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BBC shines spotlight back on Apple’s poor working conditions in Asia

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Photo: Apple
Photo: Apple

In a documentary set to air tonight called Apple’s Broken Promises, BBC One went undercover at Pegatron, one of Apple’s main supply chain partners in China. The findings from inside Pegatron’s walls show that “Apple’s promises to protect workers were routinely broken,” according to the report.

Another alarming revelation was that Apple could be using tin dug by impoverished children in illegal Indonesian mines. Apple is denying the allegations, but BBC One is committed to unearthing a sensitive topic the iPhone maker has spent years trying to put to rest.

Apple forms European Apple Pay team for local rollout

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Apple in talks to bring Apple Pay to Israel
Apple Pay is headed to Europe. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

A job ad that made a brief appearance on Apple’s website before being taken down has confirmed that Apple Pay is on its way to Europe. The listing called for a London-based intern who would “drive the roll-out” of Apple’s new mobile payment system across Europe, the Middle East, India, and Africa.

Apple’s holiday RED campaign pushes total AIDS donations past $100 million

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Apple Store (RED) logo
Apple Store logos went RED for World Aids Day. Photo: Apple
Photo: Apple

Apple’s World AIDS week campaign has earned a big donation for Bono’s Product RED charity this month. The holiday project RED promotions that ran during two of the busiest shopping days of the year – Black Friday until Cyber Monday – raised more than $20 million, according to an internal email obtained by Recode.

Tim Cook sent employees an email revealing that along with raising another $20 million, the iPhone maker has donated over $100 million for Product RED to fight AIDS in Africa.

Flatworms in space might hold key to human immortality

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Flatworms are headed to the International Space Station and their sacrifice in the name of research gets a salute on the Kentucky Space mission patch.
Flatworms are headed to the International Space Station. Their sacrifice in the name of research gets a salute on the Kentucky Space mission patch. Photo: Kentucky Space

Flatworms are the darlings of the molecular biology field. What scientist doesn’t love a species that can lose an organ or body part — even its head — and grow it back?

It’s quite a trick. We’ll see if they can do it in space.

About 150 planarian flatworms, creatures that are happiest living in rivers or under a log, have first-class tickets aboard the SpaceX Dragon cargo ship, which will take them to the International Space Station for an experiment that could unlock the key to human immortality.

Tasty gifts for the cooks on your list

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Get the chef in your life something special for the holidays. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Get the chef in your life something special for the holidays. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Photo:

Surely you know one of these people: They’re not intimidated by a complicated recipe, and they can turn a handful of random ingredients into something delectable.

They stare dreamily at the windows when they walk by Sur La Table or Williams-Sonoma, and they’d rather whip up a meal on their own than go out for a dinner and drinks.

They’re serious about food and drink, and they’re not afraid to try new things. Well, serious cooks need serious tools. If you’ve got one of these masters of the culinary arts on your list, these gifts will tickle their tastebuds.

Relive the most memorable musical moments of 2014

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Apple has big ambitions for its new music streaming service.
Which bands made your 2014 playlist? Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

2014 has been a huge year for music and like many of you we’ve spent the past twelve months sifting through the hottest album releases, starting with Beyonce’s mega-album and culminating with the other wordly music bomb D’Angelo just dropped on the world after 15-years in hibernation.

iTunes saw declining revenues for the second year in the row, but the music industry and its superstars were as strong as ever, blasting out new albums that challenged convention. There were also a host of newcomers that shocked us with their maturity and sound as they tried to knock established artists from the top spots. Want to know our favorite songs and albums of 2014? Take a look below to find out:

Swiss watchmaker’s squirming makes Jony Ive sound like a prophet

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applewatchui

Luxury Swiss watch makers were originally dismissive of Apple Watch, but now that its launch is inching closer, their tone is changing. TAG Heur’s chief squirmed in front of the press today and announced that his brand is working on something that might be totally amazing. They’re just still looking for partners to make it happen.

