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VR iPhone case is virtually a reality after hitting Kickstarter goal

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As iPhone cases go, this one's pretty darn cool.
Photo: Figment VR

A nifty iPhone case-turned-VR headset has passed its $75,000 Kickstarter funding goal in just one week — promising users a snap-on virtual reality solution for their Apple handset for the low price of just $55 for early backers.

And, despite the goal having been hit, there’s still time if you want to hop on this Kickstarter bandwagon!

Trade in your old Apple gadgets. We pay the highest prices.

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Cult of Mac's trade-in program will buy back your old iPad, iPhone, iPod or MacBook. In most cases, we offer more money than EVERY other competitior.
Cult of Mac's trade-in program will buy back your old iPad, iPhone, iPod or MacBook. In most cases, we offer more money than EVERY other competitior.

If you just got a new iPad or iPhone and are wondering what to do with your old one, you should think about trading it in.

We recently launched a gadget buyback program that promises to pay more for used and broken Apple devices than Gazelle, Walmart and even Apple itself.

Microsoft’s tablets are eating away at iPad sales

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Put your hands on me.
Microsoft is taking the tablet fight to Apple.
Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

Apple might have once owned the tablet market, but Microsoft is making rapid advances in sales — and may even be approaching iPad numbers by 2019, according to a new “Tablet Operating System Forecast” report by Strategy Analytics.

Summarizing the first nine months of 2015, and extrapolating the trends to try and predict the next few years, the report reveals how sales of Windows tablets are up 58 percent compared to 2014, and are on track to sell 22 million this year. That’s 10 percent of the market, compared to Apple’s 22 percent.

Apple must wait until 2016 for tax break verdict

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Yep, Apple's pretty darn valuable.
Apple could have to pay back billions as a result of tax probe.
Photo: Cult of Mac

Having previously said that he expected to receive the European Commission’s verdict on Apple’s Irish tax arrangements by Christmas, Ireland’s Finance Minister Michael Noonan now claims that an announcement is likely to be delayed util next year.

The delay in the long-running investigation is the result of regulators asking for additional information from the Irish government, which will take several weeks to gather.

Colorful Apple TV billboard ads are pleasingly old school

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It's certainly eye-catching.
Photo: SMPTE Connect/Instagram

If any more proof was needed that Apple TV is no longer being considered a “hobby,” check out the massive new billboard ad campaign that has been rolling out for the new fourth-generation Apple TV refresh.

Cleverly playing on a color bars motif which references both the old school Apple logo (with colors fastidiously picked out by Steve Jobs, to boot!) and a television test pattern, the billboards can be seen in both landscape and portrait orientation around the U.S.

Apple Pay may arrive in China by February

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Apple Pay iPhone
It seems that Apple's wait may almost be over.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Tim Cook has described his desire to bring Apple Pay to China as “top of the list” in terms of priorities — and now it seems like he may finally be on the verge of hitting his goal.

According to a new report, it is hoped that Apple Pay will launch in China by early February, after Apple struck deals with China’s four biggest state-run banks.

WordPress.com gets a new look and new Mac app

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Wordpress is now native on Mac.
Wordpress is now native on Mac.
Photo: Wordpress

WordPress.com received a huge redesign today that has been 18 months in the making, and there’s a great new Mac app that’s coming with it.

The new native Mac app is powered with the same tech running WordPress.com. In fact, it’s pretty much the web app wrapped as an OS X, which isn’t all that bad because it creates a seamless experience that lets you focus on just the content, whether you’re using an iPhone, a browser, or the Mac app.

Check out all the new features in the intro video below:

The absolute best deals: Thanksgiving vs. Black Friday vs. Cyber Monday

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Confused at all the different retail promotions lately? Here's how to tell them apart (and find the best deals).
Confused at all the different retail promotions lately? Here's how to tell them apart (and find the best deals).
Photo: DealNews

Black Friday is held up as the ultimate shopping day, but Thanksgiving actually offers more awesome deals. Of course, there are great sales to be found throughout the Black Friday season, with Cyber Monday deals adding their fair share of savings to the mix.

However, if you’re looking for a specific type of product, it’s hard to know whether Thanksgiving, Black Friday, or Cyber Monday will give you the best chance to score that bargain.

Because most shoppers will be looking for deals on these three days specifically, we gathered data from the past four years of Thanksgivings, Black Fridays, and Cyber Mondays to determine which day offered the best sales on any given product category. From TVs to toys to tablets, we’ve got the skinny on when you’re most likely to find a killer price low on anything.

But before we get to the results, let’s discuss the amorphous blob of time that Black Friday has become.

Mysterious ‘snake’ Apple Watch error? Here’s what it means

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Apple Watch error
Okay, so this isn't what the error message actually looks like. But it might as well be.
Photo: Evan Killham/Cult of Mac

Seven months after its launch, we appear to be seeing a previously unheard-of Apple Watch error, but we think we’ve figured out what it means.

