Apple’s transition from using Qualcomm modems to its own 5G designs could roll out as soon as the next couple of years, TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggests, in a research note seen by Cult of Mac.
We’ve got a mix of “new” new and “old” new in this week’s roundup of the best apps for iOS devices and Macs.
A new scoring app frees board game players from pesky pens and pencils, and a new avatar app gives users a futuristic way to establish and secure their online identities. Meanwhile, upgrades to well-known apps Brave (a fast web browser for privacy freaks) and Carrot Weather (a sarcastic weather app for masochists) gain interesting new features. Image-editing app Photo Sense and Luna Display also got big upgrades.
If you think Apple Watch makes workouts fun and efficient, wait till Apple’s mixed-reality glasses land on your face. Graham Bower outlines how and why augmented reality will take fitness to the next level in Cult of Mac Magazine‘s cover story this week. It all sounds quite incredible — and yet also quite possible.
Also this week, we’ve got plenty of fresh Apple rumors, plus a trove of tantalizing tidbits gleaned from insider emails that came to light during the Epic Games v. Apple trial that’s currently unfolding.
And if you haven’t watched Mythic Quest or The Mosquito Coast yet, it’s time to start streaming. It looks like Apple TV+ has a couple more winners on its hands.
This week, Cult of Mac is giving away one ParcSlope stand from Apple accessory powerhouse Twelve South.
The ParcSlope is a dual-purpose desktop easel that functions as a typing stand for MacBook and as a sketching wedge for iPad. It elevates your MacBook or iPad Pro for a better working angle and an ergonomic viewing height.
If you win, you can use the ParcSlope stand for all of your tasks. And if you don’t, Twelve South is sweetening the giveaway with a $10 promo code to purchase the ParcSlope for everyone who enters.
The process for checking applications submitted to the App Store became the major focus of the Epic Games v. Apple court battle Friday. An important detail that came to light is that Apple employs 500 human experts checking submissions.
Epic Games used Friday’s trial testimony to bring to light fraudulent or inappropriate apps that slipped past Apple’s review team and onto the App Store. Fortunately, the problem is fixable: Put more people on the job. Double or triple the number.
Stella Low is stepping into a position at Apple that’s been empty for years. She’s been named vice president of worldwide corporate communications. That puts her in charge of Apple’s public relations efforts.
She left Cisco to take the job with Apple.
An intrepid do-it-yourselfer disassembled Apple’s new AirTag and rebuilt it into something slim enough to fit into a wallet.
Watch his video with step-by-step instructions for following in his footsteps — if you dare.
Add the Kensington StudioDock to the list of accessories thrown under the bus by the redesign of the 2021 iPad Pro. The 12.9-inch version of the upcoming tablet is just slightly thicker, but that’s enough to make the elaborate desktop stand incompatible.
This is sure to displease many of the people who bought the $399.99 accessory and were hoping to use it with future Apple tablets.
By the time of its release in March 1997, the over-the-top-shelf powerhouse known as the Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh had seen its initial price of $9,000 cut to $7,499, or about $12,000 in today’s dollars.
The interesting-but-still-hopelessly unaffordable system — for a time delivered door-to-door and set up by tuxedoed concierges — failed in the marketplace. It went on to become a collector’s item.
These days, a Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh, or TAM, often sells for around $1,500. So Redditor Cbaltz2 kind of scored when he picked one up a while back on eBay for $800. And remarkably, he found a good use for it in the here and now.
Apple could bring a splash of color to the MacBook Air, says Apple tipster Jon Prosser in a new video. Prosser suggests that the next-gen M2 MacBook Air could come in a fancy blue color and, quite possibly, a range of other shades as well.
That would make a lot of sense given the recent iMac redesign, which marked the first time in 20 years Apple has released its desktop computers in multiple colors. It would also match Apple’s strategy back in the late 1990s when the colorful iMac G3 was followed up by the equally colorful iBook.
A would-be iPhone customer recently had a nasty surprise when the iPhone 12 Pro Max she ordered from a carrier turned out to be a broken tile upon arrival at her home.
UK-based Olivia Parkinson shared the news on Twitter with the caption “Don’t you just love a new phone day to then receive this… iPhone 12 ProMax who?”
