CultCast Christmas fan art courtesy of listener & iPad Artist Matthew Hall! (@RozHall)
On this week’s CultCast, we’re ending the year with our favorite gear! Don’t miss our “End of Days, Faves ‘N Raves,” where pitch our favorite apps, accessories, games, even shows, of 2012.
But before that, we’ll break down the whole Instagram debacle for you, and tell you why you should be paying attention to the big I’s plans for your personal pics.
All that and Tim Cook, person of the year?
Join us, friends! Subscribe to The CultCast now on iTunes, or easily stream new and previous episodes via Apple’s free Podcasts App.
Blake Krikorian, the guy who made the Slingbox, founded a new startup last year called “id8 Group R2 Studios.” Since then, R2 Studios has released an Android app for controlling a home’s heating and lightning with Cestron. The firm also owns some secretive patents relating to remote device and interface control.
According to a new from The Wall Street Journal, a number of big tech companies (including Google and Apple) have been in talks with R2 Studios about a possible buyout:
In retrospect, "Safari" seems like a pretty fine name for a web browser.
Over at his blog, Don Melton — the guy behind Safari and WebKit — has a fascinating post up about the many possible names Apple CEO Steve Jobs tested on friends and colleagues for the company’s web browser before settling on “Safari.”
They were all terrible. “Freedom” was one strong candidate, among other terrible options like “Alexander” and “iBrowse.”
The European Commission’s Vice President for Competition Policy, Joaquín Almunia, has confirmed that it will charge Samsung “very soon” in an antitrust patent case after the Korean electronics giant broke competition rules by filing patent-infringement lawsuits against Apple. Samsung has been under investigation since January for a possible breach of antitrust rules, and earlier this week, it dropped all of its injunction requests against Apple in Europe.
Back in July, Apple purchased acres and acres of land surrounding its campus in the heart of Austin, Texas. It was later reported that Apple was making a $304 million investment to grow its operations in Austin and bring an additional 3,600 jobs to the area.
Now Apple has broken ground on its 39-acre Texan campus in an effort to expand its growing U.S. Operations Center.
Believe it or not, Christmas is almost here, and we’ll mark this midwinter festival by getting together with friends and family and continuing to drink and eat far too much.
Meanwhile, we also buy gifts for those same friends and family members, whether they want them or not. Luckily, we’re here to help, and if you follow our festive advice, your gifts just might make it into the “wanted” category.
From now until Christmas, Cult of Mac will be putting together holiday gift guys full of ideas for the special ones in your life, no matter what their interests or your budget. Today, we’re looking at gifts that cost less than $50. Yes, you can appear to be a big spender, but without actually spending that much.
Apple’s much-anticipated television set has entered its initial testing phase at Hon Hai Precision Industry, a company source has revealed. It’s expected to feature a display between 46 inches and 55 inches in size, and shipments are likely to be “huge.” Don’t expect to have one in your living room anytime soon, however; it doesn’t look like it’s going to get its grand unveiling during 2013.
Just a week ago, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo began slyly hinting that Apple would be building a 3.2 million square foot computer chip factory somewhere in his state. This project is known as Project Azalea.
But not so fast. Now a new report has popped up saying that New York isn’t the destination of Apple’s massive new fab plant, but Oregon is instead.
Are you one of the many people unhappy with your new iPad mini’s low-res screen? Good morning! Here’s a handful of salt in your wound. Apple may already be revving up retina iPad mini production, according to a tenuous new analyst report.
When we see companies shamelessly ripping off Apple’s brand, designs and trademarks, we usually think of any number of tiny Chinese knock-off makers (or Samsung).
Now, though, the Brazilians appear to be getting in on the action, as a Brazil-based electronics maker is now planning on launching a new line of Android smartphones that they are calling IPHONES. Yes, really.
I’ve been a fan of Wunderlist for a long time. When it comes to task managers, it has just always been one of the best. Today it has been taken to the next level. In version 2, Wunderlist has been redesigned and rebuilt into a native application on all devices. The app is faster with more features, a web version, and a social experience that makes sharing and collaborating on lists feel smooth as butter.
6Wunderkinder, the Berlin-based company behind Wunderlist, recently canned another app called Wunderkit. The collaborative, team-focused backbone of Wunderkit has been infused into Wunderlist 2. Whether you want to get things done by yourself or with the help of others, Wunderlist 2 is an excellent task manager for all of your devices.
Korean electronics giant Samsung has today announced that it will drop its patent-infringement lawsuits against Apple in Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. The announcement comes just hours after Apple was denied its request to have 26 Samsung devices banned in the United States — though the two cases are unrelated.
We’ve had many deals of note here at Cult of Mac for quite some time, but this is one is “noteworthy” in the most literal sense of the word!
The Ultimate Music Bundle offers 8 top music applications (including TuneUp) for a fraction of the regular price. You’d normally pay $355 for all of these apps, but Cult of Mac Deals has it for you for a mere $39!
Apple is looking to evolve its own Maps app in iOS 6 by potentially partnering with Foursquare to provide local listings, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal. Talks between Apple and Foursquare are still in the early “preliminary” stages, according to the report, but Apple is definitely interested in what Foursquare has to offer.
