Earlier today, Tim Cook posted a tribute to the late professor Stephen Hawking, who passed away on March 14, aged 76. “We will always be inspired by his life and ideas. RIP,” Cook wrote.

As one of the world’s most visionary physicists and popular science writers, it’s no surprise to hear that Hawking inspired folks at Apple — just as he did people all around the planet.

But Apple and Hawking share an interesting connection: It was an Apple machine that first gave him the ability to verbally communicate using a computer.

The French government plans to take both Apple and Google to court for what French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire classes as “abusive trade practices.”

This relates to the way that both companies reportedly treat startups and developers. In particular, Le Maire singles out the way that Apple and Google unilaterally impose prices and contractual terms on software devs.

How seriously are people taking password security in your city?

Password management service Dashlane today published its 2018 City Security Rankings, revealing the state of password security in America’s most populous cities — and those that are home to some of the biggest companies and government agencies.

Apple’s home city of Cupertino ranks highly, right behind Fort Meade, MD, home of the National Security Agency (NSA).

WWDC will have an extra set of helping hands this year, thanks to Apple’s hiring of a brand new events director. New recruit Gail Hunter previously served as president of public affairs and event management for the Golden State Warriors, a.k.a. Eddy Cue’s favorite NBA basketball team.

She will officially leave her current job this Friday, and join Apple on Monday, March 19. Just in time to help Apple’s preparations for its annual developer showcase event in June!

Tim Cook visited Washington D.C. on Tuesday, having lunch with Senator Mark Warner, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, who has shown considerable interest in the subject of digital encryption and privacy.

Tim Cook won’t be at AltConf 2018, but then attendees of this alternative Apple developer conference will pay a wee bit less. The official WWDC is $1,599, while AltConf is free.

It will be held in San Jose near the official conference, and on the same dates as the WWDC: June 4-7.

ecobee began taking pre-orders for the Switch+ today. This smart-home light switch includes HomeKit support so it can be remotely controlled with an iPhone.

But it goes beyond that: with Amazon’s Alexa built in, this wall switch acts as a smart speaker all on its own.

Apple continues to improve the iPad Pro design, with a nearly bezel-less version reportedly in development. This could mean an 11-inch iPad the same overall size as the company’s current 10.5-inch tablet.

This will supposedly be the first iPad with Apple’s Face ID as the technology expands beyond the iPhone X.

Fitbit is stepping up to compete better with the Apple Watch with the Versa smartwatch. The new wearable looks similar to Apple’s watch, and offers music playback and other capabilities. Plus, it arrives at a lower price point — just under $200.

The Versa’s unveiling comes just after Apple surpassed Fitbit in the wearables market. Apparently, people want much more from their devices than just counting steps.

Podcasters, musicians, and haters of annoying noises rejoice. Blue Designs has come up with the Compass, a microphone boom that keeps your mic fixed right over your desk, your computer, your countertop, or even your ghetto ironing-board podcasting desk. Paired with Blue’s Radius shock mount, you need never worry about mic noise ever again.

YouTube’s dark mode, introduced just under a year ago, has finally landed on iPhone and iPad. It was the most requested feature among mobile users, YouTube says — and it makes late-night video binges even more enjoyable.

Venturing online can be like an urban safari into the sketchiest, most crime-ridden part of town. The internet is full of scumbags, scalawags and scambots.

That’s why it’s absolutely essential that you use good, strong passwords. And that means you need a good password manager. This is non-debatable. If you do anything at all online — shop, bank or socialize — you need a good password manager. Here at Cult of Mac, we use Dashlane. And in this video, I’ll tell you why.

Apple will kick off its 29th annual Worldwide Developers Conference on June 4.

The week-long event, which will offer the first previews of Apple’s next big software updates, will again be held in the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose. Developers can register for tickets starting today until 10 a.m. on March 22.

Did you ever shoot a video and have it come out sideways? Maybe you were holding you iPhone at an angle and it got a little confused as to which way was up? Or perhaps you started shooting in portrait orientation, and quickly corrected to landscape, but then the entire video ends up being sideways? Then you need to know how to rotate video and set things right. The good new is, it’s easy.

Anyone wanting to try out Google’s rival to Siri can now do so on their iPad: A version of the Google Assistant optimized for iOS tablets just debuted.

With the press of a button, the application will answer questions and retrieve information from the internet, but that’s just the start.

Are you taking full advantage of all the neat new features in your shiny Series 3 Apple Watch? Cellular connectivity grabbed the headlines, but that isn’t the only hardware addition Cupertino managed to cram into a wearable that was already bristling with sensors.

Apple Watch Series 3 models also boast a barometric altimeter. If you think you don’t need one of those, think again. The altimeter makes Series 3 watches the ideal companion for hill workouts. That’s a type of training you really should be doing but probably aren’t.

We’re all used to our bags being searched when we go through airport security, but a number of reports claim that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is also searching the electronic devices belonging to passengers on domestic flights within the U.S.

As a result, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed a lawsuit against the TSA, requesting records gathered by the fderal agency.

Epic Games is bringing Fortnite Battle Royale, the hottest game you can play right now, to mobile. It is now inviting players to enjoy early access on iPhone and iPad, with the first invites set to roll out later this week.

While you’re impatiently waiting to get yours, you’re probably asking lots of questions about how the preview will work, and what the game will be like on mobile. Who will get invites first? How will it handle cross-platform play with PlayStation 4 and PC? Can you use a wireless controller?

Here’s everything you need to know so far about Fortnite on iOS.

Your Mac is a mighty machine, but it’s only as useful as the apps you install. With all the software out there to choose from, it can be hard to know where to start, and even harder to look at the price tag. So this bundle of 10 top notch apps is well worth checking out.

Apple’s reputation has taken a hit over the last year, suggests the latest annual Harris Poll Reputation Quotient poll, which shows Apple toppling from fifth place in 2017 to 29th place today.

The poll, which has been carried out every year since 1999, surveyed 25,800 U.S. adults from December through January on the reputations of the “most visible” corporate brands in the world. Amazon held onto the no. 1 spot, which it has held every year for the past five years, with the exception of falling to no. 2 in 2015.

Apple has given third-party accessory-makers the go-ahead to manufacture their own 3.5mm-to-Lightning cables. It is also approving the use of USB-C connectors under its MFi accessories program, which now sports cleaner, more modern logos.

Facebook Watch, the social network’s video on demand service, is reportedly readying a news section, which will include partnerships with around 10 publishers.

The news comes one day after Apple’s acquisition of $10 a month magazine subscription service Texture. It represents another example of a tech company trying to strengthen relationships with traditional media outlets at a time when topics like “fake news” have strained these interactions.

Researchers have developed an iPad app that makes setting up lifesaving colon cancer screenings “as easy as booking a hotel room online.”

Colon cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Early screening can dramatically reduce mortality rates, yet more than one-third of Americans who fall within the most likely age bracket go unscreened every year.

If you’re frantically checking your email for a Fortnite early access invite after signing up Monday, give up now. Epic Games confirms that it won’t issue its first batch of download codes for iOS until later this week. Some of us could be waiting months for access!

In an effort to reengage with its fanbase after its recent badly received redesign, Snapchat is planning to allow users to create augmented reality “Lenses” and share them with the rest of the community.

The debut of creator-made Lenses in the app’s carousel will debut at the end of this month. The Lenses can be made using Snapchat’s Lens Studio application, and Snap will then select the best ones and make them available to the wider 187 million daily user community.