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News - page 496

Galaxy S20 vs. iPhone 11: 5 features Apple should steal in 2020

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Galaxy-S20-lineup
The Galaxy S20 lineup looks impressive.
Photo: Samsung

The wait for Samsung’s impressive newest smartphone lineup is almost over. The Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20+, and Galaxy S20 Ultra go on sale next month, with prices starting at $999.

You probably won’t be ditching your iPhone to get one if you’re a big fan of iOS, but you might be a little jealous of those who are. Samsung’s new devices offer a number of awesome new features iPhone users can only dream of for now.

Here are five that Apple should steal in 2020.

Siri update tackles tough election questions

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Applenews
Siri can keep you tuned into the latest happenings with the election.
Photo: Apple

“Hey Siri, who won the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary?”

Starting today, Apple’s digital assistant is able to answer that and other election questions as part of Apple News’ 2020 election coverage.

Logitech’s new StreamCam is … a smart webcam for Mac streamers

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Paired with Logitech Capture software, the new StreamCam makes streaming video smart.
Paired with Logitech Capture software, the new StreamCam makes streaming video smart.
Photo: Logitech

The new Logitech StreamCam is built to make video streamers’ lives simpler. The smart webcam captures 1080p/60 fps video and connects via USB-C. Plus, the updated Logitech Capture software — which uses artificial intelligence to automate exposure, framing and stabilization — now runs on macOS.

Galaxy S20 Ultra camera ups ante on iPhone with Space Zoom and 108-megapixel photos

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Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra
Lots of promised power in this camera bump.
Photo: Samsung

Samsung fired a powerful-sounding salvo in the battle for smartphone camera supremacy Tuesday when it introduced the Galaxy S20 Ultra.

The Ultra kicks off a new decade in smartphone camera technology with an impressive list of specs packed into its four-camera module. Some of the features include 8K video, a 108-megapixel sensor on its main wide-angle camera, and a 100X zoom feature called Space Zoom.

Avalanche uses AI to convert from Aperture to Lightroom (and preserves your edits)

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Avalanche is a universal translator for photo apps.
Avalanche is a universal translator for photo apps.
Photo: CYME

Do you still have all your photos stuck in an Aperture library? Aperture won’t even launch in macOS Catalina, so you’re going to have to do something about that. The long-time answer has been to move to Adobe’s Lightroom, but then all your carefully crafted RAW edits are lost, or at least frozen into JPGs, never to be reversed.

Avalanche is a new Mac app that can convert your old Aperture library into a Lightroom library. What’s more, it uses machine learning to reverse-engineer your edits, and then does its best to redo those edits in Lightroom. It seems amazing. And because it doesn’t need the Aperture app installed on your Mac at all, you can use it even if you’ve already upgraded to Catalina.

Samsung tries to take on AirPods Pro without active noise cancellation

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Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus
Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus are going to have to compete against AirPods Pro without a really popular feature.
Photo: Samsung

Samsung today unpacked Galaxy Buds Plus, its answer to Apple’s top-selling AirPods. The Korean company’s latest truly wireless headphones offer better sound quality and longer battery life. But they lack the hallmark feature of AirPods Pro: active noise cancellation.

Samsung’s new Galaxy Z Flip phone folds up like a clamshell

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Z Flip
Say hello to the Galaxy Z Flip.
Photo: Samsung

The future of folding phones took a step in a new direction today with Samsung’s unveiling of the Galaxy Z Flip.

Taking a different approach to folding displays than the disastrous Galaxy Fold, the Z Flip packs a screen that folds from a tiny clamshell device, into a full-size 6.7-inch smartphone. And it comes with some novel uses that could change how app design is approached.

Ex-Warner Music Group head of innovation joins Apple Music

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bronikowski
Jeff Bronikowski has worked in the media industry for over 20 years.
Photo: Warner Music Group

Apple Music has added another media industry veteran to its roster of top executives.

Former Warner Music Group head of innovation, Jeff Bronkikowski, revealed that he has accepted a job with the iPhone-maker to become the new global head of strategic music initiatives for Apple Music.

Tim Cook tweets tribute to civil rights movement for Black History Month

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Tim Cook
Tim Cook standing at the Foot Solider monument in Birmingham, Alabama.
Photo: Tim Cook

Apple CEO Tim Cook tweeted a photo of himself at one of the most iconic civil rights movement monuments in his home state of Alabama this morning to show his support for Black History Month.

Cook, who grew up in Alabama during the ’60s and saw the impacts of discrimination and burning KKK crosses first hand, paid respects to the men and women who marched in Birmingham in 1963 to demand equality.

This is what Tim had to say:

AirPods sales could blow past 100 million units this year

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Demand could far exceed supply for AirPods this holidays
The launch of Apple’s new AirPods Pro in October helped the company record steady growth last year.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Apple’s AirPods will once again dominate the market for truly wireless headphones in 2020, according to a market research firm. And sales will hit 100 million units this year.

The only real question is which company will come in second in this market.

Egypt in 4K shows why you should have an iPhone 11 Pro

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travel video with iPhone 11 Pro
Book a flight and travel light. The iPhone 11 Pro might be all you need.
Screenshot: Travel Shortfilms/YouTube

Still not persuaded that an upgrade to the iPhone 11 Pro is worth the money?

If you are a photographer or wanna-be filmmaker that still needs convincing, travel vlogger Harshit Vora makes a breath-taking argument with a montage of 4K clips from an eight-day trip to Egypt.

China develops a data-hungry app for tracking coronavirus

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The novel coronavirus continues to wreak havoc in China.
Can an app help stop the spread of coronavirus in China?
Photo: Apple

The Chinese government developed an app that lets users check whether they are at risk of infection from the novel coronavirus spreading across the country.

