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Fortnite on iOS gets Port-a-Fort, squad commands and more

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Fortnite
Team Rumble just got a lot better.
Photo: Epic Games

Fortnite Battle Royale’s weekly content update has rolled out on iOS, adding the new Port-a-Fort grenade, squad commands, and more.

Epic has also addressed a whole bunch of pesky bugs — including one that caused weapons to hover in the air when switching quickly between items. There are big changes for consoler and PC players, too.

Zuck is prepared to drag Apple into Facebook’s congressional hearing

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Facebook employees
Apple has had its share of data scandals too, Facebook's CEO notes.
Photo: Facebook

Steve Jobs once promised a “thermonuclear war” against Google. Here in 2018, it seems more like Apple is in more of a Cold War with fellow tech giant Facebook — based on recent comments made by both companies.

While we’ve argued before that the congressional investigation of Facebook only helps Apple, it seems that Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg is doing his best to hurt Apple, too. Here’s how.

Apple must shell out $502.6 million to feed ‘patent troll’

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Apple could be a $2 trillion company by end of 2021
Apple has to pay out half a billion buckaroos in damages.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple must pay $502.6 million to patent holding company (read: so-called “patent troll”) VirnetX Holding Corp., a federal jury in Texas has ordered.

This is the latest installment in a dispute that now stretches back eight years. The patents Apple has allegedly infringed one include ones related to secure communications, used by FaceTime, VPN on Demand and iMessage.

DIY iPhone memory upgrade is possible, but not worth it

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upgrade iPhone memory
A new video shows that upgrading iPhone memory is major job, and an expensive one.
Photo: Strange Parts

Ever wondered what it would take to give your iPhone more storage? Apple charges a lot for additional room; maybe you could save a bundle by buying a low capacity version and upgrade the iPhone memory yourself.

A hobbyist successfully took his iPhone from 16GB to 128GB. But as he showed in a video detailing the process, it was a heck of a lot of work.

FTC: Third-party repairs don’t invalidate your iPhone warranty

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Illegal warranty seal
The FTC said warranty seals like this are illegal. Companies can't forbid third-party repair work.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

The Federal Trade Commission warned companies today not to tell customers that using independent repair facilities invalidates the warranties on their phones, video game consoles, or cars. Doing so is a violation of U.S. law.

It’s not clear if Apple was singled out by the watchdog agency. But it could have been.

Tim Cook gives Saudi prince firsthand tour of Apple Park

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Apple Park
Tim Cook and Prince Mohammed strolling through Apple Park.
Photo: Saudi Embassy

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visited Apple’s new headquarters in California as part of his tour across the western U.S., during which he aims to change the country’s perspective on Saudi Arabia.

Apple CEO Tim Cook was on hand for Salman’s tour of the newly completed Apple Park. The prince even got a special presentation inside Steve Jobs Theatre that focused on Apple’s modern voice applications.

Check out some of the pics:

How to leave Facebook and Twitter while staying social

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micro.blog app leave facebook
The Microblog app looks pretty great on iPhone.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Facebook tracks your every move and sells the information to people who try to fix elections. Twitter is destroying the fabric of democracy, and doesn’t care. And even if you leave Facebook, it owns Instagram and WhatsApp, two of the biggest social networks outside of itself and Twitter. And now Facebook is promising to let anyone delete their posts, which means that you’ll never really know what’s been happening. IT’s time to leave Facebook and move on, but where?

After all, a social network is pointless if you have no friends on it. Happily, there’s a social network out there already that’s bigger than Facebook, and completely uncontrolled by any single company. It’s the web.

Today we’re going to see how to post your photos, messages, and other rants onto your own microblog, just like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. The best part is, you own everything, anyone can read it, and it’s as easy to use as sending a tweet.

Pro Tip: Pin Safari’s tabs so you can find them faster

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pin safari tabs
Apple seemingly has a new relationship with Tencent.
Photo: Cult of Mac

Pro Tip Cult of Mac bugEver lost a tab in Safari? You have like a million of the things open, and you end up scrubbing a two-finger trackpad swirl over the entire tab bar, shifting those things around so that you can read their labels, and you still can’t track down the Cult of Mac website in there. Well here’s good news: you can just pin that tab to the edge of the tab bar, so you’ll never lose it again.

iPhone still reigns supreme among U.S. teens

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iphone x
Teens prefer iPhone over Android four-to-one. And that number is increasing.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Figuring out teens is a challenge for parents and teachers, but there’s one thing you can count on: teenagers love iPhone. A new study shows that a whopping 82 percent of them own one.

And that number is likely to increase. The survey indicates that 84 percent of teens say their next phone will be from Apple.

Apple grabs sci-fi show based on Asimov’s Foundation trilogy

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Apple TV Closer
Apple is making a TV show of the trilogy that inspired Star Wars
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple is ready to tackle one of the most ambitious sci-fi projects in the history of Hollywood after the company greenlit a new TV series based on Isaac Asimov’s Foundation.

The new TV show is being produced by Skydance Television with David S. Goyer and Josh Friedman signed on to write the series that’s about a galactic empire of humans living on multiple planets across the galaxy.

Unseen Steve Jobs interview shares business secrets

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Jobs
Who wouldn't want Steve as their instructor?
Photo: Deliberate Think

Who wouldn’t have wanted Steve Jobs to have visited their university class for a casual Q&A with the students? That’s what folks at MIT were lucky enough to experience in 1992.

Running NeXT at the time, Jobs stopped by to drop some wisdom on everything from his thoughts on leaving Apple to the state of computing to his thoughts on the right way to run a company. Excerpts from the discussion recently landed on YouTube. Check them out below.

Face ID could replace passwords on your favorite websites

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Facial Recognition
We dream of a day in which biometrics replace passcodes.
Photo: Apple

Face ID could become even more useful thanks to a newly launched Web Authentication standard, which could replace regular web passcodes with biometric identification. This is via an API created by the FIDO Alliance and W3C. It allows users to access any online service in a browser through password-free FIDO Authentication.

While Apple already allows Face ID to autofill usernames and passcodes on iOS, this could go one step further by replacing the passcode altogether. This would make it a more secure option.

Last chance to grab 10 top-shelf Mac apps for pennies on the dollar [Deals]

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This loaded bundle includes 10 premium apps for creativity, productivity, and fun.
This loaded bundle includes 10 premium apps for creativity, productivity, and fun.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

To get the most out of your Mac, it takes a good stable of apps. With all the options available on the App Store, though, it can be hard to know where to start. Luckily, we’ve got a can’t-miss, last-chance deal on a massive bundle of premium Mac apps.

Here’s what Facebook CEO will say in congressional testimony

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quotes on Apple
Mark Zuckerberg will testify this week.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify before a House of Representatives committee this week, concerning the fallout of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Ahead of time, Facebook has released a prepared testimony, featuring the comments that Zuckerberg will make during his testimony. “Facebook is an idealistic and optimistic company,” he will say. However, he will also acknowledge that, “it’s clear now that we didn’t do enough to prevent these tools from being used for harm as well.”

MLB 9 for iOS gives you your baseball gaming fix on the go

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MLB
The ultimate MLB game experience for iOS.
Photo: Com2us

Baseball season is here, and if you’re a fan, we’ve got the perfect game for you! Developers Com2us has returned with the latest installment in their yearly franchise, MLB 9 Innings Baseball 18.

The officially licensed game boasts 3D graphics, all 30 MLB ballparks, up-to-date teams with all 1,700 players, and a new one-handed Arcade Mode, which should make it easier to get your baseball fix on the go. Check out the game’s two trailers below.

University successfully leading a ‘revolution’ by giving iPads to students

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Students at Maryville University use iPads
Every full-time student at Maryville University is given an iPad Pro and an Apple Pencil.
Photo Maryville University

Maryville University started giving an iPad Pro and an Apple Pencil to every student in 2016. Today, the school’s enrollment is up almost 18%.

“We’re leading a revolution, changing the entire model of higher ed for students,” said Dr.Mark Lombard, the university’s president.

iOS 11.3 breaks iPhone 8 touchscreens replaced by third parties

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iPhone SE 2 could cost $399 just like the first-gen iPhone SE
Don't install iOS 11.3 if your iPhone 8 touchscreen was replaced by anyone other than Apple. Bad things will happen.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

If you have an iPhone 8 touchscreen that wasn’t repaired by Apple, you must not install iOS 11.3. Your touchscreen could stop working.

This problem hasn’t been acknowledged by Apple, but independent phone repair companies are reporting that many iPhone 8 touchscreens they replaced stopped working after the latest iOS version is installed.

Death of Touch ID scheduled for this fall

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iPhone plus model next to iPhone X
Our artist's concept of what the iPhone Xs Plus might look like. And this won't even be the largest of the 2018 iPhone models.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

All of the 2018 iPhone models will have Face ID, according to an industry analyst. This helps confirm earlier reports that Apple is phasing out its Touch ID fingerprint-scanning system in favor of the facial-recognition system that debuted in the iPhone X. 

The analyst also indicated that two of the three models coming this fall will have OLED displays. There will be one medium-size and two bigger iPhones, both larger than any before.

Apple’s global operations are now 100% powered by renewable energy

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Apple Park
Apple Park is powered in part by a 17-megawatt rooftop solar installation.
Photo: Apple

Apple has become the world’s first major tech company to be powered by 100% renewable energy.

The company has been investing heavily in renewable energy sources for years, and in a statement today, Apple says it has already achieved its goal to use 100% clean energy to power all of its global facilities.