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EU may force Apple to open contactless payment tech to rival services

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Square Terminal could help more businesses accept Apple Pay.
At least, if the European Union laws are as expected.
Photo: Square

Apple Pay may wind up being just one of several mobile payments services available on the iPhone if the European Union gets its way, Bloomberg reported Friday.

The report claims that the EU is weighing up new rules that would compel companies like Apple to open up the NFC (Near Field Communication) tech in its smartphones and watches to rival players. That could mean that Apple Pay isn’t the only option for customers who want to pay for products with their Apple device.

Marble Knights rolls onto Apple Arcade

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‘Marble Knights’ brings rolling fun to Apple Arcade
Marble Knights mixes game genres, and supports multiplayer action.
Photo: WayForward/Apple

The latest addition to Apple’s gaming service is a rare multi-player title. Marble Knights lets up to four people at once roll together through a sword-swinging adventure.

TikTok faces App Store ban in US starting this Sunday

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U.S. investigations of TikTok gather steam.
Unless the Oracle deal is signed-off by President Trump, that is.
Photo: Kon Karampelas/Unsplash CC

Unless a last-minute deal is agreed, President Trump is going to ban ultra-popular Chinese apps TikTok and WeChat from the U.S. starting Sunday, the Department of Commerce announced Friday.

TikTok is consistently the most downloaded non-gaming app in the world. In the U.S., it currently has around 100 million monthly users. WeChat, while nowhere near as big in the U.S., is China’s most important app and widely used by many Chinese-Americans to communicate with friends and family back home.

Apple continues to rethink supply chain to get around US-China tensions

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Apple's relationship with Foxconn on the rocks
Tim Cook speaking with a person on the iPhone production line.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s division of its supply chain into one part aimed at the China market and the other aimed at the rest of the world continues apace. The goal? Helping Apple get around rumbling trade tensions between the United States and China.

According to a Friday report from Digitimes, Apple is giving more orders to Chinese firms Luxshare Precision and BYD for the Apple Watch Series 6 and Wi-Fi iPad series, respectively.

Apple TV+ series See resumes production next month

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See featurette asks how Apple TV+ show crafted a world without sight
See was one of the first Apple TV+ shows.
Photo: Apple

The Jason Mamoa-starring Apple TV+ post-apocalyptic drama series See will resume shooting its second season next month, according to a report from Deadline.

Season two of the show will reportedly resume filing on October 14 in Toronto. Filming will continue (unless there’s another COVID-prompted shutdown) through March 2021.

PSA: Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman’s Long Way Up debuts on Apple TV+

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‘Long Way Up’ premiers on Apple TV+ on September 18
Long Way Up is just a couple of guys out for a 13,000 mile ride.
Photo: Apple

Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman travel across South and Central America on electric Harley-Davidson motorcycles in new Apple TV+ series Long Way Up.

Apple debuted the first three episodes of the road-tripping series Friday, with subsequent episodes being released every Friday.

This is The Orville special-effects quarantine battlestation

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Mac Pro setup
A setup built for a pro.
Photo: Brandon Fayette

Brandon Fayette is VFX supervisor for The Orville, Hulu’s hilarious Star Trek-esque sci-fi comedy show from Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane. Since screen space is vital to Fayette, he runs a triple-monitor rig.

The headliner is a Dell 49-inch UltraSharp Monitor. Its 32:9 aspect ratio means that he needs to find a wide panoramic pic for his screen saver. Next to the UltraSharp, Fayette uses a Wacom Cintiq 27QHD 27-inch monitor. This uber-precise monitor boasts a 2560 x 1440 pixel resolution, which is four times the pixel density of a standard HDTV.

Fayette’s third monitor is an Eizo CG277-BK 27-inch ColorEdge Professional Monitor. With its amazing image quality, it was specifically designed for professional colorists.

Deciding between iPad Air 4 and iPad Pro could be a real struggle

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iPad Air 4 vs. 2020 iPad Pro vs. iPad 8
Apple’s current lineup of tablets offers a lot of overlap in features.
Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac

The newly announced iPad Air 4 is going to make choosing a tablet harder. It borrows so many features from the 2020 iPad Pro models that many who might have gone for one of Apple’s professional tablets should choose this new model instead. But certainly not everyone.

Here’s how these devices compare, with the newly-unveiled iPad 8 thrown in for good measure.

