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Luke Dormehl - page 104

Suppliers report receiving low orders from Apple for iPhone 11

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The iPhone XS Max screen delivers more of that OLED awesomeness.
Apple may not be banking on this year's iPhone turning sales around.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

As always happens this time of year, Apple is gearing up to mass-produce its iPhones ahead of September’s launch.

However, a new report — citing “industry source” — says that momentum for touch panels and other components have been weak so far. If true, the report of “low order visibility” suggests that Apple’s not viewing 2019 as the year iPhone sales turn around.

AirDrop flaw makes it possible to gather strangers’ phone numbers

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That's not a great look for AirDrop!
That's not a great look for AirDrop!
Image: Hexway

A Bluetooth LE security flaw could let malicious actors discover people’s iPhone numbers using Apple’s file-sharing AirDrop feature.

An attacker would need to create a phone number database for a specific region. Using a special script, they then could collect information on users who tried to AirDrop a file.

Fitbit is feeling the hurt from Apple Watch

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Fitbit Versa
Smartwatch revenue decreased 27% year-over-year.
Photo: Fitbit

Apple Watch is soaring right now, but the same can’t be said for all its competitors.

Fitbit, which preceded Apple in the wearables field, has reported its latest quarterly earnings — and they’re not as good as hoped for. Fitbit’s smartwatch revenue decreased 27% year-over-year. That was partly due to “weaker than expected” sales of the Fitbit Versa Lite Edition.

Intel CEO explains why it sold its 5G modem business to Apple

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Intel CEO Bob Swan
Intel CEO Bob Swan.
Photo: Intel

Intel CEO Bob Swan has shed a bit more light on the deal in which Apple spent $1 billion buying Intel’s modem business.

Speaking with CNBC, Swan said the company decided to sell its 5G mobile modem business because selling modems to Apple only would not have provided big enough returns. Intel was due to produce Apple’s 5G modems before Apple patched things up with Qualcomm.

Microsoft’s latest ad features Surface-loving guy called Mac Book

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Microsoft ad
Yep, that's the guy's real name!
Photo: Microsoft

Apple rarely, if ever, pokes fun at its competition in ads these days. But that same lesson hasn’t been learned by Apple’s rivals — as a new Microsoft ad for the Surface Laptop 2 shows.

For the ad, Microsoft (or, rather, its ad agency) tracked down a real life guy named Mackenzie “Mac” Book from Sydney, Australia. Guess whether he prefers Microsoft or Apple’s laptop? The hint is in the fact that it’s a Microsoft ad.

Check out this entertaining history of Easter Eggs in Apple products

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Easter Eggs
Take a walk through Easter Egg history.
Photo: Pamela Carls/Flickr CC

If you’re an Apple fan of a certain age, you may well remember the way the company (or, rather, its more enterprising engineers) used to pack the code of new Apple products with hidden Easter Eggs.

A practice that has largely been absent since the early 2000s, this allowed employees to find inventive ways of getting themselves credited on software they had worked on. An entertaining recent talk by Swift coder and former Apple employee James Thompson relives its history:

Spotify has 48 million more paying subscribers than Apple Music

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Spotify app now playing screen
Spotify is still leading the way among streaming music services.
Photo: Ian Fuchs/Cult of Mac

In its latest quarterly earnings, Spotify has revealed that it currently has 108 million paying subscribers. That’s approaching 2x the number who subscribe to Apple Music, which is around 60 million at present.

That’s an increase of 31% year-on-year, although it’s slightly below what the streaming music giant had been aiming for.

Apple Watch Activity Challenge celebrates China’s National Fitness Day

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National Fitness Day
Competition is only available in China, sadly. But don't let that stop you exercising!
Photo: Apple

Apple is celebrating China’s National Fitness Day with a new Apple Watch Activity challenge. August 8 was first named National Fitness day in 2009, commemorating the anniversary of the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening.

To complete the National Fitness Day challenge, users will need to record a workout of half an hour or longer.

AirPods and Apple Watch are now a bigger money-spinner than iPad

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Apple Watch Series 4
Wearables are big business for Apple.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s wearables division, including Apple Watch and AirPods, is now bigger than the company’s iPad business.

That’s a pretty astonishing statistic, and shows just how Apple continues to shift. Just a decade ago, Apple’s wearables division didn’t exist. Meanwhile, the iPad was the fastest-selling new product in Apple’s history.

Rockers Tool are finally bringing their music to streaming services

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Tool
Tool performing a headline slot during their "10,000 Days" tour.
Photo: Denuo/Wikipedia CC

Tool, the American rock band which was a staple of alternative music in the 1990s and early 2000s, is finally bringing its back catalog to streaming services.

