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Bulletproof privacy makes price of iPhone worth it

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data privacy
Apple CEO Tim Cook discusses his company's data privacy philosophy on VICE News Tonight.
Screenshot: VICE News Tonight/You Tube

Android users can pat themselves on the back for paying less for a smartphone. Apple fans can rest easy knowing the steeper price they paid for their iPhones came with better data privacy.

This was a point Roger McNamee, an Apple investor and co-founder of the private equity firm Elevation Partners, delivered Wednesday during a discussion on CNBC about where the big tech companies stand on privacy.

Jimmy Kimmel turns Trump’s nationwide text into a Hollywood blockbuster

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Trump text
Trump's texts cause nationwide mayhem in Kimmel's hilarious video.
Photo: Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Giving Donald Trump the power to send a text to every person in the U.S. is a horrible idea, but as Jimmy Kimmel has shown, it could make for a great movie.

Everyone was talking about the first-ever nationwide Presidential alert. Thankfully, it wasn’t nearly as bad as Trump’s tweets. However, during Jimmy Kimmel’s show last night, the late night comedian showed what type of mayhem could ensue if Trump could text whatever he wanted. From cops shooting their iPhones to a man chopping his arm off to get away from Apple Watch alerts, the entire movie concept is truly phenomenal.

Watch the craziness unfold:

Epic will let Fortnite players merge multiple accounts

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Fortnite
Rescue your purchases from an old Epic account.
Photo: Epic Games

Epic Games is giving Fortnite players a new tool that will allow them to merge multiple accounts.

The merge will combine all item purchases, V-Bucks, game stats, and Save the World campaign access. It’s perfect for those who were forced to set up a second Epic account to play Fortnite on the Nintendo Switch, or because they were locked out of their original.

UK hip-hop DJ Charlie Sloth leaves BBC for Apple Music

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Charlie Sloth 1
Sloth during one of his famous "Fire in the Booth" segments.
Screenshot: BBC/YouTube

Following in the footsteps of fellow ex-BBC presenter Zane Lowe and others, UK-based hip-hop DJ Charlie Sloth will be leaving his job presenting on the BBC to join Apple Music.

Sloth is a presenter on both BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra. He has been a BBC broadcaster for the past decade, and is best known for hosting the popular rap freestyle segment, “Fire in the Booth.”

Apple tops Best Global Brands list for 6th consecutive year

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Apple adds 5 new vice presidents to its executive lineup
Apple is way ahead of the competition in value.
Photo: Lyle Kahney/Cult of Mac

Apple has topped Interbrand’s annual list of the Best Global Brands for the sixth consecutive year.

The iPhone-maker, which has seen its brand value increase 16 percent this year, ranked highly in consistency, engagement, and differentiation. It is followed by Google, while Amazon has quickly climbed into third place after its brand value increased an impressive 56 percent.

Facebook ‘borrows’ from Snapchat for updated Nearby Friends feature

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Facebook owns 4 of the top 10 apps of the past decade
Facebook wants to get some of that Snapchat cool!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Facebook is taking another crack at providing a way to help us meet up with friends offline. Having seen its “Facebook Nearby Friends” feature fail to gain much traction, the social media giant is now supposedly planning on a Snapchat-inspired redo to try and change its fortunes.

According to TechCrunch, Facebook is testing a redesign of its “Nearby Friends” that looks a whole lot like Snap Map. This feature will replace the list view of “Nearby Friends” with a map that shows friends grouped according to their city.

‘Patent troll’ sues Apple over AirDrop technology

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AirDrop shortcut
AirDrop lets you send files between devices.
Photo: Cult of Mac

Apple introduced its super useful AirDrop file transfer feature way back in 2011. However, a patent licensing company called Uniloc — sometimes referred to as a “patent troll” by critics — claims that Apple is infringing on its intellectual property.

Uniloc says that Apple’s AirDrop tech infringes on a patent first filed in 2000, a decade before Apple debuted AirDrop. And it wants some sweet Apple cash for its troubles!

