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News - page 727

Apple’s flagship L.A. store will be part retail, part performance center

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Tower Theatre
The 91-year-old Tower Theater will be the home of the first LA Apple Store in the Downtown district.
Photo: Steve Minor/Flickr

Apple’s plans for the historic Tower Theatre store were revealed today, showcasing how the iPhone-maker plans to turn the Los Angeles location into one of its main flagship stores.

Tower Theatre was one of the first buildings in L.A. with air conditioning, an aspect that intrigued Apple when it started making plans. Instead of constructing a perfect glass box store, Apple plans to keep a lot of the building’s historical aspects intact.

iPad’s hot streak shows no sign of cooling

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2018 iPad and Apple Pencil
The 9.7-inch iPad released this fall helped keep Apple on top of the tablet market.
Photo: Ian Fuchs/Cult of Mac

There was a time the glory days of the iPad seemed over. Sales declined quarter after quarter. Then the iPad Pro line debuted, and now Apple has seen six straight quarters of increasing tablet shipments.

That’s not true for rival device makers. Samsung tablets haven’t experienced a quarterly shipment increase since at least 2016.  

This SD card reader will satisfy the Apple user’s need for speed

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UHS-II card reader
This card reader will make you forgive Apple for taking away the SD card slot on the MacBook Pro.
Photo: Satechi

Some frustrated creatives believe Apple is abandoning them and will point to the removal of the SD card slot on the MacBook Pro as one example. A new high-speed card reader by Satechi could ease that anxiety.

The brushed aluminum Type-C Micro/SD reader will be especially valuable to photographers and videographers routinely pausing their workflow to transfer large, high-resolution files. This reader is equipped with UHS-II, which carries a transfer rate of 312 MB/s.

HomePod sales reportedly hit 3 million units in U.S.

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Apple debuts HomePod in India at its cheapest price yet
HomePod sales are "small but meaningful," according to a new report.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

The smart speaker contest may be a two-horse race between the Amazon Echo and Google Home, but Apple’s HomePod is starting to carve out a share as well.

According to new research from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, the total smart speaker market has now reached 50 million units in the United States. Among the installed base of U.S. devices, Amazon has 70 percent, Google has 24 percent and Apple has 6 percent.

Apple will help China fight iMessage spam

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iMessage
Users in China complain they're being swamped with spam on iMessage.
Photo: Weibo

Apple is working with Chinese telecoms firms to find a way to cut down the amount of iMessage spam customers in the country receive.

Apple has recently been under fire by state-controlled Chinese media for supposedly allowing users to be bombarded with illicit content through its iMessages. These are said to include gambling ads (illegal in China, aside from state lotteries), pornography, and counterfeit goods.

Facebook puts game demos in your news feed

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Facebook news feed game demos
Look out for playable demos inside the Facebook app.
Photo: Facebook

If you think your Facebook news feed couldn’t possibly get any messier, think again. As of today, users will see start seeing playable game demos as they scroll their Facebook timelines.

The demos will let you enjoy sections of a game before downloading it to your device, Facebook says. Angry Birds developer Rovio is already reaping the benefits of playable ads.

You can now buy Microsoft’s newest competitor to iPad

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Microsoft Surface Go
Surface Go puts the power of Windows 10 in your palms.
Photo: Microsoft

Microsoft’s latest competitor to the iPad, the more affordable Surface Go, is now available to order.

Prices start at just $399 in the U.S., and for that you get an Intel Pentium Gold processor, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, and a 10-inch PixelSense display. You can also enjoy Windows 10 in the lightweight S mode.

iOS 12 beta confirms iPad Pro overhaul with edge-to-edge screen

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bezel free
A bezel-free iPad as it may appear later this year.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

This year’s iPad Pro will boast Face ID and a new iPhone X-style bezel-less design, code and assets hidden in the iOS 12 developer beta seemingly confirms.

The asset relating to the new asset was discovered in the battery usage user interface part of the new developer beta. It’s an icon depicting an iPad without home button and much thinner bezels.

