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News - page 1004

How watchOS 3 could fix Apple Watch and end ‘wrist rage’

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Does your Apple Watch give you wrist-rage?
Does your Apple Watch give you wrist rage? If so, watchOS 3 might help.
Photo: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac

My biggest gripe with my Apple Watch is not the sluggish hardware, the lack of GPS nor the dependance on my iPhone. These are all problems to be sure. But it is the bad user interface design that often drives me so mad that my force-taps turn into force-thumps of frustration.

With an update to the Apple Watch operating system expected at the Worldwide Developers Conference next month, here’s my top 10 list of interface improvements I’d like to see in the upcoming watchOS 3. These essential changes would spare my wrist from future incidents of wrist rage.

Snopes declares Apple Music deletion fears ‘mostly false’

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Apple Music
Everyone can stop burning their phones as warlocks.
Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

You’ve done it now, Apple Music-phobes. Now Snopes is involved.

The myth-busting website, which has ended several of my burgeoning Facebook arguments before anyone could call anyone else a Nazi, has turned its attention to this week’s claims that Apple’s streaming service is just reaching into your computer and absconding with your music. And it has good news for the people who are frantically clutching their tunes like virtual teddy bears.

According to Snopes, the rumors we’ve heard are “Mostly False.” But here’s what that means.

Mother’s Day on Messenger is all about digital flowers

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Facebook-Messenger-flowers
This is even weirder than that basketball game from March.
Screencap: Evan Killham/Cult of Mac

We know that emoticons and Emojis are for expressing yourself when words fail you, but what does it mean when you put flowers around your text bubble? According to Facebook Messenger, that just means it’s Mother’s Day.

The chat app has rolled out a weird feature in advance of Sunday’s mother-loving holiday to let you festoon your messages with happy little flowers.

Here’s how you get in on the festivities.

Swanky art print sees original Mac as one big party

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Mac-art-print-by-We-Are-Dorothy header
We thought the original Mac was already a work of art, but this is also cool.
Photo: We Are Dorothy

A new Mac art print takes a festive look at the machine that launched the brand.

It comes courtesy of online art shop We Are Dorothy, and the piece features a cutaway view of the 1984 classic. And rather than just showing what actually made the original Mac run, the framable version crams its machine full of shining happy people and sly references to Apple culture.

Check it out in full below.

Does Apple Music really need a major revamp? [Friday Night Fights]

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fnf2_720
Is it really so bad?
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple Music’s existing interface is quaking in its boots. In just one month, it could be given its marching orders as Apple looks to make way for a fancy new design that hopes to attract even more subscribers to its streaming service.

FNF-bugBut does Apple Music really need a major revamp?

Some say its user interface is already familiar if you’re a long time iOS user — and even if you’re not, it’s arguably still prettier than those offered by rival streaming services. But others say it’s just not friendly enough, and too tricky to learn.

Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight between Cult of Android and Cult of Mac as we battle it out over Apple Music’s rumored redesign!

Apple may have scrapped a big iPhone 7 feature

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Your next iPhone might have two camera lenses.
The next iPhone might not be so "smart" after all.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Fans hoping Apple will bring the new Smart Connector from the iPad Pro lineup over to iPhone 7 may be in for some disappointment this fall.

The iPhone 7 won’t feature a Smart Connector, according to a new report from Asia that claims Apple has shelved the idea for now.

Tim Cook to talk business at startup conference

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Tim Cook
Tim
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple CEO Tim Cook is set to make another major public appearance in the lead up to WWDC next month.

Startup Fest Europe revealed that Cook will be the opening speaker at the conference on Tuesday May 24th. It’s unknown what Cook’s keynote will focus on, though his remarks may touch on his mastery of streamlining processes for business and possibly enterprise, which has become a bigger focus for the company recently.

Apple prototype collector in search of rarely seen devices

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A "clear shot" prototype of an Apple Powerbook 140.
Photo: Jonathan Zufi

Cult of Mac 2.0 bugSerious Apple prototype collectors usually know exactly what they are looking for as they try to build a physical timeline of each distinct device ever made. A Holy Grail artifact would be an Apple I. Fewer than 50 are said to exist.

Hap Plain wants the pieces none of us, including him, have ever seen.

He is one of a very select subculture who search the world over for Apple prototypes. Before being polished into the personal computing icons of our lives, Apple computers, iPods, iPhones and other devices start out as crude, unfinished test models so glitches and user experience hangups can be identified and worked out before hitting the market.

iPhone hacking is easy, claims Indian telecom minister

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Apple supplier is increasing its ability to build masses of iPhones in India
Has India come up with a fool-proof way to hack iPhones? Apparently so.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

So far this year, vulnerabilities have been exploited to help unlock the older-generation iPhone 5s and 5c, both as part of murder investigations. However, the newer iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, and 6s Plus remain secure devices no government has been able to break into.

Although that record may have been broken in India, according to the country’s telecom minister.

Tim Cook will face off with Chinese officials this month

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Cook could be headed for a shoot-out in China. Not literally, of course.
Photo: The West/Ste Smith

Tim Cook is set for a verbal shootout in China as he meets with high-ranking officials in Beijing later this month to discuss some critical issues Apple faces in the country.

The visit comes at a time when Apple is facing various problems in China, including the loss of its exclusive iPhone trademark, and the Chinese government’s decision to ban the company from operating its iBooks and iTunes Movies stores locally.

