This changed everything. Where were you when it was announced five years ago?
Today is the fifth anniversary of the release of the original iPhone, and for Cult of Mac’s writers, it’s a particularly important birthday: not only does June 29th mark the anniversary of one of our most all-time beloved gadgets, but it’s also a day so momentous that it has rippled through every aspect of our professional lives as both Apple fans and writers.
To mark the occasion, Cult of Mac’s writers got together to talk about where we were when the first iPhone came out, what it meant for us then and what it means for us now. Check out our stories, then please feel free to hop in and leave a comment telling us where you were when the iPhone was born.
MobileMe will be gone in less than a month. Here are the best MobileMe replacement options. Photo: Apple
On Sunday, MobileMe will be dead, and anyone who is still using MobileMe and not Apple’s replacement service, iCloud, will be forcibly evicted. That means anyone still using MobileMe either needs to transition to iCloud and/or copy all data stored in their MobileMe accounts to their Mac or PC. Any files stored in MobileMe’s range of services that can’t be converted to iCloud will be deleted. If you opt not to use iCloud, all data in your MobileMe account will be deleted.
Although iCloud offers several advances over MobileMe, there are some MobileMe services that don’t have direct iCloud equivalents. These include MobileMe Galleries for sharing photos and videos, website creation using Apple’s iWeb, and iDisk remote storage and file sharing. File and information sync is available using iCloud, but the functionality is implemented a bit differently than in MobileMe. In addition, users still using Snow Leopard also can’t upgrade to iCloud.
It’s a tricky problem for thousands of users. There isn’t a single online service that delivers quite the same mix of features and functionality that Apple offered with MobileMe, but by combining some apps and services, you can get pretty close to MobileMe’s feature set. We’ve gone through all of the main competitors to try to find the best services for the soon-to-be dispossessed MobileMe subscriber.
The iPhone just got a lot cheaper thanks to Virgin Mobile.
Following the iPhone’s prepaid debut on Cricket Wireless just a week ago, Apple’s hugely popular smartphone is now available on Virgin Mobile. Like Cricket, Virgin is offering the handset on a prepaid basis, with prices starting at as little as $31 per month on the company’s Beyond Talk plan — which includes unlimited data, and unlimited texts.
Take advantage of the company’s offer and you could save yourself around $800 a year.
With so many changes recently, it's becoming hard to rely on App Store searches.
Sometime last week, it became apparent that Apple had tweaked its App Store search algorithm to display results in order of their user rankings and descriptions, rather than the names of the apps themselves. The change brought some confusion, not only to App Store customers, but also to developers, who found that their apps were no longer appearing under certain searches as they had been.
It now appears that Apple has backtracked on that change, however.
BrowserChoose is a free tweak that makes Chrome your default browser.
Google finally released its hugely popular Chrome web browser for iOS yesterday, and just as we had expected, it’s the best third-party browser so far. In fact, in many ways, it’s also better than Apple’s built-in mobile Safari browser. And you can now use Chrome as your default browser on your jailbroken iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches, thanks to the BrowserChooser tweak.
Google launched their shiny new version of Chrome for iOS today, complete with syncing and many other features Chrome users on the desktop have been longing for. We dug into Chrome for iOS to see what all the hype was about, and upon first glance, it’s definitely an interesting experience. You can check out our full hands on video after the break.
For better or worse, Verizon’s new Share Everything plans are now here. If you sign up for Verizon and wish to have multiple devices on one account, you’ll have to choose from the new Share Everything plans. Current customers do not have to worry about this unless they either want to, or decide to upgrade to a new device at a subsidized cost.
At the annual Google I/O developer conference, Google just announced that their famous Chrome browser is coming to the iPhone and iPad. It will work just like the Mac and PC version, syncing history, open tabs, passwords and more across all your computers using your official Google account.
According to Google, Chrome for iOS will be landing in the App Store later today, for free. And here’s where I finally stop using Mobile Safari, especially if some enterprising jailbreaker can hack in the ability to use it as my iPad’s default browser.
We’ll let you know when it’s live. Above, check out a video of Chrome for iPhone and iPad in action. Looks fantastic.
iTunes is set for the biggest change it has ever seen this year.
Apple is said to be preparing an iTunes overhaul that will deliver the largest change the online music store has seen since its debut back in 2003. Set to be unveiled by the end of this year, the refresh will reportedly bring better iCloud integration and file-storage for users with multiple iOS devices, as well as new features for sharing music with friends.
We first told you about BlueStacks, an incredible application that allows you to run over 450,000 Android applications on your PC, back in March when it was first released as a beta. Several months later and it’s now available to those with a Mac.
If you’ve ever thought it would be a whole lot of fun to visit Apple’s Cupertino campus, let us assure you that there’s really not all the much you can do there. Sure, you can walk around Infinite Loop like a creepy stalker hoping to spot Jony Ive or Tim Cook, but you probably won’t. The one thing you can do, though, is visit The Company Store on campus and buy a t-shirt or other souvenirs.
Apple makes great phones and computers, but their apparel line leaves a bit to be desired. Here are all the shirts that you can buy from The Company Store when you visit Apple’s campus.
Why hasn't Apple introduced Quick Reply to iOS yet?
If you’ve ever jailbroken an iPhone, you should be familiar with BiteSMS, the built-in Messages replacement that delivers almost every feature you could ever want in a messages app. One of its highlights is a feature called Quick Reply, which allows you to respond to incoming messages from the home screen, the lock screen, or from within other apps using a handy popup window.
