Homade’s Boom Dock is a decidedly goofy tribute to the days when a portable music player was a huge tape deck turned up to 11 carried on a shoulder and crammed right up against your ear drum. It’s unpowered, so the sound is lousy, but it’s yours for just $25… the perfect accessory for a Lilliputian electric boogaloo.
[via Technabob]
To this day, Space Miner: Space Ore Bust is one of my favorite games for the iOS, and while I’ve been anxiously waiting for a sequel, I think I can make do with this: Venan Arcade has just announced the free-to-play spin-off title, Space Miner Blast, which strips out the former game’s story and RPG elements to deliver a frenetic arcade shooter.
It’s a freemium title, so to unlock all four ships (as well as Retina Display support), you’ll need to drop $1.99 on the Blast Pack in-app purchase, but if you’ve ever been curious about Space Miner, this is an excellent intro… and to tempt you even further into the franchise, Venan has also dropped the price of the original game to just $1.99.
The Washington Post has chosen to advertise their new iPad app by portraying legendary journalist Bob Woodward as a decrepit moron completely befuddled by technology so easy to use that even 99 year olds can quickly master it.
We laughed, although we’re not sure if it’s at the Washington Post’s self-deprecation or just the stupidity of it all. Probably a bit of both.
Leaving aside why you would want to run Android when you have access to iOS, we were absolutely amazed when hacker David Wong figured out how to install and dual boot Android alongside iOS on the original iPhone earlier this year. Even so, we were reluctant to try the hack ourselves: the process was convoluted, to say the very least.
It’s amazing, though, how far the instructions have come in a little over half a year, though: you can now install Android 2.1 Froyo on your first generation iPhone or iPhone 3G so simply that you don’t even need to have a computer handy to do it.
That’s right: as long as your iPhone or iPhone 3G is already jailbroken and running at least iOS 3.1.2, you can now install Android on your handset entirely through Cydia.
There’s a small but real segment of the iOS accessory market that thrives because of the iPhone’s inability to be used while wearing coverings over your hands. Little capacitive stickers you sew onto the finger pads of your gloves so you can use your iPhone’s touchscreen, or gloves with capacitive thread sewn right into the fingers.
As winter fast approaches, you might even be thinking of buying yourself one of these accessories… but a recent development in the technology of touchscreens might obviate the need for these accessories entirely if Apple brings them to future devices.
Other than Samsung’s Android-powered Galaxy Tab, Research In Motion’s upcoming BlackBerry Playbook seems like it will be the first real competition to the iPad’s dominance over the tablet market when it is released in early 2011.
Featuring a 7-inch display, a 1GHz processor, 1GB of RAM and both front and back-facing cameras, as well as an entirely new operating system based on Adobe Air, the BlackBerry Playbook certainly has the specs to make a splash… but a lot will depend on whether or not the price is competitive with the iPad.
According to RIM CEO Jim Balsillie, the BlackBerry PlayBook will at least match the entry-level iPad’s price when it drops. In an interview with Business Week, Balsillie said:
“The product will be very competitively priced,” and when asked whether it will be about $500, Balsillie said “no, it will be under that.”
Good news so far, but my guess is that he’s referring to a subsidized price. The Samsung Galaxy Tab has roughly the same specs as the PlayBook and it doesn’t cost under $500 without a subsidy. Given that RIM exclusively makes phones and 3G-connected devices, I’d speculate that the PlayBook will end up being cheaper than an iPad… but only as long as you’re willing to sign a two-year contract for the “savings.”
Along with AirPlay, AirPrint was a fiercely promoted new feature in iOS 4.2, promising a powerful new printing architecture that allows iOS devices to easily and wirelessly print to any networked printer.
Don’t be surprised, though, if AirPrint is nowhere to be seen when iOS 4.2 is released on Friday: according to a report on MacStories, Apple has pulled support for AirPrint from iOS 4.2 at the last minute.
If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably been checking Software Update a few times every day this week, waiting for Apple to finally dislodge some of its bigger releases from its development pipe: namely, Mac OS X 10.6.5, iTunes 10.1 and iOS 4.2. No luck yet, but according to , all three are imminent… and two of those updates will go live today.
A few days ago, computer company Sophos released a free anti-virus application for OS X.
According to the experts at Sophos, your Mac is vulnerable to malware – it’s just that there isn’t very much of it around. Yet.
But as Macs and OS X get more popular, that might change. So Sophos thinks it’s time you protected your computer.
So what does Sophos Anti-Virus for OS X do, exactly?
The new MacBook Air has the highest number of liquid contact indicators, or LCIs, of any Apple product yet… little stickers that tell a Genius if it’s okay to deny you service on your broken gadget because you dropped it in the drink.
LCIs have always been troubling, since they tend to trigger by humidity alone, making Apple gadgets a risky investment for those who live in the tropics. Apple’s actually been sued about false LCI reports, so the fact that the new Air had so many of them was particularly worrisome: it seemed like Apple was just chomping at the bit to deny you service on the notoriously hard-to-service Air.
However, things may not be as clearly conspiratorial as that.
So you’ve got your iPhone 4 and you know it has not one, but two cameras inside it.
“How I wish it could take pictures with both of them at once,” you cry.
