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Apple has been treading lightly with Wall Street in recent months. The company’s stock has continued to nosedive despite reporting record earnings for the last quarter. Many investors have been urging Apple to do something with its $137 billion cash hoard. Shareholders want a return on their investments.

Greenlight Capital, a prominent and influential Apple investor, has called Apple out for its proposal to eliminate preferred stock. Apple started paying a quarterly dividend of $2.65 per share last year, but investors want something more substantial. Greenlight Capital’s David Einhorn believes that “preferred shares would be a way to reward investors without putting the company at risk.”

Apple has officially responded with a press release:

Remember bookmarks? It’s how we used to save sites to go back to later. In theory anyway. Browser bookmark search was pretty terrible, and you had to remember the name of the site to find it again. So we mostly just used Google to search for a site every time we wanted to go there.

And then came Del.icio.us.

The problem with inboxes isn’t just that the mail piles up in them. Without constant vigilance, inboxes fester.

That message you meant to get back to gets buried in a pile of PR pitches, or deal mailers, or unsolicited spam, until the prospect of doing something as simple as writing back to an email from a week ago becomes as onerous a task as snorkeling in a sewage tank. In a day and age where walking away from a computer for just a few hours can result in dozens of emails piling up, all of which have different priorities, email has undergone a horrible mutagenic transformation in the minds of most users: from a supremely useful communication tool to a digital black hole where information, once trapped, inescapably leaves the universe forever.

The idea behind Orchestra’s new iOS emailing app, Mailbox, is simple. As we know, inboxes fester without constant vigilance… so why not make remaining vigilant as easy and satisfying as ticking off items on a to-do list? That’s what Mailbox is in a nut shell: an app that takes the GTD ethos and gesture-based interface of an app like Clear and applies it to your inbox.

How well does it work? So well that we’re comfortable saying that if you get any volume of email, Mailbox is worth throwing any other iOS email client in the trash.

Shortly after the evasi0n jailbreak made its much-anticipated debut earlier this week, Apple pushed out its iOS 6.1.1 beta to registered developers. We suspected that the new release would patch the exploits that evasi0n used to hack iOS devices, but fortunately for the many millions of people enjoying its benefits, that’s not the case. At least not yet.

We say this often here at Cult of Mac: “This new whatsagizbob will change your life!” Perhaps we say it too often. But I can think of very, very few things I’ve seen where the phrase would ring as true as it does with Rabbit.

Rabbit is a videochat app and platform for Mac unlike anything you’ve seen, designed for immersive video socializing in groups, created by four ex-videogame developers, with mind-boggling attention to detail. You can even screencast movies, and share images and webpages over Rabbit.

And today, it’s been released as a closed beta (but read on to find out how to get your hands on a copy).

Although you probably wouldn’t usually call it a PC, the iPad is a personal computer. And it’s currently dominating the PC market. During the fourth quarter of 2012, every one in six PCs sold was an iPad, according to research firm Canalys. When you include the Mac as well, more than a third of worldwide PC shipments during the holiday quarter were from Apple.

BlackBerry — previously Research in Motion — launched the new BlackBerry Z10 last week, the first smartphone to run the company’s new BlackBerry 10 operating system. Originally set to launch in late 2012, the Z10 has been a long time coming for BlackBerry fans, and it’s a hugely important milestone for the Canadian company.

Many see this as BlackBerry’s last hope of survival in today’s cutthroat smartphone market. It’s been rapidly losing market share to Android and iOS devices over the past five years, and it hasn’t evolved quick enough to put up any sort of a fight. But it’s better later than never.

BlackBerry 10’s here now, and with the help of the Z10 — and later the Q10 — it’s going to be trying to persuade you to give up your iPhone or Android-powered smartphone in favor of a brand new platform. But is it good enough?

I’m a long-time iOS user who recently made the switch to Android, and I’ve been really curious to see if the Z10 is any good. I’ve been using the device almost exclusively since its release; here’s Cult Of Android’s review.

Apple has today announced that its iTunes Store has set yet another record as it surpasses more than 25 billion songs sold. The 25 billionth song to be downloaded was “Monkey Drums” by Chase Buch, and it was purchased by Phillip Lüpke from Germany, who will receive a €10,000 iTunes Gift Card from Apple.

As Apple matures iOS every year with new features, many worry that jailbreaking will lose its appeal. Are the glory days over? All signs point to no.

A highly-anticipated jailbreak called Evasi0n was unleashed yesterday for the full gambit of iOS devices, including the iPhone 5. So many people jailbroke at once that Cydia, the jailbreak alternative to the App Store, buckled under the weight for hours. Based on early traffic numbers, iOS 6 has been jailbroken by millions of users in less than two days. Evasi0n reveals that jailbreaking is far from dead.

It seems like every year it takes longer and longer to jailbreak the latest iPhone… which is because, ever since the release of the iPhone 3G, it has been true. To date, the number of days it takes for jailbreakers to release a public jailbreak for the latest iPhone has increased by an average of 67.58% every year… and the recent evasi0n jailbreak for all iOS 6.1 devices landed a record 136 days after the iPhone 5 went on sale.

Looking forward, we were curious what that meant for the iPhone 5S. Given historic trends, how long will it take jailbreakers to release a public jailbreak for Apple’s next phone? Here’s what we found.

Made from rare woods, leather, and nickel-plated aluminum, Element’s Ronin iPhone 5 case is definitely one of the most beautiful and finely crafted cases I’ve seen. But at $180, its price might be hard from some to swallow.

