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News - page 1113

Don’t Starve brings hunger game to iPhone

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Those beefalo look pretty worried.
Those beefalo look pretty worried.
Photo: Klei Entertainment

Seriously, try not to starve. That’s the entire point of Klei Entertainment’s runaway hit game Don’t Starve, a test of survival set in a darkly humorous, Edward Gorey-esque world filled with vicious hounds, creeping spiders, herds of stampeding Beefalo and slimy fish men.

Now you can get in on the action on iPhone, as the desktop game just became a universal app called Don’t Starve: Pocket Edition.

Apple Watch your Airbnb plans take shape

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The new Airbnb app for Apple Watch simplifies communication between hosts and guests.
The new Airbnb app for Apple Watch simplifies communication between hosts and guests.
Photo: Airbnb

When Airbnb set out to design an app for the Apple Watch, its team did so like a master woodcarver. Whittle away until you leave what is essential.

The popular community hospitality network launched a watch app today that provides a simple messaging hub for hosts and guests. Travelers can send a host a message with name, photo and requested dates. A host can accept or decline right on the wrist and respond to messages, either through dictation or a preset response.

Tiny charger taps AA batteries to keep your phone running

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tiny-mobile-phone-charger-uses-aa-batteries-to-keep-you-running-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads2015094694c805b2581cea79001de0369de32b_original-jpg
No, that's not a giant hand.
No, that’s not a giant hand. Photo: The Nipper

Modern mobile phones need a lot of power; chances are we’ve all got an external battery pack (or at least a second cable and wall plug) tucked away in a bag somewhere that will charge up our Android and iOS mobile phones while we’re on the run.

The thing is, those things need to be taken along with you when you leave the house. If you’re like me, though, that requires a heck of a lot of cognitive overhead and pre-planning.

The whole point of the Nipper, this tiny new mobile phone charger that uses two AA batteries to give you a bit of juice when needed, is to always be available.

Spoiler alert: All the juicy details on iPhone 6s

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It's time to get ready for your iOS 9 upgrade.
Here's everything we know about the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Although the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus aren’t expected to bring major design changes to Apple’s world-beating smartphone lineup, a bevy of hardware upgrades will make the new models faster and easier to use.

Even though we’re almost a week away from Apple’s 2015 iPhone unveiling, we pretty much know all the key features that are coming. Here’s everything we think know about the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, which will undoubtedly become most popular iPhones ever.

Cute Apple miniatures will transport you to 1984

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This 3D printed miniature of an Apple II was designed to house a Raspberry Pi computer.
This 3D printed miniature of an Apple II was designed to house a Raspberry Pi computer.
Photo: Charles Mangin/RetroConnector

Apple rolls out new products next week at the annual fall reveal, but you can’t stop thinking about the Apple IIc from 1984.

Self-taught hardware hacker and 3D printer Charles Mangin feels you. So much so that Mangin, of Raleigh, NC., creates tiny versions of classic Apple computers that encase the Raspberry Pi computers. He has even made a classic Mac that serves as a working charging dock for the iPod Nano and an SD card reader that looks an old Apple disk drive.

iPhone 6s will be Apple’s best selfie machine ever

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The iPhone 6s FaceTime camera is getting some big upgrades.
The iPhone 6s FaceTime camera is getting some big upgrades.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple is bringing some big upgrades to the iPhone 6s FaceTime camera according to a new report from one of the most respected Apple analysts on the planet.

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo issued a note to investors this morning, claiming the new iPhone 6s will add a much improved 5 megapixel camera sensor to the FaceTime camera, making it it the best selfie machine Apple has ever made.

Apple admits there’s ‘homework to be done’ with Apple Music

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Tired of Apple Music's playlists? Try something even more indie.
Apple Music needs plenty of revision if it's going to pass finals.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

In a rare showing, Apple has acknowledged that there is still “a bit of homework to be done” when it comes to improving one of its products — in this case, Apple Music.

The company’s streaming music service has seen mixed success since its launch back in June, with reports of falling listenership and even a public slating from a well-known pro-Apple pundit.

Recently Apple Music’s senior director upped and left the company, with no word on whether it was his or Apple’s decision to step down.

Your very own Star Wars BB-8 droid is not so far, far away

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BB-8, the cute little droid from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, is now available as an app-enabled companion.
BB-8, the cute little droid from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, is now available as an app-enabled companion.
Photo: Sphero

The editing on Star Wars: The Force Awakens isn’t finished yet but one of the characters already promises to be the hot toy of the Christmas season.

BB-8, the roly-poly little droid seen spinning across the screen in trailers for the highly anticipated movie, is now an app-controlled toy with an adaptive personality that responds to voice commands.

From hobby to hero: The history of Apple TV

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Apple TV
Apple TV was a hobby for years. Until it wasn't.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple just keeps trying to crack the lucrative nut known as your living room. From a gimmicky Macintosh TV in the 1990s to a “hobby” Apple TV in the mid-2000s, Cupertino keeps trying to come up with ultimate digital hub for our homes.

So far, Apple has failed to deliver a magical device that will tame all our televisions. Here’s a brief history of Apple’s TV efforts — a two-decade push aimed at ensconcing an Apple machine at the center of our domestic universe — ahead of next week’s likely Apple TV refresh.

Apple and other tech companies pay $415 million to settle ‘no poaching’ lawsuit

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Apple raked in the cash last quarter.
The long-running antitrust lawsuit is finally over.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

The long-running Silicon Valley antitrust case that saw Apple, Google, Intel and Adobe accused of conspiring to suppress worker salaries has finally come to an end.

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh gave final approval to a $415 million settlement in a ruling on Wednesday. This is an increase of around $90 million on the $324.5 million settlement rejected last year, but far below the $3 billion that plaintiff Michael Devine had asked for in a letter written to Koh in 2014.

