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Clever DIY project turns AirTag into slim wallet card

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This DIY AirTag wallet card project isn’t for the faint of heart
Apple AirTag can help users locate keys, luggage and — with a lot of modifications— their wallet.
Screenshot: Andrew Ngai

An intrepid do-it-yourselfer disassembled Apple’s new AirTag and rebuilt it into something slim enough to fit into a wallet.

Watch his video with step-by-step instructions for following in his footsteps — if you dare.

24 years later, Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh still serves [Setups]

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Pictured to the right of a nice modern iMac, the once-glorious flop still gives pretty good sound.
Pictured to the right of a nice modern iMac, the once-glorious flop still gives pretty good sound.
Photo: Cbaltz2@Reddit

By the time of its release in March 1997, the over-the-top-shelf powerhouse known as the Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh had seen its initial price of $9,000 cut to $7,499, or about $12,000 in today’s dollars.

The interesting-but-still-hopelessly unaffordable system — for a time delivered door-to-door and set up by tuxedoed concierges — failed in the marketplace. It went on to become a collector’s item.

These days, a Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh, or TAM, often sells for around $1,500. So Redditor Cbaltz2 kind of scored when he picked one up a while back on eBay for $800. And remarkably, he found a good use for it in the here and now.

Mythic Quest fine-tunes its epic comedy for strong second season [Apple TV+ review]

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Mythic Quest review: Rob McElhenney leads an excellent cast in a strong second season.
Rob McElhenney leads an excellent cast in a strong second season.
Photo: Apple TV+

In its second season, Mythic Quest doubles down on characters and lets workplace dynamics subsume the work itself. The creative team that drives the Apple TV+ comedy about game developers found the sweet spots that made the first season above average, then worked on them like mechanics.

The result is a season every bit as strong as the first — and one that portends greatness for the future.

Apple could bring a splash of color to its next-gen MacBook Air

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Colors
Apple's Industrial Design Group lab right now. Possibly.
Photo: 冬城/Unsplash CC

Apple could bring a splash of color to the MacBook Air, says Apple tipster Jon Prosser in a new video. Prosser suggests that the next-gen M2 MacBook Air could come in a fancy blue color and, quite possibly, a range of other shades as well.

That would make a lot of sense given the recent iMac redesign, which marked the first time in 20 years Apple has released its desktop computers in multiple colors. It would also match Apple’s strategy back in the late 1990s when the colorful iMac G3 was followed up by the equally colorful iBook.

Mosquito Coast slows to a satisfying simmer [Apple TV+ review]

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The Mosquito Coast review: Justin Theroux's manic performance gives The Mosquito Coast an edge.
Justin Theroux's manic performance gives The Mosquito Coast an edge.
Photo: Apple TV+

This week on The Mosquito Coast, the Foxes are on the run and the heat is hot on their tail — in every way possible.

The third episode of Apple TV+’s paranoid new drama can’t do much but crawl. But it covers some important ground. And strong acting and clever writing again combine to keep you hooked.

Only a tiny proportion of iOS users let apps track them

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App Tracking Transparency will be part of iOS 14.5, iPadOS 14.5 and tvOS 14.5. It’s already showing up in betas.
App Tracking Transparency is here -- and users seem to be responding.
Graphic: Cult of Mac

Apple’s new App Tracking Transparency feature looks surprisingly popular with users — and potentially devastating to advertising. According to analysis by Flurry, just 4% of U.S. users allow apps to track them when given a choice.

The new privacy feature, rolled out in iOS 14.5 in late April, requires developers to ask for permission to use Apple’s Identifier for Advertisers tag to track users’ movements across websites and third-party apps. Flurry’s stats indicate a massive 96 out of 100 users in the United States denied that permission.

Creeps could use AirTags to stalk people with ‘frightening’ ease

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Stalkers won‘t be able to track victims via hidden AirTags
The dangers of location-tracking.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

It it “frighteningly easy” to use Apple’s location-tracking AirTag to stalk somebody, a new report suggests.

While Apple says it’s been careful to incorporate anti-stalking measures to stop the AirTags from being used in this way, a Washington Post columnist says Apple’s countermeasures are not effective.

Apple’s treatment of Netflix highlights arbitrary App Store rules

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Netflix Downloads for You puts suggested shows right onto your iPhone
Unlike Epic Games, Netflix wasn’t banned from the App Store when it did an end run around Apple’s in-app purchase system.
Photo: Netflix

The latest insider info brought to light by the Epic Games v. Apple trial is the lengths the Mac-maker went to convince Netflix to continue taking subscriptions in its iPhone/iPad app. But Netflix stopped anyway, and Apple took no action.

