Cult of Mac

‘Tis the season: time to gather with friends and family and answer an endless barrage of hideous tech support questions.

You’re reading this Web site. That means you’re the most technical person in your extended family and therefore know off the top of your head why your mother-in-law’s PC won’t print, right? Your uncle is convinced that if he can corner you between dinner and pie, you’ll solve the riddle of that obscure error message he gets every time he boots his PC.

And your cousin wants to buy her husband the latest gadget. She has a Black Friday coupon for something, but doesn’t remember what it’s called. Should she buy it?

Ugh! Where’s that eggnog?

Fortunately, Apple has provided us all with a universal answer: “Get an iPad!”

Click here to read the whole article.

It’s not too late to get prepared for the Black Friday shopping frenzy. We again offer a Black Friday app for your iPhone or iPod touch allowing you to shop, compare, track and search for the best deals online and in stores. Also, a new crop of iPhone App price cuts were released, including “NFL 2011.” If golf is more your style, “Let’s Golf!” is just $1 for your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.

Along the way, we also check out several hardware deals, including a number of iMacs and MacBook Pros. As always, details on these and much more can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

The U.S. International Trade Commission has decided to investigate Apple’s allegations against Motorola. In October, the two handset makers accused each other of patent infringement. Apple charges the Schaumberg, Ill.-based Motorola violated six multi-touch patents.

If the ITC rules in Apple’s favor, importation and sale of Motorola smartphones could be banned in the United States. The patent spat erupted in early October when Motorola accused Apple of violating 18 patents and refusing to agree to license Moto’s technology. Apple fired back in late October, claiming Motorola had violated its patents.

First Apple took RIM’s spot as the No. 4 mobile phone maker. Now the Cupertino, Calif. company is poaching sales executives from the BlackBerry maker. At least five RIM employees have been hired away by Apple over the past eighteen months, reports say.

Apple’s goal of increased business sales got a shot in the arm after RIM’s Head of Strategic Sales, Geoff Perfect, joined Apple in April 2009. Perfect now heads the iPhone’s Enterprise Sales unit, according to the Wall Street Journal. Other defections from RIM include it’s Senior Global Sales Manager, Global Strategic Account Manager and Global Account Manager. They now sell iOS devices to the corporate market.

Chinese knockoff maker DragonFly has just made their already shameless MacBook clone a little more so: while the 14-inch netbook already adhered closely enough to the Ive aesthetic to be mistaken for a real MacBook Pro by the Magoo-like, they’ve now gone even farther by replacing the original DragonFly logo with Apple’s own… plus Hackintoshing the notebook in the factory to run Snow Leopard. It even comes with a fake MagSafe charger!

Try this in America and Apple’s legal team would cram your head so forcibly up your posterior that you’d give a vomitous birth unto yourself, but DragonFly hails from China, so they’ll probably be fine. $436 will buy you one on the Beijing electronics blackmarket.

If you happened to switch to the iPhone from your old BlackBerry, you might miss UberTwitter, probably the best native Twitter client available on the BlackBerry OS. Wipe away wistful tears no longer: Ubertwitter is now available for free on the App Store, replete with its excellent UberView feature that allows you to access links within tweets without leaving either the app or the window.

This bobble-headed Steve Jobs statuette is both horrifyingly creepy and yet undeniably compelling, but unfortunately, its makers has already been asked by Apple’s legal team to lay off… not because it makes portrays Steve like some sort of murderous, hydrocephalic homunculus, but because they didn’t get permission to use the Apple logo or the likeness of iPhone in Steve’s hands.

Probably for the best: I’d almost definitely get one, put it on a shelf somewhere, then inevitably start fantasizing about it creeping into the bedroom with sewing needles in its hands during some midnight’s delirium tremens.

Safari, Chrome and Firefox might be the most talked about browsers on OS X, but Opera’s still chugging along and pushing the envelope where it can in the ultra-competitive browser space, and the first beta for the Opera 11 version manages some tricks that even the big three haven’t managed yet.

If you still rely on your TiVo more than your new AppleTV for watching television, TiVo’s soon to come out with a new app that will make it even easier to use their service from a supine position on your couch, using an iPad as an advanced remote control.

