Right now, if you want to get an iPhone with unlimited data, your only option is to sign up with Sprint… but given how slow Sprint’s 3G speeds are, unlimited data isn’t really saying much. Wouldn’t it be great if you could get unlimited data on a faster network? Say, Verizon’s?
Well, thanks to a little bit of CSR hacking, you can add unlimited data to any Verizon iPhone plan. Better act soon, though. The VZW is likely to shut down this exploit as soon as their engineers get back from holidays.
Launched a few weeks ago, the Pogoplug Series 4 ($100) is Cloud Engines’ latest attempt at making their network-attached storage device as ubiquitous as the microwave oven. Like its predecessors, the S4 allows you to attach a hard drive or flash drive to create your own cloud, which you can use to stream media, share files or create slideshows, all of which can be accessed over the Internet and shared with others. Additionally, it can also be used for remote backup.
Known developer Steven Troughton-Smith has been able to run iOS App Store apps on the Apple TV fullscreen at the device’s full, 720p resolution. Troughton-Smith also worked on the Siri port that was demoed months ago and made available for jailbroken iOS devices last week.
With the help of another developer by the name of TheMudKip and Grant Paul’s MobileLaunchpad launcher, Troughton-Smith has been able to run iOS apps natively on the Apple TV without using AirPlay.
A famous Apple campaign goes: “Here’s to the crazy ones.” Of course the crazy ones usually get institutionalized. And that’s exactly what has happened to Apple. It seems that in recent weeks, Apple has been or announced plans to be, institutionalized.
Apple, which represents the newest of the new, both aesthetically and technologically, is embracing the old. Here’s what I’m talking about.
This rare photograph of Steve Jobs demonstrates the Apple co-founder’s infamous rebellious spirit as he “flips the bird” outside an IBM building in New York City. It was taken in 1983 when the Macintosh team visited the city for a meeting with Newsweek, and was posted to Google+ today by Andy Hertzfield, a member of the original Macintosh development team.
A recently discovered Apple patent reveals that the Cupertino company could be planning to introduction facial recognition technology to its Mac and iOS devices. The system would allow users to login to multi-user machines using only their face, much like the facial recognition feature recently introduced to Google’s Android operating system.
While some reports have claimed that Apple’s iPad 3 will be thicker than its current-generation tablet so that the company can make room for a stunning Retina display, it seems that may not be the case. Sources in Apple’s supply chain claim that the Cupertino company will instead utilize IGZO (indium gallium zinc oxide) displays from Sharp that will allow the device to retain its slender form factor, while sporting a new “full HD level” display.
2011’s been the best year yet to be an Apple fan, absolutely flush with exciting new apps, products and accessories. Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve been letting you vote on the best Apple-related games, apps, accessories and products of the year, and we’ve come up with some truly fantastic finalists. Now it’s time to declare the best of each category: best Mac App, best iOS game, best iOS app, best jailbreak tweak, best Apple product accessory and best Apple product. As we all know from Highlander, there can be only one… but did your favorite app or product of the year get beheaded in our finalist rounds? Find out Cult of Mac’s picks for the best of Apple for 2011, after the jump.
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwwWqRV2RsI
(Warning: video is NSFW)
All I wanted for Christmas was an iPhone. That’s it. But my parents went off and bought me a stupid Kindle Fire…those dumb bastards. Actually I’d be pretty happy with receiving a new Kindle Fire, and I already have an iPhone 4S with the fancy camera and everything so I don’t need a new one of those, but apparently a lot of people were disappointed on Christmas morning when they didn’t unwrap a shiny new iPhone. Taking the audacity of privileged consumerism to new heights of hilarity, comedy writer Jon Hendren compiled the stream of dejected tweets into a music video to express the world’s ingratidude.
“WTF?! I Wanted An iPhone” is a catchy (but NSFW) tune that captures little treasures of bitterness that bloomed on Christmas morning. The enormous display of ingratitude is a bit shocking. Hey @SamStandsFoSwag we’re sorry mom and dad got you the black iPod Touch instead of the white one, but maybe when you graduate high school and get a job you’ll realize, “Oh dang, spending $200 on a silly music player is not the funnest thing to do in world.”
While there are countless little-known videos on YouTube that are well worth a watch for any Apple fan, this Ghostbusters parody has to be one of the best. The clip was filmed for an International Sales Meeting held in 1984 and it sees a team called the “Blue Busters” free the world from IBM PCs and replace them with the Macintosh.
Despite slowly declining from June until September, the number of free apps downloaded from Apple’s App Store hit a record high during November, with 5.65 million downloads per day. And Apple has the iPhone 4S and iOS 5 to thank.
For the second month in a row since the fifth-generation device was launched, the App Store has seen record downloads among the top 200 free apps.
Apple has a treat in store for us in 2012, according to one Digitimes report, which claims the Cupertino company will release not one but two new iPad models, one of which will boast more than twice the battery capacity of the current model, with a 5- to 8-megapixel camera.
Good ol’ Verizon, always passing the savings onto its customers. If you didn’t catch the sarcasm in that last statement, prepare yourselves for disappointment. Verizon apparently believes you should be charged a “convenience” fee for paying your bill. Yea, I know — what a convenience it is to shell out hundreds of dollars to a company that has three outages in one month. Okay, so the “convenience” fee really only applies to anyone trying to pay their bill online or over the phone with any method other than electronic check. You’re also safe from being charged a fee if you are enrolled in AutoPay.
