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OLED displays could be coming to iPad and MacBook in 2022

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MacBook Air M1 2020
Future MacBooks could come with OLED screens.
Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

Apple will bring OLED displays to both the iPad and MacBook in 2022, according to a new report from Digitimes.

OLED (short for “organic light emitting diode”) screens offer several advantages over older technologies, including more-vibrant colors, higher contrast, thinner hardware and increased power efficiency.

Wolfwalkers fetches 10 animation award nominations

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Wolfwalkers is headed for Apple TV+ in late 2020
Wolfwalkers sniffed out ten nominations in the Annie Awards.
Photo: Cartoon Saloon

Apple TV+’s Wolfwalkers received a whopping ten nominations for the 48th Annie Awards, which celebrate excellence in animation. That put it in a tie for most nominations with Pixar’s Soul.

Wolfwalkers also scored a Golden Globe nomination, and is widely expected to be nominated for an Oscar later in March.

Apple TV 3 loses YouTube support, but there is a workaround

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Apple TV Siri Remote
Sad times for third-gen. Apple TV owners.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

YouTube is now officially dead on the third-generation Apple TV. Users who attempt to watch the app will be greeted by an error message that confirms Apple’s aging hardware is no longer supported.

That’s hardly surprising given that the third-generation Apple TV is close to a decade old now. But there is a workaround (sort of) for those who still want to watch their favorite YouTube channels on the big screen.

How to transfer iCloud Photos to Google Photos

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How to transfer iCloud Photos to Google Photos
Copying images and videos from iCloud Photos to Google Photos is surprisingly easy.
Graphic: Cult of Mac

Apple now makes it easy to copy the pictures and videos you have stored in iCloud Photos over to Google Photos. The process is straightforward, but there are a few hoops to jump through.

Here’s what you need to know.

Billie Eilish doc attracts coveted young viewers to Apple TV+

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New documentary
Sounds like the Billie Eilish doc brought a coveted crowd to Cupertino's streaming service.
Photo: Apple TV+

How do you get the kids to tune into your underachieving streaming service? Buy a documentary about one of the hottest young singer/songwriters in the world.

That’s what Apple TV+ did when it snapped up the rights to new doc Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry — and the strategy apparently worked. As per usual, Cupertino won’t reveal the actual number of people who watched the film since its premiere last week. However, an insider report says the music doc brought a ton of new, young viewers to Apple TV+.

Business and tech guru gears up for podcasting [Setups]

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Ben Thompson's setup is wired for great sound.
Ben Thompson's setup is wired for great sound.
Photo: Ben Thompson

We noticed business and technology author and noted Mac guy Ben Thompson volunteered a pic of his setup on Twitter when tech and politics writer Casey Newton posted a shot of an immaculate setup, wondering if he has “remotely what it takes to put something like this together.”

Well, Taiwan-based Thompson certainly has what it takes to put together a great setup — even if it’s more lived in and not quite as photo-ready as the one Newton posted.

Weird series Calls brings terrifying phone convos to Apple TV+

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New audio-intensive Apple TV+ show Calls leaves a lot to the imagination.
New audio-intensive Apple TV+ show Calls leaves a lot to the imagination.
Image: Apple TV+

Calls, the new thriller coming to Apple TV+, will depend on ears instead of eyes to get hearts pounding.

The oddball series “masterfully uses only audio and minimal abstract visuals to tell bone-chilling snackable stories,” Apple said in a description of the Calls trailer posted Wednesday.

Replacing iPhone notch with hole-punch camera makes no damn sense

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Replacing iPhone notch with holepunch camera makes no damn sense
This isn’t an improvement.
Artists concept: Cult of Mac

Apple might get rid of the screen notch in the 2022 iPhone. But before you start celebrating, there’ll be a hole-punch camera in its place, according a trusted analyst. If true, this will be one step forward and two steps back.

The notch is a superior solution to a hole in the middle of the display. Here’s why.

iPhone 13 could boast the bigger battery you desperately desire

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iPhone 13 might sport a 120Hz display.
A faster refresh rate might be a highlight of 2021’s iPhone 13.
Concept: ConceptsiPhone

As the saying goes, you can never be too rich or have too long a battery life. Apple apparently listened, because a respected analyst says there will be room in all the 2021 iPhone 13 models for larger batteries.

These iOS handsets supposedly will all come with smaller notches, better 5G modems and fancier cameras, too.

8-inch folding iPhone could arrive in 2023

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Apple invents a unique, no-crease folding iPhone screen
Apple could be set to follow Samsung into the world of folding phones.
Photo: Samsung

Apple could release its first folding iPhone in the next couple of years, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says.

