Apple Pencil is the best iPad accessory. Photo: Apple
With yesterday’s release of the latest iOS 9.3 beta, one thing is looking more and more likely: Apple has intentionally debuffed the Apple Pencil so it can no longer be used to navigate through iOS.
Now, it’s only meant for drawing and writing within apps.
Want more Watch faces? Apple is working on it. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Apple is looking for new software engineers who can build new watch faces and complications for Apple Watch. A job listing found on its website all but confirms we’ll see a wider range of customization options in future watchOS updates.
tvOS changes the default scrubbing behavior of your Siri Remote, and we couldn't be more glad. Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac
Use the power of your voice to watch TV. That’s not something out of Star Trek, but the promise of Siri on the fourth-generation Apple TV.
Beyond basic commands to find your favorite TV shows and movies, you might not know how much Siri can actually do for you. But using Siri Apple TV voice commands will unlock loads of helpful features, including reading onscreen labels, getting more in-depth info about whatever you’re watching, navigating various screens, and even playing music on demand.
And it’s bound to get better yet, as the new tvOS beta is bringing Siri dictation to search fields and the App Store.
Here’s how to get the most out of Siri on your Apple TV.
The Apple Watch was the only smartwatch which made the list. Photo: Apple
The Apple Watch has displaced Rolex on a list of luxury global brands, as measured by analytics firm NetBase, measuring social media mentions and consumer sentiment from more than 700 million posts between 2014 and 2015.
The Apple Watch took the no. 1 place in the list’s “watches” category — made all the more impressive by the fact that it was the only smartwatch featured. Other watchmakers it outranked included Tag Heuer, Richemont, Curren and Patek Phillippe.
Night Shift mode is a must in iOS 9.3. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac
iOS 9.3 might not look like much of an upgrade, but there’s one feature you should definitely be excited about. It’s called Night Shift, and it makes using your iPhone or iPad before bed more comfortable, more enjoyable and healthier by banishing blue light.
Here’s why you should use it once iOS 9.3 becomes available.
Now the public can try out the new betas, too. Photo: Apple
Now you can try out the latest and greatest operating systems for Apple products, thanks to public betas for iOS 9.3 and OS X El Capitan 10.11.4. Both are now available for testing — even if you don’t have a developer account.
You can grab both updates from Apple’s beta program website for free. Take note, however, that this is trial software — and updating could cause some apps and features on your iOS or Mac devices to go funky or stop working altogether. Use these at your own risk.
This will enhance your life. Or so hipsters say. Photo: Apple
Trendy lifestyle magazine Wallpaper* has named the Apple Watch Hermès as 2015’s “Life Enhancer of the Year” in its annual design awards.
The awards were judged by a panel including the architect David Adjaye, jewellery designer Delfina Delettrez, legendary ad man George Lois, Academy Award-winning actor Eddie Redmayne, and designers Patricia Urquiola and Konstantin Grcic. They appear in the magazine’s February 2016 issue.
iOS 9 is on a huge number of Apple's mobile devices. Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac
Apple’s iOS 9 has been adopted by users at a pretty rapid rate, one that’s faster than even iOS 8 enjoyed.
Apple just updated its developer information page, claiming that iOS 9 is now on 75 percent of all iOS devices out there. This is four percent more than it was just a month ago, showing steady, if slower, growth than the first few weeks after the iOS 9 release.
These four lessons are a surefire and affordable way to learn Swift, one of the most relevant iOS languages. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
For any mobile developer, learning Swift is a must. It’s an intuitive and fast language that’s key to iOS, OS X, tvOS, and watchOS. This bundle of four lessons — in the form of 3 apps and an E-book — will get you up to speed in practicing coding, testing scripts, and more. And the best part: the whole shebang is just $9.99.
As smartwatches grow in popularity, the Apple Watch will continue to be the hands-on - or wrist-on - favorite. Photo: Apple
The Apple Watch is the hottest smartwatch on the market. And it looks like it is going to stay that way for a while.
A report by International Data Corporation says the Apple Watch will lead a rapidly growing wearables market through at least 2019 as a skeptical public gets won over by more sophisticated second- and third-generation devices.
IDC projects Apple to sell 13 million watches this year for a little more than 61 percent of the market share. The number of Apple Watches sold will reach 45.2 million by 2019, according to IDC’s report.