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Luke Dormehl - page 250

Olloclip’s Studio is a protective iPhone case that will perfect your photos

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Olloclip
Olloclip is cementing its reputation as a leading iPhone accessory maker.
Photo: Olloclip

Cult of Mac CES 2016 full coverageOlloclip has long been one of the best accessory-makers for the iPhone. At CES, the company introduced its latest innovation — a brand new protective case for the iPhone, which features a patent-pending integrated rail-mounting system and a series of mountable photography accessories.

Teen gets $2,000 iPhone bill thanks to controversial Wi-Fi Assist feature

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This little toggle will help you manage any paltry data plan you have.
Wi-Fi Assist is very useful, except when it's not.
Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

A San Francisco teenager recently found themselves on the receiving end of a massive $2,021.07 phone bill — courtesy of iOS 9’s Wi-Fi Assist feature, which automatically switches phones to use cellular service when the owner is in an area with a weak Wi-Fi signal.

Teen Ashton Finegold made the unpleasant discovery that his bedroom was such a place, which meant that while he thought he was connected to his home Wi-Fi setup, his iPhone actually clocked up 144,000 MB of cellular data.

Hold onto your seats! Here’s an update on the Apple tax investigation

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money
Ireland has a few more weeks to wait to find out if it's broken the law.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

After having initially been promised for a Christmas deadline, it now appears that both Apple and Ireland will have to  wait until February to receive the verdict of European Union regulators on whether or not Ireland has broken international tax rules by letting Apple shelter profits worth tens of billions of dollars there.

Use this neat trick to hide unwanted apps in iOS 9

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Say goodbye to the stock apps you don't want. Temporarily.
Photo: videosdebarraquito

iPhones may not come with the crazy amounts of bloatware that swell up Android devices, but there are still a handful of pre-installed apps that some users don’t want to have on their home screen.

While Apple doesn’t let you delete its stock apps in iOS 9, a new method for hiding them was recently discovered by YouTube user videosdebarraquito, who posted a video revealing his solution. Check it out below.

HP borrows from Apple for its MacBook-inspired EliteBook Folio

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hp-elitebook-folio-collaboration
Is HP's new laptop a MacBook beater?
Photo: HP

Cult of Mac CES 2016 full coverage Most of the time you hear about another tech company “borrowing” from Apple’s design language it’s a Chinese smartphone maker creating an iPhone knockoff. Not so with HP, which just unveiled its gorgeous new EliteBook Folio notebook — which happens to look a whole lot like a MacBook.

If you’ve ever fancied a MacBook that runs Windows, this is probably the closest you’re ever going to get!

Free wireless EarPods will make up for iPhone 7’s missing headphone jack

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A concept for how the iPhone 7 may look.
Photo: Erin Huismann

The iPhone 7 may be the best part of nine months away, but supply chain sources are starting to shed some light on what we can expect from Apple’s next generation handset.

One thing which seems more and more certain is that Apple plans to ditch the 3.5mm headphone jack in an effort to push users toward wireless headphones instead.

Obama uses Fitbit to get a fit bod while snubbing Apple Watch

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fitbit
Obama decided against an Apple Watch.
Photo: Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee

When it comes to wearables, Barack Obama has given the POTUS stamp of approval to the Fitbit Surge, leaving the Apple Watch out in the cold.

Viewers got a glimpse of Obama’s presidential wrist during his recent appearance on Jerry Seinfeld’s web series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. Given that Obama’s previously been open about his inability to own an iPhone (which the Apple Watch needs in order to operate) due to security concerns, it’s no surprise he would opt for a Fitbit.

Still, it’s another compelling example of why the Apple Watch 2 needs to be more of a standalone device!

Beyonce’s stylist just created the most narcissistic iPhone case yet

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Putting the "I" in iPhone
Photo: Tytryone

From bizarre accessories approaching Zoolander levels of parody to thieves stupid enough to snap themselves at the scene of a crime, selfies were one of 2015’s most unfortunate trends.

Unfortunately it looks like they’ll be continuing into 2016, too, with Beyonce’s celebrity stylist Ty Hunter recently unveiling her own contribution to humanity’s downfall: the Ty-Lite protective case for iPhone 6 and 6s, which basically turns your handset into a light-up dressing room mirror.

Someone named a narcissistic iPhone accessory after themselves? Why am I not surprised?

Steve Jobs wins film prize, despite ‘unfortunate box office’

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Aaron Sorkin’s Steve Jobs movie is coming to Netflix
Steve Jobs, Master of Magnetism. Wait, that was the other Fassbender movie, wasn't it?
Photo: François Duhamel/Universal Studios

Steve Jobs may have bombed worse than the Power Mac G4 Cube, but that’s not stopping the movie from being lavished with prizes on the film festival circuit — en route to the upcoming Oscars.

This weekend, Steve Jobs actor Michael Fassbender was awarded the International Star prize at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, presented by his Steve Jobs co-star Kate Winslet.

Crushgate? What happens when 3,500 pounds of force meets an iPhone 6s

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This doesn't end well.
Photo: TechRax

Remember Bendgate, the massively overblown period following the iPhone 6’s release, in which people acted like Apple’s handset was about as sturdy as a slice of processed cheese?

