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News - page 1028

Wikipedia app update will keep you pleasantly occupied for hours

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The latest Wikipedia mobile update brings exploration to the fore.
The latest Wikipedia mobile update brings exploration to the fore.
Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

Whether you’re into a quick search for needed information or a deep dive down the rabbit hole of a massive topic of your own choosing, chances are you’ll spend a bit of time on Wikipedia.

Wikipedia’s new iOS app update today will help you with both use cases, letting you drill down to a single bit of knowledge as well as leaning back and enjoying your exploration of the online portal’s over 36 million articles.

Everything we know about Apple’s new 4-inch iPhone

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That iPhone in your pocket is much more well-traveled than you are.
That iPhone in your pocket is much more well-traveled than you are.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple is expected to unveil a brand new iPhone in a little over a week, only instead of going big, the first new iPhone of 2016 will be perfect for people with tiny hands and those who don’t want to spend a lot on a new smartphone.

The rumor mill has been serving up juicy bits of gossip on Apple’s upcoming handset for over a year, so as the big day approaches we have some pretty solid clues about the next iPhone’s design, hardware, price, name and much more.

Here are the probable answers to all your iPhone SE questions.

Apple’s March 21 event promises to ‘loop you in’

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Apple March 21 event invite
Just eleven days to go.
Photo: Apple

Apple has confirmed the date of its next keynote event, which will take place on March 21 in Cupertino, California.

Invitations to the event don’t offer any details about what’s going to be unveiled, but feature a tagline (“Let us loop you in”) and close-up of the Apple logo.

Future Apple Watch may call for help if it detects a medical emergency

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The Apple Watch turns a wearer's heartbeat into something very vivid and visual.
"Now dialing 911..."
Photo: Apple

One of the most positive pieces of publicity the Apple Watch has yet received came when its in-built heart monitor revealed that a teenager was suffering from a potentially fatal condition, which could have resulted in his untimely death if left unchecked.

A future feature for Apple devices might take this life-saving concept even further by not just notifying users of possible medical emergencies — but actually alerting doctors or family members on their behalf if required.

Apple invents 3D printer for space-age Liquidmetal rapid prototypes

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liquid
Space-age iPhone, coming soon to a 3D printer near you.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

On its journey to product perfection, Apple is well-known for its endless prototyping of the next iPhone, iMac or Apple Watch.

Now the company may add ultra-tough metal alloy Liquidmetal to the list of materials it can use to create these rapid prototypes, thanks to a cutting-edge 3D printer designed for the job.

Alleged iPad Air 3 case shows off quad speakers and Smart Connector

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Alleged-iPad-Air-3-case2
This case may offer some big clues about Apple's next tablet.
Photo: Steve Hemmerstoffer

If you’ve been lusting over the feature set of Apple’s iPad Pro, but would rather stick to the 9.7-inch form factor of the smaller-size iPad Air, today could be your lucky day.

That’s because new photos of an alleged iPad Air 3 case (complete with dummy device) appear to show that Apple’s next tablet will be a scaled-down version of the iPad Pro — complete with the same quad speaker setup as its big brother, along with the triple dot Smart Connector that the iPad Pro uses to connect to its Smart Keyboard attachment.

Obama shuns Apple when talking about tech companies who put privacy first

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Having not one but two U.S. presidents in your fan base is pretty good going. Sadly, President Barack Obama is not allowed an iPhone as part of his official wardrobe and is stuck on BlackBerry. That hasn’t stopped him from openly lusting after the iPhone 6 in recent pics, though. He’s also admitted to spending hours each day on his iPad.Photo:
Hey, it's easy to forget bit-part players like Apple.
Photo: Pete Souza/Wikipedia CC

President Obama threw some shade Apple’s way yesterday, failing to mention it as one of the tech companies putting user privacy and security first, while describing his new Cybersecurity National Action Plan.

Obama talked about businesses which “empower Americans” by keeping them safe with extra layers of security like fingerprints scanners — only to then namecheck “companies like Google, Facebook, Microsoft… and Visa.”

No mention of the company which actually popularized Touch ID then? No, just checking!

