Apple’s HomePod might have revealed another huge new iPhone feature after developers did some more digging into the beta software for the upcoming smart speaker.
The software appears to reference an unannounced “SmartCamera” feature built into iOS 11 or the yet-to-be-released 2017 iPhone. And it could totally change the way we snap photos.
Podcasting is undergoing a renaissance with listeners consuming on-demand shows at unprecedented levels, and creators enjoying surprising levels of success with their work. One thing that sets apart the amateurs from the professionals is good content, but the other is production values.
I have been running my own small podcast for about a year, trying different ideas and formats to see what works. While I’m an amateur podcaster, I create tutorial videos for a living and I used to be a professional musician, so I know a thing or two about sound, music, and music production. I have also been using a Mac since 1997, and have recorded audio with just about every port that Apple has released. For me, the podcast is a great outlet to cover topics I don’t get to cover in my paid writing work. And of course, like many other podcasters, I like the sound of my own voice.
Here are some of the things I’ve learned, along with recommendations on the hardware, software and techniques to get you started podcasting using your Mac.
All this week on Cult of Mac, I’ve been reviewing the best running apps for Apple Watch.
Over the past three months, I’ve run more than a thousand kilometers testing these apps in real-world running conditions, and now it’s time to reveal which one earns pride of place on my sweaty wrist.
Apple squashed a few bugs in iOS 11 beta 3, released for developers today, but the update also adds new iPad multitasking features, Siri upgrades and more. Check out our video below to see everything that’s new.
You can make great photos and videos with just an iPhone. There is nothing fake about that statement. Thousands of great iPhone photos appear on our camera rolls and Instagram feeds every day to prove it.
Nevertheless, a recent YouTube video suggested Apple uses more than just iPhones to create its “Shot on iPhone” commercials. The video quickly went viral. Headlines it generated sowed seeds of doubt about the authenticity of Apple’s claims.
So, are we really getting the great camera Apple says it puts in its iPhones?
One day in early 2005, interface designer Bas Ording was sitting in a secret, windowless lab at Apple HQ when the phone rang. It was Steve Jobs.
The first thing Jobs says is that the conversation is super-secret, and must not be repeated to anyone. Ording promises not to.
“He’s like, ‘Yeah, Bas, we’re going to do a phone,'” Ording told Cult of Mac, recalling that momentous call from long ago. “‘It’s not going to have any buttons and things on it, it’s just a screen. Can you build a demo that you can scroll through a list of names, so you could choose someone to call?’ That was the assignment I got, like pretty much directly from Steve.”
I could be the poster boy for Apple’s “iPad problem.”
That problem, in a nutshell, is this: Even long-in-the-tooth iPads several generations old continue to work just fine for many everyday tasks. That, in turn, slows the upgrade cycle. iPad sales drop, and pundits pile on to declare that Apple is doomed. Again.
I’m one of those cheapskates who couldn’t be bothered to shell out for a new iPad over the past few years but a freak accident — and the surprisingly convincing unveiling of the 10.5-inch iPad Pro at last week’s Worldwide Developers Conference — finally coaxed me out of iPad complacency.
I’m thrilled I finally wised up. The new 10.5-inch iPad Pro is a beast of a machine that’s so fast, smooth and responsive that it makes me feel like I’m in a sci-fi movie interacting with a killer device that hasn’t been invented yet. It feels like the future!
Over the last year or so, you could be forgiven for thinking Apple has been dickering about. The company seemed sluggish and slow.
Yeah, there have been a few hardware upgrades, but nothing special, and certainly nothing breakthrough.
And then today! Bam! A jam-packed WWDC keynote with a slew of amazing-looking new hardware and software.
Apple is back, in a big way!
WWDC is almost upon us. Ahead of Monday’s keynote event we’re running down everything we’re expecting for the annual developers extravaganza. You can watch the keynote live, and follow coverage here at Cult of Mac.
From software to hardware, here’s what we are predicting for next week:
The internet has become awash with apparent iPhone 8 schematics and fan-made mockups in recent months, but these images claim to reveal the final design of a real device in all its glory.
The design looks familiar, proving previous leaks were right on the money, with glass panels flanking the front and back of the device, a redesigned iSight camera module, and a shiny metal frame that holds everything together.
Apple’s Music Memos app is just about about the best way to record musical ideas before they evaporate into the ether. For years, musicians used the built-in Voice Memos app to record snippets, but Music Memos, as you’d expect, is much better suited to the task. It can listen to you and record only when you start playing, it can detect the chords you play, and it can even add drum and bass tracks to your recording automatically.