Yelp is already integrated into iOS 6 Maps, and Apple partners with other services to offer more than 100 million business listings. A partnership with Foursquare could help enrich Apple’s location data and even help fix inaccuracies in iOS 6 Maps.
Believe it or not, Christmas is almost here, and we’ll mark this midwinter festival by getting together with friends and family and continuing to drink and eat far too much.
Meanwhile, we also buy gifts for those same friends and family members, whether they want them or not. Luckily, we’re here to help, and if you follow our festive advice, your gifts just might make it into the “wanted” category.
From now until Christmas, Cult of Mac will be putting together holiday gift guys full of ideas for the special ones in your life, no matter what their interests or your budget. Today, we’re looking at gifts that cost less than $100, for people you like quite a lot, but not that much.
It’s December, a traditionally slow news month, and it seems this December is even slower than most, because even organizations as solidly grounded in reality as All Things D are now posting elaborate wishful thinking exercises about what the much rumored Apple HDTV will actually be. This one, however, is more interesting and plausible than some… at least in a few key regards.
The iPhone 5 officially went on sale in China only a few short days ago, and tonight Apple announced that sales topped 2 million during the first three days of availability.
When Apple originally started selling the iPhone 5 back in September, the handset sold 5 million units during launch weekend in 9 nine countries, including the United States. Just like the domestic launch, this initial turnout in China shows incredible demand for the iPhone 5.
Google Maps for iPhone was basically a hit before it even launched in the App Store. Anticipation was so high leading up to the release last week that the app shot to the top of the App Store’s charts in only a few hours. Given the widespread criticism of Apple Maps in iOS 6, Google Maps is a breath of fresh air for those that miss the iOS Maps of old.
While Google Maps may be great in its own right, Apple’s restrictions mean that it cannot replace the new, default Maps app in iOS 6. You can choose to use Google Maps for iOS whenever you want, but map links and directions in other apps will always open Apple Maps no matter what.
Luckily, jailbreakers now have a way to make the new Google Maps replace Apple Maps and become the default app of choice. If you’re wonderinghow to make Google Maps default on iPhone, there are methods to set it as your preferred navigation tool.
We’re very stingy with our five-star ratings, and it’s even more rare for us to slap all five onto a gadget. So pay attention — because today we’re awarding the full five stars to the Logitech UE Boombox ($250), a portable, battery-equipped, eight-driver Bluetooth speaker that sounds absolutely astounding. In fact, the Boombox does a better job of rocking out than some non-portable, home systems costing much more.
We’re all busy people, but around this time of year that level of “busy-ness” seems to increase exponentially. We seem to have less hours in the day, and that means we need to make the most out of each and every minute. And your Mac can help you do that – with the right apps in place, that is.
There’s no better opportunity than now to start building your software stack than with today’s Cult of Mac Deals offer. The Mac Variety Bundle 2.0 from Macbundler includes 9 top Mac apps valued at $527 for the amazingly low price of just $45! That’s a savings of 91%!
These Scosche Realm RH656 ($130) headphones compete in the same league as with headphones like the Beats (formerly Monster) Solo HD, the Incase Reflex and the Fanny Wang 1000 Series. These ‘phones have a lot in common: they have smallish earcups that sit on the ear, instead of over; they all have track and volume controls (remember though that the volume control won’t work on Android devices); and they’ve all had a dash of fashion added.
But there are some key differences too. And as you’re about to find out, the RH656 does pretty well against its competition.
Have you been waiting for Google Maps to come back to the App Store before you update to iOS 6? Given the incredibly harsh media attention that Apple Maps has received since iOS 6 went live back in September, you’d think that there would be a significant number of users holding out for Google Maps to make its triumphant return.
Since the release of Google Maps a few days ago, there hasn’t been a noticeable spike in iOS 6’s adoption rate. In fact, it’s had no real impact on users updating to iOS 6 at all. Was the ‘Mapplegate‘ fiasco really that exaggerated?
It’s that time of year again. A time where we are getting busier and busier by the hour. A time where there doesn’t seem to be enough time in the day. And a time where stellar deals come along all across the web.
But very few of these deals pack a ton of apps that not only offer a little something for everyone, but they all offer the ability to save significant pockets of time for everyone as well. That’s what The Mac Productivity Bundle 3.0 does, and while the regular price of all 9 apps would be $1150 if sold separately, Cult of Mac Deals has it for just $50!
Microsoft told AllThingsD this week that the company has insisted that Apple lower its 30 percent cut for Office 365 subscriptions sold through Microsoft Office for iOS.
Microsoft probably assumes that since they have such an iron grip on the office suite market — in most industries, you’re essentially required to use office, or at least share Office-compatible files — that they’re “special,” and deserve a better deal than tiny software and app companies that aren’t massively profitable corporations.
I think that not only should Apple stick to its current position of saying no to this request, they should go further. Much further. They should try to replace Microsoft Office as the de facto standard for Office software with iWork — to kill Office as the global standard.
The late Apple founder and CEO Steve Jobs used to talk a lot about “changing the world.” And he did. But what has Apple done for the world lately?
I’ve got a great new way for Apple to truly make the world a truly better place: Kill Microsoft Office.
First I’m going to tell you why Microsoft Office deserves to die. Then I’m going to tell you how Apple could do it.
