Of course Apple made the most beautiful credit card ever. Photo: Apple
The days of worrying about someone stealing your credit card number during a transaction are about to be long-gone once Apple Card launches.
New details about Apple Card and its features were revealed today and one of the most surprising tidbits is that the credit card number can be regenerated with a push of a button to protect you from fraud.
AirPower will forever remain a pipe dream. Photo: Apple
RIP AirPower.
iPhone lovers have been waiting more than a year for Apple’s wireless charging mat to finally launch, but the company announced today that it has officially canceled its AirPower project because it’s simply too dang hard to make it.
There is no reason to wait for an iPad Air and iPad mini. Photo: Apple
Order one of Apple’s latest tablets now and it won‘t be delivered until the middle of next month. But ask for in-store pickup and you can have it today.
The iPad Air 3 and iPad mini 5 just launched, and demand seems to be fairly high.
Apple will close down Texture in May following the recent launch of Apple News+.
Texture, another magazine subscription service, was acquired by Apple for an undisclosed sum last spring. Cupertino encourages existing subscribers to migrate to its new platform. But those who don’t use Mac or iOS will have to find their magazines elsewhere.
If your AirPods look like this, your music-listening days are over. Photo: iFixit
Apple’s second-generation AirPods may be better than ever, but they’re certainly not any more repairable. A new teardown reveals that the next-gen wireless earphones aren’t “designed to be serviced” in any meaningful capacity.
The challenge of repairing them doesn’t necessarily guarantee a short lifespan. However, it does suggest that these probably won’t be hanging around long-term.
The official Gmail app for iOS finally boasts handy swipe gestures that make dealing with your email easier. You can swipe to snooze, mark as read, archive, and more. There’s also the ability to customize the actions if you don’t like the default setup.
As countries, it’s fair to say that China and Taiwan aren’t exactly BFFs. For evidence of this, look no further than the recently released macOS 10.14.4. Eagle-eyed users in China have noticed that their Mac devices can no longer display the Taiwan flag emoji.
The flag ban can’t even be circumvented by changing the region in your Mac’s System Preferences.
They may be small, but AirPods are a big hit. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
AirPods aren’t just a massive hit for Apple, they’re a giant in the overall “wireless hearables” market. According to new research from Counterpoint, AirPods made up a massive 60 percent of the overall market in Q4 2018.
It would have been even bigger, too, if customers hadn’t been waiting on Apple’s updated AirPods 2 at the time!
Apple's got four new services for you to choose from. Photo: @YSR50
This week on The CultCast: News+, TV+, Arcade, Card … we react to it all. We’ll fill in the details on Apple’s new services. And, just when you thought it was safe to type, Apple apologizes for yet more MacBook Air and MacBook Pro keyboard issues.
Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. Easily create a beautiful website all by yourself, at Squarespace.com/cultcast. Use offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain..
We doubt that Tim Cook will look quite so happy on the day. Safari: Apple
Tim Cook will offer testimony as part of Apple’s legal battle with Qualcomm. Cook will discuss Apple’s business practices, strategy, agreements with cellular network carriers, and more.
He’s not the only senior Apple executive ready to talk, either. Former hardware boss Bob Mansfield, current COO Jeff Williams, SVP of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller and others will chime in as part of the case.
Is this our first proper look at the iPhone 11? Photo: Weibo
Newly leaked schematics might provide our first look at Apple’s next-generation “iPhone 11.”
The technical drawing lends credence to rumors of a major camera upgrade for the upcoming device. However, if the iPhone 11 schematics prove legit, fans might not be happy with the placement of the smartphone’s camera lenses.
The App Store continues to go from strength to strength. Photo: App Store
Apple may be launching a plethora of new Services, but its established App Store business also continues to boom.
According to new figures released by analytics platform Sensor Tower, the App Store will more than double its revenue by 2023. That would mean bringing in a global revenue of $96 billion, a 104 percent increase over last year’s $47 billion.
