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Luke Dormehl - page 159

Philips Hue update makes colorful lighting even easier

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Philips Lights
Controlling your lighting just got easier.
Photo: Philips

If you’ve got Philips Hue lighting in your home then you’ll want to make sure to upgrade to the latest version of the associated iOS app.

Making the company’s smart home lighting even smarter — both figuratively and literally — the app has received a visual overhaul, along with a number of nifty new features. And the gratefully received return of an old favorite.

A round Apple Watch isn’t totally out of the question

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Round Apple Watch
Would you buy a round Apple Watch?
Photo: Aicion

The Apple Watch has come a long way since it was first introduced back in 2015. One thing it hasn’t done? Gone circular, with Apple instead opting to stick with its rectangular display for all iterations of the wearable device.

But that could (possibly) one day change, based on a granted Apple patent that was published earlier today.

Foxconn wants a piece of Apple’s future MicroLED plans

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Theater Mode finally makes its way to Apple Watch in watchOS 3.2 beta 1.
Apple is interested in MicroLED tech for future Apple Watches -- among other things.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple is reportedly going all-in on MicroLED displays, and long-time supplier Foxconn wants to get in on the action!

According to a new report, the Foxconn Group recently took a 7.32 percent share in the company Epileds Technologies, and aims to soon buy anoter 20 million shares to become its largest shareholder. Epileds is one of only a couple of Taiwan-based LED firms that have valuable RGB technological capabilities key to MicroLED technology.

Supersized iPhone X display will be whole inch bigger than iPhone 8 Plus

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iphone x
iPhone X Plus will boast an impressive 6.5-inch OLED display.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The larger iPhone X Plus will be roughly the same size as the current 5.5-inch iPhone 8 Plus, a new report claims. Despite that, its greatly reduced bezel will give it a screen size of 6.5 inches, making it by far Apple’s largest-ever iPhone display.

By comparison, the current iPhone X measures 5.8 inches on the diagonal. The first iPhone, released back in 2007, had a display of just 3.5 inches.

Google’s search payments to Apple could diminish this year

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What’s it like to have your startup bought by Apple? Stressful
Apple's Google cash is an easy source of money.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The money that Google pays Apple to be the default iOS search engine is poised to become a much smaller part of Apple’s Services revenue.

In its most recent quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Apple singled out licensing as one of the main factors for its 31 percent increase in Services revenue over the past quarter. But Google parent company Alphabet told investors that the money paid to distribution partners — including Apple — will slow down this year.

iPhone X may have sold close to 50 million handsets so far

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iphone x
By our calculations, the iPhone X alone has sold as many units as Apple sold iPhones in the first three years.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

It was written off as a flop by analysts until just a week ago, but according to newly released figures from Strategy Analytics, Apple’s iPhone X was actually the world’s best selling smartphone model in the first quarter of 2018.

Selling a massive 16 million units out of total smartphone shipments of 345 million worldwide, the iPhone X has seemingly disproved everyone who expected this to be a sales dud for Apple.

Warren Buffett didn’t believe the iPhone X doom predictions

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Buffett
Warren Buffett continues to sing Apple's praises.
Photo: CNBC

Analysts everywhere are trying to restore their Apple credibility after predicting doom for the iPhone X, only to be confronted with Apple’s best ever March quarter!

One person who apparently didn’t buy into the negative chatter about Apple? Renowned investor Warren Buffett. In the first quarter of 2018, Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway firm shelled out for a massive 75 million AAPL shares. That joins the 165.3 million shares it owned at the end of last year.

Goosebumps: HorrorTown promises a scarily good time on iOS

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Pixowl
Let's hope there aren't too many terrifying in-app purchases along the way!
Photo: Pixowl

Back in my distant misspent youth, I was an enormous fan of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps series of kids’ horror books. Jump forward 25 years and this fond piece of nostalgia is about to make its way onto iOS — courtesy of a new mobile game. And it actually sounds like it could be a lot of fun.

Check out the trailer below.

Instagram introduces in-app payments feature

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Instagram
Now you can pay for things in Instagram's app without having to leave.
Photo: Instagram

Is there a single tech company out there that doesn’t want to get in on the mobile payments game?

Not wanting to be the kid picked last for soccer practice, Instagram has started rolling out a native payments feature for its app. This allows you to register a debit or credit card as part of your profile, add a pin code, and then start making purchases right inside of the Instagram app.

Ban on FaceTime may soon be lifted in United Arab Emirates

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Facetime
FaceTime has been banned in the UAE for years.
Photo: Mathieu Thouvenin/Flickr CC

Apple may have been voted consumers’ favorite brand in the United Arab Emirates, but one of the iPhone’s most popular features — FaceTime — still isn’t allowed in the country.

That could soon change, however, because Apple is in talks with the UAE federal government to lift the ban on Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services as far as it affects FaceTime.

Iron Man’s iconic head-up display was inspired by the first iPhone

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Marvel Studios
Save the world? There's an app for that!
Photo: Marvel Studios

Apple’s design principles make it into all sorts of areas of pop culture — from the robots in Pixar’s Wall*E to the Stormtroopers and lightsabers in the Disney Star Wars movies to… Iron Man’s head-up display (HUD)?

