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weGather is the perfect home for treasured family snaps

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weGather
Recording family histories can begin by uploading a photo and sharing it with relatives so they can help fill in stories.
Photo: weGather

Rachel LaCour Niesen was grieving the loss of her grandfather in 2013 when she posted a photo of him on Instagram to celebrate his legacy and asked family members to share their memories.

In a way, the celebration of him hasn’t ended, with more than 32,000 followers from around the globe contributing their cherished family photos and stories on the popular Instagram feed, SaveFamilyPhotos.

LaCour Niesen’s personal mission to help families celebrate and keep their stories alive has now branched out into a website and apps for iOS and Android called weGather.

iPhone takes top spot on holiday wish lists

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These are the gifts you're looking for.
Apple products are set to be the top gifts this year.
Photo: Kristina Alexanderson/Flickr CC

People can talk about declining iPhone demand all the want, but when it comes to which tech products the general public want to see under their Christmas trees this year, there is no doubt about it: no brand can beat Apple.

Speaking with CNBC this Monday, Apple analyst Gene Munster shared his firm Piper Jaffray’s research into desired holiday gifts — and found that the iPhone, closely followed by the MacBook, beat other items including the Xbox, PlayStation, GoPro camera and more to land the top two positions in the list.

Liveblog: Best Cyber Monday deals 2016, including big Apple discounts from B&H

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These are the deals you're looking for.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Black Friday is over, but the killer deals aren’t dead yet. It’s time to slap yourself out of that food coma, reach for your wallet, and grab yourself some sweet Cyber Monday deals on Apple products and other premium gear.

Our liveblog is where you’ll find them. We’ve got big discounts on Apple products from Amazon, B&H Photo and plenty of others, plus stellar savings on accessories and other gadgets from the likes of Twelve South, Slickwraps and many more.

Cult of Mac will keep digging through all the Cyber Monday ads to find the best deals on Apple products, electronics and gifts for your holiday shopping list. Get ready to go bananas.

Apple will open a new R&D center in Jakarta next year

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Photo of exterior of Apple store, showing the company's large, white
Apple's investment in research and development continues.
Photo: Lyle Kahney/Cult of Mac

Apple has plans to open a new research and development center in Jakarta next year, according to Indonesia Communication and Information Minister Rudiantara. The project is said to be in its final stages and building is expected to begin in late December.

Blips sticker turns your iPhone into a microscope

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Get closer to your subject with Blips.
Photo: Blips

Place your iPhone’s camera too close to your subject and it loses its ability to focus, but not if you turn it into a microscope. That’s possible with a simple Blips sticker that’s placed over your iPhone’s camera lens — and you can preorder yours right now.

TouchSwitcher, Super Cat Tales, and other awesome apps of the week

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

Looking to get up to speed on the week’s hottest apps? We’ve got your back!

In a week in which Thanksgiving celebrated being happy with everything we’ve got, and then Black Friday showed how angry people are about things they don’t yet own, we’ve combed the latest apps to bring you the cream of the crop.

Whether you’re looking for a great retro-styled platformer or a brilliant iOS scanning app, we think you’ll find something to entertain you…

Should we be thankful for Apple in 2016? [Friday Night Fights]

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thanksgiving
Mmm. Apple turkey.
Photo: Ste Smith/ Tuchodi

Thanksgiving might be over, but with a new year right around the corner, it’s time to think about whether we should be thankful for Apple in 2016.

Friday Night Fights bugIt hasn’t exactly been a spectacular year for Cupertino, but it certainly hasn’t been boring. We’ve gotten a new iPad Pro, iPhone 7 with big improvements, a greater Apple Watch, and the new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar and Touch ID.

But was all that enough? Is this a year you’ll look back on fondly as an Apple fan, or is it one to forget? Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we decide whether we’ve been thankful for Apple over the past 12 months.

iPads help Target hit record Thanksgiving sales

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iPads were the big sellers, apparently.
Photo: Target

Target had a record-breaking day of online sales on Thanksgiving — and Apple devices were one of the big movers.

The retailer singled out the iPad as a particularly hot seller. The Apple tablets helped Target achieve traffic and sales that blew past numbers for last year’s Cyber Monday event.

iPhone camera may get a 3D upgrade

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Apple digital viewfinder patent
Apple's dual lens camera could be just the beginning!
Photo: Apple

Everyone might be talking about OLED displays, wireless charging and a new glass enclosure as the big selling points of Apple’s forthcoming iPhone 8, but a new report suggests the camera might be in for a major upgrade as well.

