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News - page 587

Unbroken Soul looks like the best action platformer the ’90s never gave us

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Unbroken Soul1
Coming to iOS at the end of June. By way of 1991.
Photo: Chorrus Games

For all the cool AR-based games and AAA-quality titles you’ll find in the App Store, a big part of me hankers after some good, old-fashioned retro gaming fun.

The upcoming action platformer Unbroken Soul hits that sweet spot perfectly. No, it’s not a classic game port like Golden Axe, but it sure looks like it could have sat happily alongside it. Check out the trailer below.

Tim Cook has staggering 92% approval rate from Apple employees

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Tim Cook still hid a few surprises up his sleeve for the iPhone X event.
With these kind of approval rates, Cook should run for politics.
Photo: Apple

Tim Cook is one of America’s top CEOs based on financial performance. But he’s also a CEO picked out as one of Glassdoor’s “employee’s choices” of chief exec.

Glassdoor, for those unfamiliar with it, is a website which allows employees to anonymously review companies and their management.

Apple Watch will soon let users easily delete Apple’s own apps

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App Home Screen Apple Watch Series 4
With watchOS 6, you’ll be able to clean some of the clutter off your Apple Watch.
Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

Among the big changes coming to Apple Watch this fall is the ability to remove many of the applications that come pre-installed on it. watchOS 6 will reportedly make it as easy to delete Apple’s own apps as third-party ones.

Top iPhone apps still pull in vastly more money than Android‘s best sellers

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iPhone App Store
The Apple App Store brings in much more revenue than its Android rival.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

The 100 biggest software developers on the Apple App Store took in a whopping 64 percent more than the highest-earning Android app makers during the first the first three months of this year.

And the iPhone devs saw a 12 percent average year-over-year increase in revenue during Q1, according to a market research firm.

Guardian Firewall is the first true privacy-protecting firewall for iOS

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A partial visual pun for a firewall.
A partial visual pun for a firewall.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Guardian Firewall claims to be the first proper firewall app for iOS. It works by routing all the network connections from your iPhone or iPad through a VPN, and then filtering out privacy-invading trackers on Guardian’s own servers.

The idea is that all the heavy lifting is done on those servers, so you don’t have to worry about battery drain, or on the iOS security features that prevent an app from futzing with your internet connection.

Sounds good, but should you trust Guardian Firewall?

watchOS 6 brings over-the-air updates to Apple Watch

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Apple Watch watchOS 6
watchOS 6 updates and apps can be installed straight onto Apple Watch.
Photo: Apple

Apple Watch is taking a big stride toward independence from the iPhone. It’s possible to install the latest watchOS 6 beta directly to the Apple wearable … sort of.

This is all part of an ongoing move to make Apple Watch a stand-alone computer.

What’s new in iOS 13 beta 2

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iOS 13 has almost too many features to cover -- but that won't stop us trying.
iOS 13 has almost too many features to cover -- but that won't stop us trying.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

The second iOS 13 and iPadOS betas bring both good news and bad. Unless you’re a total “thrill-seeker,” it’s still not a good idea to install these betas on your main iOS device. In fact, there will be far more spills than thrills: The code remains raw and buggy as hell.

I have iPadOS running on an old iPad. While this latest version seems much less ragged around the edges, many apps still crash. And I still can’t make the Slide Over apps hide themselves at the side of the screen. Nor do all my favorites appear in the Files app.

The good news is that, despite this, the latest betas offer several new features — and lots of stuff has been fixed. Let’s take a look at the highlights of what’s new in iOS 13 beta 2.

Attorneys punished for discussing confidential Apple documents in court

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Anti-robocall bill is one step closer to being passed into law
Apple asked for the lawyers to be booted from the case.
Photo: Pexels

Two attorneys have been sanctioned for sharing proprietary Apple information as part of a lawsuit.

Lawyers Joseph Cotchett and Mark Molumphy from the firm Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy repeatedly referenced confidential Apple documents during a public hearing in May. The hearing concerned the fallout from Apple’s iPhone throttling controversy from a couple years back.

There are no quick fixes to Apple’s current iPhone challenges

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iPhone XS Max
It's not as simple as adding a hot new feature.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Geopolitics are a whole lot more complicated than coming up with a hot new feature to sell your latest iPhone.

For this reason, JPMorgan and Credit Suisse think that there are no easy fixes to Apple’s current iPhone challenges. That’s because they involve the complexities of the burgeoning China vs. U.S. trade war, among other things, meaning that iPhone sales are victim to larger macroeconomic uncertainties.

Apple may throw a lifeline to struggling iPhone display-maker

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iPhone sales
Japan Display currently makes iPhone XR displays for Apple.
Photo: Apple

Apple may help out struggling display-maker Japan Display, a new report claims.

Japan Display, which makes screens for the iPhone XR and an upcoming Apple Watch model, suffered a devastating blow this week. After appearing to have sorted out a bailout from a Chinese consortium, several members dropped out.

Fortnite 9.30 brings new Chug Splash item, removes Boom Bow

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Fortnite-Chug-Splash
The Chug Splash makes it easier to help injured teammates.
Photo: Epic Games

This week’s Fortnite update is out with a brand new item that lets you heal teammates easier than ever before. The Chug Splash is a throwable that grants 20 health or shield to anyone within its splash radius.

The version 9.30 release also removes a number of weapons, including the popular Boom Bow. But Battle Royale players will be pleased to see that Epic Games has finally ditched the shotgun swap delay.

Apple loses out on securing future J.J. Abrams projects

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Bad Robot
Sadly, Abrams won't play a major role in the immediate future of Apple TV+.
Photo: Joi/Wikimedia Commons

Apple may have a bigger cash pile than just about anyone, but it doesn’t always get what it wants.

According to a new report, Apple is among the companies that lost out to WarnerMedia in a bidding war to secure the future development slate of Bad Robot. This is the well-known production company run by J.J. Abrams and wife and co-CEO Katie McGrath.

Mother saves daughter’s life with Find My Friends app

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Find My Friends
Keep your iPhone close by.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

When 17-year-old Macy Smith was late coming home and didn’t answer her phone, her mother knew something was wrong. But she was able to track the girl down thanks to the Find My Friends application on her daughter’s iPhone, even though Smith was trapped in a wrecked car at the bottom of an embankment.

Expect multiple 5G iPhones in 2020

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2020 could be Apple's greatest year so far
2020 could be Apple's greatest year so far
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Apple may be waiting a bit longer than some of its rivals to go 5G, but it will reportedly jump into this cutting-edge networking standard in a big way next year. There will be two 5G iPhone models introduced in 2020, according to a respected analyst.