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News - page 356

Get an amazing 25% off AirPods and AirPods Pro for Prime Day

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AirPods Pro are so popular Apple is struggling to keep up with demand
There’s better than usual sale on AirPods Pro. And AirPods 2, as well.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

AirPods are truly outstanding headphones, especially for iPhone users. They aren‘t cheap, though. But it’s Amazon’s annual Prime Day, and both AirPods and AirPods Pro are on sale for 25% below the regular price. That’s as much as $60 off.

And there are smaller savings on the recently released AirPods Max.

Save $80 off latest iPad Air on Prime Day

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iPad Air 4 comes in a range of colors.
Pick up the iPad Air 4 at $80 below its regular price. But don’t wait — this deal won‘t last long.
Screenshot: Apple

If you hoped Amazon’s annual Prime Day would bring a bargain on the 2020 iPad Air, you’re in luck. The online giant dropped the price of this 10.9-inch tablet by 13%.

The iPad Air 4 borrows so many features from the iPad Pro series that it’s all the tablet lots of people need.

You, too, can achieve pleasing symmetry and soft lighting [Setups]

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A desk with a metal frame and a bunch or clips and magnets help make a great setup.
A desk with a metal frame and a bunch of clips and magnets help make a great setup.
Photo: QasimZafaraYouTube@Reddit

Quasim Zafar’s neatly laid out computer setup serves as his filming area for YouTube product reviews, his general workstation using a 2020 M1 Mac mini and his Xbox Series S gaming station where he plays Call of Duty.

But that’s only incidental to what you’ll probably love about it and want for your own setup.

1 in 5 customers say they’d skip iPhone 13 due to superstition

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Triskaidekaphobia is fear of the number 13.
Is the number 13 too unlucky to be in an iPhone name?
Photo: Cult of Mac

A massive 74% of people surveyed think Apple’s next iPhone should be called something other than “iPhone 13.” And triskaidekaphobia — aka fear of the number 13 — could stop one in five Apple users from buying the next-gen smartphone if it bears that name.

SellCell surveyed 3,000 Apple users in the United States this month, asking what name they would rather Apple uses. While “iPhone 13” scored 26% of the vote, the winning entry is the clean, simple-sounding “iPhone.”

It’s a goal! Riotous new trailer for Ted Lasso season 2 hints at laughs ahead

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Ted Lasso
Coming back to Apple TV+ next month.
Photo: Apple TV+

Brett Goldstein, a writer on Apple TV+ comedy Ted Lasso, who also plays footballer Roy Ken, has shared a new trailer for the upcoming second season of the show on Twitter.

The trailer for the second season comes one month ahead of its July 23 launch. Set to the strains of David Bowie and Queen’s “Under Pressure,” the trailer suggests the laughs — and surprisingly uplifting drama — will continue for another crop of episodes. Check it out below.

Germany opens antitrust investigation into Apple’s marketplace dominance

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App Store faces barrage of antitrust charges
Germany is looking into whether Apple has too much power.
Photo: Sora Shimazaki/Pexels CC

Germany’s antitrust watchdog said Monday it is launching an antitrust investigation to see whether Apple has a “paramount significance across markets.”

According to Reuters, the probe by Germany’s Federal Cartel Office was partly prompted by advertising and media industry complaints over Apple’s App Tracking Transparency feature.

“Based on this first proceeding, the (FCO) intends to assess in more detail specific practices of Apple in a possible further proceeding,” notes the investigatory paperwork. “In this regard, the authority has received various complaints relating to potentially anti-competitive practices.”

Apple says it looks forward to “discussing our approach with the FCO and having an open dialogue about any of their concerns.”

The European Union vs. Apple

One of the leading countries in the European Union, Germany previously announced investigations into Facebook, Amazon and Google over different complaints. And given how much scrutiny the EU has placed Apple under, it’s no surprise to hear Germany begin its own investigation.

The European Union is already probing Apple’s control of the App Store. Another EU investigation is looking into Apple Pay. Another is eyeing Apple’s potential to be a “gatekeeper” in the smart home industry.

Source: Reuters

Last chance! Win two Quattro Pro Apple Watch bumper cases [Cult of Mac Giveaway]

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Quattro PRO Apple Watch Bumper Case
Combined with a custom watch face, the Quattro Pro case and band gives your Apple Watch a vintage Casio look.
Photo: Elkson

You might make your Apple Watch look like a retro Casio with our giveaway this week. Four lucky winners will receive not one but two Quattro Pro Apple Watch bumper cases from Elkson. That’s one to keep and one to give to a friend.

