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News - page 584

Matrix-like gadget lets you snap ‘bullet-time’ selfies

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bullet time selfie video gadget
Wingo Pro lets you shoot video with the bullet time effect on a budget.
Photo: Wingo Pro

Your vanity for selfies is limited only by your technology. Now it’s time to add 360-degree selfie videos, like the slow-motion variety made famous by the movie The Matrix.

But those scenes from the cult classic required a circular array of more than 100 cameras. A bizarre gadget on Kickstarter will help you get the effect with a single GoPro camera.

Apple won’t remove app criticized as a tool for Islamic radicalization

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Critics call the Euro Fatwa app a tool for Islamic radicalization.
App has been criticized as a tool for radicalization.
Photo: Fatwa and Research Council of Europe

Apple has declined to remove the Euro Fatwa app from the App Store, despite critics’ allegations that it contains hate speech and is a tool for Islamic radicalization.

Google removed the Euro Fatwa app from its store last month shortly after its launch. However, Euro Fatwa remains available in the App Store. Apple says the app does not fall afoul of its guidelines.

Apple Watch Series 4 was last year’s wearable ‘star performer’

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Apple
Apple Watch Series 4 was a big seller.
Photo: Apple

Apple Watch is going from strength to strength, with shipments of the device growing 22% last year. That’s according to Counterpoint Research, which pins the cause on the excellent Apple Watch Series 4.

Analyst Satyajit Sinha notes that the Apple Watch Series 4 was the year’s “star performer.” Sinha says that it sold 11.5 million units in 2018, making it the year’s best-selling smartwatch.

PSA: Resist the urge to install iOS 13, iPadOS betas for now

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iPadOS gets a new home screen design.
They’re just not ready for everyone.
Photo: Apple

Apple just dropped its first public beta builds of iOS 13 and iPadOS, making it easy for anyone to try them out months ahead of their official launch. But you should really resist the urge to install them right now.

Don’t assume these betas are ready for everyone just because they’re available to the public now. If you upgrade your primary iPhone and iPad early, you’re almost certainly going to run into frustrating problems.

I’ve suffered all kinds of issues since upgrading — and I’m not the only one.

Apple lobbyist warns that phone and laptop prices set to soar

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iPhone XS Max
And you thought the iPhone XS was expensive!
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

A lobbyist representing tech companies including Apple has warned that tariffs on Chinese products will have a catastrophic impact.

Sage Chandler, of the Consumer Technology Association, said that President Trump’s proposed import tariffs will cause the price of consumer products to rise significantly.

Amazon Prime Day 2019 runs for 48 hours, promises to be best yet

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Prime-Day-2018
More than 1 million products will be on sale.
Photo: Amazon

Amazon just confirmed the details of Prime Day 2019 — and it sounds like it’s going to be a corker.

This year’s event will run for a full 48 hours, making it the longest Prime Day so far. It also promises to be the best yet, with big discounts to be had on more than 1 million products across almost every category.

Lego builds record-breaking diorama promoting next iPhone game

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Lego Games Breaks Guinness World Record for World’s Largest Lego Brick Diorama
This diorama based on the upcoming Lego Tower game weighs 880 pounds.
Photo: Jens Dige/AP Images for Lego Games

Lego Games just broke the Guinness World Records title for the largest Lego Brick Diorama. The massive structure is a real-world representation of Lego Tower, an upcoming game in which players manage their own tiny skyscrapers where Minifigures live.

Harry Potter: Wizards Unite takes off like a Nimbus 2000

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The first AR Harry Potter game promises spell casting in the real world
If you started playing the new Harry Potter augmented-reality game this weekend, you weren’t alone.
Photo: Niantic and WB Games

Harry Potter still has his magic… if by magic you mean the ability to make tons of money in a short amount of time. An augmented-reality game set in J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World pulled in nearly three million new players its first weekend. And they spent a lot of real muggle money.

Apple plans to hire 2,000 workers in Seattle by 2024

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333dexter
Apple is moving into these two buildings in Seattle.
Photo: Kilroy Realty

The mayor of Seattle confirmed today that Apple is making a major play to move into Amazon and Microsoft’s backyard.

During a press conference today, Mayor Jenny A. Durkan revealed that Apple plans to increase its expansion into Seattle by hiring an additional 2,000 employees in the next five years.

Tiny USB-C hub doubles as a hard drive

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Minix Neo Storage USB-C SSD
Minix Neo Storage is a USB-C hub that’s also a 240GB SSD.
Photo: Minix

There’s a innovative option for people who want to make the most of the limited number of USB-C ports on their MacBook or iPad Pro: the Minix Neo Storage is a 4-port hub that also includes up to 240GB of built-in storage. And the price for all this is under $100.

