Cult of Mac

HubbleSite – (Free) iPhone – Education

Today’s must-have iOS application is HubbleSite, the online home of NASA’s Hubble space telescope. For over 20 years Hubble has orbited the Earth, beaming home images of celestial splendour; now you have access to the world’s most remarkable Hubble images at your fingertips, to enjoy on your iPhone anytime, anywhere.

Cast your eye over a vast collection of spectacular sights from the Hubble archives and vote for the images that you find the to be the most astounding. Download a selection of wallpapers for your device, all of which have been chosen and edited to deliver beautiful results on the iPhone & iPod touch with a Retina display. Read a compilation of amazing facts about the Hubble telescope’s history and the scientific discoveries it has revealed, from the age of the universe to the mysterious force known as ‘dark energy’ – all within the official Hubble iOS app.

For anyone interested in space and the universe around us, HubbleSite should be the next application you download from the App Store.

N.O.V.A. 2 – ($0.99) iPhone – Games

Although it’s not strictly a brand new release, today’s must-have iOS game has been chosen simply because it’s one of the most exciting first person shooters available in the App Store, and it’s on sale today for just $0.99!

N.O.V.A. 2 is the sequel to Gameloft’s first hugely successful sci-fi FPS – Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance, and this follow up title boasts new enemies with improved AI, a larger range of weapons and powers, and 10-on-10 online multiplayer – you won’t want to miss it!

Find out more after the break!

There is an app for practically anything and now there are apps that will help you to impersonate a cop. Especially a cop making traffic stops as one woman reported to Northwest Indiana police recently.

The woman called 911 late one night recently with the suspicion that the black Pontiac GTO with flashing blue and red lights at the top of its windshield wasn’t really a cop. She thought that the driver of the car was following her and attempting to pull her over.

We start off another week, this time with the iPhone in our deal spotlight. First up is a new crop of price cuts on iPhone apps, including “Fotopedia Nat’l Park,” a photo database of U.S National Parks. Next is a Google Apps Browser, an unofficial application for the iPhone and iPad, giving you access to the various applications, such as Gmail, Google Reader and Google Voice. We then wrap up on the featured bargains with N.O.V.A. 2 (that’s Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance for the uninitiated) for the iPhone and iPod touch.

Along the way, we check out some iPad and iPhone cases, accessories and software. As always, details on these and many other items can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

Rumors have been running rampant on the internet about AT&T’s response to the Verizon iPhone and one of those rumors was about adjustments that AT&T will be making or could be making to current data plans. Retention of current customers seems to be on AT&T’s mind lately and we can thank Verizon for that.

It all started with the fairly generous offer of 1,000 rollover minutes for customers who simply sent the word “yes” in a text message to 11113020.  The system responded telling those customers that they would receive these minutes on their account within four weeks. However, the generosity hasn’t stopped there.

The iPhone nano mockups are coming in thick and fast.

The one above is by iOSboy. It has the same screen size as the full-size iPhone to make it easy for app developers. But he’s put the camera on the bottom. Does that make sense?

Here are some other interesting mockups:

For many users, the Verizon iPhone is a big step-up from AT&T when it comes to quality service. Service on Verizon is simply more dependable: calls don’t drop as much, the person you’re speaking to seems clearer, etc. That’s 95% of what most people care about.

That’s not to say the Verizon iPhone’s a slam dunk for everyone, though. It has its drawbacks. Verizon’s CDMA network can’t handle the simultaneous juggling of data and voice. 3G speeds are inferior to AT&T’s. And, if you’re a business user, the Verizon iPhone has some serious limitations when it comes to conference calling: not only are you limited to conference calls with just two other people, but you can’t switch between conference calls either.

These aren’t problems with the hardware: just limitations with Verizon’s CDMA network, and ones that every Verizon user has to deal with. This isn’t likely to be an issue for more than a small percentile of customers, but if you’re one of them, and need your network to handle conferencing robustly, you might want to think twice before making the switch.

The iPad 2 isn’t the only new Apple product that is likely to hit stores in March. For weeks now, supplies of existing MacBook Pro models have been plummeting, and given Tim Cook’s obsession with supply, that indicates a refresh across the board.

So when can you expect the new MacBook Pros? Unknown, but according to Danish Blogger Kenneth Lund, the date he’s hearing in Denmark from Apple Resellers is March 1st.

