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Bruce Springsteen reveals his creative process in Apple TV+ documentary

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Bruce Springsteen ‘Letter To You’ debuts October 23
Bruce Springsteen Letter To You is both an album and an Apple TV+ documentary.
Photo: Apple

The next Bruce Springsteen album Letter To You will debut on the same day as an Apple TV+ documentary offering a behind-the-scenes look at the live studio album’s creation.

In addition, the Letter To You documentary will include full performances from the E Street Band playing songs from the new release.

You won’t believe the crazy camera rigs used to shoot Tiny World

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Tiny World making of: Turns out these tiny frogs are grapplers.
Turns out these tiny frogs are grapplers.
Photo: Apple TV+

New Apple TV+ nature docuseries Tiny World was definitely not shot on iPhone.

Documentarians who captured those pint-size critters’ everyday adventures show off some of their crazy camera rigs in a new behind-the-scenes video. And the photo gear looks absolutely crazy. The clip also shows off some of the incredible footage in the series, which debuted Friday on Apple TV+.

Spotify now lets you search by lyrics just like Apple Music does

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Spotify is adding 2x as many monthly subscribers as Apple Music
There's a new way to search on Spotify.
Photo: Spotify

On Monday, Spotify announced a new feature that lets iOS and Android users hunt for songs by searching for lyrics. This ability has long been built into Apple Music’s feature set. However, now it is available for those using the leading streaming music service by subscribers.

Using the new search by lyrics feature couldn’t be any easier. In the regular search box on the Spotify app, just type the lyric you’re looking for and the song(s) it comes from should pop up in the search results.

Star Wars, Marvel and other Disney movies get free 4K upgrade in iTunes

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Stormtroopers-Fortnite
"These are the 4K upgrades you're looking for."
Photo: Epic Games

An assortment of Disney movies are now available in 4K HDR quality on iTunes. If you’ve not bought them already, the movies can be purchased for the same price as their previous HD counterparts. If you previously purchased the HD version, it will be automatically upgraded to 4K for free.

This includes the Star Wars movies, much of the Marvel catalog, and various Pixar and Disney films — with more being added all the time.

Tim Cook tweets tribute to Steve Jobs on 9th anniversary of his death

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“The Big Night In” was raising funds for charity, and Tim Cook dropped by the help.
Tim Cook remembers his friend and former boss.
Photo: BBC TV

Tim Cook quoted poet Maya Angelou in a tweet commemorating Steve Jobs on Monday, the ninth anniversary of the Apple co-founder’s death.

“A great soul never dies,” Cook’s message reads. “It brings us together again and again.” Cook also added a personal note: “You’re always with us Steve, your memory connects and inspires us every day.”

Meanwhile, on the Apple website, admirers’ remembrances of Jobs flowed across a tribute page.

10 states now use Apple and Google’s contact-tracing API, with more on the way

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iOS 13.7 contact tracing feature: Life-saver, or NSA spy tool?
Several months later, Apple and Google's contact tracing tool is finally gaining momentum.
Photo: Lewis Wallace/Cult of Mac

More than two months after Virginia became the first state to use Apple and Google’s Exposure Notifications API, a total of 10 states now distribute their own contact-tracing apps to fight COVID-19.

The two most recent — New York and New Jersey — launched their apps last week.

New SVP of Worldwide Marketing Greg Joswiak joins Apple’s Leadership page

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Greg Joswiak
Joswiak's bio as it appears on Apple's Leadership page.
Photo: Apple

Apple has updated its Leadership page to officially show Phil Schiller’s replacement by Greg Joswiak as Apple’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing.

Schiller was named an Apple Fellow in August, an honorific title that Apple has given to a handful of top employees over the years. Schiller, who still appears on Apple’s list of leaders, will continue to head up the App Store and appear at Apple Events.

These Apple Fitness+ trainers will whip you into shape [Cult of Mac Magazine 369]

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Are you ready to get in shape from the comfort of your own home?
Are you ready to get in shape from the comfort of your own home?
Cover: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

When Apple Fitness+ arrives later this year, it will live or die on the motivational skills of its talented team of high-energy trainers. Our cover story this week offers introduces you to the pace-setting athletes Apple enlisted to whip us all into shape.

Plus, with iPhone 12 right around the corner, we’ve got more rumors to peruse. And with iOS 14 and watchOS7 already here, we’ve got some timely how-tos. All that good stuff comes wrapped up in this week’s issue of Cult of Mac Magazine. Download it for free and enjoy it on your iOS device, or get the links below.

Apple A14 processor makes iPad Air 4 dramatically faster

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iPad Air 4 launches later this month.
The iPad Air 4 offers a big speed boost over its predecessor.
Photo: Apple

The iPad Air 4 is the first computer of any kind unveiled with the Apple A14 processor. The tablet isn’t out yet, but an early Geekbench 5 benchmark score apparently shows it’s nearly 50% faster than its predecessor.

This bodes well for the iPhone 12, which is also expected to run Apple’s new chip.

