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Today in Apple history: Apple fires first shot in war against Samsung

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Samsung
The start of Apple's battle with Samsung.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Aug4August 4, 2010: Apple fires the first shot in its apparently never-ending war against Samsung, when a team of Apple executives visit Samsung’s HQ in Seoul, South Korea, and give a presentation with the title, “Samsung’s Use of Apple Patents in Smartphones.”

It marks the official start of a multi-billion dollar battle between the two rivals (and, weirdly, collaborators) which has continued to rage ever since.

Apple Music for Android is finally out of beta

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Apple-Music-Android
Apple Music for Android is keeping up with iOS.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

The first major Android app made by Apple engineers is finally ready for primetime.

Coming over a year after the launch of Apple Music on iOS, Apple released the first non-beta version of Apple Music on the Google Play Store today and it comes with a couple new features.

Another 23 U.S. banks now support Apple Pay

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Apple in talks to bring Apple Pay to Israel
Apple Pay's reach extends even further.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple today confirmed another 23 U.S. banks and credit unions now offer support for Apple Pay. The moves comes just a day after Canadian banks Tangerine and President’s Choice Financial also announced support for the mobile payments service.

YouTube feeds addiction for tech unboxing obsession

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Lamarr Wilson does not have a good poker face, but has the kind of face for unboxing gadgets that makes him popular with his YouTube audience.
Lamarr Wilson does not have a good poker face, but has the kind of face for unboxing gadgets that makes him popular with his YouTube audience.
Photo: Lamarr Wilson/YouTube

Cult of Mac 2.0 bugMaybe Christmas morning doesn’t come often enough. How else do you explain the full-blown obsession of millions of people who turn to YouTube to watch videos of someone opening boxes containing new products?

Tech companies, especially Apple, know that packaging and how it opens to present you that shiny new gadget is a critical first step towards a love connection. Companies are even conscious of how a sparkling YouTube personality with a child-like excitement for what’s inside the box can help drive sales.

Apple says its gender pay gap has been fixed

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Divya Nag helped Apple engineers create ResearchKit and CareKit.
Divya Nag helped Apple engineers create ResearchKit and CareKit.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s workforce became a little bit more diverse in 2016 according to the company’s annual Inclusion and Diversity report that was published today, revealing that minorities made up 54 percent of new U.S. hires.

The company is also hiring more women than ever and says it is finally paying women equal wages, and will continue to analyze the salaries, bonuses and annual stock grants of all employees worldwide to solve the gender pay gap once and for all.

Latest iPhone 7 Plus mockup reveals beautiful blue finish

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iPhone-7-Plus-mockup-blue
iPhone 7 Plus looks beautiful in blue.
Photo: Unbox Therapy

Yet another iPhone 7 Plus mockup has been captured on video ahead of Apple’s official unveiling this fall, but this one’s a little more exciting than most.

Not only is it thought to be the most accurate representation of the iPhone 7 Plus we’ve seen so far, but it also comes in a new blue finish that could replace the space gray option in Apple’s next-generation iPhone lineup.

Snapchat and NFL team up for first Discover sports channel

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snapchat
Are you ready for some football?
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The NFL season is set to kick off in just over a month and Snapchat is ready to give users their weekly dose of pig skin action with the first ever Discover sport channel.

Snapchat’s partnership with the NFL comes a year after the two combined to create Live Stories surrounding NFL games. With the new Discover channel, football fans will be able to view headlines hot topics, and inside access videos for all 256 regular season games.

Apple drops third macOS Sierra public beta

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Picture in Picture macOS Sierra
A new macOS Sierra beta is here.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Public beta testers can download the third public beta of macOS Sierra starting today, one day after Apple seeded the 4th developer beta.

The new macOS Sierra update includes a number of new additions, including the new set of over 100 emoji that promote gender diversity and disarm the pistol emoji by changing it into a squirt gun.

iOS 10 public beta 3 is now available

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photos in ios 10
The Photos apps gets a big revamp in iOS 10.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple has made the third public beta of iOS 10 available to members of its testing program this morning, just one day after the company seeded iOS 10 beta 4 to developers.

While the new beta build doesn’t contain any huge changes like in the previous releases, Apple did make a couple of tweaks, including the addition of over 100 new emoji characters that promote gender diversity, new keyboard sounds, a Control Center splash page and much more.

