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This ARKit demo is what nightmares are made off

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The Ring
Watch out for Samara!
Photo: Dreamworks

Your favorite horror movies could soon invade your living room thanks to Apple’s ARKit.

iOS developer Abhishek Singh has created a lot of AR experience since ARKit came out last year, but his latest is the most shocking. In a tweet posted this week, Singh showed off his latest demo that brings the scariest scene from the movie The Ring into your house.

Check it out:

Pro Tip: Use iOS Spotlight as a keyboard app launcher

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spotlight keyboard ap launcher
A spotlight helps find things.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Pro Tip Cult of Mac bugDid you know that you can use Spotlight on iOS as an app launcher? It works just like Launchbar or Alfred on the Mac. You just hit a keyboard shortcut and start typing, then hit enter to launch the app. If you have a wireless (or wired) keyboard attached to your iPad, you’re going to love this tip.

Tiny Spotify players, smart sleep masks and more [Crowdfund Roundup]

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Mighty
The on-the-go Spotify player.
Photo: Mighty

Crowdfund Roundup bugYou don’t need to carry your smartphone to enjoy Spotify on the go anymore. Mighty is the tiny, lightweight Spotify player that’s ideal for runners and outdoor adventurers who want to leave their hefty smartphone at home.

It’s just one of the awesome ideas in this week’s Crowdfund Roundup. We also have the world’s smartest sleep mask, an iPhone battery case that brings back the headphone jack, and more.

This great iOS Spotlight trick lets you know everything about a person

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spotlight contact search
Several spotlights.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Somewhere after the launch of iOS 11, Apple tweaked Spotlight search to be way more useful. Now, when you search for a person, you can trigger a sub-search that lets you find everything you have on them, from emails, to iMessages, to their contact details, through WhatsApp messages, to calendar events. Anywhere that your selected contact exists on your iPhone or iPad will show up in the list.

And then, you can narrow the results with a sub search.

Smartphone sales decline for first time ever in 2017

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iPhone X
iPhone X didn't come out early enough to give Apple a sales boost.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The world may have passed its peak smartphone moment last year.

Smartphone sales data released today from the number crunchers at Gartner revealed that worldwide smartphone sales declined for the first time ever during the last quarter of 2017. Both Apple and Samsung saw their market share decline just slightly, but good news could be on the horizon.

Microsoft Edge update brings 3D Touch support

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Microsoft Edge on iPhone
Microsoft Edge makes search even easier.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

MicrosoftMicrosoft is continuing its mission to make Edge a better browser on iOS by adding 3D Touch support. The app’s latest update adds Peek and Pop — plus a bunch of other new features and improvements.

127 million iPhone owners use Apple Pay

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Apple in talks to bring Apple Pay to Israel
Apple Pay subscriber numbers may have doubled in the past year.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple Pay has an estimated 127 million active global users — representing an increase of more than double the 62 million who used it this time last year, a new report claims.

While Apple hasn’t given exact figures for its mobile payments service, the figures are based on conclusion drawn by analyst Gene Munster, based on retailer reports.

Apple’s first Austrian retail store looks absolutely gorgeous

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Apple Store
Apple's new store in Vienna sits on a popular pedestrian shopping street near the Vienna State Opera.
Photo: Apple

Apple just gave us a sneak preview of its first store in Austria, and it’s pretty stunning! Apple Kärntner Straße, which will open this Saturday in Vienna, is designed with “the original heritage building in mind,” Apple says.

The totally Apple-y redesign of the building, which sits on a famous shopping street between St. Stephen’s Cathedral and the Vienna State Opera, combines exposed columns outside with large window openings.

Twitter begins long-awaited crackdown on bots

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Twitter
Will Facebook and Instagram follow suit?
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Twitter has finally begun its long-awaited crackdown on bots.

The company has made changes to its API that make it significantly harder for services to batch tweet to multiple accounts, retweet, follow users, and more. This puts a stop to the software that powers Twitter bots.

This stainless steel Apple Watch band is super-shiny and sleek [Watch Store]

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casetify
Take your pick of any two Casetify Apple Watch bands and get 20% off! Includes Stainless Steel, Woven Nylon and Saffiano Leather bands.
Photo: Courtesy of Casetify

Stainless steel meticulously weaves its way through the Mesh Band for Apple Watch — Casetify’s answer to the significantly more expensive Milanese Loop by Apple. Casetify’s version is just as stylish and functional as the behemoth brand’s band, and now comes in two brand-new finishes: Iridescent and Gold (that matches the Series 3).

For penny-counters, you’ll save from $67 to $117 on Casetify’s silver and black stainless steel mesh bands, respectively, and gain three additional colors not offered by Apple: gold, rose gold and iridescent.

The Stainless Steel Mesh Bands are for both men and women. Check out the latest colors in our Watch Store, and read on to learn more.

New AirPods will bring water-resistant design, ‘Hey Siri’ support

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AirPods sales
35 million pairs of AIrPods sold in 2018.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple is working on upgraded AirPods with a new wireless chip and “Hey Siri” support, according to a new report.

The refresh will arrive “as early as this year,” according to sources familiar with the matter. A future refresh, pegged for early 2019, will also bring a water-resistant design.

Survey says almost 90 percent of buyers love their HomePods

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hey siri homepod
Smart speakers may be outpacing the smartphone in adoption, too.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Despite somewhat mixed reviews, Apple’s HomePod is seemingly winning over the customers who have bought it, with 89 percent of HomePod-owning respondents to a survey claiming that they are either satisfied (59 percent) or very satisfied (30 percent) with the device.

While not quite up there with Apple’s best product satisfaction scores, it nonetheless suggests a bright future for Apple’s debut product in the smart speaker category.

