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iPhone 12 will come in a 64GB storage option after all

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These iPhone 12 dummy units show what the real handset might look like.
According to Jon Prosser, iPhone 12 event will take place October 13.
Photo: Marques Brownlee

Don’t bid farewell to the 64GB storage option for the iPhone just yet! According to Apple leaker Jon Prosser, the 5.4-inch iPhone 12 mini and 6.1-inch iPhone 12 will come in 64GB, 128GB and 256GB options.

Previously, Prosser suggested the 2020 iPhones would start at 128GB. 64GB has been the lowest standard storage configuration for Apple smartphones since the iPhone 8 and iPhone X in 2017. However, there will be no 64GB iPhone 12 Pro.

Quick and easy game demo shows why iOS 14’s App Clips are so cool

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App Clip
Apple’s Craig Federighi says that iOS 14’s App Clips are an easy way to discover more of what the App Store has to offer.
Screenshot: Apple

App Clips, a signature feature of iOS 14, lets you quickly run a lightweight version of an application without actually installing it. If that capability leaves you scratching your head about what, exactly, App Clips would be good for, a hot new game demo shows the appeal of this powerful feature.

Simply visit the webpage for Phoenix 2 using Safari on a device running iOS 14 or iPadOS 14. Then tap on the big Play button, and start gaming. The process takes less than 10 seconds, and you’re in the game. (Note: It does not work if you are running Safari in Private Browsing mode.)

If you decide you’re not interested, just close the demo and it’s gone. There’s nothing to uninstall because Phoenix 2 was never on your iPhone or iPad. It was just an App Clip.

Apple TV+ reels in another star with music doc Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry

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Documentary
The world's a little blurry, and so is this photo of Billie Eilish.
Photo: Apple TV+

Apple TV+ just landed another star for its ever-growing galaxy. The service will stream upcoming documentary Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry in February 2021, the same month the film makes its theatrical premiere.

The “highly anticipated documentary” is being produced by Apple Original Films and directed by R.J. Cutler, Apple said in a press release Monday. Cutler made a name for himself with documentaries The War Room and The September Issue as well as TV shows American High and Nashville.

Apple explains the secret sauce that makes Scribble so great in iPadOS 14

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Scribble in iPadOS 14 was developed with machine learning.
Scribble in iPadOS 14 recognizes how you write, not only what you write.
Photo: Apple

Scribble handwriting recognition in iPadOS 14 is a more complex system than many might realize. Identifying letters and words goes beyond simply examining what someone has written. The iPad uses machine learning to recognize the writer’s intent through how they write, according to Craig Federighi, Apple’s SVP of software engineering.

Roku players gain AirPlay 2 streaming and HomeKit capabilities

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Roku with Apple AirPlay 2 support — finally!
With AirPlay 2, an iPhone can easily stream video to a large TV. And it’s coming to Roku.
Photo: Apple

Roku players will soon support AirPlay 2, Apple’s wireless video streaming technology. This will allow an iPhone, iPad or Mac user to share content directly to a supported Roku device.

In addition, Roku announced a new iOS app, and upcoming support for Apple’s home automation system.

Apple TV+ will be home to Russo brothers’ first movie since Avengers: Endgame

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Cherry novel
Could this be the first Apple TV+ movie to win an Oscar?
Photo: Alfred A. Knopf

Apple has continued its winning ways when it comes to acquiring A-list movie properties by snapping up worldwide rights to the first movie made by the Russo brothers since Avengers: Endgame, a.k.a. the highest grossing movie of all time.

Called Cherry, the movie stars Tom Holland and Ciara Bravo in what are being touted as incredibly impressive acting performances. The movie is an adaptation of a bestselling 2018 novel by Nico Walker.

Here’s the advice Steve Jobs gave the director of Pixar’s The Incredibles

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Incredibles image
The superhero who saved Apple had some advice for selling superheroes to the public.
Photo: Walt Disney/Pixar

Apple and Pixar CEO Steve Jobs had some advice for director Brad Bird when he was making decisions about merchandise on the 2004 movie The Incredibles: “fewer things, better things.”

Bird recalled the advice during a recent online chat with Training Day director Antoine Fuqua (who, incidentally, just had his last movie acquired by Apple). Bird also recalled speaking with Jobs about the Apple Store, around the time the company was busy opening the first ones.

Apple hits pause on charging App Store fees on online events

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International governments plan to rethink tax rules for the ‘digital age’
Apple is freezing commission demands for three months.
Photo: Pixabay/Pexels CC

Apple is giving businesses which host paid events online via the App Store reprieve on having to pay Apple a 30 percent cut.

