I used to live the classic geek lifestyle, forever hunched over a MacBook, munching on comfort food. Until one day cancer forced me to take my health more seriously.
Now I run marathons and lift weights for fun. But the geek is still strong in me. From GPS watches to bioelectrical impedance analyzers, I’ve used pretty much every kind of fitness gadget.
Here’s the story of how fitness gear helped me get in shape for the first time in my life and swap my middle-aged dad bod for a six pack.
The App Store is a busy place, and it’s easy to miss an awesome new release, much less an update to an old app that makes it worthy of re-downloading.
That’s why we’ve done the work for you and collected the very best new app releases from the past week.
When you’re ranting about Apple and its products, don’t forget to breathe.
One incredibly angry man learned that crucial lesson the hard way: His profanity-laden diatribe about the Apple Watch ended when he broke into a coughing fit. You can see the whole NSFW rant and its shocking twist ending below.
With Apple Watch still sold out and Google reportedly gearing up to deliver Android Wear support for iPhone at Google I/O next week, it’s time for two of the hottest wearable platforms to face off.
Apple Watch is selling 30,000 units every day in the U.S., according to the latest reports, which makes it significantly hotter than any of the Android Wear watches we’ve seen so far. But is it really worth the hype?
Find out what we think in this week’s Friday Night Fight with Cult of Android versus Cult of Mac!
Believe it or not, it’s been nearly a decade since The Cult of Mac got published. The book, by our fearless leader Leander Kahney, took readers on a deep dive into the world of Apple fanatics around the world. It introduced us to the creative and talented tribe of individuals devoted to Macs, iPods and all things dreamed up in Cupertino.
Now that seminal work about Apple devotees is ready for an update. As he gets ready to embark on a year of fresh reporting before writing the next chapter in Cult of Mac history, he’s revisiting the original text. And having a laugh, as you’ll see in this week’s edition of Kahney’s Corner.
If you’ve long found yourself unable to communicate effectively with your friends because of the lack of “bacon,” “shark” and “man in tuxedo” emojis, you could be in luck next year.
That’e because the Unicode Consortium, aka the Mountain View, California-based organization that standardizes characters and emoji across different operating systems — is set to add 38 all-new emojis to its Unicode 9.0 update.
Arriving in June 2016, they should find their way onto iOS not long after. Here’s what you can expect:
After the disaster of the Samsung S5, Samsung was counting on the Galaxy S6 to lead its way back to the top — with some people even throwing around terms like “iPhone killer” as a description of the new flagship handset.
According to a new report, however, the next-gen Samsung Galaxy device is faring even worse than its predecessor — boasting sales of just 10 million units so far, which is about what the iPhone 6 managed in its first weekend.
It all adds up to a massive strategy fail on Samsung’s part.
Console game developers are trying to break into mobile, and they’re using casual genres to break into the scene.
For instance, when gamers hear about Insomniac Games, they might think of classic platform games like Ratchet and Clank, first-person shooters like Resistance: Fall of Man or next-gen console title Sunset Overdrive. What those hypothetical gamers might not think of is a match-three or endless runner iPhone game. But game makers can’t afford to ignore the mobile scene these days and Insomniac is no different, as evidenced by the company’s new tower-defense game, Bad Dinos.
“It’s obviously a huge market,” Brian Hastings, chief creative officer at Insomniac Games, told Cult of Mac, “and we’re seeing an entire generation of players who are getting into mobile first, before anything else.”
So, you’ve got your Apple Watch and you want to show off that cool new watch face customization, or the screen of one of the games you’re playing.
Sure, you could take a picture of your Apple Watch on your wrist with your iPhone, but that’s sorta silly. Plus your arm might be super-hairy and someone will make fun of you.
Here’s how to just take an Apple Watch screenshot so you can show off and yet still remain tease-free.
Is Apple preparing to deliver a refreshed iPhone 5c? A product image on its own online store shows what could be a new iPhone 6c sitting atop the new Lightning iPhone dock. The device carries the same plastic back we’re already familiar with, as well as a Touch ID sensor.
Google has rolled out a nifty new Maps update for mobile that brings better traffic alerts that will be issued while you drive, and the ability to find alternate routes. The update comes just in time for Memorial Day, which is one of the busiest driving days of the year.
If the multiple worlds theory of quantum mechanics is correct, there is a universe out there somewhere in which Apple slavishly copies every move Samsung makes in the handset department.
A new iPhone 7 concept by designer Hasan Kaymak shows us what that parallel world would look like by demonstrating an iPhone with an edge-to-edge display much like the one Samsung uses for its current Galaxy S6 Edge.
As pointless gimmicks go, it’s actually a pretty neat one.