Apple breaks down just what makes Portrait Lighting special on iPhone X

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portrait mode
Even our very own Ste Smith can benefit from the magic of Portrait Lighting.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple is very proud of its Portrait Lighting feature for the iPhone X and iPhone 8 Plus, and it’s willing to let users take a peek behind the Cupertino curtain to show exactly why.

In a new video shared Wednesday evening, Apple gives an overview of the development process which led to Portrait Lighting — including collaborations with photographers to study lighting, state-of-the-art artificial intelligence, and more. Check it out below.

This app can type every Unicode character ever on your iPhone

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Unichar works everywhere
A great new Unicode app.
Photo: Jordan Hipwell

On the Mac, you can type any character available in there Unicode standard, just by opening up the Emoji & Symbols viewer (Control-Command-Space) and picking the one you want. The selection on iOS is much more limited. Even finding an ellipsis is such an odyssey I can never remember whether it’s available or not. But UniChar changes that. It’s a Universal iOS app that brings every single Unicode character to your device.

Why I switched from 1Password to Dashlane [Review]

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Dashlane's password manager on a MacBook Pro
Dashlane reveals the state of password security across America.
Photo: Stephen Smith/Cult of Mac

Late last year, I switched password managers. I traded in trusty old 1Password for relative newcomer Dashlane, and I haven’t looked back.

Dashlane is a well-designed, fully functional and easy-to-use password manager that tops 1Password in one key respect: a Security Dashboard that makes it dead easy to track your online security and update it as necessary.

How to adjust EQ on HomePod

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HomePod Siri Speaker
The HomePod automatically adjusts it EQ to suit the music and the room.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Theoretically, you shouldn’t have to adjust the sound of the music playing to your HomePod. Between all the fancy music processing, and the HomePod’s ability to tailor its audio to the size and shape of your room, music should come out sounding pretty great already. But that doesn’t account for taste. Maybe you like a whole lot of extra bass? Or maybe a certain frequency is booming in your room, and the HomePod isn’t doing anything about it.

Then you should try equalization — tweaking the balance of audio frequencies put out by the speaker. The bad news is that the HomePod offers no native EQ. The good news is that it’s easy to adjust on your Mac or iPhone.

watchOS 4.3 beta 3 arrives with public beta for iOS 11.3 beta 3

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apple watch
Apple Watch is dominating the market.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Members of Apple’s public beta testing program can already get in on the latest iOS 11.3 beta build that was seeded to developers yesterday.

Apple released iOS 11.3 public beta 3 today that brings a number of new features to the iPhone and iPad as well as a bunch of bug fixes. There’s also a public beta available for macOS 10.13.4 beta 3 available this morning along with the third beta of watchOS 4.3 for developers.

Snapchat promises changes after fierce backlash

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Snapchat
Snapchat lets you video chat with up to 16 people.
Photo: Snapchat

Snapchat has promised to make changes to its app after a Change.org petition attracted more than 1.2 million signatures from disgruntled users.

Snap has endured growing backlash from fans following a controversial redesign, with many calling for the company to revert to its old user interface. Now the company says it is planning adjustments to the Friends and Discover sections.

Vintage Apple camera gets an unboxing straight from 1994

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Unboxing video
Apple's QuickTake may have been ahead of its time.
Photo: LGR/YouTube

In order to appreciate one of Apple’s most successful products, the iPhone, you have to respect one of the company’s biggest failures. The QuickTake digital camera was not a threat to the camera market the way today’s iPhone is.

The sensor was 0.3 megapixels. Shaped like a set of binoculars, the QuickTake 100 could only hold eight pictures, most of which were fuzzy, washed out and with funky colors that convinced photographers of the time that film photography was not in danger.

But as the retro-computer YouTube channel, LGR, points out, the QuickTake does not deserve to be bashed as a failure. It should be lauded as a pioneer of digital photography.

Angry Birds Champions lets you battle it out for real cash

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Angry Birds
Do you have what it takes to cash in on Angry Birds?
Photo: Rovio

Get your flinging fingers ready for a new Angry Birds game that lets you battle it out for real cash.

Angry Birds Champions is an officially-licensed spin-off from WorldWinner. It’s everything you love about Angry Birds, but with the chance to compete against other players and get paid for smashing those pesky pigs.

Tim Cook loves saying ‘no’ to ideas, just like Steve Jobs did

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Tim Cook
Like Jobs, Tim Cook is as proud of the ideas he says no to.
Photo: Apple

In a new interview, Tim Cook says that one of the priorities of his job is learning to say “no to a bunch of great ideas” in order to keep Apple focused.

“There is more noise in the world than change,” he said. “One of my roles is to try to block the noise from the people who are really doing the work. That’s tougher and tougher in this environment … We can do more things than we used to do because we’re a bit bigger. But in the scheme of things versus our revenue, we’re doing very few things. I mean, you could put every product we’re making on [a] table, to put it in perspective. I doubt anybody that is anywhere near our revenue could say that.”

If the importance of saying “no” sounds familiar, it’s because it’s a lesson straight out of the Steve Jobs playbook.

Become a Python pro for whatever you want to pay [Deals]

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Get a comprehensive Python coding education, for whatever you're willing to pay.
Get a comprehensive Python coding education, for whatever you're willing to pay.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Python is one of the most flexible coding languages you can learn. Efficient and easy to understand, it’s the ideal basis for large and small projects alike. So if you’re looking to beef up your resume, Python’s a great place to start.

Apple gets go-ahead for two new iPads

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ipad
An iPad refresh could be right around the corner.
Photo: Apple

Apple has been given the go-ahead for two new iPads, hinting at an imminent refresh.

The company filed for approval with the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), and both devices were granted permission this week. Apple has also been given approval to bring several iPhone and iPad “samples” into the region.