Mobile menu toggle

News - page 695

iOS 12.1 beta confirms improved Face ID for iPad Pro

By •

VCSEL
Face ID should work in any orientation on the new iPad Pro.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Code discovered in Apple’s latest iOS 12.1 beta confirms its next-generation iPad Pro lineup will pack Face ID — and it will work in both portrait and landscape mode.

Users will be asked to set up the facial recognition system in portrait mode, but once this process is complete, the new iPad Pro can be unlocked in either orientation.

10 reasons iPhone XR is the one to buy, this week on The CultCast

By •

CultCast 357 MacBook Pro
Tim Cook's magic pipeline is about to deliver!
Photo: The CultCast

This week on The CultCast: With iPhone XR finally here, we’ll give you 10 reasons why it’s the best iPhone you can get. Plus: How iOS 12.1 solves “Beautygate”; new Macs leak ahead of Apple’s big October hardware event; Ming-Chi Kuo says new iPad minis, AirPods and the AirPower mat are finally on the way. Finally, we wrap up with our iPhone XS cases and a superb Thunderbolt 3 dock in an all-new Under Review.

Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. It’s simple to accept Apple Pay and sell your wares with your very own Squarespace website. Enter offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off your first hosting plan or domain.

Snapchat’s number of daily users continues to tumble

By •

Snapchat
Forget disappearing messages; Snapchat is suffering disappearing users.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Snapchat isn’t having a good time right now. The company just released its third quarter results, and once again suffered a decline in daily active users.

That number fell by 2 million to 186 million people, marking the third straight quarter of user declines. However, Snap seems confident it can break the losing streak in 2019.

Apple’s colorful iPhone XR now available for sale

By •

Nearly every configuration of the Apple's latest handset is still available hours into launch day. What does this say about iPhone XR sales?
Which color would you go for?
Photo: Apple

The iPhone XR is officially available for sale. Those who pre-ordered the device have began receiving their orders, while Apple Stores are also stocking the new phones.

With the iPhone XS and XS Max out as well, that means that Apple’s complete 2018 iPhone range is now available for you to purchase. Well, provided you can find the handset you want, that is!

Tim Cook’s Madrid vist highlights HomePod launch in Spain

By •

Apple's CEO and Spanish singer RosalĆ­a take a selfie with Madrid Apple employees.
Apple's CEO and Spanish singer RosalĆ­a take a selfie with Madrid Apple employees.
Photo: Tim Cook

The Apple CEO’s tour of Europe continued today with a visit to sunny Spain. He’s there to promote tomorrow’s launch of the HomePod in the country. He’s also talking up the release of the iPhone XR, which will debut around the world on Friday.

Apple adds new actors to cast of morning TV news show

By •

The Office
Steve Carell will play a news caster that's becoming irrelevant.
Photo: NBC Universal

The full cast of Apple’s morning TV show comedy is starting to take shape after two more actors have signed onto the project.

Billy Crudup and Gugu Mbatha-Raw have joined the cast for the untitled Apple TV series that lists Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston as both executive producers and stars of the show.

Xiaomi kills the notch with its new bezel-free smartphone

By •

Xiaomi
No notch to see here.
Photo: Xiaomi

One of the biggest Apple copycats finally found a way to bring some innovation of its own to the smartphone game.

Xiaomi unveiled its new Mi Mix 3 phone today that ditches the camera notch Apple popularized in favor of a front camera array that slides out of the display. The end result is a smartphone with a screen-to-body ratio of 93.4 percent and it actually looks pretty cool.

Check out how the camera slides out:

Spike Jonze’s stunning HomePod ad dances away with more awards

By •

2019 Creative Marketer of the Year
Spike Jonze created Apple's most celebrated ad of 2018.
Photo: Apple

“Welcome Home,” a television commercial for the Apple HomePod directed by Spike Jonze, welcomed another slew of advertising awards today.

Apple took home two first-place honors in the prestigious shots Awards. It won three other first-place shots for Best Director (Jonze), Editing house of the Year (Final Cut of Los Angeles) and Production Company of the Year (MJZ of Los Angeles).

New PokƩmon Go feature makes exercise enticing

By •

PokƩmon GO is blasting off again with new GO Battle League
PokƩmon GO Adventure Sync rewards you for exercising with the Candy needed to Power Up and evolve your pocket monster.
Photo: Niantic

Playing Pokémon GO requires you to get off the couch and explore the world. The game now takes that idea and runs with it (pun intended) by rewarding you for exercising even when not hunting virtual monsters.

Fill the style deficit with Rilee & Lo’s stainless-steel, stretch-link Apple Watch bands

By •

Rilee & Lo stretch link band
Brilliant stretch-link bracelets that won't break the bank.
Photo: Rilee & Lo

Dress up your dashing new Apple Watch with a smart, stainless-steel watch band from Rilee & Lo — maker of highly stylish stretch-link Apple Watch bands.

Apple Watches are functional, fun and engaging, and now totally fashion-friendly. Rilee & Lo’s exclusive watch bands fuse tech and fashion brilliantly, for both men and women, and we filmed an unboxing video to give you an inside look into what makes these bad boys so special. Grab a band for yourself or as a gift. Check out the full lineup of Rilee & Lo’s stunning bands in our Watch Store.

Why Apple News relies on human curation, not algorithms

By •

Apple News app
The Apple News app relies less on algorithms than other tech companies in the news business.
Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

Apple products have changed the way we live. Can it save journalism?

If the Apple News app is part of the solution, Apple will be one tech company curating the stories and information the old fashioned way – with human editors.

