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Luke Dormehl - page 91

Here’s to the brave ones: Apple pays tribute to vets on Veterans Day

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Here's to the brave ones: Apple pays tribute to vets on Veterans Day
Apple offers a 10% discount to military veterans.
Photo: Samuel Branch/Unsplash

Apple has changed its home page for Veterans Day, paying tribute to those who fight to keep America free.

Its home page features a banner reading: “Here’s to the brave ones. We’re proud to honor America’s veterans and service members this Veterans Day and every day.” It links to a webpage with a reminder of Apple’s 10% discount for vets.

Billionaire’s son who bought Apple Watches for his dog lands on China’s credit blacklist

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Billionaire's son who bought Apple Watches for his dog lands on China's 'discredited' list
He seemed so careful with his cash, too.
Photo: Wang Sicong

The son of a Chinese billionaire who infamously bought two luxury Apple Watch Editions for his pet dog has been placed on the country’s official list of financially discredited individuals.

A court decision means that he can no longer fly first class, go on expensive vacations, or buy luxury products. Unless he’s bought new Apple Watches in the meantime, that should severely curtail his pet’s future time-keeping abilities!

iPhone 11 triumphs during Alibaba’s record-breaking Singles Day in China

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Apple boots smelter and refiners in crackdown on conflict minerals
Today is one of the biggest shopping days of the year.
Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

Today is Singles Day in China, the Alibaba version of Amazon’s Prime Day — and, from the sound of things, Apple has done pretty darn well out of it.

This year’s 24-hour shopping event has surpassed last year’s 213.5 billion yuan (more than $30 billion) record for gross merchandise value sold. The iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max were reportedly two of the top-selling items during Singles Day.

Woz: Apple should ‘share responsibility’ for sexist Apple Card

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Apple Card’s ‘elite card’ status is hitting retailers in the wallet
Some users suggest that a discriminatory algorithm may be determining Apple Card scores.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s co-founder Steve “Woz” Wozniak is one of a number of Apple Card owners concerned about a possible sexist algorithm used for determining credit limits.

On Twitter, Woz said that he received 10x more credit on the card than his wife. “We have no separate bank or credit card accounts or any separate assets,” Wozniak clarified. “Hard to get to a human for a correction though. It’s big tech in 2019.”

The Morning Show blitzes viewers with Apple product placement

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The Morning Show blitzes viewers with Apple product placement
"How many times do you want us to reference Apple products in the show?" "Yes."
Photo: Apple

It was always going to be difficult for Apple to resist peppering Apple TV+ shows with Apple products. But even with that said, the amount of times Apple product placement pops up on The Morning Show surely sets some kind of record. It’s basically a 10-episode long Apple commercial.

Apple Store employee fired after stealing personal photo from customer’s iPhone

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Apple Store employee fired after stealing personal photo from customers' iPhone
Incident happened at Valley Plaza Mall Apple Store in California.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Apple has fired an Apple Store employee after they stole a personal photo from the iPhone of a customer.

The employee in question worked at the Valley Plaza Mall Apple Store in Bakersfield, CA. Apple has said the employee in question “acted far outside the strict privacy guidelines to which we hold all Apple employees”. They confirmed that the employee is no longer working for Apple.

Apple Watch now makes up almost half of all smartwatch shipments

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Apple Watch thieves arrested after owner 'pings' device during police search
Apple Watch has been a massive hit for Apple.
Photo: Lewis Wallace/Cult of Mac

Apple Watch continues to cement its position as the undisputed ruler of the smartwatch industry. According to new research from Strategy Analytics, overall smartwatch shipments grew 42% year-on-year in Q3 2019 to reach 14 million units. Of these, Apple Watch accounted for 6.8 million devices.

That means that approximately one out of every two smartwatches shipped in the quarter was an Apple Watch.

Apple delves behind the scenes of See in new featurette

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Apple delves behind the scenes of See in new featurette
In a break from his usual casting, Jason Momoa plays a muscular man mountain in See.
Photo: Apple

How do you make something that’s exciting visually when it’s depicting a world populated by people who can’t see? That’s one of the challenges that the creators of Apple TV+ series See faced when developing the Apple Original show.

That question and a few others are answered in a new behind the scenes featurette Apple released Thursday.

Apple II screenshots required a whole lot of extra hardware

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Running Apple II programs on a Mac with an Apple IIe Card was pretty darn awesome.
Kids today don't know how lucky they are.
Photo: Microwavemont/YouTube

Taking a full-screen screenshot on a modern Mac or iPhone is just a matter of tapping a couple of buttons. But things used to be a whole lot more challenging, as longstanding Apple employee Chris Espinosa recently shared on Twitter.

Kids (and “how to” article writers) today don’t know how good they’ve got it!

Spanish Siri labels Bolivian president a ‘dictator’

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Spanish Siri labels Bolivian president a ‘dictator’
Siri's getting political. (Until Apple fixed it.)
Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac

Siri is in trouble again — or, at least, Siri’s Spanish-speaking cousin. According to a new report, the Spanish language version of Siri has been criticized for describing long-standing Bolivian president Evo Morales as a “dictator.”

Morales recently won a controversial fourth presidential term in Bolivia. However, thousands of citizens have marched across the country decrying voter fraud. It seems that Spanish language Siri was spiritually among them.

Supercell’s Rush Wars goes to the big App Store in the sky

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Supercell’s Rush Wars has gone to the big App Store in the sky
You really had to rush to play this one.
Photo: Supercell

It’s easy to look at games like Clash of Clans and think that, with the right marketing budget and remorseless pushing of in-app purchases, anyone could create a money-printing mobile game powerhouse. Sadly, that’s not the case — as the sad ballad of Rush Wars makes clear.

