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Zane Lowe: ‘We had just three months to build Beats 1’

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Zane Lowe
Zane Lowe and others talk Beats 1 on the second anniversary of its launch.
Photo: Apple

This month marks the second year of Apple Music’s Beats 1 radio station. To mark the occasion, Apple DJs Zane Lowe, Ebro Darden and Julie Adenuga have given an interview with High Snobiety, in which they look back at the successes and challenges faced by Apple Music over the past couple of years.

iPhone 8 might drop Touch ID for 3-D face scanner

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3-D sensors could let face-recognition replace Touch ID on the iPhone 8.
3-D sensors could let face-recognition replace Touch ID on the iPhone 8.
Photo: Carlos R/Pexels CC

The iPhone 8 might ditch Touch ID for 3-D facial scanning that could prove faster, easier and more secure than the fingerprint reader currently used for logins and payments.

The new security system, if perfected in time for the upcoming iPhone 8, also could help Apple get around a possible bottleneck in the production process.

iPhone 8 will kickstart a revolution in OLED displays

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iPhone 8 concept
Apple is already driving an OLED boom.
Photo: iDropNews

iPhone 8 will drive mass adoption of OLED displays as rival smartphone makers fight to compete with Apple, new research shows.

Rumors have already accelerated the development of new displays for other brands, and it’s thought that 50 percent of all handsets will feature an OLED display by 2020.

iPhone 8 will include fewer casing colors, no Touch ID

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iphone
Apple is certainly shaking things up with the iPhone 8.
Photo: @OnLeaks @GearIndia

Will Apple manage to successfully embed Touch ID into the OLED display of the iPhone 8, or will it have to follow in the footsteps of Android device makers and opt for a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor?

None of the above, claims well-respected Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. In a list of predictions he’s made for the next iPhone, Kuo claims Apple will skip Touch ID altogether for its next-gen handset. And that’s not the only surprise!

Apple could spend big for exclusivity over LG’s OLED displays

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RED iphone
Future iPhone displays could all be made by LG.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple could make a significant investment in LG Display’s new OLED production facility to ensure exclusive supply for future iPhones, according to a new report.

The company is said to be considering a 2 trillion to 3 trillion won (approx. $1.75 billion to $2.62 billion) deal, and a final decision is expected later this month.

Airlines feel the strain of laptop ban

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Emirates
Emirates is one of the airlines affected by the ban.
Photo: Emirates

The decision to ban laptops and tablets on flights to the United States from 10 Middle Eastern countries has put a hurting on airlines, a new report claims.

The new rules, put into place earlier this year, negatively affected long-haul airlines Etihad and Emirates, according to the Associated Press. Countries affected by the laptop ban include United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Qatar, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

Photos show grand opening of Apple’s first Taiwan store

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Taiwan
Thousands of customers visited Apple Taipei 101 for the grand opening on Saturday.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s first brick-and-mortar retail store opened in Taiwan over the weekend, and Apple has shared pictures to celebrate the occasion.

The newly opened store is located on the ground floor of Taiwan’s iconic Taipei 101 skyscraper in the Xinyi District. It was the world’s tallest building prior to being overtaken by Dubai’s Burj Khalifa in 2009.

You’ll have to wait for Qualcomm’s fingerprint-scanning displays

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Touch ID
Touch ID sensor embedded in the display may be a while coming.
Photo: Apple

Qualcomm may have cracked the problem of putting a Touch ID-style sensor beneath the glass of a smartphone display, but that doesn’t mean that we can expect it to ship any time soon.

The new technology was demoed last week at the Mobile World Congress Shanghai 2017 conference, raising hopes that Apple may also be able to debut similar technology in its next-gen iPhone 8. However, according to KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Qualcomm’s technology still is “not perfect,” and there’s no clear timetable on its release.

Kanye West waves Tidal goodbye

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Kanye West
Kanye is said to have walked over a money dispute.
Photo: Rodrigo Ferrari/Flickr (CC)

Since being acquired by Jay-Z, Tidal has been heavily reliant on superstar names to attract new subscribers — but it just lost a big one.

According to one report, Kanye West has walked away from the service over a dispute regarding payments for The Life of Pablo and exclusive music videos.

