Social distancing and group selfies don’t mix. But Apple might have a solution: the synthetic group selfie. Photo: Apple
Even in the age of social distancing, the group selfie doesn’t have to be an endangered species. For several years, Apple has been investigating automatically merging multiple images into a group selfie.
And now that the company has a patent on the idea, it could be part of iOS 14 or a later version.
The more affordable eGPU is still available ... for now. Photo: Blackmagic/Cult of Mac
Blackmagic today confirmed to Cult of Mac that its eGPU Pro has been discontinued after AMD dropped its Radeon RX Vega 56 graphics chip.
The eGPU Pro was previously available to purchase from Apple before it was removed from the company’s store last week. You can still buy the more affordable Blackmagic eGPU, but it’s out of stock at the moment.
You might have seen pictures of the new Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C., on social media, but it looks even more spectacular from the sky. Check it out today in Apple Maps, which already offers the latest satellite imagery.
Apple hopes the service will boost sales. Photo: Apple
Apple Card users could soon be offered interest-free payment plans for iPad, Mac, AirPods, and more, one report claims.
Sources say Apple is planning to roll out the new service, which will make many of its pricey products more accessible, in the coming weeks. Users will be able to spread the cost of their purchase over as many as 12 months.
The Pro Display XDR delivers crystal-clear quality. Photo: @Canoopsy/Twitter
At the beginning of the year, the owner of this striking setup decided to start from scratch. He abandoned his two-monitor config and went with something more minimal — the impeccable $6,000, 32-inch Apple Pro Display XDR. Thats why, for him, scaling down to one monitor is actually an upgrade.
Over the years, Apple designers came up with plenty of ingenious iMac designs. Cover: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac
Which iMac design stands as the best ever? Apple has unleashed some pretty radical revisions to its all-in-one computer over the years, and we ranked them all.
Find out which iMac came out on top in this week’s free issue of Cult of Mac Magazine. You can download it now from the iOS App Store. It’s stuffed with the latest Apple news, reviews and how-tos (plus some cool new Apple concepts). Or you can read the week’s top stories in the link roundups below.
A new open-source project from Apple seeks to make coding a good password manager easier. Photo: Ian Fuchs/Cult of Mac
Apple on Friday unveiled an open-source project to help third-party developers of password managers work together to create strong passwords that are compatible with popular websites.
The job is clearly more complex than many might suspect.
Apple Watch fall detection can save you if you’re knocked unconscious. Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac
911 services in a suburb of Phoenix reportedly received a call from a computer-generated voice telling them someone had fallen and wasn’t responding. The call came from an Apple Watch that detected its wearer was in trouble. EMTs rushed to the location given by the wearable and found an unconscious man.
Automatically calling for help after a bad fall is a feature of recent watchOS models. But users need be sure Apple Watch fall detection is activated.
Things are looking great for Apple right about now. Illustration: Cult of Mac
Updated: Apple shares closed at a new all-time high of $331.50 Friday as part of a broad market rally fueled by a strong jobs report. Apple stock has now made up all of its coronavirus-induced losses — and then some.
AAPL fell as low as $224.37 on March 23 as the coronavirus-related shutdowns wreaked havoc on the United States economy. Less than 10 days earlier, Apple had temporarily shuttered all of its stores around the world except for those in China. The company had also revised its earning guidance due to the effects of COVID-19.
We already know that video conferencing apps like Zoom are booming as people work from home. But did you know that fitness apps are experiencing a similar golden age while people try and stay in shape (or get into shape for the first time) during lockdown while gyms are closed?
According to app analytics platform Sensor Tower, global downloads of health and fitness apps are already up a massive 47% year-over-year in the second quarter of 2020. And there’s still one month (or a third of the quarter) left on the clock.
Not the healthiest saving, but certainly delicious. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Apple has teamed up with Burger King to offer Apple Pay customers a Crispy Chicken Sandwich for just one single dollar when they place a $10 advance order using the Burger King iOS app and pay with Apple’s mobile payments service.
Starring Oprah Winfrey, Spike Lee, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and, err, Big Bird. Photo: Apple
Dear…, a 10-episode docuseries profiling the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Gloria Steinem, Spike Lee, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Big Bird (!), and others, has debuted on Apple TV+. The show focuses on telling the story of “game-changing icons” and how they have inspired individuals around the world.
All 10 episodes are available to watch today, rather than the one-episode-per-week rollout Apple employs for its top drama series. The executive producer of Dear… is Emmy and Peabody Award-winner R.J. Cutler of The September Issue documentary fame.