Developed by Supercell, the company behind Clash of Clans, the game has already been pulled by its creators. It never even had the chance to exit beta.

Qualcomm may have just hinted that 5G iPhones are coming in 2020

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2020 could be Apple's greatest year so far
Coming soon to a pocket near you. Hopefully.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf predicts 175 million to 225 million 5G handsets will be sold in 2020. The company is also expecting new flagship devices with its 5G chips to be made available for sale next fall.

While that’s far from a guarantee, the comments provide more (possible) clues that 2020 could be when we get the first 5G iPhones.

You can no longer downgrade from iOS 13.2 if you’ve already upgraded

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You can no longer downgrade from iOS 13.2 if you've already upgraded
Apple has stopped signing iOS 13.1.2 and 13.1.3 following the release of iOS 13.2.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Following the release of iOS 13.2, Apple has stopped signing previous versions iOS 13.1.2 and 13.1.3. That means that it’s no longer possible to downgrade again from the latest version of iOS if you’ve already upgraded.

To paraphrase T-Bird in 1994’s The Crow, “This is the world of iOS 13.2. There ain’t no coming back.”

Apple-backed startup fund loses $8.9 billion in 3 months

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International governments plan to rethink tax rules for the ‘digital age’
Apple invested $1 billion in the fund in 2017.
Photo: Pixabay/Pexels CC

A $100 billion SoftBank Vision Fund that Apple invested in has published a quarterly loss of $8.9 billion. The fund backs promising (or seemingly promising) startups.

SoftBank Group founder, chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son announced the disappointing returns today. “My investment judgment was poor,” Son said.

Amazon tests workout-tracking earbuds, but Apple’s could be better

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Amazon tests workout-tracking earbuds, but Apple’s could be better
Amazon is working on step-tracking tech for its wireless earbuds.
Photo: Amazon

Amazon is reportedly testing workout-tracking software for its Amazon Echo Buds. While this feature is seemingly still in its early testing phase, fitness-measuring earbuds could be a massive deal.

The good news? Apple is working on something very similar — and possibly even more advanced.

Tennessee police release surveillance tape of $9,000 Apple Store theft

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Tennessee police release surveillance tape of $9k Apple Store theft
The Apple CoolSprings Galleria store.
Photo: Apple

Police in Franklin, Tennessee, are looking for three snatch-and-grab suspects in an Apple Store theft. They stole 17 Apple Watches, worth $9,000.

Surveillance footage released by the police shows the trio walking into the Franklin store and grabbing the Apple Watches from the display table. They escaped unimpeded.

Apple and TikTok both absent from congressional hearing about tech in China

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Hong Kong police arrest smugglers with $1 million of iPhones and other devices
Tim Cook has said that China represents Apple's future biggest market.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Apple and Chinese music video app TikToks were the two holdouts at a U.S. congressional hearing Tuesday regarding the tech industry and China. Both were represented by empty seats.

Republican senator Josh Hawley slammed the two as “two sides of the same coin when it comes to data security.” TikTok represents the entry of Chinese tech platforms into the U.S., Hawley said. Meanwhile, Apple represents “the danger of American tech companies’ operations in China.”

Xiaomi’s Apple Watch clone packs some impressive features for just $185

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Xiaomi's Apple Watch clone packs some impressive features for just $185
Look familiar?
Photo: Xiaomi

Xiaomi today showed off its new Mi Watch wearable — and, as predicted, it looks pretty much exactly like Apple Watch. Only it costs a whole lot less.

The device, which starts at $185, runs a skinned version of Google Wear OS. This is packaged into a form factor with the familiar rectangular display, digital crown and pill-shaped button of the Apple Watch.

Sacré bleu! Mario Kart Tour will take players to Paris next

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Sacré bleu! Mario Kart Tour will take players to Paris next
Mario Kart Tour continues to roll out new courses.
Photo: Nintendo

Mario Kart Tour‘s world tour has so far taken players to New York, Tokyo and, err, Halloween. Now it’s headed to Paris, France for its next location.

Starting tomorrow, players logging into the game today should be able to access the Paris Tour course. In addition to landmarks like the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, and more, the Paris tour adds new characters as well.

Chinese smartphone CEO who made his name dissing Apple declared a ‘deadbeat’

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Chinese smartphone CEO who made his name dissing Apple declared a 'deadbeat'
Smartisan CEO said that Apple lost its soul after Steve Jobs died.
Photo: Allogo Wang/Flickr CC

The founder of a Chinese smartphone company which has been a vocal critic of Apple has landed on China’s official list of deadbeats. This is a national database held by China’s Supreme Court which can be described as a credit blacklist.

Smartisan Technology CEO Luo Yonghao is barred from taking flights or high-speed train journeys. He can also no longer stay in luxury hotels, spend money in nightclubs, or buy property.

Bernie Sanders has a big problem with Apple’s $2.5 billion housing crisis fund

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Bernie Sanders has a big problem with Apple's $2.5b housing crisis fund
Sanders thinks Apple helped create the problem it claims to be fighting.
Photo: CafePress

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is less than impressed by Apple’s pledge of $2.5 billion to help support affordable housing in California.

Apple pledged the money Monday, saying it wants to be “part of the solution” when it comes to California’s sky-high housing prices. However, Sanders accuses Apple of “throwing pennies” at a crisis it “helped create.”