Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht got the tough job of building Apple TV+ from nothing. Photo: Apple
The first slate of Apple TV+ shows would seem to have little in common — they range from a teen comedy to a sci-fi epic — but the company’s top entertainment programming execs say they are all about relationships.
They also worked hard to make this new streaming service fit with the rest of Apple.
Who needs boring old glass? Photo: Ian Fuchs/Cult of Mac
Imagine being able to touch your iPad or iPhone screen and feeling like you’re touching metal, wood, or fur — despite the fact it’s just a flat glass display. Impossible, surely? Not if a new haptic feedback patent Apple has filed comes to pass.
This haptic feedback technology could complete the sensory AR experience Apple is aiming for. Slap on some AirPods and summon up some ARKit visuals, and you’d have truly immersive augmented reality.
You might want to think twice about rushing to update your HomePod. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
For some HomePod owners, the latest software update really was a killer upgrade. Loads of irritated people say the update bricked their HomePods.
New HomePod features like voice recognition for multiple users and the ability to send messages and make calls might sound awesome. But having your smart speaker go belly up sucks out loud. If you previously turned on automatic HomePod updates, you might want to flip the switch and wait until Apple gets to the bottom of the problem.
Update: Apple pulled Monday’s HomePod update after owners reported unresponsive devices. If you managed to successfully update your HomePod, you should be careful. An updated Apple support document warns that you should not reset your smart speaker for any reason. You also should not attempt to remove your HomePod from the Home app.
It'll cost you $89 to replace a lost AirPods Pro bud. Photo: Apple
Apple fans will start getting their hands on its brand-new AirPods Pro headphones this week. And they’ll want to make sure they don’t lose them. Replacing a lost bud or charging case is a pricey affair.
Apple’s biggest copycat nuisance, Xiaomi, is at again.
The Chinese tech firm, known for its design knockoffs of Apple products, will roll out a new wearable device next week that, by the looks of a teaser ad, resembles the Apple Watch.
Are you ready to take on the Storm King? Photo: Epic Games
Fortnite’s newest update is out, bringing Halloween back to Battle Royale. The version 10.10 release kicks off this year’s Fortnitemares event — and there’s plenty to enjoy.
The iPhone 11 is a hit. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac
Apple is reportedly going all-in on OLED displays with the 2020 iPhones. But despite the big advances OLED represent, it seems that many users aren’t yet ready to part ways with their LCD screens.
At least, that’s one takeaway from a new report which claims that Apple is putting in more orders for the LCD iPhone 11, while sales of the higher-end iPhone 11 Pro Max remain flat.
Apple isn't taking the Netflix approach to releasing shows. Photo: Apple
Apple is seemingly taking a mixed approach to the way it will debut new Apple TV+ shows. According to the company, it will release three episodes of The Morning Show, one of its flagship series, when the service launches on November 1. After that, new episodes will debut every Friday.
That’s a change from Netflix’s approach of dumping every episode of a new season at once. It’s also a change from Apple’s plan for Dickinson, which star Hailee Steinfeld recently revealed will debut all 10 episodes straight out of the gate.
Mario Kart Tour lags only behind Pokémon GO. Photo: Nintendo
Mario Kart Tour, Nintendo’s long-awaited Mario Kart game for iOS, enjoyed the second-biggest mobile game launch month in history. (And Nintendo’s biggest.) Across both Android and iOS, the game racked up 123.9 million unique downloads in its first four weeks.
That’s more than 5x the downloads that Super Mario Run‘s 21.8 million downloads.
Apple might quietly unveil an iPhone 11 Smart Battery Case this week, like this one for last year’s handset. Photo: Apple
Rather than having an October event, Apple unveiled AirPods Pro today via press release. This sparked speculation that the company plans to quietly take the wraps off more products this week.
A release date for the Mac Pro, fresh Apple TV hardware, and other items could be announced, one each day.
Just what is the vision behind Apple TV+? Photo: Apple
The first Apple TV+ reviews are out — and, broadly speaking, they’re not great. Critics generally slammed the marquee shows on the Apple TV+ slate. Anyone wanting to pull together a movie poster with positive pull-quotes would need to do some serious wading through bile to emerge with choice excerpts.
That’s a shame. And while it might seem easy to write off the bad reviews — based on the just the first few episodes of four shows, all shown to critics prior to the service’s launch — the poor reception might suggest deep-seated problems for Apple TV+. It sounds like a service that suffers from a lack of vision.
