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Apple boosts pay for writers on its original TV shows

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apple tvPIC
Apple is continuing to invest in original TV content.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

As part of its push into original video content, Apple signed a Writers Guild of America master contract promising writers greater benefits.

The deal means that scribes employed by Apple to work on its growing list of projects will receive script fees, weekly payments and residuals on shows that air for free. This is a better deal for writers than the current baseline agreement on offer.

Small company claims Apple stole Shortcuts logo

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Apple Shortcuts vs. the Sift logo
Is the Apple Shortcuts logo a ripoff of this company's corporate one?
Graphic: Apple/Shift

Shortcuts is a cool feature in iOS 12 that carries out a collection on actions with a single Siri command. But a startup accuses Apple of stealing its logo.

The company’s name is Shift, and both it and the Apple Shortcuts app have logos that are stylized versions of the letter ‘s.’ Additionally, both use similar colors: blue and magenta.

Apple’s next TV series will take you inside India’s slums

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Apple TV+ series Shantaram seeking incentives in India
Apple TV+ series Shantaram seeking incentives in India
Photo: St. Martin's Griffin

Apple’s original TV content team is revving on all cylinders this week after ordering a second TV series this week.

Gregory David Robert’s novel “Shantaram” will be developed into an original drama series by Apple. The iPhone-maker reportedly had to beat out a number of competitive bidders on the project which has been kicking around Hollywood for a few years.

How to add sound to your iPhone or iPad screen recordings

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just-press-record
Just press record.
Photo: darkday/Flickr CC

iOS 11 added screen recording to the iPhone and iPad, letting you make movies from whatever is running on then screen. I use it to make video clips for how-tos, or to capture video and then create animated GIFs. But did you know that you can also use screen recording to copy a YouTube video? Or to make a screencast complete with a live voiceover? Here’s how.

Alexa will now take your questions on Apple Watch

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Alexa App
Voice in a Can lets you talk to Alexa on your Apple Watch.
Photo: Atadore/Apple App Store

Amazon has not launched an Alexa app for watchOS, but new third-party software lets you sideline Siri on your Apple Watch should you prefer the voice of Alexa.

The app, Voice in a Can, will also work on iPhone and iPad, though the voice assistant won’t do all the things it does on the Amazon Echo.

How to get macOS Mojave’s shifting Dynamic Desktop on any Mac

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Mojave-shifting-Dynamic-Desktop
Get a Mojave-like shifting Dynamic Desktop on your own Mac today.
Photo: Cult of Mac

Here’s an easy way to get macOS Mojave’s constantly-changing Dynamic Desktop on any Mac. Dynamic Desktop wallpapers slowly fade through a set of photos throughout the day. The default set of images is of a pile of sand, presumably in the Mojave desert, showing the same view as the light changes throughout the day.

We already showed you where to download those wallpapers. Now we’re going to see that your Mac can already turn these images into a Mojave-style Dynamic Desktop slideshow.

Cheer on your World Cup team with these stupid expensive custom iPhones

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World Cup iphones
These World Cup iPhones don't come cheap.
Photo: Caviar

The World Cup is set to kick off one week from now in Russia and one of the country’s gaudiest iPhone modders has come out with a collection of custom gold iPhones to celebrate your favorite players.

Caviar is no stranger to super expensive iPhones, but their latest designs might have the most universal appeal. The new Football Legends collection features eight new designs that are dedicated to one modern football hero and the national team he plays for. By combining patterns from the players’ countries with Russian design elements, Caviar’s new iPhone X collection actually looks pretty cool.

Check em out:

Google again follows Apple’s lead, removes meat from salad emoji

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Salad emoji from various companies
At the urging of vegans, the egg is being removed from Google's salad emoji, pictured at right. Apple's, Samsung's, and other's versions are already meat-less.
Graphic: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Google has bowed to pressure from vegans and taken the egg out of Android’s salad emoji.

This isn’t something iPhone users need concern themselves with, as Apple’s version is already meatless.

Fortnite challenge guide for season 4, week 6

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Fortnite Solo Showdown game mode
Get your V-Bucks back for unwanted Fortnite purchases.
Photo: Epic Games

The latest Fortnite Battle Royale challenges for Season 4 Battle Pass buyers are now available. There are seven in total for week six — four easy and three hard — which will earn you a total of 50 Battle Stars.

