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Luke Dormehl - page 217

Apple Watch coming to Kohl’s department stores this month

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Apple Watch
Apple Watch is coming to a new department store chain.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

U.S. department store chain Kohl’s will start selling the Apple Watch at 400 of its 1,100 stores, beginning November 15.

The news comes shortly after rival chain Macy’s announced that it will start selling the Apple Watch at 180 of its stores. Interestingly, Kohl’s will differ from many other retailers by not selling the Apple Watch in its electronics section, but instead in its activewear and wellness category.

Apple is honing Siri’s skills in a secret U.K. office

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Siri
Hey, Siri, tell us about Apple's new secret U.K. office!
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple is using a “secret office” in Cambridge, in the U.K., to make Siri smarter, claims a new report.

Located approximately five minutes walk from the city’s train station, the fewer-than-30-person office shows no outward sign of being an Apple office. It includes a number of employees from VocalIQ, a Cambridge University spinoff, which was acquired by Apple in 2015 for as much as $100 million.

Slack’s public letter to Microsoft takes a note from Apple playbook

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Screen Shot 2016-11-02 at 15.53.08
It's like it's 1981 again.
Photo: Twitter/Stewart Butterfield

Apple’s pulled some memorable marketing stunts over the years, particularly in its early days when it was still the underdog fighting against much larger opponents.

With the rest of Silicon Valley desperate to have some of that Cupertino fairy dust, cloud-based team collaboration chatroom Slack published an open letter to Microsoft in today’s New York Times — paying homage to an audacious 1981 publicity stunt by Apple at the expense of IBM.

Apple Watch strap adds two HD cameras

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CMRA_20Apple_20Watch_20camera.0.0
Is this a useful use-case for the Apple Watch? This company hopes so.
Photo: Glide

If you’re disappointed that the Apple Watch doesn’t boast a built-in camera, you may be interested to hear about a new watch band available for pre-order today.

Called CMRA, the third-party Apple Watch strap boasts a pair of HD camera with the ability for users to carry out “seamless photo and video capture” directly from their wrists.

Why the MacBook Pro headphone jack didn’t disappear

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iPhone 6 headphone jack
Gone from the iPhone, not from the MacBook Pro.
Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

A few people were surprised to see a 3.5mm headphone jack appear on Apple’s new MacBook Pro laptop, just weeks after the company very publicly discarded the port for its new iPhone 7.

But according to Phil Schiller, speaking in a new interview, it’s not an example of inconsistency on Apple’s part. Instead, it speaks to a much deeper philosophical question on Apple’s part about the difference between mobile and non-mobile devices.

How to restore Mac startup chimes on 2016 MacBook Pro

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touchbar
We don't have the new MacBook Pro yet, and already we're missing the startup chimes.
Photo: Apple

By now, you’ve probably heard that the new MacBook Pro doesn’t automatically play Apple’s iconic startup chord when you power it on.

While not met with the same hostility as the removal of the 3.5mm headphone jack on iPhone 7, the change definitely upset some people. Especially since the sound serves a useful purpose: It indicates that diagnostic tests have been successfully run and your Mac is working as it should.

With that in mind, nobody would blame you for wanting to restore the iconic audio cue on your new MacBook Pro. But how do you do it? Follow our simple steps to find out.

Apple Music might be about to get a big price drop

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AppleMusic
Apple could cut $2 off its regular monthly subscription cost.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Forget $9.99 per month — Apple might slash the price of Apple Music subscriptions to better compete with streaming music rivals, most notably Amazon.

According to a new report, Apple could drop monthly subscription prices by as much as 20 percent. The Apple Music price drop would mean a regular subscription would cost users around $7.99 per month, while a family package would go for $12.99.

MacBook Pro teardown reveals why you can forget about upgrading

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macbook
We wouldn't mind a piece of the new MacBook Pro. Or even a whole laptop if possible.
Photo: iFixit

A teardown of the new entry-level MacBook Pro reveals it to be one of Apple’s least upgradeable laptops.

The good news? Even the Touch Bar-free model includes some nifty upgrades. The bad? From proprietary pentalobe screws that make opening the case unnecessarily difficult to the RAM soldered to the logic board, this isn’t a laptop you’ll be able to upgrade easily.

2016 MacBook Pro loses the iconic startup chime

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The "chime" sound effect has long been part of macOS.
Photo: Apple

Physical function keys on the Mac and a 3.5mm headphone jack on the iPhone aren’t the only casualties of 2016. According to eagle-eyed (eagle-eared?) reporters, the new MacBook Pro jettisons the iconic F-sharp sound Apple uses to show a Mac is booting up.

The reason does, we admit, make sense — but it’s still sad to see a piece of Apple history join that great Mac museum in the sky.

Jony Ive: Thinking different is easy

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Jony Ive
Jony Ive sheds (a bit of) light on the new MacBook Pro's creation story.
Photo: Vanity Fair/YouTube

A new interview with Jony Ive sheds light on his team’s thought process as they created the new MacBook Pro and its innovative Touch Bar.

Ive addresses the history of the Touch Bar project, touches on his rationale for ruling out a touchscreen Mac, and explains why thinking different is easy — but doing so is only a small part of the innovation battle.

