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Luke Dormehl - page 202

Apple celebrates Turkey’s Children’s Day with new iPhone billboards

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Apple is celebrating iPhone photos shot by kids.
Photo: Apple

As if it wasn’t hard enough keeping on top of Apple’s business in the U.S., Tim Cook has tweeted out an image as an advance celebration of Turkey’s National Sovereignty and Children’s Day, which takes place on April 23.

The image is a variation on Apple’s long-established “Shot on iPhone,” campaign, except this time depicting photos taken by “young talents” in Turkey. Or, at least, young talents in Turkey fortunate enough to own an iPhone!

Overcast app lets you send podcasts to Apple Watch

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Like podcasts? Like Apple Watch? Then this is the app for you!
Photo: Lyle Kahney/Cult of Mac

Superior iOS podcast app Overcast has issued a new 3.1 update, allowing users to send individual podcasts to their Apple Watch to listen to when they’re not in the immediate vicinity of their iPhone.

This is something that can’t be done with Apple’s official Podcasts app, even though users can send audio files from the iOS Music app.

The one thing Steve Jobs and Bill Gates agreed on

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Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, rivals and friends.
Steve Jobs and Bill Gates shared same view on kids and technology
Photo: AllThingsD

Steve Jobs and Bill Gates didn’t always see eye to eye. When it came to their kids’ relationships to technology, however, it seems they agreed on more than they disagreed on.

That’s based on a new interview with Microsoft co-founder Gates, in which he says he and his wife didn’t allow their children to have cellphones until they were 14 — and limited other screen time as well. Jobs did much the same.

Apple’s AR tech lets users add and remove objects in the virtual world

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Augmented reality (or AR) could be the next big thing for Apple.
Augmented reality could be the next big thing for Apple.
Photo: USPTO

Tim Cook has made no secret about Apple’s interest in augmented reality tech — and a newly published patent application reveals just how seriously the company takes the technology.

The patent application describes techniques for inserting virtual objects into a real environment, or removing real objects from a virtual one, all in real time.

Apple Music snaps up documentary about legendary music exec Clive Davis

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Clive Davies
Star-studded documentary is the latest Apple Music acquisition.
Photo: Tribeca Film Festival

Apple bought new music documentary Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives, revealing the acquisition prior to the film’s opening night screening at the Tribeca Film Festival.

The documentary is based on the best-selling autobiography by Davis, the legendary music exec who played a key role developing artists from the 1960s through the rise of hip-hop.

Apple wants all its devices to be made from recycled or renewable materials

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iPhone 7 back
Future iPhones will be made from 100 percent recycled and renewable materials.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple has pledged to end its reliance on mining, and to make its devices from only renewable or recycled materials — although it’s not announced any timeline to do so.

The pledge was announced as part of the company’s Environmental Responsibility Report.

Apple produces half a gallon of fake sweat every day for product testing

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It sure beats the real sweat Apple engineers make!
Photo: Arielle Duhaime-Ross/Twitter

In addition to the tech it publicly releases, Apple invests in some pretty wacky technology most people never even hear about.

One example? The half-gallon of synthetic sweat Cupertino pumps out every single day to see how well its products withstand the day-to-day rigors of real-world use. Yes, really!

China wants to tighten screws on livestreaming apps

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China
Tim Cook meeting with China's vice premier on a previous visit.
Photo: Apple

Apple has run into another hurdle in China, with internet regulators in the country reportedly calling on Apple to “tighten its checks” on live streaming apps which appear in the App Store.

While no specific live streaming apps are mentioned, popular apps include Periscope, Facebook Live, and others. Apparently the concern on this occasion concerns possible “management loopholes” with the apps in question. However, this is far from the first time the Chinese government has kicked up a fuss about Apple.

Y’arrr! Tempest: Pirate Action RPG boards the App Store

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Download it now, ya scurvy sea dog!
Photo: HeroCraft

Steve Jobs once said that it’s better to be a pirate than to join the navy. More than 30 years on, you can put that mantra to the test, courtesy of a new iOS game that’s just landed in the App Store.

Called Tempest: Pirate Action RPG, it’s a premium adventure role-playing game which lets you assemble a vicious crew of salty sea dogs, arm yourself to the gunwales, and go out in search of buried treasure. Check out the trailer below.

Apple places massive chip orders for iPhone 8

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iPhone-7
Apple plans to sell 230 million next-gen iPhones.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Chip orders reveal demand for the next-gen iPhones is set to exceed 50 million units during the second half of 2017, and hit a total of 220 million to 230 million units, according to a new report.

The new handsets are likely to be Apple’s biggest iPhone refresh since 2014’s iPhone 6 and 6 Plus-era devices, and promise to boast major new features. And it seems Apple’s willing to bank on that leading to massive demand!

Imagination in trouble as Apple slashes its royalty rate

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Apple patches things up with mobile GPU maker Imagination
Imagination has confirmed that Apple will no longer use its graphics processing technology.
Photo: Apple

Not only is graphics chip designer Imagination Technologies getting kicked to the curb so Apple can bring its chipmaking technology in-house, but the company is also set to have its remaining royalty rate cut.

According to a new report, Apple is planning to pay Imagination just one-third of its current royalty rate as it winds down its supply deal with the British company over the next two years.

Tim Cook accepts Free Expression award, says companies should have values

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Tim Cook
Tim Cook at Auburn University earlier this year.
Photo: Tim Cook/Twitter

At an event in Washington D.C. last night, Tim Cook accepted the Free Expression Award at the First Amendment advocacy Newseum.