Apple is ignorantly killing the App Store affiliate program

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

Apple has confirmed plans to drop apps and in-app purchases from its iTunes Affiliate Program by October 1.

The company feels that commissions are no longer necessary following the launch of its redesigned App Store, which has improved app discovery. However, everyone else believes it’s an ignorant and shortsighted move that won’t be good for anyone but Apple.

Fitbit gives Apple Watch its only real competition

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Fitbit Versa
The Fitbit Versa would be on the top of smartwatch market if there were no Apple Watch. As it is, it's being solidly beat.
Photo: Fitbit

The smartwatch competition has come down to just two players: Apple Watch and Fitbit. They leave Samsung and other wearables makers well behind.

And in the second quarter of this year, Apple stayed far ahead of even Fitbit.

Apple stock earns Warren Buffett $2.6 billion in a single day

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Buffett
Breaking news: Warren Buffett knows how to invest wisely.
Photo: CNBC

For a person who famously said he doesn’t like to invest in tech stocks, Warren Buffett has done pretty well with Apple.

Following the company’s amazing quarterly earnings this week, Buffett’s shares in Apple have proven to be an insanely smart bet. How smart? Thanks to the 6 percent spike in Apple stock yesterday, Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway firm likely made upward of $2.6 billion in a single day.

iPhones could be about to get even more expensive

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Ex-student sentenced to 3 years in prison for massive iPhone scam
We may one day look fondly back on the days iPhones cost just $1,000.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple may have just reported yet another record quarter, but there’s a potential dark cloud lurking on the horizon in the form of the impending China trade war.

Not only has Tim Cook been outspoken about China being Apple’s future biggest market, but Apple also relies on China for the majority of its manufacturing. In other words, Apple has a problem — and in this case it’s a problem that could be passed onto you, the customer.

Apple must pay $145.1 million for infringing on patents

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Apple is worth more than the entire US energy sector combined
Apple has battled WiLan in court before.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple has been ordered to pay out $145.1 million in damages for infringing on patents held by the Canadian patent licensing company WiLan.

A federal jury in San Diego, California ruled that the iPhone infringed on two WiLan patents. These “8,457,145” and “8,537,757” patents relate to wireless communications tech — specifically bandwidth request protocols in a wireless communication system and adaptive call admission control.

Steve Jobs’ daughter talks about her big secret

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Lisa
Lisa, photographed in 2005.
Photo: Lisa Brennan-Jobs/Wikipedia CC

Lisa Brennan Jobs, the oldest daughter of Steve Jobs, is coming out with her first book next month. Part of the story grapples with their complicated relationship. (He denied being her father at first.)

In an excerpt from her book, Small Fry, posted today, Lisa Brennan Jobs gives glimpses into some of her dad’s last months. She also talks about how it affected her psyche when he named the Lisa computer after her but didn’t admit it to her until she was 27.

Apple shares gain $55 billion after glowing quarterly report

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money
Apple share price increased more than a dollar or two following a very strong quarterly earnings report.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Investors rushed to buy Apple stock today, pushing the share price up almost 6 percent. That added a whopping $55 billion to the company’s market capitalization.

Apple is still a bit short of the much-hyped $1 trillion valuation, but moved noticeably closer today.

Samsung takes on iPad Pro with Galaxy Tab S4

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The Galaxy Tab S4 is clearly designed to take on the 10.5-inch iPad Pro.
The Galaxy Tab S4 is clearly designed to take on the 10.5-inch iPad Pro. So we compared the two.
Screenshot: Samsung

Samsung just unveiled the first high-end Android tablet in years: With a 10.5-inch screen and a $649.99 price, the Galaxy Tab S4 takes aim squarely at the iPad Pro. As with Apple’s tablet, there’s an optional keyboard ($150) to turn this Android model into a 2-in-1 laptop.

We compare the two to highlight the differences.

Here’s when to expect Apple’s 2018 iPhone event

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iPhone X
The 2018 iPhone lineup could be prettier than ever.
Photo: Martin Hajek

Apple’s biggest keynote of the year is quickly approaching and, while the company hasn’t revealed the date, we have a pretty good idea of when exactly the 2018 iPhone lineup will be revealed.

