David Pierini, author at Cult of Mac

How to take better fireworks photos with your iPhone

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These tips will help you take better fireworks photos.
These tips will help you take better fireworks photos.
Photo: Richard Dongses/Flickr CC

Last year’s Fourth of July fireworks made you say ooh and ahh, but when you look at your iPhone photos from that night, the sound you make is more of an ugh. Want to shoot better fireworks photos this time around?

Don’t blame Siri or some engineer in Cupertino for previous photo fails. The iPhone camera, as mighty as it is, can’t do all the thinking for you — especially in challenging lighting conditions like a fireworks display. But with a little thought and preparation, you can make this holiday worth reliving on your iPhone camera roll.

Below are some simple tips to make your iPhone fireworks photos sizzle.

Apple Music app comes to Samsung smart TVs

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Apple Music is preparing for invasion
Apple Music subscribers can listen to playlists on Samsung smart TVs.
Photo: Apple

Apple Music invites people to “Lose yourself in 60 million songs.” Today, you can on a new device – a Samsung smart TV.

Samsung announced Thursday an Apple Music app is now available for its most recent smart TVs. Until the Samsung, an Apple Music app was only available with an Apple TV set-top device.

iOS app shows virus lockdown leads to remarkably cleaner skies

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IQAir app showing LA air quality in coronavirus
Los Angeles has cleaner air under COVID-19 restrictions.
Photo: David Pierini/Cult of Mac

A pandemic that kills thousands offers no silver linings.

But stay-at-home orders to slow the spread of COVID-19 shows us a window for what living with clean air is like.

An air quality tech company, whose global measurements can be monitored on an iOS app, says greenhouse gas emissions are so low right now, Los Angeles has the cleanest air of all metropolitans areas in the U.S.

Huawei’s latest deceptive ads try the same old camera stunt

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Weibo post busting Huawei for misleading ad
Huawei needs to have more confidence in its smartphone cameras.
Screenshot: Huapeng Zhao/Weibo

The cameras in Huawei smartphones are class-leading. Yet, the company was caught again using a photo shot with a DSLR in an ad to promote pictures produced with their handsets.

Best, of all, the gaffe was discovered by the winner of an iPhone photography contest.

6-in-1 charger rolls out the welcome mat for all your Apple devices

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Air Omni 6-in-1 charger
The charger for the Apple fan who carries everything.
Photo: Pitaka

If you live in an older house where places to plug in are few in number, you begin to appreciate the idea of a charging station for multiple devices.

Pitaka’s Air Omni is a wireless charger for up to six devices that does away with multiple chargers and cords. And it will prevent you from having to cut additional sockets into the walls of your vintage digs.

ACLU wants COVID-19 tracking program loaded with privacy safeguards

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contact-tracing
Privacy groups want to make sure contact tracing technology keeps your data safe.
Photo: MIT Lincoln Lab

The American Civil Liberties Union said Friday it is cautiously encouraged by a commitment to privacy by Apple and Google as they develop Bluetooth-based contact-tracing technology to track the spread of COVID-19.

But the civil liberties group says the two tech giants must resolve “certain important privacy-related questions” key to winning trust from a public growing wary about who sees their data.

Three iPhone lenses aren’t enough. This case adds four more

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ShiftCam for iPhone 11 and pro lens
Lots of lens options without the heavy lifting.
Photo: ShiftCam

ShiftCam is in its third year of making innovative iPhone cases with a cluster of lenses that shift over Apple’s native glass. To look at a ShiftCam case is probably not much different than having a staring contest with a spider.

Maybe you can’t stand the thought of staring into the many eyes of a spider. With the ShiftCam case, especially it’s new MultiLens case for the iPhone 11 series, you won’t want to look away.

Custom keypad puts Photoshop toolbar at your fingertips

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DIY Photoshop keypad by 3dDecors
A screen doesn't have to separate you from your Photoshop toolbar.
Photo: 3dDecors

Once you learn the task behind each symbol, the toolbar in Adobe Photoshop becomes a natural extension of a photographer’s creativity. Stylistic flourishes are just clicks away.

Now, the toolbar can be physically at your fingertips.

A designer from Ukraine has transformed the iconic on-screen toolbar into an actual keypad he sells on Etsy.