The Apple Card is in about twice as many wallets as it was a year ago. Photo: Apple
Since its debut in 2019, the number of Apple Card users has grown to 6.4 million, according to analysts. That’s over two times the total using the credit card a year ago. And much of the growth has been among women.
Will augmented reality augment your workouts? Photo: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac
Like Apple Watch before it, Cupertino’s much-anticipated mixed-reality headset looks set to be another leap forward for fitness wearables.
Mixed reality is already commonplace in TV sports. You see it every time the virtual line of scrimmage is superimposed onto a football field. Now imagine that the players on the field can see that virtual line too, just like the viewers at home. That’s exactly what Apple’s latest gadget could deliver, adding a whole new dimension to sports and fitness.
Adjustable lighting suitable for video calls need not cost much. Photo: Kwipz@Reddit
The big open window shown in the photo above certainly helps keep the place lit for free in bright daylight. But what does Redditor Kwipz do about cheap lighting for the darker hours?
The Night Shift mode on Apple products may not live up to the hype. Photo: Envato Elements
The iOS and macOS feature that changes display color temperature to reduce blue light so as to promote good sleep might not work quite as well as hoped.
A new study by Brigham Young University suggests that the Night Shift feature, introduced in 2016, doesn’t make any noticeable difference to sleep patterns.
This is the latest investment from Apple's Advanced Manufacturing Fund. Photo: Apple
Apple has awarded an additional $410 million from its Advanced Manufacturing Fund to II-VI, a firm that makes optical technology for the iPhone, including the laser for the LiDAR scanner found in the iPhone 12 Pro.
Apple previously awarded the firm $390 million back in 2017. The extra cash will “accelerate delivery of future components” for iPhone. It will also help fund the creation of more than 700 jobs in Texas, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Illinois.
Back in the day, it took more than a year — from September 1996 to October 1997 — for fans of Crash Bandicoot to get a second dose of action with the game’s sequel.
Jump forward to 2021 and fans of Crash Bandicoot: On the Run who have completed the game, launched on iOS in March, can already get a second fix of Crash action courtesy of the title’s first big update.
Woot’s latest sale on iPad refurbs gives you the chance to bag a new slate for as little as $194.99. Various models are on offer, from iPad mini to iPad Pro.
AirTags are tiny. So are their batteries. Photo: Apple
A chain of office supply stores in Australia suspended sales of Apple’s AirTag over child-safety concerns.
Officeworks, which sells approximately 30,000 products in its 167 giant stores, confirmed that the “Apple AirTag range will temporarily be unavailable” for purchase. This is reportedly due to how easily the replaceable cell batteries can be removed from the location-tracking tags. And, presumably, swallowed.
Although there is a bit more nuance to that, it can look like a contradiction, or even a bit of hypocrisy, from the outside. As emails highlighted during the current Apple vs. Epic legal battle shows, Apple employees also grappled with whether or not Apple should offer ads in the App Store — and whether this opposed Apple’s messaging.
The CEO of Epic Games had an idea for making the App Store more open. It’s likely to find some support. Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
Epic Games suggested a change to the iPhone App Store that, if Apple had followed it, might have prevented the lawsuit that landed the two tech giants in court this week.
The game developer recommended that Apple continue to police third-party software, looking for malware, privacy violations, etc. But once the iPhone-maker signed off on an app, it would be up to the developer how the software got distributed.
Problems with multiple iCloud services are preventing some users from accessing them. Photo: Cult of Mac/Mabel Amber/Pexels CC
Anyone having trouble with Apple’s Find My service, or signing into iCloud, can stop rebooting their devices trying to fix the problem. Apple itself reports that four of its online services are currently experiencing problems.
Update: Apple reports that all four previously malfunctioning services are now fixed.
Apple’s stock price went down quite a bit.Perhaps now’s the time to buy Photo: Cult of Mac
Apple shares spent much of Tuesday down 4% in value. The AAPL selloff was part part of a general drop in tech stocks amidst fears of a rise in interest rates.
At one point during the day, the value of each AAPL stock had dropped about $5.30. That’s a decrease of roughly $88 billion in Apple’s $2.1 trillion market capitalization.
Jason Sudeik stars in Ted Lasso, a fish-out-of-water comedy for Apple TV+. Photo: Apple
Peabody Award nominations went out Tuesday to Apple comedy series Ted Lasso as well as the children’s program Stillwater.