Apple rejects Cecil the Lion app where you shoot the poachers

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Apple's rejection of the app is bound to stir up old debates about policing the App Store.
It was inevitable that this would happen wasn't it?
Photo: Cecil's Revenge

Apple’s App Store policing is being called into question again after the company rejected a Cecil the Lion-inspired game in which animals turn guns on poachers.

Cecil’s Revenge features a safari truck of cheerful-looking wildlife firing at various caricatures of hunters, ranging from old-timey colonialists with rifles to cartoon Africans with guns.

Apple may wait for 30 million subs to create original TV content

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Apple's new improved TV could be coming as early as this fall.
Original Cupertino programming in 3, 2, 1...
Photo: Robert S. DonovanFlickr CC

Given Netflix’s success in the area, it would be fair to say that most people are excited about the possibility that Apple may be entering the original programming arena.

However, according to a new report citing industry insiders, Apple could wait quite a while before launching into its latest venture.

Apple Watch is huge in China with 1 million actual users

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Are Apple Watch expectations just too high?
China is definitely getting into the Apple Watch.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple is still being pretty cagey about exactly how many Apple Watches it has sold since the wearable premiered in April, but a new report suggests that the device is doing just fine in the all-important Chinese market.

Shanghai-based research company RedTech Advisors estimates that China has more than 1 million Apple Watches in use, and it reached this number in a mere 17 weeks.

Apple Music festival lineup adds The Weeknd and Leon Bridges

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Apple Music Festival is starting to dial in its lineup.
Apple Music Festival is starting to dial in its lineup.
Photo: Apple

The Chemical Brothers and the Weeknd will headline this year’s Apple Music Festival according to an announcement made today by the company on Twitter. The festival was revealed last month but Apple has only given us a few hints about who’s going to take the stage until today when Leon Bridges was also revealed to be one of the acts headlining the 10 day event.

Apple-produced shows ‘not that big a deal,’ says Netflix head

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Netflix CEO Reed Hastings
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings isn't worried about Apple getting into producing content.
Photo: Netflix

We’re hearing some rumblings and grumblings that Apple might start producing original content to go along with an updated version of its Apple TV streaming box, and do you know who isn’t worried about it? Netflix.

Reed Hastings, CEO of the giant streaming service, spoke to CNN to discuss his company’s new availability in Japan and its future plans to expand into all of Asia, and he could not have sounded less concerned when the interviewer asked about the rumors of the Cupertino company getting into content creation.

First manned drone uses 54 propellers

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A British man made a personal helicopter with the rotors of several quadcopters.
A British man made a personal helicopter with the rotors of several quadcopters.
Photo: gasturbine101/YouTube

History is full of DIY flying machines, including the occasional Joe who ties a bunch of helium balloons to his lawn chair.

So it was only a matter of time before someone would figure out the number of drone propellers it would take to put a man in the air The answer is 54.

A British man may have made the first manned drone flight, if there can be such a category, when he fastened a 54 rotors from quadcopters to make a personal helicopter he dubbed the Swarm.

Apple Watch about to get fresh new colors

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Will these be the new Apple Watch Sport band colors?
Will these be the new Apple Watch Sport band colors?
Photo: Umberta Gnutti Beretta/Instagram

I’m just about tired enough of my green Apple Watch Sport band to be ready for a new color soon.

Lucky for me (and probably the rest of you who feel the same way), the latest rumor out of the blogosphere is that Apple will announce new colors at the September 9 event at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium next week.

Get your money back when you use Amazon’s new Dash buttons

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Oh wait, this wasn't a joke?
Oh wait, this wasn't a joke?
Photo: Amazon

Amazon’s Wi-Fi enabled Dash buttons are finally here, turning your home into a veritable vending machine for essential home items like laundry soap, pet food, paper towels, and more.

Better yet, when you order one — each costs about $5 — you’ll get your five bucks back the first time you use it to purchase an item from Amazon, making the buttons essentially free.

Google is as sick of app-install prompts as you are

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google-is-as-sick-of-app-install-prompts-as-you-are-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads201509interstitials-jpg

More and more these days, mobile websites will pop up a prompt to download an app associated with the site. This “app install interstitial” hides most of the actual web page and bugs users to essentially stop browsing the web and head to an app store and install an app. App install prompts suck.

“Our analysis shows that it is not a good search experience,” Google asserts in a new blog post, “and can be frustrating for users because they are expecting to see the content of the web page.”

As of Tuesday, web masters can use Google’s updated Mobile-Friendly Test page or Google’s mobile usability tools to find out if they have any offending pages.

CBS Sports will stream Super Bowl 50 to Apple TV

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You'll now be able to stream the big game to your iPad.
You'll now be able to stream the big game to your iPad.
Photo: CBS Sports

The NFL’s 2015 season is set to kick off next week and to provide more coverage than ever of this year’s gridiron action, CBS announced that it will stream two regular season games, four playoff games and the Super Bowl 50 to Apple TV for free

Pocket-size Polaroid spits out instant prints

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pocket-size-polaroid-spits-out-instant-prints-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads201509polaroid-snap-instagram-jpg
The Polaroid Snap can turn Instagram-like shots into prints without ink.
Photo: Polaroid
polaroid-snap-instagram
The Polaroid Snap can turn Instagram-like shots into prints without ink. Photo: Polaroid

The Polaroid Snap is a new 10-megapixel camera that instantly prints out photos you take without any ink. It works with ZINK paper that produces 2-inch-by-3-inch prints and essentially lets you keep physical copies of photos you’d put on Instagram and probably quickly forget about.

Believe it or not, it’s also pretty affordable.