Seems like there’s been an explosion of small, portable, Bluetooth speakers onto store shelves this last year — the most popular or well-known of which is probably the Jawbone JamBox — from the advance notices we’ve seen, in a few weeks the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas will herald a whole new crop of the little tribbles.
Monster’s take on the concept is the Monster iClarityHD Precision Micro Bluetooth Speaker 100 ($100). And like pretty much everything the company puts out, the iClarity is bassy and L-O-U-D.
The Redsn0w software by DevTeam has always allowed you to jailbreak your iOS device, giving you complete control over your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch (see why you should jailbreak here). This morning, though, redsn0w version 0.9.1ob1 was released with iOS 5 support, meaning you can now jailbreak devices and run Cydia apps on devices with iOS 5 installed. Here’s how to jailbreak iOS 5!
Ingredients:
Like its iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch which utilize the company’s A4 and A5 processors, Apple’s upcoming television set will be powered by a custom-built chip made specifically for the Cupertino company. Sources claim that a number of manufacturers are currently bidding for Apple’s order, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE), and Siliconware Precision Industries (SPIL).
Wow! 2011 has been one of the most interesting years in recent memory for Apple Inc. Of course the death of Apple’s co-founder, Steve Jobs, stands out as one of the most important events of the year for Apple, but there have been a load of other stories too that have made 2011 a very memorable year for the fruit company. From one controversy to the next, to record-breaking earnings, and new products, Apple has plowed through 2011 with a steady determination to be the best technology company on the planet. Only one device underwent a redesign (the iPad), while other form factors stayed the same. Instead of focusing on making pivotal leaps forward with hardware, Apple’s main focus of 2011 was to fortify their strong foundation in the software game.
Here’s Cult of Mac’s look back on the Apple in the year 2011.
Having been forgotten at Apple’s ‘Let’s talk iPhone’ event back in October, the completely redesigned iPhone 5 is now on track for a Fall 2012 launch, according to a “close source” who is familiar with Apple’s plans. And like the iPad, the sixth-generation device will reportedly sport an aluminum rear casing, with a rubberized bezel much like Apple’s iPhone 4 bumper cases.
Apple has felt the need to create a dedicated webpage and how-to video for iTunes Match, the company’s new music service. iTunes Match became available for US customers in November, while 17 other countries were added to the availability list last week.
The new webpage for iTunes Match is home to a handy video walkthrough and more details about the service, including a 10-question FAQ.
Christmas day has historically been a record shattering day in terms of new device activations and app downloads. This Christmas was no different according to these recent stats published by Flurry Analytics. Using a baseline average taken from the first 20 days of December, Flurry showed that new Android and iOS device activations rose 353% on Christmas day. While averaging around 1.5 million activations during the month of December, activations jumped to more than 6.8 million on Christmas day. Ho, ho, ho — ly rising reindeer! That’s a staggering increase and to get a better feel for just how impressive those numbers are, only 2.8 million devices were activated last Christmas day.
Well, isn’t this a nice little late Christmas gift. Following the last month of updates, pod2g has finally released his untethered iOS 5.01 jailbreak through the iPhone Dev Team and Chronic Dev Team. But sorry chaps, it won’t work on the iPhone 4S or iPad 2. Not yet, anyway.
Known developers Grant Paul (a.k.a ‘chpwn’) and Ryan Petrich have released a working Siri port for older, jailbroken iOS devices in Cydia. “Spire” will install Siri on older-generation iOS devices, including the original iPad.
Spire downloads Siri directly from Apple’s servers. The only catch is that you will need access to an iPhone 4S and your own proxy to get the port up and running.
Santa has come and gone on his sleigh, and Apple has profited along the way. A survey from Ace Metrix, a TV ad analysis firm, has revealed that Apple’s Santa Siri commercial beat out 34 other Santa-themed spots to win the crown of most effective ad for the 2011 holiday season.
Apple’s commercial, featuring Santa and the iPhone 4S’s Siri assistant, scored a 652 out of a possible 950 points in Ace Metrix’s survey, topping competitors like Pillsbury, Coca-Cola, and Nintendo.
Just got an iPad for the holidays? You lucky sod! You scored the crown jewel, the Big Tamale — the most marvelous gadget Apple has ever made. Yes, go ahead, pick up its slim aluminum frame and dive right in — Steve knew that’s what you wanted to do, and he designed the iPad so you could do just that.
We want to make sure you get everything right though, and we know there are a few key setup tricks along the way that new (and even some not-so-new) iPad users miss. So take a look at the short list of steps we’ve lined up here. They won’t take long, and they’ll make sure you get the best out of your iPad 2. Ready? Here we go.
Apple has been known to change the names of projects when word about them leaks, but "iWatch" is so much better than alternatives like the iPad-sounding "iBand" that it would be a little surprising if this name didn't make it to market. Apple seems to think the same way, since it’s been snapping up trademarks on the name like crazy for the past year, often under the guise of a shell company.
In September of 2010, I wrote a column in this space deflating the idea that Apple would ever make and sell a wristwatch.
I still think my reasoning was sound. But I didn’t know then what I know now. Specifically, two Apple technologies have become central to Apple’s long-term strategy. These two products — Siri and iCloud — change everything.
And because of this new information, plus a few new things we’ve learned about Apple in the past year, I’m completely reversing my opinion. I now believe the current rumors that Apple is getting into the wristwatch business.
I even think we can accurately imagine what Apple is likely to do in the wristwatch department.