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It’s Memorial Day weekend, and that means an extra day off here in the U.S. of America. It also means parades. But sadly, budget cuts mean you likely won’t be getting the obligatory flyover this year. Thankfully, game companies like Aspyr and Feral Interactive are giving the economy a boost by offering great OS X game sales. Aspyr It seems ironic to seek military action on Memorial Day, but irony is not match for Aspyr’s Call of Duty: Black Ops sale. This weekend, you get 50% off the game and its DLC: Call of Duty: Black Ops -…Continue reading Your Memorial Day weekend OS X game salesRelated posts:Rage lashes out on Mac OS XNeverwinter Nights 2 on sale for 95% offSid Meier’s Railroads arrives on OS X this fall

Rather seedy of Apple, don’t you think? Apple has just posted a new pre-release developer seed for upcoming OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.4, Build 12E55. In the notes accompanying the seed release, which includes Combo (comprehensive) and Delta (just changes) update installers, Apple notes the same focus areas as the last few seeds: Wi-Fi, Graphics Drivers, and Safari. This seed, though, also has Windows File Sharing, a new addition to the list since the last seed, build 12E47, which was released at the beginning of this month. Could this rapid release schedule mean that 10.8.4 is getting closer to actual release to consumers? As this is the sixth developer release of 10.8.4, and 10.8.3 went through 13 different seeds, the answer may be a qualified no, as Apple tends to iterate on its dot releases fairly often and consistently. Source: Apple Developer Center The post Apple Seeds Yet Another Pre-Release OS X 10.8.4 Build To Developers, Adds New Focus appeared first on Cult of Mac.Related StoriesFifth Avenue Apple Store Roof Springs A Leak, Again [Video]The FDA Is Worried About You Using The iPhone For UrinalysisHP Wants You To Believe That Its New Laptops Were Designed By AppleWhy Your Next MacBook Will Have 50% More Battery LifeGrab Five Bucks And Play ‘Skyward Collapse’, A 4X Strategy God Game That Fights Back

If history is indeed destined to repeat itself, Intel’s next-gen Haswell processors will power the 2013 gambit of Macs. Every year Apple typically puts the newest Intel silicon in its desktop and laptop models, and this year should be no exception. When Haswell desktop lineup specs leaked in December 2012, we got a peak at what will likely power the 2013 iMac. Intel has now said that Haswell chips will offer 50% more battery life for laptops than Ivy Bridge. The main focus of designing Haswell was to lower power consumption for laptops and tablets while also doubling graphics performance. Sounds great. Maybe we’ll something with Haswell announced at WWDC! Source: Computerworld The post Why Your Next MacBook Will Have 50% More Battery Life appeared first on Cult of Mac.Related StoriesFifth Avenue Apple Store Roof Springs A Leak, Again [Video]The FDA Is Worried About You Using The iPhone For UrinalysisHP Wants You To Believe That Its New Laptops Were Designed By AppleApple Seeds Yet Another Pre-Release OS X 10.8.4 Build To Developers, Adds New FocusGrab Five Bucks And Play ‘Skyward Collapse’, A 4X Strategy God Game That Fights Back

Build and manage a floating continent while everything fights against you. Sounds like a good weekend. God games tend to be pretty similar: build a little city, tell the inhabitants what to do, and watch them do it. Not in this game, though. Skyward Collapse is a fantastic mashup of a 4X strategy game (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate) with a god-game (Spore, Black & White, Civilization). Your task is to create and populate a floating continent called Liminith. You get to create gods, creatures, and artifacts from Norse and Greek myth, and keep them from killing each other off until you’re summoned home by The Master. This will definitely be harder than it sounds. There will be bandits with their keeps popping up from time to time, natural disasters like floods, serial killers, and vegetarian uprisings, and…wait, what? Maybe you should try something a little safer, like taming a tiger or something. Skyward Collapse is a turn-based, strategic game in which you control none of the warring factions, but struggle to apply god-like powers to maintain a healthy population and the balance of power. You’ll need to collect resources, build towns, and persuade all the little people to do what you want my manipulating the environment around their sad, little lives. You’ll use underling gods as well–up to 16 of them–to manage things while you take care of business, especially when you start dealing with the Age of Monsters. There are multiple difficulty levels, thank You, and a co-op multiplayer mode for up to eight players. Slick! Honestly, for five bucks, you can’t go wrong here. Just head on over to Steam and grab yourself a copy of the game, which is actually on sale for $4.49 as of this writing. You just may find a gem of a game that keeps you busy into the wee hours of your long weekend, keeping your continent safe and your warring factions alive and, well, warring. Source: Steam The post Grab Five Bucks And Play ‘Skyward Collapse’, A 4X Strategy God Game That Fights Back appeared first on Cult of Mac.Related StoriesFifth Avenue Apple Store Roof Springs A Leak, Again [Video]The FDA Is Worried About You Using The iPhone For UrinalysisHP Wants You To Believe That Its New Laptops Were Designed By AppleApple Seeds Yet Another Pre-Release OS X 10.8.4 Build To Developers, Adds New FocusWhy Your Next MacBook Will Have 50% More Battery Life

Due to a combination of seasonality and heightened competition from Android device makers, shipments of Apple's iPad may see a year-on-year drop for the first time since debuting in 2010, says KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

A little over a week since the last beta, Apple is seeding a new build of OS X 10.8.4 to developers. The release is listed as 12E55, and has no known issues. People are asked to concentrate testing on Safari, Wi-Fi, graphics, and Windows filesharing....

