Newsstand - page 72

Have you ever been part of one of those threads where your boss sends out a fairly benign yet pointless email, and then one of your less-smart co-workers hijacks the thread with reply-alls about dress code for the upcoming office team-building excursion? Before long, the thread is an embarrassing morass of arguments on whether sneakers count as casual shoes, and who will sit where during dinner.

Your moronic co-worker (hopefully) ends up getting a do-not-promote mark in their personnel file. While you, thanks to today’s tip, manage not only to stay above the fray, but to completely ignore it. That’s because you’re about to see how easy it is to mute an email thread so you never have to see it again.

Looking for some fun stuff to do with your Apple Pencil? Then you should definitely check out today’s update to Paper by WeTransfer, which introduces a new Paper Store.

Despite its name, the Paper Store doesn’t actually sell paper. Instead it offers a range of 28 digital journals created by brilliant designers and illustrators. These journals are filled with creative prompts, exercises and drawing tutorials that will get your creative juices flowing. And they’re a whole lot of fun to use.

Doodling has never been so easy or productive.

2020 will be the year Apple unveils its “most impressive hardware in some time,” according to a new report.

Alongside big upgrades for iPhone, Apple Watch and Mac, Cupertino also is expected to deliver its first augmented reality glasses. And they could kick-start an AR revolution.

iOS 13’s Dark Mode looks awesome, but it also can boost iPhone battery life. How much more time between charges will you really get using Dark Mode?

You can see the dramatic difference for yourself in a new test video.

Had enough of your regular smartphone protective case? Soon, you might be able to go full David Cronenberg body horror and get your hands on one that looks like it’s fashioned out of human skin.

Okay, so that gross description of the work of researchers at Telecom Paris is only partially accurate. Yes, it’s a design that is going to freak out a few people. However, there’s also some pretty nifty tech involved. Here’s what it can do.

Behold, the rumored 16-inch MacBook Pro. Now, here’s your grain of salt.

A French blog this morning published what it called a rendering for a new Mac laptop that was discovered hidden in a macOS Catalina beta.

Skeptics, from Twitter to tech news sites, quickly tamped down any excitement by pointing out the icon’s similarities to the current 15-inch model.

“Apple is all-in on augmented reality. But where will it lead?” That’s a pretty standard view of Apple’s experiments with visual AR, aka overlaying virtual objects onto the real world, via the iPhone’s camera and screen.

But Apple is already providing a fully immersive AR overlay onto the real world, to millions of users — only it isn’t using a screen. AirPods are augmented reality. They are also a part of a new computing paradigm that Apple snuck into the world without telling anybody. This paradigm currently consists of AirPods, iPhone, Apple Watch and the HomePod. And it is as discreet and low-key as it is important.

Apple is expected to deliver pricier “AirPods Pro” with noise cancellation later this month, according to a new report.

Images of the buds were leaked by Apple in an iOS 13.2 beta earlier this month. They are expected to offer multiple listening modes and could cost around $100 more than the regular models.

This week on The CultCast: iPhone SE 2 is almost here! And its specs and price are surprisingly good… Plus: finally! Long awaited camera upgrades are coming to iOS 13; Apple TV+ finally lays out the details of their launch shows; and AMC’s new movie streaming is going to take on Apple Movies with a genius feature Apple can’t possibly match.

Our thanks to Belkin for supporting this episode. Belkin Cables are built to last and supported with a 5-year warranty. If you’re tired of broken burnt out cables, switch to Belkin, and save 30% off your order with code CultCast at checkout.

You know how you can double-press the side button on your Apple Watch, and then wave it over a contactless terminal to pay with your credit card? Wouldn’t it be great if you could do the same with your Mac login password? Instead of having to type your password to authenticate yourself, you’d be able to double-tap the Apple Watch’s side button to do it instantly.

Well, now you can do exactly this — if you’re running macOS Catalina.

In iOS 13, Slide Over goes from being a useful-but-annoying novelty, to being an essential utility. Instead of only letting you dock one app window to the side of the screen, and sliding it out for a quick look or edit, Slide Over is now fully integrated.

In iOS 13, you can have multiple Slide Over panels, you can switch between them as easily as switching apps on an iPhone, you can open almost anything into a Slide Over pane, and you can easily turn a Slide Over app into a full-screen app. Here’s how it all works.

The send message button on the iPhone is misaligned and for most of us, a 3-pixel discrepancy won’t cause heartburn.

