After turning your device on and off throughout the day it can be easy to get tired of your lock screen. While normal wallpapers can offer you a basic lock screen experience, the app FancyLock can offer so much more. Create your own personalized lock screens in seconds, thanks to tons of cool themes.
Take a look at FancyLock and find out what you think.
This is a Cult Of Mac video review of the iOS application FancyLock brought to you by Joshua Smith of “TechBytes W/Jsmith.”
A new patent, published Thursday, describes a method for carrying out wireless pairing and communication between Apple devices using biometric data.
The patent was filed August 31, 2012, and features several possible implementations of the technology, designed to increase security on Apple products.
It’s only been available for a couple of weeks, but iOS 7.0.6 already represents just over half of all iOS traffic.
The data was provided by Onswipe, a mobile publishing and monetization platform, and reveals that as of March 3, iOS 7.0.6 makes up 50.06% of traffic on all iOS platforms.
Popcorn Time is an open source app for Mac, Windows, and Linux that acts essentially like Netflix for streaming video torrents. The project is “the result of many developers and designers putting a bunch of APIs together to make the experience of watching torrent movies as simple as possible.”
Yes, it really works. Is it legal? That depends.
When going into the App Store it’s inevitable to find clone applications everywhere based off of the late “Flappy Bird”. While many clones can feel exactly like the original experience, the new app Jumpy Jack has taken a new twist on the gameplay genre. Are you up for the challenge in this fast paced game?
Take a look at Jumpy Jack and find out what you think.
This is a Cult Of Mac video review of the multi-platform application Jumpy Jack brought to you by Joshua Smith of “TechBytes W/Jsmith.”
Apple will finally discontinue the non-Retina MacBook Pro later this year, according to sources in its supply chain. Production is expected to come to a halt during the second half of 2014, reducing Apple’s notebook lineup to just the MacBook Air and the newer, thinner MacBook Pro with Retina display.
A waterproof case for your iPhone is more fun than you might think – especially one that is designed to fit onto any of a zillion different action mounts. And a waterproof case for your iPhone that also comes with a box of interchangeable lenses is even better.
Last summer I used a Griffin case to take photos in the pool, kayaking at the lake and in many other places I would never usually take a phone, let alone a camera. That case broke (thankfully not when it was submerged), and also took bad pictures thanks to the cheap plastic window over the iPhone lens.
The Optrix PhotoProX has no such problem, thanks to the proper, screw-on lenses. And its no slouch as a case, either. In fact, I’d say that not only is it the best waterproof iPhone case I’ve tested, it’s the best rugged iPhone case I’ve tried, too.
iOS 7.1 has already been expected to drop this month, and now a more specific timeframe has been given by Daring Fireball’s John Gruber. According to Gruber’s source, iOS 7.1 will be required to stream Apple’s SXSW iTunes Festival from its dedicated app.
Since the festival begins in a week on March 11th, that means iOS 7.1 should be released “any day now.”
The fifth developer beta of 7.1 was seeded a month ago, and Apple released iOS 7.0.6 with bug fixes a couple of weeks ago.
Source: Daring Fireball
This week Apple announced CarPlay, a rebranding of ‘iOS in the Car’ from WWDC last summer. The software is an extension of iOS that is designed for hands-free use of Siri, Apple Maps, Phone, Messages, and services like iTunes Radio.
While Apple’s focus with CarPlay is clearly on its own apps and services, the company has chosen to launch with four “select third-party audio apps.” It’s good news for the chosen four, but how Apple plans to work with other developers on CarPlay integration in the future remains unclear.
Apple has today announced that Peter Oppenheimer Apple, its senior vice president and chief financial officer, will retire at the end of September after 18 years with the Cupertino company. Oppenheimer will transition the role of CFO to Luca Maestri, Apple’s current vice president of finance and corporate controller. If you’re wondering about Peter Oppenheimer now, you can learn more about his career and contributions to Apple.
Jony Ive takes extra pains to keep his personal life private, but Leander’s book Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products shines a light in corners of Jony’s life and at Apple HQ that few have ever seen, especially when it comes to Apple’s design processes.
The book garnered praise from readers during its release last Fall, but we were super-giddy this afternoon to see that the world’s leading Apple analyst, Horace Dediu, just plowed through all 320 pages and says it’s the best book about Apple so far.
Jony Ive by Leander Kahney @lkahney The best book about Apple so far.
— Horace Dediu (@asymco) March 3, 2014
Over the last few years we’ve devoured Dediu’s insightful and intriguing Apple analysis on his site Asymco, but here’s what he had to say about the book:
We use our devices everyday tapping and swiping to perform the actions we need to. Effortlessly doing these things time after time, it’s only natural for us to become quite good at doing them. In the new fast-paced app Teggle you can put your gesture skills to the test. Do you think you have what it takes to get a high score?
Take a look at Teggle and find out what you think.
This is a Cult Of Mac video review of the iOS application Teggle brought to you by Joshua Smith of “TechBytes W/Jsmith.”
In the quiet foothills of Kentucky, a massive supercomputer is churning through data. It is hunting for new drugs to fight cancer.
Every week, the DataseamGrid processes 300 man-years worth of calculations. Yeah, that’s 300 years of calculations every week. Drug discovery usually takes 10 to 15 years, but the DataseamGrid blazes through that work in a fraction of the usual time. It is one of the largest pipelines of potential new cancer drugs in the country. Researchers here are about to start human trials this year of a new drug discovered by the supercomputer, which, if successful, may lead to an entirely new class of cancer drugs.
