Free Republic

Jeffrey Epstein, a powerful pedophile who got a pass from multiple justice systems, until his luck ran out, is dead. These are bits and pieces of a much bigger picture about the powerful relationships that he maintained with some very powerful people. We know that Epstein had a relationship with Bill Gates that was compelling enough to get the Microsoft kingpin to donate millions on his behalf. In October, 2014, the Media Lab received a two-million-dollar donation from Bill Gates; Ito wrote in an internal e-mail, “This is a $2M gift from Bill Gates directed by Jeffrey Epstein.” Cohen replied,...

Offended? Go hassle Merriam-Webster, not us Apple fanbois are officially sheeple. So says American dictionary Merriam-Webster.The American lexicologists added the term of endearment to their tome yesterday, a mere 72 years after its first recorded use in the English language.Helpfully, and entirely non-inflammatorily, Merriam-Webster's people gave two examples of "sheeple" being used in a sentence. The first was a fairly neutral example of a farmer being rude to his neighbours. The second... well, here it is for your amusement/enragement (delete as appropriate):Apple's debuted a battery case for the juice-sucking iPhone – an ungainly lumpy case the sheeple will happily shell...

Mac Man tries to gobble up all the Apples. Illustration: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac Cult of Mac 2.0 bugYou don’t see long lines for the latest Lenovo PC or LG Android phone. But take a quick peek on the internet and you’ll find plenty of people lining up to say how much they hate Apple. Every successful person or company has its critics, but the expressions of vitriol for Apple are more complex than the popular refrain ‘haters gonna hate’. Some are bugged by the price of Apple gadgets, others sneer over the enthusiasm of Apple fans, mockingly referring to...

Scathing comments and lots of one star ratings appear on the Google Play page for Apple's Move to iOS switching app Apple released its Move to iOS app yesterday in the Google Play store, and Android users lost no time in lashing out at the Cupertino giant for daring to encourage people to leave the Android platform.Many scathing comments were posted by angry Android users, and the app was quickly voted down to 1.8 stars. As I write this post there are 3,306 one star ratings at the low end, and 827 five star ratings at the high end, with...

Nick Lee, a dedicated programmer with access to WatchOS 2.0, has ported Mac OS 7.5.5 to his wrist. That’s right: the OS you used in the 1990s to make your ‘zine can now boot – albeit slowly – on your Apple Watch. He used Mini VMac, an “early Mac emulator,” and recompiled it for the Watch. Can the Watch actually run these sorts of programs well? Sure. The Watch’s S1 chip is roughly equivalent to the iPhone 4S’s A5 chip which, as we well know, is plenty fast. “MacOS System 7.5.x shipped on ~100MHz PowerPC chips with ~24MB of RAM,...

I have been reporting on Apple for more than 20 years now, and in all that time no product has had such an impact on my life as this little piece of hardware and software. I don’t say that for dramatic effect, it has had a profound effect on the way I live. As you will read later, this is the most personal review I have ever written.However, before we get there, I need to address a few other items, so let’s get started.I picked up my Apple Watch from Apple the day before they went on sale to the...

Since the devices first went on sale in April, Apple (AAPL, Tech30) has received 7 million orders in total and shipped 2.5 million watches so far, according to a Global Equities Research report, citing tracking methods used by app developers. Apple is expected to deliver about 5 million Apple Watches by the end of the quarter, which is two times more than analysts expected, Trip Chowdhry, Managing Director of Global Equities Research, told CNNMoney. This would beat the company's previous "new category" debuts -- the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. When the iPod first went on sale in 2001, Apple sold...

The Apple Watch keeps surprising us — Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac" Far from being a superfluous device strictly for hard-core Apple fans, the Apple Watch is a surprisingly delightful and useful device.Now that we’ve spent enough time with the latest gadget from the mothership, we’re noticing quite a few sweet little positives (and a couple negatives) about Apple Watch.Bottom line: The more you use this thing, the better it is.The battery lasts longer than expected Many of us were planning on carrying around an extra charger with us to keep Apple Watch’s gorgeous display working well into the afternoon....

Just over six percent of Americans plan to buy an Apple Watch this year, according to an online poll of 1,829 US adults conducted by Reuters/Ipsos. If accurate, that means Apple could sell as many as 15 million Watches this year, or more than double the total number of smartwatches sold by all manufacturers in 2014. Who are these Watch watchers? Reuter’s interactive polling tool offers an in-depth and occasionally surprising look at the demographics. According to this poll, Apple Watch fans are democratic leaning and college educated, largely male, but not necessarily Caucasian. They own their own homes and...

<p>Apple CEO Tim Cook eyeballs Apple Watches in Palo Alto, California April 10, 2015.</p> <p>An estimated 957,000 American shoppers ordered Apple Watches on Friday — a sign the tech giant’s newest gadget is already seeing more initial success than its first iPhone or the iPod.</p>

I am a die hard defender of wearables. Back in September when I made the switch (one I regret) to a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 from my dead iPhone 5, I decided to get a smartwatch. After doing a bunch of research I decided to get the Samsung Gear Fit. As I've written before, I absolutely love this thing. I paid $107 for it and feel like it's been worth every penny. Notifications are fantastic — short, sweet, comprehensive, customizable. It's curved screen and bright display are stylish and attractive. Fitness tracking isn't perfect, but very solid. For $100 this...

With all the unofficial set photos that have been popping online from the sets of The Dark Knight Rises and Zack Snyder‘s Man of Steel, Warner Bros. has jumped the gun and provided our very first, official, look at Henry Cavill as Superman in the June 14, 2013 film. Check out the full, high-resolution version, after the jump. Choosing this image, Superman protecting a smokey safe, as our first official look at the film says a lot about what Snyder is going for here. What does it say exactly? That’ll I’ll leave to you all to discuss. Superman’s hair is...

Lisa Simpson gets Married

Google’s mismanagement of the Android Market Earlier this week, CNET ran an article critical of the permission model of the Android Market. Google’s response to the criticism was that “each Android app must get users’ permission to access sensitive information”. While this is technically true, one should not need a PhD in Computer Science to use a smartphone. How is a consumer supposed to know exactly what the permission “act as an account authenticator” means? The CNET opinion piece “Is Google far too much in love with engineering?” is quite relevant here.Google does far too little curation of the Android...