Apple hires police to watch over its Apple Stores in Sacramento

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Thieves grab MacBooks from an Apple Store
This is the kind of situation Apple wants to avoid.
Photo: CBS New York/Apple

Police might have cracked the crime ring behind the spate of snatch-and-grab robberies in Apple Stores across California, but Apple’s taking no chances. According to a new report, it has contracted local police departments to bring officers in as extra security in some of its stores.

Specifically, the report notes that Apple is doing this in Sacramento. However, we wouldn’t be surprised if Apple followed a similar strategy in other locations which have been the target of criminals.

Civilization VI marches onto iPhone

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Civlization VI
Get ready to give up hours on end!
Photo: Aspyr Media, Inc.

There are some technological feats that just hammer home how far we’ve come in a few short years. One of those is the fact that, through what we can only presume is the software engineering version of witchcraft, Sid Meier’s epic Civilization VI game has been squeezed onto iPhone.

And it’s available in the App Store right now — with a 60 percent price discount if you hurry!

People love declining phone calls on their Apple Watches

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Man’s brand new Apple Watch turns out to be toilet plunger
Here's what people regularly do with their Apple Watch.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple made a big deal of people being able to make and receive phone calls with your Apple Watch, but you know what it turns out people prefer doing to answering calls with their Cupertino smartwatch? Declining them, you unsociable bunch!

At least, that’s according to a new Creative Strategies survey of Apple Watch users, shared by researcher Ben Bajarin. Based on the Silicon Valley research firm’s analysis, here’s what else they found Apple Watch owners do on a regular basis:

Google Translate for iOS can speak in Australian, Indian, Spanish accents

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Google Translate can speak in a variety of accents. And it's not just English.
Google Translate can speak in a variety of accents. And it's not just English.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

The days are over when Google Translate could only provide spoken translations with an American accent. The latest iOS version adds regional accents from the former British Empire.

And it goes beyond English. French translations can be said in a Canadian accent, for example.

LG’s horrible hybrid watch shows how bad Apple’s competition is

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lg
LG's smartwatches have always been bad, but the W7 is even worse.
Photo: LG

Apple has quickly become the world’s biggest watch company and based on its latest competition from Android smartwatch maker LG, the company’s not in danger of losing its title anytime soon.

LG’s new Watch W7 was unveiled today with a hybrid design that makes it half smartwatch, half mechanical watch. The watch face has mechanical hands so that you can always see what time it is. To keep them from blocking the display, LG put a little feature in it that makes the two hands fold horizontally but the execution of the idea is quite atrocious.

Look at how dumb this thing is:

Apple cuts price of BeatsX headphones

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beatsx wireless
The BeatsX Wireless earbuds charge via Lightning.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The good news is that Apple just significantly cut the official price of BeatsX wireless headphones. The bad news is that half the color options also just went away.

These in-ear headphones compete with Apple’s own AirPods but, unlike their rivals, are permanently connected to each other.

iPhone XS first week sales solidly outpace iPhone 8

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iPhone XS box gold
People around the world snapped up the iPhone XS models more quickly than they did the iPhone 8 series last year.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The iPhone XS and XS Max debuted last month, and some versions sold out almost immediately. But that doesn’t automatically mean they’re a huge hit. Still there’s new evideance that sales are strong.

Drawing on data compiled from over 1 million mobile apps, an analyst says that, during the first week they were available, Apple’s XS series outsold last year’s iPhone 8 and 8 Plus by 45 percent.

Wi-Fi version names finally make sense

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home Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi 6 is coming, and you don't have to care which version of 802.11 it is. You will care that it'll make public Wi-Fi better, though.
Photo: Alan Levine/Flickr

802.11ax will soon get a public release, but you won’t be left trying to remember if it’s better than 802.11ac or 802.11n. That’s because every version of Wi-Fi is getting renamed with a simple system that anyone can understand.

The next generation is going to be called Wi-Fi 6, which is obviously better than its predecessor, Wi-Fi 5.

iPhone XS Max camera takes second place in DxOMark rankings

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iPhone data privacy
Data privacy comes with the price.
Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

The iPhone XS Max camera is one of the best mobile cameras ever tested by the digital camera testing lab DxOMark. It’s just not as good as Huawei’s triple-camera P20 Pro, the tests show.