The award was designed to celebrate the fact that Cook has taken a public stand on issues such as racial equality, climate change, privacy, LGBT rights, and more.

iMac’s terrible code name was an in-joke between Jobs and Schiller

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iMac design: The iMac G3 was a bit fatter than model than today's models. The iMac code name was
The iMac G3 could have had a very different name.
Photo: Apple

The first iMac’s frightful code name was an in-joke that reflected Steve Jobs’ respect for Sony. The working name — “MacMan” — was so horrible it would “curdle your blood,” according to Ken Segall, the Apple exec who eventually came up with the name “iMac.” Nearly 20 years after Apple shipped the iMac G3, we now have an explanation for the craptacular internal name — courtesy of Phil Schiller, the guy who came up with it.

Samsung Galaxy S8 battery looks awfully familiar

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Hopefully Samsung's disastrous Note 7 battery incident won't be repeated.
Photo: iFixit

Many people thought Samsung might opt for a dramatically different design for its Galaxy S8-series smartphones, after the blowback from its notorious Note 7 smartphone, which had to be recalled due to a major battery fault.

However, it seems the South Korean tech giant is very confident that it was a manufacturing quality assurance issue because, as a handset teardown from our friends at iFixit shows that Samsung has changed virtually nothing for its new premium handset.

Apple diversifies to keep Apple Watch suppliers on their toes

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Theater Mode finally makes its way to Apple Watch in watchOS 3.2 beta 1.
Apple Watch has a new supplier.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Scoring Apple orders is a great thing if you’re a manufacturer, but don’t expect an easy ride!

The latest example of this is Quanta Computer, which up until now has been the chief supplier of the Apple Watch. However, according to a new report, Apple has decided to hand over 20-30 percent of Apple Watch orders as a way to”decrease Quanta’s price bargaining power.”

Sources confirm some of iPhone 8’s biggest upgrades

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Technical challenges could put the kibosh on some of iPhone 8's possible features.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple’s next iPhone refresh will be the device’s biggest in years, but some of the more dramatic upgrades could be curtailed by technical challenges.

In its report on the new iPhone 8, Bloomberg corroborates many previous rumors about the next-gen iPhone, but suggests that more “ambitious” features may be scaled back or ditched due to manufacturing problems.

New levels for Tomb Raider GO, and other awesome apps of the week

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Awesome Apps
'Appy weekend everyone!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Happy Easter, everyone! Depending on where you live in the world, you may got an extra-long weekend this week (apologies if you don’t!) — thereby giving you a bit more time to check out the week’s top apps.

So what to pick? Check out our selection of the week’s most important apps and app updates below. You won’t regret it!

Buying Disney could give Apple the magic it needs, says analyst

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Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse, Circa 1930
Apple's next big purchase?
Photo: Walt Disney

RBC Capital analyst Amit Daryanani has a suggestion for how Apple could spend its cash stockpile, while also growing its presence in media: buy the Walt Disney Company.

“There are plenty of factors to consider,” Daryanani wrote in a note to investors, “but such a deal would create a tech/media juggernaut like no other and instantly scale AAPL’s services, content, and media portfolio, which would make the case for a higher valuation.”

Lara Croft is back with major Tomb Raider GO update

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Back in 2015, Square Enix Montreal released Tomb Raider GO, an audacious attempt to reimagine the Lara Croft franchise by turning it into a fun, turn-based isometric puzzle game.

By all rights, it totally shouldn’t have worked, but it did — and the results were excellent. Now the game has been given an overhaul with new levels, courtesy of the Mirror of Spirits update.

Check out the trailer below.

Secret Apple team working to revolutionize diabetes treatment

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Health
Apple is upping its health ambitions.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple reportedly has a secret team working on developing sensors for non-invasively and continuously monitoring blood sugar levels to help treat diabetes.

This goal is considered a “holy grail” by many researchers, due to the challenge of tracking glucose levels accurately without having to break the skin to do so. Clearly Apple’s aiming as high as ever!

iPhone 8’s ‘biggest bottleneck’? Touch ID under glass

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Touch ID
Apple wants to integrate Touch ID into the next iPhone display.
Photo: Apple

Apple is reportedly struggling to integrate the Touch ID fingerprint sensor into the display of the forthcoming iPhone 8, claims a new report.

The idea of a Touch ID sensor embedded beneath the display of the new iPhone has been heavily rumored, as this would allow Apple to expand the edge-to-edge screen real estate of its next handset, without necessarily having to make the device larger.

Yet another Apple chipmaker may be ready for the chop

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iPhone 7
Apple sure seems to love in-sourcing.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

After reportedly distancing itself from GPU maker Imagination Technologies and power-management chip company Dialog Semiconductor, Apple  may next ditch Synaptics in its quest to bring chip production in-house.

The California-based Synaptics builds interface technologies, driver displays, and biometric tech. Most crucially, however, it also owns the iPhone display driver chipmaker company Renesas, which it bought back in 2014.

Popular PC game Total War: Warhammer is coming to Mac

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Coming soon to a Mac near you...
Photo: Total War: Warhammer

The excellent empire-building and battling sim Total War: Warhammer is coming to Mac later this month.

Taking the turn-based strategy and real-time battles formula behind games like Total War: Rome II and adding a fantasy element, this is one of the best Warhammer games I’ve ever played. Check out its trailer below.