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Today in Apple history: Mac LC 520 makes a splash in education market

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LC 520
Was this really almost a quarter of a century ago?
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Tuesday 28 Arriving on this day in 1993, the Macintosh LC 520 was among the first of Apple’s LC 500 series of medium-price Macs.

Selling for $2,000, it was particularly popular in educational institutions, a market Apple continues to pursue today. If you went to school in the decade of Nirvana, Bill Clinton and Pulp Fiction, this could well have been the Mac you used!

Is Apple behind the wheel of this mysterious high-tech van?

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This mystery van is likely making detailed 'point cloud' maps for autonomous vehicles.
Apple might be driving this mystery van.
Photo: Alexis OreskovicBusiness Insider

Apple has been busy working on its electric car project at secret facilities in Silicon Valley, but the tech that will make it totally autonomous might be hiding in plain sight throughout San Francisco.

During a drive across the Golden Gate Bridge, an eagle-eyed observer spotted what could be Apple’s latest self-driving car or mapping van, a vehicle that is armed with more sensors than ever.

Google has a secret plan to take over public parking and transit

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Google is coming for your city.
Google is coming for your city.
Photo: Google

A shadowy subsidiary of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, is planning to completely revolutionize public parking and transportation, according to a new report that shines a light on the ambitious initiative.

The mysterious company is Sidewalk Labs, and it has begun offering cities its high-tech services, which claim to make it easier to drive and park by creating a hybrid of public and private transportation options that utilize ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft.

Why you’ll love Apple’s dual-lens camera on the iPhone 7

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Why you'll fall in love with Apple's new dual-lens camera.
Why you'll fall in love with Apple's new dual-lens camera.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Despite a bevy of leaks, a ton of questions remain about the upcoming iPhone 7, the biggest of which is whether or not it will come with an exciting dual-lens camera.

One week it’s coming. The next it isn’t.

Maybe you’re thinking, why would you even want one anyway? Well, in today’s video, we’ll show you why a dual-lens camera would be an amazing upgrade for any iPhone (and we’ll even toss in some sexy, 3-D concepts of what a dual-lens iPhone might look like).

Check it out:

Case maker talks secret iPhone CAD files, Chinese intrigue [Podcast interview]

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Veteran case maker Tim Hickman talks about iPhone 7 leaks out of China.
Veteran case maker Tim Hickman talks about iPhone 7 leaks out of China.
Photo illustration: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The market for iPhone cases is worth billions of dollars. The first manufacturer with a case that fits a new device — say, the iPhone 7 — can make a killing in the days following an Apple launch.

For this week’s episode of Kahney’s Korner, I talked with industry veteran Tim Hickman, CEO of Gumdrop Cases. Over the years, he’s tried all kinds of tricks and strategies in the race to be first to market with new iPhone cases — including making thousands of cases that turned out to be wrong.

This time around, Hickman has received several CAD files from mysterious sources in China that supposedly show the exact dimensions of the upcoming iPhone 7. Will he bet his company’s fortunes on these files of dubious origin? Let’s find out.

Facebook wants to tell you what to do this weekend

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Facebook
Facebook for iOS is getting curated events.
Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

Finding something fun to do in your city is about to become as easy as opening up the Facebook app.

Beginning today, Facebook users in 10 cities across the U.S. will be able to view Featured Events in the iOS app that have been handpicked by Facebook’s curators to highlight the coolest art, entertainment, festivals, concerts and sports events you should check out.

Google is finally making its own iPhone rival

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The official Google phone is coming.
The official Google phone is coming.
Photo: Google

Apple and Google are set to face-off as direct competitors in the smartphone wars later this year, according to a new report that claims the search-engine giant is finally preparing to make its own smartphone hardware.

Google has offered a “pure” Android experience for years with its lineup of Nexus phones made by the likes Motorola, LG and Huawei. However, it appears that the company is ready to tighten its control of the Android platform by going toe-to-toe with iPhone by making its own handset.

iPhones keep talk show alive during power outage

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iPhone-talk-show
iPhone saves the day... and the shoot.
Photo: France 2

A French TV station turned to iPhones to keep a popular talk show alive during a recent power outage. Much of On n’est pas couché was shot using Apple’s smartphones and limited lighting, but the footage still made it into the final broadcast.

Space gray color will be more of a ‘formal black’ for iPhone 7

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iPhone SE encryption
Space gray will get a bit darker this September.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

A new rumor claims that Apple won’t be launching the iPhone 7 in a new “deep blue” color, as previously suggested, but rather a far darker gray which will replace the existing space gray color the company offers.

The color is reportedly a shade of “formal black,” which will be substantially different to the rose gold, gold and silver iPhone options currently available.