Futurama, Ghost Detector Radar, and other awesome apps of the week

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Awesome Apps
'Appy July 4 weekend everyone!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Augmented reality brings a plethora of ghosts and ghouls to your own home, courtesy of augmented reality.

That’s just one of the picks we’ve highlighted for this week’s “Awesome Apps” roundup. We’ve also got a brand new Futurama game, a slew of classic cartoons for your Apple TV, and an HD remix of an iOS RPG favorite. Check out our choices below.

Cult of Mac Magazine: iPhone turns 10: Inside stories from a decade of Apple innovation

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Cult of Mac Magazine: iPhone Turns 10
Get behind-the-scenes stories from the quest to create a world-changing gadget.
Image: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

It’s hard to put into words the iPhone’s massive impact on society over the past decade. But we tried! In this week’s Cult of Mac Magazine, we’ve rounded up our best coverage (including stories from our collaboration with Wired UK) of the iPhone’s 10th anniversary.

We’ve got insider stories about the development of breakthrough iPhone features, ultra-rare iPhone prototypes and much more for your reading pleasure. Get your free subscription to Cult of Mac Magazine from iTunes. Or read on for this week’s top stories.

The stories behind 3 of the best iPhone photos of the year

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iPPA awards
Dina Alfasi finds intrigue and beauty in her fellow commuters.
Photo: Dina Alfasi

Dina Alfasi sat across from a slim man on a bus who looked to her as though he was levitating and traveling someplace magical. With her iPhone, she made a picture.

What she captured was magic — and the picture made its own journey this week by getting published all over the world as one of the year’s best photos shot with an iPhone.

Camaraderie, chaos and the original iPhone launch stories you’ve never heard, on The CultCast

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Introducing, iPhone
Though Steve played it cool, the iPhone's launch was plagued with huge problems.

This week on The CultCast: You’d never know it from Steve Jobs’ effortless keynote introduction, but the original iPhone was plagued with huge design and production issues that almost made Apple call it quits — right up until the day it was released! To commemorate the iPhone’s 10th anniversary, we’ll recount some of the incredible stories behind iPhone’s beleaguered early days, and celebrate how Apple pulled off one of the greatest device launches in history.

Our thanks to Shutterstock for supporting this episode. Kickstart your next interactive project with video clips or music tracks from their collection, and save 20 percent for a limited time at shutterstock.com/cultcast.

Everything the iPhone replaced

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iPhone 2G
The iPhone has taken the place of many a device since its release back in 2007.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

iPhone turns 10 When the iPhone was announced 10 years ago, it reinvented the phone. But in doing so, it has taken the place of so many other products.

As part of Cult of Mac’s collaboration with Wired UK to mark the 10th anniversary of the iPhone, we’ve taken a look at everything the iPhone replaced in 2007. Check out the video below to see how much changed thanks to one device.

The InkCase adds a second screen to your iPhone 7 Plus

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Inkcase
Why stare at boring aluminum when you can stare at a second display instead?
Photo: Oaxis

We’ve seen Oaxis’ e-ink cases a few times here on Cult of Mac. The InkCase is a relatively slim iPhone case with an e-ink screen embedded in the back, and a Bluetooth connection to the host iPhone. The idea is that you can use the low-power e-ink display that covers its back as an always-on second screen to so that you don’t have to keep waking up your iPhone to check things like shopping lists or calendar events.

And now, the case is available for the iPhone 7 Plus

Is Apple Pencil a harbinger of the designapocalypse? [Friday Night Fights]

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Apple Pencil FNF
Is Apple's design team losing its way?
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple is famous for its iconic designs, but is the company slowly losing its way?

Friday Night Fights bug Products like the Apple Pencil and Smart Battery Case suggest that Apple’s design team might be missing a certain spark. Even the iPhone, once the prettiest smartphone by a long shot, is now being outshone by rivals from the likes of Samsung and LG.

Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we battle it out over whether Apple design has become lazy and boring. And be sure to have your say!

