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Buster Hein - page 100

Boston Dynamics’ freaky new robot can clean your kitchen

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This robot is a total neat freak.
This robot is a total neat freak.
Photo: Boston Dynamics

Alphabet-owned Boston Dynamics robots are ready to invade your kitchen.

The company unveiled its newest robot, SpotMini, an all-electric version of its Spot robot. Taking some design cues from its bigger sibling that weighs 160 lbs, SpotMini is a simplified model that is smaller and lighter, allowing it to roam your house with more dexterity than Boston Dynamics’ previous bots.

It’s a total neat freak and can clean your house, too, thanks to an elongated neck extension:

Jony Ive now holds doctorates from Cambridge and Oxford

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Sir Jony Ive is now a Cambridge graduate.
Sir Jony Ive is now a Cambridge graduate.
Photo: University of Cambridge

One of the world’s oldest universities has given Apple’s VP of Design, Jony Ive, another honorary PhD to add to his growing collection.

Not to be out done by their centuries old rivals at Cambridge, the University of Oxford conferred an honorary Doctor of Science degree to Sir Jony at a ceremony on June 22, giving him two degrees from two of the world’s oldest and most prestigious universities.

KFC’s new chicken box can charge your iPhone

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No one asked for this.
No one asked for this.
Photo: KFC

The world’s largest fried chicken chain has come up with a wacky new idea that will fill your stomach as well as your iPhone.

As part of a promotion in India, KFC has introduced a new limited edition “Watt A Box” that packs all the greasy finger-lickin’ chicken you could want, along with with a USB port and portable battery that eaters can use to recharge their iPhones with while grubbing.

Check it out:

Dropbox for iOS can now scan physical documents

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Dropbox can do this now.
Dropbox can do this now.
Photo: Dropbox

Managing your digital files with Dropbox has been one of the best tools for cloud users for years, but the service is now ready to take its talents to the physical world with a new update that makes it easier to collaborate with people wherever you are.

How LeBron and Cavs channeled Steve Jobs to beat Warriors

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Eddy Cue isn't cheering for Lebron this year.
LeBron took some advice from Eddy Cue's boss this year.
Photo: USA Today

The Cleveland Cavaliers pulled off one of the most improbable comebacks in NBA history on Sunday when they came back to beat the Golden State Warriors — Apple’s favorite team — in the NBA Finals and Steve Jobs was part of the reason why.

LeBron James had to dig deep for inspiration when the Cavs lost the first two games of the NBA Finals. After spending the weekend watching old Muhammad Ali fight, James reportedly realized his team needed something they could connect to to make them believe the series wasn’t over. So before Game 3, James gathered his teammates and played a portion of Steve Jobs’ infamous Stanford Univeristy commencement address from 2005.

Ex-Apple engineers want to make your dumb car smart

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Pearl's RearVision adds a camera to your car.
Pearl's RearVision adds a camera to your car.
Photo: Pearl

It will be years before we get to see how simple and amazing a car designed by Apple will be, but for now a new hardware startup created by ex-Apple engineers is ready to give us the next best thing.

Pearl Automation, an autonomous car tech startup co-founded by Apple veteran Bryson Gardner, revealed its first product today that makes your dumb car smarter by adding a new feature usually only found on luxury vehicles.

Apple drops new betas for tvOS, iOS and OS X

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iPhone SE
A fresh new iOS beta is ready for you.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Developers and public beta testers can now get their hands on the third beta build of iOS 9.3.3 after Apple seeded the update this morning.

The new iOS 9.3.3 beta comes two weeks after Apple released the second beta. Apple has also released two new betas for tvOS 9.3.3 and OS X 10.11.6.

iPhone 7 will be boring, according to WSJ

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This could be your new iPhone.
This could be your new iPhone.
Photo: Martin Hajek

Rumors that the iPhone 7 will be a snooze-worthy update have been seemingly confirmed today by The Wall Street Journal, which claims Apple plans to break from its traditional pattern of redesigning its flagship device every year.

This year’s iPhone will come with plenty of minor upgrades, but according to the new report, some iPhone 7 features that Apple hoped to integrate just weren’t ready for a 2016 rollout.

Apple’s free Summer Camp teaches kids to code

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Summer camp is coming to an Apple Store near you.
Summer camp is coming to an Apple Store near you.
Photo: Apple

Parents looking for a cool summer activity for kids will soon be able to drop their youngsters off at the Genius Bar for a programming upgrade.

Apple opened registration for its annual summer Camps this morning which give children 8 to 12 the opportunity to come into the Apple Store to learn coding, robotics, moviemaking and storytelling using iPads and Macs. Best of all, the three day camp is totally free.

Tim Cook doesn’t hate all Republicans — just Donald Trump

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Tim Cook
Tim Cook wants to be pals with Paul Ryan.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple is boycotting the Republican National Convention this year due to Donald Trump being the party’s presumed nominee, but CEO Tim Cook actually wants to strengthen ties with the GOP.

Cook reportedly plans to host a fundraiser for House Speaker Paul Ryan next week as part of the Apple’s effort to court Republican lawmakers.

Spotify is first music streamer to reach 100 million users

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Spotify
Spotify is the largest music streamer in the world.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Spotify now has more active users than any other music streaming service on the planet, but when it comes to paid subscribers, it looks like growth has stalled.

