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Amazon’s new music streaming service costs as little as $3.99 per month

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Screen Shot 2016-10-12 at 14.14.31
Guess who's got a brand new music service!
Photo: Amazon

Apple Music has a new competitor in the form of Amazon, which today launched music streaming service Amazon Music Unlimited.

The premium service carries the same $9.99 monthly fee as Apple Music for regular users, although Prime customers get a reduced $7.99 monthly charge — while owners of the Amazon Echo can use an Amazon Music Unlimited subscription through the standalone device for a mere $3.99 per month.

Apple joins board of ‘Chinese Uber’

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Didi Chuxing is China's answer to Uber, but is much bigger. Apple just made a $1 billion 'strategic' investment in the company.
Apple's "strategic" investment is paying off.
Photo: Virginia Werner / Cult of Mac

Apple has scored a seat on the board of Didi Chuxing, the Chinese Uber rival that Apple invested $1 billion in earlier this year.

Although Didi Chuxing denied it at the time, regulatory filings show that Apple took the board position in late June, one month after it made its generous investment — designed to aid Apple’s continued push into China and interest in shaking up the automotive industry.

Jimmy Iovine gives a glimpse of Apple Music’s future

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Iovine
Apple Music wants to have a strong voice in the music world.
Photo: Apple

Apple Music remains a long way from being a finished product, according to Apple executive and Beats Electronics co-founder Jimmy Iovine.

In a new interview discussing the struggles of building a product that fuses the worlds of tech and music, Iovine revealed that the company wants to build a product that is more than just a utility for accessing your music or getting a weekly playlist.

Apple vs Samsung patent battle has U.S. Supreme Court confused

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Samsung
Apple vs Samsung is going all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

U.S. Supreme Court justices appear to be confused over how much Apple’s patented iPhone design should worth.

Lawyers for Apple and Samsung faced off this morning at the nation’s highest court. The two sides argued whether breaking a design patent should be worth most of a product’s profits, or if the thousands of other patents that go into a smartphone should be viewed as equally valuable to the contribution of profits.

Billions of dollars and the future of patent law is at stake in the case that hinges on a law written in 1887. But the justices didn’t give much indication which side they’ll take.
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macOS Sierra 10.12.1 gets fourth beta build

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macOS Sierra logo
Another macOS Sierra beta is here.
Photo: Apple

One day after dropping new betas for iOS 10 and tvOS 10, Apple has seeded a new beta build of macOS Sierra 10.12.1 to registered developers this morning.

The fourth beta of macOS Sierra 10.12.1 comes a week after Apple released the last build that contained a number of bug fixes and performance improvements for the Mac.

Cheaper iPhone 7 models may be slower, too

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iPhone 7
Lower storage could mean less speed.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple finally bumped the storage on the baseline iPhone model to 32GB this year, but it looks like choosing the cheapest model may come with some serious speed setbacks.

The 32GB versions of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus suffer from slower storage speeds, according to benchmarks that reveal the memory chip on the baseline model scores markedly worse than other versions.

LOL: Galaxy Note 7 return kit includes fire-proof box and gloves

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Note-7-return-kit
Don't return your Note 7 without one of these.
Photo: XDA Developers

After watching $17 billion fall off its market value today, it’s still too early for Samsung to laugh about the whole Galaxy Note 7 debacle. But that doesn’t mean we can’t.

This video of a Note 7 return kit, which includes a fire-proof box and gloves, will certainly put a smile on your face.

How Steve Jobs’ swimming failure became unlikely inspiration

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Steve King never would've guessed that he would be designing products to go with computers created by an old swim club teammate, Steve Jobs.
Steve King never would've guessed that he would be designing products to go with computers created by an old swim club teammate, Steve Jobs.
Photo: PRISM

Cult of Mac 2.0 bug Two people couldn’t have been further apart as they sat close to each other on carpool rides to swim meets. Steve King was a jock. The other kid was a geek.

But the geek did something one day that King would never forget. King watched as his teammate made a horrific turn at the wall in the backstroke and popped up in a neighboring lane.

Steve Jobs was immediately disqualified. He got back in his lane and finished the race.

Apple stock blows up as Samsung kills Galaxy Note 7

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money
Apple owes Samsung a fruit basket.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple stock has hit its highest share price in almost one year to coincide with the news that Samsung is permanently withdrawing its ill-fated Galaxy Note 7 from the market.

AAPL shares rose 2.3 percent to hit $116.72 last night, representing an increase of $2.66 per share. This rise was the highest for Apple shares since December 2015.

Samsung mercifully puts Galaxy Note 7 out of its misery

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galaxy note 7
It's better to burn out than to fade away.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Galaxy Note 7, we hardy knew ye!

