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Luke Dormehl - page 113

FTC wins its antitrust case against Qualcomm

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Qualcomm patents
Case could make 5G landscape more competitive.
Photo: Qualcomm

Qualcomm emerged victorious from its recent battle with Apple. But things look a whole lot less rosy for the company in its antitrust case with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Judge Lucy Koh this week filed her ruling in the FTC’s first round of litigation against Qualcomm. She concluded that Qualcomm has been engaging in anticompetitive business practices.

Riders in Portland can now use Apple Pay for their Hop Fastpass

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Apple Pay Portland
This is a first for the United States.
Photo: Hop/Apple Pay

Portland-Vancouver has become the first place in the U.S. to let iPhone and Apple Watch users use Apple Pay to pay for their Express Transit needs.

Starting now, customers can take advantage of the functionality to board local TriMet and C-Tran buses, MAX light rail trains, and the Portland Streetcar.

Everyone’s favorite sassy weather app gets huge update

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Lightning CARROT 2
CARROT Weather offers some features you won't find elsewhere.
Photo: Grailr LLC

I’ve long been a fan of Brian Mueller’s CARROT apps, which offer everything from fitness-tracking to calorie-counting tools with a sarcastic AI taskmaster keeping you in line. Today, Mueller has released the latest update for CARROT Weather — and it’s pretty darn packed.

Version 4.11 is centered around notifications and adds a plethora of features not available in any other weather app.

Apple Watch’s ECG app likely to arrive in Canada very soon

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apple watch
Apple Watch's ECG has been a real life-saver.
Photo: Apple

The revolutionary ECG app for the Apple Watch Series 4 looks like it could arrive in Canada in the near future. According to the Health Canada database, Apple licenses for ECG and irregular heart rate rhythm notifications were approved on May 16.

That suggests that it won’t be too much longer before Apple rolls out this feature in the country.

Nintendo is ditching 2 of its biggest mobile games in Belgium

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Nintendo introduces 2 paid subscriptions for Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp
Recent Nintendo games have embraced in-app purchases.
Photo: Nintendo

Two of Nintendo’s top mobile titles will vanish from the App Store on August 27. Well, in Belgium at least.

Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem Heroes have been big cash generators for Nintendo since launching on iOS. Unlike previous Nintendo titles like Super Mario Run, both these games rely on a freemium business model. And, in Belgium at least, they’re being punished for it.

Apple Pay goes live in two new markets and one big Australian bank

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Apple in talks to bring Apple Pay to Israel
Apple Pay continues to go from strength to strength.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple Pay has continued its expansion by going live in Hungary and Luxembourg. This marks 38 markets in which Apple’s mobile payment service is now available.

It is Apple Pay’s first new launch since it went live in Iceland at the start of May. That’s not the only Apple Pay news, either.

Awesome ARKit demo magics up an iMac out of thin air

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Apple iMac showing the Apple logo.
Imagine having an iMac wherever you needed one.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Try as people might, moving an entire iMac around with you is never going to be easy. But what if all you had to do was to take the keyboard and mouse, and everything else would automatically follow?

That’s the vision of a nifty AR creation made by WWDC Scholar and Georgia Tech student Nicholas Grana. Check it out.

China overtakes U.S. as world’s biggest smart speaker market

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Apple debuts HomePod in India at its cheapest price yet
Are you a smart speaker user?
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

China has overtaken the U.S. as the world’s biggest smart speaker market. According to new figures from Canalys, the Chinese market grew nearly 500% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2019.

Approximately 10.6 million units shipped in China over the quarter, compared to 5 million in the U.S. This means that China is now 51% of the global global smart speaker market. The U.S., on the other hand, comes in second place at just 24%.

HBSC thinks tariffs could increase iPhone prices by $160

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Apple could be a $2 trillion company by end of 2021
Would you pay an extra $160 for your iPhone?
Photo illustration: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

HSBC has cut its price target on Apple based on concerns about the company’s uncertain future in China.

Specifically, it is worried that Apple may ramp up the (already steep) price of iPhones in the U.S. if new import tariffs from China are implemented.

Apple tech could improve visibility in bad driving conditions

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Street at night 2
This could be an important development for an Apple Car.
Photo: j3n53r/Flickr CC

As part of its Project Titan initiative, Apple has invented some smart tech for improving detection of road signs and other vehicles on the road in low visibility situations.

This could ramp up safety in situations such as an autonomous Apple Car driving in foggy, snowy, low light or otherwise hard-to-see situations.

Apple donates products to New Orleans’ Ellis Marsalis Music Center

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Tim Cook talks diversity, sustainability, and coming out as gay
Tim Cook was in town to give a commencement speech at Tulane University.
Photo: Apple

After giving his commencement speech for Tulane University on Saturday, Tim Cook visited the nearby Ellis Marsalis Center for Music.

He met with founders Ellis Marsalis and Harry Connick Jr. He also announced that Apple will be donating Apple products to help produce music in EMCM’s studios.

TikTok remains most-downloaded app on iOS

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TikTok 1
Adults may be befuddled by TikTok, but there's no denying its popularity!
Photo: TikTok

TikTok may be a bit of a head-scratcher for older users, but there’s no denying its popularity. According to a new report, the video-sharing app was the most popular iOS app for the first quarter of 2019.

That means beating out giants like YouTube, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which have the backing of either Google or Facebook. In total, TikTok was downloaded an astonishing 11.7 million times in the quarter.

