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News - page 962

Senior Apple execs fight for Hollywood deals

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Eddy Cue
Eddy Cue is one of three Apple chiefs trying to secure original content.
Photo: CNBC

Three senior Apple executives are in talks with Hollywood’s “most successful” TV and movie producers over original content for Apple TV, according to a new report.

Each member of the trio, which includes Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of internet software and services, is so desperate to secure the first deal that they supposedly are fighting against each other.

iPhone 8 to bring custom ultrasound fingerprint scanner

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touchid
It won't need a physical Home button.
Photo: Apple

Apple might be doing away with the physical Home button for iPhone 8, but Touch ID is going nowhere.

Sources in the company’s supply chain say Apple is working on a custom fingerprint scanner that uses ultrasound technology, which will be integrated into the iPhone 8’s OLED display.

Spotify boasts more than double the subscribers of Apple Music

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Spotify
You won't have to listen to music you don't like.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple Music’s batch of exclusives haven’t been able to stop Spotify’s impressive growth of paid subscribers over the last year.

Spotify revealed today that it new has over 50 million paid subscribers for its music streaming service, which is more than double the 20 million subscribers Apple Music had at the end of 2016.

Oculus has no plans to bring VR to the Mac anytime soon

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Alex Heath gets down in the Oculus booth. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
You still can't use the Oculus Rift on Mac.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Mac users hoping to jump into the world of virtual reality will have to wait even longer than expected.

Oculus co-founder Nate Mitchell revealed in a recent interview that the company currently has no plans to bring Rift support to the Mac. Even though Mitchell himself is a MacBook Pro user, he says Apple’s machines don’t have the resources to deliver a premium experience

Snap Inc.’s IPO soars but will it ever make money?

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Spectacles are no longer a U.S. exclusive.
Spectacles are no longer a U.S. exclusive.
Photo: Snap, Inc.

The photo sharing and messaging app Snapchat is a hit with kids, but on Thursday its parent company was fun for investors who made it the day’s most heavily traded stock on the New York Stock Exchange.

Snap Inc. made its debut with shares priced at $17, but high investor demand quickly raised it to $24, putting the tech company’s value at close to $33 billion, according to reports.

Amazon may soon launch an Alexa-powered security camera

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This could be Amazon's next big product.
This could be Amazon's next big product.
Photo: AFTVnews

Amazon’s next Alexa product won’t just be able to listen to you. It can watch your every move.

Leaked images of a new home security camera created by Amazon hit the internet today, giving us our first glimpse of what the company’s Dropcam competitor will look like.

Apple Watch surges to ‘best quarter ever’ as Fitbit sales decline

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Apple Watch
Apple Watch is no flop.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

2016 was a fantastic year for Apple Watch, according to the latest info from the International Data Corporation that shows Apple’s wearable just experience its best quarter ever.

In its latest report, IDC analysts say Apple Watch is finally closing the gap on Fitbit, which just experienced its largest declines ever in the fourth quarter.

Apple backs transgender student in Supreme Court fight

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Supreme Court plaintiff and LGBT rights advocate Gavin Grimm.
Apple is backing Supreme Court plaintiff and LGBT rights advocate Gavin Grimm.
Photo: Geoff Livingston/Flickr CC

Apple and dozens of other top tech companies filed a Supreme Court brief today in support of a transgender boy’s fight for equality.

In the case, Gavin Grimm, a transgender student from Virginia, is suing the Gloucester County School Board for creating a bathroom policy he says discriminates against transgender students by separating them from their peers.

2017 iPhones probably won’t ditch Lightning for USB-C after all

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iPhone 7 lightning
Apple's not giving up on Lightning quite yet.
Photo: Apple

The rumor that Apple plans to switch to USB-C on all 2017 iPhones has been shot down by one of the most reliable Apple analysts in the game.

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo sent a note to investors today claiming that all three new iPhone models supposedly set for release this fall will come with a Lightning port, not USB-C.

Week’s best Apple deals: iPhones, iPhones and BOGO iPhones!

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You can score great iPhone deals right now, including a buy-one, get-one-free offer on the latest iPhone 7.
You can score great iPhone deals right now, including a buy-one, get-one-free offer on the latest iPhone 7.
Photo: Apple

Would you like to buy a brand new iPhone 7 at one of the best prices we’ve ever seen … and then get a second one completely free??? If so, we’ve got an iPhone deal for you.

You’ll find that offer, plus the best prices currently available on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s, in this week’s roundup of the best Apple deals.

Patent troll’s $533 million win against Apple gets reversed

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Photo of exterior of Apple store, showing the company's large, white
Apple's legal problems just got a big lighter.
Photo: Lyle Kahney/Cult of Mac

Apple’s long-standing legal battle with patent troll Smartflash is finally nearing an end.

A previous jury verdict from 2015 that required Apple to pay $533 million to Smartflash was thrown out by a federal appeals court today. The lawsuit between the two companies has been ongoing since 2013, after Smartflash accused Apple’s iTunes software of infringing on its data storage patents.

Spotify eyes lossless audio to wow your ears

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Spotify
CD quality audio is coming to Spotify.
Photo: James Merithew/Cult of Mac

Spotify appears poised to put the final nail in Tidal’s coffin.

