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News - page 1364

Apple’s Cash Reserves Are 30x What They Were 10 Years Ago

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$1 trillion value
Apple is heading toward a $1 trillion market cap. But could Amazon get there first?
Photo: Pierre Marcel/Flickr CC

Apple is leading the way when it comes to U.S. companies stockpiling cash, according to a note from Moody’s Investors Service.

Holding $158.8 billion, Apple’s cash pile is close to 30x what it was in 2004, when Apple has cash reserves of “just” $5.46 billion. This means that Apple holds 9.7% of total corporate cash outside the financial sector.

New York Museum Uses iBeacons To Create A ‘Digital Minefield’

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While most of the iBeacon applications so far have involved making retail and entertainment more pleasant to consume, a new exhibition at a New York museum aims to use Apple’s beacon technology to demonstrate the horror of landmines.

Taking place between 11am and 3pm on April 4 at the New Museum, the event lets members of the public experience a “digital minefield” by downloading a smartphone app called Sweeper and putting on a set of headphones.

Visitors then move through the exhibit space, potentially triggering iBeacons if they get too close. If this happens, visitors hear the sound of an explosion through their headphones, followed by a short audio excerpt telling the story of a person affected by landmines.

5.5-Inch iPhone 6 Suffers Production Setback [Rumor]

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iPhone-6-CW

Apple may be moving ahead with its larger 5.5 inch iPhone, but according to a new report it’s running into a few problems along the way.

Reuters reports that while Apple is set to begin mass producing displays for its 4.7-inch iPhone as early as May, the eagerly anticipated 5.5-inch version is suffering supply chain issues relating to the production of in-cell technology for the larger screens.

Shoot 2K Video On Your iPhone With Ultrakam App

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After Facebook snapped up the Oculus Rift, a VR headset maker, we wondered what companies Apple should buy before Mark Zuckerberg or Google got their hands on them. Which of these companies should Apple buy with its mighty cash horde?  Fitbit, Sonos, Telegram.org, Square, Leap Motion, Zstat, Here
After Facebook snapped up the Oculus Rift, a VR headset maker, we wondered what companies Apple should buy before Mark Zuckerberg or Google got their hands on them. Which of these companies should Apple buy with its mighty cash horde? Fitbit, Sonos, Telegram.org, Square, Leap Motion, Zstat, Here

Ultrakam is a video-shooting app that uses more of the iPhone’s pixels than the stock camera app to capture something like 2K video from the iPhone 5, 5S and compatible iPads. Yup, 2K video on your iPhone, and a lot more besides.

Pad&Quill Traveler Case Looks Like It Feels As Good As It Looks

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After Facebook snapped up the Oculus Rift, a VR headset maker, we wondered what companies Apple should buy before Mark Zuckerberg or Google got their hands on them. Which of these companies should Apple buy with its mighty cash horde?  Fitbit, Sonos, Telegram.org, Square, Leap Motion, Zstat, Here
After Facebook snapped up the Oculus Rift, a VR headset maker, we wondered what companies Apple should buy before Mark Zuckerberg or Google got their hands on them. Which of these companies should Apple buy with its mighty cash horde? Fitbit, Sonos, Telegram.org, Square, Leap Motion, Zstat, Here

Pad&Quill is at it again, this time with a low-profile rear-shell style case for the iPhone 5/S. While calling anything from Brian Holmes’s P&Q “minimal” would be a stretch, the Traveler Case gets pretty close. It is also gorgeous to look at, and would surely be just as lovely for the hands. It looks like the kind of case you couldn’t stop fingering.

Handy Photo 2 Editing App Really Is Handy

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After Facebook snapped up the Oculus Rift, a VR headset maker, we wondered what companies Apple should buy before Mark Zuckerberg or Google got their hands on them. Which of these companies should Apple buy with its mighty cash horde?  Fitbit, Sonos, Telegram.org, Square, Leap Motion, Zstat, Here
After Facebook snapped up the Oculus Rift, a VR headset maker, we wondered what companies Apple should buy before Mark Zuckerberg or Google got their hands on them. Which of these companies should Apple buy with its mighty cash horde? Fitbit, Sonos, Telegram.org, Square, Leap Motion, Zstat, Here

Handy Photo has gone from v1 to v2, and has changed from an app I apparently installed and then discarded to something that looks very useful indeed for the mobile photographer.

The update brings iOS 7 support, a complete redesign of the interface, and some sweet new features.

If You’ve Got The Skills, You Can Now Dual Boot iOS 7, iOS 6 And iOS 5

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1yW4n17lhc

When we originally posted about winocm’s magic iPad 2 that could boot between iOS 5, iOS 6 and iOS 7 at will, we said that “the elite skills necessary to hack your iPad to dual boot operating systems is beyond the ability of most of us mortals, and it’s unlikely winocm will ever make this process friendly for the everyman.”