Well, destructive YouTuber TechRax is back with a new “stress test” designed to see how the studier iPhone 6s fares against 3,500 pounds of pressure. Answer: nNt very well at all.

If, to paraphrase Fight Club, you want to see out 2015 by watching the destruction of something beautiful, check out the video below.

NFL player hands out Apple Watches to his teammates

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Apple Watch
A gift worth taking a tackle for.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Quarterbacks and running backs will often reward their offensive linemen with gifts, but veteran NFL Baltimore Ravens punter Sam Koch recently gave out a particularly welcome high-tech pressie to his teammates — when he handed out Apple Watches.

Japanese temple hopes Steve Jobs’ name will revive interest

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This is the temple where Jobs' spiritual advisor was trained.
Photo: 663highland/Wikipedia CC

It’s no secret that Japan is a big fan of Steve Jobs, which goes some way to explaining why Apple’s late co-founder is being used as a (pretty tenuous) connection to help reinvigorate interest in the country’s Buddhist Zen tourism trade.

How? Because, as it turns out, the 13th century Eiheiji temple Japanese local authorities hope to drum up interest in happens to be the same place which trained Kobun Chino Otogawa, a.k.a. Jobs’ spiritual advisor and wedding officiator.

We warned you it was tenuous!

Rumors of iPhone crash in 2016 may be greatly exaggerated

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Apple raked in the cash last quarter.
Don't expect Apple's iPhone business to crash any time soon.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

This time of year yields more Apple doom predictions than New Year’s resolutions, so it’s no surprise that Apple analysts have been naming 2016 as the year iPhone sales finally fall off a cliff.

But according to Brean Capital, not only is Apple stock still worth buying, with a $170 price target, but investors should look through the “supply chain ‘noise'” and see the potential for iPhone sales to hit around 250 million units next year — or 7 percent to 10 percent growth from Apple’s already stellar 2016.

Apple is close to signing deal for OLED iPhone displays

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OLED displays are on their way.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

The arrival of OLED displays for future iPhones is looking more of a sure thing than ever, with a new report stating that Apple is on the verge of finalizing an agreement with Samsung Display and LG Display to build its future screens.

According to sources, Samsung will produce around 90,000 OLED substrates per month for Apple, while LG will produce 60,000.

Total number of smartphone displays that should generate? The report doesn’t make it explicitly clear, but it is likely to be in the region of 400 million displays per year.

Apple could be forced to add more ‘executives of color’

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diversity Apple
Apple is stepping up its pro-diversity game.
Photo: Apple

Apple could be forced to add more non-white executives and directors, due to a proposal put forward by an investor who thinks the current makeup of Apple execs is “a little bit too vanilla.”

The possible pro-diversity push was reportedly prompted after the son of investor Antonio Avian Maldonado II, who owns just 645 Apple shares, asked why nearly everyone on Apple’s board of directors was white.

10 superb iOS and Mac apps we loved in 2015

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'Appy new year.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Cult of Mac's Best of 2015 Witnessing the ingenuity of app developers both small and large is a real highlight of my job writing about the Apple ecosystem. In that regard, 2015 didn’t disappoint: Some tremendous new apps got unleashed this year on both iOS and OS X.

Here are Cult of Mac’s picks for the absolute best apps of the year for iPhone, iPad and Mac.

Kid racks up almost $6,000 on Jurassic World in-app purchases

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Jurassic World
Cloning dinosaurs comes with a price tag. Who knew?
Photo: Lydia

Aside from a few big developers, no-one much likes in-app purchases, which have long been used to ruin mobile gaming on iOS.

However, the parents of 7-year-old Faisall Shugaa probably like them less than most — after their son racked up almost $6,000 in IAP bills, including $2,200 spent in just one hour.

iPhone shipments rocket 133% in the Middle East and Africa

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iPhone 6s
After China, the Middle East and Africa is one of Apple's big focuses.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple is focused on expanding into new markets, and after its success in China, it seems the next focus is on the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region.

According to analysts at Counterpoint Research, Apple saw its market share in the region climb 3.9 percent in the third quarter of 2015, compared to 2.2 percent during the same period one year earlier. Overall, iPhone shipments grew 133 percent on-year in 2015 to enter the top 5 smartphone brands in the area.

Controversial Steve Jobs documentary airs on TV this weekend

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man in the machine
Something something dark side.
Photo: Magnolia Pictures

If you haven’t suffered Steve Jobs overload already (and the disappointing box office results for Aaron Sorkin’s Steve Jobs suggests that many people have), Oscar winner Alex Gibney’s controversial feature-length Jobs documentary, Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine, debuts this Sunday on CNN.

Why 2015 was Apple’s most important year since original iPhone’s unveiling

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Apple raked in the cash last quarter.
2015 was a crucial year for Apple, and it looks like it's paying off.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

‘Tis the season to be jolly — or, if you’re a tech writer hoping to score enough clicks to help pay off the post-Christmas credit card, ’tis the season to label this the worst year for Apple since records began.

From Gizmodo’s restrained “Everything Apple Introduced This Year Kinda Sucked,” to The Verge calling this the year Apple spent in beta, to Bloomberg banging the “lemon of the year” gong for the Apple Watch, pundits aren’t exactly being kind to Cupertino as 2015 draws to a close.

But, you know what? They’re dead wrong. This was the most important year for Apple since 2007, when Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone.