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News - page 1027

Make your home screen pop with round iOS folders

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iOS round folders
Man, that looks weird.
Photo: Evan Killham/Cult of Mac

Usually, if you want to change the shape of your iOS folders, you need to jailbreak your device or squint really hard or something. But one person has found a way to make your app holders cool-looking and round, and all you have to do is change your device’s wallpaper.

You can see the cool circles in action in the video below.

Apple seeds fresh batch of betas to devs and public

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Click here for the new hotness.
New beta software is here.
Photo: Apple

Developers and public beta testers alike can download the latest El Capitan starting today now that Apple has seeded the third beta of OS X 10.11.5, plus the public version of iOS 9.3.2 beta 3.

The new updates come a week after Apple released the second beta builds of the new operating systems. Testers can grab the new software through the Mac App Store if you’re signed up for Apple’s Public Beta Program, but Apple has a couple extra goodies for developers as well.

‘Leaked’ iPhone 7 Pro schematic reveals dual-lens camera 

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Your next iPhone might have two camera lenses.
Your next iPhone might have two camera lenses.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The dimensions of the iPhone 7 Pro will be exactly the same as the iPhone 6 Plus, according to an alleged leaked schematic from Asia, but the new device will feature a couple of major physical changes.

Apple is supposedly planning to include a dual-lens camera on the iPhone 7 Pro and, if these drawings are genuine, we might now know what the high0tech camera sensor on the back will look like once it’s released later this fall.

Take a peek:

Google Calendar now helps you find time for more meetings

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google-calendar-now-helps-you-find-time-for-more-meetings-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads201604Google-Calendar-Find-a-time-png
Google Calendar just keeps getting better.
Photo: Google
Google Calendar just keeps getting better. Photo: Google
Google Calendar just keeps getting better. Photo: Google

If your schedule looks busier than Best Buy on Black Friday, then the last thing you want to do is dig through it to find time for another meeting. But now you don’t have to.

Google Calendar’s new “Find a time” feature seeks out gaps in your schedule to ensure that you never have to find other things to do when you could be in ANOTHER MEETING! It will even check that your colleagues are available, too.

Oliver Stone amps up spy action in first Snowden trailer

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The first Snowden trailer reveals how he leaked the NSA's secrets.
The first Snowden trailer reveals how he leaked the NSA's secrets.
Photo: Open Road Films

Joseph Gordon-Levitt busts out his best nerd voice in the first trailer for Oliver Stone’s new film, Snowden.

The film is based on the true story of how Edward Snowden went from enlisting in army reserve, to exposing the illegal surveillance activities conducted by the NSA and thus becoming the most wanted man in the world.

Check it out:

Apple Stores’ biggest fan shined a light on the little people

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Gary Allen with his son, Devin, at a Beijing Apple Store in 2008.
Gary Allen with his son, Devin, at a Beijing Apple Store in 2008.
Photo: Devin Allen

Cult of Mac 2.0 bugTim Cook, Jony Ive and Apple’s legendary Steves earned their loyal followings.

Writer Gary Allen made sure the foot soldiers — Apple retail workers and even the carpenters who made display tables for Apple Stores — got props for their contributions to Cupertino by way of Allen’s now-defunct website ifo Apple Store.

In doing so, Allen left his own thankful and devoted followers saddened when he passed away last fall from brain cancer.

Instagram could boot app colors to make your photos look better

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instagram-could-boot-app-colors-to-make-your-photos-look-better-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads201604Instagram-logo-005-png
Instagram turns black and white.
Logo: Instagram
Instagram turns black and white. Logo: Instagram
Instagram turns black and white. Logo: Instagram

Instagram could be planning to overhaul its mobile apps with a new black and white interface that will make your photos pop.

The redesign has already rolled out to a small number of users as part of an early test, but Instagram won’t tell us if it will be keeping it.

Apple stock plummet erases $40 billion in market cap

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iphone stocks app
That's a drop the size of Netflix, by the way!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Following yesterday’s disappointing (but inevitable) Apple earnings call, shares in the company fell by more than 8 percent in after-hours trading. For those keeping track at home, that means that Apple’s market value plummeted by upwards of $40 billion — or the equivalent of the entire market value of Netflix.

Fortunately, things are recovering slightly and stock is currently trading down 6.55 percent priced $97.80.

Vote different? John McAfee ‘borrows’ from Apple in presidential bid

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John McAfee at DefCon 2014.
Here's to the crazy ones...
Photo: NullSession/Flickr CC

Having developed the world’s first commercial antivirus software, John McAfee now wants to clean the malware out of politics — and he’s using one of Apple’s most iconic advertising mantras to do so.

Libertarian presidential candidate McAfee’s new ad encourages American citizens to “Vote Different,” and uses the same verbiage as Apple’s famous “Think Different” ads from 1997. But it features footage of figures like Ron Paul, Aaron Schwartz, Jeffrey Tucker, Peter Thiel and Elon Musk instead of the historical figures in Apple’s ad.

Is it enough to take him into the White House? Check it out below to make up your own mind!

Nintendo bringing Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem to mobile

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nintendo-bringing-animal-crossing-and-fire-emblem-to-mobile-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads201604animalcrossing-jpg
Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem are coming to our smartphones.
Photo: Nintendo
Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem are coming to our smartphones. Photo: Nintendo
Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem are coming to our smartphones. Photo: Nintendo

After the successful debut of Miitomo, Nintendo has announced that its second and third mobile games will be based on the Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem franchises — and are set to debut on iOS and Android devices this fall.

FBI shares its first iOS and OS X vulnerability tip with Apple

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google-facebook-and-others-following-apples-lead-on-encryption-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads201601iPhone-6s-Live-Photos-jpg
What Bizarro World is this where the FBI helps Apple?
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

The FBI has informed Apple of a vulnerability affecting older iPhones and Macs. It’s the first time such information has been shared with Apple by the feds under a White House “Vulnerability Equities Process” intended to disclose security weaknesses when they are discovered.

The Vulnerability Equities Process is designed to act as a balance between the desire of law enforcement and U.S. intelligence services to be able to hack into devices and the public interest in warning companies of weaknesses in their systems that may be exploited by criminals.

Apple pushes U.S. government to teach kids how to code

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Tim Cook takes home $125 million for Apple’s best year since 2009
Tim Cook added his name to this important petition.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

With its recent purchase of educational startup LearnSprout and its “Hour of Code” programming classes at Apple Stores, Apple has demonstrated that it’s pretty darn serious about education.

Proving this once again, CEO Tim Cook this week put his name to a petition asking the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives to provide $250 million in federal funding to school districts so as to allow every K-12 student in the United States to learn how to code.

Apple revs up R&D spending amid iCar rumors

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Apple Car might be coming, but will it be special?
Apple Car might be coming, but will it be special?
Image: Aristomenis Tsirbas/Freelancer

Apple may have reached peak iPhone this quarter after posting declining revenues for the first time since 2003, but rest assured the company is working on the next big thing. 

Tim Cook boasted about the amazingly innovative products coming down Apple’s pipeline, and the company’s latest spending figures show its throwing more money than ever at new ideas. 

8 optimistic takeaways from Apple’s slumptastic earnings call

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Is it time for Apple to get spiritual?
Is it time for Apple to get spiritual?
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac (original image: Wired)

With quarterly revenue declining for the first time in more than a decade, Apple execs Tim Cook and Luca Maestri put on their game faces during today’s Apple earnings call to tell us why things aren’t really all that bad in Cupertino.

The sad truth is that slumping iPhone sales, which joined the iPad and Mac lineups in the down column, will likely take a toll on Apple’s image — and on its stock price.

Still, there were plenty of other intriguing and optimism-inspiring things we heard during Apple’s Q2 2016 earnings call. Here are the most important takeaways from this historic Apple moment.

Liveblog: Apple’s toughest earnings call in a decade

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Earnings_Call_2
How bad is peak iPhone?
Photo: Ste Smith

Apple earnings calls are usually a time for celebration and gloating, but for the first time in over a decade the company is poised to post declining profits.

Tim Cook warned Wall Street that this would likely happen due to declining iPhone sales. Have we really reached “peak iPhone”?

Analysts and reporters will be grilling Cook and Apple CFO Luca Maestri during today’s Q2 2016 earnings call. Investors will be looking for signs that Apple still has room to grow. And Cult of Mac will be right here, liveblogging the entire Apple earnings call — and translating the financial gibberish — when the big event starts at 2 p.m. Pacific.

Get in on the action below:

iPhone sales slump breaks Apple’s 13-year growth streak

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Will Apple reach its own targets for Q2?
Investors just got some bad news.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple’s phenomenal run of growing profits has come to an end. For the first time in 13 years, Apple announced that its profits declined year-over-year during the last fiscal quarter.

The company just posted its earnings report for Q2 2016 and, as predicted, iPhone sales took a serious hit. Apple only shipped 51.6 million devices last quarter, resulting in $50.6 billion in total revenue and a quarterly net income of $10.5 billion.

Apple CEO Tim Cook admitted the company had a challenging quarter but is still incredibly optimistic, despite what many analysts are calling “peak iPhone.”

Brace yourself for ‘bumper ads’ before every YouTube video

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YouTube wants to takeover your TV.
YouTube wants to takeover your TV.
Photo: YouTube
Look out for bumper ads! Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Android.
Look out for bumper ads! Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Android.

When you’re excited to watch the latest videos from your favorite YouTube channels, the last thing you want to see before them is ads you can’t skip. Normally, they don’t appear on every video you watch, but Google is planning to change that.

The company today announced that is introducing 6-second “bumper ads” that will play before all videos watched on mobile devices, and you have no choice but to sit through them.

iOS 9.3.2 beta 3 is out now for developers

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ios-9-3-notes
A fresh new iOS beta is here.
Photo: Apple

Apple has dropped a new beta for iOS 9.3.2 on developers today, just one week after the company released another big batch of beta updates. 

The new software for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch mostly focuses on under the hood improvements and bug fixes, however it also adds the ability to use Night Shift and Low Power mode at the same time. 

Apple IIc gets a second life in this neat restoration video

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img_0488.jpg
Making an Apple IIc look this good isn't easy.
Photo: The 8-bit Guy

Long before Jony Ive was making ridiculously thin aluminum MacBooks, the Apple IIc reigned supreme as Apple’s first portable computer.

Finding a working model of the 7.5-pound notebook is a tough task, considering it was introduced more than 30 years ago, but restoration expert The 8-Bit Guy came across one and put together a video on how to make the 1984 machine look brand new.

A robot rolls into an Apple Store …

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Lucy Kelly's purchase of an iPhone 6s at the Sydney Apple Store was a global news story.
Lucy Kelly's purchase of an iPhone 6s at the Sydney Apple Store was a global news story.
Photo: Atomic 212

Cult of Mac 2.0 bugThe lines outside Apple Stores across the globe will be long later this year when the much-anticipated iPhone 7 goes on sale, a guaranteed media spectacle ripe with companies seeking inexpensive advertising of their products.

No guerrilla marketing stunt set the bar higher than one in Sydney last fall, when a telepresence robot with the cheerful face of a woman named Lucy framed in an iPad took her place in line to buy an iPhone 6s.

Apple Watch made $1.5 billion more than Rolex last year

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Apple Watch
I wish I could have a flop like the Apple Watch!
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Going back at least as far the iPhone 5c, some Apple products pick up unfair reputations as “flops” — despite the fact that they are selling in quantities that would make other companies (and my Samsung-loving Cult of Android colleague Killian Bell) turn green with envy.

The Apple Watch, which celebrated its first birthday this week, is just such a product. How much of an impact did the Apple Watch make in its debut year? Enough to bring in $1.5 billion more than Rolex did in 2015.

And more than one-quarter of all Swiss watch exports combined for the past year, just to hammer the point home!

India will force Apple to put a ‘panic button’ in the iPhone

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IpHONE se
India decrees that all smartphones must have panic buttons from next year.
Photo: Sam Mills/Cult of Mac

All iPhones sold in India must feature a “panic button” from 2017, according to a new order signed into law by the country’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad.

The law states that every phone must include a panic button and in-built global positioning system, designed to protect women.