Apple is deepening its partnership with the NBA by teaming up to launch a global playlist on Apple Music to highlight independent hip-hop artists.
The new playlist, dubbed “BASE:LINE” (get it? Cause there’s a baseline in rap songs and on the basketball court), will be curated by Apple Music’s director of hip-hop and R&B Ebro Darden. New artists and songs will be added to the playlist every Thursday with the first edition being made available today.
Apple sold almost 60 million AirPods wireless headphones in 2019, according to a market-analysts firm. That’s a dramatic increase from the 35 million the company is estimated to have sold the year before.
And Apple took the lion’s share of 2019 sales of totally wireless (TWS) headsets.
Revelations that the FBI has access to a tool that can unlock data on secure iPhones are raising questions as to why the agency is demanding Apple help to create a “backdoor” to recover data on the iPhones of a Florida shooting suspect.
Apple is among the companies which want to stop so-called patent trolls from stifling innovation with their claims.
A patent troll, for those unfamiliar with it, is a person or company that holds patent portfolios but does not actually make any products. Instead, they earn their money by licensing out the technology — or suing companies which use it unlawfully. And Apple and 34 other multinationals — including Microsoft and BMW — are none-too-happy about them.
When it comes to artificial intelligence (AI), Apple wants to have its cake and eat it, too. That is to say that it wants cutting edge data-driven machine learning on its devices, without violating its own user privacy pledge.
And you know what? It’s managing to pull it off — as the company’s latest AI startup acquisition underlines.
The Cult of Mac Store’s big January sale is still under way, with sweet discounts on some of the best Apple Watch accessories. Choose anything from our entire lineup of stunning Strapa bands today and save 15% before this discount disappears on January 17.
And enjoy free standard shipping on orders over $100!
What do you get when you’ve been at Apple for five years — aside from a (hopefully nice) paycheck and the knowledge that you’re valued enough by the world’s biggest tech company that they want to keep you around for half a decade?
The answer: A nifty five years plaque you can hang up on your wall, signed by none other than CEO Tim Cook.
M. Night Shyamalan and Tony Basgallop’s Servant may be arguably the best of the Apple Originals. But it may not be so, well, original, according to a new lawsuit filed against Apple.
The suit claims that the spooky Apple TV+ drama borrows a fair amount from Francesca Gregorini’s 2013 film The Truth About Emanuel.
Search YouTube for Apple-related content, and you will easily find hosts who unbox, hosts who hack, hosts who fawn, and, of course, plenty who throw snark and shade.
Then there’s Luke Miani, whose Apple-centric videos with a rising number of views fall under a different category: useful.
A pair of fresh Apple videos demonstrate that its tablets can be tools for professional artists. They show the complete creative process of several advertising posters for Apple TV+ shows done on iPad Pro with Apple Pencil.
Watch them now:
Elkson makes some absolutely terrific accessories for AirPods and Apple Watch, then goes and sells them at amazingly low prices. And you can get yours even less today from the Cult of Mac Store.
We’ve slashed up to 40% off of a number of Elkson’s best products, including a protective AirPods case that adds wireless charging, an incredibly comfortable Apple Watch band, and more.
Apple hired an expert on drones and aviation law as a lobbyist. But this doesn’t mean the company is about to introduce a line of unmanned aircraft.
Audient’s Evo is an excellent-looking new iOS-friendly USB audio interface. Like all other “sound cards,” the Evo lets you hook up speakers, headphones, and connect microphones, guitars, and so on. It then connects to a computer or iDevice via USB, so you can route all that audio in and out of your apps.
But the Evo brings a few clever extras. One is the Smartgain feature, which automatically sets your input levels. The other is something called loopback, which lets you record your iPhone’s own output. This is handy on the Mac and Windows, but essential on iOS, and very welcome.
Apple purchased Xnor.ai, a company that creates artificial intelligence software for mobile devices. The acquisition will apparently lead to AI applications running directly on iPhones, iPads, etc., not outsourced to the cloud. This should make these tasks more private and quicker.
A documentary about the rap group the Beastie Boys written and directed by Spike Jonze reportedly will debut on Apple TV+ this spring.
It will also supposedly be the first film from Apple’s streaming service to appear in theaters.
Crazy Russian modders have one-upped themselves yet again by creating an absolutely absurd guitar made out of 106 iPhones (and one iPod touch).
The one-of-a-kind working guitar, with a neck based on a 1999 Fender Telecaster, is being sold by Moscow-based guitar shop Copper Guitars. We’ve seen some pretty wild ways to repurpose old Apple devices, but this is the most metal one yet. And it could be yours for just over $6,000.
Take a closer look:
A new version of the Microsoft Edge web browser based on Google’s Chrome starts rolling out today for Windows, of course, but also macOS.
Among the most notable benefits is support for Chrome extensions.
Google is finally letting iPhone owners use their device as a physical two-factor authorization security key for Google services thanks to a new update to the Google Smart Lock app for iOS.
The new feature uses the iPhone’s Secure Enclave to store private keys. Now, instead of having a 2FA code texted to you, Google can send it over Bluetooth, making your accounts less vulnerable to phishing attempts and other hacks.
Fortnite just got its first update of 2020, and while it may look like a small and insignificant release at first glance, it actually makes playing on iOS devices better than ever.
The version 11.40 update finally adds support for L3 and R3 buttons on compatible controllers. And those playing on iPad Pro can now enjoy super-speedy gameplay at up to 120 frames-per-second.
Steve Bannon, the ex-Breitbart chairman and former chief strategist for Donald Trump, warns that the president will “drop the hammer” on Apple if it doesn’t work with authorities.
Bannon is referring to the current standoff regarding whether Apple should unlock iPhones used by the shooter who killed three people at the Pensacola Naval Air Station in December.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey this week warned that Twitter will “probably never” let you edit your tweets.
Editing has long been the most-requested feature among the Twitter community. But despite making some “practical considerations,” the micro-blogging network has dashed hopes it will ever happen.
Travelling with your iMac and perturbed by the fact that it won’t fit in your carry-on luggage? No problem: You can just take a hacksaw and chop off the offending stand. Then simply reattach it at the other end and hope that Jony Ive or his successor doesn’t stop by for a quick spot-check.
That’s the horror movie scenario that Kirill Zakharov, head of design at Unsplash, recently shared on Twitter about a trip overseas by a friend of his dad. Apple fans reacted with the shock you might expect!
India wants to woo Apple suppliers into opening factories in the country. To that end, it may offer attractive subsidized loans to make it more appealing.
The proposals by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology may be part of a new federal budget for February. Alongside the subsidized loans for opening factories, it would also cover “industrial zones equipped with taxation and customs clearance.”
Aside from saying that Apple TV+ pulled in “millions of users” in its first week, Apple hasn’t shared any stats about how Apple’s streaming service is doing. Disney+, on the other hand, seems to be blowing away the competition.
Two months after Disney+ launched, its app has been downloaded close to 41 million times on the App Store and Google Play app store. In total, it has generated an estimated $97.2 million in user spending.
Logitech’s new ergonomic keyboard is designed to bring comfort to the heaviest of computer users. With cushy-yet-precise keys and a pillow-soft wrist rest, the just-announced Ergo K860 Ergonomic Split Keyboard puts comfort — and science! — front and center.