Well, your plea is answered in the form of 2Side Cam, a $1 app for iPhone 4. In “2Side” mode, it takes two photos – first one with the outward-facing camera on the back of the phone, then a second later another with the user-facing camera.
Even if Glassgate turns out to be much ado about nothing, the iPhone 4 is a fragile little phone, despite its Gorilla Glass plated front: according to a study by third-party warranty company SquareTrade, the iPhone 4 is the most fragile smartphone that is.
Men! Pay attention!
BeardTracker! Yes, BeardTracker! Rrrrrrrrr.
He drives a hybrid and he’s fanatical about recycling — here are some gift ideas for the man who cares about the planet. Don’t forget to recycle the packaging!
The Gadget Geek is a nerdy individual who loves his techy toys; he’d much rather stay home and play with his latest gadget than attend a social gathering. Here’s our list of drool-worthy gift ideas certain to keep him geeking out for months.
We know you like to shop. We know you like gear. And we know there’s a honking big holiday season coming up.
Over the past year or so, we’ve run across some drool-worthy gear we think would make perfect gifts for the holidays. And, in the spirit of holiday sharing, we whipped up this handy guide you can print out, laminate and take with you while out foraging. (Come to think of it, laminating can be expensive. Maybe just put it in a binder.)
A metrosexual is a man who has a strong concern for his appearance (or any concern for his appearance, really). He typically craves the most stylish clothes and home accessories. He’s form-over-function. He keeps fit, takes care of himself, and he wants you to know it. Here are some metrosexual-worthy gift ideas.
The Businessman works hard, and he relies on his stuff to get him through the day. Make life easier both at home and on the road for the Businessman with these Wall Street-worthy gifts.
The Outdoorsman leads an active lifestyle; the great outdoors are his playground, and his gear needs to be rugged, reliable and light.
Now you have a Mac, what’s the easiest way to remember people’s birthdays? Apple thought of that, and built a useful tool right in.
We start out with yet another case for your iPad. The Folio Case from Kensington provides your tablet with a synthetic leather cover and a padded interior, plus the $13 item can double as a landscape-mode stand. We also have a new crop of free applications from the iPhone App Store, including “Word Warrior,” a game which promises to challenge your vocabulary skills. Finally, there is a two-year warranty from SquareTrade. The company offers the warranty, covering drops and spills for $93.75 with a coupon code.
Along the way, we’ll also check out other items, including “MemoryMiner 2”, a digital storytelling application for your Mac. As always, details on these bargains and many others can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.
Dead Jeans and designer Paul Kruize want to help you hang on to those precious blue jeans that are so ripped up and nasty looking your mother pops a blood vessel in her head every time you try to wear them outside the house. You know, those jeans that are so soft and comfy and hold so many memories you just can’t bear to toss them in the trash even though the slowly growing up part of you says you know you should.
Now, for € 29,90, or about $42 (including shipping from the Netherlands), you can keep at least a remnant of them forever in an ultra-cool, felt-lined pocket case for your iPhone or iPod touch made from their two back pockets. They are sure to be a one of a kind accessory and even more valuable because they’ll have a little bit of your very own mojo sewn right in.
Don’t worry that you won’t be able to buy that iPhone 4 during the holiday madness, production of the popular handset has finally caught up with demand, one analyst told investors Tuesday. Where once Apple had a three week backlog in June, you can now get an iPhone 24 hours after ordering online.
“Apple has now expanded distribution to Target (Target also sells the iPad) to join others including Apple stores, AT&T, Best Buy, Radio Shack and Wal-Mart,” writes Barclay’s Ben Reitzes.
Hasbro Inc., maker of some of the world’s most popular toys, wants to bring 3D to your iPhone and iPod.
For about $30, their new goggle device called My3D promises to bring a new experience to your Apple devices.
It is kind of a shame the design is so clunky: it resembles a View-Master, which first brought the 3D experience to kids in 1939 and slunk off into the sunset due to declining sales in 2009.
Instead of those little plastic discs of the View-Master familiar to kids the world over, with My3D you’ll be able to download special apps from the iTunes store. Hasbro promises there will be a mix of gratis and paid content available — likely to include trailers and movie snippets following the 3D film trend.
The name might not be giving too much away, but Coconut Battery should be installed on everyone’s notebook Mac. If it were called “Free Battery Health App”, it would do exactly what it said on the tin.
It shows you, with numbers and helpful colored charts, exactly what condition your notebook battery is in. It shows in an instant the current charge, and how much more you can charge it if you try; and more usefully, it shows the original capacity of your battery, and its capacity right now.
If you click the little disclosure triangle at the top right, you can save the current data for future reference. Keep saving snapshots at regular intervals, and you’ll be able to see at a glance how your battery is slowly degrading. Because that’s what happens, folks: over time, everso slowly and gradually, the battery in your Air or your Pro or your plain old MacBook is going to decline. As time goes on, its capacity to hold charge will decrease until the time comes to replace it. This is inevitable, I’m afraid, just like the death of your hard disk. It’s one of those things you need to plan for; and Coconut Battery is one of those apps that helps with that.
(You’re reading the 19th post in our series, 50 Essential Mac Applications: a list of the great Mac apps the team at Cult of Mac value most. Read more.)