Then, just yesterday, we took it all back: winocm was going to release the hack that allowed him to dual boot operating systems on his iPad. Schizo-iPads would soon be available to everyone! We were wrong!

Today, though, winocm has released his hack, and guess what? It’s a bunch of github code that you need to have “elite skills… beyond the ability of most of us mortals” to install… definitely not a “process friendly for the everyman.”

Rdio For iOS Now Supports Google’s Chromecast

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After Facebook snapped up the Oculus Rift, a VR headset maker, we wondered what companies Apple should buy before Mark Zuckerberg or Google got their hands on them. Which of these companies should Apple buy with its mighty cash horde?  Fitbit, Sonos, Telegram.org, Square, Leap Motion, Zstat, Here
After Facebook snapped up the Oculus Rift, a VR headset maker, we wondered what companies Apple should buy before Mark Zuckerberg or Google got their hands on them. Which of these companies should Apple buy with its mighty cash horde? Fitbit, Sonos, Telegram.org, Square, Leap Motion, Zstat, Here

If you’re a big fan of Rdio — after Spotify, the other major streaming music subscription service, which just happens to have much better iOS apps — and you also have a Google Chromecast, good news: Rdio for iOS now supports Google’s streaming HDTV dongle.

Pebble Smartwatches Are Getting Bricked After Latest App Update

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After Facebook snapped up the Oculus Rift, a VR headset maker, we wondered what companies Apple should buy before Mark Zuckerberg or Google got their hands on them. Which of these companies should Apple buy with its mighty cash horde?  Fitbit, Sonos, Telegram.org, Square, Leap Motion, Zstat, Here
After Facebook snapped up the Oculus Rift, a VR headset maker, we wondered what companies Apple should buy before Mark Zuckerberg or Google got their hands on them. Which of these companies should Apple buy with its mighty cash horde? Fitbit, Sonos, Telegram.org, Square, Leap Motion, Zstat, Here

If you have a Pebble watch, don’t download the Pebble 2.1 update. It could very well brick your smart watch.

Blue-Collar Jurors Will Decide Latest Round of Apple-Samsung Patent Fight

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Samsung is after more of Apple's iPhone business.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Round two of what might be the biggest patent trial in tech history will be decided by a plumber, a police officer and a store clerk. Those blue-collar types are among the 10-person jury finalized Monday for the latest legal battle between Apple and Samsung.

Jury picked,” tweeted San Jose Mercury News reporter Howard Mintz shortly after jury selection concluded. “Plumber, teacher, cop, secretary, store clerk, county worker, etc. Not [a] sniff of a tech geek to decide $billion patent trial.”

Apple Announces LTE iPad Availability In China

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China Mobile, the largest carrier in the world, officially partnered with Apple last year.
China Mobile, the largest carrier in the world, officially partnered with Apple last year.

Apple has announced that the LTE iPad Air and iPad mini are now available in China. Cellular iPad models have been on sale in the country already, but today marks Apple’s adoption of the local TD-SCDMA network standard.

Here’s the full press release:

Apple Will Announce Q2 Earnings On Wednesday, April 23

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Apple will hold its second quarterly earnings call for 2014 on Wednesday, April 23rd. The call will be streamed online at 2:00 p.m. PST.

Tim Cook promised that we would see new stuff from Apple in “both current product categories and new ones” across 2014. There has yet to be a media event or new hardware.

Apple has set revenue expectations at $42-44 billion for Q2. Last quarter’s holiday numbers were an all-time high for the company.

Source: Apple

‘I Have No Idea What An iPad Even Is,’ Says Potential Apple-Samsung Juror

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Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

The most shocking revelation to come out of jury selection for the latest Apple-versus-Samsung trial isn’t that the Silicon Valley jury pool is loaded with people connected to one of the two companies. It’s that one potential juror claims ignorance when it comes to Apple’s nearly ubiquitous tablet.

“I’m kind of a dinosaur,” said one potential juror Monday. “I don’t even know what a iPad is.”

App Store Prices Are Being Raised In Australia, India, Indonesia, Turkey, And South Africa

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Apple has lost its third appeal for ownership of the term App Store in Oz. Photo: Apple
Apple has lost its third appeal for ownership of the term App Store in Oz. Photo: Apple

Apple has notified developers that it is increasing App Store prices in certain countries due to “changes in foreign exchange rates.” Affected currencies include the Australian Dollar, Indian Rupee, Indonesian Rupiah, Turkish Lira, and South African Rand.

Prices for Israeli New Shekels and the New Zealand Dollar will also be decreased. All changes should be applied within the next 24 hours.