The developer behind this awesome app has now brought Quick Reply to the hugely popular WhatsApp messenger, using a new tweak that’s available now from Cydia.
Apple first brought podcasts to iTunes in 2005, and now they're pushing for them again in iOS 6.
With the release of Apple’s own dedicated Podcasts app today, it’s clear that Apple is finally taking Podcasts seriously. When podcasts were first brought to iTunes in 2005, Apple made a strong push to promote what they felt was the future of broadcasting. Apple’s own Eddy Cue even said at the time: “We really think podcasting is the next generation of radio.”
Unfortunately, as time marched on, podcasts were pushed to the side and left pretty much unattended. iOS has always had minimal support for podcasts, and even iTunes itself offers no real compelling way to manage your subscriptions. What makes today’s announcement big is that it marks a new, renewed effort on Apple’s part to make podcasts a key part of their iTunes ecosystem.
We all know that despite only selling two different models of the iPhone and iPad each year, Apple owns the lion’s share of profits in the smartphone industry, even when compared to manufacturers who released dozens of different smartphones and tablets every year.
It gets even crazier, though. Look at this wonderful chart by market research firm VisionMobile, comparing shipping volumes, revenues and profits of the mobile industry from Q1 2011 to Q1 2012. In just a year, Apple has pretty much doubled not just the number of smartphones it ships, but the revenue and profit it makes off of them…. even while companies that were, a year ago, struggling to compete have pretty much gone belly up.
This video of Brightcove CEO Jeremy Allaire demonstrating his company’s new dual-screen AirPlay technology is doing the rounds this morning, and it’s certainly an impressive demo, in which Allaire is able to use his iPad to do one thing while playing video in the background on his Apple TV at the same time. Is this what using a true Apple HDTV will be like?
We’ve seen a number of images of Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs in recent weeks as the Two and a Half Men star films the upcoming indie biopic jOBS. But these, which show Kutcher portraying Apple’s co-founder and former CEO under the influence of LSD, are possibly the most colorful so far.
Apple is getting serious about security for Mountain Lion.
Apple has increased the security of its fourth OS X Mountain Lion developer preview by introducing a number of new security features that will presumably become part of the software’s public release next month.
Itching to try out Passbook already? Here's how to activate it.
Apple released its second iOS 6 beta to registered developers yesterday, and it included a number of new changes. The Cupertino company’s new Passbook app remains inactive, however… unless you know about the workaround.
Although nothing you can do within the Passbook app itself will get it working, there is a little trick you can perform in mobile Safari. Here’s what you need to do.
It’s hardly religious, but Apple tends to drop new developer betas of iOS every two weeks when a major new version is coming up. Today, Apple has started pushing out iOS 6 beta 2 over-the-air to registered developers.
We’ll be digging through iOS 6 Beta 2 today to find out what’s new, but there’s at least one change so far: when you install a new OTA update of iOS 6, the Settings icon apparently animates.
Microsoft couldn't rely on a third-party to build a tablet like this.
Despite countless rumors suggesting it was on its way, when Microsoft unveiled its new Surface tablet late last week, a lot of people were surprised. It was a strange move by the Redmond-based company, who has traditionally focused solely on software and allowed other companies to worry about the hardware.
So why did Microsoft build its own tablet?
According to one of the company’s former employees, it took hardware matters into its own hands when it realized it couldn’t rely on PC makers to make the same bets Apple was making. You see, Apple has taken some incredible steps to make its iPad the behemoth it is today. And rival companies just weren’t willing to gamble.
Yelp check-ins are coming to Apple's new Maps app.
Although iOS 6 looks a lot like iOS 5 on the surface, a number of Apple’s built-in apps and services have received some big changes. The biggest overhaul comes to the Maps app, which has done away with Google Maps in favor of Apple’s own 3D mapping service. Another feature you can look forward to in Maps, according to an Apple document sent out to developers, is Yelp check-ins.
Did you know about Tweetbot's Super Secret Settings menu?
When connected to a Wi-Fi network, Tweetbot’s terrific streaming feature continually delivers new tweets to your timeline without the need to refresh manually. But did you know that the app contains a “Super Secret Settings” menu that allows you to activate streaming over a 2G or 3G cellular connection?
While other manufacturers might tart up their headphones with loud colors, obnoxious logos and frills, the Klipsch Image One ($150) drops all extraneous nonsense in favor of making you happy through its three impressive strengths: perfomance, comfort and portability — a triple threat that makes these headphones a contender for best traveling companion.
The CIA is gunning for Apple's security. Photo: Spy vs. Spy
You’ve heard the predictions. We’re quickly slouching toward a world in which your every move, every purchase, every act of “content consumption” will be meticulously and automatically monitored, tracked and captured. Algorithms will constantly profile you so advertisers can make their advertising specific to your location, preferences, personality, social group, income and education level and more.
Facebook’s future depends on this idea. This is one reason why Google launched Google+. This is why Microsoft launched Bing. This is why investors are bullish on location-based services like Foursquare. This is why Amazon.com created its own web browser.
Every major technology company, it seems, is scrambling to get into the user-data harvesting racket.
Everyone except Apple.
Why didn’t Apple buy Facebook or Twitter? Why didn’t Apple launch its own social network? What is Apple’s strategy for harvesting data about users?
I’ve been puzzled by these questions, and wondering out loud on this site exactly when and how Apple would reveal its strategy for competing on the personal-data collection battlefield.
But this week, something shocking happened that made me think: Maybe Apple isn’t going to get into the data-harvesting business at all. Maybe Apple is going to fight it!
