Apple has rolled out its first emoji sticker packs for Messages in iOS 10. Available only to those testing its first beta release, the packs include the Smileys, Hearts, and Hands stickers found on Apple Watch — plus a Classic Mac collection.
A hacker who broke into more than 30 iCloud accounts has pleaded guilty for his role in the “Celebgate” leak of 2014. Edward Majerczyk faces up to five years in prison for illegally obtaining private celebrity photos.
In an effort to compete with Apple Music, Google is offering a special July 4 four-month free trial of Play Music for users who live in the United States. The offer is available only to U.S. customers who haven’t previously signed up to the service.
Somehow the weekend is already half-way gone, but to help you celebrate your remaining hours of freedom we’ve combed through the week’s best apps to help you sort the wheat from the chaff.
Whether it’s a fantastic LEGO Star Wars game or a fantastic calendar app, we’re confident we’ve got what you’re looking for.
Check out our list below.
This week on The CultCast: You’ll laugh, you’ll cry — wait till you hear the latest lawsuit aimed right at Apple’s biggest products. Plus: Leaked photos of EarPods with a Lightning connector look better than expected; why we may never get third-party Apple Watch faces; Netflix is adding a feature it swore would never happen; and a man builds a vibrant photography career in the world of sports with nothing but his iPhone. Oh, and Val Kilmer dances with a carrot in his derriere. Just hit play already.
Our thanks to Freshbooks for supporting this episode. FreshBooks is the easy-to-use invoicing software designed to help small business owners get organized, save time invoicing and get paid faster. Get started now with a 30-day free trial.
Millions of people go running with their iPhone or Apple Watch every day. Logging runs is one of the main features of just about every fitness gadget on the market.
So should you join the sweaty masses and start using a running app? Not so fast. Not everyone is suited to running, and it won’t develop all aspects of your fitness. Plus, there are loads of other kinds of exercise you could be doing instead. What makes running so special?
In this week’s packed-to-the-gills Cult of Mac Magazine, we give you the rundown on Apple’s new file system (APFS) — which has remained unchanged for 30 years. Discover all the reasons why switching to the new APFS makes sense for you!
Listen in to Kahney’s Korner podcast where our guest, Gumdrop Cases CEO Tim Hickman, talks about the race to be first to market with new iPhone cases, and the killing companies can make in the days following an Apple launch.
Learn about the growing number of professional photographers and filmmakers who are foregoing traditional equipment to embrace the iPhone for their creative pursuits.
All this, and much much more, in Cult of Mac Magazine, free for you right now.
Here are this week’s top stories.
Apple is facing yet another legal headache in China thanks to what may be the craziest lawsuit yet in a year that has been full of wacky legal battles.
China’s media watchdog, The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT), has filed a lawsuit against Apple, claiming the company has violated its intellectual property by broadcasting an obscure patriotic film from 1994.
When you have the kind of cash Apple has, the easiest way to take down the competition is to just buy it. That’s exactly what the Cupertino company is planning to do with Apple Music rival Tidal, according to a recent report.
But would a Tidal takeover be a good move? Would Apple be using its money solely to wipe out a rival, or will Tidal’s talent and connections to the music industry be great for Apple Music?
Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we battle it out over the latest Apple acquisition rumor!
The battle to win the 2016 presidential election is heading to your iPhone’s keyboard now, thanks to a new iOS app that adds a batch of Hillary Clinton emoji to devices.
Aiming to excite millennial voters, the free Hillarymoji app comes with 20 pictograms of the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate doing everything from dancing in her pantsuit to deleting emails off her BlackBerry.
Apple’s legal team has issued a scathing response to Spotify following its “public attacks” earlier this week.
The music streaming service accused Apple of “causing grave harm to Spotify and its customers” after its App Store review team rejected a recent Spotify update for iOS.
With every iOS update, Apple makes it harder for hackers to jailbreak its software — but it seems there’s still plenty of work to be done.
At the Mobile Security Conference (MOSEC) in Shanghai today, Chinese jailbreak team Pangu revealed it already has Cydia running under iOS 10.
