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Luke Dormehl - page 218

Flud, Nightgate, and other awesome apps of the week

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

Looking to get up to speed on the top apps we checked out this week? We’ve got your back!

In a week in which China finally overtook the U.S. as Apple’s most profitable market for apps, some great apps, and app updates, found their way onto our mobile devices.

Whether you’re looking for some great puzzle games or a third-party keyboard worth downloading, we think you’ll find something to entertain you…

Steve Jobs exhibition will take place on Samsung’s home turf

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Steve Jobs, creator of the iPad and created on the iPad.
Staging a Steve Jobs exhibit in South Korea is like bringing a Note 7 to an Apple keynote.
Photo: Jeremy Martin

South Korea is Samsung country, but that’s not stopping a local museum in Guri, Gyeongg from staging an honorary exhibition to the late founder of Apple, Steve Jobs.

Featuring a range of Apple computers starting with 1977’s Apple II and running through to the iMac models Jobs oversaw upon his return to the company in the late 1990s, the exhibition will run until November 27.

Beats 1 finally gets an official Facebook page

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Screen Shot 2016-10-21 at 14.38.34
Well, that took long enough!
Photo: Apple

Apple has launched a new Facebook page to promote its Beats 1 worldwide radio station, which broadcasts 24 hours a day, 7 days a week exclusively on Apple Music.

The page features small sharable video clips of Beats 1 action, currently including snippets from Zane Lowe’s interview with Lady Gaga. Oh, and a whole lot of hashtags, too.

Parisian Apple Watch store may close due to poor sales

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Apple Watch mini-store will reportedly close in January.
Photo: Kaysgeog/Flickr CC

An exclusive Apple Watch mini-store at one of Paris’ fanciest department stores, Galeries Lafayette Haussmann, is reportedly set to close in January.

The report suggests the reason for the closure is poor sales — although it may also reflect a repositioning on Apple’s part concerning where the Apple Watch sits: moving it away from the world of high fashion and toward health-tracking and sport applications.

MacBook OLED trackpad could be called the ‘Magic Toolbar’

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MacBook Pro OLED mockup
The Magic Toolbar is on its way.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple’s adaptive OLED touchbar for its next-gen MacBook will be called the “Magic Toolbar,” according to a trademark filing made earlier this year.

The trademark filing was made by a dummy corporation called “Presto Apps America LLC” on February 5, 2016. Interestingly, said corporation happened to use the same lawyers as those who applied for the trademark “AirPod” in Indonesia, Canada and Malaysia.

2018 Macs may feature adaptive keyboards for emojis and more

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keyboard-eink
These adaptive keyboards will change according to the app.
Photo: Sonder

Forget about a mere adaptive OLED touchbar for future Macs! According to a new report, Apple is working with an Australian startup to turn future Mac keyboards into a blank slate for users to customize.

The company in question is Sonder Design Pty Ltd., a startup with ties to Apple manufacturer Foxconn. It develops E Ink keyboards, which let users customize keys to include letters from more than one language, or even emojis.

Check out a video showing how its keyboards work below.

Apple beware: Chinese phones are taking over the world

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iPhone 7
iPhone shipments fell last quarter.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

For the second quarter in a row, Chinese smartphone makers produced more phones than market leaders Apple and Samsung, according to a new Q3 shipment volume report from global market research firm Trendforce.

Apple saw its iPhone volume production fall 5.3 percent from the three months previous, while Samsung registered minor growth of 1.3 percent. Chinese smartphone makers on the other hand? A quarterly increase of 18 percent.

This doesn’t quite tell the whole story, though.

Apple wants to get HomeKit into houses before they’re built

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Apple announced HomeKit to developers at WWDC last year.
HomeKit-compatible devices are being built into new-builds.
Photo: Apple

In an effort to beat rivals like Google into people’s homes, Apple is reportedly working with building firms to incorporate HomeKit-compatible technologies into houses as they’re being built.

“We want to bring home automation to the mainstream,” Greg Joswiak, Apple’s vice president of product marketing, told Bloomberg. “The best place to start is at the beginning, when a house is just being created.”

Tim Cook was considered as Hillary Clinton’s vice president

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Tim has plenty to cheer about.
There aren't too many more powerful jobs than running Apple, but this would be one.
Photo: Apple

Tim Cook was apparently considered as a possible running mate for Hillary Clinton, according to a new email released by WikiLeaks.

Written by Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta, the email includes a number of high-profile names touted as potential vice presidential candidates, including Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

Note 7 flameout means millions of new iPhone owners

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Galaxy Note 7 water wet
Samsung has pointed plenty of customers in Apple's direction.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Samsung may have acknowledged that its disastrous Galaxy Note 7 debacle is likely to cost it $5.3 billion, but the real cost — the negative impact on customer loyalty — may turn out to be the real killer.