Jony Ive prophesied in September that Swiss watchmakers were in “trouble” thanks to his new creations, and it’s looking like he was right. TAG Heuer CEO Jean-Claude Biver said his company is creating a product to take on Apple Watch, but only if it “can be first, different and unique.”

Biver told reporters that TAG has already struck several partnerships for the watch, and they’re also considering acquiring a few companies to speed up the process.

Apple wins at last: iTunes DRM was ‘genuine improvement,’ jury finds

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iPod
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

The verdict is in, and after nearly a decade of legal wrangling, Apple has prevailed in the class-action lawsuit seeking over $1 billion in damages by iPod owners who claimed the company conspired to kill competing music services by adding restrictions to iTunes.

The eight-person jury found Apple not liable of adding DRM restrictions as an anti-competitive move toward rival players like RealNetworks from 2006 to 2009. The Verge reports that the jury unanimously delivered the verdict this morning and said that iTunes 7.0 is a “genuine product improvement” that increased security for consumers.

Everything Apple Watch apps can’t do

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The Rumor: Apple Watch won't launch until Spring.

The Verdict: Probably. Angela Ahrendts told employees that Apple Watch won't hit stores until after Chinese New Year (February 19th). We weren't expecting a January or February launch, but hopefully our wrists will be rocking the Apple Watch before April.
Devs are generally pleased with what they can do on the Watch, but you might be surprised at how much is off limits. Photo: Apple

Third-party developers are already making apps for the Apple Watch, but they’re doing so with one hand tied behind their backs.

Coders that Cult of Mac spoke with are pleasantly surprised by the opportunity to bring apps to the Watch so early, but many note they must abide by severe limitations to get their apps ready for the Apple wearable’s launch next spring.

Unique gifts for the Apple fanatic in your life

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A Lego Mac might be the perfect gift for the Apple fan in your life. Photo: Chris McVeigh.
A Lego Mac might be the perfect gift for the Apple fan in your life. Photo: Chris McVeigh

What do you get for the Apple nut in your life? You know the type. They live and breathe Apple — but they already have every Apple product under the sun. Plus all the accessories.

iPod? Got it. iPhone wallet case? Got it. Steve Jobs bobblehead? Got it.

Well, I’ll bet a testicle they don’t have some of this stuff.

Apple strikes a sentimental chord again with new TV ad for the holidays

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The star of Apple's new ad for the holidays. Photo: Apple
The star of Apple's new ad for the holidays. Photo: Apple

Apple is back with a new tearjerker of a Christmas ad, entitled “The Song.” Like last year’s Emmy-winning TV spot for the holidays, the company has chosen to showcase how its products make people feel, rather than what they do.

This time around, a young musician uses Garageband on her Mac to make a song for her grandmother. Expect to start seeing this on TV quite a bit over the next couple of weeks.

Diehard Microsoft fans abandon Windows Phone for iPhone

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Leaked promotional shot for the canned McLaren phone, Microsoft's flagship Lumina that was supposed to come out in time for the holidays. Photo: Baidu
Leaked promotional shot for the canned McLaren phone, Microsoft's flagship Lumia that was supposed to come out in time for the holidays. Photo: Baidu

If you needed any more confirmation that Windows Phone is dead in the water, two of its most high profile supporters have abandoned it for the iPhone.

Veteran Microsoft journalists Ed Bott and Tom Warren both published essays this week in which they criticized Windows Phone for its shortcomings and announced that they’ve stopped using Windows Phones personally. Citing a lack of carrier and third-party app support, both agreed that Windows Phone has missed its shot at being a real competitor in the smartphone market.

These photos show you why Apple’s store in Turkey won awards

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Apple-store-Istanbul-by-Foster-Partners-
The Zorlu Apple Store at night. Photo: Robert Donovan/Flickr

Apple scooped up a couple architectural awards this week for the stunning engineering behind its magnificent Glass Lantern store at the Zorlu Center in Istanbul Turkey.  The judges said it ‘takes structural glass technology to a new dimension’, and even though we’ve never been inside the Zorlu store it’s not hard to see why it’s getting showered with awards after looking at these pictures.