Eddy Cue: Apple will fight FBI all the way to the Supreme Court

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Home Sharing coming back to iOS 9, says Apple's Eddy Cue.
Eddy Cue explains why encryption is so important.
Photo: Apple

Apple is ready to take its fight to protect user privacy all the way to the Supreme Court, says Eddie Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services, in a newly-published interview with Spanish-lanugage television channel Univision News.

“We’re willing to take it wherever we have to — and such an important event needs to be settled by the Supreme Court,” Cue said.

Upcoming iPhone SE may look just like an iPhone 5s

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iPhone-5
As Arnie would say, "Do it now!"
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Renderings of a supposed Spigen case for the iPhone SE indicate that the upcoming model will take most, if not all, of its design cues from Apple’s older iPhone 5s.

The iPhone SE reportedly has the same general shape as the iPhone 5s, with round volume buttons, a power button at the top and an ovoid or pill-shaped cutout for the flash, all of which sound nothing like an iPhone 6.

Chrome update sports a boatload of new features

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Google

Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Prepare for even better browsing on mobile. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Android
Prepare for even better browsing on mobile. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Android

Google’s mobile Chrome web browser gets a new update today, which — according to the Chrome team — has “more than a barge full of performance and stability fixes.”

We’re not sure how many software fixes a barge would hold, but we feel confident in saying it’s a whole lot.

Why iPhone battery life will never last more than 1 day

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Your iPhone will always need to be recharged everyday.
Your iPhone will always need to be recharged everyday.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Every year Apple introduces a new iPhone, and every year I get my hopes up that this will finally be the model that can go two or three days without needing to be recharged. But according to a lithium-ion battery expert, the odds of Apple adding a power source capable of boosting iPhone battery life like that are practically zero.

Dee Strand, chief scientific officer at battery research firm Wildcat Discovery Technology, says the throughput on smartphone batteries is rapidly improving every year. The problem is, new features are bogging them down.

Microsoft skewers Mac with new Surface Book ads

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The Microsoft Surface Book  is a tablet and laptop in one.
The Microsoft Surface Book is a tablet and laptop in one.
Photo: Microsoft.

Microsoft is taking a page out of Apple’s marketing playbook for its newest ads promoting the Surface Book, and the company threw in a few digs at the Mac while they were at it.

Rather than just focusing on the product, Microsoft’s new ads add a human touch by focusing on how the device has changed some professionals’ workflow. First up is photography Tim Flach, who uses a Surface Book and Surface Pen to precisely edit his incredible animal photography. If owning a Surface Book gave me killer shots just like Flach, I’d ditch my Mac too.

“Being able to use a pen like this on the screen directly with the image gives me a different relationship to it,” says Flach. “And I just can’t do that on my Mac.”

Check it out:

Google swipes iPad’s killer work features for Android N preview

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google-swipes-ipads-killer-work-features-for-android-n-preview-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads201603split-screen-Android-N-png
Split-screen finally comes to stock Android.
Photo: Google
Split-screen finally comes to stock Android. Screenshot: Google
Split-screen finally comes to stock Android. Photo: Google

Google I/O doesn’t kick off for another two months, but Google won’t wait that long to drop its next-generation Android N upgrade.

Its first developer preview is out today for Nexus devices, and it comes packing a number of features swiped from iPad Pro and iOS, including split-screen multitasking, picture-in-picture mode, and bundled app notifications.

Facebook plans to let you skip Live Video notifications

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You'll be able to disable all notifications for Live Video on Facebook soon.
You'll be able to disable all notifications for Live Video on Facebook soon.
Photo: Thomas Ulrich/Pixabay

Live Videos might be a boon to content creators who want to capture the attention of more of Facebook’s teeming throngs of users, but getting a ton of notifications from all the sources you’ve previously liked can be a serious pain in the pants.

Luckily, Facebook plans to release a new update that will let you turn off Notifications for Live Videos altogether, which should please most of the people complaining about it on Twitter.

iPhone 7 case hints at stereo speakers, no headphone jack

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iPhone 7 won't be cheap.
The iPhone 7 is already shimmering on the horizon.
Photo: Eric Huismann

Manufacturers are gearing up for the iPhone 7, which means we’ll be getting our first blurry glimpses of what could potentially be Apple’s next-gen smartphone — courtesy of “leaked” iPhone 7 case pictures doing the rounds online.

