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News - page 1025

Apple engineers might quit to avoid making ‘GovtOS’

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govtos
We doubt we'll see this at any WWDC keynotes. At least, we hope we won't.
Photo: Evan Killham/Cult of Mac

Apple’s own engineers may be the company’s last line of defense if it loses its case against the FBI and receives final orders to create “GovtOS,” a less secure version of the iPhone’s mobile operating system.

In fact, some reports say that even if legal proceedings go in the government’s favor, and Apple is compelled to create the software authorities are requesting, certain employees may simply quit to avoid having to make what CEO Tim Cook has called “the software equivalent of cancer.”

Barring unemployment, some encryption engineers may have a variety of other options to stick it to the man.

How to catch March Madness with Facebook Messenger

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basketball hoop by JD Starnia facebook messenger basketball game
Are you ready to hoop it up in Messenger, or whatever they're calling it these days?
Photo: JD Starnia/Pixabay. Licensed under CC0 1.0

Maybe you’ve heard of a little sportsball contest that’s starting this week, and maybe you haven’t. If you haven’t, just know that that’s why your neighbors are going to be shouting like maniacs for the next few weeks.

My loud, a-hole neighbors aren’t the only ones excited about March Madness; Facebook’s Messenger app is also getting into the spirit with a hidden game that will test your skill, precision, and tolerance of emojis.

Here’s how to play.

Apple Events app brings March 21 keynote to Apple TV

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Apple March 21 event invite
The iPhone SE is nearly here.
Photo: Apple

The new Apple Events apps for tvOS has finally arrived, giving Apple TV owners a way to watch the iPhone SE keynote from the comfort of their living room.

Apple’s ‘Loop you in’ event will be the company’s first keynote to stream on the new Apple TV, only unlike previous event channels, you’ll have to download it from the App Store to tune in.

Take Sonic the Hedgehog for a spin on Apple TV

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S
He's the fastest thing alive!
Photo: SEGA

In some kind of weird time vortex that makes me feel like it’s 1991 again (now if only I could find my original cassette of Nirvana’s Nevermind!), Apple is giving everyone the chance to huddle around their TV set again playing SEGA Genesis classic Sonic the Hedgehog.

That’s because the original platformer featuring everyone’s favorite blue-spined, ring-collecting, chili dog-eating speedster just landed on Apple TV — with sequels Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Sonic CD following later this month.

6 things the Mac App Store can learn from iOS

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App Store_3
The Mac App Store could use some support.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

This is a guest post by Karthik Suroju, a digital marketer at CloudMagic.

The iOS App Store is a one-stop destination for everything consumers need on the iPhone and iPad. However, that’s not the case with the Mac App Store. At the beginning of January 2016, there were 1,234,267 apps for iPhones, 662,984 for iPads and a mere 27,011 for Macs.

Major iPhone 7 changes revealed by leaked case

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iPhone 6 inside an iPhone 7 case.
iPhone 6 inside an iPhone 7 case.
Photo: Unbox Therapy

New video of an alleged iPhone 7 case appears to show major changes destined for Apple’s next-gen smartphone.

If it is accurate, the case appears to confirm that Apple will kill the headphone jack and add stereo speakers to the bottom of the device, which should be revealed later this year.

11 juicy quotes from Tim Cook’s interview on encryption

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Tim Cook
Tim Cook is pushing for end to end encryption.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple CEO Tim Cook has vowed to continue fighting ‘the good fight’ for the American people in its war against the federal government over encryption.

Cook sat down for a lengthy interview with Time as part of the magazine’s March 28 cover story on Apple, saying that he’s a “big optimist that we ultimately arrive at the right thing” in the battle between privacy and national security, however the company is prepared for a long and important battle.

The long ranging interview touches on everything from Apple’s case with the FBI, cybersecurity, civil liberties, and even Donald Trump. We read the entire transcript so you don’t have to and pulled out the 11 most revealing bits below:

WhatsApp beta adds support for bold and italic text

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whatsapp-beta-adds-support-for-bold-and-italic-text-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads201603WhatsApp-text-formatting-jpg
Bold and italics in WhatsApp.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Android
Bold and italics in WhatsApp. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Android
Bold and italics in WhatsApp. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Android

WhatsApp makes it easy to express yourself with emojis and images and other kinds of modern media — but what if you prefer the good old written word?

Until now, the platform has only supported basic text with zero formatting options. But in the latest WhatsApp beta, users have the option to use bold and italic text in their messages.