What’s at the top of most kid’s lists to Santa this Christmas season? It’s not a Red Rider BB Gun, or an Xbox 360, or some sort of transforming Killbot. It’s an Apple iPad, at least according to the latest survey by the Nielsen Company.

Ready to climb your ways out of the cave, lick a monolith, found a civilization, go to war, launch a Renaissance, fire off some nukes then load your people up in a rocket to zoom off to Alpha Centauri?

Good news, then. Sid Meier’s Civilization V is now available for the Mac through Valve’s Steam digital delivery service.

The range of devices running Linux grows every day.  Now you can add one more to the list: Electrolux (Frigidaire) in Brazil has just announced the Infinity i-kitchen, a  smart appliance running Linux on an embedded 400MHz Freescale i.MX25 processor.  With 128MB RAM and a 480×800 touch panel, the i-kitchen provides the user with unparalleled control over his refrigerator operations.

Was the Beatles on iTunes worth the ten year wait and the thousands of hours of negotiation? Probably not, but Beatles songs and albums are still selling pretty damn well now that they’re finally available, even if they’re not really setting any sales records.

Back when Apple first announced iOS game matchmaking service, Game Center, everyone thought it was going to be the death of the existing services like OpenFeint.

It wasn’t. With its founder openly laughing “bring it on” in the face of GameCenter, OpenFeint reassessed its strengths: the ability to offer cross platform multiplayer between iOS and Android devices, and a thriving virtual goods market.

It looks like OpenFeint’s strategy has paid off. According to a report released by OpenFeint, their community has actually doubled to an incredible fifty million users since Game Center first launched. Games on the network have also more than doubled since Game Center was first announced, and now the OpenFeint compatible games library has 119% more titles than it did mere months ago.

Pretty incredible. Apple entering a software niche with its own official product is often times seen as a death sentence, but if OpenFeint’s success proves anything, it’s that smart, on-your-feet thinking and a willingness to evolve can make a direct competition with Apple into a positive thing.

Did Apple analysts use inside information to sway the price of Apple stock? That’s the question on the minds of government investigators who recently launched a probe of Wall Street and a common signal of Apple’s planning: ‘channel checks.’ To combat the legendary reluctance for public statements, experts covering the Cupertino, Calif. media giant often refer to ‘channel checks’ as a way to provide investors with insight into the planning of the iPhone maker.

Although no analysts were charged, an RBC analyst report on increased iPad production and a Rodman & Redshaw report on low iPad production may have caused Apple Shares to dip, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Ever since 2002, Oprah Winfrey has ended each year with a Christmas celebration in the form of her “Favorite Things” episode, in which she has lavished the members of her audience with the products of the year that entertainment’s most influential woman has gazed beneficently upon.

This past Monday, Oprah held her 2010 Favorite Things episode, and she gave all 275 members of her studio audience an item she declared “her number one favorite thing ever.”

What was it? A brand new iPad.

iOS 4.2.1 was just released, but already the rumor mill is churning about iOS 4.3… and it looks like it might arrive before the end of the year, much earlier than anyone had previously thought.

According to sources, Apple plans on releasing iOS 4.3 on Monday, December 13th… just three weeks after the debut of iOS 4.2.1.

I feel pretty good about being a 13-inch MacBook Air owner, but as the computer becomes more popular I’m no longer unique. My MacBook Air looks just like all the other ones out there, but it doesn’t have to thanks to Colorware.

[polldaddy poll=4138392]

Apple released iOS 4.2.1 for the iPad and true to their word converted the iPad switch from screen orientation lock to mute and un-mute. If you’ve had an iPad since it launched you’ll understand how convenient that switch can be when using your iPad. Of course, this change brings the iPad into alignment with the iPhone. The iPhone switch has always been used to mute and un-mute that device.

Both devices now use the switch in the same way and the screen orientation lock has been moved to the running tasks bar which is accessible by double-tapping the Home button and swiping to the left.

Here comes another one of those apps that drops jaws with its ingenuity — it’s a heart rate monitor that uses the iPhone 4’s camera to measure minute changes in skin color caused by blood flowing into and out of a finger.

