Mobile menu toggle

News - page 759

Cheer on your World Cup team with these stupid expensive custom iPhones

By •

World Cup iphones
These World Cup iPhones don't come cheap.
Photo: Caviar

The World Cup is set to kick off one week from now in Russia and one of the country’s gaudiest iPhone modders has come out with a collection of custom gold iPhones to celebrate your favorite players.

Caviar is no stranger to super expensive iPhones, but their latest designs might have the most universal appeal. The new Football Legends collection features eight new designs that are dedicated to one modern football hero and the national team he plays for. By combining patterns from the players’ countries with Russian design elements, Caviar’s new iPhone X collection actually looks pretty cool.

Check em out:

Google again follows Apple’s lead, removes meat from salad emoji

By •

Salad emoji from various companies
At the urging of vegans, the egg is being removed from Google's salad emoji, pictured at right. Apple's, Samsung's, and other's versions are already meat-less.
Graphic: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Google has bowed to pressure from vegans and taken the egg out of Android’s salad emoji.

This isn’t something iPhone users need concern themselves with, as Apple’s version is already meatless.

Fortnite challenge guide for season 4, week 6

By •

Fortnite Solo Showdown game mode
Get your V-Bucks back for unwanted Fortnite purchases.
Photo: Epic Games

The latest Fortnite Battle Royale challenges for Season 4 Battle Pass buyers are now available. There are seven in total for week six — four easy and three hard — which will earn you a total of 50 Battle Stars.

Here’s what those challenges are and how to complete them.

You can now embed Apple Maps into websites

By •

MapKit
MapKit JS is Apple's latest attempt to improve Apple Maps.
Photo: Apple

Despite Apple Maps being found on every iPhone and iPad, Google Maps has a few big advantages.

One thing helping Google Maps’ visibility is the fact that it can be easily embedded into websites. That means that if you’re using a website to navigate to, say, an Airbnb online, there’s a good chance you’ll be directed to Google Maps. But Apple is taking steps to change all that.

Stubborn inventor reels in unruly MacBook cords

By •

Side Winder
Logan Bailey left Brigham Young University with a degree and a hit product.
Photo: Fuse

Logan Bailey’s first commercial invention is the Side Winder, a reel that neatly coils a MacBook charging cord to keep it tangle-free.

But the Side Winder isn’t his first Eureka! moment. That came in the fourth grade when he built a better toenail clipper.

Apple approves blatant Zelda: Breath of the Wild clone for iOS

By •

The Nintendo Switch's flexible Joy-Con controllers work just fine with a Mac (but not an iPhone).
Nintendo’s newest console was by far the hottest product.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

We’re still eagerly anticipating Nintendo’s first The Legend of Zelda game for mobile. iOS users in China may have briefly believed the wait was over this week when Breath of the Wild landed in the App Store — except it wasn’t actually Breath of the Wild.

It turns out Apple approved a shameless Zelda clone that, unsurprisingly, doesn’t deliver everything its description promises.

North Korean elites sure love their Apple devices

By •

North Korea
North Korean citizens paying respect to the statues of Kim Jong-un's ancestors.
Photo: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen/Wikipedia CC

When Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un meet, they could always break the ice by talking about their favorite Apple devices.

While Trump has expressed his admiration for Apple in the past, it turns out that North Korea’s top officials are also quite the fans of the Cupertino tech giant. According to research firm Recorded Future, analysis of the devices being used by North Korea’s elite include numerous iPhones and a MacBook.

Lawsuit alleges that every Apple Watch contains the same defect

By •

apple watch 1
The Apple Watch is the subject of a new legal case.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Every Apple Watch that Apple has made is defective. At least, that’s the argument made by a new class action lawsuit, asking Apple to pay $5 million in damages for refusing to acknowledge an issue which affects its wearable devices.

According to Kenneth Sciacca of Colorado, who filed the suit, Apple Watches contain a flaw “which causes the screens … to crack, shatter, or detach from the body of the Watch, through no fault of the wearer, oftentimes only days or weeks after purchase.”

Valve makes controversial decision to ‘allow everything’ in Steam Store

By •

Valve Steam
Enjoy Remote Play Together today.
Photo: Valve

Valve is making a huge change that’s going to have a massive impact on the content you see in the Steam Store. The company is doing away with human curation and allowing everything to be sold through its platform.