According to a new oral history of Tony Stark’s instantly recognizable HUD, the computer interface’s design was greatly influenced by Apple’s then-brand new handset, which had only just shipped when the first Iron Man movie was in production.

Apple Watch is credited with saving New York man’s life

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Apple Watch alerts user of irregular heart rhythms in sleep
The Apple Watch's heart rate monitor has been a lifesaver for several wearers.
Photo: Apple

The Apple Watch may have saved a man’s life after its heart rate monitor led 32-year-old New York resident William Monzidelis to be diagnosed with an erupted ulcer.

The ensuing incident sounds terrifying — but also a remarkable illustration of how useful Apple’s wearable device can be.

Spotify has almost twice Apple Music’s number of paying subscribers

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Spotify
Big numbers, but is trouble brewing?
Photo: Spotify

Apple Music may have made enormous strides, but Spotify remains the king of streaming music. For now, at least.

In its first ever earnings report as a public company, Spotify says that it ended the quarter with 75 million paying customers — and a massive 170 million monthly active users, taken across all user types.

Steve Jobs asked Louis Vuitton boss for advice on opening first Apple Stores

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Louis Vuitton
The Louis Vuitton Store at Champs-Elysées, Paris.
Photo: Jean-Louis Zimmermann/Flickr CC

As you might expect, Steve Jobs had a pretty darn impressive Rolodex — and he was willing to draw on it to seek advice whenever he needed it.

According to a new interview with Louis Vuitton chief Bernard Arnault, Jobs turned to him shortly after rejoining Apple to ask Arnault’s opinion on Apple-branded stores. The idea seemed crazy at the time, but Jobs saw how well it could work for luxury goods makers.

iPhone suppliers rebound after Apple’s monster earnings

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Apple waives developer fees for nonprofits, others in 8 additional countries
A giant ecosystem of companies rely on Apple.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Reports about lower-than-expected demand from Apple’s suppliers was one of the reasons so many people were predicting doom for the iPhone X.

But now that Apple has announced its crazy strong earnings for the quarter, Apple’s suppliers are enjoying a welcome boost to their stock prices — with shares rising by more than 14 percent in one case.

Apple could be using shady tactics to cash in on iPhone battery replacements

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iPhone battery
Find new ways to make money? That doesn't sound like the world's most profitable company.
Photo: iFixit

Apple’s iPhone battery replacement initiative was supposed to be a way of Apple getting out of trouble, after news about its iPhone battery throttling was released last year.

But according to a new report, Apple is being a bit shady about its replacement policy by finding minor faults with iPhones that it charges users to correct before giving them their replacement batteries.

Fortnite season 4 shakes the game up with a meteor strike

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Fortnite iOS 14
The year's biggest iOS game just got even better.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Unless you’re living under a rock, you’re probably aware of Fortnite, the biggest game on iOS (and just about every other platform) right now.

Well, a great game is about get even greater thanks to the rollout of the 4.0 version of the iOS game, a.k.a. Fortnite Season 4. Check out the trailer below.

Apple Watch may have helped save the life of Florida teen

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Apple Watch Series 3
Teen's Apple Watch alerted her of an unusually high resting heart rate.
Photo: Apple

A Florida teenager reportedly had her life saved by her trusty Apple Watch after it alerted her to a dangerously high resting heart rate.

18-year-old Deanna Recktenwald was at church when her Apple Watch displayed a warning, noting that her heart rate had hit 190 beats per minute and that she should seek medical attention.

Cross-platform iOS and macOS apps may not arrive until 2019

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Coronavirus could have a surprisingly positive impact on App Store revenue
Mac apps? iOS apps? There soon might be no difference.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple is supposedly working on a way to let developers create apps which work on iPhones, iPads, and Macs — but don’t expect to see it any time soon.

When news of the plan was first leaked in December, it was suggested that the feature may be announced at this year’s WWDC event. However, according to Apple watcher John Gruber, while Apple may still be working on a project like this, it is more likely to arrive with MacOS 10.15 and iOS 13 in 2019.

Apple News lands its first exclusive with John McCain memoir

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Apple/Walt Mossberg/Twitter
Apple is serious about news.
Screenshot: Apple/Walt Mossberg/Twitter

Apple is offering a free book excerpt from Senator John McCain’s new political memoir, The Restless Waves, coming out on May 22.

The section, which is available through the Apple News app, is referred to as an Apple News exclusive. While it was not written exclusively by Apple, it nonetheless underlines how Apple is taking a renewed interest in news reportage and publishing.

Apple may be primed for disappointment in China

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Apple Store
How has Apple done in China this quarter? Analysts don't think too well.
Photo: Apple

In a disastrous turn of events, Apple may have lost up to half its market share in Greater China, analysts report.

A combination of poor adoption of Apple’s latest generation of iPhone handsets and increased competition from domestic handset makers like Huawei and Oppo might have slashed Apple’s business in a market Tim Cook is convinced is Apple’s biggest hope.