While Android hardware manufacturers were busy trying to pack as many cores as they could into their smartphone and tablet processors, Apple took a different route and decided to go 64-bit instead. It’s a move that makes the iPhone 5s and the latest iPads some of the fastest mobile devices on the market, and so it’s no surprise that its rivals are getting ready to follow suit.
Intel has promised that you’ll be able to buy Android-powered tablets with 64-bit “Bay Trail” processors next year.
Bigger is always better, right? That’s been Samsung’s philosophy when it comes to smartphone screens, but the latest bits of gossip from the rumor mill suggest Apple might be looking to embrace that matra with its iPad displays.
A new report claims that Apple is preparing to build a 12.9-inch iPad for release in 2014, which may sound somewhat outlandish, except we’ve heard similar claims from the WSJ and other analysts.
According to Korea Times’ sources, Apple has already asked its top suppliers to start making the 12.9-inch touchscreens screens that will be included in its 2014 iPad lineup that is expected to improve picture quality as consumers move away from PCs and towards tablets as their main computing device:
Rather than slogging through a lake of reviews to find something you’re just going to put down after 30 minutes, Cult of Mac has once again compiled a list of the best new movies, albums and books to come out this week.
Enjoy!
Man of Steel
Superhero movies are a dime a dozen now, but “Man of Steel” takes action fans back to where it all began: Superman. From Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures comes “Man of Steel” starring Henry Cavill in the role of Clark Kent/Superman, with the special visual direction of Zack Snyder. The film opens with the story of Superman’s homeworld, Krypton, and how it was destroyed. Safely evacuated to Earth as an infant, Superman is raised by Kevin Costner in Smallville while coming to grips with extraordinary powers that are not of this world. As a young man, he journeys to discover where he came from and what he was sent here to do. But the hero in him must emerge if he is to save the world from annihilation and become the symbol of hope for all mankind.
Red 2
A very safe sequel bet with a cast of friendly, recognizable, and bankable stars, “RED 2” is a breezy romp of global espionage and superhero superspies where the wealth of violence is played for laughs and the sly grins stay firmly planted on the faces of everyone involved. As fans of 2010’s RED will fondly remember, the hero characters are from the AARP generation, which is also what drives the primary conceptual joke and defines the title acronym: Retired, Extremely Dangerous. In round two, former secret agent Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) is drawn out of retirement (again) by his former cohort Marvin (John Malkovich, acting Malkovich-crazy and loving it) to service a plot that involves a Cold War-era nuclear bomb hidden in Russia and the international effort to retrieve it.
Best Kept Secret
This documentary takes you into the lives of students at JFK High School in the middle of a run-down area in Newark, New Jersey. The public school is designed for all types of students with special education needs, ranging from those on the autism spectrum to those with multiple disabilities. Janet Mino has taught her class of young men with autism for four years. When they all graduate in the spring of 2012, they will leave the security of the public school system forever. “Best Kept Secret” follows Mino and her students over the year and a half before graduation. The clock is ticking to find them a place in the adult world – a job or rare placement in a recreational center – so they do not end up where their predecessors have, sitting at home, institutionalized, or on the streets.
Blood Orange
“Cupid Deluxe”
Singer, songwriter, and producer Dev Hynes’ follow-up to “Coastal Grooves” is a mix of hazy electronica, treading bass lines, and waves of stirring Prince-inspired vocals. From the stark mid-tempo rapping on “Clipped On” to the blog-buzzing harmonies of “Chamakay,” “Cupid Deluxe” is dimensional, hypnotizing, and amorphous. With contributors ranging from Chairlift’s Caroline Polachek to Dave Longstreth of Dirty Projectors, “Cupid Deluxe” is a distinct and mesmerizing album that proves Hynes is as talented at a soundboard as at a microphone.
Lady Gaga
“ARTPOP”
Lady Gaga’s music is fueled by wild creativity and artful provocation. With her third studio album, “ARTPOP,” Gaga reunites with Born This Way co-producer Madeon. T.I. Too $hort & Twista work out alongside her with “Jewels N’ Drugs” and R. Kelly can “Do What U Want” in no uncertain terms.
Gaga explains in interviews that she’s seeking “the reverse of Warhol,” where she brings high art to pop music, where once Warhol brought a pop sensibility to high art. Lady can theorize all she wants, but she also knows that it don’t mean a thing it if ain’t got that swing and “ARTPOP” is loaded with hyperactive beats and hyper-caffeinated compositions like “G.U.Y.” (Girl Under You – yhatzee!), “Manicure” and “ArtPop” where even when she’s tributing Versace in “Donatella,” she kinda means herself, too. How much “art” is delivered is debatable, but she’s certainly not shy delivering her truth. Ten of the album’s 15 tracks come with an “explicit” tag. Now outrageousness is something we expect from Lady Gaga.
Jhene Aiko
“Sail Out”
“Sail Out” is the debut extended play (EP) by American recording artist Jhené Aiko, released through Def Jam Recordings. The trippy RB fueled EP features 7 haunting tracks with special appearance from some of the biggest names in hip-hop, such as Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino, Ab-Soul, and Vince Staples.