Valve says it should be up to players to decide what kinds of games they play, while developers should have the freedom to choose what kinds of games they make. However, it will be creating new tools that give shoppers greater control over what appears in their Steam Store.

Another Fortnite update arrives with more weapon changes

By •

Fortnite gold weapons
Shotguns are weaker but damage traps are back!
Photo: Epic Games

Epic Games is rolling out another Fortnite Battle Royale update with big weapon changes.

It is the second patch to arrive this week after bouncer traps and other weapon tweaks were introduced on Wednesday. This release focuses on reducing shotgun damage for both the pump and tactical variants, and reversing the decrease recently made to trap damage.

Epic has also confirmed it will be sending the jetpack to the vault this month.

Legal battle may be to blame for Apple breaking its FaceTime promise

By •

FaceTime
Apple's open wish for FaceTime never happened.
Screenshot: Apple

At WWDC, Apple revealed that it will finally make it possible to do FaceTime group calls for up to 32 people. That’s great news — provided that all your friends, family and co-workers use Apple devices.

But it didn’t have to be like this. Back in 2010, when Steve Jobs introduced FaceTime, he made a big point about how it was set to become an open industry standard that could be used by Apple’s competitors, as well as Apple. Nearly a decade on, that still hasn’t happened. And now a theory has emerged as to why.

Beautiful new renders show upcoming 6.5- and 6.1-inch iPhone models

By •

6.5- and 6.1-inch 2018 iPhone models
Complications could keep us waiting for Apple’s more affordable iPhone.
Photo: OnLeaks

Apple’s 2018 iPhone plans reportedly include three models launching this September. One will be an upgraded version of the iPhone X, but the other two are more interesting. They’re months away from being announced, but a new render shows what both might look like.

The 6.5-inch version on the left has been called the iPhone X Plus, as it’s larger than last year’s 5.8-inch one. In the artist’s concept image, it sits next to a 6.1-inch iPhone that, unfortunately, might not look like this.

iOS 12 definitely speeds up your iPhone

By •

iOS 12
So far, the iOS 12 performance increases seem to living up to Apple's promises.
Photo: Apple

WWDC 2018 bug Cult of MacApple took to the WWDC stage to promise that iOS 12 would offer better performance than the iPhone’s current operating system. And tests on the first beta seem to bear this out, even on older devices.

Side-by-side comparisons between iOS 12 beta 1 and version 11.4 show clear speed improvements. Benchmark scores show marginal increases.

Grab all 16 macOS Mojave dynamic wallpapers right here

By •

Mojave wallpapers
Mojave's wallpapers are gorgeous.
Photo: Cult of Mac

Dynamic wallpapers are about to change the look of your Mac once Mojave launches to the public, but you don’t have to wait until this fall to get that new new right now.

Mojave includes 16 variations of the same majestic sand dune Apple showed off at WWDC 2018. If you can’t install Mojave on your Mac, you can download the Mojave dynamic wallpapers below.

Parrot’s new drone wants to compete with the Mavic Air

By •

Anafi
Anafi's 180-degree camera looks amazing!
Photo: Parrot

Drone manufacturer Parrot looks like it may have finally put together a pretty good drone to rival DJI’s popular Mavic Air quadrocopter.

Parrot unveiled its new $700 drone this morning dubbed, Anafi. The name isn’t the only thing that’s a little bit odd about the super-portable drone, but it packs some pretty interesting features even DJI can’t match.

Americans are insanely addicted to their phones

By •

iPhone Hold
Check Facebook in the bathroom? That doesn't make you weird, just an average American. But maybe we all have phone addiction.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

We really love our phones. Maybe too much. 10 percent of respondents to a recent survey have checked their phone during sex. Almost a quarter (22 percent) can’t make it through a shower without a look. But Apple is trying to help.

The survey also took a quick look at American’s attitudes toward 5G. Even though this ultra-fast cellular wireless network technology is going to start rolling out later this year, 44% of U.S. adults have never heard of it.

