I just got through uploading every last one of my photos to Flickr over the weekend, with an Ethernet cable snaking across the floor from the router to my iMac, and a new app on that iMac to do the work. The app is called F-Stop, and while it’s a little glitchy in its UI, it was rock solid where it counted: pushing around 22,000 JPG files up to Flickr.
When the first series of benchmarks for the new Mac Pro popped up on Geekbench in early 2013, people were initially disappointed that Apple’s Vader helmet of a desktop didn’t have benchmarks that were much better than a top-of-the-line 2012 Mac Pro.
But as we cautioned at the time, the benchmarks reflected the performance of a prototype Mac that was still six months from release, and the version of Geekbench being run against it was 32-bit, not 64-bit, all of which could result in lowered performance. In fact, we said it was likely that when the new Mac Pro was actually released, it would break 30,000 on Geekbench’s benchmarks… making it a staggeringly fast machine almost 25% faster than the previous generation was capable of.
Over the weekend, the late 2013 12-core Mac Pro popped up on Geekbench, and what do you know: it comes in at an impressive 32,912 in Primate Labs’ metrics. To clarify, that means that the new Mac Pro is over six-and-a-half times faster than the latest MacBook Air. Not shabby.
Source: Geekbench
Between iTunes Radio, Pandora, Spotify, and Rdio, do you feel as if you don’t have enough options for streaming music? Well, good news: Beats Music — the new streaming service previously known as “Project Daisy” by the most overrated headphone manufacturer out there — will reportedly launch on January 21st.
The Evasi0n jailbreak may have opened up iOS 7 devices to Cydia tweaks, but due to the fact that Apple’s new A7 chip is 64-bit, many of the most popular tweaks have needed to be upgraded to support devices like the iPhone 5s, iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina Display.
One of the more popular reasons to jailbreak your device is Winterboard, a jailbreak tweak that makes you change the way iOS looks. For example, you can use Winterboard to make iOS look and feel like Windows Phone, Android, or even your Mac. But because of the aforementioned lack of 64-bit support, Winterboard didn’t work on the newest (jailbroken) iOS devices.
According to Cydia gatekeeper Jay Freeman, otherwise known as Saurik, the newest version of Winterboard is compatabile with 64-bit ARM processors, and should allow you to reskin any device with an A7 chip. You can download the update on Cydia.
Via: Redmond Pie
The future looks grim for Microsoft. The world is quickly turning mobile and post-PC, two categories Microsoft hasn’t succeeded in.
Recent reports from Gartner and IDC show just how dire the situation is. PC sales, which are directly tied to sales of Microsoft Windows, are in a free fall. Between 2012 and 2013, PC sales dropped by 10% (that’s 35 million fewer PCs).
Gartner says only 15% of Internet-connected devices sold in 2014 will run Windows.
That’s Windows’ real market share: 15%.
Having tried everything else, maybe the solution for Microsoft is to be a software company. That would mean embracing Android with everything they’ve got.
This time on The CultCast: we’re live from Las Vegas and ready to report the best and worst tech from the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show! We’ll call out some of our favorite Apple accessories too, and some will surprise you. Plus, did you hear about the Michael Bay meltdown at the Samsung keynote? Well we were in the room when things got weird… let us regale you with the whole story.
Thanks to FreshBooks for supporting this episode! FreshBooks is the simple cloud accounting solution that’s helping thousands of new entrepreneurs and small business owners save time billing and get paid faster. Sign up free today.
Enjoy a few laughs whilst getting caught up on each week’s best Apple stories! Stream or download new and past episodes of The CultCast now on your Mac or iDevice by subscribing on iTunes, or hit play below and let the audio adventure begin.
LAS VEGAS — Walking the long, dusty road between the Encore Hotel and the CES Convention Center, I was approached by two guys. They offered to give me a ride. I know I should never accept rides from strangers but their offer was to good to pass up. It was the most creative and original marketing ploy I’ve seen at CES.
This week, Cult of Mac Magazine takes you to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show, CES.
Our intrepid writers — Leander Kahney, Traci Dauphin, Alex Heath, Buster Heine, Eli Milchman and Erfon Elijah — tested smart toothbrushes, electric bikes and heat-sensing iPhone cases.
All while balancing cocktails!
Our CES roundup brings you the best of what was on show in Vegas so you know which gadgets to look forward to in the spring.
As always, we’ve also got the best in new apps, music, books and movies on iTunes, plus the inside scoop from a real Apple Genius on what goes on behind the slick facade of the retail stores.