The location-aware “close contact detector” app reveals whether users have been close to another person suspected of having coronavirus. The data-hungry app serves as yet another illustration of China’s surveillance-heavy approach to controlling its citizens.

Apple restores banned BlueMail app but devs say fight is not over

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Mac App Store
The email app BlueMail finds itself on the outside of the "closed garden."
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Banned email app BlueMail is back in the Mac App Store, just one week after its developers tried to publicly rally other small companies to speak out against Apple’s App Store practices.

Ben and Dan Volach’s eight-month appeal of Apple’s ban ended Tuesday when the App Store relisted BlueMail. But the brothers say they will continue to fight Apple in court on claims the tech giant stole patented features of the app before booting it from the App Store.

Judge approves Sprint and T-Mobile megamerger

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t-mobile
Deal has sent stock rocketing upwards.
Photo: T-Mobile

T-Mobile’s $26 billion merger with Sprint has been given the go-ahead by a U.S. district judge, rocketing the companies’ stock prices upward.

Sprint increased 74% this morning, hitting $8.34. T-Mobile, meanwhile, increased 11% to $93.62. However, the deal won’t officially be done until the California Public Utilities Commission approves the merger.

Apple joins alliance dedicated to reducing world’s reliance on passwords

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Apple joins alliance dedicated to reducing world's reliance on passwords
This image quickly vanished from Twitter. But not the internet.
Photo: Roland Atoui/Twitter

Apple has signed up as a member to the FIDO Alliance, an organization whose mission is to develop and promote authentication standards for reducing the world’s reliance on passwords.

The news was made public in the form of a photo from a recent FIDO Alliance conference, describing Apple as a new member of the group. However, the tweet was rapidly deleted. Nonetheless, the FIDO website confirms that Apple is a board-level member.

Amazon still dominates smart speakers, leaving HomePod in the dust

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Apple debuts HomePod in India at its cheapest price yet
My colleague Charlie no longer has a HomePod. He kept the knitted cactus, though.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Apple’s HomePod may be two years old, but it may as well be a total newcomer based on its percentage of the overall U.S. smart speaker market.

According to a new report from eMarketer, Apple joins smart speaker brands like Harmon Kardon Invoke and Sonos One in the “other” category of speakers. In total, “other” smart speakers make up just 18.4% of the overall U.S. market. Meanwhile, Amazon hoovers up 70% of sales, followed by Google with 31.7% market share.

Mad Money host predicts big things for Apple through 2030

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International governments plan to rethink tax rules for the ‘digital age’
Jim Cramer is betting big on Apple.
Photo: Pixabay/Pexels CC

By any measure, Apple had an astonishingly successful decade between 2010 and 2020, becoming the world’s first publicly traded $1 trillion company in the process. But Apple’s next 10 years could be another monster decade for the company, Mad Money host Jim Cramer speculates.

Speaking on his 65th birthday Monday, Cramer said that, “I’m going to make another 10-year bet [on Apple]. I think they’re that good.”

T-Mobile and Sprint merger may finally be approved Tuesday

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T-Mobile CEO John Legere with the Phone BoothE.
Colorful T-Mobile CEO John Legere will hand over the reins to a successor.
Photo: T-Mobile

A verdict regarding the long-delayed megamerger between T-Mobile and Sprint is expected to be announced Tuesday, The New York Times claims.

The ruling would combine America’s third- and fourth-biggest wireless carriers to create one with a massive 100 million customers. It follows an “unusual suit” filed back in June by attorneys general from 13 states, alongside the District of Columbia. They are concerned that a merger would reduce competition in the industry, which could drive up cellphone bills.

Totallee starts taking preorders for ‘iPhone SE 2’ case

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Possibly the iPhone SE in in a Totallee case.
Is this the iPhone SE 2 in a Totallee case? Maybe, maybe not.
Photo: Totallee

Accessory maker Totallee is so confident it knows the exact dimensions of the upcoming iPhone SE 2 that it went ahead and started taking preorders for a case designed for it.

This takes some serious nerve, as this low-cost handset is still just a rumor. It isn’t expected to be announced before March.

Now everyone can try iCloud folder sharing

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iCloud folder sharing is in iPadOS 13.4 and iOS 13.4
iCloud folder sharing finally arrives in iPadOS 13.4, and iOS 13.4 too.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

The wait is over for iCloud folder sharing… at least for everyone willing to install the initial iOS 13.4 public beta or its iPad equivalent. And there’s new Memoji stickers, tablet users can remap some keys, plus some other new features to experiment with.

Court denies Apple’s appeal in VirnetX patent-infringement case

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Apple wants patent trolls to stop ‘gaming the system’
The lesser-spotted patent troll.
Photo: Andrew Becraft/Flickr CC

Cupertino’s seemingly neverending legal battle with patent troll VirnetX Holding Corp. took another turn this week when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit denied Apple’s request to reconsider an original patent-infringement decision.

VirnetX and Apple have been fighting in courts for a decade over patents related to FaceTime and other secure communications. VirnetX, which doesn’t produce any products, previously won more than $503 million in damages, but courts subsequently threw out the award.

iPhone mount lets you use DSLR filters for cool effects

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Filter mount by Moondog Labs
The multi-camera filter mount will let the iPhone shooter use any 52 mm filter.
Photo: Moondog Labs

If the iPhone is the best camera because it’s always in your pocket, there are plenty of accessories that make your photos look even better once your phone is unholstered and on the hunt.

Moondog Labs has just such an add-on with a filter mount that goes right over the three-eyed iPhone 11 Pro.