According to Heart Rate – Free‘s App Store press release, simply sticking a finger over the iPhoen 4’s camer should deliver a heart rate figure within a few seconds, accompanied by a heartbeat chart. The app’s developer is quick to point out that the Heart Rate – Free is for entertainment only, but the concept is remarkable.

As its name suggests, Heart Rate Free is free.

The iPhone 4’s attenuation problems aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, which means iPhone 4 owners are stuck with two options: fattening the iPhone with a case or bumper, or living with the issue.

But there’s a third option. ThinSkins are strips of vinyl or PVC, die-cut to wrap perfectly around the iPhone 4’s rim , creating a barrier between a user’s hand and the phone’s external antenna, potentially eliminating the attenuation problem. Interestingly enough they’re from TruePower, the same outfit that gave us the mother of all backpack batteries, the iV Pro.

ThinSkins launched a few weeks ago, sell for $20, are easy to apply (according to TruePower) and come in more colors than a bowl of Skittles.

Body Dysmorphic Disorder from flight404 on Vimeo.

Check out this awesome video of Kinect hacker Robert Hodgin manipulating the Kinect feed in realtime with Cinder, a C++ programming environment for creative projects. (Hodgin posted the source + OSX project here: https://code.google.com/p/ruisource/downloads/list)

And here’s one with his cat:

Fat Cat from flight404 on Vimeo.

Via Kottke.

As the days dwindle down to that all-important Black Friday start of holiday shopping, we have a few door-buster deals of our own. First up is the Black Friday App for your iPhone, allowing you to stay mobile, while scanning the sales fliers and snooping through the web sites of your favorite stores. Next is a deal on a 16GB Wi-Fi iPad for just $449 – shipping is free. We finally take a look at the latest crop of free iPhone apps, including the intriguingly-named “Rednecks v. Aliens” game.

Along the way, we also take a look at several iPad cases, a deal on EA games for your iPhone or iPad and assorted add-ons for your favorite Apple device. As always, details on these and many other items can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

A new analyst report out Tuesday highlights how ‘spin’ can affect how one reads the dry numbers of sales and shipments. For instance, Needham analyst Charlie Wolf chose to overlook the Mac’s 4.36 percent share of the PC market for the last quarter, instead concentrating a note to investors on how Apple’s growth is drubbing the otherwise tepid PC market. Mac shipments grew in September by 28.5 percent, far outstripping the 9.7 percent growth for PCs.

Additionally, Mac sales are firing on all cylinders propelled by the triple-threat halos from the iPod, iPhone and iPad. But wait, there’s even more good news. Mac shipments to business and home are exceeding those of PCs, according to researchers at IDC. Mac shipments to business during the third-quarter of 2010 were up 66.3 percent and grew 25.3 percent for the home market. That compares with overall business computer shipment growth of 8.5 percent and home growth of 10.4 percent.

It’s two days before Thanksgiving, and only 32 days away from Christmas, and we’re in a giving mood today!  Thanks to Urban Tool, we’ve got a couple of hip, cool, jazzy fresh bags to give away.  If you’re still rocking a Jansport backpack to work or for traveling, then you need to enter this giveaway.

Here’s How To Enter:

1. “Like” the Cult of Mac Facebook page if you haven’t already.
2. “Like” the Urban Tool Facebook page if you haven’t already.
3. Go to your Facebook profile, and write a status message about why you need a new bag and status tag Cult of Mac and Urban Tool’s page in your status.  If you don’t know how to status tag in Facebook, click here.
4. We’ll choose two winners at random based on your @mentions that shows up on our page wall and Urban Tool’s page wall.  Entry period ends at 11:59pm PST tonight.  We’ll contact winners on Wednesday, 11/24.

What You’ll Win

Each winner gets to choose between the stylish and hip pocketBar and slotBaron Urban Tool bags.  You can also choose the color you want!

Giveaway Details

This giveaway is void where prohibited and there is no purchase necessary to enter the giveaway.  Prizes will be shipped directly from Urban Tool.  Cult of Mac is not responsible for shipping/handling of the prize.  Please provide an accurate physical address if contacted that you are a winner.