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Gang of thieves snatches $19,000 of iPhones from Apple Store

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Suffolk County Police
A frame of security footage from the raid.
Photo: Suffolk County Police

A group of hooded thieves snatched $19,000 worth of iPhones from a New York Apple Store late last week.

Five men were recorded on CCTV during the raid at the store in Huntington Station, NY. Police are offering $5,000 for any information that will allow them to apprehend the criminals.

This foot-based iPhone holder makes the selfie stick look sane

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Foot Shoe
Or you could just wear something with pockets.
Photo: ErrorDigital/Instagram

Remember the bemused reaction you had to the selfie stick the first time you saw one? Remember how that feeling gradually changed to begrudging acceptance as they became standard issue over the months that followed?

Get ready for the next creation in that line of “are they kidding?” thinking: the iPhone foot mount for the person who doesn’t want pockets in their clothing. They’ll be everywhere in 2019. Maybe.

One-time Apple copycat Xiaomi goes public

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Xiaomi Mi Mix 2
Its debut wasn't an unequivocal success, however.
Photo: Xiaomi

Chinese smartphone manufacturer and occasional Apple tribute act Xiaomi has made its debut on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange — officially making it the world’s third largest phonemaker.

Xiaomi is one of the world’s most hotly anticipated stock market listings, having risen to prominence in developing markets, such as China. CEO Lei Jun, who was present at the company’s IPO launch today, has admitted that his founding the company was heavily inspired by the story of Steve Jobs.

Hilarious new iPhone X ad imagines life as a quiz show

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Apple's new iPhone X ad shows the struggle we go through trying to remember passwords.
Apple's new iPhone X ad shows the struggle we go through trying to remember passwords.
Screenshot: Apple

Imagine you’re on a game show and the trivia answer you need to win is… the password you created for your online banking account.

This isn’t an elaborate form of hacking, it’s a funny new Apple advertisement that points out that Face ID saves us from ever having to remember passwords.

Your iPhone or iPad probably indicates you’re well off

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pad&quill
Just by looking at her with an iPad tells you there's a good chance she's well off.
Photo: Pad & Quill

Researchers investigating differences between groups of Americans have an interesting observation: owning an iOS device is the best indicator that someone is in one of the top income brackets. Even better than using Grey Poupon.

They are trying to discover whether rich and poor, white and minority, men and women have less in common now than they did in the past. Studying the products they buy is part of this process.

Steve Jobs envisioned the App Store in 1983

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Steve Jobs on the cover of Time magazine in 1982.
Steve Jobs on the cover of Time magazine in 1982.
Photo: Time magazine

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was a visionary. That’s a phrase that gets tossed around a lot, but in Jobs’ case we have solid evidence.

Speaking at a conference in the early 1980s, a decade before the Internet became a household name, he described something we do everyday: buy software online.

How to use a blank home screen on iPad, and why you’ll love it

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Look at this blank home screen. Just look at it.
Look at this blank home screen. Just look at it.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

What’s on your main iPad home screen? Is it organized so that you can find your most-used apps quickly? Or have you decided to arrange the icons by color? Or divided up the grid by adding a row of blank spaces? Those are pretty neat ideas, but today I’m going to suggest you do something even more radical. How about keeping your home screen entirely blank? No icons, no folders, nothing. Just the Dock, Spotlight search, and an easier-to-use iPad.

Swipe on the iOS Copy/Paste menu to see hidden extra actions

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Instead of tapping those arrows, you should swipe the whole menu.
Instead of tapping those arrows, you should swipe the whole menu.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Are you still tapping the little arrows to scroll through the sections on your iPhone’s tiny copy/paste menu? Forget about that nonsense. This is 2018, the year of living dangerously, so may as well join in with the world. Did you know that you can just swipe that menu? You’ll never have to tap a tiny arrow ever again.

Microsoft Andromeda folding iPad competitor possibly killed off

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Microsoft Andromeda is a rumored dual-screen folding computer.
This render shows the Microsoft Andromeda, a rumored dual-screen folding Windows computer.
Photo: David Breyer

Don’t expect to see the rumored folding Windows computer any time soon. In fact, Microsoft might have cancelled the device code named Andromeda.

This would have been small enough to be pocketable, but then unfold to become a tablet about the size of an iPad mini.

Cult of Mac Magazine: Why you should be rowing with Apple Watch, and more!

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cover
If running and swimming with Apple Watch don’t rock your boat, you should give rowing a try. It combines all the benefits of cardio and strength training, and you get to do it in a boat.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

In this week’s Cult of Mac Magazine: If running and swimming with Apple Watch don’t rock your boat, you should give rowing a try. It combines all the benefits of cardio and strength training. Whether you get in a boat or use a rowing machine, it’s a great way to get in shape.

You’ll find that story and more in this issue. Get your free subscription to Cult of Mac Magazine from iTunes. Or read on for this week’s top stories.

Save 80 percent on a top-shelf VPN [Deals]

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Get two years of powerful VPN protection for a fraction of the usual price.
Get two years of powerful VPN protection for a fraction of the usual price.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

If you’ve visited this site before, first of all, thanks. Second, you probably know that we endorse getting online through a virtual private network (VPN). It’s a scary place out there on the web, and using a VPN helps protect your privacy and data.

Cash App makes splitting the check easy [50 Essential iOS Apps #34]

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Cash app with cash money
Cash app makes paying back your friend as easy as using cash.
Photo: Ian Fuchs/Cult of Mac

50 Essential iOS Apps: Cash App There are tons of ways to give money to a friend or family member. You could mail a check, hand them a stack of cash, or send it digitally. With the Cash App, sending money to someone is as easy as entering an amount, dropping in their $cashtag, and hitting send. While this is very similar to Apple Pay Cash, the Cash App packs a few extra perks that make it awesome.