The exact services the album will be available on haven’t been named. However, it seems incredibly likely that Apple Music — one of the most popular streaming services — will be among them.

Apple hints at 2 new Japanese Apple Stores opening this year

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Apple Stores Japan
Apple's new logos for its Japa
Image: Apple

New images posted to Apple’s website reveal the opening of two new stores in Japan for later this year. The stylized logos are accompanied by text reading “planned for 2019.”

One of the logos uses the colors of Apple’s iconic rainbow logo. The other is a slightly retro-style logo showing the Apple logo as a series of lines with a sun-hued gradient.

Unique features make Miami Apple store look like no other

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Miami store
Aventura Mall is about to get a welcome new addition.
Photo: Phillip Pessar/Flickr CC

Although Apple Stores have certain design elements in common, the company still enjoys finding ways to localize them wherever possible.

That’s exactly what’s set to happen with its new Miami-based Aventura Mall store. According to a new report, the South Florida store will boast Miami-style design elements, such as a Genius Grove with a canopy of 22-foot tall tropical trees.

Tim Cook tweets condolences after California festival shooting

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2018 interview with Tim Cook suggests Apple was working on iCloud backup encryption
Shooting took place over the weekend at the Gilroy Garlic Festival.
Photo: Apple

Tim Cook tweeted his condolences Monday after a deadly mass shooting at a festival in Northern California.

The tragic shooting took place Sunday at the Gilroy Garlic Festival, where a shooter killed three people, including a 6-year-old boy. At least 15 people were injured during the shooting before police killed the gunman.

Apple’s quarterly report will continue ‘flattening out’ of earnings

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European Commission could get even tougher on tech in 2020
Earnings are likely to remain flat.
Photo illustration: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

My colleague Buster Hein described tomorrow’s Apple earnings call as the company’s “most boring” earnings report of the year. And it seems like analysts aren’t rushing to disagree with him.

Looking at analyst expectations for Tuesday shows that, overall, people have pretty low expectations. And that’s all part of a “flattening out” of Apple earnings.

16-inch MacBook Pro will pack more screen into the same space

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2015 MacBook Pro 15-inch Retina
The new MacBook could squeeze a 16-inch display into a 15-inch form factor.
Photo: Apple

The rumored 16-inch MacBook Pro will take a page out of the iPhone X’s playbook. According to a new report, it will slim down its bezels to include a larger LCD display in the “same body” as the current 15-inch MacBook Pro.

Apple has reportedly asked Quanta to make the next-gen laptop, which will ship in September.

Anti-meme law could punish image sharers with massive fines

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Meme law

Photo: ActionNetwork.org

Memes are a core part of online life, providing us with an internationally understood means of visual conversation allowing folks to make light of the absurdity of today’s world with co-opted images taken from popular media.

Which, of course, means that lawmakers want to shut it down. A new bi-partisan bill currently working its way through Congress could do exactly that. It threatens seriously big fines for anyone who shares protected material online.

Apple’s big spend on Intel modems is pocket change in Silicon Valley [Opinion]

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Samsung wants to follow Apple in building a giant services business
Samsung wants to follow Apple in building a giant services business
Photo: Mathieu Turle/Unsplash CC

The $1 billion Apple spent on Intel’s modem business is the second-largest acquisition in the company’s 42-year history.

Still, while a huge amount of money by most normal standards, rival tech giants regularly dwarf Apple’s big spend on Intel. For a variety of reasons, Apple just doesn’t roll that way.

6 classic Mac games you can enjoy on iOS

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Flashback
This was a game-changer for computer games back in the day.
Image: MobyGames

With a constant stream of new, console-quality games in the iOS App Store, and subscription gaming service Apple Arcade on the way, there’s arguably never been a better time to be an Apple gamer. Yet despite all the great new iOS games, sometimes you just want to relive your misspent youth.

This week, Paul Cuisset’s classic Mac platformer Flashback blasted its way into the App Store. To mark the occasion, we dug up some of the best classic games that graced vintage Macs but now can be played on your iOS device. Check them out.

You’ll be shopping with Apple Card in just a few weeks

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Apple Card
Apple Pay could launch in the first half of August.
Photo: Apple

The eagerly anticipated Apple Card is set to launch in the first half of August, a new report claims.

Apple originally promised a “summer” release for the credit card. Given that summer starts in late June and ends late September, this would put it exactly halfway through the season. Just in time for some vacation spending!