Apple wants you to be able to use your iPhone when it’s wet

By •

iPhone XS Max vs. iPhone XS size: Sometimes bigger really is better.
This wouldn't be a problem any more.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple has done a great job of making the iPhone more water-resistant over the years, but one thing you still can’t do particularly well is to use your iPhone when it’s wet.

That’s something that Apple wants to change, based on a pair of patent applications published today. They describe technology to allow finger tracking in wet environments, letting users continue swiping and tapping away even if they’re out in the rain.

Spotify Premium subscriptions grow after family plan crackdown

By •

Spotify app now playing screen
Spotify shows no signs of slowing down.
Photo: Ian Fuchs/Cult of Mac

Spotify has seen a rise in Premium subscriptions after the music streaming service started cracking down on family plan subscribers who aren’t really family.

New data reveals 38 percent of Spotify users in the U.S. now pay for the Premium service — up from 36 percent last quarter. Apple Music remains the only platform that has presented Spotify with real competition, but it still has a lot of catching up to do.

China tells Trump to ditch his iPhone for a Huawei

By •

Chinese company Huawei wants the media buzz that would come with releasing the world's first foldable phone.
Worried about China eavesdropping? Simple: Buy a Chinese smartphone.
Photo: Kārlis Dambrāns / Flickr CC

A representative for China’s Foreign Ministry says a report in The New York Times about the country possibly eavesdropping on President Donald Trump’s personal iPhone is “fake news.” Spokesperson Hua Chunying does, however, have some advice for the leader of the free world: Switch to a Huawei phone.

Hey, for a company like Huawei that loves celebrity endorsers, Trump would be one hell of a catch!

Apple’s first Thailand store looks absolutely stunning

By •

Spin9 Apple Store Bangkok 1
Well, that certainly makes a good first impression!
Photo: Spin9

Apple has confirmed that its first retail store in Thailand will open next month in Bangkok — and it looks absolutely spectacular. If Apple’s goal was to make a strong impression from day one, we can safely say this: Mission accomplished.

The new store is part of the ambitious Iconsiam complex on the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok. Along with Apple’s debut retail store in the country, Iconsiam is home to two shopping malls, a department store, 3,000-seat auditorium, amusement park, fitness center, and residential buildings.

Trent Reznor says working at Apple made him feel ā€˜guilty’

By •

Trent Reznor 1
Trent Reznor, pictured out of his boardroom attire.
Photo: Ed Vill/Flickr CC

Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor says he quit his job at Apple because he felt “guilty” over abandoning his work as an artist in favor of a product design and marketing job.

“I have a mixed set of feelings about the whole thing,” he admitted in a recent interview with Stereogum. Reznor joined Apple back in 2014 as part of the $3 billion Beats acquisition. After joining, he worked on a secret project which turned out to be the launch of Apple Music.

Trump’s iPhone could be a threat to national security

By •

President Trump: Apple encryption could protect ā€˜criminal minds’
President Trump: Apple encryption could protect ā€˜criminal minds’
Photo: Bloomberg

President Donald Trump has a serious iPhone problem, and it could be huge issue for U.S. national security.

Despite being warned by security advisers, Trump continues to use an unsecured iPhone to talk with friends, colleagues and business partners — and China and Russia could be listening in on his calls.

Buyers might not be ready for bright iPhone XR colors

By •

Nearly every configuration of the Apple's latest handset is still available hours into launch day. What does this say about iPhone XR sales?
There are many iPhone XR colors to choose from. But will people buy anything but black?
Photo: Apple

A survey done in some of the largest smartphone markets found that most people prefer very traditional colors for their mobile devices, although their tastes are starting to widen. It’s not clear what this means for Apple’s strategy of offering the new iPhone XR in a rainbow of options.

Apple employees think they make the world a better place

By •

Apple leases new offices near to Apple Park
Apple leases new offices near to Apple Park
Photo: Duncan Sinfield

A majority of Apple employees believe their company is making the world a better place, according to a survey by the anonymous workplace app Bind.

Blind sent its base a single True-False question – I believe my company is making the world a better place – and nearly 67 percent out of 10,589 Silicon Valley workers responded in the affirmative.

Google makes it way easier to delete your search history

By •

With just a couple of taps you can erase your Google search history.
With just a couple of taps, you can erase everything Google has stored about your search history.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Your iPhone does everything it can to protect your privacy, but using Google’s services punches a gaping hole in that protection. Google took a small step toward increasing user privacy by making it much easier to delete your search history.

Google doesn’t just save the terms your looked for, but also the pages you visited as part of the search. Both collections can be erased.

Tim Cook says he came out as gay to inspire kids

By •

Tim Cook
Tim Cook at the iPhone 8 keynote.
Photo: Apple

Apple CEO Tim Cook says he made the decision to come out as the first openly gay Fortune 500 CEO in an effort to inspire kids who wrote to him, not as a way to get more CEOs to come out.

Cook, who came out publicly in 2014, told CNN in an interview today that he’s happy about his decision to be open about his sexuality, even though he’s a private person. He said he decided to go public because children wrote him letters saying they had been bullied or abused because of their sexual orientation.

Leica’s new camera replaces rear display with your iPhone

By •

M10
The Leica M10-D has old school style.
Photo: Leica

Leica had decided to give one of its most popular new digital cameras an analog redesign. And the iPhone plays a crucial role.

The camera company revealed a new variant of the M10 today. It completely ditches the rear LCD display and replaces it with your smartphone via a new app, making it free of digital distractions so you can just shoot.