LAS VEGAS — With the throng of tech bloggers covering CES, it’s not often that the heavily covered show hands us a surprise — but here’s one.
Netatmo, the French outfit best known for its fancy cloud-connected micro/personal Weather Station (and now also a device that measures your level of sun exposure), is about to add a hard-core new component: a rain gauge.
LAS VEGAS, CES 2014 – We’ve been hearing for months that Apple may or may not launch a larger screen iPad in 2014, but this afternoon Samsung tried to get a jump on the competition with its new lineup of PRO Galaxy and Note tablets for the common working man, and in typical Samsung fashion, they’re busting out a couple of screen sizes, including a 12.2inch monster.
LAS VEGAS — Not to be confused with “Blue Steel” from Zoolander, the Pebble smartwatch brand is branching out into the more premium, classic world of timepieces with Pebble Steel.
Announced today at CES, Pebble’s new watch has the same OS current owners know, but the physical materials have been upgraded from plastic to CNC-machined stainless steel. With a new developer SDK and its own app store on the near horizon, Pebble is leading the smartwatch race. But does it have what it takes to make the smartwatch cool?
LAS VEGAS — Maybe tech journalists are prone to ADHD, and simply attracted to things that flit about. Or maybe the rest of the gadgets strewn about the room at CES Unveiled, the press-only event that customarily kicks off CES for journalists, just weren’t all that zingy this year. Or maybe Parrot‘s Lilliputian drone really is that cool.
Whatever the reason, Parrot’s new MiniDrone — a miniaturized version of their AR Drone with no camera but detachable wheels that let it roll about on the ground or “climb” a wall — drew throngs of tech bloggers and had camera crews lined up to film.
The New Year is finally upon us, and while your resolutions to eat less and run more are admirable, they’re certainly not a lot of fun. So to kick off the year we’ve teamed up with Aio Wireless to hook up one lucky reader with a brand new blue cyan iPhone 5c.
Entering the contest is certainly easier than your newfound commitment to stop munching your fingernails and to make the prize even better, Aio is tossing in a free month of unlimited talk, text, and data on its contract-free 4G LTE network.
Here’s how to win the iPhone 5c:
If you were a kid in the 1970’s or 1980’s, you probably had a Trapper Keeper, a famously popular line of loose-leaf binders and folders featuring velcro flaps and bright, colorful, kitschy designs. Trapper Keepers are still out there, but they’ve lost a lot of their cool kid cachet over the last couple decades… but if you grew up in their heyday, just the site of a Trapper Keeper is enough to bring a smile to your lips.
Over at If Industries, a Seattle-based maker of Etsy gear, they have mocked up an awesome look at what an officially sanctioned Trapper Keeper iPad case would look like, right down to the retro-tastic Back to the Future and Lisa Frank designs. And there’s even an embedded Bluetooth keyboard in each one!
Apple acquired today a one-man startup called SnappyLabs for an undisclosed amount.
The startup makes just one product: A 99-cent iPhone app called SnappyCam.
Apple hasn’t said why they acquired SnappyLabs, and probably won’t say. But such an acquisition would make sense as both an aqui-hire of founder and sole employee John Papandriopoulos (pictured), who has a PhD in electrical engineering, and also an IP purchase of the amazing thing that Papandriopoulos built.
Here’s what Apple bought and why it makes perfect sense that they bought it.
Cult of Mac Magazine wants to help you get it together in 2014: you are probably already using your iPhone, iPad and Mac to track the bejesus out of your habits, right? We’re calling it iFitness (*yeah, I know!) because Apple devices have kickstarted a new way of thinking about and monitoring everything we do.
But maybe in between logging your couch to 5K you’ve discovered that your iPhone isn’t always the best running partner — or that it still can’t kick you out that line for the cronuts.
Cult of Mac talked to a bunch of fitness experts, including personal trainers, on how to make sure your iPhone or iPad and those apps you love can help you reach goals you’ve set yourself for this new year and lessen the more painful fitness fails.
