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How to get iOS’ handy Recents feature on your Mac

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Clock recent items
This clock illustrates the time component of 'recent' items.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

One of the handiest features on iOS 11’s Files app is the Recents view. This view — available in the Files app itself, and in any other app that uses the Files picker to locate documents — shows all the files you have created or opened in the last few days.

Did you ever wish you could do the same on your Mac? Well, you can. Today we’re going to see how to add a folder to your Dock that shows recent iCloud Drive files.

iOS 11.3.1 rolls out with iPhone display fix

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iPhone 8 Wireless Charging
Cheap iPhone 8 displays should work with iOS 11.3.1.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple just rolled out iOS 11.3.1 with a fix for third-party iPhone displays that stopped working properly after an earlier software update. The release also promises security improvements for iPhone and iPad.

iPhone manufacturers are hurting from uncertainty about future plans

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iPhone X Product Red Wallpaper
What does Apple's next-gen iPhone have in store?
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple is reportedly dropping Touch ID altogether this year in favor of Face ID for its next-gen iPhones. However, Apple is still keeping its suppliers in the dark about plans, a new report suggests.

Shares in AMS, a supplier which produces some of the components for Apple’s TrueDepth camera, have fallen 9.1 percent as a result. That’s its biggest decline in two years. And other suppliers are hurting, too.

Bid now for an original Beta copy of the iconic 1984 Mac ad

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Apple ad
Own a piece of Apple history.
Photo: Brent Thomas

Want to own a genuine rare piece of Apple history? Up for auction right now is an original Beta cassette dub from 1983, containing two different edits of Ridley Scott’s iconic “Nineteen Eighty-Four” Macintosh commercial.

The tape is signed by the ad’s late art director Brent Thomas. It came from his estate, and is a pre-Super Bowl dub of the same original master tape seen by the Apple executive board. They absolutely hated it!

Here’s who Apple will call to the stand in its latest Samsung trial

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iPhone with Samsung
The latest Samsung vs. Apple trial kicks off next month.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Apple has revealed which executives will be taking the stand when it comes to court for its latest bout with Samsung — and, no, sadly that doesn’t include Tim Cook or Jony Ive.

Instead, at Apple’s May 14 hearing it will call Richard Howarth, senior director of the Apple Design Team, and Greg Joswiak, Apple’s vice president of product marketing to testify. More intriguingly, it will also call original Mac icon designer Susan Kare to the stand.

New iPad ads showcase Apple Pencil versatility

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iPad ad
Apple is keen to show off the Apple Pencil.
Photo: Apple

Apple wants everyone to know about the Apple Pencil compatibility with this year’s 9.7-inch iPad refresh — and a new series of ads aims to help with that mission.

Appearing on Apple’s U.K. YouTube channel, the short ads demonstrate how the Apple Pencil can be used for image markup, writing and drawing. The spots are set to NONONO’s track “Masterpiece.” Check them out below.

Apple doubles OLED orders from Samsung, but there’s a catch

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Ex-student sentenced to 3 years in prison for massive iPhone scam
Apple is ramping up its use of OLED displays in 2018.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple is upping its use of OLED displays for this year’s iPhone refresh — and it wants a better deal as a result.

As was the case last year, this year’s iPhone displays will reportedly be manufactured by Samsung Display. Due to the numbers Apple is projecting for this year’s OLED iPhone orders, it wants Samsung to lower the costs it charges Apple by around 9 percent.

Apple pays at least $1 million for Ed Sheeran documentary

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Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran, an English singer, songwriter, and guitarist, is the subject of a documentary Apple just purchased.
Photo: Atlantic Records

Apple continues to add to its collection of movies and TV shows, with the latest acquisition a documentary about Ed Sheeran called Songwriter.

At this point, Apple is paying for a dozen TV shows to be produced, though the company hasn’t said what it’s going to do with them.

How is the iPhone X selling?

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iPhone boot up
The iPhone X isn't a dud, but it also it's Apple's top seller.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The iPhone 8 is Apple’s best-selling model, and the larger 8 Plus is in second place. The controversial iPhone X is currently Apple’s third best-selling model, according to a market analysis firm.

Apple’s older models make up 40 percent of the company sales, a higher percentage than last year.

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.