me for the price of a couple of Milky Way bars, but crafted from vegetable tanned leather and premium wool, it sure is gorgeous.

In fact, it transforms the iMac’s ascetic aluminum foot into something that would look totally at home in the mahogany-lined smoking room of a 19th Century Gentleman’s Club….

Hmm. Wait, actually, I take it back. This is totally worth your €29.00, which translates roughly to about $42.

We start off with a number of iPads from the Apple Store, beginning with a 16GB Wi-Fi model for $349. Next is a battery pack for your iPhone or iPod and a twin charging dock for either device.

Along the way, we check out a hard back shell for your iPad 2, a 72 percent discount on select tablet accessories, plus software for your Mac. As always, details on these and many other items can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

If you’re someone who has even the smallest regards towards fashion, then you’ve probably given some serious thought as to which bag to use for toting your precious MacBook around. What you wear says just as much about you as your MacBook does. If you’re looking for something that looks great for casual occasions but can also feel dressed up enough for business meetings, then you need to consider the Arnald Work Bag from The Property Of. We were lucky enough to receive a bags from the Amsterdam based company and here’s our take.

Following an explosion on May 20th that killed 3 people and injured 15 others, Foxconn has today reopened its iPad 2 polishing workshops in Chengdu after an investigation into what caused the explosion has now been concluded.

Need a little more wiggle room for media on your iPad? Want to share a movie to your girlfriend on her iPhone while you simultaneously watch the same movie on your iPad in the other room? Kingston’s Wi-Drive has you covered, but some serious drawbacks make this a hard recommendation to make.