Reporter Sarah Stirland also examines the growing body of health-related apps and discovers what’s on the horizon for this burgeoning business and why doctors are keen on keeping track of patients this way.
I’m a huge fan of Rickshaw’s bags. Pretty much everyone in the Rickshaw office cycles to work, and it shows in the design of the bags. They’re well made, practical and light, but still full of clever design details. The Commuter 2.1 is no exception, somehow managing to offer a huge collection of pickets and cubbyholes, and yet remaining light enough to be more comfy on the shoulder than many more simple messenger bags.
Want to know more? Read on:
The Consumer Electronics Show used to be the premier trade show for the unveiling of major products from big tech companies. But it’s been years since Apple made an official appearance at the Las Vegas convention, and recently the show’s relevance has been questioned as titans like Google and Microsoft have packed up their booths.
Still, Apple’s presence will be strong at International CES 2014, most significantly in the iLounge Pavilion, a sprawling section of the massive show floor that houses hundreds of Apple accessory makers. It’s bigger than last year, even if the actual number of exhibitors has shrunk.
Having previously been labeled the “least green” tech company by Greenpeace due to its reliance on coal at data centers, Apple is keen to live up to its “force for good” mantra by demonstrating the environmental credentials of its products.
And when you’re speaking about the Mac Pro, those credentials are pretty damn impressive.
With the iOS 7 jailbreak finally worth installing on newer iPhones and iPads, it seems the floodgates have finally been opened.
Virtual Home is one of the first Touch ID based jailbreak tweaks available for the iPhone 5s. Working with the Touch ID sensor, Virtual Home can help save wear and tear on the iPhone’s Home button by eliminating a large percentage of button presses. Instead users can replicate much of the functionality of the Home button simply by touching it.
Forget Black Friday or Cyber Monday, New Year in Japan is the time of choice for retailers and shoppers alike — since this means Fukubukuro.
Literally translating as “lucky bag”, fukubukuro gives stores a chance to make room for incoming stock and drum up some publicity by selling off inventory at a massively discounted rate. The catch? That customers hand over their money for a grab bag they have no idea of the contents of.
If you’ve looking for a great sounding deal during the holidays, then with no further. The Merry Mac Bundle: Beats + Media Edition features 8 killer apps that will make your Mac handle allsorts of media like a pro. And the best part? Cult of Mac Deals has it for 95% off the regular price – only $34.99 – during this very limited time offer.
Apple denies working with the National Security Agency to create a backdoor into the iPhone and other products that would give the spy agency access to users’ data.
The denial is a response to leaked NSA documents published yesterday from 2008 that detail a backdoor into the iPhone called “DROPOUTJEEP.” The spyware is able to intercept data like the iPhone’s SMS messages, contacts, location, and more after being installed.
2013 was an enormous year for Apple. Yes, there were hyped keynotes galore, fabulous new products, record breaking sales, and much, much more. But 2013 was about more than just hardware for Apple Inc. During Tim Cook’s second full-year reigning over Apple we saw the CEO really settle into his role helming the largest tech company in the world while Jony Ive’s influence grew to greater heights than in the Jobs-era as he spread his design tentacles from hardware to software.
Jony and Tim weren’t the only stars of 2013 though. There was the up-and-coming VP of software engineering Craig Federighi and Craig Federighi’s Hair, while Apple’s hiring of Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts received heaps of praise from both the financial, tech, and fashion markets. Oh and don’t forget about goons like David Einhorn, Carl Icahn and even cranky old John McCain getting their jabs in at Apple throughout the year.
Here’s Cult of Mac’s look back on Apple in the year 2013:
As we approach the end of 2013, it’s time to take a look back and pay some recognition to some of the finest apps that have hit the App Store over the past 12 months.