Apple Pay promo gives America’s National Parks a boost

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Diablo Lake in North Cascades National Park shot by Kevin Lu on iPhone 7 Plus.
Diablo Lake in North Cascades National Park shot by Kevin Lu on iPhone 7 Plus.
Photo: Kevin Lu

America’s National Parks are getting a big boost from Apple during the month of July in the form of a new campaign aimed at raising awareness to preserve the classic landscapes.

Apple revealed today that it is starting a new Apple Pay promotion aimed at making it easier for anyone to help preserve the country’s national parks. Now whenever you use Apple Pay at any of Apple’s online or physical retail locations the iPhone-maker will donate $1 to the National Park Foundation.

Jay Z takes shots at Jimmy Iovine and Apple Music on latest album

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Jay Z
Jay Z's got 99 problems, and Apple Music is one.
Photo: Flickr/NRK P3

The new album from Jay Z is nearly impossible to stream through legal methods this week, but if you are one of the lucky few that gets to listen to it, you’ll hear the Jigga Man taking shots at one of his biggest rivals: Apple Music.

On one of the tracks for his album 4:44, Jay Z — owner of the struggling music streaming service Tidal — calls out Apple Music boss Jimmy Iovine and talks about his beef with Apple saying he wants more than what Apple offers artists.

Apple shares short film shot on iPhone by Oscar-winning filmmaker

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Gondry
Michel Gondry was director of 2004's 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'.
Photo: Apple

Apple has posted a short film online, shot on iPhone by Michel Gondry, the director of 2004’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Called “Detour,” the short French language comedy tells the somewhat surreal story of a girl’s lost tricycle — which just so happens to also include plenty of slapstick pratfalls and some singing fish. Because why the heck not?

Check it out below.

Samsung is reportedly building world’s biggest OLED plant to service Apple

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battery
Apple's gonna need a bigger boat. Or OLED factory, at least.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Samsung won all the orders for the iPhone 8’s OLED displays, and according to a new report it now wants to make itself even more indispensable by building the world’s biggest OLED plant, so as to be able to churn out more displays than ever.

According to sources, Samsung Display’s new “A5” facility will give it the ability to produce up to 270,000 OLED panels per month. At present, Samsung is able to produce around 135,000 panels per month: a number it aimed to achieve only after Apple began expressing an interest in OLED displays.

The inside story of the iPhone’s ‘Slide to Unlock’ gesture

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slide to unlock lock screen
Slide-to-unlock is one of the iconic gestures of the iPhone. It looks simple, but it was tricky to get right.
Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

iPhone turns 10 This an excerpt from Unsung Apple Hero, an e-book about UI designer Bas Ording’s career at Apple. Ording is responsible for a big chunk of today’s computing interfaces, but is little-known because of Apple’s super-strict privacy policies. Hit the link at the bottom of this post to get a free copy of the e-book.

One of the key design decisions that Apple’s Human Interface Team made early on while developing the iPhone was to go all in on big, simple gestures. They wanted to make a single, simple swipe accomplish as much as possible.

It’s a bit ironic. After investing so much in multitouch technology, which relies on multiple touch inputs, one of Apple’s key edicts was to make as many gestures as possible work with a single finger.

The future of the iPhone

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wearable iPhone concept
Will a future iPhone replace your Apple Watch?
Photo: ConceptsiPhone

iPhone turns 10 The iPhone’s success has been nothing short of spectacular. With more than 1 billion units sold as of June 2016, rival consumer electronics companies can only dream of building a product that popular.

It’s not easy to foresee how the iPhone will evolve in the future. Some things are obvious — like faster processors, more advanced cameras, and even better displays — but we must look beyond these to get a sense of Apple’s biggest ambitions. Here’s some of the many ways the iPhone might get better, stronger and faster in the next 10 years.

Apple praises ‘unbelievable’ response to ARKit

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AR Measure
One of the many great AR demos we've seen so far!
Photo: AR Measure

Apple calls developers’ rapid response to ARKit “unbelievable.” The company unveiled the framework for making augmented reality apps at the Worldwide Developers Conference earlier this month. Already, coders have created tons of amazing AR experiences that inject virtual objects into the real world.

“They’ve built everything from virtual tape measures [to] ballerinas made out of wood dancing on floors,” said Greg “Joz” Joswiak, Apple’s vice president of product marketing. “It’s absolutely incredible what people are doing in so little time.”