PinOut, Civilization VI and other awesome apps of the week

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

With Apple’s earnings call and Thursday’s Mac event, there was plenty of serious business in the world of Apple this week. That’s why we’re choosing an all-game lineup for this “Awesome Apps of the Week” installment.

Plus, when the titles are this good, it’s hard to ignore them! Check out our picks below.

Apple exec cuts deal to avoid jail in European tax probe

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money
Apple previously shelled out 318 million euros over its lack of corporate tax payments in Italy.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

An Apple executive has avoided jail as part of an Italian investigation into Apple’s failure to pay corporate tax in the country.

The executive in question, the head of Apple’s Irish-based Apple Sales International, was being investigated as part of the case. Apple agreed to pay 318 million euros last year to close the investigation, but the exec could still have been forced to spend six months in prison for his part in it.

Apple store line dividers suggest new MacBooks will go on sale today

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Apple Store
Apple's saying "Hello Again" to the prospect of queues.
Photo: wollae/Reddit

There’s typically a period of anticipation after every Apple keynote, between a new product being announced and it arriving in stores for customers to buy.

That may not be the case with today’s Mac event, as a photo shared online show Apple Stores set up with outside line dividers — suggesting that whatever Apple announces today may well go on sale immediately following the event.

How the MacBook Pro’s Magic Toolbar can cast a spell on the world

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MacBook Pro
The Magic Toolbar will change depending on the app being used.
Illustration: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple faces a serious challenge when it rolls out the rumored OLED “Magic Toolbar” on new MacBook Pros tomorrow: It must convince the world that the new adaptive touchpad is more than a gimmick.

Offering customizable function keys that work in different ways depending on which apps are running, the Magic Toolbar could make the new MacBook Pro one of Apple’s most exciting laptops in years.

But to be more than a gimmick, the Magic Toolbar needs to improve the way we interact with our Macs, not simply add another confusing control element to the laptops. The Magic Toolbar needs to make it easier to perform tasks that we now do using keyboard shortcuts or on-screen toolbars. If it can’t do that, the Magic Toolbar will go down in the history books as a failure.

Luckily, there’s one simple step Apple can take to ensure that the Magic Toolbar becomes a success.

How to disable location suggestions in macOS Sierra

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Location Based Suggestions
Here's what to do if you don't want localized suggestions.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Much like Google offers personalized searching, macOS Sierra delivers location-based tips as part of its suggestions within Spotlight, Siri, Safari and Maps. That means Apple will try to recommend relevant services within your immediate vicinity.

If you don’t want this feature, however, there is a way to get rid of it. Check out our guide below to show how to do this — and how to turn it back on again if you change your mind.

Steve Jobs’ yacht designer created Xiaomi’s insane new concept phone

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xiaomi-mi-mix
Xiaomi's latest smartphone is a stunner.
Photo: Xiaomi

The Mi Mix, an intriguing new concept phone from Xiaomi, offers an edgeless 6.4-inch display in a form factor no bigger than a regular 5.7-inch handset.

The feature-packed new smartphone was designed in partnership with French designer Philippe Starck, who is perhaps most familiar to Cult of Mac readers as the man who designed Steve Jobs’ high-tech yacht.

Apple Pay goes live in Japan, but not without its problems

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Apple Pay
Apple Pay arrived in Japan today.
Photo: Apple

Apple Pay made its debut in Japan today, although it didn’t completely get off to the best start.

The reason? One of the most eagerly-anticipated selling points of the service — the ability to use it on the subway — didn’t work properly. While East Japan Railway Co. says things were fixed within a few hours, the rush hour outage has made some users worried about future system stability.

How to solve 3 big macOS Sierra problems

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MacProblem01
Here are three problems we've run into so far.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

By now, most of you are probably upgraded to macOS Sierra, which is proving be a massive home run for Apple. However, while the new Mac OS packs some great new features, it’s also got a handful of problems — ranging from strange error messages to Wi-Fi issues.

Check out our video below for three macOS Sierra problems we’ve run into so far — and how we were able to solve them.

Drake will debut new collection of songs on Apple Music

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Apple Music and Drake
Drake sure does love Apple Music.
Photo: Apple

Drake is following up on his album Views, which became the first album to hit one billion streams on Apple Music, with a new song collection, scheduled to debut on the service in December.

Entitled “More Life,” Drake announced the collection during his Sunday night “OVO Sound” show on Apple Music’s Beats 1 radio station.

Mac sales no longer defy faltering PC industry

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macOS Sierra
Mac sales may fall for their fourth year-on-year quarter in a row.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The days of Macs avoiding the fate of the rest of the ailing PC industry may be over.

Analysts who have filed their predictions for Apple’s quarterly earnings call, which is coming tomorrow, think Mac sales finally failed beat those of PC competitors. And they’re expecting to see Apple’s fourth consecutive year-over-year quarterly decline in Mac sales.

Apple forgot to celebrate iPod’s 15th birthday

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iPod
Was it really 15 years ago?
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

An important anniversary passed this weekend, but you’d have been hard-pressed to remember based on the lack of recognition it received from Apple.

That milestone event was the 15th anniversary of the iPod, the portable music player that squeezed 1,000 songs into our pockets, sold upwards of 350 million units, and — up until the iPhone — was the best-known product in Apple history.