According to a report citing folks in the supply chain, Apple is investigating the possibility of a camera module boasting a 3D array, allowing for possible 3D depth mapping.

France slaps Apple with a massive fine for unpaid taxes

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A photo of an iPhone with U.S. money on the screen
Tim Cook may have to open his checkbook one more time.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple has been hit with another massive fine in Europe, as French tax authorities recently issued the company with a 400 million euro ($422 million) bill, according to French newspaper L’Express.

As with a lot of Apple’s other tax issues, the complaint reportedly relates to Apple’s tax optimizing strategy of channelling profits through its Irish subsidiary.

Why a secret Apple project may be delaying new Macs, this week on The CultCast

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Are you ready for Apple to make Macs
Are you ready for Apple to make Macs "pro" again?
Photo: Cult of Mac

This week on The CultCast: Is a secret Apple project stalling Mac updates? It wouldn’t be the first time. Plus: Apple teases Black Friday deals; AirPort routers are walking dead, and the Mac Pro might be next; the future of Time Machine; why iPad should be an iOS/OS X hybrid; and Jony Ive’s new role designing Apple itself.

The job of a designer is to be a psychologist [Podcast interview]

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Belkin's design director Oliver Seil says designers are basically psychologists.
Belkin's design director Oliver Seil says designers are basically psychologists.
Photo: Oliver Seil/Belkin

In the last decade or so, lots of companies have gotten design religion. Design has been brought in-house, where it can shape products from the very get-go. There’s an obvious source for this idea — Apple.

This week on the Kahney’s Korner podcast, I talked to Oliver Seil, senior design director of Belkin International’s Innovation Design Group. We discussed Belkin’s products and design process; the surprising complexity of USB cables (and why they cost so much); and why Apple has had such an enormous influence on design and manufacturing.

You can listen to the podcast or read a full transcript of the interview below. (Or dive into the show notes.)

Prepare to be disappointed by Apple’s Black Friday event

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It's another gift card giveaway.
Photo: Apple

Apple is taking part in Black Friday this year, but it looks like it won’t be slashing any prices.

The company’s promotion has already gone live in Australia and New Zealand and it brings free gift cards with eligible purchases rather than tasty discounts. But don’t expect to get those gift cards with the latest Apple products.

The Claridge’s Christmas trees Jony Ive had to follow

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Baubles are only available as an added accessory for the Christmas Tree Pro.
Photo: Claridge's

Jony Ive’s vision for Apple stores includes plenty of live trees, so who can be surprised that the “Christmas tree” he and BFF Marc Newson designed for a swank British hotel turned out to be a minimalist fir with not a bauble in sight?

Unusual as it is, Ive and Newson’s creation is far from the most offbeat reimagining of festive firs in Claridge’s history. Check out previous Claridge’s Christmas trees, which range from truly ostentatious to totally bizarre.

Apple’s supply chain corroborates 10.5-inch iPad Pro claims

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iPad Pro
Yet another iPad option is coming in 2017.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Sources in Apple’s supply chain have corroborated claims that the company will launch a 10.5-inch iPad in 2017.

The device is thought to be aimed at the enterprise and education sectors, where the 9.7-inch iPad is considered too small and the 12.9-inch iPad Pro is too expensive.

Microsoft brings its greatest creation to iOS and Android

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Solitaire
2016 finally brings something good.
Screenshot: Cult of Mac

Bid goodbye to your free time because Microsoft just brought Solitaire, arguably its greatest creation, to Android and iOS.

The game has been a staple of the Windows operating system for 25 years and boasts 119 million players on Windows 8 and Windows 10 alone. Now it’s jumping to third-party platforms for the first time ever.

MacBook Pro with Touch Bar: First look is amazing!

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MacBook
Take a look inside the box of the new MacBook Pro.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

My shiny new MacBook Pro finally arrived. What kind of YouTube channel would Cult of Mac be running if we didn’t film a MacBook Pro with Touch Bar unboxing?

In today’s video, I open up my new space gray laptop, fire it up for the first time, and record my first hands-on impressions. Check it out below.