You only need to take the quickest and most cursory glance at the newsf eeds to know that the iPad 2 isn’t just coming, and it’s right around the corner, hitting Apple Stores no later than sometime in April.

But if you need more proof, consider this: AT&T is having a massive sale on all iPad accessories. They’re clearing house of all the accessories that in a few short months won’t work with the current-gen iPad, and they’re desperate enough that they’re slashing prices literally in half.

Yup, all iPad accessories are now 50% off at AT&T. You just don’t discount accessories on a successful current product like this if you aren’t expecting them to be obsolete soon. As for how soon, if AT&T knows something the rest of us don’t, my guess is that we’re looking at a March launch for the iPad 2 instead of April. Why clear house now if there’s still two months to go?

For the second year running, Apple has been named Barron’s most respected company in an annual survey of money managers.

If you use online streaming service Spotify, you’ll know that the client software required for controlling it is pretty good.

It’s simple to use, and not too cluttered with controls and extras. Since I started paying £5/month for Spotify’s advert-free Unlimited service, I’ve been listening to it for many hours on end, and found only one problem: I have to switch back to Spotify to control it.

Now it’s true that Spotify can be controlled with your Mac’s existing dedicated iTunes buttons – F7 for previous track, F8 for play/pause, and F9 for next track. But this only works well if iTunes isn’t running at the same time. If both apps are open, they both respond to these commands, and audio chaos ensues.

Spotify Menubar is a simple free utility that solves this problem by allowing you to set up your own system-wide keyboard shortcuts for Spotify, so you can avoid the conflict with iTunes and still have easy keyboard access to your favorite songs.

It would be nice if Spotify Menubar had some clickable controls of its own, which would better justify its position on the Menu Bar in the first place. But for those of us who spend hours a day with our heads inside Spotify playlists, it’s a useful little widget to have around nonetheless.

More deals from the supply front, as Apple reportedly inks a deal worth $7.8B with tablet rival Samsung to supply components for the upcoming iPad 2 and other mobile devices created by the Cupertino, Calif. tech giant. The report follows earlier talk the tablet maker had signed agreements with several manufacturers in a bid to corner the supply of parts required for a high-resolution ‘retina’ display.

This latest agreement reported by the Wall Street Journal would make Samsung Apple’s largest supplier, something which has raised eyebrows. Samsung makes the Android-based Galaxy smartphone and Galaxy Tab tablet, which are alternatives to Apple’s MacBook and iPad.

New over at Photojojo is this bizarre $35 add-on for iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4: an 8X zoom lens kit.

You get more than just the lens. The kit comes with a slide-on case for your phone, on to which you attach the lens itself. There’s also a mini tripod so you can keep the whole thing steady.

It certainly looks weird, but it’s so cheap that I can see plenty of photo nerds jumping at the chance to play around with iPhone zoomery.

If you do, let us know what you think of it, or link to some of your sample images.

Christy Pelland isn’t exactly a pinup, but you’d be forgiven for making that assumption viewing the pic above.

Pelland is a photographer by trade who specializes in retro-pinup portraits. And she loves her Macs.

Read on for more about her love affair with Apple, what makes Mac nerds sexy, her studio set-up, and yes, more pics.

It’s not often Apple and the corporate boardroom are mentioned in the same sentence, but an increasing number of analysts say the Cupertino, Calif. company’s iPad is a big hit with business. As CEO Steve Jobs puts it: “We’ve got a tiger by the tail…”

Apple’s secret weapon in what Barclays analyst Ben Reitzes calls “the consumerization of IT” is the infiltration of the iPad, iPhone and other products not originally aimed at the enterprise. And as for the iPad, the tablet is “running far ahead” of competitors, making competition for corporate dollars Apple’s game to lose, according to the analyst.

UPDATE: The big question about a streaming-only iPhone is apps: How will users download apps? My source compared it to the second-generation Apple TV, which is a streaming-only device but includes 8GB of onboard memory (for the OS and buffering media). “I’m not 100% sure on the amount of memory available for the user,” he said. “I know there is some memory but it acts more like the memory on the AppleTV. There is some there, I’m just not sure how much.”

We have more detail on Apple’s iPhone nano, which according to Sunday’s Wall Street Journal is real and may be headed to market this year.

But what we have will blow your mind.