“The Essential Calvin And Hobbes”
by Bill Waterson
Bill Watterson hasn’t put out a new “Calvin and Hobbes” comic strip in nearly 20 years, but every kids’ favorite troublemakers have made it to iBooks for the first time ever.
The strip follows the richly imaginative adventures of Calvin and his trusty tiger, Hobbes. Whether a poignant look at serious family issues or a round of time-travel (with the aid of a well-labeled cardboard box), “Calvin and Hobbes” will astound and delight you.
Beginning with the day Hobbes sprang into Calvin’s tuna fish trap, the first two Calvin and Hobbes collections, Calvin and Hobbes and Something Under The Bed Is Drooling, are brought together in this treasury. Including black-and-white dailies and color Sundays, “The Essential Calvin and Hobbes” also features an original full-color 16-page story that will transport you back to the very first time you fell in love with Calvin and his stuffed tiger.
“Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products”
by Leander Kahney
Did I include my boss’ new book in the weekly roundup just because he’s the dude writing my checks? Maybe. It never hurts to get on el jefe’s good side, but Leander’s book is also packed with some of the most insightful Apple revelations about Apple’s design processes since Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs bio. “Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products” is well worth a read for any Apple fan who wants to know all about the guy who crafted the iPod, iPhone, iPad, iMac, MacBook Air, and every other major Apple product you’ve fallen in love with over the past two years.
“Furious Cool: Richard Pryor and the World That Made Him”
by David Henry & Joe Henry
Richard Pryor was arguably the single most influential performer of the second half of the twentieth century,and certainly he was the most successful black actor/comedian ever. Controversial and somewhat enigmatic in his lifetime, Pryor’s performances opened up a new world of possibilities, merging fantasy with angry reality in a way that wasn’t just new—it was unthinkable.
His childhood in Peoria, Illinois, was spent just trying to survive. Yet the culture into which Richard Pryor was born—his mother was a prostitute; his grandmother ran the whorehouse—helped him evolve into one of the most innovative and outspoken performers ever, a man who attracted admiration and anger in equal parts. Both a brilliant comedian and a very astute judge of what he could get away with, Pryor was always pushing the envelope, combining anger and pathos, outrage and humor, into an art form, laying the groundwork for the generations of comedians who followed, including such outstanding performers as Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, and Louis C.K.
Now, in this groundbreaking and revelatory work, Joe and David Henry bring him to life both as a man and as an artist, providing an in-depth appreciation of his talent and his lasting influence, as well as an insightful examination of the world he lived in and the influences that shaped both his persona and his art.
It’s important to keep track of your power consumption on a Macbook Air or Pro, since that will determine how long you can use the thing before you have to plug it in again. Mavericks makes it easy to see the top app or two that uses the most energy on your Mac with a quick Option-Click on the battery menubar icon, letting you know which apps are consuming the most energy.
If you want to know about all the apps running on your Mac, though, you’ll need to dig a bit deeper, using Activity Monitor.
There are tons of wireless keyboards on the market these days for all sorts of prices. Those for portable devcies like the iPad are even more numerous, and of wildly divergent quality. I’ve long been a fan of the Logitech series of bluetooth keyboards, as it lights up and can connect to any device, Mac or otherwise, with a quick tap.
The MiniSuit BlueBoard is a nicely designed keyboard that connects via Bluetooth to any computing device, but it is primarily designed as an iPad (or other tablet) stand. It’s solidly constructed from aluminum and the keys are responsive and accurate. The price to be paid, here, though, for a full-sized keyboard, is one of size and bulkiness: I wouldn’t want to have to carry this around as a permanent bit of kit.
The question of whether there exists such a thing as an objectively perfect work of art remains the stuff of artistic scholarship and debates, but one particular artist feels they’ve cracked the question of how to improve a time-honored masterpiece — by adding in a number of Apple products.
Booq’s new Viper hardcases are tough, zip-up versions of the regular Viper sleeve, an already very protective case to carry your MacBook or iPad. The hardcase is sized to fit an iPad, an 11-inch MacBook Air or a 13-inch MacBook Air. MacBook Pro users can suck it – it’s not like you ever leave the house with your giant computers anyway.
Typing in your password every time you want to unlock your Mac sucks. Apple still hasn’t added facial ID recognition to OS X, nor have we heard nary a mention of Touch ID coming to MacBooks, but if you’re looking for a neat way to quickly unlock your Mac, a new app called Knock allows you do it with two quick taps on your iPhone screen.
The free Mac app works in tandem with an iPhone app that turns your phone into an authentication device. Knock uses Bluetooth Low Energy to communicate from iPhone to Mac but you should be able to leave it on all day without draining battery.
Here’s a video of Knock in action:
Cult of Mac reader Alvaro P writes, “After upgrading to mavericks, the Preview app doesn’t show the Bookmarks tab anymore. That’s no good, because I need them to quickly access pdf stuff during meetings.”
Having just upgraded my Macbook Air to Mavericks, I figured I’d give it a look. Here’s what I found.
If you’re trying to download the free OS X Mavericks upgrade via the Mac App Store and it’s getting stuck, you’re not alone. As you can see int he image above, some folks are seeing a paused download when trying to upgrade to Apple’s latest and greatest Mac operating system.
Roberto Baldwin over at the Wired GadgetLab has a fairly easy solution, and I figured I’d share it with you.