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Chinese clothing company sues Apple over App Store logo

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Kon vs. Apple
Spot the difference?
Photo illustration: Kon/Apple

Apple is facing a lawsuit in China from a local clothing brand, which argues that Apple is infringing on its design trademark with its logo for App Store.

Apple changed the icon for the App Store in August this year — jettisoning the previous image showing a ruler, pencil and paintbrush crossing over to form an “A” shape, in favor of a simplified version of the same image. Unfortunately, clothing brand Kon has been using a similar image dating back to 2009, supposed to show skeletons bones symbolizing triumph over death.

Samsung could provide 4x as many OLED iPhone displays in 2018

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iPhone 7
Apple started selling OLED iPhones this year with the iPhone X.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Samsung Display will continue churning out OLED displays for Apple in 2018, with a reported 180 – 200 million flexible OLED iPhone panels scheduled to ship next year, a new report claims.

That’s around 4x the estimated 50 million OLED panels that Samsung supplied Apple with in 2017, which suggests that Apple is planning on expanding its number of OLED handsets in the new year.

‘Global flagship’ Apple Store will open down under in 2020

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Oz new store
A glimpse at how Apple's new store will eventually appear.
Photo: Apple

Apple is opening a new “global flagship” Apple Store in Melbourne, Australia.

Australia’s minister for tourism and major events John Eren described the new venue as being a “major drawcard for visitors and locals,” that would breath “new life into one of Melbourne’s most iconic landmarks.”

Gwen Stefani and Santa star in Apple’s latest holiday-themed ad

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Gwen 1
Stefani was promoting her new Christmas album.
Photo: Apple

With its years old traditions and ability to make us feel like kids again, Christmas is a pretty nostalgic time of year. So why not create a festive ad that takes us back to the glory days of 2004, by using Gwen Stefani to try and sell us on Apple Music and her latest album?

Or, at least, that’s what we’re assuming was the rationale behind Apple’s latest holidays-themed ad. Check it out below:

Fusion Guitar packs an iPhone dock and speakers

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fusion guitar
With the Fusion Guitar, you too can sit in a chilly, graffiti-covered street and smile.
Photo: Fusion Guitars

What would happen if you took an electric guitar, made it as thick as an acoustic guitar, and stuffed the extra space not with boring old air, but with speakers and an electronic brain that works with your iPhone?

Then, you might put in a cutout on the guitar top to hold that iPhone, and a rechargeable battery to power it all. If you did all that, then you’d have invented the Fusion Guitar.

New Apple Park video highlights greener spaceship

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drone video
Matthew Roberts' latest drone video shows a greener Apple Park.
Photo: Matthew Roberts/YouTube

Drone pilot Matthew Roberts might know the layout of Apple Park better than the builders and architects.

In Roberts’ 22nd drone flight and video of the evolving Apple campus, his 4K camera shows off new sod and near-finished landscaping around the inner circle of the giant spaceship HQ.

How to calibrate your Apple Watch for accurate workout stats

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Apple Watch
Get ready to run (or walk).
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The Apple watch is pretty good at counting your steps, and guessing the length of your strides, but does it really know how far you have run or walked? With a Series 3 Apple Watch, the onboard GPS almost takes care of it for you. If you have an older Apple Watch, though, you’ll need to take your iPhone along for a few runs to let the watch calibrate itself using the iPhone’s GPS. Here’s how.

Activate iPhone X Reachability with a flick of the thumb

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gestures iPhone x
Your thumb will get a workout now that the home button is no longer around to do all the work.
Photo: Apple

Here’s a great Reachability tip for iPhone X users. It’s so neat that even if you find Reachability pointless, you’ll love it. Or at least, you’ll love how absurd the gestures are to activate it.

What am I talking about? Let’s just say that if you’re a close-up conjurer who specializes in card tricks, then you will have no problem with this iPhone X tip. If you’re a normal human, it might take a bit of practice.

Majority of first responder apps may have gaping security flaws

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Department of Home Security 2
The Department of Homeland Security carried out the investigation.
Photo: Department of Homeland Security

First responder apps may help save your life, but they’re in drastic need of a security overhaul, a new report the Department of Homeland Security says.

Released this week, the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate “Securing Mobile Applications for First Responders” report said that discovered glaring security flaws on almost every app that it examined.

Listen up: Updated AirPods are supposedly coming in 2018

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AirPods in case
Next-gen AirPods could be even smaller.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple is planning to release an updated version of its AirPods wireless earbuds in the second half of 2018, respected Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claims in a new note to clients.

While he doesn’t share too many details about what the new AirPods will do differently, he does suggest that they will adopt a smaller quartz component — quite possibly making them even smaller than the first-gen model currently available.

One analyst thinks Apple stock won’t be climbing much more for now

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iphone x
Nomura Instinet analyst thinks iPhone X growth is fairly reflected in current share price.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

With the exception of a few software-related blips, Apple has had an incredible 2017 — but its phenomenal run of success could be coming to an end, claims one analyst.

