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MacX Video Converter Pro, a 4K video converter for Mac

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MacX Pro might be the fastest 4K video converter.
MacX Pro might be the fastest 4K video converter.
Photo: Digiarty

This post is presented by Digiarty, maker of MacX Video Converter.

Thanks to iPhone 8 and iPhone X, 4K video is now the norm. 4K video looks incredible, but it also means a lot of super-high-definition content to manage. Having a powerful converter app is essential to making sure that video looks as good as possible — and works on all your devices.

How to make a killer Drummer track in GarageBand for iPad

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drummer david byrne
Unlike a real drummer, GarageBand's Drummer never shows up drunk for a gig.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Drummer is one of GarageBand’s best features. It’s a virtual drummer that comes up with entire drum parts for your song. Or rather, it’s 15 drummers, each of whom has a different style, from hard rock to Latin rhythms, to trap and dubstep, to the hippie Finn, with his cajon and hand claps.

Drummer is amazing if you play another instrument and just need a drum track to play along to, but it is also extremely powerful, and can be used to create an entire song. And best of all, none of GarageBand’s drummers will ever turn up drunk to a gig. Let’s take a quick look at the basics, and then I’ll show you some neat hidden tricks.

Apple Watch just got way better at spotting heart problems

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heart
This is one app you may want to download.
Photo: Apple

The Apple Watch just got a whole lot more indispensable! Today, two major heart-related developments mean Apple’s wearable device could one day save your life.

Firstly, Apple teamed up with Stanford Medicine to launch an Apple Watch heart app that looks for deadly atrial fibrillation. It alerts users when they experience irregular heart rhythms, and can actually get them help.

Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration finally approved AliveCor’s Kardiaband EKG reader. It’s the first medical device accessory for the Apple Watch.

Apple designing super efficient power management chips for iPhone

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chips
Apple is doing more and more of its chip design work in-house.
Photo: Intel

Apple is busy designing its own power management chips for use in future iPhones, which could debut as soon as next year, a new report claims.

The new chips would reportedly be the most advanced power management chips in the industry. They will boast superior processing abilities, allowing them to better monitor and control power consumption — thereby letting iPhones and iPads deliver better performance on lower power consumption.

Apple goes all-out red for World AIDS Day

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Apple Store (RED) logo
Get ready for (RED).
Photo: Apple

Apple is ready to go red for World AIDS Day.

More than 400 Apple Stores around the world will sport red logos next week, while every Apple Pay transaction will result in a donation to the Global Fund. Apple will also promote apps and games that support (RED).

Need a stable smartphone? Buy iPhone, not Android

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iphone x
iPhones suffer fewer issues, claims new report.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The “failure rate” of Android devices is nearly double that of iOS device, although iOS apps crash 7x more frequently than Android apps.

Those are two of the findings from respected mobile diagnostics experts Blancco Technology Group, who have just released their latest mobile device performance and health report.

Qualcomm targets iPhone X in its ongoing war with Apple

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Face ID
Qualcomm claims that the 2017 iPhones are violating its patents.
Photo: Apple

Hot on the heels of Apple suing Qualcomm over its Snapdragon processors, Qualcomm has fired back by filing a patent lawsuit (a counter-countersuit?) against Apple for technology in the iPhone 8 and iPhone X.

Qualcomm filed its grievance with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. It singles out five patents that Apple is allegedly infringing on — including tech related to radio frequency transceivers, power management in mobile CPUs, image enhancement using depth-based data, and more.

Music streaming is a horrible business, says Apple Music boss

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Iovine
Jimmy Iovine’s days at Apple are numbered.
Photo: Apple

Spotify is in for a rough future, according to Apple’s Jimmy Iovine, who is warning the music industry not to place too much faith in the tech industry.

Iovine sat down for a new interview where he discussed the future of the music industry. According to the Apple Music boss, record labels are “100 percent” overly optimistic about where things are headed with technology.

DropStream: Drag-and-drop movie streaming for Apple TV

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Apple TV Siri Remote
DropStream streams any video or audio straight to Apple TV.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

You can snap photos of your iPhone, edit them on your iPad, and view them on your giant-screen iMac, with everything almost instantaneously in sync. But what if you have a video clip that you want to watch on your Apple TV? Oh man, maybe it’s best not to even ask. Now, though, there’s an app that lets you do just that: DropStream.

DropStream’s function is right there in its name. You drop a movie onto its Mac window, and the movie starts playing on your Apple TV (or Chromecast). You don’t have to convert it to the right format, or add it to iTunes, or anything like that. It just, as they say, works.