The Zorlu Store is the first Apple Store created by the same architectural firm behind the new spaceship campus in Cupertino, and it looks like the same amount of attention to detail and minimalist thought that goes into the creation of an iPhone was also poured into the new award-winning Apple temple.

Take a tour of the exquisite store below:

You’ll love playing The Impossible Room but you will never beat it

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The Impossible Room is so hard, no one has beaten it yet. Photo: Maruf Nebil
The Impossible Room is so hard, no one has beaten it yet. Photo: Maruf Nebil

Though he’s toyed with escape games for years, Turkish developer Maruf Nebil didn’t get hooked on the genre until 100 Floors hit the App Store in 2012. When The Room Two upped the ante with gorgeous 3-D environments a year later, Nebil set himself a devilish task: To create an unbeatable game that was also undeniably beautiful.

“I decided to make my game the hardest of all of them,” the 25-year-old developer said, with perhaps an evil laugh. “It’s like all 100 floors in a single room.”

While some games in this genre are about as fun and fulfilling as one of those “spot the hidden object” puzzles from a Highlights magazine, others prove truly challenging.

Some might say this type of game is purely for masochists, but others get lost in the obtuse challenge of finding hidden objects and solving maddening puzzles, all while trapped within a virtual room.

See four minutes of jaw-dropping space travel in this sci-fi short

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A group of people await the arrival of a few dirigibles at the edge of the Victoria Crater on Mars in Erik Werquist's short film
People await the arrival of dirigibles at the edge of Mars' Victoria Crater in Erik Werquist's short film Wanderers.

You can wait until the 2030s when NASA hopes to land astronauts on Mars. Or, if you have four minutes to spare right now, you can see what it is like to stand on the edge of the red planet’s Victoria Crater or catch a Martian sunset.

Erik Wernquist will even throw in a side of rings — Saturn’s that is — for watching his awe-inducing short film, Wanderers, which is embedded below.

“I am always inspired by reading about astronomy, and planetary astronomy in particular,” Wernquist told Cult of Mac. “And when I read about, or see pictures from places, I often fantasize about what it would … feel like to actually be there.”

Workflow pushes the limits of how powerful iOS can be

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Workflow is now an Apple app.
Workflow is now an Apple app.
Photo: Workflow

A new app called Workflow aims to close the divide between the power of OS X and the convenience of iOS. By offering curated and custom workflows, the app can automate just about anything you’d want to do on the iPhone or iPad — along with actions you probably haven’t thought of before, like calling an Uber car to take you to your next meeting with one tap.

It’s an ambitious undertaking for any developer, but what makes Workflow even better is that it was created by two brilliant teenagers with great aspirations for making mobile devices as powerful as they can be.

In 2015, a state-issued iPhone app could be your ticket to drive

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driver-ID-iPhone

Photo: Buster Hein/Cult of Mac

The wallet-free future Apple promised with the iPhone 6 might finally be upon us in 2015, but only if you live in Iowa.

The state’s Department of Transportation says it will be the first state to ever allow citizens to use an official state app that will serve as a drivers license and ID. Iowa’s mobile app will reportedly contain all the same information found on the plastic license in your wallet, plus they’re adding a scannable bar code that links to DOT databases so all your info is up-to-date.

IBM, Intel and Cisco come out against net neutrality

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Photo: Ken Fager/Flickr
Photo: Ken Fager/Flickr

Some of the biggest companies that power America’s Internet, including Apple’s new enterprise partner IBM, have come out in opposition of President Obama’s proposal to reclassify broadband as a “Title II” service.

In an open letter written to the FCC, Congress, and Senate leaders, over 60 of the biggest companies that build the technology that make the Internet possible have advised that such a “dramatic reversal” in policy would significantly hurt their businesses. The list of companies include Intel, IBM, Qualcomm, Cisco, Corning and tons of others who aren’t going to let the FCC’s big decision next year go down without a fight.