Can an iPad really replace a “proper” computer? Can a ten-inch, 128GB tablet do the work of an eleven-inch 128GB MacBook Air? The answer is yes. Kinda. If your work involves having two windows sitting permanently open side-by-side, then the iPad might not be for you (although you might consider whether you need both windows open together).

For most other regular workaday work type work, though. the iPad is ideal. And here’s our guide to replacing your Mac with an iPad. Specifically a Retina iPad, but you might even manage with a mini.

Back in 1997, Michael Dell famously said that if he were Apple, he’d “shut the company down and give the money back to the shareholders.” Now, Dell’s taking at least part of his own advice, having worked out a deal fifteen years later with Microsoft and Silver Lake Partners to buy back his company from shareholders and go private again.

Don’t get too excited, though. It’s not official yet.

The new 128GB iPad with Retina display is now available to order from the Apple online store. The device is priced from $799, and it’s currently shipping in 1-3 business days. You’ll also be able to find it in your local Apple retail store.

SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD/iWORLD 2013 – After my article last year about Macworld booth babes, I expected to find lots of models again this year at the show. But to my surprise, there were none to be found.

The reason surprised me, but makes total sense.

The Evasi0n jailbreak has been released for all devices capable of running iOS 6, including the iPhone 5 and iPad mini. You can download the free Evasion tool for Mac, Windows, or Linux. The jailbreaking process takes all of five minutes in most cases, and once completed, you have full access to Cydia.

Ready to get your jailbreak on? Here’s how to jailbreak your iOS 6 device with Evasi0n the right way:

Now that you’ve jailbroken your iOS device running iOS 6, it’s time to check out some tweaks and apps in Cydia, the jailbreak alternative to the App Store. There’s a lot of stuff to try in Cydia, and sometimes it can be hard to weed out of the very best tweaks from the rest.

We’ve gathered some jailbreak tweaks you need to take a look at on iOS 6:

The official iOS 6.1 Evasi0n jailbreak tool has been released for iOS devices. Evasi0n will jailbreak all iOS devices capable of running iOS 6.0-6.1, including the iPhone 5 and iPad mini. The only current device that is not supported is the third-gen Apple TV.

The Evad3rs, a group of prominent iOS hackers behind past jailbreaks, have released their free tool for iOS 6.1 online. There are Mac, Windows, and Linux versions.

The next big jailbreak is about to drop, and it will unchain nearly every iOS device Apple sells running the newly released iOS 6.1. We’re only a few days away from the 6.1 jailbreak now, and most bets are for a Sunday release.

There are a couple things you need to do before you jailbreak your device. Good thing Cult of Mac has you covered. Here is everything you need to know to get ready for the upcoming iOS 6.1 jailbreak:

If you’ve already jailbroken an iOS device running the latest iOS 6.1 software using the tethered jailbreak, then you won’t need to restore it and perform the whole process again to get an untethered jailbreak later today when evasi0n drops. Although this is recommended, you will be able to convert your existing jailbreak into an untethered one using a simple tweak available through Cydia.

iPad mini shipping times have today been reduced to just 1-3 business days at the Apple online store, which is the shortest wait the device has seen since it made its debut back in November. The new timescale currently applies only to the U.S. and Canadian stores at the moment, but it’s expected to roll out into other territories soon.

Despite rampant speculation that the official iOS 6.1 untethered jailbreak would be released on Sunday, February 3rd, it won’t actually be made available to the public until Monday, February 4th. The jailbreak is called Evasi0n, and it will be compatible with all iOS devices capable of running iOS 6.0-6.1. including the iPhone 5 and iPad mini.

The Evad3rs, a group of four hackers who have developed past jailbreaks, have been testing compatibility with different devices and iOS versions over the past few days. Compatibility tests have been successful, and the jailbreak is complete and nearly ready for public release.

Before you jailbreak your iOS device tomorrow, make sure to follow our guide on how to prepare. We’ll let you know as soon as the iOS 6.1 jailbreak drops. It’s only a matter of hours away!

Source: Evasi0n.com

At the opening of this year’s NFL season, we looked at how the iPad has become a popular training tool among many NFL teams. With the season over and the Super Bowl just days away, many players, coaches, and fans are already looking ahead towards the NFL draft in the spring and next season.

Next season, Apple’s tablet will be an even bigger part io the NFL and it may even revolutionize parts of the organization and even the sport of football itself. Here’s how.

SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD/iWORLD 2013 – Moscone West has been packed with exhibitors for the last three days as they peddle their latest wares to the Apple faithful. We combed through all the booths, and while there were a ton of underwhelming products, Macworld 2013 did feature some really cool stuff.

After some fierce debate among the Cult of Mac editors, we’ve settled on five things at Macworld 2013 that are truly deserving of a “Best of Macworld 2013” title. Without further adieu, here are our picks for the give best things at Macworld.

Apple made a “dent in the universe” with its 1984 Super Bowl ad for the upcoming Macintosh.

At least that was Steve Jobs’ intention, according to the opening scene of The Pirates of Silicon Valley.

Whether all this universe denting was just Jobs’ reality distortion field or an actual change in human culture depends on your corporate loyalties, or lack thereof.

Any debate over the cultural impact of the Macintosh really boils down to how much of the graphical user interface revolution was determined or influenced by Apple, and how much of it would have happened regardless.

Because there’s no question that the shift from command-line computing to WIMP computing (windows, icons, menus and pointing-devices) radically changed the world, leading, for example, to the web, which is the dominant WIMP interface to the formerly command-line Internet.

WIMP computing also enabled powerful new tools for software programming, design (of everything), animation and a bazillion other things.

WIMP computing, and to some extent the Macintosh itself, really did make a dent in the universe, but not in the way most people imagine.