In this week’s Cult of Mac Magazine: HomePods went on sale in Europe this week, and I ordered one. It arrived the very next day. I tried it out, and then sent it back to Apple the day after that. Why? Because it’s a half-finished product. Siri is just as glitchy and annoying on HomePod as elsewhere. It doesn’t work properly with a Mac.
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.
June is Pride Month and Nyloon has issued a woven nylon rainbow Apple Watch band for its wearers to celebrate and show support for the LGBT community. Plus, who doesn’t love rainbows?
The band, which comes in both 38 and 42 mm, is part of a Nyloon’s growing collection of popular nylon bands for Apple Watch. The Love is Love Pride band is a limited-release, so grab one now.
The butterfly keyboards on the new MacBook and MacBook Pro are officially defective.
After months of outcry from angry customers, Apple has finally acknowledged that the new keyboards have some serious problems. The company says the issues are limited to a small percentage of MacBooks, but its offering free repairs.
Tinder Picks is a feature this dating app is testing that might make it a better way to find people you’re compatible with emotionally, not just sexually.
Picks takes the user’s profile and shows them pictures of people who have similar jobs, educations, and interests.
Snap updates its set of Spectacles today and instead of only shooting video optimized for Snapchat, you can finally use them to export video that’s friendly for other platforms.
It’s okay to use a PC alongside your Mac, but you’ll find that some of the best macOS features aren’t available in Windows. One of those is Finder’s awesome preview function, but you don’t have to live without it.
QuickLook is a free app that brings the same preview feature to Windows 10’s File Explorer.
Amazon FreeTime Unlimited just made the jump to to the Apple App Store. This service for children ages three to twelve offers thousands of books, movies, and games for a flat monthly fee.
The service launched years ago on Amazon’s own tablets, but only became available for iPad and iPhone today.
A Toronto man is suing Apple in small-claims court over scratches on his Apple Watch Series 3, which Apple markets as being “brilliantly scratch-resistant.”
Following the court filing, Apple allegedly offered to replace the watch and throw in a free accessory, but aggrieved watch wearer Dean Lubaki, 21, declined.
The U.S. Supreme Court just handed down a victory for privacy advocates: police can no longer access mobile phone tracking data without a warrant.
Wireless providers know which of its cell towers each of their customers is connected to, giving it a basic idea of where all of them are. Law enforcement agencies used to be able to obtain this data without permission from a judge.
Apple will introduce three new iPhones this fall, according to recent reports. Its most popular is expected to be a brand new model with a 6.1-inch LCD screen, which will be more affordable than the rumored iPhone XI and iPhone XI Plus.
We’ve all been wondering what that handset will look like. The render below offers an early sneak peek — and makes us incredibly excited for this September’s big iPhone refresh.
Foxconn could assemble even more iPhones if China eased restrictions curbing factories from abusing overtime, the company’s CEO says.
Billionaire Terry Gou says China’s rules on overtime keep workers from earning more and puts limits on Foxconn’s competitive edge.
In its quest to create the ultimate streamlined products, Apple sure loves getting rid of ports. When it came to the development of the iPhone X, however, it temporarily toyed with an idea that would have made ditching the 3.5mm headphone jack pale into insignificance.
At least, that’s according to a new report which claims Apple considered getting rid of wired charging completely for its 2017 iPhone, in favor of embracing its vision of a wireless future.
Apple is set to begin using its Apple Maps minivans to collect mapping data in Japan later this year, the company has revealed.
Apple is due to begin carrying out surveys of Tokyo and Urayasu between June and October, marking the eleventh country that Apple has used its vehicles to collect data in. Previously, Apple’s map vehicles have collected data in Croatia, France, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the U.K., and, of course, the United States.
This week on The CultCast: it’s been over a year since Apple has updated virtually any of their Macs. Just what in the heck in going on? We discuss. Plus: why all your online purchases will soon be taxed; Instagram takes on YouTube with new IGTV app; MoviePass is about to change for the worse, AGAIN; America’s largest theater chain just put the final nails in the MoviePass coffin; and things get weird in an all-new what we’re into!
Our thanks to Linked-In for supporting this episode. A business is only as strong as its people, and every hire matters… go to LinkedIn.com/cultcast and get a $50 credit toward your first job post.
Ever wanted to know would it be like to learn to play a musical instrument from A-list artists such as Sarah McLachlan, Sting, John Fogerty and Fall Out Boy? Want to find out for free?
Thanks to the 10.3 update of Apple’s GarageBand software, you can now do exactly that. And that’s just one of the big updates!
Forget everything you know about how to win in Fortnite Battle Royale.
Epic Games has confirmed that it plans to make huge changes to the game that could completely change the way you play. Master builders will suffer most, while new players will have a greater chance of winning matches.
Victory won’t be so dependent on shotgun skill and building the biggest bases. And that’s okay.
If you buy your products online, you could soon find that they get a bit more expensive — due to a Supreme Court ruling that states can now require internet retailers to collect sales taxes. This decision ends 50 years of legal battles banning states from imposing sales taxes on purchases sold by out-of-state retailers.
“Our state is losing millions for education, health care and infrastructure, and our citizens are harmed by an uneven playing field,” said Marty Jackley, South Dakota’s attorney general, summing up the argument in favor of the decision.
“Coopetition” best describes the relationship between Apple and Qualcomm. Wireless modems made by Qualcomm are used in iPhones even as the two companies are locked in a years-long patent dispute over billions of dollars.
The fight reached a new phase today as Apple challenged four Qualcomm patents, arguing they shouldn’t have been awarded in the first place.
Apple is actively working on a handwriting recognition system. This raises the distinct possibility that you might someday enter text by writing words on your iPhone or iPad screen, rather than tapping out letters on a virtual keyboard.
Some will remember that Apple’s tried something similar before and it didn’t go well.
A Grand Prix in the Cannes Entertainment awards went to “Welcome Home,” a long-form ad for the HomePod created by Spike Jonze. The goal of the “Lions” is to reward education or advertising excellent enough to qualify as art..
Watch the brilliant 5-minute ad below:
Fashion influencer Pia Muehlenbeck wore a red dress chosen by her social media fans for a sunny day in Santa Monica to make her first video for the new IGTV.
Once shooting finished, she posted it on YouTube.
YouTube has seen competitors come and go and none have been able to threaten its standing as the dominant video platform. But it has not faced a media company with the might to seriously cut into its ad revenues or lure away some of its most prominent talent like Instagram.
AT&T wants to stand out in the wireless market by combining streaming TV with unlimited data. Two newly-announced WatchTV options add dozens of TV channels and thousands of on-demand TV shows to the carrier’s unlimited data plans.
This move comes in the wake of the $85B AT&T/Time Warner merger, giving the carrier far greater access to video content that can be streamed to your iPhone or iPad almost anywhere.
Everyone’s attention is on iOS 12, but Apple still has a team working on a “bug fix” update to iOS 11.4. Among the reasons for this is the complaints from numerous iPhone users that this version causes their camera to malfunction in various ways.
This is on top of the battery problems with iOS 11.4 that have been widely reported.
Apple CEO Tim Cook made a quick stop in Ireland this week where he promised the country he’s interested in it for more than its sweet tax rate.
The company’s relationship with Ireland has been rocky the last year. Apple scrapped plans to build a billion-dollar data center and lost its tax deal, but Cook says he’s still as committed to the country as ever.
Apple has ordered yet another series for its original video content programming. This time, the series in question is an English language adaptation of Calls, a highly experimental French short-form series that tells short stories through real-life audio sources and minimal visuals.