The CultCast

This week: 

  • We celebrate 5 years!
  • We regale you with some of our favorite stories from past shows
  • Our hardware expectations from Apple’s rumored March event
  • Why iPhone 8’s wireless charging will probably be lame
  • Apple has five teams working on their next-generation charging tech
  • Why iPhone 8’s camera could pump out industrial-grade slow motion
  • Steve Jobs gets a beautiful new home on Apple’s spaceship campus.

This episode supported by

Build a beautiful, responsive website quick at Squarespace.com.  Enter offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off. Squarespace—Build it Beautiful.
 
Blue Apron makes it easy to cook delicious meals at home.  See their upcoming menu and get your first three meals free at BlueApron.com/CultCast.
 
CultCloth will keep your iPhone 7, Apple Watch, Mac and iPad sparkling clean, and for a limited time you can use code CULTCAST to score a free CleanCloth with any order at CultCloth.co.
 
We also want to give Kevin MacLeod at incompetech.com a  thanks for the great music you hear on today's show.
On the show this week

@erfon / @bst3r / @lkahney

 

iPhone 8’s wireless charging won’t be as good as we hoped
  • If you were hoping Apple had developed a spectacular new wireless charging system for iPhone 8, you’re going to be disappointed come September.
  • A new rumor claims that Apple won’t be using range charging technology developed by Energous as previously expected, but instead one of the existing solutions already found in rival smartphones like those made by Samsung.
  • Adding fuel to that fire, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission has only recently approved a version of Energous technology that delivers very low power over just a few inches.
  • The iPhone would require higher levels of power and a wider range. A solution that meets these requirements is yet to be approved by the FCC.
 
Apple has five different teams working on wireless charging
  • According to a new report, the company currently has not one or two, but five different groups inside Apple currently working to develop wireless charging technology for future iPhones.
 
Sony’s new sensor could bring super slo-mo video to iPhone
  • Apple has used Sony’s camera sensors in a number of iPhones, including the new dual-lens cameras on the iPhone 7 Plus.
  • Sony unveiled the new senor during a lecture at the 2017 International Solid-State Circuits Conference capable of shooting 19.3MP still images at a frame rate of 120 fps. It can shoot 960fps video in 1080p. The iPhone 7 only shoots 120fps video in 720p.
 
Apple Said to Debut New iPad Pro Lineup, 128GB iPhone SE, and Red iPhone 7 and 7 Plus at March Event
  • Apple will host a March event to introduce a new iPad Pro lineup and other products, according to Japanese website Mac Otakara.
  • In terms of the iPad Pro lineup, the report claims Apple will announce new 7.9-inch, 9.7-inch, 10.5-inch, and 12.9-inch models. The 10.5-inch model may not ship until May, while the other sizes are said to ship in March.
  • If the report is accurate, it could mean has Apple plans to refresh the iPad mini 4 with a new 7.9-inch iPad Pro version, update its existing 9.7-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pros, and introduce an all-new 10.5-inch iPad Pro, which is has been rumored to feature an edge-to-edge display without a Home button.
 
Apple’s ‘spaceship’ campus will be named Apple Park
  • Apple’s enormous new spaceship campus finally has an official name: Apple Park.
  • First conceived in 2011 by Steve Jobs, Apple Park has been under construction since 2013 and is rumored to have cost Apple upwards of $5 billion.
  • The 175-acre plot will open for business in April, although work won’t officially be completed until late summer.
  • campus’ 1,000-seat auditorium will be named the Steve Jobs Theater as a tribute to the company’s co-founder.
  • “Opening later this year, the entrance to the 1,000-seat auditorium is a 20-foot-tall glass cylinder, 165 feet in diameter, supporting a metallic carbon-fiber roof,” Apple said in a press release.
  • “The Steve Jobs Theater is situated atop a hill — one of the highest points within Apple Park — overlooking meadows and the main building” 
  • The campus will house around 12,000 Apple employees,
  • And includes a new $75 million gym.
Direct download: CultCast_272_-_Five_Years.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:11pm PDT

This week:
  • iPhone 8 is getting a huge makeover with edge-to-edge screen, wireless charging, huge battery, and more. We’ll fill you in.
  • End of the Home Button and Touch ID.
  • The riches you’d have if you bought Apple IPO stock
  • A 4K Apple TV is on the way
  • The best 4K televisions
  • TV of yore you need to watch
  • The search for the perfect corn dog
  • Join us for a live CultCast on Friday, February 24 at 12PM Pacific Time!  Tune in at Live.TheCultCast.Com

This episode supported by

CultCloth will keep your iPhone 7, Apple Watch, Mac and iPad sparkling clean, and for a limited time you can use code CULTCAST to score a free CleanCloth with any order at CultCloth.co.
 
