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News - page 780

Google makes iPhones extremely secure

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Apple requests DMCA removal of iPhone security tweet. Then changes its mind
Apple requests DMCA removal of iPhone security tweet. Then changes its mind
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Google’s service making its accounts uncommonly secure has been extended to iOS native apps. This is only for people who carry around really sensitive information and who therefore expect their iPhone or iPad to come under sophisticated attack.

Starting today, the Advanced Protection Program supports Apple Mail, Calendar, and Contacts. Naturally, this is only for those who connect these iOS apps to Google accounts.

Hogwarts Mystery costs too much, but might become cheaper

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Harry Potter
Considering it's a children's game, many wonder why Hogwarts Mystery cost so much to play.
Photo: Jam City

Reviews of Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery don’t agree whether it’s a good iOS game, but all say it’s vastly too  expensive. It’s actually free to download, but playing the game essentially requires buying expensive power-ups.

But now developer Jam City may have changed course because reports are coming in that the cost of power-ups has dropped by up to 80 percent.

Apple Watch shipments almost double Fitbit’s

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Save big on the Apple Watch Series 3
Apple Watch dominates the global wearables market, solidly beating its arch-rival.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

There’s no doubt who’s top dog in the global wearables market. Just over 4 million Apple Watches shipped during the first quarter of this year. That’s nearly double the number of Fitbits shipped.

The performance of Apple’s wearable was also up dramatically when compared to the same period of last year.

Google gamifies machine learning with Emoji Scavenger Hunt

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Emoji game Scavenger Hunt turns powerful machine learning and image recognition technology into a game for your phone.
Emoji Scavenger Hunt turns powerful machine learning and image recognition technology into a game for your phone.
Screenshot: Google

Emoji are many things to many people. Depending who you ask, they’re fun, flirty, confusing, a whole new language, or the demise of language itself.

Google’s Emoji Scavenger Hunt adds one more to the many meanings of emoji: a way to play with machine learning.

iOS 11.4 adds AirPlay controls to Siri

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Siri do not disturb
You can now use Siri on your iPhone to control music on your HomePod.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple is about to let Siri control your AirPlay speakers.

As part of the latest beta for iOS 11.4, Apple has added the ability to use AirPlay commands through Siri, allowing users to use Siri on their iPhone to play something on their HomePod.

Signups open for free Apple Developer Academy

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Apple Developer Academy
A student at the Apple Developer Academy describes it as both challenging and creative.
Photo: Apple Developer Academy

Apply now for the 2018 class of the Apple Developer Academy to learn to create iOS apps. And did we mention you get to live in Naples? And it’s free?

This isn’t a basic bootcamp. In addition to learning Swift programming and user interface design, students are taught how to be an entrepreneur.

The iconic Koss Porta Pro headphones go wireless

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Koss Porta Pro Wireless
Look, no wires! Wait a minute…
Photo: Koss

Koss’s amazing Porta Pro headphones have finally gone “wireless.” These lightweight, great-sounding headphones first launched in 1984, and have been on sale since. And now, they are available with a Bluetooth connection. Behold, the Koss Porta Pro Wireless.

Fortnite is killing it on iOS, but it could be so much better

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Fortnite
Team Rumble just got a lot better.
Photo: Epic Games

I’ve been encouraging every gamer I know to play Fortnite on iOS since it made the leap to the App Store back in March. I’ve gushed about how spectacular the game is on mobile, and how it keeps up with its console counterparts.

I’m not at all surprised that the game is making an absolute killing on iPhone and iPad, raking in more than $25 million in revenue during its first month of availability. I’ve played it almost every day, and spent more than I’d like to admit on items I don’t really need.

But two months on, now that the novelty has worn off, I have some complaints to make. Fortnite could be so much better on iOS if Epic was to give it the attention it really deserves.

MacBook butterfly keyboard problems spawn recall petition [Update]

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MacBook butterfly keyboard
A new petition calls for Apple to recall the MacBook butterfly keyboard, which can fail when a speck of dust gets in the wrong place.
Photo: Apple

The butterfly keyboard in recent MacBooks draws frequent complaints. And these have now escalated to the point where an online petition is requesting that Apple recall every MacBook Pro released since 2016.

These laptops are super-slim, and so are their keyboards. Reducing the thickness left room for very little key travel, resulting in accusations that even a small speck of dust underneath one of the keys can cause it to stop functioning.

iPad remains top dog as tablet market shrinks

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iPad-Pro
Grab yours before it’s too late!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The iPad remains the king of tablets after strong sales helped the device grab its highest share of the worldwide tablet market since 2014.

Apple confirmed on Tuesday that it sold 9.1 million iPads last quarter, which helped its market share grow 2.1 percent despite a drop in overall tablet shipments.

