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iPhone still dominates global smartphone sales

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iPhone X laying down
Yeah! Apple is number one!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

It’s tempting to look at the smartphone wars in terms of Apple vs. Android, but that’s really not telling anywhere close to the true story. The real competition is between the companies who actually build the smartphones — and those stats show that Apple is very clearly crushing it!

In a recent report from researchers at Counterpoint, the individual handset model sales are broken down for the month of October 2017, just before the iPhone X arrived. Even before Apple’s most anticipated smartphone of the year was released, they highlight just how far ahead of its rivals Apple is.

Facebook brings augmented reality to its Messenger app

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Messenger
Who will know you love your dog if you don't add a giant digital heart over its head?
Photo: Facebook

It’s not just Apple that’s excited about the possibilities of augmented reality! In its latest Snapchat-inspired update, Facebook has added new AR features to its Messenger app.

Called “World Effects,” the feature lets you place emoji-style 3D objects in three-dimensional space via your iPhone’s rear camera. Objects added include a heart, an arrow, and a robot — along with word bubbles with messages like “love,” “heart,” “miss you,” and — making us feel old — ““bae.”

Apple adds Hulu and Legendary execs to original content team

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apple tv
Apple's TV team is starting to take shape.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple’s quest to dominate the video streaming business has added two new executives to the company’s growing roster of original video content talent.

Two business affairs executives — Philip Matthys from Hulu and Jennifer Wang Grazier from Legendary Entertainment — have reportedly joined Apple to fill positions on the company’s video content team.

Get in the holiday spirit with these winter-themed Apple Watch bands [Watch Store]

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Xmas Bands
Casetify creates beautifully designed, made-to-order bands that are each hand-inspected from corner to corner. Check out their fun holiday bands!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Just in time for winter wear, check out these seasonal artist-designed, leather Apple Watch bands.

These holiday-themed bands are the latest additions to Casetify’s saffiano leather collection in our Watch Store, and they’re fun, high-quality bands. Casetify works with artists who create original designs and watercolors on all of these bands — the company also gives a portion of its profits back to its artists.

Check out the lineup of beautiful artist-designed saffiano leather Apple Watch bands in our Watch Store. Cut-off date for holiday shipping is December 15, but these bands are perfect to wear all winter long.

These are all the things Spotlight can find on your iPhone and iPad

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spotlight
A picture of a light, to illustrate Spotlight search.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Spotlight is Apple’s search technology for Mac and iOS, and it can help you find almost anything. Not just stuff on your iPhone, either. Spotlight can also help you find nearby places, look up words in a dictionary, and even do currency and unit conversions, all from one search box. Let’s take a look at everything Spotlight can do on your iPhone or iPad.

iMac Pro impresses in first hands-on reviews

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Apple
This is the best iMac Apple's ever made.
Photo: Apple

Apple surprised us this morning by finally revealing the launch date of the iMac Pro, but a few lucky tech reviewers have already gotten their hands on the slick new machine.

The first hands-on reviews of the iMac Pro confirm a lot of what we already knew about Apple’s machine: it’s gorgeous and insanely fast. But according to those that have tested it, the iMac Pro actually blows past the hype of being the perfect iMac for professionals.

iPhone X seemed ‘impossible’ to make, Apple says

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iPhone X
The iPhone X feels like the future.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple media boss Phil Schiller says that even though Face ID on the iPhone X works nearly flawlessly at one point in the device’s development the entire thing seemed impossible.

Schiller sat down for an interview to talk about Apple’s latest products like the iPhone X, HomePod and even the iMac Pro which is coming out later this week.

A month with iPhone X can’t cool our lust

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iPhone X laying down
Is the iPhone X still a joy after a month of use?
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

It’s been about a month since the release of the iPhone X and I’ve been using it every day as my daily driver. We’ve already reviewed it, and even pointed out its flaws, but I wanted to do a follow-up video to cover everything that’s changed for me personally and all the discoveries I’ve made using Apple’s latest flagship.

Check out the video below.

Moon is a smart home security camera that defies gravity

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Moon camera
Moon has 360-degree vision.
Photo: 1-Ring

Moon is the world’s first smart home security camera that levitates for 360-degree vision.

Without any blind spots, it can keep watch over an entire room, with automatic rotation when movement is detected. It also keeps track of temperature and humidity, charges wirelessly, and controls other home appliances.

‘Everyone Can Code’ will teach Swift to 500,000 Chicago kids

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Everyone can code
Apple wants to bring Swift education to as many folks as possible.
Photo: Apple

Apple is expanding its “Everyone Can Code” initiative to 500,000 students in Chicago public schools and city colleges.