This last feature is what we’ll look at today. We’re going to record a simple guitar track, add drums and bass, and send the whole lot to GarageBand on iOS for further work. That sounds like a lot, but once you lay down your recorded track, all it takes is a few taps of the screen. And remember, I use a guitar, but you can use any instrument.
A Siri smart speaker will bring better audio (and a higher price tag) than the Amazon Echo, and we might get our first look next month, according to a prominent analyst.
KGI Securities’ Ming-Chi Kuo says it’s increasingly likely Apple will debut its high-end audio device at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June, paving the way for Siri to move into a prominent place in your home.
Javier Rivera has a daughter, but the American Girl doll accessory he found on eBay was for him. It was a miniature Macintosh computer, a non-working toy for an 18-inch doll, and he had to have it.
The nerd in him believed he could make it run Photoshop.
Thanks to a bevy of leaks that flooded the internet this week, we know more about the iPhone 8 than ever before. Even if only half the rumors turn out to be true, this year’s iPhone is set to be the most innovative device Apple has made in years.
Here’s what we know so far.
Edward Parks III will likely be the first singer on an opera stage to perform in running shoes, jeans and a black mock turtleneck shirt.
Yet Parks knows there is nothing casual about playing Steve Jobs. He is soaking up all he can about the late Apple co-founder as he prepares to bring his much-heralded baritone voice to the role this summer in the world premiere of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs at the Santa Fe Opera.
“I’m taking in everything that is out there and stuffing it in my head so that I can come away with my own thoughts of who he was and what he means to us,” Parks, 33, told Cult of Mac. “I think at first it was a little daunting. This is going to have a lot of attention, not just from the opera world but in the tech community.”
Samsung delivered the Galaxy S8 series today, and the phones are everything fans hoped they would be. The gorgeous, curved-glass form factor packs the latest specifications, stunning Infinity Displays and features like iris scanning.
But how do the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ stack up against iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus?
Artist Robert Sikoryak has a knack for introducing skittish readers to dense classic literature with comic book adaptions. Try Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment with a 1950s-era Batman with blood on his ax.
But would you consider reading Apple’s terms and conditions user agreement for iTunes as a graphic novel — all 20,699 dry, legalistic words?
You might think you know everything there possibly is to know about your iPhone, but there’s always something new to learn. These hidden iPhone features will save you time every single day.
The Activity app is one of Apple’s most important and powerful products. Its three brightly colored rings are changing people’s lives around the world, inspiring individuals to make healthier choices throughout their day.
The trouble is, if you want to use the Activity app, your only option right now is to buy an Apple Watch — and Apple Watches are expensive.
With this kind of game-changing product, Apple usually wants to reach as big an audience as possible. Take the iPod, for example. It was too expensive for some consumers. so Apple released a no-frills, sub-$99 version called the iPod Shuffle. Could a similar strategy work for the Activity app? An affordable activity band from Apple could be a Fitbit killer.
The rumor that Apple plans to switch to USB-C on all 2017 iPhones has been shot down by one of the most reliable Apple analysts in the game.
KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo sent a note to investors today claiming that all three new iPhone models supposedly set for release this fall will come with a Lightning port, not USB-C.
Apple designs its products with an affinity for creatives of all kinds. But a French artist known as Monsieur Plant uses Macs to take “Think Different” to another level.
The Apple computers used by Christophe Guinet, 39, are not the tools but the subject in a body of work that integrates life-giving plant matter with life-altering technology.
I’ve never been a fan of Beats headphones. Whenever I’ve given them a go, I’ve found the sound quality to be less than stellar, with far too much bass. So when Apple unveiled Beats X wireless headphones alongside the AirPods last fall, the weird-looking white ones grabbed my attention.
Now that I’ve had a chance to try them both, it’s clear I got that backward. I give you all the details on Beats X versus AirPods in my Beats X review below.
It’s the iPhone’s tenth anniversary this year, which means there’s no chance Apple is going to deliver another incremental upgrade with an all too familiar design. We’re expecting big things from the so-called iPhone 8 — including a complete face-lift.
Here are our gorgeous concepts for the iPhone 8 based on everything we know so far.
Apple managed to shock Wall Street today by beating its own expectations for Q1 2017, the most profitable quarter in the company’s history.
There was good news all around as iPhone sales, services and even the Mac all performed better than predicted. During today’s earnings call, Tim Cook and Apple CFO Luca Maestri revealed some of the secret sauce that made Apple’s earnings one for the history books.
Here are the top takeaways from today’s call.
Apple gave developers their first look at the next big update for iOS 10 yesterday, and it packs a surprising number of new features.
The public will have to wait a few weeks (or months) to get their hands on the new goodies packed inside iOS 10.3, which brings improvements for AirPods, iPads and more.
Here are all the new additions coming soon to iOS devices near you.