Weak Galaxy S9 demand cuts into Samsung profits

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Samsung Galaxy S9
This guy is running away from the Galaxy S9, like a lot of other people.
Photo: Samsung

A few months ago, Apple surprised everyone by announcing its latest smartphone was a huge hit, resulting in better than expected earnings and a big jump in company shares. That didn’t happen to Samsung.

Instead, the Korean company missed analysts’ profit expectations, partially because of sluggish demand for the Galaxy S9.

The games in Fortnite Playground mode end next week

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Fortnite Playground mode
Say goodbye to Fortnite's Playground LTM. It will close in less than a week.
Photo: Epic Games

Looking for something to do this weekend? Been meaning to try Fortnite‘s Playground mode on your Mac or iPad? You should combine those because this training level is getting pulled down in a few days.

The good news is Epic Games already has big plans for the next version.

Apple’s foldable iPhone still years away

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Learn valuable coding skills by building working apps in iOS 11.
The iPhone that can unfold into an iPad might be farther away than we'd hoped.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The next dramatic shift in smartphone design is expected to be folding displays. An industry source in Asia says that Apple is developing a foldable iPhone but it won’t be out before 2020 and possibly even later.

This means Samsung could beat Apple to the punch. The foldable Galaxy X is rumored for release in the first half of 2019.

Apple Music now boasts more subscribers than Spotify in the U.S.

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Apple Music gift card
You won’t believe how cheap Apple Music is in India.
Photo: Apple

Apple Music now boasts more paying subscribers that Spotify in the United States.

Both services have more than 20 million subscribers, but Apple Music is finally “a hair ahead” after creeping up on Spotify for months, according to a new report. Apple’s service is expected to widen the gap in the coming months as it continues to enjoy a faster growth rate than its biggest rival.

Apple fuels World Cup fever with new ‘Shot on iPhone’ vids

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A Shot on iPhone video features Buddhist monks playing football.
One of three new "Shot on iPhone" videos is The 'Wa' of Soccer with Buddhist monks considering the meaning of the great game.
Screencap: Apple

It hasn’t escaped Apple’s attention that the FIFA World Cup is going on. As part of the celebration, it’s released a trio of “Shot on iPhone” videos of people playing football/soccer on three continents.

This long-running campaign demonstrates the capabilities of iPhone cameras.

How to use Adobe Premiere Pro to make awesome IGTV videos

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IGTV
IGTV offers higher quality compared to clips on the regular Instagram platform.
Photo: Matt Johnson/YouTube

You see yourself as a budding star of the vertical screen but so far you’re spending more time off-camera in post-production editing and formatting your IGTV videos.

Wedding filmmaker and YouTuber Matt Johnson has wasted no time figuring out how to get your vertical videos – and if you’re stubborn, the horizontal ones – ready for posting to Instagram’s new IGTV video platform.

Microsoft may be building a ‘Movies & TV’ app for Android and iOS

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Watching a movie on iPad
Microsoft hopes it will boost Microsoft Store downloads.
Photo: Apple

Microsoft is developing a “Movies & TV” app for Android and iOS in an effort to boost downloads from the Microsoft Store, according to a new report.

Customers can enjoy content purchased from Microsoft only on Windows platforms for now. The company hopes that by supporting new platforms, it will encourage more people to use its store over competitors like iTunes.

New Macs are finally incoming. We’ll tell you what we know on The CultCast

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Are you ready for Apple to make Macs
Are you ready for Apple to make Macs "pro" again?
Photo: Cult of Mac

This week on The CultCast: Finally — new evidence shows that a Mac refresh is right around the corner. Plus: MacBook Pro is about to get the feature we’ve all been wanting; Apple is rebuilding its Maps app from the ground up, and it looks magnificent; Apple’s new Seattle flagship store is stunning; and we pitch a wood-wrapped iPhone case, waterproof camping lights, and a great new reading app in an all-new Under Review!

Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. It’s simple to accept Apple Pay and sell your wares with your very own Squarespace website. Enter offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off your first hosting plan or domain.

Zagg Slim Book is my favorite keyboard case for iPad Pro [Review]

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ZAGG Slim Book for iPad Pro
I’ve tried a lot of iPad Pro keyboards, but nothing beats the ZAGG Slim Book.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

The 10.5-inch iPad Pro is officially my primary computing device.

For the past five months, I’ve used it for everything from browsing the web and watching YouTube videos at night, to researching and writing stories for Cult of Mac during the day. I can’t remember the last time I turned on my PC — it’s been a long time.

I wouldn’t have been able to use the iPad Pro for all of this without a great physical keyboard. I’ve tried a bunch of them. And for the past two months or so, I’ve been using Zagg’s excellent Slim Book.

Here’s why it’s my favorite keyboard case for iPad.

Real wood bands turn Apple Watch into something extraordinary

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wood
Want to seamlessly transition between camping and weekdays at the office? Check out Wood Mark's wooden Apple Watch bands inspired by our outdoor adventures!
Photo: Wood Mark Watches

Nature is truly present in the Teton Wood Apple Watch band in Zebrawood by Wood Mark Watches. The wood for this special band comes from a species of tree found and sourced in Central Africa. Known for its richly veined, zebra-like stripes and pale golden yellow wood, zebrawood is a beautifully exotic material.

Read on to learn a bit more about these unique bands for Apple Watch, and the many surprising benefits of wearing wood. Wood Mark’s entire lineup of wood bands is now available in Cult of Mac’s Watch Store.

Note: Wood Mark does not ship internationally!