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News - page 1031

Apple Support comes to your rescue on Twitter

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Apple's got your back.
Photo: Apple

If you’ve got a question for Apple — or simply want to pick up some new tips and tricks for your iOS device or Mac — Apple has launched a brand new Twitter account to help you.

Launched this morning, @AppleSupport has already sent out 137 tweets, covering everything from Apple IDs to downloading app updates, to its 21,200 users.

LifePrint makes your boring iPhone photos come to life

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Robert Macauley shows off LifePrint, his app for bringing all your pictures to life.
Robert Macauley shows off LifePrint, his printer and app for bringing your pictures to life.
Photo: Traci Dauphin/Cult of Mac

SAN FRANCISCO — The idea for Robert Macauley’s “photographs for the new millennium” sprang from a camera that is totally 20th century.

“What if you could create a Polaroid experience for your phone?” Macauley said as he showed off a prototype of LifePrint, his pint-size printer that works with an augmented-reality app. LifePrint lets you print out Polaroid-size images that, when viewed through the app, can come to life on your smartphone screen.

Bluetooth speaker adds the power of Siri

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Dash7 plus Siri
The Dash7 managed to fit Siri into its tiny form factor.
Photo: Soundmatters

Speaker maker Soundmatters has just released an audio device you can talk to without looking like a crazy person. And even better, it’ll talk back with the voice of Apple’s digital assistant, Siri.

The aptly named Dash7+Siri has all the functions of the basic mini soundbar, but it also lets you issue commands directly to the speaker with the press of a button.

Health company offering Apple Watch for $25 if you hit your fitness goals

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Apple Watch
A great idea to get people to stay fit.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Companies like Best Buy offer good deals on the Apple Watch, but one of the most innovative concepts I’ve heard is currently being offered by South African health insurer Discovery Health.

In a program announced this week, Discovery is allowing some customers to buy a $350 Apple Watch for only $25 by hitting fitness-related exercise goals. If users miss their targets, their discount shrinks.

Best part of it? The program is coming to the U.S., too.

Apple looks to attract young talent with new San Francisco office

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235 Second St. might be Apple's new home in San Francisco.
Apple's San Francisco office.
Photo: Todd Johnson/SF Business Times

Apple has never been a company to offer the kind of perks that Google and others do — allowing its stock options and world-beating reputation to make up for the tech giant’s lack of indoor climbing walls and free food.

But a new report suggests that Apple may be slowly rethinking its approach to incentives. And it’s all beginning with San Francisco real-estate.

OLED displays could arrive with next year’s iPhone 7s

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Sharper iPhone displays are just around the corner.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Virtually everyone is expecting Apple to make the jump to OLED displays sooner or later, but according to a new report iPhone users may be able to expect the arrival of the new, sharper displays as soon as next year’s iPhone 7s — around one year earlier than was being predicted.

Apple is reported to have spoken with its display suppliers at both LG and Samsung concerning its desire to ramp up OLED production so that it is ready for next year’s iPhone release.

New torture tests pit Galaxy S7 edge against iPhone 6s Plus

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Samsung's IP68 rating keeps it usable and safe underwater, but not so much when it gets dropped. Photo: EverythingApplePro/YouTube
Samsung’s IP68 rating keeps it usable and safe underwater, but not so much when it gets dropped. Photo: EverythingApplePro/YouTube

In the endless battle for supremacy between Apple and Samsung, the Korean company has leaped ahead of Cupertino when it comes to water-resistance. But the iPhone 6s Plus still reigns supreme in terms of shatter-resistance.

A YouTuber set the new Samsung Galaxy S7 edge next to an Apple iPhone 6s Plus in a big deep tub of water, then dropped them both from different heights, and the results are pretty predictable (yet still fun to watch).

The results definitely aren’t pretty.