With growing numbers of reports of Samsung’s replacement Galaxy Note 7 handsets catching fire, Samsung has permanently stopped production of its once-acclaimed new smartphone flagship. Owners will be able to return their phones for a refund or to swap it out for another Samsung device.

Devs get new betas for iOS 10.1 and tvOS

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iPhone
A new iOS 10.1 beta is ready for your iPhone.
Photo: Ste Smith/CultofMac

Apple dropped a fresh batch of beta builds for developers this morning with the release of both iOS 10.1 beta 3 and tvOS 10.0.1 beta 3.

The new betas come less than a week after Apple seeded the last version that brought a number of bug fixes and new features that make the company’s “biggest release ever” even better.

Forget the Galaxy Note 7 and buy an iPhone 7 Plus

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Galaxy Note 7
R.I.P., Galaxy Note 7.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Still thinking about making the Galaxy Note 7 your next smartphone? Forget about it.

I gave Samsung’s latest flagship a glowing review last month. But amid reports that supposedly “safe” replacement devices are overheating and exploding, there’s no good reason to buy a Galaxy Note 7 anymore.

Do yourself a favor and get the iPhone 7 Plus instead.

Apple and Samsung head back to Supreme Court this week

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Samsung
Apple and Samsung will clash again tomorrow.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Samsung and Apple will go back to the Supreme Court this week as part of their never-ending legal battle over patents.

The Tuesday hearing will concern how much of the $399 million patent-infringement damages awarded against Samsung the South Korean tech giant should actually pay.

Majority of Irish voters want government to oppose Apple’s giant tax bill

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money
Irish people are backing Apple.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

A new poll suggests a majority of Irish voters support the Irish government in opposing Apple’s enormous $14.52 billion tax bill for unpaid back taxes in the Republic of Ireland.

47 percent of respondents said they agreed the Irish government was right to back Apple, compared to 39 percent who say it’s wrong to do so, and 14 percent who had no opinion on the subject.

Time’s up for Apple Watches in U.K. Cabinet meetings

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Theresa May worries Russian hackers could hack Apple Watch.
Photo: Foreign and Commonwealth Office

U.K. Prime minister Theresa May has banned ministers from wearing Apple Watches during Cabinet meetings, due to fears that they could be hacked by Russian spies for use as listening devices, a new report claims.

Under the leadership of former prime minister David Cameron, several members of the cabinet wore Apple Watches, including former Justice Secretary Michael Gove. Mobile phones have also been banned for the same reason.

Samsung reportedly pauses production of troubled Note 7

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Galaxy Note 7 that exploded while charging.
Has this been the most disastrous smartphone release in history?
Photo: Mr Ni/Baidu

The South Korean media is reporting that Samsung has suspended production of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, following one of the most bungled smartphone launches in history.

Over the weekend, AT&T confirmed that it will no longer issue new Note 7 handsets, while T-Mobile has also said it is halting sales. This follows news that Samsung’s supposedly fixed replacement handsets have also been running into battery problems causing them to burst into flames.

Lock in best iPhone trade-in prices before they drop even further

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Sell your old iPhone
Sell your old iPhone (and other Apple gear) to us to get the best possible resale value.
Image: Cult of Mac

At long last, your local Apple Store has the iPhone 7 in stock.

The jet black one you preordered three weeks ago is finally shipping.

You’ve had the 7 Plus for 10 days, but wanted to keep a backup just in case your new phone spontaneously burst into flames.

Whatever your reason for not selling your old device yet, now is the perfect time to cash it in before prices drop further.

Revamped iPads and next-era Apple tech, this week on The CultCast

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Apple's bold vision of future tech inches closer to reality.
Apple's bold vision of future tech inches closer to reality.
Photo: Apple

This week on The CultCast: Revamped iPads coming this spring; Apple lays the groundwork for the next era of personal technology; how smart homes get hacked; Google’s Pixel phone versus iPhone 7; and we reveal our favorite new iOS and Mac apps!

Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. It’s simple to build a website that looks beautiful on any device that visits at Squarespace.com. Enter offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10 percent off.

Can Apple Watch get you in shape? Here’s what the science says.

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Does the Apple Watch activity app have all the answers?
Does the Apple Watch activity app have all the answers?
Photo: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac

If you’ve considering buying a shiny new Apple Watch Series 2, you might be wondering if it can really help you to get in shape. Especially if you’ve seen the recent headlines claiming that fitness trackers don’t work.

So what does science really have to say about wearables? I decided to investigate the science behind Apple Watch fitness assumptions.

Facebook’s new iOS app helps you find events

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Find stuff to do with Facebook Events.
Find stuff to do with Facebook Events.

Facebook is on a quest to cure your boredom with its newest standalone app that is focused solely on events.

Available only on iOS (for now), the new app dubbed Events from Facebook helps you find things to do in your area by giving you a filtered feed of what your friends are up to.