‘Leaked’ iPhone SE packaging confirms 16GB storage and Apple Pay

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iPhone SE will be the star of Apple's March 21 keynote.
iPhone SE will be the star of Apple's March 21 keynote.
Photo: Martin Hajek

The official debut of the iPhone SE is just days away, but it appears that packaging for the new device has already been spotted in the wild, and it confirms some of the device’s new features.

A photo of what appears to be an iPhone SE box was posted on Weibo this morning. If the box is indeed the real deal, Apple’s new 4-inch device will definitely be called the iPhone SE, and it’ll be the first budget-sized iPhone to support Apple Pay.

Here’s a look at the packaging:

Court rules Apple infringed OpenTV video streaming patents in Germany

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iphone-6s-3d-touch-780x414
Apple is the United States' most-sued tech company.
Photo: Apple

Apple has been found guilty of infringing on video streaming patents owned by Swiss company Kudelski’s OpenTV. The case was ruled on by a German court, which stated that any Apple products sold in Germany must not infringe on OpenTV’s patents.

The problem? The Apple products which allegedly infringe on said patents include the iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, App Store, and Mac.

Jay Z has pulled his Blueprint albums from Apple Music

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Jay Z
Jay's trying a takeover (the break's over.)
Photo: Flickr/NRK P3

Rapper and Tidal entrepreneur Apple Jay Z has taken the step of removing his Blueprint albums from the majority of non-Tidal music services, including Apple Music and iTunes.

The disappearance also covers other services including Google Play, Rhapsody, Amazon, and Spotify. A notable exception is Pandora, where the albums are still available.

Apple’s cloud deal with Google could be worth $600 million

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Hacker who tried to extort Apple for $100k is spared prison
Apple may be hooking up with its long-time rival Google.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple may be hopping into bed with long-time tech giant frenemy Google, migrating part of its iCloud business over from Amazon Web Services (AWS) to Google’s Cloud Platform.

Apple will reportedly pay Google between $400 and $600 million as part of the deal, which could be around twice the estimated amount Google’s cloud business did in total revenue last year.

Siri tortures Cookie Monster in new iPhone 6s ad

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Cookie Monster iPhone 6s ad
He really love cookie. He love cookie so much.
Photo: Apple

A new iPhone 6s ad subjects the lovable Cookie Monster to his worst fate imaginable: having to wait for a pan of his favorite treats to bake.

It’s a cute spot that’s meant to show off Siri’s hands-free mode, which lets users activate the digital assistant by saying “Hey, Siri” at any time. But it throws the hapless Muppet into an existential crisis.

Check it out below.

AirParrot Remote runs your TV via your Mac via your iPhone

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Control your Mac with your iPhone, and send it to your big-screen TV.
Control your Mac with your iPhone, and send it to your big-screen TV.
Photo: AirSquirrels

Getting up and down from the couch just to pause a television show is so 1970s.

If you want to watch iTunes videos, for example, via your Mac on your big-screen TV, AirParrot 2 is a fantastic choice. Even better, it’s got a new companion app on iOS, AirParrot Remote, that will let you control your Mac while you do so.

Because nothing says awesome like sending your Mac screen to the TV and running it all via your iPhone, right?

50,000 users want Instagram to turn back time

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Check out other beautiful photos taken near you.
People really want their chronologically ordered feeds to stay.
Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

An online petition asking Instagram to reverse its decision to get rid of chronological order in users’ feeds has gathered almost 50,000 signatures in a day.

The request emerged after the photo-sharing platform announced yesterday that it intends to switch to algorithm-based ordering “based on the likelihood you’ll be interested in the content, your relationship with the person posting, and the timeliness of the post.”

User resistance has been immediate, fierce, and completely opposed, surprising no one.

VR in the OR: Doctor will livestream cancer surgery

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vr-in-the-or-doctor-will-livestream-cancer-surgery-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads201603Virtual-reality-goggles-by-fill-jpg
"OK, now let's cut this guy open."
Photo: Florian Pircher/Pixabay. Licensed under CC0 1.0

Next month, St. Bartholemew’s Hospital in London will live-stream an operation, letting anyone with virtual-reality goggles see the procedure from any angle.

Dr. Shafi Ahmed, the colorectal and laparoscopic surgeon who will perform the surgery, has broadcast from the O.R. before using Google Glass. But this will be the first time a stream will include 360-degree video that will let viewers observe from any angle.

“You’ll be with me in the operating theater,” he said.

