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Killian Bell - page 202

Alleged killer asked Siri where to stash body

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siri
Siri's usefulness has stood the test of time, but can 3D Touch?
Photo: Apple

A Florida man accused of killing his roommate allegedly asked Siri to help him find a hiding place for the body.

“I need to hide my roommate,” 20-year-old Pedro Bravo told Apple’s virtual assistant on the day Christian Aguilar was kidnapped and strangled in September 2012.

Apple welcomes Beats to the family as $3 billion acquisition is finalized

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Apple-welcomes-Beats

Apple today officially welcomed Beats Music and Beats Electronics to its family, along with Beats co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre, following its $3 billion takeover back in May.

“Music has always held a special place in our hearts, and we’re thrilled to join forces with a group of people who love it as much as we do,” reads an announcement on Apple.com, while those buying products from the Beats website will now be routed through the Apple Store.

The Straitjacket is my new favorite iPhone case

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Loop's Straitjacket case will keep your iPhone crazy-safe. Photos: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac
Loop's Straitjacket case will keep your iPhone crazy-safe. Photos: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Loop Attachment is famous for making some of the best silicone cases you can buy for iOS devices, but the company’s latest effort for the iPhone 5/5s is a little different. It looks a lot like Loop’s Mummy lineup and carries over some of those cases’ greatest strengths, but it’s made from a mixture of rigid polycarbonate and soft polyurethane.

It’s called the Straitjacket, and it aims to provide your iPhone with excellent impact protection without completely covering its aluminum chassis and iconic Apple logo. It doubles as a credit card holder; provides full access to all buttons, ports and switches; and comes in a number of pretty colors.

What’s more, it’s the best Loop case yet for the iPhone.

Apple is bringing its OS X Yosemite beta to the public tomorrow

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Yosemite

Listen up, Mac users! Apple is gearing up to release its first public beta of OS X Yosemite tomorrow, July 24, giving those without a developer account the opportunity to get their hands on it for the first time. Only the first 1 million people who sign up will gain access to the pre-release software, however, so if you haven’t already, submit your details today.

Lowdown uses artificial intelligence to take the pain out of meeting prep

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Lowdown-iPhone

Turning up to a meeting unprepared can be a big mistake, but who really enjoys meeting preparation? No one, that’s who. But iPhone app Lowdown can take care of the hard work for you, saving you valuable time and energy.

Using artificial intelligence, Lowdown tells you where your meeting is, how long it’ll take to get there, and who you’ll be meeting. It even finds and presents useful information on those individuals, including their professional profiles and connections, and recent correspondence you’ve shared with them.

iOS 8 Photos app lets you hide your saucy snaps

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iOS-8-hide-photos

How many times have you allowed a friend to use your iPhone and then experienced that sudden sinking feeling when you realize they might stumble across “personal” snaps in the Photos app? Well, with iOS 8, that’s something you won’t need to worry about quite so much.

Apple has added a new feature to the built-in Photos app that allows you to hide images you don’t want others to see — but hidden photos aren’t exactly hard to find.

iOS 8’s HomeKit puts Apple at heart of home automation

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Craig Federighi talks up Apple's home automation plans. Photo: Roberto Baldwin/The Next Web
Craig Federighi talks up Apple's home automation plans. Photo: Roberto Baldwin/The Next Web

In the not-so-distant future, we’ll use smartphones to control nearly everything around our homes. We already have smart light bulbs, thermostats, locks and appliances, but we lack a central platform for all these devices.

That’s all going to change this fall when Apple releases iOS 8 with HomeKit, an important new protocol for developers. This will create the kind of universal platform that could revolutionize home automation.

Write’s smart toolset makes note-taking easier on your Mac

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Write-app-Mac

Write, the distraction-free note-taking tool that’s been a great success on iOS, is ready to make writing easier on your Mac.

Whether you’re a student, a blogger, a novelist, or simply too forgetful to remember what you need to pack your holiday, Write’s incredibly simple design and clutter-free user interface can make writing a more enjoyable experience. But don’t let its minimal beauty fool you — Write is packed with handy features.

COTE: The leather iPad sleeve you’ll fall in love with

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I don’t really like using iPad cases; I tend to put one on just before I hand my device over to my kids, and then it comes off again as soon as they’re done. One of the best things about the iPad mini is its form factor, but that’s lost when you slap on a big, bulky case.

COTE by BUKcase
Category: Sleeve
Works With: iPad mini
Price: $133

But although I like my iPad to be naked when I use it, I need some protection when I’m on the go and carrying it around. That’s when I’m most likely to drop it — and when it’s most susceptible to getting scratched up in the bottom of my bag.

I’ve found the COTE leather sleeve from BUKcase to be the perfect solution to this problem.

Nintendo forces takedown of GBA4iOS emulator

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GBA4iOS

Nintendo won’t bring its popular game franchises to iOS, and Apple won’t allow emulators in the App Store. In order to play titles like Super Mario and Zelda on your iPhone, then, you have to look at unofficial alternatives. GBA4iOS was one of the most popular — but after its creators received a DMCA notice from Nintendo this week, it is no more.

‘The first billionaire in hip-hop’: A drunk Dr. Dre seemingly confirms Apple’s Beats buyout

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Apple's home to some pretty big players these days.
Apple's home to some pretty big players these days.

Reports of Apple’s pending Beats Electronics acquisition has left the vast majority of us scratching our heads, but if you thought this was just another spurious claim from anonymous supply chain blabbermouths, you can think again. Not only did the story come from reputable sources, but it has been all but confirmed by Dr. Dre himself.

In the short video below, a drunk Dre proclaims himself “the first billionaire in hip-hop” as he celebrates with friends.

Apple snaps up Nokia PureView camera engineer

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ari

Nokia’s incredible PureView camera technology is one of the reasons why so many Android users were desperate to see the Finnish firm ditch Windows Phone and bring Google’s platform to its flagship smartphones instead — and you could soon see the same technology in future iPhones.

Apple has used Microsoft’s recent acquisition of Nokia’s handset business as an opportunity to poach executives who are seeking new challenges, and the Cupertino company has just hired Lumia engineer and PureView camera expert Ari Partinen.

CAZLET: A premium wallet case that provides instant access to your iPhone

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The CAZLET from KYNEZ is an iPhone wallet case like no other. It’s the only one I know of that provides military-grade protection for your beloved smartphone, and it’s one of the few that allows you to use your device — and almost all of its features and functions — without having to open the wallet up.

CAZLET by KYNEZ
Category: Wallet case
Works With: iPhone 5 & iPhone 5s
Price: $65

CAZLET’s design leaves your iPhone’s display exposed yet protected, so as soon as you pull it out of your pocket, your device is ready to be used. It’s made from gorgeous leather sourced from boutique tanneries in France and Southern Germany, and it boasts some nifty features you don’t normally get with smartphone wallet cases — including dedicated pockets for a spare nanoSIM and SIM eject tool.

KYNEZ also offers a number of add-ons that you can buy separately, including a coin pocket, a card band, a hand strap, and an ID sleeve. The wallet itself comes with a $65 price tag, which I think is very reasonable. Let me tell you why.

40,000 pounds of force makes an iPhone 5s crumble like cookies

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squashed-iPhone-5s

Thanks to its gorgeous aluminum construction and Gorilla Glass display, the iPhone 5s is one of the strongest, most robust flagship smartphones money can buy. If you drop it from a reasonable height, there’s a good chance it will remain in one piece — even if it’s not wearing a case.

But Jony Ive’s aluminum is no match for the crushing machine in the video below, which uses 40,000 pounds of force to make a sturdy iPhone 5s crumble like cookies.