The battle over the App Store rages on. Photo: Apple
The Coalition for App Fairness, a group of developers targeting what they claim is Apple’s unfair control of the App Store, has more than doubled in size since its formation last month.
According to a new report, the original group of 13 companies — which included the likes of Epic Games and Spotify — has now increased to 40, with another 400 requests to join.
Get yours before they're all gone! Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
If the newest Apple Watch models are a little too pricey for you, check out Amazon’s latest deal on Apple Watch 3. You can pick up brand-new units for as little as $169.
Good for charging and accessories. Bad for hotel cards, though. Photo: Apple
The magnetic back for the new iPhone 12 and 12 Pro models won’t damage your credit cards, although you may want to keep it away from direct contact with single use magnetic stripe cards, such as the swipe cards used in hotels.
That’s according to Kaiann Drance, Vice President of iPhone Marketing at Apple, who is interviewed in the latest “Rich on Tech” podcast.
Elkson’s brilliant Quattro bumper case, which keeps your shiny new Apple Watch looking brand-new, is now available in green for the first time. Bag yours today from the Cult of Mac Store for just $11.99.
Packaging up Apple's new devices for eager customers. Photo: Apple
It’s a big day for Apple fans as the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro with 5G have gone on sale, alongside the iPad Air 4 — marking a trio of devices with the new, breakthrough A14 chip.
As preorders arrive and Apple Stores open with the new handsets and tablet, Apple shared some images of satisfied customers, along with fulfillment workers gearing up to dispatch the new iPhones and iPads to stores.
Bill Murray and director Sofia Coppola reunite for On the Rocks. Photo: Apple TV+
It’s a packed Friday for Apple TV+ with the debut of Sofia Coppola’s movie On The Rocks, plus a new episode of Tehran and Long Way Up. There’s also the new Bruce Springsteen documentary Letter to You, which was due to debut Friday, but wound up debuting Thursday after a tweet sent out by The Boss (and, no, we don’t mean Tim Cook).
Here’s what to expect from this week’s new arrivals.
Scarlett Johansson is probably best known as Black Widow, but she’ll also star in Bride on Apple TV. Screenshot: Marvel
Scarlett Johansson reportedly will take the lead in an Apple TV+ film. Bride will be about a creation designed to be the perfect wife. And what happens when she rejects the role.
Oscar-winner Sebastián Lelio will direct the film.
The Uptown Apple Store in Minneapolis didn’t survive multiple blows from 2020. Photo: Apple
The Uptown Apple Store in Minneapolis closed its doors for good. Though it might be more accurate to say the store won‘t reopen, as it’s been shuttered to the public since March due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
That didn’t stop the store from being damaged by rioters in May after the death of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. 2020 has been just extra hard on it.
Zagg Pro Keys has a design that puts it head-to-head with the Apple Smart keyboard. Photo: Zagg
Zagg Pro Keys is a keyboard case for those who want to use their iPad as both a slender tablet and a laptop. There are versions for the new iPad Air 4 and iPad 8.
In addition, the Zagg Pro Stylus debuted on Thursday. It sports two tips, making it a competitor for the Apple Pencil as well as basic capacitive styli.
Halide Mark II sports a new UI intended to make the camera software easier to use and more powerful. Photo: Lux Optics
Halide Mark II brings a significant revamp to a popular alternative camera application for the iPhone. The developer redesigned the software to make it even easier to use for beginners. But it also comes with professional-grade features built in, like new tools for working with RAW images.
In the words of Ron Burgundy, “That escalated quickly.” A day after short-form video streamer Quibi pivoted from a mobile-only approach to launch an Apple TV app, the beleaguered service announced it will shut down for good.
What lesson can we learn from Quibi’s glitzy, high-profile launch, only to crash and burn six months later? That the slow-but-steady, tortoise-like Apple TV+ strategy looks smarter than ever.
There’s a new AirPods audio test tool for Apple techs. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Apple techs will reportedly use a new bit of kit to evaluate AirPods. The audio test tool will determine if a pair of earbuds have an actual problem, or if the problem is in the ears of their wearer.
Season two of Apple TV+’s creepy M. Night Shyamalan series Servant will debut on January 15, the famed director tweeted Thursday.
The first season was among the initial wave of shows that debuted on Apple TV+ in November 2019. It seems likely that the second season would have been due to begin about now, but shooting was put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic shutting down filming.
The Apple TV app is coming to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, Sony revealed Thursday.
According to Sony, the Apple TV app will join Disney+, Netflix, Spotify, Twitch and YouTube as streaming services that will be available when the PS5 ships on November 12. (Amazon Prime Video, MyCanal, Hulu, Peacock, and others are also coming soon.)