The music streaming service is planning to launch a new feature that will give listeners access to lossless audio streaming, according to a new report reveals the feature is currently in testing.

10 Apple Watch Series 3 bands our Watch Store customers love

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best apple watch straps
These are some of the best-selling straps for Apple Watch — bands we personally love and recommend for their quality, craftsmanship, value and style.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Whether you got the Apple Watch Series 3 or just want to up the game of an older model, we’ve got you covered with our Watch Store customers’ favorite bands. These are some of the best-selling straps for Apple Watch — bands we personally love and recommend for their quality, craftsmanship, value and style.

All of the newest bands and many more from each brand are available in our Watch Store. Read on to check out 10 customer favorites.

This is what the Samsung Galaxy S8 looks like

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Say hello to the Galaxy S8.
Say hello to the Galaxy S8.
Photo: Evan Blass/Twitter

The Samsung Galaxy S8 has been fully exposed ahead of its grand unveiling later this month.

Thanks to notorious smartphone leaker Evan Blass, we now have have our first solid look at what Samsung’s next iPhone rival will look like. Blass tweeted a marketing image for the upcoming handset, and the Apple fan in me has to admit — it looks pretty damn good.

Hidden features give wallet its Fantom name

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The Fantom Wallet by Ansix Designs stays slim even as you pack it with cards and cash.
The Fantom Wallet by Ansix Designs stays slim even as you pack it with cards and cash.
Photo: David Pierini/Cult of Mac

There’s a reason so many wallet projects flock to Kickstarter. A lot of people carry wallets — and everyone seems to be irritated by at least one feature that doesn’t work for them.

A group of mechanical engineers out of Canada think they have come up with a design that’s sure to satisfy any wallet user trying to avoid pocket bulk and identity theft. The Fantom, the latest wallet design to come to Kickstarter — as of Wednesday morning, anyway — shuns traditional materials and forms for a futuristic case that holds credit cards, cash, coins and yet somehow remains slim.

Apple’s biggest assembly partner wants Toshiba’s chip business

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iPhone sales drive Apple’s biggest supplier to big profits
Foxconn could cement its position as Apple's biggest supplier.
Photo: CBS

Foxconn CEO Terry Gou has said the company is “very serious” about acquiring Toshiba’s memory chip business.

If this happens, it would cement Foxconn as potentially Apple’s single biggest manufacturer, with it having already purchased a controlling interest in iPhone display maker Sharp, in addition to building iPhones and iPads for the company.

iPhone’s high ‘failure rate’ gives Android the edge on reliability

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iOS and Android are killing off the competition.
Unstable apps are the biggest issue on iOS.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

iOS might be the “world’s most advanced mobile operating system,” according to Apple, but it isn’t the most reliable, according to a new study.

New data shows that iPhone’s “performance issues and high failure rates” over the last year make Android more stable. iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s are said to be two of the worst-performing Apple handsets.

YouTube is launching a TV streaming service for $35 a month

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YouTube wants to takeover your TV.
YouTube wants to takeover your TV.
Photo: YouTube

Cord cutters just got another option for getting their TV fix over the internet.

Google-owned YouTube revealed today that is launching a new streaming TV service that will offer customers a bundle of channels from broadcast and cable networks for $35. But it might not come with all the channels you want.

Apple trashes printers in new iPad Pro ad

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No printer, no problem.
No printer, no problem.
Photo: Apple

Apple wants you to replace your printer with an iPad Pro.

In the company’s latest ad touting the iPad Pro as the perfect laptop replacement, Apple takes aim at the hassles of having to use a printer.

Created in the same vein as Apple’s last batch of iPad Pro commercials, the new ad features a real tweet complaining about having to print personal stuff at work. Apple’s solution is simple: get an iPad.

It’s not just you, iCloud is down now for some users

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icloud-music-library-itunes-match
iCloud is down.
Photo: Apple

Are you having a hard time backing up files to iCloud or listening to songs on Apple Music? You’re not alone.

It appears that Apple’s iCloud services are currently impacted by a major Amazon web services outage that has crippled the internet on the East Coast. It’s unclear what is causing the problem but Apple says only 0.04 percent of users are effected by “slower than normal performance.”

Here are all the Apple services that are down:

Developers get fourth beta of tvOS 10.2

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apple tv and siri remote
New beta software is out for Apple TV.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple seeded a new beta build of tvOS 10.2 to developers today, bringing a number of bug fixes and performance improvements to the Apple TV.

The new tvOS beta update comes just over a week after Apple released the last beta for tvOS 10.2. Because of the tricky installations requirements the beta is not available to public testers.

Tim Cook: Pro users remain incredibly important to Apple

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Apple HQ
This is the last shareholders meeting at Apple's old campus.
Photo: Ryan B/Flickr

Apple hosted its annual shareholders meeting today at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino where a number of new proposals were presented by investors before Tim Cook took questions from the audience.

During his Q&A session, Tim Cook discussed how Apple plans to fight for net neutrality. He also assured shareholders that Apple plans to come out with new products that appeal to professionals and creatives, but insisted that the Mac and iPad aren’t destined for a merger.