Apple reversed the policy late last week, although it will reportedly only do so for three months as businesses reel to try and come up with new ways to make money during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Idris Elba is just one of the many DJs to have a new playlist on Apple Music

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Idris Elba inked a deal with Apple TV+.
Not just an actor, Idris Elba is also a talented DJ.
Photo: Green Door Pictures

Feeling like you missed out on proper summer vibes this year due to coronavirus, and it’s now too late to dream of soaking up some beach rays? Apple Music feels your pain, and has some appropriately party playlists to take you back to the 2020 summer vacation that never was. Including one by everyone’s favorite Luther star.

New playlists added to Apple Music include DJ sets from independent dance label Defected Records. One is from recent Glitterbox Virtual Festival and includes the likes of Idris Elba (yes, he DJs as well as acts), Jellybean Benitez, and Boys Noize. The other includes sets from Ibiza in 2019, featuring Roger Sanchez, Gorgon City, Sam Divine.

Judge temporarily blocks Trump administration ban on TikTok

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U.S. investigations of TikTok gather steam.
TikTok's not going anywhere... yet.
Photo: Kon Karampelas/Unsplash CC

The TikTok story has taken another twist as a Washington judge has blocked the Trump administration’s ban on the popular short-form video app. The ban on the Chinese app would have kicked in at 11:59pm on Sunday. TikTok now has a stay of execution until at least November.

US district judge Carl Nichols granted a preliminary injunction to TikTok owners ByteDance. Nichols declined to block additional commerce department restrictions on the app “at this time.”

iPhone Home screens gone wild! [Cult of Mac Magazine 368]

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Home screen themes are definitely a thing now.
Home screen themes are definitely a thing now.
Cover: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

Customizing iPhone Home screens is all the rage right now, thanks to a cool new feature in iOS 14 (and a hacky workaround using the Shortcuts app). See what this new craze is all about, and find out how you can do it yourself, in our top stories this week.

Plus, we might know exactly when to expect next month’s big iPhone event. And don’t miss our Apple Watch Series 6 review.

You will find all that and much more (including reviews of new Apple TV+ series Tehran and Tiny World) in this week’s free issue of Cult of Mac Magazine. Grab it and get to reading!

Survival of the fittest: Can Apple Fitness+ crush the competition?

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Can the competition keep up with Apple Fitness+?
Get ready for a serious workout with Apple Fitness+.
Photo: Apple

Apple Fitness+ will enter a crowded market when the service launches later this year. Established players like Peloton and Adidas already have a significant head start.

But Apple is in great shape to give them a run for their money. Fitness+ is a logical next step for Cupertino. The upcoming service plugs some significant gaps in Apple’s fitness offering while intelligently leveraging the power of its platform to gain an advantage.

After Apple Fitness+ sprints off the starting line, the competition might find itself struggling to keep up.

Before you buy your Apple Watch Series 6, catch our one-week reviews on The CultCast

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CultCast 433
Spoiler alert: We're loving Apple Watch Series 6!
Photo: @YSR50

This week on The CultCast: Don’t miss our one-week reviews of Apple Watch Series 6! We’ll tell you if it’s worth upgrading. Plus: Multiple sources are now confirming a second Apple hardware event coming October 13, where a new “iPhone 12 mini” may be announced — we’ll tell you what we know. And stick around for more Apple stock talk! Erfon reveals what his big investment is worth now, following this month’s depressing AAPL stock plummet, and we’re talking real numbers.

Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. Easily create a beautiful website all by yourself, at Squarespace.com/cultcast. Use offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

New emoji for 2021 will set your heart afire

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The list of new 2021 emoji is short.
Some of the new emoji in iOS 14.5.
Image: Emojipedia

The new emoji set to appear in 2021 will help you express relief or confusion. Or show that your heart’s afire, or that it’s mending.

Those might seem fairly ordinary, but there is something extremely odd about the the list of upcoming emoji: It’s very short. The group responsible for coming up with new emoji picked just seven new designs to debut next year. The reason is simple: COVID-19.

Case stickers appear to confirm ‘iPhone 12 mini’ naming

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These iPhone 12 dummy units show what the real handset might look like.
iPhone 12 will run from mini to Pro Max.
Photo: Marques Brownlee

An image that reportedly shows iPhone case stickers seemingly adds more evidence that Apple will call its smallest iPhone 12 model the “iPhone 12 mini.”

The pictures, posted on Twitter Thursday evening by Apple leaker DuanRui, follow a recent report from @L0vetodream suggesting that this year’s models will be called the iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max.

European Commission will keep fighting in $14.8 billion Apple tax battle

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iPhone with gavel.
Europe isn't throwing in the towel.
Photo: Tingey Injury Law Firm/Cult of Mac

Contrary to reports suggesting otherwise, the European Commission has revealed that it will appeal a recent court decision that went in Apple’s favor concerning a massive $14.8 billion tax bill.