2021 iPhone could adopt new LTPO backplane technology. Screenshot: Pallav Raj/ConceptsiPhone
The iPhone 12 isn’t out yet, but already the supply chain is working to develop new OLED screens for next year’s premium iPhones, according to a Friday report from Digitimes.
The screens reportedly will be made with a special low-temperature polycrystalline oxide (LTPO) backplane technology. This could allow Apple to offer screens with a more dynamic refresh rate that consumed less power.
Apple Park is starting to get back to normal. Photo: Duncan Sinfield
Just as it has with reopening Apple Stores, Apple is putting protective measures in place to keep employees safe as they return to Apple Park after lockdown.
These measures include optional COVID-19 swab testing, temperature checks, closed kitchens, social distancing measures, and an insistence on face masks.
Another source suggests iPhone buyers shouldn’t get their hopes up for a September iPhone 12 launch. Photo: svetapple.sk
The CEO of chipmaker Broadcom said on Thursday an unnamed “North American mobile phone customer” won‘t be introducing a “next-generation phone” in the third quarter of this year, as it normally does. The release will occur in the fourth quarter instead.
This statement from Hock Tan is being widely interpreted to mean this iPhone component supplier doesn’t expect the next iOS handset to debut in September, the usual month.
A hidden second screen is the signature feature of the iPhone Slide Pro concept. Photo: iOS Beta News/ ConceptsiPhone
A concept artist proposes Apple make a sliding iPhone, not a folding one. The iPhone Slide Pro boasts a second touchscreen that hides behind the primary one.
There aren’t a huge number of Apple TV+ subscribers now, but that’s going to change. Photo: Apple
Apple‘s streaming video service hasn’t taken the world by storm. But an analyst predicts strong growth in coming years will push Apple TV+ to over 100 million paid subscribers by 2025.
Samik Chatterjee from J.P. Morgan points out the service’s catalogue keeps getting bigger, with Apple willing to invest plenty of money to continue that trend.
The days of the iPhone notch appear to be numbered. Photo: Macotakara
A 3D-printed mockup of an upcoming iPhone apparently shows the handset won’t come with a “notch” at the top of the screen. But it does pack a USB-C port. Both are changes many iPhone users have been hoping for.
Signal is blurring out faces in the app and... reality? Photo: Signal
In its latest update, encrypted mobile messaging app Signal adds tools for blurring faces to better anonymize images. If a face isn’t detected by the tool — or some other piece of sensitive information is included in the image — users can blur areas manually.
Knockoffs were discovered by Pittsburgh Customs and Border Protection officers. Photo: Pittsburgh Customs and Border Protection
Pittsburgh Customs and Border Protection officers seized a shipment of counterfeit AirPods and lightning charging cables over the weekend. The unauthorized knockoffs were part of a much larger collection of thousands of counterfeit goods — including 4,212 fake Roku remotes.
Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade and Apple News+ could all be part of 'Apple Prime.' Photo: Cult of Mac
Apple seemingly hasn’t abandoned its possible plans for an “Apple Prime” service that combines all its subscriptions into one single package. In a report published late Wednesday, 9to5Mac discovered references in the iOS 13.5.5 beta code to a “bundle offer” and “bundle subscription” that didn’t previously exist.
The idea could be to offer a services bundle combination of Apple Music, Apple News+, Apple TV+ and, potentially, Apple Arcade, at a lower price than buying each individually. Whether it happens, of course, is another matter entirely.
Tim Cook's letter addresses "deeply rooted discrimination" in America. Photo: Ohio State University
With the United States reeling after the videotaped death of George Floyd while in police custody, Apple CEO Tim Cook penned an open letter imploring people to “stand together” and acknowledge the reality of racism and “deeply rooted discrimination” in the country.
The letter, titled “Speaking up on racism,” comes after more than a week of protests and rioting. It appears at the top of Apple’s homepage today. You can read the whole thing below.
Zoom usage was up 43x last month versus May 2019. Screenshot: Paweł Piotrowski
Zoom had another stellar month in the App Store as people worked from home during the coronavirus pandemic. According to a new report by Sensor Tower, published Thursday, Zoom received 94.6 million installs on iOS and Android last month. That is up a massive 43x compared to May 2019.
Could Apple TV+ be about to embrace live sports? Photo: NFL Network
Apple has reportedly hired away Amazon executive Jim DeLorenzo to head up sports for its Apple TV+ streaming video service. DeLorenzo joined Amazon to “run sports” in 2016, says Recode‘s Peter Kafka, who reported the move on Twitter Wednesday.