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How to use a USB drive with Files on iOS

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ixpand drive files
Now you can browse some USB drives in Files app.
Photo: Sandisk

There are several workarounds for getting data off a USB stick or SD card, and onto your iPad or iPhone. We’ve even covered some. But until now, there’s been no way to just plug a USB stick into your iPad’s Lightning port, and browse the contents in iOS 11’s Files app. Thanks to an update to the fantastic FileBrowser app, that’s now possible.

VW’s electric cars will be inspired by Apple design

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Project Titan
Apple is changing the auto industry even without making a car.
Photo: Idiggapple/Twitter

Volkswagen’s top designer is looking to Apple for some design inspiration

Apple abandoned its plan to build its own car from the wheels up, but car fans might still see some Apple-inspired autos hitting highways by 2020. not be making its own car anymore, but you might still see some Apple-inspired cars on the road by 2020.

Keychain Game Boys, iPad smart pens and more [Crowdfund Roundup]

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Plux
The AirPower alternative that won't break the bank.
Photo: Plux

Crowdfund Roundup bugApple’s upcoming AirPower charger is expected to cost a small fortune when it finally makes its debut (who knows when that will be). But there are more affordable options — like Plux, which also charges your iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods simultaneously.

It’s just one of the awesome ideas in this week’s Crowdfund Roundup. We also have a retro game console that’s small enough to carry on your keychain, an affordable “smart pen” for iPad, and more.

Snapchat won’t back down on controversial redesign

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Snapchat icon
Snapchat isn't willing too many new fans right now.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Snapchat’s not rolling back its new design, despite more than 1 million people (and counting) signing a petition for it to do so.

The company recently debuted its new layout — designed to separate interactions with friends from branded content — but many users have complained that it is difficult to use, prompting a popular change.org petition to revert to its previous design.

How to stop your HomePod marking your fancy furniture

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HomePod doily
Lace doilies -- no longer just for pot plants and figurines.
Photo: storebukkebruse/Flickr CC

Did you know that setting modern materials like silicone down onto traditional furniture finishes like oil and wax, or lacquer, could leave a mark? Judging by the insane clamor on the internet, roughly half of the planet has just discovered this fact, and is blaming it on Apple.

Those HomePod ring marks are a result of the oils in the finish of the furniture being sucked into the silicon base of the HomePod. The good news is the fix is easy, but if you’d listened to your grandmother, you never would have had this problem in the first place.

Major new iOS bug can lock you out of messaging apps

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Cult of Mac's buyback program pays good money for your gear, even broken ones.
The latest iOS bug can crash iPhones that receive a text message containing an Indian character.
Photo: Warren R.M. Stuart/Flickr CC

A newly discovered iOS 11 bug lets a text message containing a specific character crash iPhones. It can also block access to Messages, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Outlook for iOS and Gmail — in a way that can be challenging to reverse.

The character in question is from the Indian language character set of Telugu. When a message containing the character is received, iOS Springboard crashes and the aforementioned messaging apps will no longer open.

Move over HomePod? Facebook has two smart speakers on the way

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the Facebook logo on an iPhone 6 Plus
Facebook wants to take its next step into your home.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

The HomePod may have just dropped, but Apple’s not the only tech giant to be getting into the smart speaker business in 2018. According to a new report, Facebook will be launching two smart speakers this year — with July being given as “the latest” that they could make their debut.

Warren Buffett is betting even bigger on Apple

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What’s it like to have your startup bought by Apple? Stressful
One of the world's most legendary investors is doubling down on his Apple love.
Photo illustration: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway firm has massively increased its AAPL holdings, while ditching virtually all its IBM stock, showing how confident the super investor is of Apple’s immediate future.

Buffett’s firm increased its Apple holdings by 23.3 percent to 165.3 million shares, according to SEC filings. The firm took a dimmer view of IBM, however, and made the decision to drop a massive 94.5 percent of its holdings, leaving it with just 2.05 million shares.

Here’s how much experts think HomePod costs Apple to build

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Don't take a chance on a bricked HomePod.
The HomePod costs a lot more than its rivals, but it costs Apple a lot, too.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

A new report from Bloomberg suggests that Apple’s $349 HomePod smart speaker costs the company around $216 in components, giving Apple a 38 percent margin.

If accurate (and we’ll come to that!), the figures suggest that despite charging users considerably more money than Amazon and Google charge for their rival smart speakers, Apple is actually earning smaller margins than Google Home’s 66 percent and Amazon Echo’s 56 percent.

But the numbers almost certainly don’t tell the whole story.

HomePod setup bug afflicts some frustrated owners

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iPhone X
A perplexing HomePod setup bug leaves some people exasperated.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

An apparent bug has left some HomePod owners unable to get their new Apple smart speakers up and running. Complaints about a mysterious “Setup Failed -6722” error message surfaced soon after HomePod launched last Friday.