YouTube is adding Snapchat-like stories for creators

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Youtube’s Incognito mode
Some big changes are coming to YouTube.
Photo: freestocks.org/Pexels CC

Stories, the short-video format popularized by Snapchat, is making its way to YouTube.

Everyone from Instagram to Facebook Messenger has already copied Snapchat’s popular, so it should be little surprise that YouTube has decided to get in on the action too. The video platform revealed to creators today that it’s working on a new feature called “Reels” that is a lot like Stores. Only it comes with some major differences.

How to add a fancy email signature on iPhone and Mac

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fancy email signature
Make your email look way awesomer with a fancy signature.
Photo: Cult of Mac

You already know that you can add a signature to your outgoing emails in the Mail app on iOS and macOS, but did you know that you can make that signature fancy? And I mean, really fancy. You don’t just have to put your email address or phone number in there in regular text. You can add any kind of text you like, complete with colors and cool fonts. You can even add an image.

Essential chief takes leave of absence over ‘inappropriate’ relationship

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Andy Rubin
Andy Rubin allegedly dated a colleague at Google.
Photo: Google

Essential founder Andy Rubin has stepped away from the company following claims he had an “inappropriate relationship” with a colleague while at Google.

Rubin’s leave of absence comes just three months after Essential launched its first smartphone. A statement from his representative denies any wrongdoing.

10 gifts iPhone owners can actually use every day (at crazy holiday prices)

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These gifts for iPhone owners will be a definite hit. Cult of Mac Gift Guide 2017
These gifts for iPhone owners will be a definite hit.
Photo: Ben White/Unsplash CC

2017 Gift Guide bug If you’ve been through a Christmas or two, you’ve undoubtedly got one of those drawers. You know the one. It’s a graveyard for all the holiday gifts you use every once in awhile (at best).

Stop the madness! If you’re shopping for gifts for iPhone owners this year (and basically, that means almost everyone), check out our 10 items they can absolutely use every day. Make sure your gift doesn’t get exiled to … the drawer!

Instagram might finally get a ‘regram’ button

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These Instagram tips will help you connect with photographers who share your interests.
Currating your feed is about to get even easier.
Photo: Lee Peterson/Cult of Mac

Reposting your favorite photos on Instagram is about to get a lot easier if a new feature that’s currently in testing makes it out to the public.

Instagram appears to be testing a button that allows users to “regram” button that allows users to share posts to their timeline. There’s no guarantee when the feature will make it out to the public, but it if it does, it could finally mean the end of horrible third-party reposting apps.

Apple sues Qualcomm over its Snapdragon chips

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Qualcomm patents
The war between the two companies has raged throughout 2017.
Photo: Qualcomm

Apple has filed a countersuit against Qualcomm in the latest twist in the battle between the two companies, which has run throughout 2017.

What Apple is alleging is that Qualcomm’s Snapdragon mobile phone chips, which power a range of Samsung and other Android handsets, run into conflict with Apple’s own earlier patents.

Apple removes apps which glorify Philippines’ war on drugs

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App Phillipines
This is one of several games no longer available in the App Store!
Photo: Duterterador

Apple is removing violent games from the App Store — at least when it comes to games that glorify violence against drug dealers and users in the Philippines, that is!

While a lot of us probably haven’t come across them, there is apparently a niche series of games that depict Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte in a literal war on drugs. And seemingly the organisation “Asian Network of People who Use Drugs” (yes, that’s a real thing!) were none too happy about them.

Instagram just ‘borrowed’ more features from Snapchat

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Instagram 2
Look familiar?
Photo: Instagram

Instagram is continuing its competition with Snapchat with its latest update, which lets user remix friends’ photos and then send them back.

To use the feature, when you view a photo message from friends, hit the camera icon at the bottom of the screen and capture a reply. Your reply then contains a sticker of the original message, which you can then move and resize, or add additional stickers, text, and drawings to.

Mysterious photo could reveal Apple Car proving ground

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Google Earthpic
Apple's autonomous vehicle project is still rolling.
Photo: Google Earth

What do crop circles have to do with Apple? No, it’s not 1996 — when an Apple laptop was used to save the world from aliens in Independence Day.

Instead, a new report claims that an image on Google Earth depicts a former Fiat Chrysler Automobiles facility in Arizona that Apple may be using to test autonomous vehicles. A satellite image shows a “proving ground” with urban street configurations, such as crosswalks and intersections, which would be necessary for putting a self-driving vehicle through its paces.