It’s not easy to build a successful iOS app anymore — with over 1 million of them in the App Store, competition has never been tougher — but some developers have proven it’s still possible to stand out among the crowd with titles that are either completely unique, or just far greater than their rivals.
We’ve picked 15 that you really shouldn’t miss.
iOS 7 adoption is currently stealing 1 percentage point away from iOS 6 every week.
That’s according to Apple who have just updated their iOS adoption figures, presenting the data on its developers’ support page. Apple first reported iOS 7 numbers based on App Store usage on December 1, when 74 percent of users were on iOS 7, compared to 22 percent on iOS 6, and 4 percent on earlier versions.
The iPhone won’t officially launch on China Mobile until January 17, but the world’s largest mobile carrier has already begun accepting preorders for the iPhone 5s and 5c.
In terms of numbers, analysts Wedge Partners place the preorder figure at around 100,000 for the first two days of availability.
It’s at least six months until Apple reveals iOS 8, and probably nine months until we see the iPhone 6 for the first time, but that hasn’t stopped Eric Vasille of iPhonesoft from imaging what the iPhone 6 and iOS 8 will look like.
Have you ever wanted to easily run Windows applications & PC games on your Mac? Well, you can…and thanks to this Cult of Mac Deals offer you can do so at a price that makes choosing to do so a whole lot easier.
CrossOver 13 allows you to install Windows software right onto your Mac without a Windows license, without rebooting, and without a virtual machine. Your Windows applications and games integrate seamlessly on your Mac OS X and run alongside your other Mac applications. And Cult of Mac Deals has this revolutionary piece of software available for a limited time for just $29.99.
The U.S. National Security Agency has spyware designed to grant backdoor access to the iPhone specifically, according to leaked documents shared by high-profile security researcher Jacob Appelbaum and German publication Der Spiegel.
While speaking at the Chaos Communication Congress in Germany, Appelbaum shared his knowledge of “DROPOUTJEEP,” a top-secret NSA program that can intercept an iPhone’s SMS messages, contacts, location, camera, and microphone.
In addition to all the new products of 2013, the past year was a whir of activity in the vintage Apple space. Apple may be content to only move forward and deny existence of any products older than seven years – what do you mean my first generation MacBook Pro is vintage??? – but the public has not forgotten them.
The biggest retro news of the year was probably the ascendancy of the Apple 1 on the auction block. In May, an Apple 1 fetched a record price of $671,000 at an auction in Germany – until just recently the highest price ever paid for a personal computer. Other Apple 1s sold this year in the $300,000 range, so if you are lucky enough to have one of these oldies-but-goodies in your attic, dig it out now!
Remember when Tim Cook said it was going to be an iPad Christmas?
According to the latest analytics data from research group Flurry, it looks like he was spot-on.
It was widely reported in January that Apple was in talks to buy Waze, an Israeli startup with a hugely popular maps app. Waze was rumored to be asking Apple for $750 million. The same outlet that broke the acquisition rumor quickly backpedaled and said no such deal was taking place. Google ended up buying Waze in June for $1 billion.
And so goes the buyout game in Silicon Valley, a power play where tech giants like Apple and Google court hot startups with the hopes of adding them to their war chests.
Apple had its biggest year ever for acquisitions in 2013, with a record 15 smaller companies joining the fold. A dozen of them have now been publicly disclosed.
For an entity as secretive as Apple, examining the companies it buys is one of the only ways to peek into its future plans. When AuthenTec, a company that specialized in fingerprint readers and identification software, was purchased in July 2012, speculation immediately followed. What did Apple want with fingerprint sensors? The answer ended up being obvious, and the technology debuted in Touch ID in September 2013.
Often the outcome of an Apple acquisition isn’t so immediately apparent.
Historically, Apple acquires far fewer companies than its competitors. But the line is starting to blur. Google publicly bought three times as many companies as Apple in 2012 and not even twice as many in 2013. Apple bought more companies than Microsoft in 2013.
So what does all of this say about Apple’s future?