iBooks may not be ready for a big revamp. Photo: Apple
Apple is working on a major iBooks overhaul for iOS 11.3, according to a new report.
The company has hired a former Amazon and Barnes & Noble executive to help reboot its e-book business, which will also see the launch of a new reader for iPhone and iPad.
HomePod will get software updates just like your other Apple devices. Photo: Apple
Don’t make the mistake of comparing HomePod to rival smart speakers and lamenting its $349 price tag. There are good reasons why the device costs more than three times as much as an Amazon Echo — and yet is still an absolute steal.
The design of Apple's new store blurs the line between the inside and outside world. Photo: Apple
Ahead of Apple’s first ever Apple Store opening South Korea, the company has shared pictures of its spectacular new Seoul store online.
Located on the south of the Han River, in the heart of the upmarket Gangnam district, the store boasts a 25-foot glass facade, stunning 6K video wall, and a tree-lined interior that is designed to blur the line between street and store. It opens this Saturday.
Jony Ive recently resumed his post at the head of Apple's design team. Photo: BBC
A big increase in the number of exciting-sounding job openings for designers and engineers at Apple’s new Apple Park campus suggests that some exciting projects are underway.
According to a new report, based on data from Apple’s HR website, Apple began hiring a whole lot more designers in October, with openings jumping from an average of 40 or less to a peak of 70 new positions. While the company hires new engineers all the time, this uptick in hiring suggests that Apple is bringing in a whole lot more creative folks than they have in a long while.
Steve Jobs called iCloud Apple's hard disk in the sky. Photo: Apple
One of the key features Apple left out of iOS 11 is finally entering the beta testing phase among developers.
Apple added iCloud support for Messages to iOS 11.3 beta 1 today, which should be a huge help in saving space on most iPhones once it finally launches for the public.
Dive into coding with Swift Playgrounds. Photo: Apple
Swift Playgrounds, Apple’s code-learning app aimed at youngsters, got a huge update today with the biggest new set of features sent the app came out in 2016.
With the Swift Playgrounds 2.0 update, coders get access to a host of new robots, as well as the ability to subscribe to third-party level creators so you can find and download new levels faster.
iOS 11.3 makes iPhone more secure. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
iOS 11.3 landed with a bunch of big features this morning but it looks like Apple added a few small surprises not mentioned in its preview, including a new feature that makes it easier to tell when apps are trying to access your personal data.
iOS 11.3 brings new animoji for iPhone X. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
The first big iOS 11 beta of 2018 has finally arrived.
Apple gave the public a preview of the new features coming in iOS 11.3 this morning. Developers can already start playing with the new goodies now that Apple just released the first iOS 11.3 beta.
Siri usage is climbing rapidly. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Siri is now “actively” used on more than half a billion devices, Apple has revealed. The virtual assistant, which will be used to control HomePod, has been attracting users at a rapid rate despite falling behind its competitors in features and accuracy.
Primary Data, an enterprise storage startup which employed Steve Wozniak as its chief scientist, appears to have shut down. At time of writing, the company’s Twitter and Facebook appear to be down, although its webpage is still working. Its operating status is described as “closed.”
Augmented reality will be even better with glasses. Photo: Apple
Apple today offered fans a preview of a big iOS 11.3 update coming this spring.
Alongside 16 new Animoji characters for iPhone X owners, the update will bring big improvements to ARKit and Messages, the ability to view battery health on all iOS devices, music videos for Apple Music, and lots more.
Apple's augmented reality platform just got slicker. Photo: Alper Guler
Apple’s ARKit augmented reality platform just got better thanks to ARKit 1.5, which has rolled out to developers in beta.
The upgrade adds a big new feature to AR developers’ toolset: wall detection. Previous versions of ARKit only focused on horizontal plane detection, meaning that it only able to detect floors for objects to be placed onto. With the new upgrade, AR developers will now be able to add walls into the mix — for instance, creating a game in which you throw darts at a wall-mounted board.
Tim Cook thinks HomePod will blow away the "squeaky sound" of its rivals. Photo: Apple
Tim Cook talked up the audio quality of Apple’s HomePod smart speaker during a recent interview, while taking a shot at the competition.
“We think one thing that was missing from this market was a quality audio experience, a very immersive audio experience,” Cook said. “Music deserves that kind of quality as opposed to some kind of squeaky sound.”
Qualcomm allegedly paid Apple billions to keep its business. Photo illustration: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
The European Commission has fined Qualcomm 997 million euros ($1.2 billion) for abusing its market dominance in LTE baseband chipsets, supposedly paying Apple billions of dollars in order to secure their business and stop Apple buying chips from rivals.
HomePod, the first new Apple product of 2018, is about to arrive. And as a huge Apple fanboy, I couldn’t care less.
Apple’s been hyping its smart speaker ever since unveiling the device last June at the Worldwide Developers Conference. And yet HomePod has failed to really excite fans (except through leaks that gave us early details about the iPhone X). Apple bills HomePod as a powerful speaker that packs Siri to take your listening experience to an all-new level. But with its Feb. 9 release just weeks away, HomePod is looking more like Apple’s next big bomb.
A new update is out for iPhone! Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Apple pushed out a big batch of software updates this morning for iOS, tvOS, watchOS and macOS, bringing a host of bug fixes and performance improvements to all of its major platforms.
iOS 11.2.5 is the biggest of today’s software updates. The update for iPhones and iPads adds a couple new features, including support for Apple’s HomePod smart speaker, which opens for preorders this Friday.
Ready to ditch your iPhone X already? There's still time to get a great price! Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Apple will cut key features from its upcoming 6.1-inch iPhone to reach a more affordable price tag, according to one reliable analyst.
The device, which is expected to look a lot like iPhone X, could cost as little as $700. But buyers will lose luxuries like a stainless steal frame, dual rear-facing cameras, and even 3D Touch.
The most popular consumer drone on the market just got a huge upgrade that gives it even more mass appeal for budding droners and video creators.
DJI unveiled its new folding drone, the Mavic Air, today. A blend of the company’s two most popular drones, the Mavic Pro and the Spark, it also packs new features you won’t find on DJI’s other drones.
After confirming HomePod will finally make its debut on February 9 — with preorders starting this Friday — Apple has revealed new details about its hotly anticipated smart speaker.
Here’s what you need to know about HomePod gesture controls and more.
It’s about time we saw that new MacBook Air. Photo: Apple
Apple is said to be preparing a new 13-inch MacBook for 2018 that will likely replace the MacBook Air as its most affordable notebook.
Suppliers are already manufacturing displays for the machine, which will reportedly make its debut in the second half of the year, according to industry sources.
Apple took exception to Donald Trump throughout last year. And beyond. Photo: Gage Skidmore/Flickr CC
Apple ramped up its lobbying spend in 2017, shelling out $7 million to battle many of the regulations and proposed new laws issued by the Trump administration.
Under Tim Cook, amount spent by Apple on lobbying efforts has more than doubled. However, while last year’s figure was a personal record for the company, it is less than many other big tech giants spent. During the same period, Google spent $18 million on lobbying efforts, while Amazon spent $12.8 million, and Facebook spent $11.5 million.
The GIF creator sits right above the keyboard. Photo: Cult of Mac
Google’s excellent Gboard keyboard is now even better on iOS, thanks to a handy GIF creation tool. Users can make two kinds of animated images using their iPhone’s camera, then send their creations via their favorite messaging services.