Wall Street Journal tech editor Joanna Stern brought the issue to attention on her Twitter account; the screen kind of looks like her Apple Watch had suddenly decided to play a round of retro game Snake. But the actual issue isn’t nearly as fun.

Yes, sharpening your Apple Pencil is a stupid idea

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The Apple Pencil makes drawing on an iPad Pro incredibly precise.
The Apple Pencil is surprisingly tough.
Photo: Apple

Destructive YouTuber TechRax is like the Tyler Durden id to our tech-loving superego — constantly wanting to destroy something beautiful because, you know, who hasn’t briefly wondered what would happen if you stuck your iPhone in a lava lamp or if you used to magnets to crush a $10,000 Apple Watch Edition?

TechRax’s latest stunt? Shoving an Apple Pencil in an electric pencil sharpener. Check it out below.

Google shoots first with Star Wars virtual reality series

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Google goes Jar Jar for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Photo: Disney
Google goes Jar Jar for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Photo: Disney

Google has teamed up with Disney and Verizon to develop a new virtual reality series in celebration of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The story ties directly into the new movie, and Google Cardboard owners can enjoy it on December 2 — but there’s more to check out today!

How to make your Mac look like Fallout 4

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Terminal never looked so post-apocalyptic.
Terminal never looked so post-apocalyptic.
Photo: Cathode

If you’re like me, you’re playing Bethesda’s post-apocalyptic RPG Fallout 4 a lot lately. And that probably means you’ve stumbled across a lot of retro CRT monitors that have quasi-Unix systems running on them.

OS X? It’s also a quasi-Unix system. It runs off of a Unix base, which is accessible through the Terminal app.

And if you want Terminal to look like Fallout 4? Just download this app.

Disney president says Jobs would have been ‘appalled’ by Sorkin’s biopic

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Aaron Sorkin’s Steve Jobs movie is coming to Netflix
Ed Catmull doesn't think the real Steve Jobs would've been pleased.
Photo: François Duhamel/Universal Studios

The real Steve Jobs would have been “appalled” at being the subject of a movie biopic like Steve Jobs, claims Pixar and Walt Disney Animation president Ed Catmull in a new interview.

Check out Catmull’s comments about the unfortunate box office bomb below.

Apple set to open its fifth retail store in Beijing

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Chaoyang Joy City4
The site of Apple's newest retail store in China.
Photo: JRP

Apple’s string of brick-and-mortar Apple Store openings in China is set to continue with the upcoming opening of its new Chaoyang Joy City shopping mall store in Beijing.

Apple’s fifth Beijing store will open its doors next weekend, Sunday November 29 at 10am local time.

Kind taxi driver travels two hours to return lost iPhone

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iPhone 6s
It's nice to hear about acts of kindness like this.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

A self-driving Apple Car may not yet be a reality, but that didn’t stop a Bangkok taxi driver from travelling two hours to return a passenger’s lost iPhone, which they had left in the back of his taxi cab.

“On my birthday on Wednesday just before midnight, [the driver] showed up at my hotel to return my phone. He’s a badass good guy,” said grateful iPhone owner Fraser Morton, after being reunited with his handset.

iPad-compatible smart scale gets a tasty new update

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The weight for a major update is over! (I apologize for the awful pun.)
Photo: SITU

Attention, foodies and nutrition-istas! Successful Kickstarter SITU, a smart scale for iPad, has just added a couple of neat new features for its iOS app — while also getting a reduction in prices ahead of Black Friday.

Given that ex-Apple employee creator Michael Grothaus credits Cult of Mac readers with making the invention a reality, how could we not cover it?

Weighing the options for monitoring your body fat

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Withings Smart Body Analyzer (left) vs. DEXA, the
Withings Smart Body Analyzer (left) vs. DEXA, the "gold standard" for body fat analysis (right)
Photo: Graham Bower / Cult of Mac

If you want to lose weight, your Apple Watch can help you sustain healthy habits, but it can’t actually monitor your progress. For that you need to step onto scales.

Any scale will measure your weight, but that is only part of the story. Whether you are dieting or bulking up, it is just as important to keep track of your body fat. The trouble is, this is notoriously hard to measure accurately. As I discovered when I bought a new Withings Smart Body Analyzer, if you think you already know your body fat percentage, you are probably way off.

Catch the best Mac, iPhone, PS4, Xbox and Wii U Black Friday deals on The CultCast

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Ready to punch, kick, and bite your way to this year's best deals?
Ready to punch, kick, and bite your way to this year's best deals?
Photo: Jingle All The Way

This week: get your mace and taser ready for Black Friday! We share some of the best deals on MacBooks, iPhones, Playstation 4s, Xbox One’s, Wii U’s and more. Plus: why your Mac store apps could be corrupted (and what to do about it); RDIO bites the dust; and the iPad Mini 4 proves far better than we originally thought.

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