Adding to their now dizzying array of cloud-in-box hardware and desktop app that turns your Mac into a cloud server, Pogoplug has just unveiled a web-based cloud service that can be used as a standalone media storage option, and either accessed through a web browser, or through the desktop or Universal iOS app. And just like Apple did with iCloud, they’re giving the first five gigs away for free.
Oh, wow. The engineers over at app developing firm Applidium say they’ve cracked Siri’s security protocol wide open. In fact, using their method, they say that any app and any device can now use Siri in theory. In reality, though? There are a few obstacles remaining.
The iPhone 4S has some bodacious battery life problems and no one seems to know what’s going on. Apple themselves have released an iOS update, iOS 5.0.1, to fix the problems, to no avail. Meanwhile, some iPhone 4S owners find their batteries draining at a rate of 10% every ten minutes, while luckier customers can only report the same excellent battery life the iPhone 4 was known for.
What the heck is going on? Are some iPhone 4Ses just defective? Will Apple have to initiate a recall?
Thankfully, no. Although no one knows what the problem exactly is, it has at least been proven to be a software problem… not a hardware problem.
Two weeks late, Apple’s match-and-mirror music in the cloud service iTunes Match has finally launched while retaining its beta status. In the meantime, iTunes 10.5.1 for both Windows and Mac has been released, so get downloading if you intend on using iTunes Match.
On Mac, the iTunes 10.5.1 update is 102MB, and is available now on the official iTunes homepage or through Software Update.
iTunes Match is Apple’s much anticipated cloud music service. For $24.99 a year, users can match any of the songs on their hard drive into the cloud to be redownloadable on any iOS or Mac device in 256Kbps AAC CD quality, even if their original track was of much lower quality.
iTunes Match is launching as a beta service. However, for subscribing to iTunes Match Beta, we hear you get 15 months of service instead of just 12. Not a bad deal, but be warned that Apple will delete your iTunes Match library at the end of the beta, meaning you’ll have to go through the matching process all over again.
Over the last few weeks, we’ve found that Apple has been having problems getting iTunes Match’s mirroring service to work reliably. We’ll report back and let you know if they’ve worked out the kinks.
A new Apple patent that details battery and solid state drive configurations for the company’s MacBook Air suggests that future models will boast battery life that significantly exceeds the 7 hours offered by today’s ultraportable.
Deals.CultofMac.com is currently offering two great app bundles this week but both are ending soon. The Mac Productivity Mini-Bundle carries three great apps that will make life in OS X insanely easier and more simple. MenuEverywhere, Trembo, and Cinch will boost your productivity so you can spend less time fussing with the mundane tasks on your Mac and get to the fun stuff. This deal will be available for the next 10 days, saving readers $21 off the retail price. This deal is set to expire in 3 days, so get it now before it’s gone.
Here’s what these apps can do for you:
OS X already comes with a sizable library of some of nature photography’s most beautiful pictures, curated personally by Steve Jobs for use as wallpapers. But as breathtaking as OS X’s default wallpapers can be, if you have your Mac desktop set to randomize, you’re probably sick to death of them at this point.
The foremost name in beautiful nature photography is here to help you supplement them. Every year, National Geographic holds a photo contest, and this year, they have put up all of their entries in downloadable JPEGs suitable for the desktop, iPhone or iPad.
Oi paulistanos! Cult of Mac writer Nicole Martinelli will be in Sao Paulo and looking to talk all things Apple with you, especially the local scene.
One of the biggest missing features from Apple’s Siri technology is integration with third-party apps. Apple launched Siri on the iPhone 4S with Wolfram Alpha and Yelp integration, but other developers have been unable to fully integrate their apps with Siri to create a compelling, voice-controlled experience.
Apple hasn’t given a confirmation that it will eventually open up Siri to third-party apps, but that hasn’t kept several apps from offering workarounds for Siri integration. What about the apps that were meant for Siri? We’ve collected 10 apps that we want to see integrated with Siri in the near future.
Fragmentary and occasional reports suggest that Apple has been negotiating with China Mobile for three years without reaching a deal over official support for iPhones on the carrier’s network.
The sticking point: China Mobile wants a percentage of app revenue.
Many US pundits have written that Apple should bend over and do whatever China Mobile wants. Why? Because China Mobile is so ginormous that Apple could make a killing from all those new customers, even if it shared app revenue.
I think they’re flat-out wrong. Apple should hold firm, and refuse to make an exception for China Mobile. Here’s why.
Apple has initiated a replacement program for the first-generation iPod nano due to an overheating issue with the battery inside of the device. The problem was recognized by Apple several years ago and they offered replacements to customers on a case-by-case basis. A number of foreign government agencies in Europe and Asia investigated the defect and last year the Japan trade ministry forced Apple to tell customers about the replacement website on Apple’s Japanese website.
First there were posts, then tweets. Now we’ve got a new word to use as a method for sharing bits of ourselves: the cling.
Business Insider claims to have information on an iPhone 5 prototype from a source that “spent about two weeks” with the device. Citing several details about the alleged prototype, the source says that Apple ended up ditching the iPhone 5 at the last minute. Instead, the iPhone 4S was released as an incremental update to the product line.