That’s according to KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who suggests that around 5-7 million ex-Note 7 customers will become new iPhone 7 customers as a result of losing faith with the Samsung brand.

Apple Prime? Here’s why it might be a great idea

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money
Would an Amazon Prime-style service work for Apple?
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple should take a note out of Jeff Bezos’ playbook and launch an Amazon Prime-style subscription service, claims an analyst for Goldman Sachs.

“We think Apple should launch a subscription bundle as a way to reinforce iPhone loyalty and leverage it into content,” Simona Jankowski writes in a new note to clients. In the brief, Jankowski and colleagues ponder the potential of a $50 monthly subscription that would get customers the latest iPhone plus other services like Apple TV, Apple Music and freemium access to the iTunes library.

How Apple uses Jamaica to keep its secrets under wraps

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Jamaica
The Jamaica-branded Apple Watch strap.
Photo: Apple

It’s well known that Apple, like many multinationals, uses a variety of non-U.S. countries to help reduce its tax bill. However, what is less well known is that the company also takes advantage of some interesting pieces of international legal minutiae to keep its future plans secret.

In particular, Apple is a big fan of Jamaica when it comes to filing trademark paperwork about its upcoming products — since Jamaica doesn’t easily provide would-be snoopers with a way to search databases about newly-filed information.

Apple’s Japanese R&D center will be dedicated to AI

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Robot
Tim Cook is eying Japan for Apple's AI research hub.
Photo: Scott Schaut/Mansfield Memorial Museum

Apple’s new R&D base in Yokohama, Japan, will focus on artificial intelligence and other related technologies, Tim Cook has revealed.

The new facility is set to be completed by December, well ahead of the projected date of March 2017. In an interview with Nikkei Asian Review, Cook called it a center for “deep engineering,” and said it will be “very different” from the R&D centers Apple plans to build in China.

Dan the Man, RPG Creator and other awesome apps of the week

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

Looking to get up to speed on the week’s hottest apps? We’ve got your back!

Whether you’re looking for a useful way to sign PDFs from your iPhone, a great beat-em-up, or even the chance to build your own RPG from the ground-up, we’re confident we’ll have something that will tickle your fancy.

Check out our picks below.

Soaring iPhone 7 demand helps Apple supplier set new profit record

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A10 processor
Building Apple's A10 chip turns out to be good business.
Photo: Apple

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) reportedly had to fight to secure the A10 chip orders for the iPhone 7, but whatever it had to do to get there has clearly paid off!

That’s based on the company’s new 2016 revenue forecast, which has just been ramped up based on new profit and sales records being reached in the year’s third quarter — largely thanks to the success of Apple’s next-gen iPhone.

Apple denies store employees were fired for stealing customer photos

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Brisbane's Apple Store is center of controversy.
Photo: Wikipedia/KGBO CC

Apple is denying claims that customers were victims of a “photo-sharing” ring in which its retail store employees in Brisbane took and circulated photos of female customers and staff.

The employees were fired for the inappropriate behavior, which included ranking the victims out of 10.

How to activate Siri with ‘Hey Siri’ on macOS Sierra

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Hey Siri macOS
Here's a workaround to bring "Hey Siri" to your Mac.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The ability to activate Siri by saying “Hey Siri” is an incredibly useful feature on iOS. Want to do it on macOS Sierra? Too bad you can’t.

Or, rather, you can’t through the usual Siri system preferences. However, if you’re really intent on being able to start up Siri without hitting a single key or mouse click, it’s possible to do it using Sierra’s Accessibility options. Here’s how.

Apple will open a second R&D center in China next year

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Photo of Apple CEO Tim Cook talking with Chinese children to illustrate an Apple history article about the deal that brought the iPhone to China Mobile, the world's largest carrier.
Apple is upping its focus on China.
Photo: Apple

Apple has announced plans for its second R&D center in China, located in the country’s manufacturing hub Shenzhen. The 2017 opening will help Apple further grow its market in the world’s second largest economy as it challenges local competition.

“We are excited to be opening a new Research and Development center here next year so our engineering team can work even more closely and collaboratively with our manufacturing partners,” Apple spokesperson Josh Rosenstock said.

Amazon’s new music streaming service costs as little as $3.99 per month

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Screen Shot 2016-10-12 at 14.14.31
Guess who's got a brand new music service!
Photo: Amazon

Apple Music has a new competitor in the form of Amazon, which today launched music streaming service Amazon Music Unlimited.

The premium service carries the same $9.99 monthly fee as Apple Music for regular users, although Prime customers get a reduced $7.99 monthly charge — while owners of the Amazon Echo can use an Amazon Music Unlimited subscription through the standalone device for a mere $3.99 per month.