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Former Apple Watch rival Jawbone is entering liquidation

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Jawbone
Were you a Jawbone user?
Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

Electronics company Jawbone is reportedly closing shop after years of financial pressures.

Having started life in 1998, Jawbone initially made Bluetooth-equipped earpieces and wireless speaker, before transitioning into wearable devices for use in fitness tracking. It was best known for the UP series of wearable devices, and at its height was valued at a whopping $3 billion.

Alas, no more!

How Apple made the iPhone magical, this week on The CultCast

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The Original iPhone
It was a thing of beauty, but the software made it magical.
Photo: Apple

It’s easy to ignore how intuitive it is to use an iPhone. But a team of designers painstakingly crafted the vast array of simple swipes and taps that give the iPhone its magic.

This week on The CultCast, we’ll tell you the stories behind inertial scrolling and Swipe to Unlock. And we’ll talk about Bas Ording, the man who brought iOS to life using the physics of our natural world.

Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. It’s simple to accept Apple Pay and sell your wares with your very own Squarespace.com website. Enter offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10 percent off any hosting plan.

Think you need pro gear for great iPhone photos? That’s fake news.

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iPhone rig
You don't necessarily need expensive gear to make a great iPhone video.
Photo: Marques Brownlee/YouTube

You can make great photos and videos with just an iPhone. There is nothing fake about that statement. Thousands of great iPhone photos appear on our camera rolls and Instagram feeds every day to prove it.

Nevertheless, a recent YouTube video suggested Apple uses more than just iPhones to create its “Shot on iPhone” commercials. The video quickly went viral. Headlines it generated sowed seeds of doubt about the authenticity of Apple’s claims.

So, are we really getting the great camera Apple says it puts in its iPhones?

Apple speaks out about Imagination’s ‘misleading’ claims

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Apple isn't happy with Imagination Technologies.
Apple isn't happy with Imagination Technologies.
Photo: Apple

Apple has finally hit back at British chipmaker Imagination Technologies for its “inaccurate and misleading” claims.

Imagination, which has been manufacturing graphics chips for iOS devices for the past decade, has been taking stabs at Apple since it revealed the company will be developing its own mobile GPUs. Now Apple is setting the record straight.

Samsung likely to smash previous records with Q2 profits

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Samsung
...and Apple may have helped.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Samsung’s Q2 operating profit rose 72 percent from this time last year, setting a new record for the South Korean tech giant in the process.

Operating profit likely sits around the 14 trillion won ($12.1 billion) mark, according to the company. Revenue meanwhile increased 18 percent from a year earlier to 60 trillion won — beating analyst forecasts in the process.

Qualcomm demands ITC ban iPhones powered by Intel

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iPhone 6s teardown
Pegatron will team up with an Indonesian manufacturer..
Photo: iFixit

The ongoing fight between Apple and Qualcomm could result in an import ban on all new iPhones powered by Intel.

Qualcomm requested today that the U.S. International Trade Commission place a “limited exclusion order” on all iPhones that use Intel’s 4G wireless modem. iPhones powered by Qualcomm’s chip would be excluded from the ban.

Battlezone 98 Redux blasts its way onto iPad and Mac

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Battlezone 98
This takes us back!
Photo: Rebellion

Sure, there are a ton of great new games available for both macOS and iOS, but sometimes it pays to revisit the classics. That’s what users get with Battlezone 98 Redux, a remastered version of one of the best sci-fi strategy first-person shooter games of all time.

This was hot stuff back in the halcyon days of 1998, back when the iMac G3 was the hottest computer going. And now that it’s landed on both Mac and iPad, it remains pretty darn good!

The magic behind HomePod gets revealed in new patent

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Apple's new HomePod smart speaker is ready to rock your house.
Apple's smart tech will let the HomePod smart speaker perfectly rock your house.
Photo: Apple

According to Apple, its upcoming HomePod smart speaker will “reinvent the way we enjoy music” thanks to its seven-tweeter array, 4-inch woofer, and smart “spatial awareness” technology that lets it “read” its environment.

If you want to find out more about how Apple’s smart speaker works, check out this new patent application. It describes an Apple speaker that uses digital signal processing, microphones and algorithms to play perfectly equalized music.

Apple recruits Samsung to resolve iPhone chip problems

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Samsung
Apple is leaning more heavily on Samsung.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple is turning to Samsung to resolve some of the yield issues it is having with its NAND flash storage chips for the upcoming iPhone, claims a new report.

Existing suppliers SK Hynix and Toshiba have reportedly both experienced lower-than-expected yield rates for the next-gen iPhone chips. As a result, the overall supply of NAND flash chips bound for Cupertino has fallen short of demand by as much as 30 percent.

Apple’s Q3 2017 earnings call to be held on August 1

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Apple is worth more than the entire US energy sector combined
Apple is worth more than the entire US energy sector combined
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Investors will get their next glimpse into how well iPhone sells are doing on August 1 when Apple reveals its Q3 earnings for 2017.

Apple updated its investor relations page today confirming the time and date of its next earnings call, which will include early sales of the new iPad Pro and MacBook Pros unveiled at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference at the beginning of June.

Jailbreaking pioneers say iPhone jailbreaking is dead

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Jay
Cydia creator Jay Freeman says he doesn't recommend jailbreaking your iPhone anymore.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

It’s been months since the last iOS 10 jailbreak has been released. And according to the guys that originally made jailbreaking a huge craze, you shouldn’t get your hopes up about jailbreaking your iPhone ever again.

In fact, even if you could jailbreak iOS 10, Jay Freeman — the guy who invented Cydia, which was the App Store before the App Store was the App Store — says he doesn’t recommend it.

Jailbreaking is officially dead.

Apple Music partners with Fender for rocking playlists

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apple-music
Brands are partnering with Apple Music to curate playlists.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Electric guitar fans can listen to Apple Music playlists from Fender, maker of some of the world’s most iconic axes.

Five new playlists emerged from the new Fender/Apple Music partnership. While rock ‘n’ roll might be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Fender, the company is also highlighting how its instruments have been used in R&B, hip-hop, jazz and other genres.

Suit of the future, first automatic toothbrush and more [Crowdfund Roundup]

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Amabrush
The world's first automatic toothbrush.
Photo: Amabrush

Crowdfund Roundup bugDid you know that you’ll waste 108 days in your lifetime just brushing your teeth? But not with Amabrush, the world’s first automatic toothbrush, which promises to give you an even better clean in just ten seconds!

It’s one of the awesome ideas in this week’s Crowdfund Roundup. We also have the last suit you’ll ever need, a sticker that lets your MacBook’s trackpad do more, and a robot that will pull your weeds!

Apple News may let publishers charge readers

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Apple News
Apple News is about to get magazines too.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple may be planning to loosen its tight control of the way ads are run on the Apple News app. And that could mean big bucks for publishers.

A money fix for the app is supposedly in the works, according to a new report that claims publishers potentially could soon make the same amount of money off ads in Apple News as they do from their own websites.

Jay Z’s new album goes platinum without Apple Music’s help

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Jay Z 4:44
No Apple Music, no problem. Apparently.
Photo: Jay Z

It’s only been out since last week, but Jay Z’s 4:44 album has already gone platinum, according to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

The feat is all the more miraculous considering that Jay’s album has thus far been available only in a select few places. As we’ve noted, it was nearly impossible to stream through legal methods, with the only two ways to access it either being a Tidal subscription or listening on the 160 iHeartRadio stations across the country.