The Quattro Pro bumper case combines a sturdy strap with a protective case to guard your Apple Watch from bumps and scrapes. If you worry about your Apple Watch and want to protect it in style, be sure to enter this giveaway.

iOS 15 is boring … and that’s a good thing [Cult of Mac Magazine 406]

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Cult of Mac Magazine: iOS 15 is boring (and that's a good thing).
After using the iOS 15 betas, we're actually thrilled with the lack of major changes.
Cover: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

Sweeping change is overrated, especially when it comes to something you use every day — like your iPhone.

It’s true that this year’s iOS update doesn’t bring a ton of mind-blowing new features. But when you’re trying to execute a simple task, sometimes you don’t want your mind blown. You want “it just works” … or maybe “it just works the way I’m already comfortable with.”

iOS 15’s iterative changes indicate just how mature the iPhone is. And that’s a very good thing. That’s the gist of Cult of Mac writer Ed Hardy’s reasoning. Get his full take in the cover story of this week’s edition of Cult of Mac Magazine. It’s free on iPad or iPhone. And it’s got this week’s top Apple news, reviews and how-tos.

‘Boring’ iOS 15 shows just how far iPhone has come

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‘Boring’ iOS 15 shows just how far iPhone has come
iOS 15 brings the many advantages of boredom to the iPhone.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

iOS 15 is kind of boring. It brings some welcome new features, but nothing that will change the way you use your iPhone forever.

Some people might find the lack of earth-shaking new features dull. But the bottom line is, when it comes to something as integral to our daily lives as the way you interact with your iPhone, “boring” is shorthand for “good.”

YouTube relents, allows picture-in-picture video on iPhone

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YouTube Picture in Picture is back. At least for now.
Picture-in-Picture video from YouTube will soon be back for everyone.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

YouTube will reportedly soon allow all iPhone users to watch video from its application in a small window while another app is open. This feature has come and gone several times since Picture in Picture support debuted in iOS 14. Now it’s apparently coming back to stay.

Stopping Apple from preinstalling apps might sound fair, but it’s a bad idea

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choice apples
It's all about the paradox of choice.
Photo: Raquel Martínez/Unsplash CC

As governments around the world scrutinize Apple’s App Store policies, the U.S. Congress is pondering legislation that could stop the company from preinstalling default apps on iPhones.

Apple critics suggest that such a move would level the playing field and give smaller developers a chance to compete. But would it actually benefit consumers, the purported goal of such antitrust legislation?

I’m not sure it would. In fact, it might simply make owning an iPhone a lot less enjoyable.

Get 2021 iPad Pro with 256GB of storage for the same price as 128GB

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2021 iPad Pro has an amazing mini-LED display
The 12.9-inch iPad Pro has a super-fast M1 processor and a gorgeous mini-LED display.
Photo: Apple

The 12.9-inch version of the 2021 iPad Pro is such a hot item that Apple can’t keep it in stock, but that didn’t stop Amazon from having a sale. Buyers can pick up this tablet with 256GB of storage for the same price the 128GB configuration ordinarily sells for.

First-time MacBook fan runs a tight ship, sees M1 on horizon [Setups]

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And now for an M1 Mac and a long arm for the laptop stand.
And now for an M1 Mac and a long arm for the laptop stand.
Photo: KhanathanJr

These days, the M1-processor Macs are calling to a lot of people, and Redditor KhanathanJr is no exception. He’s a first-time MacBook fan wielding a formidable 2019 16-inch MacBook Pro packing an 8-core Intel i9 processor, 16 GB of RAM and a reasonably good graphics card, but … you know.

It may not retain its commanding position in the setup for much longer.

Apple Silicon is driving down Intel’s computer market share

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Apple silicon will power future Mac desktops and laptops
Apple Silicon is good for Apple and its customers. Bad for Intel.
Screenshot: Apple

Intel will experience a big decline in market share in 2022 as Apple further shifts away from Intel processors to Apple Silicon, Digitimes reports. It suggests that Intel will lose close to half its Apple orders this year. This is en route to Apple ditching all its Intel orders in the near future.

Letter Rooms is a canstfiat jumbled-word game for iOS

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Letter Rooms
A vrey fun wrod gmae to snik yuor tteeh itno.
Photo: Klemens Strasser

Looking for a fun brain-teaser this weekend? Look no further than Letter Rooms, a letter-jumblingly fun word game created by award-winning developer Klemens Strasser, maker of Subwords, Asymmetric and Elementary Minute.

The new $1.99 anagram-based game boasts more than 200 puzzles, broken down into a dozen topics — including animals, sports, pop culture, and more. What better way to dust off your mind after lockdown?