Animated kids’ series Doug Unplugs and Stillwater premiering on Apple TV+ this autumn

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‘Stillwater’ seems to have a very Zen vibe to it.
Stillwater on Apple TV+ will teach kids life skills.
Photo: Apple

Coming soon to Apple’s streaming service are two animated shows for children. Doug Unplugs is from DreamWorks Animation and based on a successful book series about a young robot. And Stillwater, which is also based on a book series, stars a very wise giant panda.

Apple TV+ also revealed on Thursday that the second seasons of its children’s shows Ghostwriter and Helpsters will both premiere in October.

Apple Watch SE and Series 6 first impressions: Time for an upgrade?

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Apple Watch SE is only $279
Solid upgrades to an already great smartwatch.
Screenshot: Apple

Ahead of the new Apple Watch units finding their way onto users’ wrists, the initial “first impressions” reviews have hit the internet. While they’re not deep dives into the Apple Watch Series 6 and Apple Watch SE (users got to try them out for 24 hours), they still provide a sense of how they’re being received.

So what do the lucky individuals Apple sent an early review unit to have to say about them? Read on to find out.

Users won’t have to wait for Apple Watch Series 6’s blood oxygen sensor

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The Apple Watch Series 6 Blood Oxygen app lets you measure oxygen saturation in just 15 seconds.
The blood oxygen sensor on the new Apple Watch is big news.
Photo: Apple

Buyers won’t need to wait to use Apple Watch Series 6’s marquee feature: a blood oxygen sensor. The Blood Oxygen app should be available from day one in the United States and many other countries, according to Apple’s list of watchOS 7 features.

That stands in stark contrast to the delay for Apple Watch Series 4’s big health-related feature. People who bought it had to wait quite a few months before the smartwatch’s new ECG feature went live. It switched on in the United States three months after the device shipped, and users elsewhere had to wait even longer.

Apple One subscription isn’t fazed by different Apple IDs for Apple Music and iCloud

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An Apple One bundle might be announced in September. Or October.
Apple One is the Amazon Prime-style bundle for all your services in one.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

The Apple One subscription bundle service promises to make your monthly Apple subs easier by rolling them into a simple, one-off payment. But what if your existing subscriptions, such as Apple Music and iCloud accounts, are tied to different Apple IDs?

Fortunately, Apple’s longest-serving employee, Chris Espinosa, says that poses no problem. “It manages that,” he wrote in response to a question on Twitter. “I just double-checked.”

Mark Zuckerberg isn’t interested in AR glasses that are like ‘an Apple Watch on your face’

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Apple Glass
Zuck's comments sound like a shot at Apple's plans.
Image: Jon Prosser/Front Page Tech

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took a low-key shot at Apple’s AR plans in a new interview with The Verge, saying that he’s not enthusiastic about “putting an Apple Watch on [his] face.”

While Zuck was talking more broadly about augmented reality glasses, the fact that he called out Apple Watch (and the fact that Apple is the highest profile company reportedly working on AR glasses) makes it pretty clear which direction he’s throwing his shade.

Apple Watch deal with Singapore government will pay people to live healthier lives

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save Apple Watch 6
Users can earn $280 in rewards for participating in the program.
Photo: Apple

Apple Watch can help you get fit and live a healthier lifestyle. However, most of us have to pay for the honor. Things work a bit differently in Singapore, thanks to a new deal between Apple and the Singaporean government.

The program will hand out up to $280 in rewards for those who complete tasks on a dedicated app. Because, while good health is its own reward, who’s going to turn down some extra goodies?

Artists rejoice: Adobe Illustrator for iPad launches in October

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Adobe Illustrator for iPad will debut in late October 2020
Adobe Illustrator for iPad will let artists draw with an Apple Pencil.
Photo: Adobe

An iPad version of the Adobe Illustrator professional drawing tool is scheduled to launch next month. The desktop vector graphic design app has been “reimagined” for iPad, according to Adobe.

The application is available for pre-order starting on Wednesday.

AppleCare+ covers far more damage than it used to

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AppleCare provides extended insurance for so many Apple products.
All these Apple products can be protected with AppleCare+.
Photo: Apple

Apple just made its AppleCare+ breakage insurance cover more accidents. In some cases, twice and even three times as many.

The program now offers deeply-discounted repairs on two accidents for every twelve months of coverage. Previously, it only covered a total of two repairs.

iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 bring new features to iPhone, iPad

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The wait is almost over for iOS 14 and iPadOS 14.
The wait is over for both iOS 14 and iPadOS 14,
Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac

Apple released the full version of iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 on Wednesday. iPhone owners get Home screen widgets and a new way to organize their devices. And iPad owners get handwriting recognition and new drawing tools.