After analyzing the dates of Apple’s previous unveilings and the 2018 calendar, it seems pretty likely the keynote will fall during the second week of September.

Oscar-nominated filmmaker says smartphone killed photography

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Wim Wenders
Wim Wenders wants to find a new term for the type of photography done with an iPhone.
Photo: BBC

So many people are taking so many pictures thanks to the iPhone. And yet, renowned filmmaker and photographer Wim Wenders says photography is “more dead than ever.”

“The trouble with iPhone pictures is nobody sees them,” Wenders said in a recent BBC video interview during an exhibit of his Polaroid photos. “Even the people who take them don’t look at them anymore, and they certainly don’t make prints.”

The Mac needs this amazing new font menu right now

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Sam William Smith's new font menu design is simple, and perfect.
Sam William Smith's new font menu design is simple, and perfect.
Photo: Sam William Smith

If you do any work with fonts on the Mac whatsoever, you will have run up against the font picker. It’s a piece of design that dates back to when the Mac only came with a black-and-white screen, and yet it’s still the only way to select a font on an Apple computer. That wouldn’t be so bad if it was a good design, but it’s not. The macOS font picker is little more than a drop-down menu. Worse, it’s a drop-down menu that changes every time you use it.

You can use the Mac’s font panel in some apps, but even then you’re faced with long and confusing lists.

Sam William Smith, a designer from Glasgow, Scotland, decided to do something about this. He completely redesigned the Mac font menu, and it’s great.

Buy two Casetify Apple Watch bands, get 20% off [Summer Sale]

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Casetify
Take your pick of any two Casetify Apple Watch bands and get 20% off! Includes Stainless Steel, Woven Nylon and Saffiano Leather bands.
Photo: Casetify

Now’s the perfect opportunity to up your Apple Watch style game and swap out that old strap for something fresh. Enter Casetify’s collection of fun and super stylish Apple Watch bands in Stainless Steel Mesh, Woven Nylon and the artist-inspired line of Saffiano Leather bands.

Browse the full lineup of Casetify bands in our Watch Store, and remember to use code CULTOF20 at checkout for 20 percent off when you purchase two Casestify Apple Watch bands through Aug, 31, 2018.

Sorry, Android. You can’t have more than two notches

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Apple Watch
The iPhone X screen cutout could be renamed the Android notch because so many devices running Google's OS are including one. Enough that new rules prevent overuse.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The “notch” in the iPhone X drew heavy criticism when this device was first announced, but makers of Android phones have been quick to embrace it. So quick that Google felt compelled to step in and limit the number of screen cutouts allowed.

Phone designers were apparently going overboard if Google had prevent them from putting in three or more.

Apple won’t pay Cupertino ‘head tax’ after all

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Apple waives developer fees for nonprofits, others in 8 additional countries
It's not like Apple has the cash to spare!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple won’t have to pay additional taxes to the city of Cupertino based on the company’s number of local employees, city officials have decided.

Some Cupertino City Council members planned to give voters the opportunity to decide whether Apple, and other large local businesses, should pay a “head tax.” Apple would have paid around $9.4 million annually to the city. However, those plans have now been scrapped.

France bans smartphones and tablets from schools

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What to expect from Apple education event 2018.
Just don't take your iPhone with you!
Photo: Apple

Think smartphones are an unavoidable part of daily school life if you’re a teen? Think again. Well, if you live in France, at least.

Under new legislation, French students are banned from using either smartphone or tablets during the school day. The new laws were part of President Emmanuel Macron’s election promises.

Fortnite challenges leak out early for season 5, week 4

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Fortnite
Listen out for the sound improvements this week.
Photo: Epic Games

We’re just one day away from another round of challenges in Fortnite Battle Royale. But you don’t have to wait to find out what you’ll be doing this week, because week four’s challenges for season five have leaked out early.

Here’s how you’ll earn another 50 Battle Stars.