Apple has been ramping up its interest in artificial intelligence for the past few years — and its continuing business-focused partnership with IBM is going to help.

Late Monday, one-time rivals Apple and IBM announced that business apps running on Apple devices will soon be able to take advantage of the ability to combine IBM Watson technology with Apple Core ML to create more intelligent apps.

While the iPhone is still my pick for the world’s best smartphone, there’s no doubt that some of Apple’s rivals have done a good job of catching up in certain areas.

One place they’re unlikely to match Apple any time soon? Face ID, claims a new report. The reason? Because Apple has bought up so much of the 3D sensing component capacity from manufacturers that Android rivals are stuck two years behind. Ouch!

iPhone X looked set to become the beginning of a worrying smartphone trend when it went on sale last November, sporting a hefty $1,000 price tag. We were sure future flagships would be similarly expensive. But consumers just aren’t having it.

With iPhone X demand showing no signs of improvement in 2018, analysts are warning that the market “may not tolerate” rising smartphone prices.

Fortnite, the ultra-popular battle royale game, earned $1 million in in-app purchases within its first 72 hours of landing in the App Store — and more than $1.5 million in total.

That would be impressive under any circumstances. What makes this even more so is the fact that, at this point, Fortnite is still an “invite only” game that’s not available to everyone who wants to play it!

Viewing two applications at once came to the iPad way back in iOS 9, but the Amazon Kindle app only just now supports it. The new multitasking feature enables tablet users to have a book open while using another app.

And this isn’t the only notable improvement in the just-released update to Amazon’s Kindle app.

At first glance, the TabStrap looks like a bandage on the hand of a wounded iPad user. It’s not, yet the person who uses an iPad as their main source of personal computing might find it just as much of a lifesaver.

The thick, adjustable wool strap connects to a base that suctions to the back of an iPad. The hand goes through the strap, giving the user a secure grip on the iPad as they swipe, write, draw or tap apps while standing or walking.

The Archive is the new best plain text notes app for the Mac, and a perfect alternative to nvAlt. If you love Notational Velocity and its spinoff, nvAlt, but hate using abandonware, then The Archive is for you.

A new type of battery promises 20 percent to 40 percent more storage capacity. Even better, one of the companies behind the research has ties to Apple, so the improved lithium-silicon batteries are likely to show up in iPhone and iPad.

Uber’s self driving car program in Arizona has suffered a fatal setback after one of its autonomous vehicles hit and killed a female pedestrian.

The woman was crossing the street in Tempe around 10pm last night but wasn’t using a cross walk when the accident occurred.

This post is presented by Dashlane.

So many aspects of our daily lives depend on passwords. Social media, buying stuff, banking — basically anything that we care about online is guarded by nothing more than a string of characters.

Unfortunately, people are really, really bad at passwords. Even if you’re not using “123456” or, heaven forbid, “password” as your password, it’s high time you take password security seriously. In 2018, that means using a solid password manager.

It is shaping up to be a spectacular month for battle royale games on iOS. After the hugely popular Fortnite landed in the App Store last week, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds has made its way to iPhone and iPad.

After a round of beta testing in Canada, the free PUBG Mobile is now available on iOS (and Android) in the United States and other locations around the world.

Ex-husband won’t take no for an answer? Landlord keeps bugging you about the overdue rent? Boss keeps calling you to work extra shifts? Maybe you want to block their calls. Thankfully that’s easy to do on the iPhone. Not only can you block calls, you can block iMessages, and even FaceTime calls. Short of switching your iPhone off and hiding it in the freezer, this is the best way to stop people from getting in touch.

Gold lovers might be able to get their iPhone X gold fix much sooner than expected.

Images of an alleged ‘Blush Gold’ iPhone X have leaked online this week. The images supposedly come straight from the production line, which could mean an official launch isn’t far away.

If you find yourself within the immediate radius of a crime that’s committed, you could find your personal data seized by police, with a helping hand from Google.

That’s the takeaway from a recent report about how Raleigh police have presented Google with broad search warrants, requesting user data from all mobile devices with a certain vicinity of particular crimes. In one case, Google was reportedly asked for unique data for all homes and businesses within a 17-acre area of a gun-related incident.

Apple reportedly operates a secret manufacturing plant in California where it produces MicroLED displays, a new type of screen that could make future gadgets “slimmer, brighter and less power-hungry.”

Right now, the company is said to still be in the testing phase, manufacturing small quantities of the displays. The tech likely won’t arrive for years. But by developing its own custom displays, Apple could further differentiate its devices from rival products.

One of the most valuable additions to the MacBook was the MagSafe connector. Held to the computer by a small magnetic ring, it prevented an inevitable step on the power cable from bringing the computer to the floor. But with USB-C taking over as a charging option, the old risks of flying devices is back.

So you’ve got your iMac, iPad and iPhone at the ready. Your bookshelves are heaving under the weight of all the Steve Jobs biographies, and you’ve got a cabinet containing various rare vintage Apple products, like the ill-fated Pippin games console and that weird vertical Mac display from back in the day.

Now all you’re searching for is a little Apple-themed something for the wall to say to visitors “I’m a little bit too into this Cupertino-based tech company.” Well, look no further — because we’ve got the poster for you!

If it took you a while to sign up for early access to Fortnite on iOS, you’re probably still waiting to get an invite — but you may be able to play already.

Lots of fans have reported that they’ve been able to gain access to the game without receiving an email from Epic. If you haven’t already, you might want to try it yourself.

Apple is rumored to be developing its very own “MicroLED” displays for future devices, but for now, it will continue to buy a staggering number of third-party panels from manufacturing partners.

Sources in the company’s supply chain say Apple could need up to 270 million iPhone displays this year alone.

A job application filled out by 18-year-old Steve Jobs in 1973 has sold at auction for $174,757 — significantly more than the $50,000 it was expected to raise.

The application reminds us the there was once a time when Jobs was just a regular kid with no employment, no phone, and no car. You know, before he became the billionaire head of the world’s most exciting tech company!

Fortnite, arguably the most anticipated iOS game of 2018, is just one of our selections for “Awesome Apps of the Week.”

In addition, we’ve got Google’s AI assistant newly landed on iPad, a neat update to one of the most popular third-party keyboards around, and a great basic text-editing app for iOS. Check out our picks below.

As St. Patrick’s Day imbibing commences, Cult of Mac offers up all things green for your Apple Watch band-buying pleasure.

We’ve scoured the Watch Store to feature eight special bands in green from these great companies: Casetify, Clessant, E3 Supply Co. and Ullu. Today only, save 20 percent on these Irish-inspired Apple Watch bands by using code IRISH2018 at Watch Store checkout!

U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Steve Mnuchin, paid a visit to Apple’s new spaceship campus in Cupertino today.

Mnuchin got a tour of Apple Park accompanied by Tim Cook. The Ape CEO has a history of both working against and with Donald Trump’s administration, and in the duo’s photo that was tweeted this afternoon, it doesn’t look like Tim is particularily stoked.

Check out the full tweet:

The number of MacBooks shipping in 2018 will grow by double digits, if a reliable analyst’s prediction proves correct. That would give Apple’s laptops stronger annual growth than iPhone or iPad.

A quick and reliable LTE connection is a necessity for any iPhone. Verizon and T-Mobile offer the best 4G performance, with AT&T and Sprint not able to keep up.

All four of the national carriers’ networks show improvement over 2017, but some haven’t yet recovered from the deluge of usage that came when they began offering unlimited data plans several years ago.