Back in 2005, after his battle with cancer and first medical leave of absence from Apple, Steve Jobs gave a rare glimpse into his personal passions and motivation in an inspiring commencement speech to Stanford University graduates. As Jobs once again takes leave of his child – and prognosticators debate what may become of Apple – Matt’s Macintosh has created this lovely compendium of an excerpt from that address, with music and great old photos from Before the Turtleneck.

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish. It’s what has made Apple so special. It can still change the world.

This week, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal and TechCrunch all published rumors that Apple plans to compete in the mid-ranged smartphone sector, with the launch of a smaller, more affordable iPhone, to be sold alongside the iPhone 4. At Cult of Mac, we predicted as much six weeks ago.

Of course, rumors of a smaller, cheaper iPhone are nothing new. They’ve been around for almost as long as the iPhone itself. And with good reason. Any seasoned Apple watcher will recognize this as Steve Jobs’ standard MO. Launch an iconic, up-market product, allow the market for it to grow and mature, and when the underlying technology becomes cheap enough, introduce a smaller, more affordable mass market version.

The recently released Greenpois0n jailbreak tool has been updated to release candidate 6 today, and this particular version will allow you to jailbreak your second-generation AppleTV and install the popular NitoTV software, adding a few great new features to your device.

The process is exactly the same as that used for release candidate 5, and just as before, this will provide an untethered jailbreak for all devices, meaning you won’t need to plug them in to your computer when you want to boot them.

Greenpois0n RC6 is available for both Mac and Windows, and you can download it now from here.

Kicking off our list of must-have iOS games this week is NBA Jam, the latest App Store hit from EA Sports, featuring all the over-the-top, high-flying, 2-on-2 arcade basketball action, just as you remember it. Relive that ’90s nostalgia with the hottest new arcade sports game for the iPhone, with the voice of Tim Kitzrow, the original NBA Jam play-by-play announcer.

Also in our favorites this week is Karoshi, an incredibly popular PC game which has now made its way to the iPhone, and also into the news headlines this week thanks to its dark storyline. Unlike the majority of games in which your sole purpose is to survive, in this one you take control of an overworked Japanese businessman whose mission is to end it all. As horrific and offensive as it sounds, it’s nowhere near as bad as you think, and it’s actually a lot of light-hearted fun.

Hungry Shark – Part 3 is the third of our choices this week, as well as the third in this series of top-selling aquatic eat ’em-ups. Chomp your way to the top of the food chain as you trawl the depths of the ocean in search of food to satisfy your voracious appetite in the most exciting Hungry Shark yet.

Find out more about the games above and check out the rest of this week’s must-haves, including Carnivores: Ice Age and Chicken Coup, after the break!

Taking screenshots in Mac OS X can be a useful tool. Unfortunately, Apple never talks about this tool, so in turn, it is a relatively unknown feature. In this video, I will show you two easy methods of taking screenshots.

Ben David Walker, a student from the U.K., has designed a new banner notification system for the iPhone that cleverly uses some empty space in the current iOS.

As we reported yesterday, Apple is revamping the much-criticized pop-up notification system in iOS and is buying a third-party app developer for its technology.

The current notification system is a mess. It was designed in 2007 when users had the odd SMS message or alarm, but is useless for 2011 when users have multiple messages coming in from Twitter, Facebook, SMS, as well as alarms, reminders, voicemails and missed calls. There is nowhere in iOS to see them all in one location.

But there would be using Walker’s new system. Here’s how it would work.

Going around town today, I didn’t have time to plop myself in front of a television, and so I constantly checked my iPad when at WiFi hotspots to update myself on the exciting developments in Egypt.

Oh, there’s gonna be a bumper crop of iPhone musicians born this weekend if Frontier Design Group has their way. Practically all their music-slinging iPhone apps are on sale to celebrate the iPhone coming to Verizon, including the highly regarded iShred app — sister app to the free iShred LIVE app required to use Griffin’s GuitarConnect and StompBox accessories — GuitarStudio and PianoStudio, all three of which are normally $5 each, but on sale for a buck apiece.

As musician and fellow Cult of Mac contributor Lonnie Lazar says, these apps won’t turn you into a Rock God; but they’re certainly a truckload of fun and great tools to learn with. Sale ends tomorrow, so don’t mess around if you want ’em.