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News - page 1064

Apple Stores to start stocking accessibility products in 2016

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Apple's focus on accessibility isn't going unrecognized.
Apple is stepping up its focus on accessibility.
Photo: Apple

Apple is reportedly set to start selling new accessibility-related peripherals and accessories for both Mac and iOS in its brick-and-mortar Apple Stores as well as online.

The accessories, which are reported to be going on sale in the first quarter of calendar year 2016, are designed to help users with disabilities to better engage with Apple products.

Apple and Ericsson settle patent dispute just in time for Christmas

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Apple raked in the cash last quarter.
Finally Ericsson execs will be able to afford Christmas presents.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

It’s nearly Christmas: the time of mince pies, good cheer, and, apparently, settling patent disputes with the potential to cost you hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

With that in mind, Apple has agreed a patent licensing deal with Swedish telecom company Ericsson, ending a dispute in which Ericsson was accused by Apple of engaging in, “abusive licensing practices.”

10 things we learned from Apple’s 60 Minutes episode

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60 Minutes
Jony Ive shows Charlie Rose the company's secret design studio.
Photo: CBS

60 Minutes host Charlie Rose took a deep dive into all things Apple in an episode that aired Sunday.

Featuring interviews with Tim Cook, Jony Ive, Phil Schiller, Angela Ahrendts and others, the show explored everything from the iPhone’s inner workings and Apple’s manufacturing in China to Cook dancing around the question of whether Apple is building a car.

Check out our 10 takeaways below.

How Apple’s super-secret Industrial Design team really works

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Apple's Industrial Design team at the Apple Watch unveiling.
Apple's Industrial Design team at the Apple Watch unveiling.
Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

This feature is adapted from my book, Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products. It offers a rare look inside one of Apple’s most secretive institutions: the Industrial Design studio.

Where do Apple’s great products come from?

For the last 18 years — since Steve Jobs returned to the company in 1997 — most of them have come out of Apple’s Industrial Design studio, a small and secretive group of creatives headed up by celebrated British designer Sir Jony Ive.

Catch spoiler-free Star Wars reviews and this week’s best Apple stories on The CultCast

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Who're you callin'
Who're you callin' "scruffy-lookin'?"
Photo: LucasFilm

This week: the force is looking very strong with the new Star Wars movie; live football may be coming to the Apple TV; the tvOS app store hits a major milestone; why you shouldn’t expect 3D touch in the next iPad Air; and with 2016 on the horizon, we’ll review our favorite games, gadgets, and books of 2015. Hit play, you must!

Our thanks to FreshBooks for supporting this episode, the easy-to-use invoicing software designed to help small business owners get organized, save time invoicing and get paid faster. Get started with a free trial at Freshbooks.com/cultcast.

The holidays might ruin your Apple Watch fitness streak. Good.

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All good streaks must come to an end
All good streaks must come to an end
Photo: Graham Bower / Cult of Mac

For many of us, Christmas is a time for relaxing with family, sitting in front of the TV, overindulging and generally moving as little as possible. In other words, all the things your Apple Watch hates you doing.

So if you have a nice streak going in the Activity app, chances are it is about to come to an abrupt end. And that may not be a bad thing.

Cult of Mac Magazine: Inside Apple’s secret design studio, best Mac games of 2015, and more

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Get a glimpse behind the iron curtain with this week's Cult of Mac Magazine.
Get a glimpse behind the iron curtain with this week's Cult of Mac Magazine.
Cover design: Stephen Smith/Cult of Mac

Happy holidays, everyone! No matter what you celebrate (or don’t), we’ve got a ton of great stuff in the latest issue of Cult of Mac Magazine, right here for you.

There’s a sneak peek inside Apple’s secret design studio to start you off, plus the best games for your Mac from 2015, a deep dive on what the management shake-up means for you, how to maximize your MacBook trade-in, a look at new Siri-style voice technologies coming down the pike, and a bunch of how-tos and tips to keep you rocking all the way through your season.

Here’s the rundown this week:

Tim Cook on Apple’s tax avoidance: ‘That’s total political crap’

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Tim would rather you not ask about taxes.
Tim would rather you not ask about taxes.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Tim Cook will sat down for a wide-ranging interview with 60 Minutes host Charlie Rose for Sunday night’s episode inside Apple HQ, and it appears that the two will have a heated exchange about Apple’s tax practice.

In a preview of the interview released this afternoon, Tim Cook defended Apple’s tax policies, noting that the company pays more taxes in the United States than anyone. Rose also prodded Cook about the company’s massive pile of cash stashed overseas, asking why the CEO doesn’t bring all that money back home.

“It would cost me 40% to bring it home, and I don’t think that’s a reasonable thing to do,” replied Cook, before launching into a rant against the US tax code that was built for the industrial age and not the digital age.

Watch the heated exchange below:

Target hopes for bull’s-eye with its mobile wallet

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target-hopes-for-bulls-eye-with-its-mobile-wallet-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads20151214206310981_090d141772_o-jpg
Apple Pay, Android Pay, Walmart Pay... and now Target Pay?
Photo: Mike Mozart/Flickr CC
target-shopping-mobile-wallet-pay
Apple Pay, Android Pay, Walmart Pay… and now Target Pay? Photo: Mike Mozart/Flickr CC

Target is reportedly looking to become a player in the mobile wallet game. The fourth largest retailer in the U.S. would be joining a market that’s quickly becoming pretty crowded. The next mobile payment solution on your smartphone very well could be Target Pay, though it can’t be confirmed at this time.

