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India’s decision to defer manufacturing tariffs could help Apple

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Foxconn moving additional iPhone production to India as coronavirus disrupts work
Designed in California. Made in India.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

More and more Apple suppliers are considering building devices in India, and a new concession might make that possibility even more plausible.

According to a new report, India has deferred a plan which would have introduced tax on touch panel imports. These tariffs were supposed to be introduced in February, but have supposedly been delayed until at least April 2020. This follows lobbying from smartphone makers.

Some popular iOS apps recorded users’ screens for analytics

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iOS 11 iPad Pro
Report raises important privacy questions.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple came down hard on Facebook when it was found to be behind an iOS app that was gathering large amounts of user data. But it’s not the only app to gather information about what users are up to, and to feed this back to developers.

According to a new report, apps including those for Air Canada, Abercrombie & Fitch, Expedia, Singapore Airlines, Hotels.com, and others utilized analytics software that employed “session replay” technology to reveal how users interact with the apps.

Take a peek at Samsung’s AirPods rival ‘Galaxy Buds’

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Galaxy Buds 2
Samsung is ready to take on the AirPods.
Photo: Winfuture.de

Apple’s AirPods have been a massive smash hit since they launched a couple years back. It’s therefore unsurprising that rival companies would be keen to get themselves some of the sweet wireless cash — by launching their own wireless earbuds.

One of these companies, Samsung, is reportedly set to show off its own “Galaxy Buds” at its upcoming February 20 press event. And thanks to a leaked image, we have a good idea of what they’ll look like.

Cupertino mayor jokes about building border wall round Apple’s hometown

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Apple leases new offices near to Apple Park
Predictably, the comments backfired.
Photo: Duncan Sinfield

Depending on who you are, jokes about “building a wall and making [insert name] pay for it” range from trollish to downright offensive. Apparently no-one told the mayor of Cupertino, however — since he invoked the Donald Trump meme during his recent state of the union speech.

Predictably, his quip about building a wall around Apple’s hometown city and making surrounding communities pay for it — as a way of solving local traffic problems — hasn’t exactly gone down a storm.

Safari dumps failed ‘Do Not Track’ privacy setting

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Do Not Track is gone, replaced with Prevent Cross-Site Tracking.
Do Not Track is gone, replaced with Prevent Cross-Site Tracking.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Safari’s “Do Not Track” setting was supposed to protect us from advertisers following us from website to website but it never worked like it was supposed to and Apple has given up on it.

Instead, the web browser has what Apple calls Intelligent Tracking Prevention.

Apple reclaims crown as most valuable public company

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Tim Cook earnings apple
Tim Cook likes his currency the old-fashioned way.
Illustration: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple is back to being the world’s most valuable publicly traded company once again.

The company’s stock price has been rising steadily since Apple revealed its first earnings of 2019 last month. Worried investors ditched the stock at the beginning of the year due to slumping iPhone sales, but it just passed Amazon and Microsoft today, putting Apple back on top.

Quit or canned? Why is Angela Ahrendts leaving Apple? [Opinion]

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Ahrendts
Did Angela Ahrendts jump or was she pushed?
Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

When Apple fires an executive, the company is rarely straightforward about the situation. Apple never puts out a press release stating plainly that the executive was canned. So Tuesday’s unexpected announcement that Angela Ahrendts, Apple’s head of retail, is leaving in April led many to suspect she was fired.

That’s because the announcement came as a surprise and seems rushed. She’s certainly not retiring or quitting to join another company. The press release phrase “new personal and professional pursuits” sounds like code for “canned.”

Watch for password phishing if your iPhone gets stolen

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GrayKey can bypass iPhone security
The thief who has your stolen iPhone will use surprisingly sophisticated means to trick your passwords out of you.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

If your iPhone is ever lost or stolen, be extra careful about scammers attempting trick your Apple ID password from you. iPhone thieves reportedly have an elaborate system set up to scam this information, as it’s needed to make a stolen device much more valuable.

7 painful truths about the 2018 MacBook Pro

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2018 MacBook Pro problems: The CultCast host Erfon Elijah's got a bone to pick with the new Apple laptop.
Uh oh. The CultCast host Erfon Elijah has a bone to pick with the new MacBook Pro. Or maybe seven bones.
Photo: Erfon Elijah

The 2018 MacBook Pro might be the most disappointing laptop Apple has come out with in years.

Despite being one of the lightest and most powerful Macs ever, The CultCast host Erfon Elijah finds the 2018 MacBook Pro fraught with problems. In his latest video, he goes through all the reasons — from the lack of ports to the crappy keyboard — why he thinks the new machine is far from perfect.

Let him count the ways the new MacBook Pro falls short.

I work on my iPad every day, and here’s what drives me nuts [Opinion]

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The new 2018 iPad Pro is a lust object you probably don’t need.
The iPad Pro is amazing, but it can drive you crazy.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

A few of us here at Cult of Mac work on iPads pretty much exclusively. Apple’s tablet proves more than capable of “real” work, but that doesn’t mean it’s perfect. Far from it, in fact. The iPad Pro 2018 is a fantastic machine that invites you to use it for everything. But that only makes the frustration worse.

Today I’d like to talk about what really drives me nuts about the iPad.

Spotify CEO does not fear Apple’s massive cash pile

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Spotify
Spotify is dominating audio streaming.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Spotify is making a push to cement its self as the best audio platform in the world. The company revealed today that it acquired two podcasting companies and that it plans to spend big on original audio content.

Despite growing competition from Apple, Amazon and YouTube, Spotify is inching closer to having 100 million paid subscribers. In an interview on CNBC this morning, Spotify CEO Daniel Elk didn’t sound worried one bit about Apple and Amazon spending tons of cash to beat Spotify.

