Buster Hein - page 22

Pixel 3a is basically the iPhone SE 2 Apple won’t give us

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Pixel 3a
The Pixel 3a looks amazing.
Photo: Google

Google is bucking the trend of expensive flagship smartphones with its new Pixel 3a phone that debuted at Google I/O this morning.

The new Pixel 3a looks a lot like the Pixel 3 that debuted last year. It has some of the Pixel 3’s best features, like its fantastic camera, only its made with the budget-conscious consumer in mind.

iOS 12.3 inches closer to launch with new beta

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The Apple TV app gets a raft of new features in iOS 12.3.
The Apple TV app gets a raft of new features in iOS 12.3.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

The fifth beta for iOS 12.3 was released to developers this morning, arriving just one week after iOS 12.4 beta 4 came out. Apple seeded watchOS 5.2.1 beta 5, tvOS 12.3 beta 5 and macOS 10.14.5 beta 5 to developers as well.

It appears that this beta mostly focuses mostly on performance fixes as Apple readies it for launch soon. iOS 12.3 will probably be the last major update before Apple reveals iOS 13 at WWDC 2019 at the beginning of June.

Tim Cook explains why Apple isn’t a tech company anymore

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Tim Cook and Co. bring the hardware heat at The Brooklyn Academy of Music during the
Apple is now a consumer company.
Photo: Tim Cook

Apple CEO Tim Cook sounded absolutely ecstatic to count Warren Buffett as one of his company’s investors during an interview at Berkshire Hathaway’s shareholders meeting this morning.

Cook made a cameo in the company’s opening video — that also introduced Apple’s new Buffett-themed game — and sat down with CNBC to talk about his relationship with Warren, Apple’s culture, privacy and more.

Microsoft’s Edge browser is coming to the Mac ‘soon’

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Microsoft
Get your hands on it today.
Photo: Microsoft

Microsoft kicked off its annual Build 2019 developer conference this morning and to the surprise of Apple fans, the Windows-maker showed off some new software that runs on Mac.

Windows 10 users have been able to test early builds of Microsoft’s Edge Chromium browsers since last month, but it looks like Mac users won’t have to wait long to test out Edge. Microsoft doesn’t have a launch date yet, however, it briefly teased Edge running on macOS in a new video.

Apple made an iPhone game just for Warren Buffett

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Warren Buffett
Get ready to sling papers till your fingers hurt.
Photo: Apple

Apple finally came out with its first new video game for iPhone since the App Store debuted in 2008, and it’s dedicated to the iPhone-maker’s largest shareholder, Warren Buffett. It’s called Warren Buffett’s Paper Wizard, and it sounded like a joke at first.

Apple CEO Tim Cook made a cameo appearance at Berkshire Hathaway’s shareholder meeting this morning to reveal the new game. In Paper Wizard, players cruise around tossing newspapers at houses as an homage to Buffett, who worked a paper route as a kid to make money. Now he’s one of the richest men in the world (and with his own paper boi video game to boot).

Tim Cook says Apple ‘stores’ need a new name

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Apple is taking over Carnegie Library.
Apple is taking over Carnegie Library.
Photo: Mr. Tin DC/Flickr CC

Apple’s new store at the 116-year old Carnegie Library in Washington D.C. is the “most historic, ambitious restoration” project the company has undertaken, per CEO Tim Cook.

Doors of the Carnegie Library store will open to customers on May 11. Apple spent around $30 million on the restoration project, but Tim Cook insists the goal of the store isn’t to sell more iPhones, iPads and Macs to people. In fact, he doesn’t even really like calling it a store.

SEC charges Apple’s failed sapphire supplier of misleading investors

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GT Advanced
The back entrance GT Advanced's old sapphire plant in Mesa, Arizona.
Photo: Buster Hein/Cult of Mac

GT Advanced Technologies, the company that was supposed to make sapphire screens for the iPhone early this decade, has been charged with misleading investors by the SEC.

The SEC’s investigation found that GT and its CEO violated antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws as part of its deal to supply Apple with sapphire. After failing to meet certain performance requirements, GT caused “significant investor harm” by reclassifying over $300 million in debt to Apple. Sadly, the company’s punishment is pretty much just a slap on the wrist.

