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AT&T, Verizon tried to subvert a technology Apple embraces

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Apple watch
An eSIM is far smaller than a standard one, and much more flexible. But not if some carriers get their way.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The Department of Justice is investigating whether AT&T and Verizon colluded to subvert the primary goal of electronic SIMs. This new tech makes it easy to switch between service providers, something to two largest wireless carriers apparently wanted to prevent. 

Apple uses an eSIM in the Apple Watch Series 3. And last year this company formally complained to the DoJ that the two carriers were pressuring an international standards body to make an anticompetitive change to this emerging tech. 

How much better will the redesigned Apple A12 iPhone processor be?

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Apple A12 replaces A11 Bionic
The A11 Bionic is a fine processor, but the Apple A12 is expected to be even better.
Photo: iFixit

Official details of the processor for the 2018 iPhone are months away, but we can already be confident the Apple A12 will be at least 20 percent faster than the current chip, while using 40 percent less power.

And this is the minimal performance improvement to be expected. Apple’s next devices will almost certainly be even speedier.

How to use age restrictions to protect your kids from adult apps and movies

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age restrictions
Children were restricted differently in the past.
Photo: Alisha Vargas/Flickr CC

The iPad and iPhone can be great learning tools for kids, just the same as they are for adults (only with more clowns and talking animals). But even if you don’t want to fully lock-down your iPad to restrict what your kids can do, you might want to stop then from downloading adult-oriented apps. That includes violent games, scary books, and dirty movies.

Hiya Caller ID and Blocker keeps robocallers at bay [50 Essential iOS Apps #3]

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Incoming Scam Phone Call
Spam and Robocalls are out of control and must be stopped!
Photo: Cult of Mac

50 Essential iOS Apps: Hiya Caller ID and BlockerKnowing when to answer a call from an unknown number is a game of chance. It might be a family emergency, or it might be a scammer trying to rip you off. Hiya Caller ID and Block is a simple iOS app that attempts to determine whether incoming phone calls are telemarketers, spam, or something worth picking up for.

Doom is not on Apple’s audacious agenda

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iPhone X Product Red Wallpaper
Believe it or not, Apple has a plan.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

With smartphone sales plateauing, the iPhone can no longer propel Apple to the sort of stratospheric success the company (and its shareholders) enjoyed over the past decade.

Is Apple CEO Tim Cook clueless? Will Apple be caught flat-footed, unable to pivot and move to the next big thing? The latest prediction of Apple’s impending doom sounds particularly dire.

Your first look at the new Apple Newton documentary

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Love Notes to Newton
Documentary will tell the story of one of Apple's most underrated products.
Photo: Love Notes to Newton

Apple’s Newton MessagePad is one of the most intriguing Apple products in history: a product people considered a flop, but which was actually years ahead of its time.

If you’re a fan of the device, then this weekend you’ve got the chance to attend an exclusive screening of forthcoming documentary, Love Notes to Newton. It tells the story of the rise, fall, and rise again of one of Apple’s most fascinating (and misunderstood) product lines.

Check out the trailer below.

iPhone SE refresh could be lacking a hugely popular feature

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iPhone SE camera
Apple is expected to launch a new iPhone SE in May.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple is expected to deliver a new iPhone SE next month, complete with refreshed internals that make it significantly snappier. But it may not be all good news for fans of Apple’s smallest smartphone.

A new report claims one hugely popular feature will be missing.

Score 3 years of bulletproof VPN protection [Deals]

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CargoVPN
CargoVPN keeps your data encrypted both on your Macbook and iPhone
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

At this point, if you don’t know that the internet is risky place, you aren’t paying attention. Every click, every post, every bit of content consumed, is an opportunity to have data collected on you. It’s important to protect your data and identity online, and one of the best ways is with a VPN.

LG losing its fight to become iPhone screen supplier

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iPhone X
Ready to ditch your iPhone X already? There's still time to get a great price!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple is having a tough time trying to diversify iPhone screen suppliers and break away from Samsung.

LG Display was lined up to become a second supplier of OLED displays for this year’s iPhone lineup, but after running into manufacturing troubles, it may not be able to meet Apple’s demands.

Apple Stores start going green for Earth Day

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Apple Store
Is Apple doing everything it can for sustainability?
Photo: Apple

Apple Store logos have begun going green in celebration of Earth Day, the annual event intended to show support for environmental protection. While Earth Day doesn’t actually take place until this Sunday, this year — as in previous years — Apple has tweaked the logo on its stores two days early.

The recolored logo includes a green leaf in place of the usual all-white logo. Staff at the Apple Stores also wear green shirts for the days, instead of their usual blue ones.

Mac icon designer Susan Kare honored with award

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Fast Company/Susan Kare
Some of Susan Kare's iconic designs.
Photo: Fast Company/Susan Kare

There’s no more famous name in computer icon design than Susan Kare, who remains best known for creating the famous icons for the original Macintosh.

Having spent three decades working in the tech space, Kare is now being honored with an American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) medal, whose previous winners have included the likes of Paul Rand, and Charles and Ray Eames.

PUBG Mobile‘s new modes ease you into the battleground

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PUBG Mobile
The new Training Grounds and Arcade modes let you practice PUBG Mobile without getting killed almost immediately.
Screenshot: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

The point of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is to throw you into a battle and see if you survive. But that can be a bit intimidating for those who’ve never played before, so Tencent just added two practice modes to the mobile version. One of these involves playing in a smaller area, and can become its own challenge with the right settings.

Sadly, the iOS version doesn’t have these new modes yet, but an upgrade is expected soon.

Verizon Smart Family app gives parents new tools

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Verizon Smart Family
The Verizon Smart Family app is designed to make you a better digital parent.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Verizon’s new service lets parents limit their children’s’ screen time, monitor who they’re texting (and how often), and track their location. 

The Smart Family program also includes content filters, and can even tell a parent how much battery life their child’s phone has left.

Drafts 5 for iOS goes free, adds fantastic pro features

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Drafts 5
Drafts is the best way to get text out of your head.
Photo: Agile Tortoise

Drafts 5 has launched, the sequel to Drafts 4, and you may be a little confused as too what it actually new. Should you upgrade, for example? After all, it’s just the same old note-creating app with a lick of paint, right? Well, the definitive answer to that is “Hmmm, kinda…” While Drafts 5 doesn’t get many big new features, it has been completely redesigned. It looks better, works better, and the settings are way less confusing.

Oh, and you can finally use it as your only notes app, without feeling like you’re doing something dirty.

Inside Oddmar, the Viking follow-up to the lovable Leo’s Fortune

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Oddmar
The game's gorgeous visuals started out on paper.
Photo: Senri & Mobge

Creating a spiritual successor to 2014’s lovable platformer Leo’s Fortune was a labor of love for its developers. Now, four years later the Norse-themed platformer Oddmar finally debuts on iOS. (Check out our review here.)

“The story is set in a Viking universe and is our take on Norse mythology,” designer and director Ozgur Taskin told Cult of Mac. “Developing this game gave us a great opportunity to imagine the environments of the North through art and animation.”

Cult of Mac got a look behind the scenes of a future gaming classic.

Tim Cook won’t compromise Mac and iPad by combining them

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Clamshell iPad
This concept for a combined Mac and iPad will stay just that: a concept.
Photo: Cult of Mac

Tim Cook generally stays quiet about Apple’s plans, but there’s one thing he’s open about: his company’s laptops and tablets aren’t going to merge together.

It’s a question that comes up every couple of years. Which is understandable, given the recent rumors that macOS is migrating to the same type of processors as iOS, allegedly to enable apps to run on both Mac and iPad.

How to translate webpages on iPhone or iPad

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translate webpages safari ipad
Cult of Mac in Catalan!
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Do you ever find yourself staring at a web page, unable to understand a word? All the letters look familiar, only they’re arranged into some weird order? That’s called “foreign,” and it’s how people from outside America talk to each other. Some of them don’t even write their websites in English.

Fortunately, a good old American company has done something about this terrible habit. Microsoft Translator can fix up a web page and turn all that foreign gibberish into a language we can all feel comfortable with. You may already use Google’s translate bookmarklet for this, but Microsoft’s version is so much better it’s in a different league.

Huawei had notches years before iPhone X made them cool

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iPhone X notch
iPhone X needs a customizable status bar.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Huawei was developing smartphones with notches in their displays years before iPhone X made them cool, it claims.

The Chinese company ultimately decided not to release one because it was “too conservative and cautious” at the time — but now that Apple uses notches, it’s okay.

iPhone dependence is killing Apple Watch. Here’s how Cupertino could fix it.

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It’s time to cut the cable and set Apple Watch free
It’s time to cut the cable and set Apple Watch free
Photo: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac

For activity tracking, fitness and notifications, Apple Watch is pretty awesome, and these days, that’s all most people use it for. Which is a shame.

When it launched back in 2015, Apple had a much bigger vision: a wearable computing platform supporting a rich and varied ecosystem of apps. Like an iPhone strapped to your wrist. But the reality has turned out to be rather different. Instagram is just the latest of a series of high profile apps to desert the platform. So what’s up?

I believe Apple Watch’s dependence on iPhone is holding it back, and the time has come for Cupertino to set its smartwatch free. In this, the third and final part of my wish list of watchOS 5 features, I’ll focus on how I hope Apple will improve setup, apps and iCloud to create a badass stand-alone device.

Apple shares fall after iPhone chipmaker cuts sales forecast

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iPhone X laying down
I wanted a Galaxy S10, but I'm stuck with iPhone.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple shares fell 3 percent this morning after iPhone chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) cut its revenue forecast for the second quarter of 2018.

The company and industry analysts point to weak demand for high-end smartphones as the main reason for the poor guidance. This likely has something to do with the fact that iPhone X sales have been in the gutter since early hype quickly died out late last year.