Here’s what those challenges are and how to complete them.

You can now embed Apple Maps into websites

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MapKit
MapKit JS is Apple's latest attempt to improve Apple Maps.
Photo: Apple

Despite Apple Maps being found on every iPhone and iPad, Google Maps has a few big advantages.

One thing helping Google Maps’ visibility is the fact that it can be easily embedded into websites. That means that if you’re using a website to navigate to, say, an Airbnb online, there’s a good chance you’ll be directed to Google Maps. But Apple is taking steps to change all that.

Stubborn inventor reels in unruly MacBook cords

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Side Winder
Logan Bailey left Brigham Young University with a degree and a hit product.
Photo: Fuse

Logan Bailey’s first commercial invention is the Side Winder, a reel that neatly coils a MacBook charging cord to keep it tangle-free.

But the Side Winder isn’t his first Eureka! moment. That came in the fourth grade when he built a better toenail clipper.

Apple approves blatant Zelda: Breath of the Wild clone for iOS

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The Nintendo Switch's flexible Joy-Con controllers work just fine with a Mac (but not an iPhone).
Nintendo’s newest console was by far the hottest product.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

We’re still eagerly anticipating Nintendo’s first The Legend of Zelda game for mobile. iOS users in China may have briefly believed the wait was over this week when Breath of the Wild landed in the App Store — except it wasn’t actually Breath of the Wild.

It turns out Apple approved a shameless Zelda clone that, unsurprisingly, doesn’t deliver everything its description promises.

Sign up for the Netflix of stock vector images [Deals]

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Get lifetime access to more than half a million royalty-free stock vector graphics.
Get lifetime access to more than half a million royalty-free stock vector graphics.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Any designer knows that one of the best resources is a solid library of images and assets. But building up a big library can take time, and a lot of money. So s no wonder the Netflix style subscription model has come to the world of design assets.

North Korean elites sure love their Apple devices

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North Korea
North Korean citizens paying respect to the statues of Kim Jong-un's ancestors.
Photo: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen/Wikipedia CC

When Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un meet, they could always break the ice by talking about their favorite Apple devices.

While Trump has expressed his admiration for Apple in the past, it turns out that North Korea’s top officials are also quite the fans of the Cupertino tech giant. According to research firm Recorded Future, analysis of the devices being used by North Korea’s elite include numerous iPhones and a MacBook.

Lawsuit alleges that every Apple Watch contains the same defect

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apple watch 1
The Apple Watch is the subject of a new legal case.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Every Apple Watch that Apple has made is defective. At least, that’s the argument made by a new class action lawsuit, asking Apple to pay $5 million in damages for refusing to acknowledge an issue which affects its wearable devices.

According to Kenneth Sciacca of Colorado, who filed the suit, Apple Watches contain a flaw “which causes the screens … to crack, shatter, or detach from the body of the Watch, through no fault of the wearer, oftentimes only days or weeks after purchase.”

Valve makes controversial decision to ‘allow everything’ in Steam Store

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Valve Steam
Enjoy Remote Play Together today.
Photo: Valve

Valve is making a huge change that’s going to have a massive impact on the content you see in the Steam Store. The company is doing away with human curation and allowing everything to be sold through its platform.

Valve says it should be up to players to decide what kinds of games they play, while developers should have the freedom to choose what kinds of games they make. However, it will be creating new tools that give shoppers greater control over what appears in their Steam Store.

Another Fortnite update arrives with more weapon changes

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Fortnite gold weapons
Shotguns are weaker but damage traps are back!
Photo: Epic Games

Epic Games is rolling out another Fortnite Battle Royale update with big weapon changes.

It is the second patch to arrive this week after bouncer traps and other weapon tweaks were introduced on Wednesday. This release focuses on reducing shotgun damage for both the pump and tactical variants, and reversing the decrease recently made to trap damage.

Epic has also confirmed it will be sending the jetpack to the vault this month.

Legal battle may be to blame for Apple breaking its FaceTime promise

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FaceTime
Apple's open wish for FaceTime never happened.
Screenshot: Apple

At WWDC, Apple revealed that it will finally make it possible to do FaceTime group calls for up to 32 people. That’s great news — provided that all your friends, family and co-workers use Apple devices.

But it didn’t have to be like this. Back in 2010, when Steve Jobs introduced FaceTime, he made a big point about how it was set to become an open industry standard that could be used by Apple’s competitors, as well as Apple. Nearly a decade on, that still hasn’t happened. And now a theory has emerged as to why.

Beautiful new renders show upcoming 6.5- and 6.1-inch iPhone models

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6.5- and 6.1-inch 2018 iPhone models
Complications could keep us waiting for Apple’s more affordable iPhone.
Photo: OnLeaks

Apple’s 2018 iPhone plans reportedly include three models launching this September. One will be an upgraded version of the iPhone X, but the other two are more interesting. They’re months away from being announced, but a new render shows what both might look like.

The 6.5-inch version on the left has been called the iPhone X Plus, as it’s larger than last year’s 5.8-inch one. In the artist’s concept image, it sits next to a 6.1-inch iPhone that, unfortunately, might not look like this.

iOS 12 definitely speeds up your iPhone

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iOS 12
So far, the iOS 12 performance increases seem to living up to Apple's promises.
Photo: Apple

WWDC 2018 bug Cult of MacApple took to the WWDC stage to promise that iOS 12 would offer better performance than the iPhone’s current operating system. And tests on the first beta seem to bear this out, even on older devices.

Side-by-side comparisons between iOS 12 beta 1 and version 11.4 show clear speed improvements. Benchmark scores show marginal increases.

Grab all 16 macOS Mojave dynamic wallpapers right here

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Mojave wallpapers
Mojave's wallpapers are gorgeous.
Photo: Cult of Mac

Dynamic wallpapers are about to change the look of your Mac once Mojave launches to the public, but you don’t have to wait until this fall to get that new new right now.

Mojave includes 16 variations of the same majestic sand dune Apple showed off at WWDC 2018. If you can’t install Mojave on your Mac, you can download the Mojave dynamic wallpapers below.

Parrot’s new drone wants to compete with the Mavic Air

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Anafi
Anafi's 180-degree camera looks amazing!
Photo: Parrot

Drone manufacturer Parrot looks like it may have finally put together a pretty good drone to rival DJI’s popular Mavic Air quadrocopter.

Parrot unveiled its new $700 drone this morning dubbed, Anafi. The name isn’t the only thing that’s a little bit odd about the super-portable drone, but it packs some pretty interesting features even DJI can’t match.

Americans are insanely addicted to their phones

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iPhone Hold
Check Facebook in the bathroom? That doesn't make you weird, just an average American. But maybe we all have phone addiction.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

We really love our phones. Maybe too much. 10 percent of respondents to a recent survey have checked their phone during sex. Almost a quarter (22 percent) can’t make it through a shower without a look. But Apple is trying to help.

The survey also took a quick look at American’s attitudes toward 5G. Even though this ultra-fast cellular wireless network technology is going to start rolling out later this year, 44% of U.S. adults have never heard of it.

Parkinson’s disease symptoms tracking is coming to Apple Watch

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ResearchKit
ResearchKit is getting better at tracking Parkinson's disease.
Photo: Apple

WWDC 2018 bug Cult of MacYour Apple Watch will soon be able to track symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, thanks to a new API from Apple.

Details of Apple’s big software updates are still flowing out of the San Jose convention center as Apple dives into the details during sessions. During its session on advances in research and card frameworks Tuesday the company revealed it’s developed a new Movement Disorder API that could be groundbreaking for people with the disease.

How to switch on Safari favicons in iOS 12 and macOS Mojave

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google chrome favicons
Chrome has managed to display favicons since, like, forever.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

It’s 2018, and yet Safari still wouldn’t show you website icons, aka favicons, in its tabs. But that has — finally — changed. In both iOS 12 and macOS Mojave, Safari can now display favicons. All you need to do is toggle one setting.

Who cares? Well, favicons make it much easier to identify the site you want among a whole mess of open tabs. You can simply look for a site’s colorful logo icon, instead of squinting at a few letters of truncated text when trying to find the right tab.