The Apple Pencil just got more useful for iWork users. Photo: Apple
An update to Apple’s free iOS alternative to Powerpoint allows iPad users with an Apple Pencil to easily draw an animation path for any object in Keynote.
At the same time, quite a few features were added to this software and the other iWork applications, Pages and Numbers.
The Elder Scrolls: Blades promises top-tier gaming on iOS. Photo: Bethesda Softworks
Everyone who signed up for early access to the hotly-anticipated iOS game The Elder Scrolls: Blades should start compulsively checking their email for an invitation: the company started a public beta test.
Bethesda Softworks’ free-to-play RPG set in the Elder Scrolls universe promises console-quality graphics on an iPhone or iPad.
A previous Microsoft prank resurrected MS-DOS on mobile. Photo: Microsoft
Microsoft has banned employees from participating in April Fools’ Day pranks.
The stunts “have limited positive impact and can actually result in unwanted news cycles,” an internal memo explains. This comes just days after Microsoft resurrected Clippy, the famous Office assistant, only to remove it a day later.
There's a new iOS beta out for iPhone and iPad. Photo: Apple
Apple has one more major update for iOS 12 before it unveils iOS 13 at WWDC 2019.
Developers just received the first beta build of iOS 12.3 this morning, bringing a bunch of new features and bug fixes to iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. There is also a new beta for tvOS 12.3 available.
Warren Buffet is Apple's biggest investor. Photo: CNBC
Mega-investor Warren Buffett doesn’t sound too confident in Apple’s ability to dominate the entertainment industry.
The Oracle of Omaha said in a recent interview that there are so many big players trying to grab eyeballs in the streaming industry that he wouldn’t want to play that game himself. Even though he’s not gung ho on Apple’s TV service, he also doesn’t sound worried if Apple doesn’t knock it out of the park.
Apple continued a long string of high scores on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index. Photo: Human Rights Campaign
Apple received the highest possible score on the Human Rights Campaign’s 2019 Corporate Equality Index. This means it took steps to provide greater equity for LGBTQ workers and their families.
It’s one of 571 businesses earning the CEI’s top score of 100, meeting new and higher benchmarks.
The Safari web browser won’t let sites track you, whether you’re a man or a boy. Photo: Apple
Apple is again using humor to get across a serious message. Its latest video has a young man using his iPhone to answer a personal question, and assures him that he isn’t being tracked while he’s doing so.
Apple has been publicly opposed to a rapidly growing movement known as “Right to Repair”
But internally, the tech giant is slowly loosening its grip on parts for repair as 20 states consider legislation that would make it easier for consumers to repair their electronic devices, such as iPhones and MacBook computers.
Future iPhones could encourage users to dive into underwater photography. Photo: David Pierini/Cult of Mac
The iPhone makes a pretty nice picture underwater. Whether it’s with a 6s in a waterproof case or the latest submersible iPhone XS, you can record an image that rivals any picture produced with a dedicated underwater camera.
But only in a limited range of conditions and with a little luck.
Now, Apple believes it can improve future iPhone cameras to automatically sense when a picture is being made underwater and adjust according to light, depth and the degree of murkiness.
This might be the best looking folding phone yet. Photo: Xiaomi
Xiaomi is the latest smartphone maker to tease its upcoming folding smartphone with a short new video that shows its double folding display in action.
While Samsung’s Galaxy Fold and Huawei’s Mate X each have one folding section, the Xiaomi’s Mi Fold goes from tablet to phone mode by folding down two sides of the screen. This leaves you with a nearly edgeless phone display that’s a bit wider.
For whatever reason, the worlds of pro baseball and Apple Pay seem to go hand in hand. First it was just using the iPhone’s NFC scanning tech for ticketing.
Now, fans attending Washington Nationals baseball games in the 2019 season can enjoy another perk. By using Apple Pay contactless payments, they can pay for food using a roving payments terminal operated by concessions hawkers. Along with paying for snacks, they can also use an app to place orders for more substantial hot food from their seats.