Source: Apple

Apple And Samsung Head Back To Court As Jurors Are Chosen For Second Patent Trial

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Apple and Samsung have become very acquainted with one another in the courtroom. Every since Apple’s crushing victory against Samsung in 2012 over patent infringement, the tech giants have been duking it out through a seemingly-endless string of appeals. The culmination of 2012’s verdict is a second trial that begins today in San Jose, California.

Much in this trial is the same as the last: Apple and Samsung are both accusing each other of copying patented ideas, and there are billions of dollars on the table. But enough has changed to make the outcome of this second trial unguessable.

The True Origin Of Samsung’s Logo [Humor]

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Apple and Samsung are headed back to court today for round two of their billion dollar patent lawsuit that will see the two companies pointing fingers and slamming down arguments on who copied whose patents.

We’ve seen enough evidence to have our own opinion on Samsung’s copying ways and now thanks to this Thai cartoon it all becomes perfectly clear why Samsung just can’t help itself.

Image: Killua51
Thanks: Grahame

Alleged iPhone Images Show Slimmer Body, Protruding Camera

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iphone6leak

This morning’s gallery of iPhone 6 renderings had us drooling for an iPhone 6 but a set of leaked images claiming to originate from Apple supplier Foxconn might be our first glimpse of Cupertino’s next handset, or at least a phase of its development process.

The Weibo account they were posted on claims they’re straight from the Foxconn production floor, but seems how all the April Fools jokes are coming out today, we advise take pairing this with a hearty serving of skepticism.

Here’s another pic:

Foolish Render: ‘Mac Air’ Is Flat As A Pancake

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We want to believe.
We want to believe.

Sure, we’ll be seeing a host of fun things tomorrow on the internets, many of them having to do with new crazy Apple products.

Today, however, we found this slick little number from site AppleUser: the Mac Air Desktop, a slimmed-down version of the Mac Mini.

What’s great about this sweet little photoshop job is that it meets the requirement of any good April Fools’ prank–it’s totally something we’d want to buy.

The Million-Dollar Question: How Do You Make The Next Flappy Bird?

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Flapping for success.
What made Flappy Bird such a success?

Note: This article was originally published in Cult of Mac Magazine, available on the App Store.

Flappy Bird came onto the scene with a bang, ruffling feathers from Hanoi to Hannover. Dong Nguyen, the developer of this seemingly overnight sensation, was as taken aback as the rest of us, evident from his shocking decision to stop offering the game for download as well as his recent decision to bring it back.

Game developers and publishers can only hope to reproduce this kind of crazy success. And each and every one of the people we talked to at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco was eager to share opinions on how Flappy Bird happened, how it might happen again, and why it was such a runaway hit to begin with.

The iPhone 6 Has Been Rendered Based Upon Leaked Schematics, And It’s Beautiful [Gallery]

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iPhone-6-CB (1)

Based upon leaked schematics discovered by Macotakara of the forthcoming 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch variants of the iPhone 6, Nowherelse teamed up with concept designer extraordinaire Martin Hajek to create what may be the most plausible look at what Jony Ive’s next iPhone design would look like yet.

All the proportions here are perfect: althougb it features a larger profile, a super thin design, and an edge-to-edge display, the design still features a beautiful internal symmetry that seems worthy of Apple. There are some changes: the edges are curved, more organic, and the volume buttons have been unified into a single rocker, but otherwise, it looks like an evolution of the current iPhone 5s. Which is exactly what the iPhone 6 would look like.

Check out more images below. What do you think? Could this be the iPhone 6?

Apple Trying To Poach Swiss Watchmakers To Build iWatch [Rumor]

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There have been many wearables and quantified-health applications over the past few years, but most have steered clear of proclaiming themselves medical devices. Some of the rumors about the iWatch (such as the fact that it will be able to listen to the sound blood makes as it flows through arteries, and use this to predict heart attacks) may sound a bit too good to be true. But the number of biosensor and biomedical engineers Apple has snapped up recently makes us think the iWatch could be a device that crosses over firmly into the "medical monitoring" category.

According to one recent report, a reason for the long delay before launch is that Apple is awaiting certification from the Food and Drug Administration to get the iWatch approved as medical equipment. Given Apple's recent announcement of the Health app for iOS 8 to collect and show data on calorie consumption, sleep activity, blood oxygen levels and more, plus the conspicuous absence of a health-tracking fitness band in Apple's last iPhone 5s ad, the idea that the iWatch will be geared toward health seems as close to a foregone conclusion as you get for a device that hasn't even been officially announced yet.


Apple is reportedly trying to lure top Swiss watchmakers away from luxury brands in its efforts to build an iWatch.

Jean-Claude Biver, president of luxury brand LVMH’s watches and jewellery division, claims that Apple has tried to recruit staff from his Hublot brand, along with employees from several other top Swiss watchmakers.

“Apple has contacted some of my employees – I saw the emails personally,” he said, noting that none of the individuals contacted jumped ship.