ACLU backs Apple in FBI fight

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iPhone mobile encryption touch id
Another group has come to Apple's defense in its battle with the FBI over iPhone security.
Photo: Olly Browning/Pixabay

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a brief today supporting Apple in its clash with the government.

The organization argues that the FBI’s demands that the iPhone maker create software that will allow investigators to bypass built-in security features represent an overreach of authority that will leave hundreds of millions of users vulnerable to cyberattacks. It becomes the latest organization to join the debate that has put security and privacy at odds.

Switch-hitting cord flips from Lightning to micro USB

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LMcable Kickstarter
The LMcable can connect to most of the stuff you own. Source: LMcable

It might sound like the black-and-white portion of a late-night informercial, but the fact is that we have a lot of stuff that needs charging and syncing, and not every cable will work. But the LMcable, which is currently seeking support on crowdfunding site Kickstarter, aims to take some of that pain away.

It’s a cool idea: One end of the LMcable is a standard USB plug that fits into your computer or wall adapter. The business end, however, is a multitasker. Orient it one way, and it’s a micro USB bit; flip it over, and it fits the Lightning port standard to Apple’s mobile devices. And anything that might help out our increasingly tangle-prone cord storage is alright by us.

Does the world really need a thinner iPhone?

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Apple's new aluminum will kill Bendgate.
Do phones need to be this skinny?
Photo: Unbox Therapy

A joke in Zoolander 2 pokes fun at the ’90s craze for tiny cellphones, something which today seems as retro as flannel shirts and Pulp Fiction posters in your dorm room.

With the upcoming iPhone 7, Apple is apparently showing us the next iteration of that ideal by bringing us a smartphone so thin — just 6.1 mm thick — that even Victoria’s Secret models would advise it to eat a sandwich.

But are super-slim iPhones what users really want, or have Jony Ive and Apple’s design team taken things too far?

Fiat CEO wants to build a car for Apple

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The Apple Car, brought to you by Fiat?
The Apple Car, brought to you by Fiat?
Photo: Fiat USA

Fiat CEO and self-proclaimed “Apple freak” Sergio Marchionne, is ready to embrace a future where Apple designs cars, but he wants his company to make it.

Marchionne made an appearance at the Geneva auto show today and said that if Apple’s really thinking about making a car on its own, they must have some type of illness.

Google Photos now lets you edit your snaps online

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Google Photos
Filters! Finally! Screenshot: Killian Bell/Cult of Android

Google Photos users can finally edit their images on the web, thanks to new browser-based tools that are available today.

The update sidesteps the need to use a third-party editing app to apply filters, effects, and other modifications — and allows you to view your images on a larger screen while perfecting them.

Apple’s privacy policy could earn it massive fines in France

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That's a lot of euros!
Photo: Godzimama

Although most of the attention on Apple’s privacy standoff with the government has so far focused on the United States, the U.S. isn’t the only place where Apple’s fighting with the authorities over iPhone encryption.

In France, politician Yann Galut, a member of the country’s Socialist Party, has submitted an amendment to a bill designed to strengthen the French government’s fight against terror — by arguing that Apple should pay €1 million per smartphone if it does not “promptly” agree to unlock devices when asked to by law enforcement.

Apple’s top chipmaker will double production ahead of iPhone 7

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chips
TSMC is looking likely to be Apple's sole A10 manufacturer.
Photo: Apple

There’s a lot of talk about slowing iPhone sales, but you wouldn’t get that impression from the manufacturer set to build Apple’s A10 chips for the upcoming iPhone 7.

According to a new report, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is doubling its monthly output capacity from 40,000 12-inch wafers in February to a whopping 80,000 in March.

Why you shouldn’t let an iPad raise your kids

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Yep, kids love their iPads.
The challenges of parenting in the digital age.
Photo: Payless

Steve Jobs didn’t let his kids play with iPads and, far from being out of touch with modern parenting, it turns out that he was being quite progressive.

