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News - page 644

Noted analyst lists four ways that 5G will be a huge win for Apple

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No matter what your AT&T iPhone says, everyone else says “5G E” is 4G.
Apple has years to get a real 5G iPhone on the market, according to a well-known analyst.
Photo: Cult of Mac/@Siddavarapu

The faster cellular data networks being rolled out now will bring tremendous benefits to Apple, according to a well-known industry analyst. Gene Munster even said today, “Apple will be one of 5G’s biggest beneficiaries.”

He listed a number of current and future products that will see gains from this nascent wireless tech.

Trust is a vital component in Apple Health Records initiative

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Health records firm worried policy supported by Apple will hurt patients
Apple’s CEO says people know their iPhone can be trusted to securely hold their health records.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s CEO is optimistic about his company’s plan to have the iPhone store all our health records, even though it got a black eye recently: turns out some third-party iOS apps leaked health-related data to Facebook. 

But Tim Cook says that people trust Apple because the company has a deep commitment to user privacy, and people know that. 

US bans fliers from bringing batteries on passenger planes as cargo

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Hawaiian Airlines
You'll have to bring batteries in your carry-on now.
Photo: Hawaiian Airlines

The US Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration is making it a little bit harder for fliers to haul lithium-ion batteries to new destinations.

Under new rules revealed today, passengers are banned from storing lithium-ion cells or batteries on cargo during commercial flights. There’s also a new ban that prevents companies from shipping batteries with more than 30 percent charge on cargo-only flights.

Hockey stars’ Shot on iPhone pix make a splash on billboards

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Ryan O'Reilly snapped this shot during a St. Louis Blues game with an iPhone XS.
Ryan O'Reilly snapped this shot during a St. Louis Blues game with an iPhone XS.
Photo: Apple

Turns out pro hockey players can take iPhone pictures as well as they skate and brawl. At least, that’s the message of a new “Shot on iPhone” campaign.

Candid images taken with the iPhone XS by players of the game they love are going up at arenas in the U.S. and Canada

Multinational struggle pits Apple against new encryption laws

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GrayKey can bypass iPhone security
Several governments have passed or are working on laws that Apple argues weaken the encyption that protects the privacy of its users.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Australia recently passed a law forcing tech companies to give law enforcement greater access to encrypted messages from users. The U.K. already has a similar law, and India is considering one.

There’s no new legislation in the U.S., but the FBI and other police agencies still want easy access to iPhones and other computers, as well as private conversations.

MidiWrist lets you control musical instruments from your Apple Watch

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Chill out with the Apple Watch Breathe app.
What’s the time? It’s time to get ill.
Photo: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac

For Apple Watch-owning musicians, the MidiWrist app is pretty wild. It lets you control almost any music hardware or software just by tapping the Apple Watch. The possibilities are almost literally endless — and you can even map the smartwatch’s Digital Crown as a custom controller.

Wynd Plus desktop air purifier filters out the nasty stuff

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Wynd Plus Smart Personal Air Purifier
It's like living in your own private air bubble.
Photo: Apple

Looking for a smart air purifier you can control using your iPhone? If so, Apple has just the product for you — with the Wynd Plus Smart Air Purifier intelligent personal air quality system. The size of a water bottle, the portable device promises to create a perfect bubble of clean air around users.

Best of all, an accompanying iOS app will monitor your environment and alert you of any changes you need to know about.

Apple starts purging VoIP duplicates from the App Store

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App Store
Apple apps no longer dominate App Store search results.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple has started removing duplicate VoIP apps from the App Store.

The purge comes after a report highlighted a shady practice some developers have been using to game App Store search results. Plenty of clones still remain in other categories, however.

Happy birthday, Jony Ive: Apple’s design genius turns 52

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Jony Ive
Jony Ive has been at Apple since 1992.
Screenshot: Vanity Fair/YouTube

Today marks the 52nd birthday of Jony Ive, Apple’s much-admired chief design officer. As the shaper of products including, well, virtually everything that Apple builds, Ive has been a central presence since Steve Jobs’ return to Cupertino in the late 1990s.

To celebrate his birthday, check out one of Ive’s most interesting interviews. Happy birthday, Jony!

Hulu cuts price of ad-supported service, but Live TV costs more

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Hulu
Hulu is now more affordable.
Photo: Hulu

Hulu has slashed the price of its ad-supported plan, making the service more accessible to budget-conscious consumers.

It’s not all good news, however: Hulu’s Live TV plan, which offers access to more than 60 top channels live and on-demand, is now more expensive. The ad-free Hulu and Hulu + Spotify plans have not been changed.

Lawsuit takes aim at Apple’s cellular devices

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watchos
Apple is accused of violating multiple LTE patents.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple is on the receiving end of a new lawsuit, claiming that it is infringing more than seven patents relating to LTE cellular standards. The lawsuit potentially affects devices including the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and others.

The lawsuit was filed by multiple firms under the umbrella group Optis Wireless Technology. They are asking for damages “in the form of reasonable royalties.”

Americans are far more interested in buying iPhone than Android

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Apple display maker exec fired for embezzling millions of dollars
More U.S. consumers are interested in Apple devices like these than Android.
Photo: Kristal Chan/Cult of Mac

Americans about to purchase a handset are far more interested in an iPhone than in devices running the rival Android OS, according to a survey done by an industry analysis firm.

But the news isn’t all good for Apple. The same survey found only moderate interest in the company’s rumored streaming video service.