The program provides the necessary tools to teach people Apple’s Swift programming language for a place in the so-called “app economy.” The rollout will take place in spring 2018.

Apple Pay could arrive in Brazil next

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Apple in talks to bring Apple Pay to Israel
Brazil would bring the number of supported Apple Pay markets around the world to 26.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple Pay could be about to launch in Brazil, based on sources familiar with the matter, and terms and conditions issued by one of the country’s major banks.

Users of iOS devices who attempt to add a Visa Platinum Personnalité card from Itaú Unibanco to their Apple Wallet receive a service agreement concerning the use of the card in a digital wallet. Previously, attempts to add this card resulted in a message saying that it was not supported — which is still the case for other bank cards in the country.

Steve Jobs’ ‘Blue Box’ will go on display in Michigan

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blue box 1
Building and selling Blue Boxes was one of the first collaborations between Steve Jobs and Wozniak.
Photo: Bonham's

If you want to check out Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak’s first ever product, book your travel to Michigan now!

That’s because The Henry Ford museum in Dearborn has acquired a rare 1972 Blue Box in an auction in New York City, and will be displaying it soon. The illicit device, which pre-dates the Apple-1 by four years, allowed users to make free long-distance phone calls by reproducing specific dial tones.

You can now pre-order apps in the App Store

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Coronavirus could have a surprisingly positive impact on App Store revenue
Coronavirus could have a surprisingly positive impact on App Store revenue
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple is now allowing all App Store developers to accept pre-orders for upcoming releases on iOS, macOS, and tvOS.

Customers will be able to view product pages and place their order ahead of an app’s official release date. They will then receive a notification once it is available and the app will be downloaded automatically to their device.

iRingg sends YouTube ringtones to your iPhone wirelessly

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iringg
iRingg is like the Microsoft Word of ringtones.
Photo: Softorino

If you’re still living in the early-to-mid ’00s, then you may still be interested in personal ringtones for your iPhone. And if you are, there’s no easier way to take a piece of music from your iTunes library, or to rip it from YouTube or SoundCloud, than iRingg.

This app from Softorino lets you quickly create a ringtone and push it wirelessly to your iPhone.

Drones, fingerprint locks, and lots more [Green Monday Deals]

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From drones to touchscreen locks, color sensors and more, here are the best Green Monday Deals.
From drones to touchscreen locks, color sensors and more, here are the best Green Monday Deals.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

The post-Thanksgiving shopping frenzy has finally subsided. To celebrate, here’s another shopping frenzy. In observance of Green Monday, we’ve rounded up some of the best deals on gear and gadgets. That includes a feature-packed drone, a smart touch screen lock, and a high resolution color sensor for iPhone. Additionally, we’ve got a massive capacity backup battery, and a simply designed dash mount for phones and tablets. Everything is discounted by a third or more, read on for more details:

10 things I hate about iPhone X

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iPhone X
I love iPhone X, but some things really grind my gears.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

iPhone X is the best smartphone Apple ever made. It could be the best smartphone released in 2017. Like its rivals and every iPhone that came before it, however, it’s imperfect.

As much as I love using mine, certain things drive me crazy almost every day — and no, the “notch” isn’t one of them. Here are 10 things I hate about iPhone X.

Apple seeds first macOS 10.13.3 beta

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macOS high sierra
New beta software is here for the Mac.
Photo: Apple

Registered Apple developers just got a brand new beta build of macOS today after Apple seeded the first beta of macOS 10.13.3.

The new update comes less than a week after Apple released macOS 10.13.2 to the public bringing a host of bug fixes and performance improvements. Like the update before it, macOS 10.13.3 appears to mostly focus on under-the-hood improvements.

Apple confirms it bought Shazam

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Shazam
Shazam, an essential iPhone app for years, just got better.
Photo: Shazam

One of the most popular third-party apps on the App Store has officially been purchased by Apple.

London-based Shazam has long dominated the App Store charts with its ability to recognize any song, movie or TV show. Now Apple is bringing that tech in-house by purchasing the startup for nearly half a billion dollars.

How to edit multiple images the easy way in Photos for Mac

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copy paste adjustments
Don't delay — edit your photos like a boss.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Do you have a bunch of photos that you took with your iPhone that all need to be tweaked the same way? Maybe you edited one shot from a session into the perfect B&W portrait, and you want to apply the exact same combination of lighting effects, color tweaks and filters to the rest of the pictures you took in the same photo shoot. Or perhaps you just want to standardize the white balance for a batch of images so their colors all match.

That’s easy to do in Photos for macOS High Sierra, using the Copy Adjustments tool. Here’s how to use it.