Venmo flaw allowed attackers to use Siri to drain accounts

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money
You might wanna check your account.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

A critical flaw with PayPal-owned Venmo left iPhone users’ accounts exposed to a lethal account that could have allowed attackers to steal $2,999.99 in just two minutes.

The Venmo security flaw was discovered by Salesforce security engineer Martin Vigo who found that Siri can be used on locked iPhones to drain an account just by sending a few text messages.

Check out the hack in action:

Instagram’s new feature is a ripoff of Snapchat Stories

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Stories is already seeing more users than Snapchat.
Stories is already seeing more users than Snapchat.
Photo: Instagram

Instagram is rolling out a new feature that lets you post more privately and without the kind of permanence that can get you in trouble.

Sound familiar, Snapchat users?

On its blog Tuesday morning, the company introduced Instagram Stories, which lets you share multiple photos and videos in a single slideshow. It can be shared with select followers without showing up on your more public profile. It then disappears 24 hours later.

Crashing cyclist suffers third-degree burns from exploding iPhone

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1470122272615iphone1
This pic probably isn't getting onto the "Shot on iPhone" billboards any time soon.
Photo: Gareth Clear

An Australia iPhone user wound up in hospital after his iPhone reportedly exploded after he fell on it while cycling over the weekend.

Thirty-six-year-old management consultant Gareth Clear says that the explosion was bad enough that it melted his cycling shorts and badly burned the skin on his upper right thigh.

Patent troll won’t get a penny out of Apple … yet

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Apple wants patent trolls to stop ‘gaming the system’
Apple's money is safe. Until September, at least.
Photo: Andrew Becraft/Flickr CC

Due to its massive success, Apple is a frequent target of patent trolls: non-practicing enterprises which appear to make all their money by taking other companies to court.

Earlier this year, one such company called VirnetX was awarded a massive $625 million after Apple reportedly infringed on its intellectual property with both its FaceTime and iMessage tech. However, seven months later it appears that Apple may not have to pay the money after all — after the judge threw out the previous ruling and demanded a retrial.

Apple’s new ad shows why iPad Pro is a great computer

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Is the iPad Pro a true PC replacement?
Is the iPad Pro a true PC replacement?
Photo: Apple

What’s a computer?

That’s the latest brain buster Apple is asking fans in its latest iPad Pro ad that showcases how the giant tablet can replace a PC thanks to its keyboard, touchscreen and Apple Pencil. The short new ad covers iPad Pro’s multitasking capabilities, too, with shots of Slide Over and picture-in-picture that reimagine what you can do on an iPad.

Check it out:

How the Apple Car will make you money, and more fun about robot vehicles [Kahney’s Korner]

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Kahney's Korner podcast with robocar expert Paul Godsmark
Autonomous cars are going to change the world like nothing we've seen before. A fascinating interview with robocar expert Paul Godsmark.
Photo: Paul Godsmark/Stephen Smith

The old adage is that new cars depreciate the minute you buy them. However, the rumored Apple car might be the first vehicle to actually make you money after you drive it off the lot.

If Apple’s car is autonomous, it’ll earn its keep delivering people or goods when you’re not using it. So says Paul Godsmark, a robocar consultant and one of the leading experts on the upcoming autonomous vehicle revolution.

In this fascinating interview, Godsmark talks about the enormous changes that are coming up fast with self-driving vehicles, including Project Titan, the rumored Apple Car.

Buckle up! Everything is about to change dramatically — from the way we travel to the way we work.

New Remote app for Apple TV is now available to the public

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Remote app for Apple TV on iPhone
Say hello to the new Remote app.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Controlling the new Apple TV just got a lot easier today now that Apple has finally released a brand-new version of its Remote app for iOS.

The all new Remote app can completely replace the Siri Remote that comes with Apple TV, allowing watchers to take full control of their viewing experience, without having to put down their iPhone.

Sorry NY sex offenders, no Pokémon GO for you

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Pokémon Go
Pokémon GO isn't for everyone.
Photo: Niantic Labs

Sex offenders in New York who are addicted to Pokémon GO just got some bad news from Governor Andrew Cuomo who has asked the game’s developers to help ban players from the state’s sex offenders list.

The governor takes particular issue with the game’s “PokéStops” that can be equipped with lures to attract pokémon as well as other players to a certain spot. Cuomo believes that sexual predators will use these spots as a way to lure in children, so he’s demanding the makers add extra protections.