The annual Peabodys honor excellence in broadcasting the same way Pulitzers recognize outstanding journalism. The awards “reflect the pressing social issues and the vibrant emerging voices of our day,” according to the National Association of Broadcasters.
Typo? Or cutting insult? Apple’s former CEO once used the term “Fecebooks.” Photo: Cult of Mac
Disagreements between Apple and Facebook have made headlines recently, but bad blood between the two companies dates back decades. In 2011, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs even called the social-networking service “Fecebooks.”
Plans have gotten more ambitious it seems. Photo: TSMC
Apple M- and A-series chipmaker TSMC is reportedly planning to build more than just the one chipmaking factory currently announced for the United States.
According to Reuters, the company — which is the world’s leading edge semiconductor manufacturer — plans to build “several more” in the state of Arizona. TSMC’s original intentions to build a $12 billion chip factory in AZ were announced in May 2020.
A quick way to make your 2021 iPad Pro upgrade more affordable. Photo: Apple
Apple’s newest iPad Pro is on the way with a blazing-fast M1 chip, a Liquid Retina XDR display, and up to 16GB of RAM. Prices start at a rather steep $799, but Cult of Mac can help make yours more affordable.
Sell your old iPad to us today and we’ll cough up real cash that you can put toward a new model. We won’t leave you waiting for your money, and we typically pay more than other buyback services. Find out how much your old Apple devices are really worth in under a minute!
Teens spend plenty of time using tech. Is it hurting them? Photo: Apple
A new study suggests that there is “little evidence” for the supposed link between technology and problems with mental health among teenagers.
The study, carried out by the Oxford Internet Institute, cross-referenced longitudinal viewing and usage habits with depression, behavioral problems, and even suicidal tendencies among 430,000 people between the ages of 10 and 15.
Bengio has been working in machine learning for more than 30 years. Photo: LinkedIn
Apple recently hired ex-Google machine learning scientiest Samy Bengio, making him the latest artificial intelligence expert to jump ship for Cupertino.
Clubhouse attracted a whole lot of buzz earlier this year. Photo: Erin Kwon/Clubhouse CC
It’s not just teen-focused social media apps that face the fickle habits of their users. Clubhouse — the invite-only social audio app that pulled in enough celebrities, influencers and business professionals to make it the most buzz-worthy app of 2021 — seemingly faces the same challenge.
According to a report from Business Insider, Clubhouse is already hitting a hurdle when it comes to growth. After racking up 9.6 million installs in February, just 2.7 million people downloaded the app in March. That number fell to only 922,000 new users last month.
Apple has stopped signing iOS 14.4.2 and iPadOS 14.4.2. That means that it’s no longer possible to downgrade if you’ve upgraded to iOS or iPadOS 14.5.
The eagerly anticipated iOS 14.5 was a big iOS update for Apple. It introduced the ability to unlock an iPhone using an Apple Watch while wearing a mask, along with the controversial App Tracking Transparency feature, new emojis and Siri voices, a Podcasts app update, and more.
If you’re willing to risk ruining an AirTag, you can drill a hole in it. Photo: iFixit
There’s no direct way to attach Apple’s just-released AirTag to a set of keys because the item tracker doesn’t include a hole. But iFixit x-rayed the device and found three places a brave user could drill a hole.
There are critical security patches for Mac and Apple Watch. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Mac users can now download macOS Big Sur 11.3.1, a security-themed update to the version released a week ago. It closes security holes that Apple knows were exploited by hackers.
Monday was a busy day for updates. Apple also released watchOS 7.4.1 with one of the same security fixes. And it introduced iOS 14.5.1 and iPadOS 14.5.1 to take care of an App Tracking Transparency bug, and fix security bugs.
Today's update fixes a bug that kept App Tracking Transparency from working properly for some users. Screenshot: Apple
Apple rushed out iOS 14.5.1 on Monday, an update that fixes a bug in the App Tracking Transparency feature rolled out a week ago.
“This update fixes an issue with App Tracking Transparency where some users who previously disabled Allow Apps to Request to Track in Settings may not receive prompts from apps after re-enabling it,” Apple’s release notes said. “This update also provides important security updates and is recommended for all users.”
iPadOS 14.5.1, a version of the software for iPad users, also arrived Monday.