Ban on FaceTime may soon be lifted in United Arab Emirates

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Facetime
FaceTime has been banned in the UAE for years.
Photo: Mathieu Thouvenin/Flickr CC

Apple may have been voted consumers’ favorite brand in the United Arab Emirates, but one of the iPhone’s most popular features — FaceTime — still isn’t allowed in the country.

That could soon change, however, because Apple is in talks with the UAE federal government to lift the ban on Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services as far as it affects FaceTime.

Iron Man’s iconic head-up display was inspired by the first iPhone

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Marvel Studios
Save the world? There's an app for that!
Photo: Marvel Studios

Apple’s design principles make it into all sorts of areas of pop culture — from the robots in Pixar’s Wall*E to the Stormtroopers and lightsabers in the Disney Star Wars movies to… Iron Man’s head-up display (HUD)?

According to a new oral history of Tony Stark’s instantly recognizable HUD, the computer interface’s design was greatly influenced by Apple’s then-brand new handset, which had only just shipped when the first Iron Man movie was in production.

Steam adds support for the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller

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Switch Pro Controller Steam
Use your Pro Controller to play your favorite Mac and PC games.
Photo: Valve

Steam has added official support for the Switch Pro Controller in its latest client beta.

Players no longer have to use fiddly third-party workarounds to enjoy Nintendo’s best controller in their favorite games. All of its buttons and even its motion controls are now fully supported.

Apple Watch is credited with saving New York man’s life

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Apple Watch alerts user of irregular heart rhythms in sleep
The Apple Watch's heart rate monitor has been a lifesaver for several wearers.
Photo: Apple

The Apple Watch may have saved a man’s life after its heart rate monitor led 32-year-old New York resident William Monzidelis to be diagnosed with an erupted ulcer.

The ensuing incident sounds terrifying — but also a remarkable illustration of how useful Apple’s wearable device can be.

Spotify has almost twice Apple Music’s number of paying subscribers

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Spotify
Big numbers, but is trouble brewing?
Photo: Spotify

Apple Music may have made enormous strides, but Spotify remains the king of streaming music. For now, at least.

In its first ever earnings report as a public company, Spotify says that it ended the quarter with 75 million paying customers — and a massive 170 million monthly active users, taken across all user types.

2018 iPhone might come with USB-C fast charge adapter

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apple_power_adapter_recall_2_1200
Say goodbye to the 5W iPhone adapter and hello to much faster charging.
Photo: Apple

iPhone fast charging is possible with the 2017 models, but it’s a seriously underutilized feature because the devices don’t come with the right adapters. But Apple is reportedly going to ship the 2018 iPhone models with the adapter and cable needed to get a 100% charge much quicker.

It’s one of the puzzles of last year’s devices. They support USB-C fast charging, but come with USB-A adapters that take much longer.

iPhone bucks global smartphone market downward trend

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IDC global smartphone market
A sequential chart shows Apple was briefly at the top of the global smartphone market, but not in Q1.
Photo: Cult of Mac/IDC

The total number of smartphones shiped worldwide in the first quarter of the year declined, but Apple was immune, experiencing a small increase. Its share of the global market grew as a result.

Arch-rival Samsung was hit though, seeing a small decrease year over year despite the launch of its new flagship models.

Apple resists government’s proposed iPhone ‘backdoor’

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GrayKey can bypass iPhone security
A computing pioneer suggested a way to make the iPhone safely unlockable by law enforcement. Apple isn't buying it.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Apple and other tech companies are fighting back against a newly proposed method for giving law enforcement access to encrypted smartphones, bypassing users’ passcodes.

The iPhone backdoor proposal comes from Ray Ozzie, who was once chief technical officer at Microsoft, and its chief software architect.

5 big things to expect from Google I/O 2018

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Google IO 2018
Google I/O starts today!
Photo: Google

Google I/O 2018 is right around the corner. You may not be all that excited for it if you only ever use Apple devices, but you should be. Google’s plans for the future of its platforms could well shape the future of all smartphones, wearables, and more.

They will also tell us how Google intends to keep up with and fight Apple’s latest devices, including iPhone X, which is quite literally changing the face of Android-powered devices.

Here are five big things we’re expecting from this year’s Google I/O keynote, which kicks off on Tuesday, May 8.

Steve Jobs asked Louis Vuitton boss for advice on opening first Apple Stores

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Louis Vuitton
The Louis Vuitton Store at Champs-Elysées, Paris.
Photo: Jean-Louis Zimmermann/Flickr CC

As you might expect, Steve Jobs had a pretty darn impressive Rolodex — and he was willing to draw on it to seek advice whenever he needed it.

According to a new interview with Louis Vuitton chief Bernard Arnault, Jobs turned to him shortly after rejoining Apple to ask Arnault’s opinion on Apple-branded stores. The idea seemed crazy at the time, but Jobs saw how well it could work for luxury goods makers.