Work on next year’s iPhone chips is already underway

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Apple chips are getting EMI shielding.
TSMC is building Apple's next-gen iPhone chips.
Photo: Apple

From the sound of things, Apple is focusing a lot of attention on next year’s iPhone launch as the biggest handset refresh since 2014’s iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.

Alongside OLED displays, wireless charging, an all-glass enclosure and a lack of physical home button, the iPhone 7s (or possibly iPhone 8 if certain rumors are to be believed) will also include a next-next-gen A11 chip. And Apple’s already working on it.

Apple seeks mammoth warehouse for secret car project

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What will the Apple Car look like? And, more importantly, what will it do?
Work is revving up on the Apple Car. Pun intended.
Photo: Motor Trend

Apple is seeking an 800,000-square-foot warehouse to work on the Apple Car, according to a West Coast real estate giant, who claims space for developing electric vehicles is currently “a hot demand item” in Silicon Valley.

Upstarts like Apple and Alphabet are apparently competing with traditional automakers to set up shop for next-gen research facilities in the tech mecca.

Apple Music gets $5 student plan to boost subscriber numbers

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Apple Music
Apple is looking to students to boost its music subscriber numbers.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple Music has a not-unimpressive 13 million subscribers right now, but Apple is looking to expand the number of customers willing to spend money on the service by targeting a group that has historically been one of the company’s strongest customer bases: students.

With that in mind, Apple today launched a new Apple Music ‘student’ pricing plan which slashes the per month cost in half ($9.99 down to $4.99 in the United States) for anyone in higher education.

Another Apple Music horror story (and how to avoid the curse)

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Apple Music
What the hell, Apple Music?
Photo: Apple

Apple Music has had a pretty rough first year. Despite gaining millions of subscribers and setting download records with some of its more high-profile releases, users still have plenty to stop them from quite clicking on that heart next to the service.

And that’s not just because nobody’s really sure what the hell Apple Music hearts do.

But one man has had such a bad experience that the Apple Support representative he spoke to gave him some advice that was almost certainly not in her training. And he’s shared his story online to warn others away from what has happened to him.

Tim Cook lunch raises mad money for charity

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Tim Cook Apple March 21 event
How much would you pay to have lunch with Tim Cook?
Photo: Apple

Bidding for Tim Cook’s latest Charity Buzz lunch auction has finally closed, and unless you were willing to part with some huge stacks of money, you had absolutely no chance of winning. 

Cook’s latest auction didn’t shatter his previous record of $610,000 raised for the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights, but it got pretty close.

Week’s best Apple deals: Cheap Lightning cables, free apps and $100 off iPad mini 4

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deals ipad mini 4, lightning cables, star wars kotor
This week brings hot deals on the iPad mini 4 and more.
Photo: Photos: Apple, Aspyr Media, Lumsing

Get some third-party charging cables for cheap, or some in-demand apps for big discounts (or free). We’ll give you the lowdown on those unbeatable bargains — plus a mouthwatering $100 off the iPad mini 4 — in this week’s roundup of the best Apple deals.

Apple scores SAP partnership to transform enterprise

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iPhone-SAP
Apple steps up its assault on enterprise.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple is teaming up with SAP to “revolutionize” mobile working for enterprise customers.

The partnership will see native apps for iPhone and iPad combined with the SAP HANA platform, plus a new iOS SDK and training academy that will help developers build new apps tailored to their business needs.

Hack exposes millions of Gmail, Microsoft and Yahoo logins

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Google-Chrome
And some hackers want less than $1 for them.
Photo: Jay Wennington/Unsplash

The usernames and passwords for over 270 million hacked email accounts are being traded on Russia’s black market.

One security expert warns that while most of them are Mail.ru accounts for Russia’s most popular email service, tens of millions of them belong to Gmail, Microsoft, and Yahoo Mail users.

Samsung snags top smartphone spot from Apple

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iPhone SE couldn't stop a Samsung takeover.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
iPhone SE with Galaxy S7
iPhone SE couldn’t stop a Samsung takeover. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Android

Glowing reviews for the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge have been translated into stellar sales for Samsung.

The South Korean company’s latest handsets have been so successful this year that they’ve helped it overtake Apple to become number one smartphone maker in the U.S.

News junkies get a new way to mainline headlines

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HEADING
HEADING
Photo: Lumi

The developers behind Lumi News, both a curation service and new mobile app, want to change the way you get your news. Instead of asking you to pick topics for your news from a long list, like Apple News or Flipboard does, Lumi uses the magic of background algorithms to offer you news stories that actually match your news reading habits.

The service uses Twitter and Facebook to discover your browsing preferences and then presents you with news stories, one at a time, asking you to swipe left (no) or right (yes) like a dating app to help refine what it sends to you. It’s like Tinder for news hounds.

Drake’s Views racks up 250 million streams on Apple Music

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Apple Music and Drake
Let's hear it for high-res Drake tracks.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s big bet on Drake is paying off huge for both sides and shattering records in the process.

Drake’s new album Views is only available on Apple Music, but it’s already been streamed over 250 million times in its first week and his album sales are on pace to be the biggest release by a male artist since Justin Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience.

Beige is back with this retro-inspired iMac

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BN-NW128_nostal_M_20160504133006
Yes, that's a brand new iMac in beige.
Photo: ColorWare

The boring beige computers Apple offered all the way up until the late ’90s would never get Jony Ive’s stamp of approval today. But fortunately for those who love retro, Apple’s latest iMac is now available with a beige paint job (and a bigger price tag).