But a few designers are reaching for the antacids this week after one of their own pointed out the misalignment on Twitter.

The A13 Bionic chip packed into the iPhone 11 series is significantly faster than its predecessor across the board. New tests have confirmed Apple’s claims of a big increases in both processing and graphics performance

And just as you might expect, the A13 blows its rivals out of the water.

Look no further than this contemporary leather cuff if you want an Apple Watch band that’s super-stylish and insanely comfortable.

It’s Monowear’s most comfortable band yet, and it’s available now from the Cult of Mac Store in two terrific color options. The cuff is compatible with all versions of Apple Watch in all sizes. Order yours today!

There are two buttons on the Apple Watch. You can press the Digital Crown, and you can press the side button. If you press the side button when your watch is displaying its watch face, then you’ll pop up the Dock. But what, exactly, is the Apple Watch Dock?

Just like the docks on macOS and iOS, it provides quick access to your most-used apps. But the Apple Watch Dock doesn’t work like the docks on Apple’s other devices. Here’s how to use it — and how to customize it.

iOS 13 isn’t just about exciting new bugs. Apple did a lot of cleaning up and moving things around in its latest mobile operating system. One big, behind-the-scenes feature change comes in the iPhone’s Personal Hotspot. You can no longer turn it off. Or rather, you haven’t been able to turn it off for a while now. It’s just that iOS 13 finally makes it explicit.

However, this doesn’t mean your iPhone will constantly broadcast its hotspot status, or that it will run down your battery. In fact, this feature is now easier to understand, and more sensibly described, than ever. Here’s what the Personal Hotspot changes in iOS 13 mean.

An Apple subsidiary has stolen a march on the AirPods line by launching Beats Solo Pro, headphones with active noise cancellation.

But this isn’t a set of tiny eabuds, though. It’s for people who want larger, on-ear headphones.

What happens when you use a three-finger tap on your Mac’s touchpad to look up a word? In olden times, it would bring up a dictionary definition, instantly. Today, it probably doesn’t do anything. Not for a few seconds at least. Or rather, it pops up a panel right away, but then it takes a few seconds to load whatever Siri reckons you might be looking for.

So, how do we stop this madness? Easy. We switch it off in the Mac’s settings, aka System Preferences.

Apple’s second-generation iPhone SE 2 will be its most affordable smartphone yet, according to one reliable analyst.

The upcoming device, which is expected to look like iPhone 8 and be powered by Apple’s new A13 Bionic chip, is expected to cost less than $400 when it goes on sale in early 2020.

Gear4 cases can save an iPhone 11 or 11 Pro series from breaking if dropped quite long distances, but they aren’t as bulky as typical rugged cases. The lineup for all three of Apple’s latest is surprisingly attractive, given how protective they are.

I tried out several of Gear4’s offerings, and find they might be just what your new iPhone needs.

iOS 13.2 adds controls for Apple’s unpopular Siri data collection program. Now, users can opt in to “Siri and Dictation Analytics,” which translates to letting your iPhone or iPad upload all your Siri interactions so Cupertino can improve the virtual assistant’s accuracy.

Previously, Apple disabled this program because of its unpopularity. Now, it’s back — but under your control.

In iOS 13.2, Siri can announce your incoming messages and read them to you. This is the kind of feature that is so useful, and obvious, that it seems like it should have always been there. It’s called Announce Messages with Siri, and it does just that.

Here’s how to set it up and use it

The Apple Arcade catalog continues to grow with five new games for iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV available today.

Inmost, an atmospheric, story-driven platformer from the creators of Stardew Valley, is one of the highlights. It helps takes the total number of Apple Arcade games for iOS and tvOS to 80.

This week on The CultCast: Apple’s AR glasses are about to be announced! At least according to one very reliable analyst…. we discuss. Plus: Mac OS Catalina is out, but you probably shouldn’t install it—we’ll tell you why. And Final Cut Pro just got massively faster thanks to a new update, and a long awaited iOS 13 feature finally goes live.

Our thanks to Linked In for supporting this episode. A business is only as strong as its people, and every hire matters… head to LinkedIn.com/cultcast and get a $50 credit toward your first job post.

Clear the clutter on your bedside table with the Zens Stand+Dock. This stunning charger tops up iPhone and AirPods simultaneously and eliminates messy cables that are forever in your way.

A built-in USB port on its base also allows you to charge a third device — like your Apple Watch. And with up to 20W of power output, there’s more than enough to go around.

Here’s why we love the Zens Stand+Dock.