Frenzic: Overtime flips fast-paced puzzle action onto Apple Arcade

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‘Frenzic: Overtime’ debuted Friday on Apple Arcade.
Hurry, hurry, hurry. Those Frenzic Industries Power Cores won’t build themselves, you know.
Photo: The Iconfactory

Frenzic: Overtime, an arcade-style puzzle game, is the latest addition to Apple Arcade. Match the colorful pieces and shapes before the clock runs out.

And that’s not all. Game Dev Story+, an updated version of the App Store classic, debuted on Apple’s gaming service on Friday as well.

TSMC is already looking beyond A15 chips to make even smaller, faster processors

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Apple A15 concept
Apple chip manufacturer is looking to the future.
Concept: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is already looking beyond the A15 chip that will come with this year’s iPhone 13. According to a Friday report, the world’s biggest chip fab is “fast advancing” its 4-nanometer and 3-nanometer processes ready for mass manufacturing.

Digitimes reports that TSMC’s 4-nanometer process will move into risk production in the third quarter of 2021. Risk production is a smaller production run of new hardware to sort out any problems. If there are none, TSMC  can then progress to volume production. The same report also claims that TSMC’s 3nm production process will commence volume production in the second half of 2022.

Spotify snaps up AI startup Podz which helps listeners find the perfect podcast

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Podz
Podz launched its "Audio Newsfeed" on iOS in February.
Photo: Podz

As part of the podcasting arms race between tech giant, Spotify has acquired Podz, an AI podcast discovery service for an undisclosed amount of money. Podz generates (or generated) short audio clips that populated a Instagram Stories-style timeline users could flip through to find podcasts they were likely to enjoy listening to.

SurfacePad iPhone 12 case stores credit cards without interrupting MagSafe charging

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Twelve South SurfacePad iPhone 12 case stores credit cards without interrupting MagSafe charging
The SurfacePad wraps an iPhone 12 in leather and provides slots for two cards. All without getting in the way of MagSafe charging.
Photo: Twelve South

The Twelve South SurfacePad is a folio leather wallet case for iPhone 12. It’s designed to hold ID and credit cards and protect the handset’s screen. And it does so without interfering with MagSafe wireless charging.

Dark comedy rules in Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd’s The Shrink Next Door

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First trailer reveals the dark comedy of Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd in ‘The Shrink Next Door’
Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd will play the leads in “The Shrink Next Door,” premiering autumn 2021 on Apple TV+.
Photo: Apple TV+

Apple TV+ gave a first look at a hotly anticipated comedy starring the brilliant Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd. A trailer for The Shrink Next Door premiered on Thursday, and the streaming service revealed that the limited series will debut November 12.

Watch the trailer now for an early glimpse:

AppleCare+ for MacBooks just got more affordable

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2016 MacBook Pro with Touch Bar and AppleCare
It now costs less to insure several MacBook models against breakage with AppleCare+.
Photo: Apple

Apple dropped the cost of AppleCare+ breakage insurance plans for MacBooks with the M1 processor by up to $50.

These plans offer deeply-discounted repairs on two accidents for every twelve months of coverage.

Apple awards $5 million to historically Black colleges to train future engineers

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Alabama A&M University
The Carnegie Library on the campus of Alabama A&M University.
Photo: Chris Pruitt/Wikipedia CC

Apple has awarded $5 million in “Innovation Grants” to four historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the United States. Alabama A&M University, Howard University, Morgan State University, and Prairie View A&M University will all receive funds from Apple as part of its $100 million Racial Equity and Justice Initiative.

The money, given over three years, will be used to help prep students for future careers in both hardware technology and silicon chip design. In other words, while there’s no guarantee of this, Apple could be helping provide the training that will up-skill future Cupertino employees. If that pays off, it’s a great investment on Apple’s part, as well as being a positive social contribution.

South Korea could get 400 mini Apple Stores inside LG retail outlets

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LG Electronics might start selling iPhones in its stores.
LG got out of the phone business earlier this year. Now it could start selling iPhones.
Photo: LG Electronics

LG Electronics threw in the towel on manufacturing smartphones earlier this year. Now, according to a new report, it’s considering stocking Apple products in its 400 LG Best Shops stores in South Korea.

The companies supposedly are negotiating for an Apple store-within-a-store setup that will sell iPhones, iPads and Apple Watches. This sounds similar to when Apple set up mini-stores inside CompUSA outlets around the United States in the late 1990s. As with the CompUSA mini-stores, the new LG outlets might be staffed by Apple employees.