Check them out below.

AmpMe’s new offline mode turns friends’ phones into a giant boombox

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No stereo? No problem. AmpMe app creates a sound system with all the phones at a party.
No stereo? No problem. AmpMe app creates a sound system with all the phones at a party.
Photo: AmpMe

AmpMe, the magical app that syncs multiple phones together to create one giant speaker, is getting a much needed update today that lets you take the party anywhere, even if you don’t have internet.

The Montreal-based startup revealed today that it has added a new ‘Offline Mode’ that will let users sync an unlimited number of phones together regardless of whether or not you have a data connection. And to make it easier to get the party started, the app has add a new ‘Auto-Join’ mode that makes it easier than ever to get the music listening party started.

Borat creator uses hilarious Apple parody to promote new movie

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Screen Shot 2016-03-09 at 12.08.32
Look familiar?
Photo: The Brothers Grimsby

Parodies of Jony Ive and Apple’s rarefied advertising are nothing new, but you rarely get to watch a spoof featuring a comedian as talented as Sacha Baron Cohen.

To promote his new movie The Brothers Grimsby, the creator of Ali G, Bruno and Borat recorded a spot-on Apple parody, which shows that — despite the many who have aped it in the past — there’s still mileage in poking some good-natured fun at Apple’s way of selling us on its latest revolutionary products.

Check it out below.

Edward Snowden says FBI’s claims against Apple are ‘bull****’

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Edward Snowden.
The government is lying to us? Color me surprised!
Photo: Laura Poitras / Praxis Films

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden made a (virtual) appearance at yesterday’s “Blueprint for Democracy,” during which he threw some shade on the FBI’s claims that only Apple has the power to help it unlock the iPhone at the heart of the San Bernardino shooting case.

“The FBI says Apple has the ‘exclusive technical means’ to unlock the phone,” Snowden told the audience. “Respectfully, that’s bullsh*t.”

We won’t get to watch Steve Jobs battle Bill Gates on Broadway

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Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, rivals and friends.
This is presumably before they break into the big tap-dancing number.
Photo: AllThingsD

If you’ve long dreamed of seeing the epic tech rivalry between Steve Jobs and Bill Gates staged as a Broadway musical, written by two of the writers from Cartoon Network’s Robot Chicken (and who hasn’t?), well, I’m afraid you’ll be waiting a bit longer.

That’s because the somewhat unflatteringly-titled Nerds has seen its Broadway opening — originally scheduled for April — cancelled after one of the sources of funding pulled out of the project.

No, Siri won’t let people break into your iPhone

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Siri interrogation video The Daily Show
Siri don't snitch.
Photo: Comedy Central

The Internet has exploded recently over reports claiming that evildoers can trick Siri, Apple’s digital assistant, into giving them access to your iPhone without entering your passcode. But our own testing confirms that these claims aren’t just exaggerated; they’re hilariously mistaken and wrong.

Posts warn against the “terrifying new way” that teh haxxorz can get into all of your secret data, but the people reporting on and testing the supposed methods are really just taking a really long path to unlocking their own phones normally.

Check out the creation of the Steve Wozniak wax sculpture

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Steve Wozniak Madame Tussauds San Francisco
Are you ready for The Woz in wax?
Photo: Madame Tussauds

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is well on his way to becoming a life-sized action figure.

Not really, but we’re nerds, and that’s how we prefer to think of the prospect of Madame Tussauds’ waxperts immortalizing a person. Woz’s statue is set for an unveiling later this month, and the museum has published some great footage and pictures of the subject’s sitting, which included a lot of photographs and measurements as well as a healthy dose of green gloop.

Check it out below.

March Madness app brings split-screen glory to Apple TV

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Apple TV is the home of March Madness.
Apple TV is the home of March Madness.
Photo: Cult of Mac

When the NCAA Men’s Basketball championship tips off on March 15th hoops fans will have an all-new way to get their fix using Apple TV.

The new March Madness Live streaming app will contain an exclusive Apple TV feature that lets users watch two games side-by-side, but you’ll need to be a paying TV subscriber to use it.