USB 3.2 update gets faster and maybe less confusing

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USB-C cable
You can’t tell which version of the USB standard a cable uses just by looking at it.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

The USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) today released a description of the next version of USB.  This brings welcome improvements in data transfer speeds, and USB 3.2 also attempts to remedy some of the confusion the public experiences trying to understand what USB products offer.

Want a Galaxy S10? Sell your old iPhone for upgrade cash today

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iPhone X in box
Your old iPhone could be worth a small fortune.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

So, you’ve decided you just have to have Samsung’s brand new Galaxy S10. Or maybe even the exciting new Galaxy Fold. But how are you going to pay for your shiny new upgrade? It certainly won’t be cheap.

You can start by selling your old iPhone to Cult of Mac. We typically pay more than most buyback services, which means getting your hands on Samsung’s latest flagship could be a lot more affordable than you think.

This ridiculous bendable smartphone doubles as a watch

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Nubia
The Nubia Alpha looks even uglier in real life.
Photo: Nubia

Bendable displays are all the rage at MWC 2019 and one company took the idea to the extreme with a new phone that wraps around your wrist.

Nubia revealed its Alpha Wearable Smartphone that blurs the line between smartphone and watch. Wearing a giant computer on your wrist seems like it’d be annoying and impractical. Nubia’s weird creation is an interesting idea but it looks more like the Infinity Gauntlet than a watch.

Looks at this ugly thing in action:

Steve Wozniak wants a folding iPhone even if you don’t

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Folding
Apple’s original tech guru wants something like this concept device.
Photo: Foldable.News

The co-founder of Apple, and its original tech guru, can’t wait to get his hands on a folding iPhone. The first generation of folding devices from Samsung, Huawei, and others have met with  skepticism from some quarters, but not Steve Wozniak. 

He thinks Apple should get a handset with a folding display on the market soon.

Year’s best ‘Shot on iPhone’ pix will take your breath away

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Shot on iPhone challenge
Judge's comment: "Gorgeous dynamic range. There’s detail throughout the photo in the meadow, trees, and clouds. Beautiful deep sky and pleasing color overall." Shot on iPhone 7
Photo: Robert Glaser, Germany

A stunning edit of 10 photos will soon adorn billboards around the world to advertise the iPhone’s camera capabilities after Apple today announced the winners of the Shot on iPhone Challenge.

The contest ran from Jan. 22 to Feb. 7 and drew thousands of images from around the world. Six of the 10 winners are from the United States. The other four photographers are from Belarus, Singapore, Israel, and Germany. They were selected from a panel of judges that included Apple executives and some of the most widely respected artists, photographers, and editors in the photo community.

How to finally get iMessages on Android

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AirMessage
AirMessage bridges the gap between iMessage and Android.
Photo: AirMessage

Android lovers can finally bust out of the green bubble life without owning an iPhone.

Thanks to a new app that brings iMessage to Android, you can now enjoy one of Apple’s best features even if you don’t have an iOS device. It’s not a perfect solution and you’ll need a Mac but it’s better than any of the other workarounds we’ve seen.

Best of all, it’s totally free!

Energizer’s thick new phone packs an insanely huge battery

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Energizer Power Max P18K Pop
Only Energizer would build a phone with an 18,000 mAh battery
Photo: Energizer

There are people who say they want a phone with the biggest battery they can get, but Energizer proves them wrong. Its latest device sports over 6 times the battery capacity of the iPhone XS Max, but to pack in that much power it’s almost three times as thick as Apple’s current flagship. 

Apple often integrates ideas from rival products into its handsets. That’s not likely to happen this time. 

Nobody wants a folding phone anyway. But folding iPads? [Opinion]

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Folding iPhone 2
Is that a folding iPhone? Or a folding iPad?
Photo: Foldable News

At this week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, phone-makers are demonstrating their folding phones. These range from the laughable (Samsung) to the desirable (Huawei), but none of them is really plausible. Why? Because nobody is going to buy a folding phone. Not now, and not in the future. At best they will be a niche product, like ruggedized laptops are now, for example.

No. The folding phone will probably never happen. But what about foldable tablets?

Apple considered a stackable Mac Pro way back in 1984

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Modular Mac1
A glimpse at how the proposed Jonathan Computer looked.
Photo: Dan Lieberman, released under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. Courtesy Blake Patterson of The Byte Cellar.

Apple is rumored to be using a stackable, modular design for its next Mac Pro, allowing components to be easily swapped in and out. It’s an innovative concept — but it’s not new.

In fact, Apple worked on a very similar concept way back in 1984. The so-called Jonathan Computer was ultimately deemed too “advanced and risky” by Apple bosses. Still, what was scarily ahead of its time in the mid-1980s might be perfectly in tune with the times, circa 2019!

Shift Keyboard lets you tap out your messages on Apple Watch

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Apple Watch
Coming soon to a wrist near you.
Photo: Adam Foot

Right now, the easiest way to write messages on Apple Watch is using voice control or Apple’s recommended responses. But one intrepid developer wants to go back to the past by adding a keyboard to Apple’s wearable device.

His app, Shift Keyboard, just launched in the App Store. Developer Adam Foot spoke with Cult of Mac to try and sell us on the idea.

Pack your Mac with 8 awesome highly-rated productivity apps [Deals]

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Epic Mac Bundle
Get the most out of your Mac with these 8 apps, including Fantastical 2, PDF Expert, and more.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Your Mac is a mighty machine for productivity, if you’ve got the right apps. So if you’re looking to get more done at the keyboard, this bundle of 8 apps is for you. Additionally, it’s available at a massive 93 percent discount.