The Cult of Mac store!  Cult of Mac has curated and culled the best Apple Watch straps around and is making them available at great prices. Check them out at store.cultofmac.com.
 
We also want to give Kevin MacLeod at incompetech.com a  thanks for the great music you hear on today's show.
 
On the show this week

  

Apple Vowed to Revolutionize Television. An Inside Look at Why It Hasn’t
  • The new Apple TV will be capable of streaming 4K content and more vivid colors.
 
AAPL shares close at new all-time high
  • Thanks to an improved rating from Wall Street investment firm Goldman Sachs, Apple shares have been on the rise this week. Today shares were trading above the previous intra-day record high of $134.54 set on April 28, 2015.
  • IPO December 12, 1980 at $22 a share.
  • 100 shares would have cost you $2200
  • Since the IPO, the stock has split four times, including three 2-for-1 splits and one 7-for-1 split
  • Your 100 shares would have multiples to  5600 shares.
  • You initial $2200 investment would now be worth 759,136.
  • By comparison, a $2,200 investment in the S&P 500 in the same time would have netted you about $79,000
  • If you had invested 10k, you’d now how have $3,446,477.44
 
Smaller iPhone set to get big battery upgrade in 2017
  • Apple reportedly plans to pack a much bigger battery inside the new 4.7-inch iPhone set to be revealed later this year.
 
iPhone 8 to Feature 5.8-Inch OLED Display With 5.15-Inch Main Screen and Virtual Buttons Below
  • The 2017 iPhone will feature a 5.8-inch display OLED display panel with 5.15 inches of usable screen space according to new predictions shared by KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Kuo believes the iPhone 8 will use a, but that some space will be reserved for virtual buttons.
  • The display will reportedly take up the entire front of the iPhone, eliminating the bezels.
  • Kuo says the OLED iPhone will have measurements similar to the 4.7-inch iPhone.
  • Apple expected to introduce a stacked logic board design to support bigger batteries, and will feature a battery capacity similar to the larger 5.5-inch iPhone 7 Plus.
  • Kuo expects the OLED iPhone to cost in excess of $1,000
  • The OLED iPhone will be "the only bright spot" in the 2017 iPhone lineup, which may mean that the other phones will receive only minor improvements.
  • Mac Otakara recently reported that the 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch models will retain an aluminum design like the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, with only internal changes
 
Apple joins Wireless Power Consortium ahead of iPhone 8
  • Apple has been added to the Wireless Power Consortium, a group dedicated to developing and promoting mass-market adoption of the wireless charging interface standard Qi.
  • This would also seem to suggest that Apple will adopt the standard Qi wireless technology, as opposed to inventing its own charging pad-free alternative, as has been heavily rumored.
 
Get to know ur cultist - the segment where we learn more about each other than we’d like to
Direct download: CultCast_271_-_BIG_changes_coming_to_iPhone_8__.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:26pm PDT

This week: 

  • How to get significant discounts on Apple gadgets
  • The INSANELY SPECIAL doorknobs at Apple’s Spaceship HQ
  • The fat paychecks earned by Jony Ive’s industrial designers 
  • iPhone 8 to come in a plus plus size
  • Wireless charging is all but confirmed for all three iPhone 8 sizes
  • Next iPhone could cost more than $1,000!
  • How to get a massive discount on Final Cut and Logic Pro X
  • We reveal our favorite new shows and movies in an all new, What We’re Into Yaaa’aaall 💪🏼

 

This episode supported by

Build a beautiful, responsive website quick at Squarespace.com.  Enter offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off. Squarespace—Build it Beautiful.
 
CultCloth will keep your iPhone 7, Apple Watch, Mac and iPad sparkling clean, and for a limited time you can use code CULTCAST to score a free CleanCloth with any order at CultCloth.co.
 
We also want to give Kevin MacLeod at incompetech.com a  thanks for the great music you hear on today's show.
 
 
On the show this week

@erfon / @bst3r / @lkahney

 

Students get a massive discount on Apple’s Pro Apps Bundle

  • Apple is offering students a massive discount on a bundle of pro apps that includes Final Cut Pro X, Logic Pro X and more.
  • The total cost of the apps included in the set would be just under $630, but Apple is offering them all to those in education for just $199.
  • “Education pricing is available to college students, students accepted to college, parents buying for college students, faculty, homeschool teachers, and staff at all grade levels,” Apple said. 
  • According to a reliable Apple analyst, the company will release three new iPhones this year — including a redesigned iPhone 8 (or iPhone X) and two iterative iPhone 7 updates.
  • All three models will reportedly boast new Apple wireless charging tech, rather than the feature being limited to a high-end OLED handset.
 