U.S. carriers are no longer sharing customer location data

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Significant Locations
Your location data is no longer up for grabs.
Photo: Cult of Mac

U.S. carriers have (mostly) put an end to the practice of selling customer location data to third-parties, a new report reveals.

This dodgy practice was previously carried out by giants including T-Mobile, AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon. They passed on this data to middlemen, which then sold the information to other companies without getting the necessary permission from users.

Estate of ‘Over the Rainbow’ composer is suing Apple and others

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Judy_Garland_Over_the_Rainbow_2
Judy Garland singing the song in Wizard of Oz.
Photo: Wikipedia CC

The son and estate of Broadway composer Harold Arlen is suing a number of tech companies, including Apple. Arlen composed numerous iconic songs during his career — most notably the Oscar-winning song “Over the Rainbow” from Wizard of Oz.

His estate is suing Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Pandora. They are accused of joining “with notorious music pirates to sell and stream thousands of pirated recordings.”

How I.M. Pei helped shape Apple — and Steve Jobs’ design tastes

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Apple Store
I.M. Pei designed the original floating glass stairs that inspired the Apple Store design.
Photo: Dan Nguyen/Flickr CC

With good reason, we think of the likes of design boss Jony Ive and frequent Apple Store architect Norman Foster as the people most responsible for some of Apple’s most iconic designs.

But celebrated Chinese-American architect I.M. Pei, who died Thursday, aged 102, played a much bigger role in Apple history than you might realize.

Apple Pay is closer than ever to launching in the Netherlands

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iphone
Apple Pay looks set to launch any time now.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple Pay looks closer than ever to going to live in the Netherlands, with the service now promoted to “beta” status within Apple.

The news comes one day after a mobile banking service seemingly confirmed that Apple Pay is on its way to 16 new markets. It’s not clear whether any locations in the Netherlands are currently testing Apple Pay.

Apple Developer Academy offers a 1-year boot camp in coding

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Apple coding initiative
Apple has long pushed the importance of coding.
Photo: Apple

Remember Rocky IV, where Rocky heads to the wilderness to get himself into peak physical condition to battle Ivan Drago?

Well, Apple’s Developer Academy is kind of the same thing — only instead of preparing for a championship fight, you’re getting a free one-year course in app development. Oh, and you’ll even get access to the necessary iPhones and Macs for good measure.

Apple regains No. 3 spot in this year’s Fortune 500 ranking

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European Commission could get even tougher on tech in 2020
Apple is worth a whole heap of cash.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple comes in third on this year’s Fortune 500 list, a ranking of companies based on revenue.

Apple lagged behind Walmart and ExxonMobil in terms of revenue. However, it massively outperforms both in terms of profitability. Interestingly, No. 4 on the list — Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway firm — is also one of Apple’s biggest investors.

Want to live near Steve Jobs’ house? It’ll cost you

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Steve Job's house in Palo Alto. Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac
The Jobs family home in Palo Alto. The vacant lot is located just a few minutes' walk away.
Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

Compared to many other high tech CEOs, Steve Jobs wasn’t ostentatious with his home. He didn’t live in a giant mansion with drivers, butlers and security. Instead, the Jobs family shared a relatively modest 1930s Tudor-style home in Old Palo Alto.

But looks can be a bit deceiving. A rare quarter-acre lot just came up for sale in Jobs’ neighborhood — and if you fancy building your home within minutes of where Apple’s late CEO lived, it’s going to cost you a whole lot. A whopping $9 million to be exact!

Trump’s Huawei ban could wind up hurting Apple, too

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Chinese company Huawei wants the media buzz that would come with releasing the world's first foldable phone.
President Trump announced his attack on Huawei on Wednesday.
Photo: Kārlis Dambrāns/Flickr CC

A ban on China’s Huawei company by the White House could wind up hurting Apple, concerned analysts claim.

President Donald Trump’s administration announced plans Wednesday to ban technology and services of “foreign adversaries” that pose “unacceptable risks.” But possible Chinese retaliation against major U.S. companies could hit Apple hard.

Steam Link finally makes its long-awaited debut in the App Store

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Valve Steam
It's a good day for gamers!
Photo: Valve

One year after Apple rejected Valve’s Steam Link app from launching in the App Store, it has finally made its debut for both iOS and tvOS devices.

Steam Link gives gamers the chance to play their favorite PC or Steam Machine game on an iPhone, iPad or Apple TV, rather than having to haul around a big gaming laptop. In other words, to quote Anchorman‘s Ron Burgundy, this is kind of a big deal!

Sneaky iPhone accessory gains users a health insurance discount

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Hill running will make you a better runner
The old-fashioned way to show how fit you are.
Photo: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac

The moment smartphones gained the ability to track the number of steps people took every day, insurance companies were ready to find ways to use that data to offer people cheaper premiums.

The moment that happened, enterprising (and slightly underhanded) entrepreneurs were ready to give lazy people a workaround to make it look like they were walking much further than they really were.

What kind of workaround, you ask? Well, something along the lines of this:

Dinosaurs rule the roost in Durango: Wild Lands

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Nexon and What! Studio
Looks ROAR-some (we're sorry!)
Photo: Nexon and What! Studio

The age of dinosaurs has come to iOS with the worldwide release of Nexon and What! Studio’s Durango: Wild Lands.

A giant open-world, sandbox MMO, the game allows players to explore an enormous prehistoric world populated by dinosaurs. In this savage land, they must not just fight for survival, but also use their wits and resources to create settlements and communities.