While even Business Insider notes that its source has not been completely verified, the provided details do stack up nicely with the rumors we were all hearing leading up the iPhone 4S announcement.
No matter how hard you concentrate and how far you extend your pineal gland, Siri can only understand what you say to it, not read your mind? But what if it could?
That question is no longer a hypothetical. The guys behind Project Black Mirror have just figured out a way to imbue Siri with telepathic abilities… kind of.
With C-Spire Wireless getting the iPhone 4S, all bets are off when it comes to which carriers get the iPhone and which ones don’t. C-Spire only has about 750,000 customers, but it got the iPhone 4S, while the nation’s fourth largest carrier, T-Mobile, sees its profits shrink because it can’t come to an arrangement with Apple.
Today, the iPhone 4S has come to another US carrier. Puerto Rican wireless provider Claro Puerto Rico is offering the iPhone 4S for sale, and if you’re within Claro Puerto Rico’s coverage area, it’s the best deal on an iPhone 4S yet: just $99 for a 16GB iPhone 4S with a standard 2GB coverage.
There’s a reason Sprint has stopped selling SIM unlocked versions of the iPhone 4S today, and it’s not just because of the pleasing parallel symmetry of the digits in the date 11/11/11. It’s because today is also the day that Apple has started selling unlocked, contract-free iPhone 4Ses to customers willing to pay a premium.
For years, Apple has been warning would-be jailbreakers that jailbreaking their iPhones could lead to them getting ripped off. How rich, then, that the latest jailbreaking scam originates in Apple’s App Store itself: a new, approved iOS app simply called Jailbreak that definitely does not do what it says on the tin.
Sometimes all it takes is a little tweaking to turn a decent gadget into one that makes the corners of your mouth curl up in a grin every time it’s pulled out and powered up.
That’s exactly what happened with the Logitech Wireless Boombox for iPad ($150), a portable six-speakered dock based off Logitech’s S715i dock, which we reviewed earlier this year.
The iPhone is an incredible, world-changing device… but it’s never been cheap to own one. That’s just as true with the iPhone 4S as it has been with any other iPhone, which means every saved penny counts.
Figuring out which carrier to go with when you sign up for an iPhone 4S requires considering many different factors. For the best bang for the buck, though, Sprint is the way to go: their $79.99 Everything Data plan includes 450 minutes per month, free nights and weekends, as well as unlimited data and text.
Think that’s a pretty good deal? That’s nothing. Follow this guide and we can not only help you save up to $240 dollars on your Sprint iPhone 4S contract over the course of two years, we can even help you get more minutes for less money!
Interested? Read on.
Well, that didn’t take as long as some of us feared. Apple just released iOS 5.0.1 to the public, fixing the well publicized iPhone 4S battery life issues.
Here’s what is new:
This update contains improvements and other bug fixes including:
– Fixes bugs affecting battery life
– Adds Multitasking Gestures for original iPad
– Resolves bugs with Documents in the Cloud
– Improves voice recognition for Australian users using dictation
The update is available through iTunes or Over The Air using Settings > General > Software Update.
Remember, if you want to jailbreak your iPhone 4S in the future, you may want to hold off on this update.
Anyone noticed any improvements with their iPhone 4S battery? Let us know in the comments.
Apple doesn’t really like it when its employees speak to the press. Like, at all. So it’s interesting to see a British voice actor who provided the male voice For Siri — arguably the voice of Apple these days — openly speaking to journalists about how he came to speak for every iPhone 4S on Earth, especially considering Cupertino tried to muzzle him.
I could tell what Sonos and its PR firm thought about the product as I walked in.
Festooned over a thousand square feet of penthouse atop one of San Francisco’s finest boutique hotels were samovars of fresh coffee, pitchers of fresh-squeezed juices and a banquet table overflowing with edibles under picture windows filled with panoramic views of Union Square and the San Francisco skyline. The layout was also outfitted, front-to-back, in a couple thousand dollars worth of Sonos gear — including the subject of this review, the Sonos Play:3 ($299).
The console gaming industry has been suffering as of late, with companies like Nintendo reporting record losses and hardware price cuts. On the opposite side of the coin, the mobile game industry has skyrocketed to the forefront of innovation and user adoption, thanks largely to the mass distribution provided by the App Store.
A new report by Flurry Analytics shows how the iOS and Android platforms are absolutely dominating the US mobile game industry, with over half of the revenue in the US coming from the App Store and Android Market.
A couple of days ago, security researcher Charlie Miller discovered a doozy of a bug in iOS 5’s Nitro Javascript engine that allowed any app to remotely download and execute malicious, system-level code on an iPhone.
Apple was pissed. So pissed, in fact, they kicked Miller out of the App Store and Developer Program within hours of his exploit becoming known.
While most of the aspects of this bug may seem pretty dire for users of Apple devices, especially those who can’t even trust App Store apps anymore, it is great news for jailbreakers. In fact, Miller’s bug may lead to a proper, untethered iOS 5 jailbreak for all iDevices, including the iPad 2 and new iPhone 4S.
After years of promises and over a year of buggy, lame Android builds, Adobe’s finally ready to concede that Apple was right all along: Adobe is finally admitting that Flash is wholly unsuitable for phones and tablets and halting development, once and for all.