One of the first video games I ever finished was 1985’s Kung Fu, a port of a Japanese arcade game (Kung Fu Master)for the original Nintendo system. It was a side-scrolling beat ’em up about a guy fighting through five floors of a goon-filled building to rescue his girlfriend, and even though it’s probably not nearly as good as I remember, it’ll always have a special place in my nostalgia bank because I was so good at it back then.
Fightback is a new free-to-play fighter from developer Ninja Theory (makers of super-shiny console games like the PlayStation 3’s Heavenly Sword and the recent reboot of Devil May Cry), and it’s basically an updated version of Kung Fu. It even has the same 2D gameplay and girlfriend-rescuing premise and graphics and music that call back ridiculous action films from the ’80s.
So needless to say, I like this game a lot.
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 waded through the iTunes store to compile a list of the best new movies, albums and books to come out this week.
Enjoy!
Patterns – Waking Lines
Patterns broke into the British music scene in late 2011 thanks to their brokenhearted single Induction but rather than quickly releasing their debut album the group has been slowly crafting one of the best albums we’ve heard all year. Maybe that’s not saying much seeing how it’s early January, but the band’s theme’s of late-night hallucinations and dream states are filled with chilly/wavy sounds that remind me a lot of Youth Lagoon.
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – Wig Out At Jagbags
The new year has only just begun, meaning most artists are still waiting til the holiday season settles before releasing new tunes, but Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks released the first album to really get me excited with their sixth effort – Wig Out At Jagbags. If you’ve been hungry for a solid new alternative album filled beautiful guitar riffs, tonal shifts and a stream of witty lyrics, snap this up.
John Newman – Tribute
I’m not going to lie, when I quickly glanced at this album title, my CES-addled brain thought it was a musical tribute to Paul Newman. It’s not. Then I saw John Newman play his single Love Me Again on Jimmy Fallon and, holy moley, this dude can sing and perform like no other. The album has been out in the U.K. since October, but U.S. listeners can finally grab it from iTunes this week.
Why I Read: The Serious Pleasure of Books
by Wendy Lesser
Reading more is one of the most popular New Years Resolutions which makes Wendy’s Lesser’s book, Why I Read, so timely and the perfect book to motivate you to read more. Wendy Lesser explores literature in all forms – plays, poems, essays, and more – as she examines the works from perspectives like “Character and Plot,” “Novelty,” “Grandeur and Intimacy,” and “Authority.” If this book doesn’t spark your desire to read you might as well give it up entirely.
iTunes – $11.99
The Secret History of Las Vegas
by Chris Abani
I just spent the last five days slogging through the horrors that CES has to offer in Vegas this year, but unfortunately I never had time to actually explore the city. Chris Abani’s book takes readers on a crazy ride through Sin City as Las Vegas detective Salazar is determined to solve a recent string of murders in this offbeat crime novel packed with explosive prose.
iTunes – $9.99
Belle Cora
by Phillip Margulies
Belle Cora is loosely based on the life of a 19th-century prostitute of the same name. It’s written as a two-part memoir by one of San Francisco’s wealthiest old women who inherits a fortune from her deceased husband. The book travels through the heroine’s story of her rise and fall, from living on a farm, working in mills to eventually bumping shoulders with the elite of New York before being drawn to California in the gold rush.
iTunes – $9.99
Blue Jasmine
Woody Allen is old. He’s made tons of movies. Like 71 total. You’d think by now he’d just start sucking harder than a Hoover vacuum, but Blue Jasmine is proof that the 78-year-old director from Brooklyn has no plans of slowing down with this excellent tale starring Cate Blanchett as a troubled New York socialite looking for a fresh start in San Francisco.
Inequality For All
The widening income gap between the mega-wealthy and all the rest of us is starting to become the hot button topic in politics as the U.S. barrels toward mid-term elections this year. Former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich takes the issue head-on in his new documentary Inequality For All as he looks to raise awareness of the country’s widening economic gap and the consequences it will have on democracy itself.
Bad Grandpa Uncut
Johnny Knoxville and the Jackass crew have been making me laugh since I was in high school. You’d think their inappropriate stunt humor would be stale by now, but Johnny’s managed to mix it up just enough with some new twists by suiting up in his grandpa costume to take on the persona of 86-year-old Irving Zisman who takes a trip from Nebraska to North Carolina to take his 8-year-old grandson, Billy, back to his father.