Foxconn is bolstering its workforce ahead of mass-manufacturing the iPhone 13. According to South China Morning Post, the world’s largest contract manufacturer has raised its bonus payments to lure in new recruits.
Each new recruit will earn a bonus of $1,158 (7,500 yuan) if they work for 90 days, and are on duty for at least 55 days during that time. This is twice the 3,500 bonus that was on offer at the end of March. It’s the third bonus increase in the past month.
Apple’s new App Tracking Transparency feature looks surprisingly popular with users — and potentially devastating to advertising. According to analysis by Flurry, just 4% of U.S. users allow apps to track them when given a choice.
The new privacy feature, rolled out in iOS 14.5 in late April, requires developers to ask for permission to use Apple’s Identifier for Advertisers tag to track users’ movements across websites and third-party apps. Flurry’s stats indicate a massive 96 out of 100 users in the United States denied that permission.
In testimony on Thursday in the Epic Games v. Apple trial, Trystan Kosmynka, the senior director for the App Store review process, confirmed that around 5 million appications are submitted to the software store per year. And roughly 35% are rejected.
A pair of new rugged cases for the basic 10.2-inch iPad promise military-grade drop protection, and each has a combination kickstand/handstrap to make using the device easier.
Survivor All-Terrain and Endurance are designed for hazardous conditions, like worksites and classrooms.
Emmy-winner Billy Crudup in space! That’s what’s coming in Hello Tomorrow!, a half-hour comedy/drama series about a man selling timeshares on the moon.
The upcoming show will be an Apple TV+ exclusive.
Full Bloom, a new spring-themed video commissioned by Apple, includes some amazing photography done with an iPhone 12. It’s part of the long-running “Shot on iPhone” series that demonstrates the capabilities of the cameras built into Apple handsets. A highlight of the latest offering is stop-motion video done with flowers and fruit.
Don’t miss it:
If 2001: A Space Odyssey‘s prickly AI, HAL 9000, picked up a sense of humor and then decided to make weather apps, the results would probably be a bit like Carrot Weather.
The sarcastic weather app has been a fixture on iOS for more than half a decade, and has not only gotten more hilariously abrasive during that time, but more useful as well. On Thursday, creator Brian Mueller unleashed the app’s latest update.
It it “frighteningly easy” to use Apple’s location-tracking AirTag to stalk somebody, a new report suggests.
While Apple says it’s been careful to incorporate anti-stalking measures to stop the AirTags from being used in this way, a Washington Post columnist says Apple’s countermeasures are not effective.
TikTok enjoyed another month atop the App Store in April, according to a new report from app analytics platform Sensor Tower.
It received a massive 59 million installs that month, across both iOS and Android. That’s ever so slightly up from March, when it racked up just over 58 million downloads.
Apple TV+ show Servant is one of the longlist nominees for Best Drama Series at the 2021 TV Choice Awards, Apple has revealed.
While it’s great to see Apple TV+ rack up another award nomination, it’s important to note that the longlist is, well, very long: Servant is one of more than 50 shows up for the award. A spokesperson told Cult of Mac that the shortlist will be announced in June.
More retailers in Australia are reportedly removing Apple’s location-tracking AirTags from their shelves. This relates to concerns that the trackers’ tiny button batteries could be swallowed by small children.
Earlier this week, office supplier retail giant Officeworks suspended sales of the AirTag. Now other Australian retailers — including JB Hi-Fi and Big W — have seemingly followed suit.
The latest insider info brought to light by the Epic Games v. Apple trial is the lengths the Mac-maker went to convince Netflix to continue taking subscriptions in its iPhone/iPad app. But Netflix stopped anyway, and Apple took no action.
When Epic Games tried to do something similar, Apple banned all its software from the App Store.
If you’ve ever said something in a tweet you immediately regretted, Twitter has your back. It’s letting iPhone users test a potential new feature that gives people the opportunity to revise a “harmful” tweet before it’s sent.
It’s not necessary to buy an accessory to attach an Apple AirTag to your keys, bike or dog’s collar if you own a 3D printer. There are tons of CAD files with options to connect the recently released item tracker to various objects. And all of them are free to use.