Tim Cook hypes up new retail boss in email to employees

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Apple’s new Senior Vice President of Retail + People Deirdre O’Brien with Tim Cook.
Apple’s new Senior Vice President of Retail + People Deirdre O’Brien with Tim Cook and her predecessor, Angela Ahrendts.
Photo: Apple

Apple‘s CEO told his employees that the company’s new head of retail sales is “one of Apple’s most passionate and experienced advocates for our customers and employees.” Tim Cook also highlighted Deirdre O’Brien’s previous experience with Apple retail operations.

These comments came in an email sent this morning to retail emplyees.  The full text of this is now available.

Apple teases Beats Studio3 headphones in a Neymar Jr. edition

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Beats Studio3 Neymar Jr. edition
They’re “coming soon” to the Apple Store.
Photo: Apple

Apple today added a Neymar Jr. Custom Edition of the Beats Studio3 wireless headphones to its online store.

The headphones, which celebrate the soccer star’s 27th birthday, feature a black and white design inspired by São Paulo street graffiti, where Neymar first started playing soccer.

Tamagotchi-style virtual pet Noa Noa! heads to App Store

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Noa Noa! 2
That warm feeling in your stomach is nostalgia.
Photo: Noodlecake Studios Inc.

The 1990s was a simpler time, back when Apple was an underdog computer company and kids were obsessed with keychain virtual pets like Tamagotchis.

Jump forward to 2019, and things have certainly changed. Sure, Apple’s a whole lot bigger than it was, but virtual pets have come a long way, too. Instead of regular virtual pets, upcoming iOS game Noa Noa! is a virtual pet simulator, in which you control a Tamagotchi-like device inside the game. In other words, it’s a virtual virtual pet simulator. Got it?

Spotify surges to 96 million paying subscribers

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Spotify app now playing screen
Spotify is almost doubling Apple in paying subscribers.
Photo: Ian Fuchs/Cult of Mac

Spotify is closing in on 100 million paying users, hammering home its position as the No. 1 company in streaming music.

In its latest quarterly earnings, the streaming company revealed that it now has 96 million paying subscribers around the world. That’s up 8 million in three months, and 36 percent year-over-year. The company also made its first ever quarterly operating profit. But not all the news is good.

macOS Mojave flaw puts your Keychain passwords at risk

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macOS Keychain
Apple still won't cough up a reward.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

A new flaw discovered in macOS Mojave puts your sensitive Keychain data at risk.

One security researcher has demonstrated an exploit that could allow anyone to access saved usernames and passwords without administrator access. He won’t share the details with Apple, however, because there is no reward on offer.

Go behind the scenes of Apple’s Chinese New Year video

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Jia Zhangke
Jia Zhangke directing the recent Apple short film.
Photo: Apple

There’s no doubt that Apple is a master when it comes to producing compelling commercials for its products. One of the coolest things about these ads, however, is how often they don’t just feature Apple products on screen — but are actually created using Apple products, too.

That was the case with a recent short film, directed by Jia Zhangke, that Apple commissioned to celebrate the Chinese New Year. In a new video, Zhangke goes behind the scenes to show how it was achieved using his trusty iPhone XS.

Australian Apple Store customer blasts bad experience

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The screen really is beautiful.
Customer went into Apple Store to buy an iPad cover.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Apple Stores are known for their high level of service. An Australian dad begs to differ, however, based on his reported experience in a Sydney Apple Store recently.

Specifically, he claims that he was given a hard sell on using Apple Pay on his iPhone. Despite not wanting to use the service, he reports feeling patronized and — worse — as though the store was refusing to let him pay for his product in any other way.

U.S. House of Representatives wants answers about Apple’s FaceTime bug

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2018 iPad Pro Animoji
Apple has taken steps to rectify massive FaceTime bug.
Photo: Apple

The U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee has questions for Apple about its recent FaceTime bug — and why it took as long as it did to respond to the problem.

This follows similar concerns being voiced by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who said last week that her office is launching an investigation into Apple’s failure to warn customers about the FaceTime vulnerability.

Emojis coming to iOS will be more inclusive

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Here’s a handful of the emoji headed for your iPhone.
Here’s a handful of the emoji headed for your iPhone.
Photo: Unicode Consortium

If you’ve been frustrated because there’s not a sloth emoji, the Unicode Consortium has come to your rescue. It’s just announced lots of new emojis that will likely make their appearance in this fall’s iOS update.

These reflect the diversity in our society, including men and women in wheelchairs, people who are deaf, and people who are blind. 

What you need to know about Deirdre O’Brien, Apple’s new head of retail

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Deirdre O’Brien, a 30-year Apple veteran, will lead Apple’s Retail and People teams.
30-year Apple veteran Deirdre O’Brien will handle the company's retail push.
Photo: Apple

Apple tapped Deirdre O’Brien to be its new retail boss today in light of the news that Angela Ahrendts plans to leave the company.

While O’Brien may not be a household name to most Apple fans, she’s been with the company for more than three decades. From the days of Steve Jobs saving Apple from bankruptcy to watching Tim Cook leading the company to a first-ever $1 trillion valuation, O’Brien has seen huge changes during her tenure with the iPhone-maker. Now she’s set to be one of the most powerful people in Silicon Valley.

Here are six things you didn’t know about the new Apple retail boss.

Apple names new retail boss as Angela Ahrendts exits company

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Angela Ahrendts.
Angela Ahrendts at the iPhone X keynote.
Photo: Apple

Longtime Apple retail boss Angela Ahrendts is leaving the company after reshaping Apple’s online and retail strategies over the last five year.

Apple revealed today that it has named Deirdre O’Brien as the new senior vice president of Retail + People. Ahrendts, who was once looked at as a possible successor to Apple CEO Tim Cook, is leaving the company for new personal professional pursuits.