Parkinson’s disease symptoms tracking is coming to Apple Watch

By •

ResearchKit
ResearchKit is getting better at tracking Parkinson's disease.
Photo: Apple

WWDC 2018 bug Cult of MacYour Apple Watch will soon be able to track symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, thanks to a new API from Apple.

Details of Apple’s big software updates are still flowing out of the San Jose convention center as Apple dives into the details during sessions. During its session on advances in research and card frameworks Tuesday the company revealed it’s developed a new Movement Disorder API that could be groundbreaking for people with the disease.

J.J. Abrams and Sara Bareilles team up Apple musical dramedy

By •

JJ Abrams
Jony Ive's buddy J.J. Abrams is going to make a TV show for Apple.
Photo: Gage Skidmore/Wikipedia CC

Apple has tapped J.J. Abrams to executive produce its latest straight-to-series order for the half-hour dramedy show called Little Voices.

Abrams’ and Apple have reportedly discussed working together on a number of his projects in the past. This is the first Apple has been able to ink a deal with J.J., but considering his close ties to Jony Ive, we’re surprised it took this long.

Theoretical improvements: The status of Siri in iOS 12

By •

The iPhone's home button could be going away.
Siri should be a lot smarter.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

WWDC 2018 bug Cult of Mac In the battle of digital voice assistants, people often mock Siri for lagging behind competing products from Amazon and Google. During Monday’s WWDC 2018 keynote, Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, glossed over those failings, calling Siri the “world’s most-used digital assistant.”

What he neglected to mention was the increasing frustration of Siri users expecting more from a voice assistant. From simple requests returning inaccurate results to the inability to performthat he compound actions, Siri was in desperate need of attention going into WWDC. But will the Siri upgrades in iOS 12 do the trick?

Sonos busts out new Beam sound bar, plus AirPlay 2 support

By •

sonos beam
Sonos Beam is sleek but packs a punch.
Photo: Sonos

Sonos is making a power play to take over your living room with its latest smart speaker called Sonos Beam.

Beam is a new sound bar that is smaller than Sonos’ Playbar and Playbase, but it also packs some new features like a five-microphone array and it plays well with Google Assistant, Amazon’s Alexa and of course, Siri.

Watch out HomePod, this thing looks amazing:

macOS Mojave changes spell doom for indie Mac games

By •

Steamcrate game subscription offer
Apple is making life a lot harder for smaller game studios.
Photo: Cult of Mac

A big change Apple is making with macOS Mojave could make it more difficult for indie developers to build cross-platform games.

Apple is pushing game creators to drop OpenGL in favor of its own Metal API, which isn’t supported by third-party platforms. It may mean smaller game development teams are forced to choose between releasing on macOS or other operating systems.

Your AirPods just got way more useful with Live Listen

By •

airpods
AirPods can help you hear in a crowd thanks to Live Listen, coming in iOS 12.
Photo: Ste Smith/ Cult of Mac

WWDC 2018 bug Cult of MacYou’re in a noisy bar or restaurant and can’t hear the person across the table from you. Good news: With a feature added in iOS 12, you can use your AirPods and iPhone as a low-cost hearing aid.

This feature is called Live Listen, and it’s been available for certain hearing aids for some time. But soon, anyone with a pair of Apple’s wireless headphones will be able to use it.

Fortnite update brings rare bouncer trap and big adjustments

By •

Fortnite bouncer trap
Things that make you go boing!
Photo: Epic Games

Fortnite Battle Royale’s weekly content update is rolling out across all platforms, including iOS. The latest release adds a new bouncer trap and makes big adjustments to address “a few top concerns.”

No, there’s still no controller support on mobile — but there is strong evidence to suggest Fortnite is about to drop onto the Nintendo Switch.

Smart toilets might keep Apple manufacturer flush

By •

iPhone sales drive Apple’s biggest supplier to big profits
Foxconn is planning for life after Apple.
Photo: CBS

Foxconn has been working with Apple for the past couple of decades, and together they have raked in billions of dollars. However, with smartphone sales plateauing and Apple looking to broaden its supplier base, Foxconn is trying to reinvent itself.

Speaking at a 30th anniversary event for the manufacturing giant on Wednesday, founder Terry Gou described how Foxconn plans to get further into making its own hardware as well as embracing software options like cloud computing. Including one slightly unusual idea.