Happy Easter, everyone! Depending on where you live in the world, you may got an extra-long weekend this week (apologies if you don’t!) — thereby giving you a bit more time to check out the week’s top apps.
So what to pick? Check out our selection of the week’s most important apps and app updates below. You won’t regret it!
This week on The CultCast: Official new Nvidia drivers make your Mac compatible with the best GPUs on the market! Plus: A mole gives us our best look yet at what it’s really like to work in an iPhone factory; Apple’s working on a “breakthrough” diabetes treatment with the Apple Watch; and the saga of Ron Wayne, the forgotten Apple co-founder who traded his $22 billion of Apple stock for just $800.
Our thanks to Casper, maker of the internet’s favorite mattress, for supporting this episode. Learn why and save $50 off your order at casper.com/cultcast.
A new batch of classified NSA data was leaked today by the hacker group called Shadow Brokers, revealing malware used by the government agency to break into PCs and servers running Windows.
The leaked software is so powerful, it could give nearly anyone with a bit of technical knowledge the ability to hack millions of Microsoft users.
Looks like it’s time to finally get a Mac.
Apple might have popularized virtual assistants, but Siri has fallen behind in recent years as rivals like the Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, and even Microsoft Cortana pull ahead with greater capabilities and unique features.
One area in which Siri is lacking is in standalone devices like smart speakers, such as Google Home and Amazon Echo. Isn’t it about time Apple caught up with a smart speaker of its own powered by Siri?
Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we throw punches over a Siri speaker.
Kendrick Lamar unleashed his eagerly anticipated fourth studio album, DAMN, on the world today.
Lamar is known for his perfectionism, using some of the best producers and equipment in the game to get his sound just right. But when it came to one of the best tracks on his new album, one of Lamar’s producers crafted the entire thing using only his iPhone.
Many artists and designers have said guiding the tip of an Apple Pencil along the surface of the iPad Pro is one of the best digital drawing experiences. Jan Sapper thinks he can eliminate the word digital from that last sentence.
Sapper says he has come up with a screen cover that makes the iPad Pro’s slick glass surface feel more like paper.
Apple’s self-driving car project just shifted to a new level this week thanks to California’s DMV which just gave Apple an official permit to test autonomous vehicles on public roads.
One of Canada’s most famous music interviewers, George Stroumboulopoulos, is coming to Apple Music where he’ll host concerts featuring some of the biggest names in the industry.
Unlike the large-scale Apple Music Festival concerts hosted every year, Stroumboulopoulos (aka Strombo), will be hosting the acts at his tiny house in Toronto, giving fans an intimate concert experience unlike any other.
Disney just made Good Friday a little extra good by dropping the first trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
The two-minute video teases Rey getting some one-on-one lightsaber training with Luke Skywalker, as well as tons of epic battle scenes with huge explosions, new ships and some new faces.
Check it out:
That last few years have seen plenty of grief-stricken editors and photographers deliver eulogies about the craft of photojournalism. Others hang on hoping for changes in an industry that has seen massive layoffs and reduced pay for freelancers.
The team behind a startup platform called ViewFind, not only understands the pain of an entire industry, it’s trying to cancel the funeral.
iPhone-assembler Foxconn may be about to get some help from none other than Apple in its quest to buy Toshiba’s chipmaking business.
Apple is reportedly considering whether to make a huge multi-billion dollar investment in the world’s second-largest memory chip maker. If the deal goes through, it would give Foxconn and Apple a major advantage over other smartphone manufacturers.
Apple’s push to finish the landscaping on its soon-to-be opened spaceship campus is causing headaches for other landscapers and architects hoping to buy trees for other projects.
The company has been known to corner the market’s supply for certain Mac and iPhone components to shut out competitors, but a new report out of San Francisco reveals Apple is bringing its overpowering tactics into foliage market too.