The EC made the tax demand to Apple in 2016, accusing it of benefitting from illegal state aid from Ireland. However, Apple appealed the decision and, in a July hearing, had its objections upheld. Now the EC is asking another court to overturn that verdict.

PSA: Acclaimed spy series Tehran and more debut on Apple TV+

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Tehran is reportedly headed for Apple TV+.
Tehran is a spy thriller starring Israeli actress Niv Sultan.
Photo: Apple

It’s a packed day for Apple TV+ as the service debuted multiple episodes of new shows. The crown jewel of the bunch is Tehran, a new spy series about a Mossad hacker-agent who tries to infiltrate Tehran to destroy Iran’s nuclear reactor.

Apple TV+ dropped the first three episodes of the acclaimed show (check out Cult of Mac‘s effusive review) Friday. New episodes will debut each subsequent week.

Apple snaps up startup that makes finding podcasts more like listening to radio

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iPhone FM radio chips
Why can't finding the right podcast be more like this?
Photo: Alan Levine/Flickr CC

Apple quietly snapped up podcasting app Scout FM, which tries to make podcasting sound more like tuning into radio stations, for an undisclosed amount earlier this year.

Scout FM worked by letting users choose particular topics, then automatically customizing a radio station-like podcasting listening experience for them. It was intended as a way to cut through the findability clutter of hundreds of thousands of available podcasts.

macOS Catalina 10.15.7 squishes a nasty Wi-Fi bug

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Jamf Now macOS Catalina and iOS 13 upgrades
macOS Catalina 10.15.7 takes care of multiple problems that might be bugging you.
Photo: Apple Inc.

Mac users can update their computer on Thursday with macOS Catalina 10.15.7. It’s important for anyone who’s noticed their computer not connecting to Wi-Fi like it ought to. There are no new features.

This might be the last Catalina version before the big macOS Big Sur upgrade gets introduced.

Amazon cloud gaming service heads to Mac and (surprise!) iPhone

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Amazon Luna brings console-quality games to iOS and iPadOS.
Amazon Luna is coming to a variety of devices including, amazingly, iPhone and iPad.
Image: Amazon

Amazon on Thursday unveiled a cloud gaming service that can play console-quality games on mobile devices and a range of other computers. Unlike rival streaming services from Google and Microsoft, Amazon Luna will be available on iPhone and iPad. It’s also coming to Mac.

iOS 14.0.1 fixes a totally annoying iPhone bug

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iOS 14.0.1
iOS 14.0.1 lets you set Gmail as your default email application, and have it actually stick.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Apple released a bug-fix update to iOS 14 on Thursday. iOS 14.0.1 removes a number of problems — most notably, a bug that prevented users from permanently picking a new default email app and web browser. And iPad users get iPadOS 14.0.1 with the same fixes.

There are also bug fix updates out for Final Cut Pro and some of Apple’s other media-production applications for Mac.

Early tests show iPad 8 brings a huge speed boost

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iPad 8 is smarter to help you get smarter.
iPad 8 boasts a significantly faster processor than its predecessor.
Photo: Apple

The new iPad 8 is only a “speed bump” version of the seventh-generation model, but it certainly offers a noticeable increase in performance. Benchmarks show this recently released tablet is about twice as fast as its predecessor.

Coalition for App Fairness unites Spotify, Epic and others to challenge App Store rules

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Coalition for App Fairness
Apple's rivals aren't backing down.
Photo: Coalition for App Fairness

Spotify, Match, and Fortnite developer Epic Games have joined a nonprofit that advocates for regulatory and legal action against Apple for what they claim is it unfair control of the App Store.

Their main objection is the way that Apple charges up to 30 percent for in-app payments. Apple lays out a detailed set of rules which apps must follow in order to be allowed in the App Store.

New braided Lightning cable for iPhone 12 appears in pictures

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These iPhone 12 dummy units show what the real handset might look like.
The new iPhone could come with a more robust charging cable.
Photo: Marques Brownlee

Twitter user @laobaiTD, aka Mr-white, posted images late Wednesday of what he claims is the braided Lightning cable that will come with iPhone 12.

At present, the Mac Pro is the only Apple product to come with a more-durable braided cable, which also provides a premium look. Check out the images of the alleged iPhone 12 cable below.

Big tech analyst thinks Apple could hit $3 trillion in next couple of years

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Money on Unsplash
That's a whole lot of cash.
Photo: Pepi Stojanovski/Unsplash

After seeming to defy the general COVID-19 downturn, tech stocks have taken a dip as of late. Loup Ventures’ tech analyst Gene Munster thinks there is going to be a split in future fortunes — with some soaring back up to previous highs and others, well, not.

Apple, he believes, is going to be a big winner. And from my calculations he thinks it could be just a couple of years from another major financial milestone.