AirPod survives trip through man who swallowed it

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AirPods sales
Do not eat your AirPods.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple may need to update the specs for AirPods to include one new surprising feature: “stomach-proof”.

One unlucky Taiwanese man discovered this the hard way. After falling asleep, Ben Hsu woke up with one of his AirPods missing. Using Find My iPhone to track down the missing earbud, he started hearing a beeping sound that followed him around the room and realized he made a serious mistake. The AirPod was in his stomach.

How to score $4 Apple Watch bands that beat Apple’s $50 bands

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apple watch bands
Can you spot the differences?
Photo: Erfon Elijah

Accessorizing your Apple Watch with a slew of bands can be an expensive undertaking. But if you know where to look, you can find some high-quality bands that seem just as good as Apple’s — but only cost a fraction of the price.

The CultCast host Erfon Elijah is out with a new video today that will show you how you can pimp out your Apple Watch with multiple colorful bands without breaking the bank. The trick is knowing where to look on eBay and Amazon.

Take a look at some of these gorgeous bands!

What we learned from Apple’s surprising earnings report

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European Commission could get even tougher on tech in 2020
European Commission could get even tougher on tech in 2020
Image: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Wall Street received surprisingly better-than-expected news from Apple’s Q2 2019 earnings report today — and the stock is soaring in after-hours trading.

iPhone sales remain down, but pretty much every other facet of the company’s business is firing on all cylinders. Customers are falling in love with the iPad all over again. Services are booming. And Apple’s wearables business is now the size of a Fortune 200 company.

Despite plenty of doom and gloom from analysts over the last 12 months, Apple’s future is looking bright again.

iPad sales were the hero of Apple’s latest earnings report

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iPad Air 10.5
The new iPad Pro is officially a hit!
Photo: Apple

Apple surprised Wall Street with a better-than-expected Q2 earnings report this afternoon and one of the biggest factors was the iPad.

With revenues topping $58 billion Q2 (down 5% YoY), Apple is trying to become less reliant on its iPhone business. Services are expected to pick up most of the slack, but this last quarter Apple got some unexpected help from its iPad business that is experiencing a resurgence just at the right time thanks to the new iPad Pro.

Apple breezes past Wall Street forecasts with $58 billion in revenue

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quotes on Apple
It's "Get a bag Tuesday" and Tim Cook is cashing in.
Photo: Cult of Mac

Apple revealed its Q2 2019 earnings report and despite some pessimism from analysts, the company managed to beat Wall Street’s expectations.

Revenue for the quarter came in at $58 billion, slightly above Apple’s own guidance to investors. Most of Wall Street analysts were predicting the company would only bring in between $54 billion to $57 billion for the quarter. Better yet, the company’s guidance for next quarter is stronger than expected, signifying that the doom-and-gloom may have been severely overstated.

Brace yourself for Apple’s next ugly earnings call

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Apple earnings
Apple's Q2 earnings are expected to be a bit of a downer.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Wall Street is anxiously awaiting Apple’s earnings report for the second quarter of 2019 that will be delivered on Tuesday, April 30. Apple’s stock value has risen about 30% this year even though iPhone sales are slowing.

Most analysts predict that nearly all of Apple’s numbers will be down compared to the same quarter last year, but there are few bright spots that could cause the company’s stock price to surge. After looking at the analysts’ numbers, we’ve found a couple of key areas to watch for.

2019 iPhone lineup may finally come with 18W charger

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18W charger
Apple currently charges $29 to buy the 18W charger separately.
Photo: Apple

Freshly leaked details about the 2019 iPhone lineup claim customers can expect faster-charging capabilities right out of the box.

While Apple added faster-charging powers to the iPhone since the iPhone 8, it’s been giving customers the same 5W charger that has been used for years. That is finally set to change this year though as Apple is reportedly planning to include an 18W charger in the box with new 2019 iPhones.

iOS 12.3 beta 4 arrives with fresh fixes for iPhone and iPad [Updated]

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The Apple TV app gets a raft of new features in iOS 12.3.
The Apple TV app gets a raft of new features in iOS 12.3.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Apple seeded the fourth beta of iOS 12.3 to developers this morning, just one week after the last beta was released. iOS 12.3 beta 4 brings with it a number of changes for iPhone and iPad, including changes to the Apple TV app, Wallet app tweaks and tons of bug fixes.