From Taylor Swift to Drake, Apple’s pretty adamant on coming across as artist-friendly when it comes to Apple Music. But one artist who’s apparently less than impressed with Apple’s streaming music service is Bon Iver singer-songwriter Justin Vernon.
In a pair of tweets sent today, Vernon referred to Apple Music as “literally a horrid platform” and slammed Apple for its “commercialization.” Check out his comments below.
July 1, 1976: The Apple 1 goes on sale, becoming the first computer ever sold by the Apple Computer Company.
Arriving the same month Jimmy Carter was nominated for U.S. president, Family Feud debuted on TV, and the United States celebrated the 200th anniversary of its Declaration of Independence, the Apple 1 is only produced in small numbers, and sells for the unusual price of $666.66.
Jay Z and Apple might be joining forces.
Apple has dominated the jigga man’s streaming service, Tidal, ever since the launch of Apple Music one year ago, but a new report claims that the iPhone-maker is in exploratory talks to acquire the music streaming service.
Apple might be going back to black with the iPhone 7, making it the darkest iPhone since the days of the iPhone 3Gs.
We got a major crush on the deep blue iPhone 7 earlier this month, but now that mockup artist Martin Hajek has whipped up this Space Black creation, we’re torn between what Apple’s new iPhone color should be.
Prepare to drool:
Apple CEO Tim Cook is moving up in the world of Nike, where he’s been serving as a member of the board of directors.
Nike revealed that starting today, Cook will be the lead independent board member at the athletic apparel company, which is undergoing some big leadership changes.
An AI-powered app that turns any boring photo into an art masterpiece is taking the app world by storm.
Prisma is an iOS app that not only transforms an ordinary photo into a painting, it does so in the styles of different famous artists, from Van Gogh and Picasso to Edvard Munch of “The Scream” fame.
Developed in Russia, the app is taking off like a rocket, doubling its servers, topping the charts and inspiring the #Prisma hashtag. It even counts the Russian President among its enthusiastic users.
NASA’s Juno mission is set to arrive at Jupiter on July 4th, so to celebrate the space agency did the most sensible thing it could think of: team up with Apple and Weezer to make awesome videos about space and music.
While Weezer created the patriotic rock anthem “I Love the USA” to mark the occasion, Apple created a hypnotic short film called “Visions of Harmony” that explores the link between space travel and music. The soundtrack for the hypnotic film was created by Nine Inch Nails frontman and Apple VP Trent Reznor and collaborator Atticus Ross.
Watch it below:
New drone footage of Apple Campus 2 reveals the impressive progress that has been made in recent months. The research and development center and many of the other buildings around the campus are now starting to take shape — and they look glorious in 4K!
Apple is allegedly stopping Spotify from competing with Apple Music by blocking the streaming service’s latest iOS app update from the App Store.
Spotify sent Apple’s general counsel Bruce Sewell a letter this week claiming that Cupertino is inflicting great harm on its streaming music competitor (and Spotify’s customers) by not allowing Spotify to use its own billing system for subscriptions.
Apple guaranteed the iPhone would reinvent the phone. But filmmaking?
Writer and director Conrad Mess said the iPhone’s red record button turned him into a filmmaker. It helped another cash-strapped director win praise and wide distribution for a feature film he shot on the iPhone 5s that was the buzz of last year’s Sundance Film Festival.
The iPhone also is reshaping video journalism, especially across Europe, where news organizations are using the iPhone video camera for an increasing number of stories — and live stand-ups, selfie stick in hand — because the mobile journalist can shoot, edit and share on one device.
Apple is today celebrating one year of Apple Music and Beats 1 radio. The company has put out a new video that showcases some of the station’s highlights, like big interviews with stars like Drake, Adele, Taylor Swift, Will Smith, and Alecia Keys.
Amazon will host its second annual Prime Day on Tuesday, July 12, the retail giant confirmed today. It promises to be the “biggest Amazon event ever,” with big discounts to be had worldwide on over 100,000 products.
One of Apple’s biggest chipmakers expects its revenue to rise during the third quarter of 2016 around the launch of the iPhone 7 series. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) likely will start shipping new A10 processors soon.