Samsung may have flashed a bit of cash to get Oscars host Ellen DeGeneres to appear on-stage with a Galaxy Note, but it seems that DeGeneres ditched the device backstage, as she was spotted tweeting out selfies using an iPhone.
@parislemon she’s using an iPhone backstage. pic.twitter.com/eRZlAVwq3S
— Sammy (@sbanawan) March 3, 2014
Last week at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, a curious, unexpected thing happened: I used an Eye-Fi Mobi card to shoot and share photos from my camera to my iPhone and it worked – almost flawlessly.
As regular readers will know, I have tried Eye-Fi’s cards over and over, both here and when I wrote for Wired’s Gadget Lab, and I could never get on with them. The problems ran from annoyances to plain bad design and broken functionality.
This time, though, the card came through. In fact, I couldn’t have covered the show so well without it. Read on to see how we covered the show.
As expected, Apple today announced that it is finally ready to launch its “iOS in the Car” iPhone integration setup for car infotainment systems.
Called CarPlay, Apple claims that it is “designed from the ground up to provide drivers with an incredible experience using their iPhone in the car.”
CarPlay is built primarily around Siri interactions, with voice commands and prompts giving users an “eyes-free” means of responding to incoming calls, dictating text messages, and accessing their music library. Apple’s Maps service is also an integral part of the system.
Tim Cook lashed out at shortsighted, bottom line-driven investors during Friday’s annual shareholders meeting — telling them to “get out of [Apple] stock.”
The exchange concerned the conservative think tank National Center for Public Policy Research, which was pushing Apple to disclose the cost of its sustainability programs, and the impact this had on the company’s earning power.
Cook was asked about Apple’s plans to have 100 percent of its power come from green sources — and whether this was the case only because of government subsidies on green energy.
Asked to commit point-blank to only pursuing moves immediately profitable to Apple, Cook responded with anger — noting that Apple does many things because they are right and just, and not simply about making a return on investment (ROI).
The Telegraph newspaper brought to light this week an apparently widespread practice in China in which broken old iPhones are stripped for parts, and functioning iPhones are built with those parts.
The newspaper called it a “scam,” because the sellers of such phones often lie and say they’re new. And in fact that is a scam.
Our own Buster Heine calls them “Frankenstein iPhones,” and that’s a monstrously good name for it.
But I call the general idea of a large-scale refurb effort one of the best ways to improve the environmental impact of a dangerously irresponsible industry.
If you buy an Apple TV by March 5th, you will receive a $25 iTunes gift card from Apple. The promotion began today and only works at Apple retail stores or through the company’s online store.
Apple rarely does deals like this, and the timing is interesting. A new Apple TV is rumored to come out as soon as March, and this time of year is when Apple has updated its set-top box in the past. But that doesn’t mean you should expect a new one in the near future.
App developers everywhere are posting their own clones of the hit app “Flappy Bird” to the App Store. While few have been able to publish their apps with many significant differences, the app developers behind the new app Flappy Fall have incorporated their own twist on the gameplay. Will you too become addicted to Flappy Fall?
Take a look at Flappy Fall and find out what you think.
This is a Cult Of Mac video review of the multi-platform application Flappy Fall brought to you by Joshua Smith of “TechBytes W/Jsmith.”
The Apple TV made a staggering $1 billion in sales in 2013. Tim Cook shared the news during Apple’s annual meeting with shareholders today in Cupertino, California.
“It’s a little more difficult to call it a hobby these days,” said Cook during the meeting. For years, Apple has referred to the Apple TV as a hobby, but the company’s tone towards the $99 product is starting to change.
Predicting the future of Apple is probably the no. 1 party game in Silicon Valley. The venerable Churchill Club, which has been gathering luminaries to discuss tech in Menlo Park since 1985, has assembled a panel of experts who have some real insight in to the days ahead for the Cupertino company.
This Tuesday, March 4, they’re hosting what will surely be lively and provocative conversation with four Apple authors titled: “Are Apple’s Best Days Ahead?” .
This week Cult of Mac Magazine looks into why your Mac gets crufty and what you can do about it.
You know how your friendly technician always tells you to just reboot the computer, but there’s got to be more to it than that, right?
The good news is there are some things you can do. And, perhaps, adopt some more efficient computing practices for yourself along the way to keep those nasty clog-ups at bay. Apple Certified Consultant Adam Rosen, aka our Mac RX columnist, will show you the four most common causes of slow, bogged-down Macs. Going through Adam’s quick fixes will give your Mac a much-needed tune up in less time than it would take to clear a path from your workbench to the car in your garage.
You’ll also get our top picks from the iTunes store for music, books, movies as well as the apps worth downloading, for reals, plus words of wisdom from an actual Apple Genius.
Comments? Suggestions? Complaints? Email me directly or from the “send” button top right.
Apple has won the dismissal of a 1.57 billion-euro ($2.2 billion) German lawsuit, relating to an IPCom patent it was supposedly infringing upon.
While no oral explanation has been given for the verdict, the court in Mannheim, Germany decided that Apple didn’t infringe on the property of IPCom, and also dismissed a similar case against mobile manufacturer HTC.
Apple has updated its Developer website to advise designers on how best to create iOS 7 optimized apps.
iOS 7 brought radical changes to Apple’s mobile OS when it was released in September 2013. In December, Apple announced that all new apps submitted to the App Store must be optimized for iOS 7 by February 1 — and this new tutorial helps explain just how this should be done.
Although some of the content has previously been available to access at Apple’s Developer website, a number of new documents address iOS 7 specifically. Some require users to be registered iOS developers, while others are available for public access.