When Icelandic developer Thorsteinn Fridriksson unleashed QuizUp on the world in late 2013, the last thing he expected was that the trivia app’s questions would turn into the nerdy equivalent of Cupid’s arrows. However, a surprising number of people who fell in love with the app also fell in love with each other.
“Very soon after we launched, we started hearing about people connecting on the platform,” Fridriksson told Cult of Mac. “You’d be amazed at how many QuizUp couples there are — people who literally met each other because they shared interests in the game.”
Now QuizUp is poised to pivot, taking advantage of its innate ability to connect players — whether for love, friendship or just a killer trivia smackdown. Today’s update marks the biggest and riskiest change in QuizUp’s history, as the multiple-choice game relaunches with a new focus on social networking.
Crazily enough, it just might work.
Promising users access to as many free movies as they wanted via a torrent-streaming website, Popcorn Time’s newly-launched web app was as sweet as a bag of popcorn — and lasted about as long.
Launching just this week, Popcorn Time on Your Browser’s servers were apparently overwhelmed as the site went viral quicker than anyone had anticipated.
Yes, a site offering high quality streaming Hollywood movies for no money whatsoever proved popular — we’re shocked too!
Photo-hosting site Flickr is taking some heat today over some unfortunate tags automatically showing up on users’ pictures. Specifically, the auto-tagging program has described people (of various races) as “animals” and identified concentration camps as “jungle gyms” and “sport.”
The auto-tag system remains in place, but some users want it gone.
If you’re trying to update your Apple Watch software to the latest version, you might get stuck. Some users are reporting that the update starts and then just seems to hang there, like a diver never quite ready to take the plunge.
If your update is hanging without any error message, the fix might be simpler than you thought.
Apple Watch hasn’t even been out for a month yet but it may have already claimed its first victim in the war for your wrist.
Smartwatch maker Pebble is in big trouble and has applied for a $5 million loan from a Silicon Valley bank to stay afloat, according to a new report that claims the company is having a hard time maintaining growth.
An iOS developer claims the latest version of their app has been rejected by Apple solely because a screenshot dared to mention the forbidden word “Android.”
It’s hardly noticeable — you’ll need to squint to see it — but Apple allegedly wants it gone just in case it reminds iPhone and iPad users that other platforms are available.
Microsoft has inadvertently leaked plans to release a new chat app for iPhone called Flow, which will allow users to have “rapid email conversations.” The service will be a part of Outlook, but it will focus on quick communication with “no subject lines, salutations, or signatures.”
The Apple Watch on your wrist is a miniature computer. As such, it might get wonky from time to time. It might freeze, apps might not load all the way or it might just get slow — especially if you haven’t downloaded today’s Apple Watch software upgrade, which brings various performance enhancements and bug fixes.
When your watch is getting wonky, it’s good to know how to force a restart, powering your Apple Watch down and back up again to reset its internal workings. Here’s how.
Apple launched a number of new Macs through the Apple Online Store today, including a 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro with Force Touch and a more-affordable 5K iMac. They all boast faster Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors, as expected, and they’re shipping in just one business day.
The Apple-watching world lost its shiz yesterday when Obama made his first tweet from his brand-new presidential Twitter account using an iPhone. But don’t get too excited, because the White House has revealed that the phone in question isn’t Obama’s regular handset after all.
Which prompts the question, “Who did it belong to?” Maybe Apple should commission JFK director Oliver Stone to shoot an advert/paranoid conspiracy thriller on the subject of the Obama iPhone.
The iPhone is a distracting gadget. There’s texting, Facebook and a dozen-odd games I keep on the thing. I’m constantly being notified that there is something new to look at, a new Instagram post, a new Twitter reply, a new email.
Sometimes I just want to get away from it all, but I keep my iPhone with me all the time because, essentially, it makes sure I’m able to make a phone call in an emergency.
Now there’s a new Kickstarter project that aims to let you leave your iPhone at home but still remain connected with the one essential function: phone calls. The Light Phone is “a credit card-sized cell phone designed to be used as little as possible. The Light Phone is your phone away from phone.”
That sounds pretty neat, actually. Too bad I hate making phone calls.
If you’ve spent any time with an Apple Watch, you might have noticed that it notifies you quite a bit. There’s the ubiquitous Stand Up commands, notifications from Messages, Calendar and the like, and then all the third-party apps that send you taps all day long.
If you chose to have your Apple Watch mirror your iPhone’s Do Not Disturb schedule, at least it will stop bugging you during those hours, but what if you just need to stop the notifications right now on your Apple Watch?
Here’s how to do just that.
Tidal CEO and former Samsung sellout Jay Z may have wiped himself off the list of celebrities set to receive a complimentary Apple Watch, thanks to a vicious freestyle rap aimed at Apple, Spotify and YouTube.