News - page 1056

Apple released the developer beta for iOS 9.3 today. To the surprise of many, it actually includes quite a few brand new and useful features whether you’re in the classroom or trying to sleep — or both. There are so many new features that we can actually dedicate an entire post to explaining all of them. So here we are doing exactly that.

Note that since today marks iOS 9.3’s release only for developers, it might be a while before the rest of us see the final version show up in the Settings app. But without further ado, here is everything you can look forward to in iOS 9.3.

Apple is ready to kick off the new year with a batch of beta software for testing. The company just made new builds of iOS 9.3, watchOS 2.2, tvOS 9.2 and OS X 10.11.4 available to developers.

The new pre-release versions of iOS, tvOS and OS X can be downloaded from the Apple Developer Center. Testers won’t be able to install watchOS 2.2 on their timepieces until their iPhone, iPad or iPad touch has been updated with the new Apple Watch app in iOS 9.3 beta 1.

Zeiss has been known for decades as one of the finest lensmakers for DSLRS and other cameras, but in 2016 the company is going small, with its first-ever lineup of lenses created just for the iPhone.

The first set of external lenses for the iPhone 6s include a telephoto, a wide-angle, and zoomable macro option that are poised to become one of the best options available for iPhotographers once they’re finally available in mid-2016.

Amazon is reportedly working on a smaller, battery-powered Echo that will go on sale “in the coming weeks.” The device is designed to fit comfortably in the palm of your hand, but it will be missing one of the existing’s Echo’s best features.

Looking for a way to put your existing iPod to good use? How about a career in crime?

Police in Manchester, U.K., have issued a warning to local using ATMs, after a cash machine was discovered fitted with a converted iPod rigged to record footage of customers’ PIN numbers, while also trapping their bank cards.

Rumors abound about a second-generation Apple Watch and a future iPhone without headphone jacks. Now comes news of an iPhone D — “the iPhone for drunk assholes.”

If that did not immediately register as a joke, you are probably someone who needs an iPhone D. The troupe behind YouTube comedy channel Above Average imagines a world where Apple actually cares whether you drop your phone in the toilet or drunk-dial an ex-girlfriend.

Whether it’s your iPhone 4 from college or the iPad mini your grandma got you last Christmas that’s still sitting in its box (thanks for trying, Grandma), we all have devices collecting dust.

Here are the top 10 reasons you refuse to sell your old devices.

It seems that most people agree that Apple has plans to release a 4-inch iPhone in the not-too-distant future. What no-one, it seems, can agree on is what Apple will call said handset.

So far the name we’ve heard most often has been the iPhone 6c. Now a new report coming out of China suggests that this will be the first of a whole new range of iPhones — with its proper title rumored to be the iPhone 5e.

iOS 9’s News app may be decent enough at aggregating news, but it’s less good at successfully estimating the number of users who actually use it on a regular basis.

According to Senior VP Eddy Cue, Apple has been significantly underestimating the number of readers who have used News since its launch — and has passed this inaccurate information onto publishers.

Android users have been jumping ship to iPhone 6s at an unprecedented rate, but as per a new report, Apple is being pressured to create a tool that would make it simpler for former iOS users to transfer their data from iPhone to their new Android device.

Now available in more than 100 countries, Apple Music has reportedly hit 10 million paid monthly subscribers.

Provided these numbers are accurate, Apple Music now has a little under half of Spotify’s 25 million paid subscribers.

Steve Jobs picked up Golden Globes for “Best Screenplay” and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role,” but lost out on the “Best Actor” and “Best Original Score” prizes at last night’s star-studded Hollywood event.

“I’m usually better at words,” said screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, claiming his award. “You can perform surgery on me. I’m so stunned by what’s happened.”

LAS VEGAS — Booth babes have returned to CES — in the guise of fitness models.

Following complaints the last few years, the giant electronics show here in Vegas had been moving away from scantily clad sirens employed to draw inquisitive eyes to exhibitor booths.

But they’ve been replaced by a new type of eye candy: super-fit women showing off the latest health products or demonstrating fitness gear.

The Cult of Mac Watch Store just opened for business, offering a carefully curated selection of Apple Watch accessories — just in time for all your holiday shopping needs.

Whether you’re looking for luxe leather and steel bands or clutter-killing stands, our shiny new online store showcases nothing but the best Apple Watch accessories. You’ll find quality goods that let you put your personal stamp on your Apple Watch, all at fair prices.

This week on Cult of Mac’ podcast: Super-sized drones, app-controlled robot bartenders, smart coffee mugs and the coolest of gadgets from CES 2016. Plus, don’t miss our picks for the absolutely, positively, you-should-install-them-today, most essential Mac and iOS apps.

Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. It’s simple to build a website that looks beautiful on any device at Squarespace.com. Enter offer code “CultCast” at checkout to get 10 percent off.

It’s been a busy week here at Cult of Mac as we all scrambled to get as much news as possible out of CES, the big electronics show that’s been chugging right along in Las Vegas. It’s one of the biggest trade shows in the world, so we had plenty of news to go around.

We had people on the show floor discussing everything gadgety — including the finer points of rejuvenating one’s vagina — and we had people at home trying to ignore how hilarious that was for long enough to crank out the rest of the news. While the stories were plentiful, our handy hub here ensures you don’t have to click around too much to get everything worth knowing from the show.

Here’s the huge collection of all of our coverage from CES 2016.

Apple has got its fitness strategy all wrong. It sees Apple Watch as a computing platform rather than a device, and so it promotes third-party apps instead of making better built-in ones of its own.

That may be a fine strategy for Macs and iPhones, but it just does not work for watches and fitness trackers. Relying on third-party fitness apps means spending far too long staring at the spinning dots of death (the Watch equivalent of a spinning beachball), when we should be working out.

Instead of offering a range of underwhelming third-party workout apps, what Apple Watch really needs is one great built-in app that integrates with popular fitness platforms like Runtastic and MapMyRun.

This might be the most divisive news of the day: RealDoll creator Matt McMullen is currently working with artificial-intelligence scientists to create a fusion between digital assistants like Apple’s Siri and synthetic companions. It could be the most amazing news you’ve ever heard, or it might be terrifying and make you feel like spiders are crawling on you.

Regardless of how much or little it creeps you out, however, it’s definitely interesting.

LAS VEGAS — You know your product’s hot when Chinese ripoff artists start selling knockoffs before your first unit rolls off the production line.

That’s the “flattering” situation the makers of Stikbox, the world’s “first” selfie stick case for iPhone and Samsung, find themselves in as they demo their only aluminum prototype on the CES show floor here. Stikbox’s Kickstarter campaign launched just two weeks ago, and the unique case hasn’t even been officially manufactured, yet already dozens of clones have popped up online.

“It just goes on,” Stikbox founder Yekutiel Sherman said as he scrolled through listing after listing of Chinese manufacturers selling Stikbox clones on Taobao, an e-commerce site owned by Alibaba Group. “Endless, endless,” he said, a mix of shock and dismay in his voice.

Welcome back to another week of amazing Cult of Mac action. We sent a crack team of staffers this year to Las Vegas’ all-you-can-eat buffet of technology, CES. Their on-the-spot reporting has resulted in a plate piled high with goodies, and we’re here to share it with you.

This week, we’ve got the best (and worst) of CES, a poll on which glitchy software Apple should fix, some more solid rumors about the upcoming iPhone 7, a quick look at some great knockoff Apple Watch bands, and a “one-click upgrade” that will double your MacBook’s hard drive.

Here’s the rundown this week:

A new drone video shows that some of Apple Campus 2’s most impressive features are coming along nicely.

Construction reached the point that builders can start installing windows on both the inside of the giant ring, but that’s not the best thing the camera saw. You can also get a really good look down into Apple’s 1,000-seat, underground auditorium.

Check it out in the video below.

Volkswagen is the first car maker to offer wireless CarPlay, but Apple doesn’t want them to show you how cool it is.

This isn’t a new feature; if you have an iPhone running iOS 9, it’s in there. But all CarPlay-compatible vehicles currently available go the wired route, making you plug your handset into your ride’s console to use the protocol. Volkswagen has managed to make the feature wireless, but Apple has forbidden the company from giving demos at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week.

CES has brought us a whole host of new TVs that support HDR video, but like 4K, the content isn’t easy to come by right now. Fortunately, Google is going to change that by making HDR video available through YouTube.

2016 is here, and so far, it hasn’t been good to Apple.

Just this week, the Cupertino company saw its stock price fall below $100 for the first time since 2014 amid countless reports that iPhone demand is weakening at a rapid pace. Apple needs to do something, but what?

Should it address falling iPhone sales first and focus on making iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus the best smartphones money can buy? Should it put more effort into making iPad the tablet it once was? Or is it time for something new?

Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight between Cult of Android and Cult of Mac as we battle it out over all this and more!

Some new (circumstantial) evidence is lending further weight to the possibility that we may one day cruise down the street in an Apple Car.

Listings on domain search site Who.is show that Apple is buying up car-related web domains like crazy. The sites in question are “apple.car,” “apple.cars,” and “apple.auto.” This is not the absolute, ironclad confirmation a lot of Apple Car fans are looking for, but it may point to some news coming.

Or it may not.