UPDATE: Cult of Mac has published a Minix Neo Storage review.

Facebook throws shade on Apple’s ‘exclusive’ approach

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Facebook
Facebook and Apple have beef.
Photo: Thomas Ulrich/Pixabay

The clash of tech titans Apple and Facebook continued Monday when Mark Zuckerberg’s newest executive team hire called Apple an “exclusive club” serving only “aspirant consumers with the means to buy high-value hardware and services.”

Nick Clegg, Facebook’s new head of global affairs, didn’t mention Apple by name when he spoke to a group in Berlin today. He didn’t have to.

Apple’s not making much money off Spotify

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Spotify Premium update October 2018
Anyone paying for a Spotify subscription probably isn’t also sending money to Apple.
Photo: Spotify

Only a small percentage of Spotify subscribers pay a portion of their monthly fees to the Apple Store. This weakens Spotify’s argument that Apple is using required revenue sharing to stifle its rival’s ability to compete in the music streaming business.

iOS 13 and iPadOS betas are now available to everyone

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iPadOS gets a new home screen design.
They’re just not ready for everyone.
Photo: Apple

The first public beta of iOS 13 is finally available to public testers.

Apple launched iOS 13 public beta 1 and iPadOS public beta 1 this morning. The software gives everyone the opportunity to try out all the new features, like the system-wide Dark Mode that looks absolutely beautiful. However, you might not want to take the jump quite yet.

iPhone 11 might look painfully familiar

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iPhone 11 in Olixar case
The iPhone 11 will apparently have a change or two, but not a redesign.
Photo: Olixar

There’s almost no room for doubt that this fall’s iPhone 11 will sport a trio of camera lenses. The latest leak come from case-maker Olixar, who has a reputation for accuracy about future Apple models.

But that’s the most significant change to expect from the 2019 round of iOS handsets.

Samsung: Galaxy Fold delay won’t affect new iPhone XS Max rival

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Samsung-Galaxy
The Galaxy Note 10 will be here in August.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Samsung fans will be pleased to hear that the ongoing Galaxy Fold delay won’t affect the launch of its upcoming Galaxy Note 10.

A company official has confirmed to Korean media outlets that its newest iPhone XS Max rival is on track for an August launch. The statement comes after some rumors suggested its arrival would be pushed back.

Microsoft plans dual-screen Surface tablet with Android apps

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Microsoft-Surface
It will look very different to a standard Surface tablet.
Photo: Microsoft

Microsoft is rumored to be working on a new dual-screen Surface tablet that will run Android apps.

The slate, which is codenamed Centaurus, will reportedly pack two 9-inch displays that fold together like a book. Supply chain sources expect it to launch in the first quarter or first half of 2020.

Bill Gates calls failure to challenge iOS his ‘greatest mistake’

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Microsoft should have been Apple's biggest mobile challenger, Bill Gates says.
Microsoft should have been Apple's biggest mobile challenger, Bill Gates says.
Photo: Statsministerens kontor/Flickr CC

Former Microsoft CEO and Steve Jobs frenemy Bill Gates says his company massively missed out by failing to challenge Apple on smartphones.

Describing his “greatest mistake ever,” Gates said the failure to become Apple’s main competitor in the mobile space cost Microsoft $400 billion.

Apple scraps plans for supercharged iPhone camera sensor

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iPhone camera
Quantum dot technology was reportedly too pricey.
Photo: Apple

Apple has cancelled a contract with British company Nanoco. The company was working on technology that could have improved future iPhone cameras.

Nanoco is a leader in so-called “quantum dot” technology. This allows camera sensors to gather light with more efficiency than traditional silicon. However, Apple reportedly ditched plans after finding that the sensors would be too expensive to produce.

Fortnite is getting a revamped revolver this week

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Fortnite-modern-revolver
It looks new, but will it be better than the original?
Photo: Epic Games

This week’s Fortnite update will see a revamped revolver introduced to Battle Royale.

Epic is now teasing the weapon’s arrival in-game after it was first leaked out in the version 9.30 update files. It looks very different to the original revolver, but its short description suggests it will be functionally similar.

16-inch MacBook Pro could arrive sooner than you think

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MacBook-Pro-concept
A concept for how a next-gen MacBook Pro could look.
Photo: Viktor Kadar

A new 16-inch MacBook Pro is coming this fall, according to analysts at IHS Markit. This would give it the largest screen size of any MacBook Pro model currently available. (Although it still would be smaller than the dearly departed 17-inch model.)

The analysts claim Apple will unleash the new laptop at the company’s September media event alongside the new iPhone.