While reports indicate not everyone has access to the new versions yet, Apple says it released them at 1 p.m. Pacific time. The Golden Master versions of these upgrades went out to beta testers Tuesday.

Apple One is the Prime-style bundle that will lock us into Apple services

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Amazon Prime video
Can Apple follow the Amazon Prime formula?
Photo: Morning Brew/Unsplash CC

Apple One, which bundles several of the company’s vaunted services together, is a genius move. At best, it saves you money. At worst, it looks like it does.

I think it’s going to be a massive hit for Apple, and will provide a much-needed boost for struggling services like Apple News+ and Apple Arcade. However, it might cause some big headaches in Cupertino, too.

Leaks give us first uninspiring look at AirPods Studio headphones

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AirPods Studio will apparently look much like this.
Apple’s is prepping a pair of over-the-ear headphones, possibly as part of phasing out its Beats brand.
Render: Jon Prosser/cconceptcreator

After months of near quiet, a images and even video leaked out supposedly showing Apple’s first over-the-ears headphones, possibly called AirPods Studio.

If real, these show the headphones will have a squarish design, with curved edges and corners.

New Apple ads reveal the glories of iPad Air 4, Apple Watch Series 6 and more

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One of the new Apple ads is for the iPad Air 4
One of the. new Apple ads shows a quirky use for the iPad Air 4.
Screenshot: Apple

Apple lets its new devices strut in a series of video ads. The iPad Air 4 goes through its paces, with an emphasis on Apple Pencil features. And the Apple Watch Series 6 gets an introductory video, too. Plus, there are two more about Apple Watch in general.

Watch all these videos now:

PSA: New iPad Air 4 compatible with most 11-inch Pro accessories

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iPad Pro cases will fit new iPad Air 4
Logitech's Folio Touch for iPad Pro works with iPad Air, too.
Photo: Logitech

Picking up a new iPad Air next month? If you’re switching from a 11-inch iPad Pro, you will be pleased to know that most of your existing accessories should work just fine with your new tablet.

Both devices are almost identical in size, with the new iPad Air being ever so slightly thicker than the iPad Pro. Unless you have an incredibly tight-fitting case, you shouldn’t have any compatibility issues.

Apple: Epic wanted a fight to revive declining interest in Fortnite

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Epic Games mocked Apple with a ‘1984’ parody.
Fortnite maker Epic and Apple have been battling since August.
Screenshot: Epic Games

Apple likens Epic Games’ current predicament, shut out of the App Store, to the company having “started a fire, and poured gasoline on it,” and now requesting help from the court to put it out.

Apple’s lawyers are referencing Fortnite maker Epic’s recent claims that it is suffering major harm by being blocked from the App Store. Then Apple really puts the boot in.

Listen to Steve Jobs hype up the NeXT Computer in 1988

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One of the launch ads for the NeXT Computer.
One of the launch ads for the NeXT Computer.
Image: NeXT

Most Apple fans have heard Steve Jobs’ introduction of the original 1984 Macintosh. But far fewer are familiar with the initial public demonstrations of the NeXT Computer, the first of two NeXT machines Jobs launched during his years outside Apple.

However, 32 years down the line, an audio recording of one such speech, from the Boston Computer Society, has shown up online. Check it out.

Apple Watch is now eligible for 0% Apple Card financing

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Next Apple Watch Activity challenge will take place on Veterans Day
You can now pay for your Apple Watch in monthly installments
Photo: Ian Fuchs/Cult of Mac

The same day that Apple unveiled the Apple Watch Series 6 and Apple Watch SE, the company expanded its 0% Apple Card financing service to cover its line of smartwatches.

Apple launched its 0% Apple Card financing option for iPhone back in December. This June, it expanded it to cover Mac, iPad, AirPods Pro, AirPods, and Apple Pencil — although Apple Watch was strangely MIA.

5 big takeaways from Apple’s September ‘Time Flies’ event

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The Apple September event had everything you could want
Important new products and services were all highlights of the Apple “Time Flies” September event.
Photo illustration: Cult of Mac/Apple

Apple executives took to virtual stages on Tuesday to unveil a parade of important new products at its “Time Flies” event. The much-anticipated Apple Watch made its debut, and a cheaper version too. And the iPad Air got a massive upgrade. Plus, there are new services and more.

Here’s why you shouldn’t overlook anything Apple just announced.