Meet the super-fit team behind Apple Fitness+

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Can you keep up with Apple's new team of trainers?
Can you keep up with Apple's new team of trainers?
Photo: Apple

Over the past 12 months, Apple quietly assembled an elite team of fitness trainers from around the world. Bound to secrecy, they’ve been moving across the country to start new lives in Los Angeles, without even being able to tell their friends exactly what they’re up to.

These are the stars of Cupertino’s latest subscription service, Apple Fitness+. It’s the first Apple-branded product to focus so intensely on a handful of individuals. So, as you’d expect, they’re a pretty extraordinary bunch. Let’s meet them!

iPhone can play YouTube videos with Picture in Picture again

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YouTube Picture in Picture is back. At least for now.
Watching a YouTube video in Picture in Picture is back!
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

YouTube once again allows iOS 14 users to watch video from its website in a small window while another application is open. Picture in Picture support had been removed several weeks ago for iPhone users who aren’t a YouTube Premium subscriber.

This only includes video streamed from Safari. Google’s YouTube application has never supported Picture in Picture.

Take a ridiculously long sword on a Slash Quest on Apple Arcade

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‘Slash Quest’ slashed onto Apple Arcade on Friday
Getting used to a talking sword that keeps growing and growing is part of the fun of Slash Quest.
Photo: Noodlecake/Apple

Slash Quest is a hero’s journey where the sword is the hero. Shep the simple shepard is just along for the ride as Swordie the talking sword sets off on a quest to save the Queendom.

Slash Quest from Noodlecake debuted Friday on Apple Arcade.

You can no longer downgrade to launch version of iOS 14 if you already updated

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Stop the madness
You can't go back again.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

If you upgraded to iOS or iPadOS 14.0.1, it’s no longer possible to downgrade to the earlier, launch version of iOS 14. Apple stopped signing the original iOS 14, thereby stopping users from installing it on their devices.

Apple introduced iOS 14.0.1 last week. The first update to iOS 14, it introduced a bug fix to a problem that kept users from permanently selecting a new email app or web browser.

On the Rocks debuts in theaters, 3 weeks ahead of Apple TV+ release

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First
Rashida Jones and Bill Murray star in On the Rocks, an upcoming Apple TV+ movie by director Sofia Coppola.
Photo: Apple TV+/A24

On the Rocks, the Apple Originals movie co-produced with A24, debuts in select theaters today, ahead of its debut on Apple TV+ later this month.

The movie reunites director Sofia Coppola with star Bill Murray for the first time since their brilliant 2003 movie Lost in Translation, which won an original screenplay Oscar for Coppola and received an acting nomination for Murray.

App Store pulled in a massive $19 billion in Q3, nearly double Google Play

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App Store graphic
The App Store is a massive economic engine in its own right.
Photo: Apple

Despite far fewer installs than the Google Play app store, Apple’s iOS App Store raked in $19 billion to Google’s $10.3 billion in the third quarter of 2020, according to a new report by Sensor Tower.

Overall spending grew 32 percent in the quarter across both platforms. Meanwhile, overall installs increased 23.3 percent to a total of 36.5 billion. These record-breaking numbers likely had a lot to do with the coronavirus pandemic, which shut down large parts of the economy, but caused a spike in interest for developers while people were stuck home.

PSA: Tiny World debuts on Apple TV+, new episodes of Tehran, more

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An Apple TV+ documentary called ‘Tiny World’ debuted this autumn.
Tiny World on Apple TV+ looks at some of Earth’s smallest creatures.
Photo: Apple

Apple TV+ wildlife documentary series Tiny World landed on the streaming service Friday, alongside multiple new episodes of current shows.

In addition to all six episodes of Tiny World — which is narrated by everyone’s favorite actor, Paul Rudd — Apple TV+ viewers also can enjoy new episodes of acclaimed spy drama Tehran and the Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman travel series Long Way Up. Friday also brings the season finale of hit comedy Ted Lasso.

Will Apple’s Oct. 29 earnings call bring another pandemic miracle?

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Apple Q4 2020 earnings on Oct. 29: When it comes to Apple earnings, CEO Tim Cook seems to have a reality-distortion field of his own.
When it comes to Apple earnings, CEO Tim Cook seems to operate a reality distortion field of his own.
Photo illustration: Cult of Mac

When Apple holds its fiscal Q4 2020 earnings call on Oct. 29, can the company deliver another pandemic miracle?

We’ll all find out at 2 p.m. Pacific that day, when Apple live-streams its earnings call. (Actually, we’ll undoubtedly find out a half-hour earlier than that, when Cupertino issues its press release outlining its quarterly results).

Following last quarter’s record-setting results, Wall Street will be waiting with bated breath to see if Apple once again found a way to spin gold amid the economic disaster caused by COVID-19.

This desk has a minimalism level of over 9,000 [Setups]

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MacBook Pro Setup
No clutter equals no distractions.
Photo: u/TDMarsh

Tyler Marsh has a setup that would make even Marie Kondo proud. He has nothing on his desk besides a couple of family photos and a scented candle, which both spark joy.

The linchpin of Marsh’s rig is an LG 34-inch UltraWide Curved Monitor. It’s the only thing in the setup that isn’t minimalist. He uses the massive screen to run a 2017 MacBook Pro for personal use. He also has a Lenovo ThinkPad T480 14-inch Business Laptop as his work machine.