Update: The public can now also download iOS 12.3 beta 4, allowing anyone to test out the new features.

Leaked Motorola Razr actually looks pretty amazing

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Motorola
The new Razr has a different take on folding displays.
Photo: Motorola

Motorola is about to attempt a big comeback into the smartphone market and folding displays could be the key to making the company relevant again.

Leaked images of an alleged Motorola Razr have surfaced online revealing significant changes made to one of the most popular phones ever. While we can’t verify whether or not the image above is authentic, we have to admit, it actually looks pretty amazing.

Apple was in talks to buy Intel’s 5G modem business

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This Intel modem will likely power the first 5G iPhone.
Apple's love affair with Intel was short-lived.
Photo: Intel

Apple nearly purchased Intel’s smartphone-modem chip business as a way to fix its impending 5G problems on the iPhone, according to a new report.

Talks between Intel and Apple allegedly came to an abrupt halt once the iPhone-maker settled its legal war with Qualcomm. The two sides had been talking about an acquisition since the summer, but it sounds like Intel’s hopes of selling have been dashed for now.

iPhone XI renderings reveal all-new rear panel design and mute switch changes

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leaked iPhone XI
The back of the iPhone XI.
Photo: OnLeaks/CashKaro

Apple won’t unveil the 2019 iPhone lineup for at least another four months, but we already have a pretty solid idea on what it will look like.

New renderings based on leaked information reveal the iPhone XI and XI Max in all their glory. From the front, the new iPhones look pretty similar to the XS and XS Max. When you flip them over though you’ll notice a new triple-lens camera array and new unique rear panel made out of one piece of glass.

Take a closer look:

Incredible watchOS 6 concept packs more new features than you can handle

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watchOS 6 could be jam packed with new stuff.
watchOS 6 could be jam packed with new stuff.
Photo: Jake Sworski

The grand unveiling of watchOS 6 is a little more than a month away. Leaked details on watchOS 6 have been pretty scarce in the lead up to WWDC 2019, but that hasn’t stopped concept designer Jake Sworski from coming up with a plethora of feature ideas that will take Apple Watch to the next level.

In his latest watchOS 6 concept, Sworski and his friends have dreamed up tons of big and little features that would add more information to Apple Watch. New watch faces, sleep tracking, activity ring advancements and more are all there. If Apple puts even half of these features in watchOS 6 we’ll be totally blown away.

Take a look at all these great ideas:

iPad Pro unlikely to get 5G until 2021

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2018 iPad Pro
5G on the iPad Pro would be amazing
Photo: Apple

Apple is reportedly planning to lay the foundation for 5G on the iPad Pro by using Liquid Crystal Polymer (LCP) soft boards for the first time ever.

According to one of the most reliable Apple analysts in the game, the new LCP soft boards will allow for better wireless connectivity in the iPad Pro, but 5G modems probably won’t make it into the iPad Pro until 2021.

Apple’s self-driving car fleet gets downsized

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Project Titan
Apple is invested heavily in self-driving tech.
Photo: Idiggapple/Twitter

Apple’s fleet of self-driving cars has gotten smaller for the first time since the project’s inception.

In a recent filing with the California Department of Motor Vehicles, Apple revealed that both its number of cars and drivers permitted to test them have decreased since that company’s last report at the end of 2018.

iOS 12.3 beta 3 is now available to developers and the public [Updated]

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The Apple TV app gets a raft of new features in iOS 12.3.
The Apple TV app gets a raft of new features in iOS 12.3.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Apple is back with a brand new batch of beta software for developers, including the third beta of iOS 12.3.

Update: The public can now also install the latest iOS beta on their iPhone or iPad.

The iOS 12.3 beta arrives two weeks after the last version came out, bringing with it new features to the Apple TV app along with plenty of bug fixes. There are also new beta builds for macOS 10.14.5, tvOS 12.3 and watchOS 5.2.1.