Take a video tour of Apple’s secret design studio

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Take a peek inside Jony Ive's design lab.
Apple's secretive Industrial Design Studio is on the ground floor of Infinite Loop II, one of the main buildings on the Cupertino campus.

Very few outsiders have been inside Apple’s Industrial Design Studio, the amazingly creative product lab behind the company’s blockbuster hardware.

That may change this weekend, when 60 Minutes broadcasts a tour of the design lab. Apple’s lead designer, Jony Ive, gave journalist Charlie Rose a peek at the facility earlier this year — and his report airs this Sunday.

But you can take a tour of Apple’s secret Industrial Design studio right now. A virtual one, anyway.

Evernote is killing Skitch, Clearly and its Pebble app

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evernote-is-killing-skitch-clearly-and-its-pebble-app-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads201512Skitch-jpeg
Skitch will only be available on Mac after January 22. Screenshot: Evernote
Skitch will only be available on Mac after January 22. Screenshot: Evernote

Evernote’s efforts to streamline its business will see it chop a number of apps from its lineup, including the popular annotation app Skitch. Clearly, a browser extension for Google Chrome, is also getting the boot — as is Evernote’s Pebble app.

Get a 16GB iPhone 6s for just $1 at Best Buy

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The iPhone isn't ditching LCD screens.
Just one dollar, people!
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Big savings on Apple products have meant that Best Buy is increasingly living up to its name, but today’s iPhone deal may be one of the best yet for the cash-starved.

The retailer is selling the 16GB iPhone 6s for $1, while also throwing in a $200 gift card if you trade in a working iPhone 5 as part of the deal.

iOS 9 adoption slowing, but still faster than iOS 8

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Here's what time iOS 9 is landing in your area.
More than 7 out of 10 users are running iOS 9.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

71 percent of iOS users are using the latest version of the mobile operating system, according to stats released by Apple. Measured by visits to the App Store this week, the stats also show 21 percent of users are running iOS 8, while 8 percent are running previous versions of iOS.

Use your words to save your sister in Scribblenauts Unlimited

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use-your-words-to-save-your-sister-in-scribblenauts-unlimited-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads201512when-pigs-fly-jpg
This is what it sounds like when pigs fly.
Photo: Warner Bros./5th Cell

Scribblenauts Unlimited, the latest version of a fun game that’s been on one device or another since 2009, is headed to mobile.

Main character and magic notebook owner Maxwell’s got a sister, Lily, who he’s gotten cursed, thanks to his smart-ass ways. The pair go to see Edwin, one of the 40 other brothers and sisters of Maxwell and Lily (go figure), and find out that doing nice things for people is the only way to earn starite, the magical cure for Lily’s curse.

Auto-pausing Netflix socks make a great gift (if you have the skills)

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With socks like these, you'll be the hit of any Netflix party.
With socks like these, you'll be the hit of any Netflix party.
Photo: Netflix

So there you are, watching Netflix, binging on some TV series that everyone’s talking about when you suddenly fall asleep. What happens? Netflix keeps playing, running through a few more episodes while you catch some Zs.

Imagine, though, having a garment — socks, for example — that can automatically detect when you fall asleep and pause that Netflix stream for you. How great would that be?

If you’re comfortable around a pair of knitting needles as well as an Arduino mini-computer controller, some IR hardware and a soldering gun, you just might be the kind of person who should make these socks for a last-minute holiday gift.

Apple’s management shake-up could make great gadgets even greater

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New titles and responsibilities in management could reshape Apple.
New titles and responsibilities in management could reshape Apple.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple made some promotions and tweaked the responsibilities of some of its managers Thursday. Companies do it all the time without much notice or disruption to the goods and services they create.

But this is Apple. Any change in the way it does business could ultimately change our experiences with its product. That is the point behind CEO Tim Cook shifting and shoring up duties for some of his closet managers.

The sequel to the best iOS game of 2013 is finally here

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Badland 2 is here!
Badland 2 is here!
Photo: Frogmind

Badland 2, the sequel to popular game that won Apple’s iPad Game of the Year award in 2013, is now available on the App Store for iPhone and iPad.

The new fantasy adventure game comes just in time for Christmas, sending you on a wild ride through a dark alien wasteland full of flamethrowers, buzzsaws, lava, oil and more obstacles to thwart your progress.

Check out the full trailer:

Apple Watch’s dominance isn’t slowing down any time soon

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As smartwatches grow in popularity, the Apple Watch will continue to be the hands-on - or wrist-on - favorite.
As smartwatches grow in popularity, the Apple Watch will continue to be the hands-on - or wrist-on - favorite.
Photo: Apple

The Apple Watch is the hottest smartwatch on the market. And it looks like it is going to stay that way for a while.

A report by International Data Corporation says the Apple Watch will lead a rapidly growing wearables market through at least 2019 as a skeptical public gets won over by more sophisticated second- and third-generation devices.

IDC projects Apple to sell 13 million watches this year for a little more than 61 percent of the market share. The number of Apple Watches sold will reach 45.2 million by 2019, according to IDC’s report.