In a new research note to clients, seen by Cult of Mac, Kuo writes that “if Apple can solve the foldable mobile device’s key technology and mass production issues in 2021, then [it] may launch the 7.5 [to] 8-inch foldable iPhone in 2023.”

Score! Ted Lasso‘s Jason Sudeikis takes home first Apple TV+ Golden Globes win

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Jason Sudeikis is the titular Ted Lasso
A big win for the hit Apple TV+ series.
Photo: Apple TV

Apple TV+ has picked up its first Golden Globes win, rewarding Jason Sudeikis for his lead role in the excellent comedy series Ted Lasso.

Sudeikis won the award in a ceremony Sunday night. He received the award virtually from London. This is the first time Apple TV+ has won at the Golden Globes, although last year it received its first nominations for the series The Morning Show.

There’s fire inside and out in Dickinson’s season 2 finale [Apple TV+ review]

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Will Pullen as the ghost of Emily's future on this week's Dickinson
Will Pullen plays the ghost of Emily's future in the season 2 finale.
Photo: Apple TV+

Bad dreams, dead rebels, crumbling marriages, and new babies all collide in Dickinson’s season 2 finale.

The Apple TV+ show about the famous feminist legend of poetry needs to tie up a lot of loose ends. But it’s got to also leave enough left unanswered to entice viewers for next season. Can it accomplish all this on its own terms?

This week on The CultCast: All-new MacBook Pros, iMacs, Mac Pro minis, incoming!

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CultCast 442: AirPods with health sensors
Looks like the Mac lineup is about to get even more magical.
Image: The CultCast

This week on The CultCast: We’ve got new details and leaks on the upcoming MacBook Pros, iMacs and Mac Pro mini … or will it be the Mac mini Pro? Plus: Lossless music is coming to Spotify, which means the mythical Apple Music lossless is likely right around the corner!

Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. Easily create a beautiful website all by yourself, at Squarespace.com/cultcast. Use offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

Bouncing light looks unbelievably beautiful in new puzzle game Lyxo

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Lyxo
Halfway between a physics puzzler and a psychedelic light show.
Photo: Emoak

Lyxo is an ultra-realistic game about bounced light. It’s also one of the most aesthetically beautiful games to arrive in the App Store for quite a while. And, yes, it’s possible to be both at once.

“I first had the idea while lying in bed one morning,” Tobias Sturn, the one-person development studio known as Emoak, told Cult of Mac. “I saw a beam of light falling beautifully into the room, and cutting through the shadows. Immediately, I thought of a game where the player uses mirrors to guide a beam of light through a completely dark room.”

Jump forward a little over a year, and this week Lyxo launched on iOS. Sturn took us through the game’s creation, including opening up his sketchbooks, and explained his crash course in physics to build the game engine.

First 14-inch MacBook Pro with mini LED moves closer to release

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First 14-inch MacBook Pro with mini LED moves closer to release
There’s a to of hope that the 14-inch MacBook Pro will have slim screen bezels.
Photo: Apple

Apple reportedly plans to shake up the design of the MacBook Pro later in 2021. Sources in the company’s Asian supply chain assert that a 14-inch model is on the way, a first for Apple.

Just as importantly, it and an improved 16-inch MacBook Pro supposedly will be the first macOS notebooks with a mini-LED display, improving the look of the screen.

Designer’s sublime space feeds his creative process [Setups]

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Arun Venkatesan's setup is a light and airy marriage of form and function.
Arun Venkatesan's setup is a light and airy marriage of form and function.
Photo: Arun Venkatesan

San Francisco-based designer Arun Venkatesan is about to take delivery on a 2020 MacBook Air with an M1 chip to replace the 2013 MacBook Air he uses in tandem with his 2018 MacBook Pro. But the new Mac isn’t really what he’s excited about.

He thinks less about having the latest technology and more about how his tools fit into his design philosophy, which he wrote about at length here. Form and function meet in his elegant and minimal setup.

A superstar opens up in Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry [Apple TV+ review]

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Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry
She's young, she's human, get used to it.
Photo: Apple TV+

With Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry, the young pop star gets a showcase and a bio-doc, which means she’s gotten so hugely popular that people demanded to know more about her.

The good news is, Eilish is a humble and interesting subject. The bad news: Being a depressed teenager with high-tension demands placed upon you isn’t the easiest thing in the world.

Mac to the future: Apple’s new designs embrace the past like never before

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The rainbow Apple logo on the back of a modern iMac.
Apple's going back to the past.
Photo: ColorWare

Something weird is brewing in Apple land. The company, which for years wasn’t big on embracing its past, has gone retro.

While the innovations — ranging from the first 5G iPhones to the exciting new Macs powered by Apple’s proprietary processors — keep coming, Cupertino is reportedly revisiting some of its past designs for its next generation of products.

And you know what? I like it.