Nomura Instinet analyst Jeffrey Kvaal has lowered his recommendations concerning AAPL from “buy” to “neutral,” suggesting that the current share price adequately reflects iPhone X sales.

Apple replaces India boss as it struggles to grow in the country

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Apple supplier is increasing its ability to build masses of iPhones in India
Apple's India growth plans aren't going as hoped.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple’s Indian boss Sanjay Kaul is reportedly leaving Apple with immediate effect, following the company’s slowest growth in India in more than five years — and no sign of things turning around soon.

He will be replaced by Michel Coulomb as its top sales executive in India, previously the managing director for Apple in South Asia.

Apple’s 2018 shareholder meeting will take place in Steve Jobs Theater

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steve jobs theater
The Steve Jobs Theater in all its glory.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s next Annual Meeting of Shareholders will take place on Tuesday, February 2018 at the Steve Jobs Theater at the Apple Park Campus.

Due to limited seating in the venue, Apple has asked shareholders to register in advance of the meeting should they wish to attend. “We anticipate there may be more shareholders who would like to attend than we have seats to accommodate,” Apple notes.

Save big on a year of VPN protection [Deals]

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Get a year of powerful VPN protection for a fraction the usual price.
Get a year of powerful VPN protection for a fraction the usual price.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

You already know the score. Spending time online means exposing yourself to data or identity theft, surveillance, and annoying content restrictions. Connecting through a virtual private network is one of the easiest and most effective ways of avoiding all of that.

Apple seeds macOS High Sierra 10.13.3 beta 2 to developers

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macOS High Sierra
A new High Sierra beta is available now.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple has seeded its second macOS High Sierra 10.13.3 beta to registered developers.

The release comes just one week after developers got their hands on the first macOS 10.13.3 beta. There are no significant user-facing changes in this update; it is mostly focusing on ironing out bugs and issues with High Sierra.

Apple shrugs off recent bugs as ‘one bad week’

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Phil Schiller said Apple won't release the HomePod till it's satisfied with the quality.
Phil Schiller said Apple won't release the HomePod till it's satisfied with the quality.
Photo: Digital Trends

Apple fans and enthusiastic gadget reviewers will ultimately remember 2017 as the year of a reinvented iPhone. But as the year draws to an end, Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller has a few other things on his mind, such as delays in releasing the company’s first smart speaker and a “bad week” of software bugs and security holes.

Next-day delivery of iPhone X is a sprinkling of Christmas magic

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iphone x
Order an iPhone X today and you'll get it tomorrow!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

iPhone X supply has seemingly caught up with demand, as the Apple Online Store is now offering next day delivery for its next-gen iPhone.

All models are available in the U.S. Apple Store, marking something of a Christmas miracle for Apple — when you consider that the majority of pre-release reports suggested that the iPhone X wouldn’t be shipping to most customers until some time in 2018.

Facebook will demote spam posts that beg for attention

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Facebook employees
Facebook employees went through a tense 24 hours.
Photo: Facebook

Facebook has confirmed plans to demote posts that beg for comments, likes, and shares.

It will use machine learning to fight the “engagement bait.” The move, which will happen this week, will impact pages as well as people, so you’ll see fewer spam posts in your news feed.

Beware the App Store’s Cuphead scam

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Cuphead
News of this game's arrival on iOS was too good to be true.
Photo: Studio MDHR

Retro-style run-and-gun game Cuphead has landed in the App Store. Unfortunately, it’s not legit!

One of the Xbox’s best games, the retro-inspired Cuphead arrived on consoles back in September, and immediately became a massive hit — thanks to its combination of addictive gameplay and vintage 1930s-style graphics. Sadly, you’ll have to wait to play the real thing on iOS.

Apple ramps up prices in India following import tax hike

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apple earnings
iPhones just got more expensive in India.
Photo: Steve Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple has raised the price of many iPhone handsets in India, following last week’s increase in import duties on the new handset.

In new rules announced last week, the cost of importing smartphones to India was raised from 10 to 15 percent. As we noted at the time, Apple’s choices were to either raise the price of iPhones in India, or to eat some of the cost itself in order to keep pricing competitive. It seems that Apple did some combination of the two — since prices have been increased an average of 3.5 percent.

You control this new iPhone X game by wiggling your eyebrows

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Rainbow
I'd love to have seen Roger Moore play this game.
Photo: Nathan Gitter

When it comes to the iPhone X, facial recognition is most associated with the Face ID biometric security system, but there are other ways to use the front-facing camera on your device.

In a new game, titled Rainbrow, Washington University computer science graduate Nathan Gitter has created an innovative new game mechanic using Apple’s TrueDepth camera system — requiring players to control an on-screen character by raising or lowering their eyebrows. Yes, seriously!