The XS Max scored a 105, four points less than the flagship of its Chinese competitor, a result only wonky photophiles are likely to debate ad nauseam.

Hundreds of people are dying from selfies

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iPhone X portrait lighting ad
Be careful where you selfie.
Photo: Apple

Think twice before you take your next selfie because it could be your last.

Selfie-related deaths are on the rise, according to a new study that found there were over 250 reported deaths from October 2011 to November 2017 that happened while the person was trying to snap a selfie.

Everyone can get the latest iOS 12.1, macOS, tvOS betas

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Apple Beta Software Program
Get in on the new betas while they're hot.
Photo: Apple

Apple isn’t wasting time getting out the next versions of all its operating systems. Yesterday, it introduced fresh betas of iOS 12.1, macOS 10.14.1, and tvOS 12.1 just for developers, and today these are all available to the general public.

This is the second round of betas of all this pre-release software. It comes two weeks after the initial round.

Brass grip gives iPhone camera feel and control of a DSLR

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Pictar Pro
Get a grip on your iPhone when shooting pictures or video with the Pictar Pro
Photo: miggö

Each new iPhone and its ever-improving camera tends to stir up talk about the demise of the DSLR.

Yet, there are just some key features of a conventional camera’s form factor that relegates the iPhone to the casual camera category.

But the photography accessories company miggö has developed – and now improved – a nifty attachment dubbed Pictar tp bring DSLR-like speed and ergonomics to the iPhone.

iPhone XS lineup is great, but not as great as Samsung’s Note 9

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Apple wins benchmark and real-world comparisons of the performance of the iPhone XS Max and the Galaxy Note 9.
Two great handsets, but which is better?
Photo: SuperSaf TV

Respected consumer testing publication Consumer Reports has released its full review of the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max.

While neither Apple handset quite dethrones Samsung’s Galaxy Note 9 as the group’s top-rated smartphone, the testing results do highlight multiple improvements from previous iPhones.

Twitter brings useful data saver feature to iOS

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Twitter
Don't waste all your data on tweets.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

The official Twitter app for iPhone and iPad can now help you cut down on your data usage.

Its new data saver feature takes steps to reduce the amount of data required to load tweets in your timeline. It’s also a blessing for those who like to avoid auto-playing videos.

Apple joins other tech giants opposing proposed anti-encryption law

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Tim Cook
Tim Cook is a strong supporter of privacy and encryption.
Photo: Apple

Apple has joined Alphabet, Amazon, and Facebook in opposing a proposed Australian law requiring tech companies to let law enforcement access private encrypted data in suspected criminal investigations.

The law would seek to punish companies which don’t comply with $7.2 million fines, along with prison terms for individuals. It would make Australia one of the first nations to pass major legislation in this area, although other countries may be keen to follow in its footsteps.

Apple Music is getting exclusive Ministry of Sound playlists

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Apple Music loses its exclusive on Ministry of Sound playlists
The move will help Apple, hurt Spotify.
Photo: Ministry of Sound/Flickr CC

Apple Music is teaming up for an exclusive playlist deal with the popular Ministry of Sound music label. The first playlist is set to debut on Thursday, October 4.

The move isn’t just about helping Apple, however. It also hurts Spotify, the only other streaming music company to offer much of a challenge to Apple Music. At present, the Ministry of Sound has several popular playlists on Spotify, which will be removed from all non-Apple streaming services in the days to come.

Fortnite 6.0.1 update adds Chiller trap, new Playground options

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Fortnite chiller trap
Don't get frozen out by Fortnite's new Chiller trap.
Photo: Epic Games

This week’s Fortnite update is now available across all platforms, including iOS.

Version 6.0.1 isn’t quite as exciting as last week’s big season six launch, but it does bring some new content to enjoy. Players can take advantage of the Chiller trap in Battle Royale and there are more options to play around with in Playground mode.