The Swedish music streaming service revealed today that it now has 100 million active users — up from the 75 million it had last year — however its paid subscribers total hasn’t budged since March.

Apple loses to Facebook and Google as top talent attractor

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Apple adds 5 new vice presidents to its executive lineup
Employees love working at Apple.
Photo: Milo Kahney/Cult of Mac

Apple is one of the top 5 companies in the U.S. when it comes to attracting and keeping talent, but its rivals Facebook and Google are even better.

LinkedIn has come out with its first ever Top Attractors list based on insights from tracking billions of data points of its 433 million members and discovered that in the employee perks arm race, few can top Google.

iOS 10’s ‘Raise to Wake’ only works on new iPhones

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iOS 10
Not everyone is getting Raise to Wake.
Photo: Apple

One of the best new features of iOS 10 won’t be available for all devices that are compatible with Apple’s jam-packed mobile update.

Raise to Wake is such a simple and transformative new feature in iOS 10 that it feels like iPhones should have had it for years. Turning on the lock screen by just picking up your iPhone makes getting to notifications and apps quicker, but unless you have an iPad or iPhone released in the last year, you won’t get to enjoy it.

Apple is taking away your rifle (emoji)

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The rifle won't be made into an emoji.
The rifle won't be made into an emoji.
Photo: Andrew Stawarz/Flickr

Getting your hands on a rifle emoji is about to get a lot harder for all smartphone owners thanks to Apple.

The Unicode Consortium proposed earlier this year to add a rifle emoji as part of the Unicode 9.0 release this year, but according to a new report, the controversial firearm won’t make the cut after Apple campaigned internally to have it removed.

iOS 10 notifications redesign is better than the real deal

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Grouping would make iOS 10 notifications much better.
Grouping would make iOS 10 notifications much better.
Photo: Zuno Young/Medium

The paint is still drying on iOS 10 after just being unveiled earlier this week, but one UI designer has already come up with an amazing redesign of the Notifications screen, and we hope Apple’s paying attention.

Notifications have a bigger emphasis than ever on the lock screen now that Slide to Unlock is dead, however the way Apple displays them is kind of ugly if you get multiple notifications from the same app.

iPhone 7 Plus may not get dual-lens camera after all

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iPhone 7 mockup
The iPhone 7's dual-lens camera could be a game changer.
Photo: Martin Hajek

Buying the iPhone 7 Plus might not be as big an upgrade as some Apple fans were hoping for this fall.

Apple has allegedly decided to scrap plans to include a dual-lens camera sensor on the back of the iPhone 7 Plus, according to the latest rumor from China that claims the tech isn’t quite ready.

Apple reveals why iMessage isn’t coming to Android

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Messages iOS 10
That doesn't mean you should stop using it.
Photo: Apple

Android fans who have been waiting for Apple to bring its popular iMessage platform to Android won’t be getting blue chat bubbles anytime soon, according to Apple executives at WWDC.

Despite pre-WWDC rumors that Apple planned to push iMessage across the Android divide, the company revealed this week that it has some pretty good reasons to keep it as an exclusive iOS feature.

iOS 10 will help you save money on the road

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Apple Maps has some new tricks in iOS 10.
Apple Maps has some new tricks in iOS 10.
Photo: Apple

Drivers tired of forking over cash to toll booths on the morning commute are getting some welcomed relief thanks to iOS 10.

Apple Maps didn’t get much stage time during the WWDC 2016 keynote earlier this week, but along with adding proactive route suggestions, Apple has also made it super easy to avoid any toll booths that might be on your route.

Mockup proves iPhone 7 would be beautiful in blue

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This could be your new iPhone.
This could be your new iPhone.
Photo: Martin Hajek

Apple might add a new color to the iPhone lineup and this year it won’t be a new shade of gold.

Recent rumors have claimed that the iPhone 7 will come in a “Deep Blue” color option when it launches this fall, which sounds kind of strange, until you look at the beautiful mockups created by Martin Hajek.

Even though the iPhone 7 isn’t expected to feature any major design changes, we will gladly fork over the cash for an upgrade if it looks this good:

5 reasons your Apple experience is about to get even more amazing

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Watch WWDC as a developer is a completely different experience.
Devs at WWDC 2016 see plenty of under-the-hood tweaks that will ultimately mean big things for users.
Photo: Apple

Most Apple fans don’t start drooling at the mention of speech-recognition APIs, Xcode thread sanitizers, Metal tessellation or Pixar USD model support. However, if you’re a developer, those can be huge game-changers that mean you can make your apps better than ever.

While Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference 2016 keynote revealed loads of fresh features coming in iOS 10 and macOS Sierra — including some amazing stuff that should delight iPhone, iPad and Mac owners when the final versions launch this fall — developers watching Monday’s event saw tons of seemingly minor updates that will let them make apps better than ever.

To find out what the little updates could mean for typical users, Cult of Mac asked some of this year’s Apple Design Award winners what WWDC additions they’re most excited about.

Here’s what they told us.

Apple forces additional security requirements on iOS apps

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iPhone SE
Apple plans to make HTTPS mandatory for apps.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple is finally dropping the ban hammer on HTTP.

As part of its overall efforts to increase security on iOS, Apple revealed to developers at WWDC that it will soon force all apps to use a secure HTTPS connection to access web service, so that users’ data stays encrypted while in transit.