  • The price of the top-of-the-line iPhone is set to increase to more than $1,000, according to a new report that claims the device will pack an OLED display that stretches across the entire front of the phone
  • Switching to an OLED display will likely cost Apple twice as much as the current LCD display used on the iPhone 7, reports Fast Company.
  • The report also echoes previous rumors that the 2017 iPhone will come in three screen sizes: 5.8 inches, 5.5 inches and 4.7 inches. It’s still unclear what Apple will call the next iPhone. Some fans expect it to be called the iPhone 10 or iPhone X because this year marks the device’s 10th anniversary.
 
What we’re into
Direct download: CultCast_270_-_The_BEST_Apple_discounts.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:21am PDT

This week: astounding facts and figures from Apple’s newest earnings report;  Nintendo promises a bunch of new iOS games; how to get the best deal in cloud storage; affordable options for your first drone; the perfect minimalist strap for your mirrorless camera; and we pitch you our favorite gadgets in an all-new Fave N Raves!  💪🏼
 

This episode supported by

Build a beautiful, responsive website quick at Squarespace.com.  Enter offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off. Squarespace—Build it Beautiful.
 
We also want to give Kevin MacLeod at incompetech.com a  thanks for the great music you hear on today's show.
 
On the show this week

@erfon / @bst3r / @lkahney

 

Got suggestions or feedback for us?  Air your thoughts at TheCultCast.reddit.com.

 

‘I’m a Mac’ star Justin Long becomes new face of Huawei phones
http://www.cultofmac.com/465034/im-a-mac-star-justin-long-becomes-new-face-of-huawei-phones/
  • Ever heard of Huawei?  They’re in China.
  • Justin Long, the face of Apple’s “Get a Mac” campaign for three years, is now starring in ads for Huawei phones.
  • Huawei is now the third-biggest smartphone maker in the world behind only Apple and Samsung. It shipped 44.9 million handsets last quarter to grab a 10.2 percent of the global market
  • The company is now trying to break into Western markets, with a big focus on the U.S.
  • What better way to do that than with the face of Apple’s famous “Get a Mac” campaign
 
Nintendo promises at least 2 new mobile games every year
  • Its new Switch console right around the corner, but Nintendo won’t be losing its focus on Android and iOS. The Japanese firm today confirmed that it plans to release two to three mobile games every year.
  • Super Mario Run attracted a staggering 40 million downloads in just four days when it landed on iOS, and according to a recent report from The Wall Street Journal, it has already made Nintendo over $50 million.
  • Nintendo’s announcement comes a day after it disappointed investors by slashing a third off its forecast operating profit for 2017 — despite the upcoming release of the Switch, which already has support from over 70 game makers developing over 100 titles.
 
Apple shatters records with blockbuster Q1 2017 earnings
  • Surprise!  Apple sold more iPhone units than ever before last quarter
  • With total revenues of $78.4 billion bringing in a profit of $17.9 billion, Apple CEO Tim Cook said he is “thrilled” with the results.
  • Apple only expected to sell between 76 million and 78 million iPhones in the quarter, but it managed to move 78.3 million.
    • Cook told investors today that he still views the smartphone market as being in the “early innings.”
  • MacBook Pro with Touch Bar that was the most pre-ordered MacBook ever.
  • The iPad lineup sold 13.1 million units, down 19 percent from the year-ago quarter.
  • Apple raked in $7.2 billion in revenue from services last quarter, including $3 billion in App Store purchases in December alone — the biggest month ever. Apple Pay users tripled in the past year, with transaction value increasing 500 percent.
  • Selling apps, music, movies, iCloud storage and AppleCare has now become Apple’s second-largest moneymaker. In fact, Apple expects revenue from services to swell to the size of a Fortune 100 company by the end of the year.
 
iPhone 7 snaps Apple’s losing streak
  • Apple launched the latest generation of its flagship product in September. Some critics saw the iPhone 7 series as not enough of an upgrade from the 6s line. Some, especially music lovers, initially hated the absence of a headphone jack.
 
Fave N Rave Picks
Direct download: CultCast_269_-_Our_favorite_gadgets.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:09am PDT

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