This week we go to school with Apple’s Schoolwork app, then take time out cooking up delicious recipes for pixelated Pokémons. Then we enjoy a beautiful soundtrack on maybe the most impressive synth on iOS — and all for free!
The Supreme Court handed down a number of high-profile rulings this week. One that didn’t get much attention will have a negative effect on Apple Pay.
The SCOTUS decided that retail store owners who accept American Express can not suggest to customers who bring out this card that they use another method of payment. That includes Apple Pay, even though this iPhone payment system would save the merchant money.
An RPG set in the Harry Potter universe is a huge hit. Hogwarts Mystery only debuted two months ago and has already made its developers $40 million.
There are a couple of reasons for this success. The obvious one is it’s Harry Potter. Duh. But the other is that this game so frequently requests in-app purchases that it’s garnered heavy criticism.
In this week’s Cult of Mac Magazine: The public beta of iOS 12 is out now, so anyone can download it and install it on their device. But what does the new version of iOS actually do? Apple introduced Screen Time, the great new Do Not Disturb, and the powerful Siri Shortcuts at the WWDC 2018 keynote in June. But until you dig into them, you won’t have an idea how great these new features are, along with many more.
You’ll find that story and more in this issue. Get your free subscription to Cult of Mac Magazine from iTunes. Or read on for this week’s top stories.
JPMorgan Chase now offers an all-digital bank account. Finn by Chase is for people who prefer to do everything on a phone, as this checking and saving account is only accessible on an iPhone or iPad.
To grab people’s attention, the bank will give $100 to new customers who complete at least 10 qualifying transactions within 60 days of opening the account.
Something is going to happen in the Fortnite game tomorrow. What that will be is a bit of a mystery, but it’s causing a lot of buzz.
Whatever the deal is, it’s happening at 1:30 pm Eastern Time on Saturday. In-game TV screens are showing a countdown clock, and that’s when it hits the zero hour.
You can still buy MacBooks and iPads at new Apple Store in Seattle, but that’s not the main emphasis. Instead, this retail location is built around a giant screen that’s used for educational events.
Of course, these educational events are all product related, like how to take better pictures with an iPhone. Or run a small business with an iPad.
The iPhone might be about to get some fresh competition from Apple’s oldest rival in the tech scene.
Microsoft has reportedly been working on a mysterious new Surface device codenamed Andromeda. The device has supposedly been in development for the last two years and features a dual-display design that can fold to fit into your pocket.
Innovation is great but having it as a neighbor can be a mixed blessing.
Silicon Valley counties are reporting soaring property values thanks to a tech sector boom led by Apple and Google, who have spent the last few years buying huge swaths of land to build new headquarters.
Apple has begun gathering its own data about the U.S. road network, rather than buying this information from other companies. The goal is to significantly improve Apple Maps.
This app was a disaster when it launched 6 years ago, and although there have been significant improvements, it has been the butt of jokes ever since. Apple wants to change that.
Apple’s new iPhone lineup will feature embedded Apple SIM technology alongside an additional SIM card slot, according to a new report.
Users will be able to take advantage of both to juggle two lines simultaneously. In certain markets where Apple SIM is not supported, Apple will offer a device with two SIM card slots.
Apple’s AirPower charging pad is still M.I.A., but if you’re looking for an innovative and awe-inspiring wireless charging option, look no further than a new Kickstarter campaign.
Called Gloo, it’s a sleek bottle-shaped wireless charging station that doubles up as a multicolored ambient light source you control with your iPhone.
You can now use Apple Pay as you travel Milan on the metro system.
Contactless payment terminals have been installed throughout underground subways, allowing you to pay for tickets using your iPhone or Apple Watch. You can also use compatible MasterCard and Visa credit and debit cards.
This week on The CultCast: Apple plans new, improved AirPods, HomePod and over-ear headphones; Apple finally acknowledges its new MacBook keyboards suck, and they’re going to make it right; a top Apple analyst drops a bunch of details on Apple’s 2018 product pipeline; and how Apple is trying to solve a fascinating issue their autonomous car.