Apple shows LGBT Pride with rainbow Watch strap

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ApplePride
Sadly you can't buy the Watch strap anywhere!
Photo: Saksuhon

Apple once again showed its support for gay rights over the weekend by participating in San Francisco’s LGBT Pride festival. Numerous Apple employees, including Tim Cook, took part — and Apple even distributed custom limited edition rainbow Apple Watch bands to people on the Cupertino payroll who registered for the event.

Today in Apple history: The end of Apple’s worst financial year

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Apple losses Gil Amelio
Yep, Apple wasn't always a global behemoth.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Monday 27June 27, 1997: The worst financial year in Apple history comes to an end. During the quarter, Apple lost $56 million — effectively bringing an end to then-CEO Gil Amelio‘s 500 days running the company.

The $56 million loss contributes to an overall Apple loss of $1.6 billion during Amelio’s reign. It effectively wipes out every cent of profit Cupertino had earned since fiscal 1991. In other words — ouch!

Hello Sitter, Perchang, and other awesome apps of the week

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appsoftheweek_1024
'Appy weekend
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

It’s the weekend again, and what better way to spend the remaining hours of Sunday than by checking out the best new apps — and major app updates — to hit the App Store? From a stunning real-time feed of Earth from space to a tremendous Rube Goldberg-style puzzler, you’re almost certain to find something of interest in this week’s picks.

Check them out below.

iPhone 7 rumors, hands-on with Apple Music and Apple News, screaming deals and more

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iPhone 7 will have more tiny design changes you won’t notice.
iPhone 7 will have more tiny design changes you won’t notice.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

This week’s Cult of Mac Magazine has loads in store for your weekend wind-down. Following our coverage of WWDC 2016 the previous week, we’ve got more iPhone 7 rumors for you including the possibility of a dual-lense camera.

And, discover the news changes and design overhauls iOS 10 brings to the Apple Music and Apple News apps. Plus, screaming terrific deals on the G-BOOM Bluetooth speaker, and the opportunity to get five years of unlimited cloud storage for just $29 per month.

Finally, the CultCast expounds on all those iPhone 7 leaks!

All this, and much much more, in Cult of Mac Magazine, free for you right now.

Here are this week’s top stories.

Everything we think we know about the iPhone 7, this week on The CultCast

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Catch our iPhone 7 rumor mill roundup!
Catch our iPhone 7 rumor mill roundup!
Photo: Apple/Erfon Elijah

This week, on The CultCast: everything we think we know about Apple’s upcoming iPhone 7! Plus: price leaks indicate we may get an iPhone 7 “Pro”; the one feature Android phones have that we envy; and we’ll tell you what we like and don’t about the gadgets we’re reviewing—it’s an all-new Under Review.

Our thanks to CultCloth for supporting this episode. If you’re obsessive about keeping your iPhone, iPad, Mac, DSLR, glasses, and other gadgets in sparkling clean condition, you’ll love ‘em. Use code “CultCast” at checkout to score a free 8×8 CleanCloth.

What is Apple’s most important invention? [Friday Night Fights]

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invention
What's your pick?
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Now that all the excitement we had for WWDC has died down, it’s probably time we took a break from iOS 10, macOS Sierra, and all the other things you haven’t been able to avoid over the past couple of weeks. So for this week’s Friday Night Fight, we’re looking at Apple’s history.

We’re focusing on which product has been Apple’s most important throughout the years. Was it the Macintosh that changed personal computing? The iPod that put thousands of songs in your pocket? The iPhone that revolutionized mobile devices?

Join us as we battle it out over Apple’s best ever releases — and which one was most significant!

iOS 10 won’t collect your personal data without permission

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iPhone SE
Update to iOS 10.3.3 today.
Photo: Apple

Apple is getting deeper into the AI game with iOS 10, which will require users to share some data with Apple so it can make intelligent suggestions, but the company says it will be totally optional.

Starting in iOS 10, Apple plans to use differential data as a way to track users and make Siri better at predicting what you want, while not being a major creeper at the same time. The company hasn’t been very clear about exactly what data it will be collecting, but according to a new report, we now know you will have to opt-in to the service.

Chrome browser bug makes movie piracy even easier

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Screen Shot 2016-06-24 at 19.06.08
Stealing movies is simple with Chrome.
Photo: David Livshits/Alexandra Mikityuk

A worrying flaw uncovered in Google Chrome makes it even easier for pirates to download movies and TV shows from the web. Google was made aware of the issue a month ago, but the company is yet to release an update that fixes it.

Netflix to add offline viewing by the end of 2016

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Netflix wants to serve you offline.
Netflix wants to serve you offline.
Photo: Netflix

Netflix is working to bring offline viewing to its smartphone and tablet apps by the end of 2016, according to sources familiar with its plans.

The feature will allow subscribers to save episodes of their favorite shows and feature length movies to their devices and then enjoy them later without a data connection.