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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
Enjoy one of Amazon’s biggest discounts yet on the newest AirPods with a Wireless Charging Case. You can get yours, brand-new, for just $151. That’s $48 off the usual price for a limited time only.
Apple is giving Snoopy his own animated comedy. As part of the 70th anniversary of Peanuts, Charlie Brown’s imaginative beagle and his pal Woodstock will be the stars of The Snoopy Show.
Watch the just-released trailer now.
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.
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.
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.
Once the crown jewel in Apple’s treasure chest, the iPod continues its slow march to the end. This week, the last generation iPod nano, which debuted with new color options in 2015, officially debuted on Apple’s “vintage” list.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A Canadian company that had agreed to disassemble and recycle iPhones, iPad, and Apple Watches allegedly sold over 100,000 of them instead. Geep admitted the products were sold not recycled, but blames the theft on three of its employees.
While Home screen widgets came to iPad first, the release of iOS 14 offered iPhone users much more flexibility in widget placement. A concept designer showed what iPadOS 15 could look like with the same flexibility.
Microsoft unveiled a faster version of the Surface Pro X on Thursday. This updated tablet/laptop has an improved version of the Arm-based processor that debuted in the original last autumn. Performance of first-generation model didn’t impress reviewers or power users. Hence the new iteration.
The Surface Pro X competes head-to-head with Apple’s iPad Pro line. Both even use similar processors.
Apple is working on a solution for the biggest drawback of folding displays. The first generation of foldable handsets made by rival companies develop a crease where the screen bends, but Apple engineers want to put a bendable display that includes a self-healing material in a folding iPhone.
San Francisco-based graphic designer Traf was one of the first to jump on the idea of creating high-quality icons for iOS 14 users to customize their Home screens — and he’s reaping the benefits.
In a new blog post, Traf writes that it took him just six days to rack up 3,626 sales of his stunning monochrome icon set. Because he charged $28 for them, he made $101,528 — officially passing the six-figure mark.
Here’s a slightly crazy statistic: Gamers around the world have spent a combined 10.4 million years playing Fortnite, according to a new report. That’s considerably longer than the 6 million years humans have been around in some form.
In total, the top 10 games played online have been played for some 19.2 million years. World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Grand Theft Auto V and Witcher 3 make up the rest of the top five.
Apple’s default apps could potentially be banned from coming preinstalled on new iPhone and iPads in Europe, according to draft European Union legislation.
The so-called Digital Services Act is intended to level the playing field for smaller companies wanting to compete with “gatekeeper platforms” (aka tech giants). The EU currently has two investigations into the App Store and one into Apple Pay.
TikTok may be facing a possible extinction-level event in the U.S., but that’s not stopping its worldwide success as the popular video-sharing app just racked up yet another month as the world’s most downloaded social media app.
According to analytics firm Sensor Tower, TikTok enjoyed 63.4 million installs worldwide in August 2020. That’s up 1.7 percent from August the previous year. TikTok was the no. 1 social media app in the App Store, Google Play store, and — unsurprisingly — both combined.
Since the days of the PlayStation 2’s in-built DVD player, for many people their games console has been the primary media hub for their TV. Despite this, Apple TV+ is not currently available on the top games platforms.
That may soon change, according to reports that claim that Apple is supposedly working with Microsoft and Sony to introduce its Apple TV app to Xbox and PlayStation.