That’s according to a recent study carried out by the University of Michigan, which found that parents with “difficult” children are far more likely to give them iPads to pacify them — particularly during high-stress times like eating, being in public, doing chores, or going to bed.

Apple files an appeal against creating iPhone backdoor

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iPhone hack
Apple is fighting the court's original verdict.
Photo: Ste Smith

Apple filed an appeal late on Tuesday, protesting the government’s order that it create software to help the FBI to hack an iPhone used by one of the terrorists in the mass-shooting of 14 people in San Bernardino.

The appeal was filed just before 11pm PST, and lists formal objections to Judge Sheri Pym’s order — stating that Apple is making the appeal out of what the company calls,”an abundance of caution.”

Apple leases ex-Pepsi factory for possible Apple Car research

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Apple car concept art shows what Cupertino might put on the road.
Apple may need more space for its Apple Car project.
Photo: Aristomenis Tsirbas/Freelancer

Steve Jobs famously recruited then-Pepsi CEO John Sculley to join Apple with the line, “Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to come with me and change the world?”

More than 30 years later, that iconic line could be rewritten as, “Do you want to bottle sugar water all your life, or do you want to help build the Apple Car?” — because Apple has reportedly leased a former Pepsi bottling plant, which may be used for Cupertino’s rumored electric vehicle research.

FBI fails to make its encryption case to Congress

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iPhone 5c by uveX encryption
San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook's iPhone 5c may not be running "GovtOS" anytime soon.
Photo: uveX/Pixabay

In a Congressional hearing today that included both Apple’s chief attorney and government officials, FBI head James Comey didn’t win many people over to his side.

The meeting allowed both sides to make their arguments for and against Apple creating a less secure version of the iPhone’s operating system that would allow officials to get by the password lock on a dead terrorist’s phone. And things seemed to go squarely in the company’s favor, although it was not without its caveats.

Amazon Echo will now keep you up-to-date on election news

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Amazon Echo
Maybe just go with your brain, too, when you hit the voting booth.
Photo: NBC News

Keeping up with the latest information on the current presidential election just got easier if you’re an Amazon Echo owner.

NBC News has created a new “skill” for Alexa, the Echo’s virtual assistant: Now Alexa can read you top election headlines, candidate bios, election calendar events, and even the latest delegate counts.

Let’s see Siri do that, eh?

Modular system lets you build your perfect power strip

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Youmo modular power strip
Prepare to build your own power strip like friggin' Lego.
Photo: Youmo

The great thing about power strips is that they let us run a bunch of devices despite a limited number of wall outlets. The bad thing about power strips is that that’s all they do.

And I didn’t even know that that was a downside, but I’ve just found out about Youmo, an upcoming product that makes every power strip I own look like complete garbage. I am absolutely exaggerating there; my power strips are both useful and attractive. But this new thing looks incredibly cool, too.

Apple’s top lawyer suffers iPad Pro failure at worst possible time

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Bruce Sewell
Apple's top lawyer went back to Congress today.
Photo: House Committee on the Judiciary Hearings

Apple General Counsel Bruce Sewell suffered an iPad disaster during his appearance before the House Judiciary Committee today, and it couldn’t have happened at a worse moment.

As Sewell read his introductory statement from his iPad Pro, the Apple lawyer’s tablet appeared to crash or become unusable, forcing him to resort to his backup plan: a three-ring binder with good old paper printouts.

You can relive the incident in the video below:

DJI’s smart new drone is an Apple Store exclusive

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You can only get the Phantom 4 from Apple.
You can only get the Phantom 4 from Apple.
Photo: DJI

The world’s most popular drone maker, DJI, has decided to team up Apple for the launch of its incredibly smart new drone by making it exclusively available for pre-order via the Apple Store.

DJI unveiled its top-of-the-line new drone, the Phantom 4 this morning, that comes with a new “Obstacle Sensing System” that makes it easier than ever to killer aerial footage with minimal piloting experience.