When Epic Games tried to do something similar, Apple banned all its software from the App Store.

Print a variety of useful AirTag holders with these free 3D models

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Print a variety of useful AirTag holders with these free 3D models
Don’t buy when you can 3D print an AirTag holder. Like this bike mount.
Photo: Marshall Farthing

It’s not necessary to buy an accessory to attach an Apple AirTag to your keys, bike or dog’s collar if you own a 3D printer. There are tons of CAD files with options to connect the recently released item tracker to various objects. And all of them are free to use.

Mixed-reality Apple glasses could add a new dimension to fitness

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How augmented reality could augment your workout
Will augmented reality augment your workouts?
Photo: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac

Like Apple Watch before it, Cupertino’s much-anticipated mixed-reality headset looks set to be another leap forward for fitness wearables.

Mixed reality is already commonplace in TV sports. You see it every time the virtual line of scrimmage is superimposed onto a football field. Now imagine that the players on the field can see that virtual line too, just like the viewers at home. That’s exactly what Apple’s latest gadget could deliver, adding a whole new dimension to sports and fitness.

Execs fretted over whether App Store ads were ‘at odds’ with Apple messaging

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TikTok continues to dominate the App Store in 2020.
Apple sells ads through the App Store.
Photo: Kon Karampelas/Unsplash CC

Many people may be surprised to hear that while Tim Cook has often taken thinly-veiled shots at the targeted ad-supported business model of some rivals, Apple does itself sell targeted ads.

Although there is a bit more nuance to that, it can look like a contradiction, or even a bit of hypocrisy, from the outside. As emails highlighted during the current Apple vs. Epic legal battle shows, Apple employees also grappled with whether or not Apple should offer ads in the App Store — and whether this opposed Apple’s messaging.

Read Epic Games’ reasonable idea for opening up the App Store

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App Store
The CEO of Epic Games had an idea for making the App Store more open. It’s likely to find some support.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Epic Games suggested a change to the iPhone App Store that, if Apple had followed it, might have prevented the lawsuit that landed the two tech giants in court this week.

The game developer recommended that Apple continue to police third-party software, looking for malware, privacy violations, etc. But once the iPhone-maker signed off on an app, it would be up to the developer how the software got distributed.

Steve Jobs once called Facebook ‘Fecebooks’

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Steve Jobs once called Facebook ‘Fecebooks’
Typo? Or cutting insult? Apple’s former CEO once used the term “Fecebooks.”
Photo: Cult of Mac

Disagreements between Apple and Facebook have made headlines recently, but bad blood between the two companies dates back decades. In 2011, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs even called the social-networking service “Fecebooks.”

Quickly view available keyboard shortcuts in any iPad app [Pro tip]

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See iPad keyboard shortcuts
Speed up common tasks inside your favorite apps.
Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Pro-tip-4iPad has gotten better and better at working with external keyboards in recent years. You’ll now find great support for keyboard shortcuts in most of the apps you use regularly. But how do you quickly find out which keyboard shortcuts are available to you?

There’s an easy way in iPadOS — and it works inside any app.

iFixit shows how to add a hole to AirTag

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Drill an AirTag hole at your own risk.
If you’re willing to risk ruining an AirTag, you can drill a hole in it.
Photo: iFixit

There’s no direct way to attach Apple’s just-released AirTag to a set of keys because the item tracker doesn’t include a hole. But iFixit x-rayed the device and found three places a brave user could drill a hole.

Don’t expect next iPad mini for months

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This is a 2021 iPad mini concept, not a leaked image.
The 2021 iPad mini might look something like this.
Concept: Cult of Mac

Apple’s next small tablet isn’t coming soon, no matter what previous rumors indicated. A trusted analyst and Apple prognosticator says the 2021 iPad mini won‘t be on the market until the second half of the year.

According to unconfirmed reports, this will be a significantly redesigned device, with a larger display.

One mammoth display to rule them all [Setups]

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Like your parents used to say, don't sit too close to the TV.
Like your parents used to say, don't sit too close to the TV.
Photo: kenneth_powers1@Reddit

These days, lots of folks rock two or three or even four large monitors in their computer setups. But some people go for one huge, mesmerizing display, like kenneth_powers1, among other Redditors — and it’s a TV set, at that.

Powers credits fellow Redditor TerronG for the inspiration to use a Samsung 43-inch TU-8000 series 4K Smart TV with his aging computer. Powers uses it with a 2013 MacBook Pro and a PC he built himself. TerronG runs a similar TU7000 series TV with a 2012 Mac mini upgraded with a newer SSD and additional RAM.