Apple threw around some money in the last quarter. Photo: Pixabay/Pexels CC
Apple spent $1.56 million on lobbying fees in the third quarter of 2020, a new report reveals.
Apple directed seven lobbyists to influence the *deep breath* U.S. Senate, House of Representatives, Patent and Trademark Office, Department of Defense, Federal Communications Commission, Treasury Department, Health & Human Services, U.S. Trade Representative, State Department, Homeland Security, Office of Management & Budget, National Institute of Standards & Technology, and Executive Office of the President.
Apple doesn’t reveal too many numbers about Apple TV+, which can make it difficult to gauge which shows are the streaming service’s biggest hits.
Most of the time, the best you can do is use anecdotal evidence, such as what people are talking about on Twitter, or extrapolate the number of Rotten Tomatoes reviews to get a sense of which shows are the getting the most attention.
However, Reelgood, which describes itself as the “most extensive movie and TV streaming search engine with more than 2 million monthly active users in the United States,” thinks it’s going a more accurate idea. It’s produced a chart showing date about Apple TV+’s top-performing TV shows for the past three months. Check it out.
Jony Ive, the man who once designed the iPhone, Mac and iPad, is now doing design work for Airbnb. Photo: Apple
Sir Jony Ive, who once headed up the design of all Apple hardware and software, is now working on future Airbnb products. His design company, LoveFrom, will collaborate over the next several years with the vacation rental service.
Quibi, the mobile-first streaming video service that launched at the worst possible time, is shutting down, according to The Wall Street Journal. The report came Wednesday, just days after Quibi launched an Apple TV app so subscribers could enjoy its bite-size videos on the big screen.
In general, Apple is good company. But some policies make it look a bit malevolent. These need to go. Composite: Cult of Mac/Mitja Juraja/Pexels CC
Apple must avoid following a path blazed by Google. Years ago, the search giant touted its “don’t be evil” policy. But somewhere along the line, Google lost track of that — and ended up getting sued Tuesday by the Justice Department.
Apple, which faces similar scrutiny by a variety of governmental bodies, has a chance now to drop some of its questionable policies. If it doesn’t, Cupertino could end up facing its own lawsuit(s).
The encouraging news is, Apple is mostly a good company, so a few tweaks now could easily head off much larger adjustments down the line. Court-ordered changes — like a forced sale of the App Store — could prove painful.
Here’s why Apple needs its own “don’t be evil” policy, along with some concrete steps Cupertino can take to prove that it’s actually a force for good in the world.
Discover how an unsuccessful rock band went on to become hugely influential in the Velvet Underground documentary on Apple TV+. Photo: Apple
Apple TV+ is carving out a niche of musical documentaries. It’s latest project is The Velvet Underground. This will be, of course, about the 1960s band that found little success in its day, but went on to be hugely influential.
In France, the Apple Store keeps giving free headphones with every new iPhone sold this autumn. Screenshot: Apple
The Apple Store stopped bundling free headphones with all new iPhones sold this autumn. But that’s not true in France. In that one country, buyers still get a pair of EarPods with their purchase… in a relatively enormous box.
But French consumers don’t get a wall charger in the box. That’s true for every iPhone buyer.
Make Gmail your iOS 14 default email app and it still won‘t stick. Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
Another significant bug has been found in iOS 14’s ability to change the default web browser and email applications. If third-party apps are chosen, they’ll stop being the defaults when an new version is installed.
The same problem apparently affects tablets running iPadOS 14.
The iPad Air 4 offers a big speed boost over its predecessor. Photo: Apple
Apple’s iPad Air 4 will make its way into the hands of customers this Friday. Ahead of that date, embargoes on the first wave of “first impression” reviews have lifted.
The TL;DR conclusion? That this could well be Apple’s best tablet yet.
There are plenty of ways to buy a new iPhone or iPad, including new Shopping Sessions. Photo: Apple
Thanks to COVID-19, the idea of queuing up for an iPhone, huddling up with other people eager to get their hands on the latest Apple smartphone, seems like the stuff of another lifetime in 2020.
To ensure that as many people as possible can get the iPhone 12, 12 Pro or iPad Air 4 when they launch this week, Apple’s issued a press release Wednesday detailing the myriad ways would-be customers can give the company their hard-earned cash.
Tim Cook seems really excited about 5G. Should you be? Photo: Apple
The new iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro bring 5G to Apple’s smartphones for the first time. But it comes at a cost to your battery.
In the first published battery tests, Tom’s Guide tested the new iPhones on both 4G and 5G, running both on the same screen brightness and loading up new sites every 30 seconds until they ran out of battery. Their conclusion? That 5G usage has a pretty major impact on battery life.