It appears that Apple has begun quietly phasing out its trailer download options from the trailers.apple.com website, effectively eliminating 1080p trailer availability. Previously, the site gave users the ability to stream trailers in 480p or 720p, along with providing download options for 480p, 720p, and 1080p. Trailers uploaded to the site after an approximate date of May 22 no longer have any download options and can only be streamed in-browser at 480p or 720p. Trailer options before 5/22 Trailer options after 5/22 While trailers uploaded before May 22 can still be downloaded, Apple appears to be removing the option from movies with multiple trailers that have a trailer uploaded after that date. For example, Disney Pixar's Monsters University has trailers that were uploaded on the following dates: 6/20/12, 3/08/13, 5/20/13, and 5/22/13. None of these trailers have download options. Disney’s Planes, on the other hand, has trailers that were uploaded on the following dates: 3/15/13, 04/04/13, and 5/17/13. Each of these trailers can still be downloaded at all resolutions, including 1080p. So, while older trailers can still be downloaded from the site, Apple appears to be removing downloads from older trailers as newer trailers are added, slowly phasing out the availability of trailer downloads altogether. It is not clear at this point why Apple has begun phasing out movie trailer downloads, but we have contacted the company for more information. (Thanks Eduardo and Theo!) Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories • Automatic Connected Car System Delayed Until August • Best Buy to Discount iPhone by $50 Beginning Sunday • Skycore Creates Platform for Passbook Delivery Via MMS • Letter to Brazilian Apple Repair Centers Suggests June 2013 Policy Changes? • Jon Stewart Takes on Apple's Appearance in Front of Senate Committee • Angry Birds Space Named App of the Week, Available for Free • Evernote Adds Reminders to Mac and iOS Apps in Update • Shazam for iPad Rebuilt as Universal App With Background Auto-Tagging and More

Motorola has given notice to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that it will be contesting the International Trade Commission's dismissal of a case against Apple, the second time the now Google-owned company has filed an appeal tied to that investigation.

Apple’s full-sized iPad and iPad mini are due for refreshes, and consumers are already gearing up for one this year. Apple’s full-sized iPad has retained the same design since the iPad 2, for the most part, and the iPad mini is soon going to be running technology that is two years old. This may be why Apple reduced prices of the iPad and iPad mini. Are they clearing out remaining devices before they restock with the second…Continue reading Apple reduces price of refurbished iPad 4 and iPad mini ahead of refreshRelated posts:Why did Apple upgrade the iPad this quickly?Apple pushes iOS 6.0.1 to customersApple to release the WiFi+Cellular iPad mini and 4th gen iPad in China on Friday

PureShot, a U$1.99 universal app, takes a very shooting-oriented approach to photography on iOS. You don't process your images here, or add filters. Instead, you just use the tools provided to take the very best picture you can, then process it on your iOS device, or get it onto your Mac or PC and use a dedicated image editor. I like that approach, because most do-it-all apps aren't strong in every feature. PureShot is dedicated to taking good pictures, and I think it succeeds at that goal. The app features 2 quality levels for JPEG images, and even something called dRAW TIFF output, which is a TIFF file with no processing by the app or JPEG compression applied. There is spot metering and tap to focus, as well as focus and exposure locks. The app supports 3-shot burst shooting, and 3-shot bracketed exposures. The screen is loaded with information, including the current position provided by your iOS GPS chip, but you can clean up the screen with a tap of a button. There is even a one-second exposure option, which provides good results in dark places if you can hold the iPhone steady or get it on a tripod using something like the Glif. Aspect ratio can be selected, but 4x3 gives you the full resolution of the iPhone's imaging chip. Gallery: PureShot In use, PureShot was generally intuitive and responsive without perceptible lag. There is extensive help built into the app, so anything that isn't clear should be easy to locate. The one-second exposure mode worked really well, letting me get some photos with the iPhone that I would not have been able to take otherwise. I think PureShot gets about as much out of my iPhone camera as an app can get. It's easily more feature rich than the popular Camera +, but that app includes editing features. If you plan to do some serious photography over the holiday weekend, PureShot is worth a purchase. It is not a do-all app, but it excels at getting good pictures, and it far outperforms the built-in Apple camera functions. PureShot is a universal app, and is optimized for the iPhone 5. It requires iOS 5.1 or greater. PureShot is a full featured iOS camera app originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 24 May 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments