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Apple throws shade at Android in hilarious iPhone ads

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Apple ad
Up your selfie game with Portrait Lighting.
Photo: Apple

Apple is back with a new set of ads aiming to get Android users to switch to iPhone. The two new ads showcase Portrait Mode and Portrait Lightning on the newest iPhones, while also bragging about the App Store’s security compared to Google Play.

Watch them both:

Lay your head on these plush Apple apps

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icon pillows
Throwboy puts the soft in software for Apple fans.
Photo: Throwboy

Two Apple geeks were dating during Christmas 2007 when the young man of this story, Roberto Hoyos, made his girlfriend hand-sewn pillows that looked like Mac desktop icons.

A picture of the finished pillows went viral and orders began to flood Hoyos’ inbox. To meet the sudden demand, he started the company, Throwboy. To celebrate the company’s 10th anniversary, Hoyos has issued a second collection of icon pillows.

Control this window air conditioner with your iPhone

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GE HomeKit window AC unit
This GE window AC unit is HomeKit compatible, making it far more intelligent than typical ones.
Photo: GE

When people think of home automation, something like the Nest thermostat probably leaps to mind first. But not everyone needs something that elaborate. For those who needs are simpler, GE just launched a window AC unit that’s HomeKit compatible so it can be controlled by an iPhone.

How to speed up your internet and stop your ISP tracking you

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cloudflare dns
A cloud, with added flare, just like your awesome new DNS service.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Your entire DNS browsing history can be recorded by your ISP, and will soon be sold to anyone who wants it.

DNS is what sends you to the correct site when you browse the internet, but it is also non-encrypted, and reveals your entire browsing history. Your browser’s private mode does nothing, and the little green lock icon that denotes a secure connection doesn’t help either.

DNS is also slow. So, in order to fix both of these problems, you need to change your DNS provider to one that is both private, and fast. That’s Cloudflare’s new 1.1.1.1 service.

iPhone X users love the ‘notch’

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iphone x
A survey shows 97 percent of iPhone X owners are satisfied with this device, including its screen cutout.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

More than 90 percent of iPhone X users like the design without a Home button, according to a scientific survey. That’s good news for Apple, as most of the 2018 models are expected to use a similar form factor.

That’s not to say there’s no room for improvement. The survey also pointed several aspects of the iPhone X that responders didn’t like as much.

Tweak your photos to perfection with Snapseed [50 Essential iOS Apps #4]

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tune image editing tools in Snapseed
Snapseed's editing tools are accessed with a flick of your thumb
Photo: Ian Fuchs/Cult of Mac

50 Essential iOS Apps: Snapseed Photo Editing app The iPhone’s camera is arguably one of the best cameras most people will use for capturing life moments. Sometimes, though, those photos don’t turn out quite as perfect as you hope. The iOS Camera and Photos apps have some basic editing tools, but if you’re looking for more fine-tuned tweaks, Snapseed is a powerful, free photo editor for iOS that helps revive and tweak your shots.

Amazon is (apparently) doing more than Apple to improve society

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Amazon
A veritable saint of a company, it seems.
Photo: Mike Seyfang/Flickr CC

Tim Cook has been outspoken about Apple being a “force for good” in the world. However, when it comes to which tech giants have the most positive impact on society, the public has spoken — and the answer isn’t Apple, but rather Amazon.

Or, at least, that’s the response from a recent survey of 2,722 U.S. adults, who decided to hand the first place to the Jeff Bezos-run, high street-destroying retail leviathan. We’re not totally convinced, though.

Go beyond iTunes to manage your iOS data [Deals]

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Manage your iOS data easily and without messing around with iTunes.
Manage your iOS data easily and without messing around with iTunes.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Using iTunes to manage iOS devices can be a real headache. Broad categories for syncing make it tough to track down individual tunes, videos, and other files. So it’s nice to know you can manage the data on your iPhone doesn’t need to mean dealing with iTunes.

Time runs out for Apple Watch pop-up shop experiment

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apple watch
Tokyo store is the last of Apple's three Apple Watch pop-up shops.
Photo: Apple

Apple is closing the last of its remaining Apple Watch pop-up shops. Based in Tokyo, the last of the mini-stores is located in Shinjuku’s high-end Isetan department store. It will shut its door next month.

A message outside the store reads, “This is a notice that Apple Watch at Isetan Shinjuku will close as of Sunday, May 13. Thank you very much for your continuous patronage.”

Apple cuts HomePod orders by more than half

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Don't take a chance on a bricked HomePod.
HomePod sales aren't setting the world on fire.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple’s HomePod smart speaker isn’t off to the best start in terms of sales. A new report claims that lack of demand for the speakers has resulted in Apple cutting orders from 500,000 units per month to just 200,000.

Extrapolated over the course of a year that would mean that Apple expects to sell around 2.4 million HomePods in 12 months. That would put it on a level with the 2015 first year sales of the Amazon Echo, but would be highly disappointing given the relative maturity of the smart speaker market and Apple’s name recognition.

Facebook delays smart speaker until October

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HomePod in China
Facebook's HomePod rival could arrive in six months.
Photo: Apple

Facebook’s smart speaker will reportedly launch in October, a new report claims. The social media giant’s entry into the AI speaker market already home to Apple’s HomePod, Amazon’s Echo and Google Home was allegedly delayed several months as a result of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

As a result, Facebook has cut its 2018 order volume by around 20 percent, although orders for 2019 will remain unchanged.

Your 13-inch MacBook Pro might need its battery replaced

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Mac
Anyone who bought a 13-inch MacBook Pro (non Touch Bar) in the last year and a half should check if it needs a new battery.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple admits that some MacBook Pro laptops have a problem that causes their batteries to swell up. The company is replacing these free of charge.

This affects only the non-touchbar version of the macOS laptop, and only models with a 13-inch screen. In addition, the device needs to have been produced in a specific timeframe.

Drafts 5, Vulse, Things, and other awesome apps of the week

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Awesome Apps
'Appy weekend.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

This week has been big on big updates. Drafts, the best text-capture app for iOS, got a brand-new version. Cultured Code’s Things also received a big update (but still doesn’t allow drag-and-drop to task lists). And Dropbox finally did add drag-and-drop, just seven months after iOS 11 added the feature.

Well done!

Jumbo wireless charging station juices up 2 devices at once [Deals]

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iPM Wireless Charger
Charge your Apple Watch and iPhone at the same time with no problem.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Charging up a device without wires used to sound like science fiction, but now it’s getting more and more common. With Qi charging technology, it’s a capability that most new devices will have. Wireless charging is growing more popular, so the charging stations are growing too.

Developers enjoy a huge boost from iOS 11’s App Store redesign

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iPhone App Store
The iPhone App Store is a sort of magazine about iOS software.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

The iOS App Store got a new look last fall, and the change has greatly benefited developers of third-party applications, as Apple intended. A new study found that getting named Game of the Day results in an 800 percent increase in downloads.

Inclusion in the other segments of the App Store Today screen brought improved performance as well.

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.