Use this playlist to remove unwanted Apple Music downloads

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music piano
Who wants to hear music like this?
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Shuffle and skipping are two great tools for listening to new music on your iPhone, using Apple Music. You can download lots of new music to your iPhone, then set it to shuffle while you take a walk. If you’re also wearing a pair of AirPods, a double tap on one of them will skip any tracks you don’t like. It’s a great way to listen to new music, with one big, annoying side-effect: You end up with lots of unwanted downloads cluttering up your iPhone.

But with one simple smart playlist, you can fix that right now.

Treat yourself to 10% off Speidel Twist-O-Flex bands for Valentine’s Day [Watch Store]

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speidel
Speidel's Twist-O-Flex stretches up to 5 inches, making it easy to get on and off your wrist. Perfect for him or her!
Photo: Speidel

Note: For Valentine’s Day only, all of Speidel’s iconic Twist-O-Flex Apple Watch bands are 10 percent off! Perfect for him or her.

Today’s all about showing the one you love just how much you care. I say it’s a great opportunity to throw a little love your own way.

Speidel — purveyor of the original stretchy, stainless steel Twist-O-Flex bands — agrees. This Valentine’s Day only, treat yourself to 10 percent off these great Apple Watch bands in Silver, Brushed or Black stainless steel.  These bands are for both men and women.

Read our full review below and visit our Watch Store to check out these iconic bands.

HomePod leaves ugly white rings on wood tables

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Apple HomePod smart speaker Listening History
Think twice before leaving HomePod on your wood table.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

HomePods are already making their mark in new homes across the country — but not in a good way.

Apple customers started noticing that HomePod can damage wood furniture by leaving a white ring after resting on a table for just a few minutes or days.

How to get VIP email pushed to your iPhone instantly

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vip email
There's more than one way to "push" mail.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

We’d all rather that folks sent short messages via iMessage, or WhatsApp, or another civilized format that encourages brevity, but they insist on email. But what if your emails could pop up on your iPhone’s lock screen and be as easy to reply to as an iMessage. If you set it up right, your regular iPhone Mail app can do exactly that, using Push and VIP email. Let’s take a look.

Apple could source local chipsets for Chinese iPhones

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iphone x
Apple could be embracing Chinese manufacturing to help grow its brand in the country.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple may be expanding its supply chain further by buying storage chips from the Chinese memory chipmaker Yangtze Memory Technologies, a new report states.

What makes this interesting is that the chips will reportedly be used only in iPhones and other devices for the Chinese domestic market. It suggests that Apple may be willing to modify its iPhone manufacturing process in order to please the Chinese government’s push toward more local manufacturing.

This hidden Apple Watch feature tells you if your workouts are doing any good

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It’s not about how far you run, it’s how fast you recover. Apple Watch heart rate recovery data gives you the facts.
It’s not about how far you run, it's about how fast you recover.
Photo: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac

It’s all very well to know how far you ran, cycled and swam. But the whole point of exercise is not just to clock the miles. It’s supposed to make you more fit. So, how do you know if all those sweaty miles are actually doing any good? One way is by measuring your heart rate recovery time.

Fortunately, watchOS 4 provides a reliable way to see this data, and thus monitor changes in your fitness level. Here’s how you can use Apple Watch to keep your workout goals on track.

iPhone’s controversial notch could shrink in 2018

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Apple Watch
You’ll want this year’s iPhone for its cameras.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The iPhone’s controversial “notch” will get smaller this year, according to one group of investors.

Apple is expected to integrate Face ID into all three handsets it has planned for 2018. A smaller TrueDepth sensor means the cutout at the top of the iPhone’s display won’t need to be quite so big.

Pro-grade acoustic tests find HomePod delivers on its promises

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Siri display
HomePod lives up to its sound quality promises.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Professional grade acoustic tests appear to confirm that the HomePod is indeed the real deal as far as speakers go.

Apple has been talking up its smart adaptive speaker and high-end audio processing algorithms since the HomePod was first shown off at last year’s WWDC event. According to Apple, the HomePod can adapt its sound to fill any room it’s put in. It seems it wasn’t kidding!

Google Chrome ad blocker could prove good for everyone (even publishers)

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Chrome
Here's why it's a win for everyone.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Google will roll out an awesome Chrome ad blocker Thursday that takes aim at some of the most invasive forms of online advertising.

The new Chrome ad-blocking feature won’t annihilate ads entirely. But users won’t need to worry about full-page ads, ads with auto-playing sound and video, or flashing ads anymore.

Apple says that Apple Park campus is a ‘no drone zone’

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no drone
Drones aren't Apple's favorite technology, it seems.
Photo: Kif Leswing/Twitter

Apple has no time for your drones! Yesterday was Apple’s annual investors meeting, and one of the attendees tweeted this photo of signage erected at Apple Park declaring it a “no drone zone.”

Given Apple’s insistence on privacy — and Tim Cook declaring that keeping Apple products under wraps is the “bane of [his] existence” — that’s not necessarily a surprise. Still, it does mean that Apple is seemingly none too happy about the myriad drone flyover videos which keep on showing up online.