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.
The first Battleheart game, a superb pick-up-and-play RPG perfectly suited for iOS, launched way back in 2011. Now a fully fledged sequel, Battleheart 2 is finally set to debut on iOS in the next couple of weeks — and you can pre-order it right now.
Check out the trailer for the game below, and prepare to get excited!
Apple’s heated battle with Qualcomm is continuing and, as part of it, the company wants a legally sanctioned block to be placed on import iPhones featuring Intel chips.
However, a group of Apple consumers is striking back, arguing that any kind of an import ban would, “freeze out Intel’s nascent challenge to Qualcomm’s illegal monopoly” and “injure competition in a market already suffering from Qualcomm’s anticompetitive behavior.”
A groundbreaking ceremony today for a huge Foxconn plant was attended by President Trump. Foxconn is best known for assembling the iPhone, but this plant in the Midwest will produce LCD screens.
Although Apple isn’t directly involved with the production facility, the president still used his speech this morning to applaud the iPhone maker.
Great music can turn crappy videos into a killer video and starting today, Instagram wants to make it way easier for you to up your music game on Instagram Stories.
Adding a soundtrack to Instagram Stories just got as easy as adding a sticker, GIF, or location. The app is rolling out an update today that gives users in 6 countries the ability to choose from thousands of licensed songs to put attach to your videos or photos.
Apple is developing technology that would combine a cylindrical device and possibly smart clothing to provide blind and deaf people tactile or auditory signals to navigate their environments.
According to a patent application filed by Apple today, the device would map the environment with sensor data and provide feedback. For the blind, the device could sync with an iPhone to provide spoken feedback to the blind. For the deaf, vibrating signals could be delivered to a wearable, such as a shirt or the Apple Watch.
Synth One just launched. It’s a new synth app for the iPad, but it’s also a big deal. Why? Because it is free, open-source, and built by volunteer musicians and programmers. Stay with me here. Synth One isn’t out typical hideous open-source bloatfest of an app. It’s beautifully designed, sounds great, is easy to use, and is above all fun.
The first window air conditioning unit with HomeKit launched this spring, and now GE has followed up with several more that can cool larger areas.
When people think of home automation, they generally think of whole-house systems. But that’s overkill in cooler climes. These single-room window AC units can be controlled by an iPhone app from anywhere.
Dropping your $1000 iPhone X can be a costly and traumatic experience, but a clever student in Germany may have found the perfect solution: built-in airbags.
Philip Frenzel, a student from Aalen University in Germany, invented a new form of smartphone protection called the AD Case. Instead of using actual airbags though, AD Case packs built-in sensors that detect when a phone is dropping and then deploys eight springs that actively dampen the fall.
Prepare to be amazed:
AT&T customers might start noticing that their monthly bills just got a little bit more expensive.
In a move to raise some more cash after spending $85.4 billion to buy Time Warner, AT&T has increased the price of its customer service fees. The increase itself is pretty small, but when applied to AT&T’s entire customer base, it could help the telecommunications carrier bring in an extra $800 million in revenue this year.
The superb Death Road to Canada is about to get even better. A madcap mix of randomly-generated zombie survival RPG, action game, and text-based interactive fiction game, this bonkers title is one of my favorite iOS games out there.
One of the things that makes it so good? The fact that its developers have released a constant stream of updates since its launch in March 2017. Far from simple bug fixes, these updates have given player a slew of new content to put them through their paces. Here’s what the latest “Gizzard” update adds to the formula:
A Paris fashion designer, known for quirky clothing and accessories that catch eyes, uses scrap material to keep prying eyes from using webcams to spy.
Arthur Lhermitte makes webcam covers from leather offcut from his patterns. The tiny dots of leather stick to laptop webcams and smartphone cameras with a micro-suction tape that leaves no residue on the lens.