Apple is getting ready to do battle with Tile. Photo: Tile
Details of at least two unreleased Apple products may have been spilled by Apple’s big iOS 13.2 update that came out to the public this morning.
Apple has been rumored for months to be working on Bluetooth tracker tags similar to Tile’s. The official unveiling of Apple’s tracker could come by the end of the year, but references in iOS 13.2 may have just revealed its name.
Fitbit could get a lifeline from Google. Photo: Fitbit
Apple Watch could soon get some new competition from Google which has reportedly made an offer to buy Fitbit.
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, is supposedly aiming to get a slice of the fitness trackers and smartwatch market after ramping up its hardware efforts in recent years. Smartwatch arena Google doesn’t compete with Apple in but buy Fitbit could give the search engine giant a big boost to catch up.
Shot with Halide. Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac
Today’s release of iOS 13.2 brings Apple’s new Deep Fusion feature, so iPhone 11 owners can start taking beautifully detailed photographs of sweaters. But if you have an older iPhone, Halide has you covered. The iOS photo app’s new Smartest Processing update brings Deep Fusion-style detail to anybody’s sweater shots.
Slofies aren't just for iPhone anymore. Photo: Apple
Samsung has stolen one of the iPhone’s newest features in record time. Its latest Android 10 update adds the ability to shoot “slofies,” or slow-motion selfies, with a front-facing camera.
3-nanometer chips will be ready for 2022 iPhone Photo: Apple
Apple released iOS 13.2 to the public this morning after beta testing the software update with developers for a month.
iOS 13.2 and iPadOS 13.2 bring a bunch of new features and bug fixes to the iPhone and iPad, including more than 50 new emoji characters and support for the new AirPods Pro that were just revealed this morning.
Finally! AirPods Pro bring active noise cancellation. Photo: Apple
Apple today unleashed AirPods Pro with an all-new design and active noise cancellation. The buds are available to order now ahead of their official debut on Wednesday, October 30.
Apple wants to make a bigger mark on your home. Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac
Apple is ramping up its smart home efforts in a bid to better compete against Amazon and Google, according to a new report.
Cupertino is said to be hiring for a team that will be focused on revamping HomeKit software and devices. It also wants to encourage more third-party manufacturers to support its platform.
This was the first show Apple commissioned for Apple TV+. Photo: Apple
Remember that story about how the logo for The Morning Show, one of Apple TV+’s flagship shows, looked suspiciously like the logo for Elon Musk’s The Boring Company? It turns out that may have been a bad omen.
Ahead of Apple TV+’s November 1 launch, the first reviews are out for its star-studded newsroom drama/comedy starring Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carell. And, well, they’re far from the blockbuster reviews Apple likely hoped for from its show that costs more than Game of Thrones.
The trash can is an icon that deserves to be returned to its rightful place. Screenshot: John Roberts/Twitter
Why did Apple change its Mail app by placing the trash can icon where the reply arrow used to be?
Several iPhone users who updated to iOS 13 have asked that same question, taking to Twitter to vent and find a growing community of people who have accidentally deleted emails.
Spotify reported some great fiscal quarterly earnings. Photo: Spotify
Spotify’s third fiscal quarter figures show that it is growing considerably faster than Apple Music.
“We continue to feel very good about our competitive position in the market,” the streaming giant noted in a statement. “Relative to Apple, the publicly available data shows that we are adding roughly twice as many subscribers per month as they are. Additionally, we believe that our monthly engagement is roughly 2x as high and our churn is at half the rate.”
It will start at just $399. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Apple’s second-generation iPhone SE will be available next March, priced at $399, according to one reliable analyst.
The entry-level device is expected to enter mass-production in January. It could add an additional 2 million to 4 million units to total iPhone sales in 2020.
New iPhone will borrow tech which debuted with the 2017 iPad Pro. Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac
The 2020 iPhone will reportedly take a page out of the iPad Pro’s playbook, adopting a 120Hz display that will allow for more fluid scrolling, greater responsiveness and smoother motion content.
Apple introduced the 120Hz ProMotion iPad Pro back in 2017. It now seems that the same technology could find its way to the iPhone, doubling the display refresh rate from its current 60Hz.
Craig Federighi shared some of his career lessons with a would-be employee. Photo: Apple
One of the cool things about Apple is how accessible its senior execs are. Steve Jobs started the practice of making his email address public knowledge, and would often respond to users’ comments. Tim Cook continued that philosophy, and has said he spends hours responding to people’s emails.
Over the weekend, an email posted to Reddit featured Craig Federighi’s message to a young fan wanting to pursue coding. Here’s what Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering had to say.