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Ed Hardy - page 209

Facebook and YouTube would be more profitable without advertising

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the Facebook logo on an iPhone 6 Plus
Facebook would be more profitable if users paid a monthly subscription fee.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Many of our favorite applications are free because advertisers pay for them. But what if that changed? How much would you pay for Facebook or YouTube without advertising… and without these apps profiling everything about you?

A survey conducted by a market-research firm found that subscription fees people would pay for these apps would make them more profitable than they are now.

iPad and Amazon are the big winners in tablet sales

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The new iPad Air adds support for Apple Pencil and the Smart Keyboard.
The new 10.5-inch iPad Air is selling well.
Photo: Apple

Just two companies saw increased tablet sales in the second quarter of this year. Both Apple and Amazon enjoyed strong improvement, while all their rivals dropped.

Apple further increased its dominance of this market, as iPad now makes up 38.1% of all tablets sold worldwide, gaining 4 percentage points year over year.

Apple Card is even better than we realized

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Apple Card’s ‘elite card’ status is hitting retailers in the wallet
There are reportedly benefits to the Apple credit card we haven’t heard about before.
Photo: Apple

The credit card Apple will launch in a few weeks will reportedly make it cheaper for users to make large purchases. Plus, there’s good news for iPad users with an Apple Card.

Trump tariffs could drop iPhone sales 20%

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iPhone 11R and 11 Max on wooden railing
Demand for the iPhone 11 could drop significantly if Apple raises its cost to offset new import taxes imposed by Pres. Trump.
Photo: Ian Fuchs/Cult of Mac

No matter what President Trump keeps insisting, his upcoming tariffs on all Apple products will be paid for either by the company or by Americans who buy iPhones, iPads and Macs.

A market-analysis firm warns that If Apple chooses to pass the cost of these import taxes onto its customers, sales of iPhone could drop 20%.

Verizon cuts the price of unlimited data plans

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Verizon
It’s about to cost less to use one of Verizon’s unlimited data plans.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Verizon Wireless just did something telecoms almost never do: It lowered the cost of wireless service. This is part of the carrier’s renaming and changing of what it includes in all its unlimited plans.

Apple hires more designers and developers, fewer suits

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Jony Ive pays for thousands of orchards to be planted at schools
It’s going to take dozens of people to replace Jony Ive. Fortunately, Apple is hiring them.
Photo: Apple

Jony Ive told the world in June he’s ready to stop being Apple’s Chief Design Officer but it seems likely he told his employers months before that. New research shows Apple went on a hiring spree in its design department early this year.

At the same time, the company has apparently been following a general “fewer suits, more hoodies” hiring strategy.

Latest macOS Catalina beta lets you dump iTunes (if you dare)

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macOS Catalina
macOS left the desert of Mojave for the island of Catalina.
Photo: Apple

Anyone who’s fed up with iTunes can put the latest pre-release version of macOS Catalina on their Mac now and start using the new Apple Music, Apple Podcast and Apple TV apps instead. Of course, today’s public beta, the fourth in the series, comes with a long list of known problems so it might not be worth the hassle.

Trump slaps 10% tariff on iPhone imports from China

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President Trump: Apple encryption could protect ‘criminal minds’
Trump may have just raised the price of the 2019 iPhone.
Photo: Gage Skidmore/Flickr CC

The iPhone is about to be caught in President Trump’s trade war with China. A month from today, the US will begin charging a 10% tax to import iPhone, iPad, and other devices. They are part of $300 billion dollars worth of imports getting new tariffs.

Trump’s decision caused a 2.0% drop in Apple’s share price.

Samsung follows Apple’s lead by dumping headset jack

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Samsung USB-C to 3.5mm adapter
Samsung users will soon become familiar with this adapter.
Photo: Samsung

The writing is on the wall: Samsung is about to stop building 3.5mm headset jacks into its handsets. There’s nearly overwhelming evidence that the soon-to-be-released Galaxy Note 10 will ask users to plug headphones into the data/charging port.

Apple made this change years ago.

Apple’s installed base will soon pass 1.5 billion devices

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Classic MacBook, iPad and iPhone
Even older MacBooks, iPads and iPhones boost Apple’s revenue.
Photo: Apple

The total number of all Apple computers in active use is growing strongly, and is about to pass the 1.5 billion mark. This includes Macs, iPhones, and iPads.