Here’s the full roster of anti-Title II companies:

How to keep those annoying phone calls off your iPad or Mac

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Photo: Alex Heath/Cult of Mac
Seriously, I don't want to have to ignore your call on three devices. Photo: Alex Heath/Cult of Mac

I love the idea of being able to answer a phone call on my Mac, or even on my iPad. The convergence of this communication technology seems like it has great potential.

In reality, though, I end up getting three rings for every call, each slightly time-shifted from the rest, as I sit in my office/living room with my iPhone, iPad and Mac. You’d think that such an intelligent system would know that I had all three devices in one room, and only ring through to one specified device. Until Apple figures that out, maybe in an iOS update or OS X 10.11, there’s only one thing you can do: Disable the heck out of it.

Here’s how.

This painter sees the world through 8-bit glasses

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R2-D2 is just one of Adam Lister's 8-bit-inspired pop culture artworks.

Remember being lost in the 8-bit world of Atari and Nintendo? When Adam Lister was a boy, he couldn’t spend enough time in his basement playing Pong, Space Invaders or Donkey Kong.

Games and graphics, of course, evolved, and the chiptune music of those game consoles went silent long ago. But the graphic language where characters are a rough collection of cubes and rectangles still speaks to Lister.

It is the lens through which he views art history and pop culture in a series of more than 250 watercolor paintings he created over a three-year period.

How to build a gaming Hackintosh on the cheap: software

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Installing OS X on your PC. Photo: Pedro Aste/Flick, CC-licensed
Installing OS X on your PC. Photo: Pedro Aste/Flickr CC

My mission to build a powerful gaming Hackintosh for $650 — $50 less than Apple’s midrange Mac mini — is almost complete.

In Part 1 of this guide, I covered the components I purchased for my build and recommended extras and alternatives for those with different budgets.

In Part 2, I walked you through assembly of the screaming machine.

Now it’s time to install the software.

Believe it or not, building your Hackintosh is the easy bit; getting OS X to run on a machine it was never designed for is the real challenge.

But with time, patience and a little bit (OK, plenty) of frustration, you can make it happen.

Here’s how.

Sony hack reveals dirty secrets behind Aaron Sorkin’s Steve Jobs movie

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New leaks reveal the dramatic backroom details behind Aaron Sorkin's Steve Jobs screenplay, including his top choice to play the leading role. (Photo courtesy of MGM)
New leaks reveal the dramatic backroom details behind Aaron Sorkin's Steve Jobs screenplay, including his top choice to play the leading role. (Photo: MGM)

If Aaron Sorkin had his way, Tom Cruise would be Steve Jobs.

That’s one of the juicy details to have surfaced from leaked emails between Sorkin and Sony, the studio Sorkin had originally partnered with to make the film. The leaks also reveal the controversial casting decision that ultimately caused Sony to give up the film to Universal.

Awesome gift ideas for the coolest creatives

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The Wacom Intuos is like a touchpad you can draw on. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
The Wacom Intuos is like a touchpad you can draw on. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

A Mac is the ultimate tool for creatives — you’ll find Apple computers littered throughout graphic design houses, music and video studios, marketing agencies and newsrooms.

Chances are, if you know a creative, you know a Mac user.

So, what are you going to buy them for Christmas? If you’re stuck for ideas, let us help.

Our gift guide for creatives will help you pick the perfect present.

Whether you’re looking for an affordable stocking stuffer or a budget-breaking gesture they’ll never forget, we’ve got you covered.

How to build a gaming Hackintosh on the cheap: assembly

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Let's build. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac
Let's build. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Now that we’ve got all the parts for our Hackintosh, it’s time to put them all together. This is the really fun part of this project: You’re turning processors and chips and motherboards into a working computer that’s going to do all kinds of things for you.

You’ll get an incredible sense of satisfaction at the end — especially if you’re building a computer for the first time.

In this piece, I’ll walk you through the building process from start to finish.

Building a computer is actually a pretty simple process — much simpler than most people realize. So long as you’re careful with the components and you make sure you’re installing them in the right places, there’s little chance anything will go wrong.