Googlebot ditches iPhone disguise to become an Android

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googlebot-ditches-iphone-disguise-to-become-an-android-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads201602Galaxy-S6-edge-iPhone-6s-jpg
iPhone Android Samsung
See ya, Safari! Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Android

Googlebot, the giant webcrawler that Google uses to scan webpages and update its index, is ditching its iPhone disguise to become an Android.

Rather ironically, the tool has been masquerading as an Apple device running iOS 8.3 for years, but it will soon become a Nexus 5X running Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow to become more efficient.

Malware uses Apple’s FairPlay DRM to attack iOS users

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hack
143 million customers in the U.S. may have been impacted by the attack.
Photo: Colin / Wikimedia Commons

Researchers have just discovered a new malware threat for iOS devices that uses Apple’s own FairPlay DRM system as a delivery vector.

Dubbed “AceDeciever” by the researchers, the malware in question can technically infect any type of iOS device, jailbroken or not, if a user downloads a third-party app.

Pro-Apple protesters plan to swarm courthouse outside FBI hearing

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data privacy
Protesters in San Francisco line up with pro-privacy signs outside the downtown Apple Store in 2016.
Photo: Traci Dauphin/Cult of Mac

The FBI will be greeted by protestors when it faces off against Apple at the U.S. District Courthouse in Riverside, CA on March 22nd.

Fight for the Future — the same group that rallied at Apple Stores across the country last month — is organizing another protest against the FBI’s federal court order compelling Apple to weaken security in iOS so the government can hack the San Bernardino terrorist’s iPhone 5c.

LastPass aims to make two-factor authentication less annoying

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Use LastPass with even fewer actual codes.
Use LastPass with even fewer actual codes.
Photo: LastPass
Making two-factor authentication a little simpler. Photo: LastPass
Making two-factor authentication a little simpler. Photo: LastPass

Two-factor authentication is super secure, but incredibly annoying when you’re in a hurry. LastPass, one of the front-runners in password managers on desktop and mobile, might have the solution with a new mobile app that will simplify the login process to LastPass, which can then manage your many web accounts with ease.

Instead of entering a passcode to get into LastPass, you can have its new mobile Authenticator app send a simple verify button that will let you sign in with one tap. Here’s a quick video to see how it works.

Tiny chip could give iPhone 7 Plus more storage than ever

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Sneeze and it's gone: iPhone 7 may be super-duper thin.
iPhone 7 Plus will pack tons of storage despite being super thin.
Photo: Yasser Farahi

The iPhone 7 Plus may boast more storage than any smartphone Apple’s ever created, if the company uses a tiny new chip by SanDisk that packs 256GB of flash storage.

Photos of the new chip destined for smartphones surfaced on an Italian tech blog comparing them to the old 64GB NAND flash chip SanDisk made for Apple in the past.

Check out how little the new chip is next to the old 64GB model:

Ex-Google boss slaps medical grade EKG onto Apple Watch

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kardia_band.0
Calling this a killer app isn't really appropriate.
Photo: AliveCor

AliveCor, the groundbreaking medical tech company which makes an iPhone case for predicting strokes, is embracing the world of the Apple Watch.

The company’s forthcoming Kardia Band is an Apple Watch accessory which will augment the wearable’s existing heart monitor with the addition of an FDA-approved, voice-activated electrocardiogram that can analyze your heart rate and email it directly to your physician.

Everything Apple will announce at its March 21 keynote

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iPhone SE will be the star of Apple's March 21 keynote.
iPhone SE will be the star of Apple's March 21 keynote.
Photo: Martin Hajek

The invites are out and the rumors are in. Apple’s first event of 2016 is going down March 21, when the company will loop fans in on some shiny new products coming soon to Apple Stores.

Apple is expected to introduce a new 4-inch iPhone aimed at budget customers and people who want to be able to hold their smartphone with one hand, but a new 9.7-inch iPad that’s every bit as impressive as the iPad Pro could steal the show (along with some other new goodies).

Here’s what to expect from Apple’s big event.

iPhone 7’s redesigned antenna band revealed in leaked photo

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iPhone-7
Is this Apple's next-gen iPhone?
Photo: CNBeta

The iPhone’s prominent (and, dare we say it, somewhat ugly)  antenna bands have been a staple of Apple’s handsets for a few years now. However, a new photo — allegedly leaked by Apple device maker Foxconn — shows off Cupertino’s more minimal approach with the upcoming iPhone 7.

What do you think?