That said, most of the total are iPhones. An industry analyst predicts there will be a billion of these in active use by early next year.

iPhone sales drop double digits as rivals thrive

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iPhone XS Max
The iPhone XS is thought to be too similar to the iPhone X to sell well.
Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

Apple just finished its third consecutive quarter with declining year-over-year iPhone sales. That’s left the company solidly in third place behind Samsung and Huawei, both of whom saw an uptick.

Some analysts blame Apple’s problem on a lack of innovation in the 2018 iPhone models.

Apple’s AR glasses team gets a new, no-nonsense leader

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glasses
Apple‘s AR glasses project may have gotten a big boost from a new leader with long experience herding developers.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

The top-secret group at Apple developing a pair of Augmented Reality glasses reportedly has a new leader. Kim Vorrath has been with the company for many years, and is now in charge of all Apple’s AR efforts.

Developers start tinkering with fifth macOS Catalina beta

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Apple Music in macOS Catalina
Apple Music replacing iTunes is one of the biggest changes in macOS Catalina.
Photo: Apple

The debut of macOS 10.15 took a step nearer with the release of macOS Catalina Developer beta 5.  Catalina is intended to let third-party software developers test if their apps are ready for the new version, which will bring significant changes including the end of iTunes.

Verizon’s super-fast 5G expands to four more cities

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Verizon 5G MiFi M1000 Hotspot
You can use Verizon’s 5G hotspot in lots more places starting today.
Photo: Verizon

The number of people who can access Verizon’s 5G network takes a big jump today. The carrier just launched service in parts of Atlanta, Detroit, Indianapolis and Washington, DC.

The carrier has a 5G hotspot for anyone who wants to speed up the connection of their Mac or iPad.

Vizio TVs start getting AirPlay 2 and HomeKit

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Vizio TV with AirPlay 2
Vizio TVs are getting a free software update that will let iPad and iPhone users beam video to them.
Photo: Vizio

Vizio has started updating its recent SmartCast TVs with support for AirPlay 2, allowing users to stream video from their iPhone or other Apple device. And not just new TVs — the list of compatible models stretches back to ones released in 2017.

These devices are also getting HomeKit support, so they can be part of Apple’s home automation system.

Apple’s record-breaking earnings report by the numbers

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Apple financial results on an iPad Pro
A dive into Apple’s most recent financial results shows what’s really happening with the company.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

After several rocky quarters, Apple set a new record for third-quarter revenue. Plus there’s good news in iPad and Mac sales. However, iPhone revenue slipped considerably.

Check out these charts that demonstrate with a glance how the company did last quarter.

iOS 13 and iPadOS 13 move closer with fourth public betas

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iOS 13
iOS 13 is probably less than two months away.
Screen capture: Apple

Anyone brave enough to install onto their iPhone or iPad pre-release versions of Apple’s next operating systems can grab the latest betas. Everyone has access to iOS 13 and iPad OS 13 Public beta 4 just a day after developers got their own new version.

In addition, developers received their fifth beta of watchOS 6.

Apple hires Xbox creator and VR expert Nat Brown

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Original Xbox
Nat Brown is one of the people who convinced Bill Gates to make the original Xbox.
Photo: Microsoft

Apple just snapped up Nat Brown, who most recently was part of Valve’s Virtual Reality team. Before that, he was one of the gang-of-five that convinced Microsoft to create a little device called Xbox.

Whether he’s joining the team running Apple Arcade or will be part of the company’s Augmented Reality efforts is anyone guess.

Why you need to install iOS 12.4 right now

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iOS 12.4
It’s high time you installed iOS 12.4 on your iPhone or iPad.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Details of five security bugs fixed by last-week’s iOS 12.4 update have been published. This means hackers now have what they need to use them on any device that hasn’t been updated.

Now would be a good time for anyone who’d been procrastinating to install this update on their iPhone or iPad.

Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Note 10 could be slower than iPhone XS

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Galaxy-Note-10-leak
The top competitor for the iPhone 11 Max might be a bit of slowpoke.
Photo: TechTalk TV

The flagship phone Samsung is expected to unveil next week might not be as speedy as the iPhone that came out a year ago.

And to make this worse for the Korean company, Apple will soon introduce an even faster iOS handset.

Have a hell of a good time with Doom II for iOS

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Doom II is back, and this time it’s for iPhone and iPad.
Doom II is back, and this time it’s for iPhone and iPad.
Image: Bethesda Softworks

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the original Doom, Bethesda Softworks relaunched Doom II for iPhone and iPad. It promises “more demons, more weapons, more action” — just like it did back in 1994.