Three more of Apple’s suppliers say they are committed to making the switch from energy generated from fossil fuels to using 100% renewable energy to make iPhone components.
Despite Donald Trump’s plan to roll back environmental regulations, Apple Inc is continuing on with the promises it made under the Obama administration. Even though it may cost more money initially, Apple’s partners are starting to realize the change is good for business too.
The iTunes brand is being slowly carted off to the Apple graveyard.
On Thursday morning, Apple made a very subtle but profound change to the way it markets podcasts. From now on, they’re no longer called “iTunes Podcasts” — they’re called “Apple Podcasts.”
The National Hockey League is going all-in on the iPad for this year’s playoffs.
Apple and the NHL struck a partnership for the 2017 playoffs that will give all 16 playoff teams three iPad Pros that can be accessed by players and coaches during their quest for the Stanley Cup.
Snapchat may be popular with the young, but Instagram continues to show it can be young and fun, too.
The photo-sharing network of 600 million users rolled out new sticker tools Thursday in response to the rapidly growing number of people using the Stories feature.
Yet another set of schematics for iPhone 8 have surfaced ahead of its official debut, again hinting at slimmer bezels that make room for a larger display, and the removal of the Home button.
The latest also suggest that Apple will relocate its fingerprint scanner to the back of the device to retain Touch ID functionality.
RBC Capital analyst Amit Daryanani has a suggestion for how Apple could spend its cash stockpile, while also growing its presence in media: buy the Walt Disney Company.
“There are plenty of factors to consider,” Daryanani wrote in a note to investors, “but such a deal would create a tech/media juggernaut like no other and instantly scale AAPL’s services, content, and media portfolio, which would make the case for a higher valuation.”
A growing number of MacBook Pro owners are complaining of a mysterious “popping” sound coming from their machines.
The sound doesn’t appear to be generated by certain tasks or uses, though some say it is more common during intensive tasks like gaming.
Back in 2015, Square Enix Montreal released Tomb Raider GO, an audacious attempt to reimagine the Lara Croft franchise by turning it into a fun, turn-based isometric puzzle game.
By all rights, it totally shouldn’t have worked, but it did — and the results were excellent. Now the game has been given an overhaul with new levels, courtesy of the Mirror of Spirits update.
Check out the trailer below.
Microsoft is inviting Outlook 2016 users on macOS to preview Google Calendar integration.
Users will have the ability to not only view their appointments, but add, edit, and delete them, too. All changes will be synced to their Google Calendar and updated on other devices automatically.
Apple reportedly has a secret team working on developing sensors for non-invasively and continuously monitoring blood sugar levels to help treat diabetes.
This goal is considered a “holy grail” by many researchers, due to the challenge of tracking glucose levels accurately without having to break the skin to do so. Clearly Apple’s aiming as high as ever!
The official Apple Park campus should open its doors to employees later this month, but if you can’t wait for Apple to take the wraps off its shiny new spaceship, the Minecraft replica is now complete.
We got our first look at the Minecraft version of Apple Park earlier this month and were blown away by the amount of detail creator Alex Westlund threw in. Now after 413 hours of work, you can fly through Apple’s new campus and gawk at the last Apple product Steve Jobs unveiled.
Check it out:
Today’s smartphone cameras are capable of taking exceptional photos and videos, but they’re lacking some things — like brighter flashes and professional microphones. You can add these things and still be portable with the impressive miniRIG.
It’s just one of the awesome ideas in this week’s Crowdfund Roundup. We also have the world’s smallest tactical pocket knife, a neat device that turns any surface into a smart interface, and more!
Charging your iPhone is about to get a lot faster in 2017, according to a new report that also claims Apple plans to add 3GB of RAM to all three of its new iPhone models this year.
In a research note sent to investors, Wall Street firm Cowen and Company contradicts previous rumors that claimed only Apple’s high-end iPhone 8 would get the RAM boost. If true, the new memory chips should make the iPhone speedier than ever.