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How to use the iPhone’s one-handed keyboard in iOS 11

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one-handed keyboard
Stop hating words containing Q, A, and Z, with the iPhone's new one-handed keyboard.
Photo: Cult of Mac

If you have small hands, or a big-screen iPhone, or both, then you may love the new one-handed keyboard in iOS 11. It’s a simple software tweak that squishes the on-screen keyboard horizontally, and slides it to the left or right, so you can more easily reach all the keys with a thumb.

This is great news for folks who like to walk along the street sipping coffee and texting, instead of looking where they’re going. It’s also neat for people trying to get a baby to sleep, so they can tweet about it as they bob the baby into slumber on their hip.

App Store redesign gives (some) downloads a big boost

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bookmark wish list
The App Store looks all-new in iOS 11.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The redesigned App Store has been a boon for developers, based on new third-party data that shows getting a little promotion goes a long way when it comes to downloads.

With the launch of iOS 11, Apple made some big changes to how iPhone and iPad users browse apps in the App Store. App Store shoppers are now greeted by big promotions for the App of the Day and Game of the Day which has become worth a lot of money to developers if you’re lucky enough to be selected.

Paperlogix reads paper documents and files them for you

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stack of Paperlogix
Scan and file your paper automatically with Paperlogix.
Photo: Ralf Steinberger/Flickr CC

Paperlogix is a yet another document scanner app for iPhone and iPad, but it has one big feature that really makes it stand out. Like all the other decent scanner apps, it uses the iPhone’s camera to capture scans, and then processes them, removing the background, squaring off your wonky framing, and rendering text in crisp black and white.

But Paperlogix goes one better. It can read your scans, and then file those scans based on what it finds. So, for instance, you could have it automatically file all your grocery receipts in one folder, or send all invoices to your accountant, all without doing any of the work yourself. It’s pretty neat stuff.

Tim Cook discusses his CEO replacement in new interview

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Tim Cook still hid a few surprises up his sleeve for the iPhone X event.
Who will replace Tim Cook?
Photo: Apple

Apple CEO Tim Cook says he wants people to see Apple’s retail locations as more than just a place where you buy things.

To celebrate the opening of the new flagship Apple store in Chicago, Cook and Apple retail boss Angela Ahrendts sat down for a wide-ranging interview. The duo discussed everything from why physical Apple stores are still vital in the digital age to whether Apple’s political stances will cause pushback from customers.

Master iPhone 8 Portrait Lighting with Apple’s video tips

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Portrait Lightning
Portrait Lighting is all-new on the iPhone 8.
Photo: Apple

Apple published two new videos today educating users on how to use the new Portrait Lighting feature that debuted on the iPhone 8.

Unlike most of Apple’s videos, the new tips are vertical videos that are formatted to be watched on a smartphone screen. The short videos cover shooting and editing Portrait Lighting photos. Apple also added the feature to the iPhone X which comes out next week.

Simple tool brings cinematic polish to iPhone video

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iPhone video
A motorized camera slider by InMotion brings iPhone video closer to a cinematic level.
Photo: InMotion

Great smartphone video is all about capturing movement. But the majority of smartphone videos aren’t so great, especially when the recorded movement is from the shaky hands of the filmmaker.

The startup company InMotion has come up with a motorized slider to give your iPhone, GoPro or mirrorless camera videos smooth, fluid captures of moving subjects.

This battery is like a wall socket in your pocket [Deals]

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This tiny battery has a massive capacity, able to charge an iPhone 6 Plus as many as 8 times.
This tiny battery has a massive capacity, able to charge an iPhone 6 Plus as many as 8 times.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

When you travel, you’re going to find yourself in need of a wall outlet where there isn’t one. Few things are as inconvenient as running out of juice while on the run. And if you travel with more than just a phone, you’ll want something with more capacity than a regular battery.

These are the cars that can wirelessly charge your iPhone

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iPhone 8 Wireless Charging
Cheap iPhone 8 displays should work with iOS 11.3.1.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple’s latest smartphones finally support wireless charging, which makes juicing up more convenient than ever. You can even charge wirelessly in certain vehicles, and to help you pick the right one, Apple has published a list of supported manufacturers.

Third man charged in ‘Celebgate’ iCloud hacking scheme

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Celebgate hack
Phishing scam targeted dozens of celebrities, along with other users.
Image: Cult of Mac

A third man has plead guilty to hacking 550 iCloud and Google Gmail accounts, including those belonging to 40 celebrities — resulting in the leaking of sensitive photos and videos.

Chicago resident Emilio Herrera participated in the phishing scam between April 2013 and August 2014, which involved sending out alerts that appeared to have come from Apple, Yahoo, and Hotmail, requesting username and password information.

Tweet-sized iPhone X review will have you ready to upgrade

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iPhone X notch
You're used to the notch. It's likely going to be around for a while.
Photo: Apple

One of the first iPhone X reviews is in — only it’s not from a news source most Apple fans will recognize.

Official reviews of the iPhone X will be released by news outlets later this week, but one lucky ex-Apple employee named Ryan Jones is gushing about the device a little early. Jones says he wasn’t hyped about the iPhone X at all, but now that he’s got some quality time with it, he thinks its a game=changer.

How to shorten text with the Mac’s built-in TL;DR tool

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summarize service tl:dr
The Mac's venerable summarize service is more relevant than ever.
Photo: Cult of Mac

The Mac has a great built-in tool named Summarize, which does just that. If you have a chunk of text that is too long, then you can shorten it using the Mac’s very own TL;DR generator, a system service which will take any text and shrink it, keeping only the important bits.

Perhaps you want to skim-read a too-long text? Maybe you want to reduce a full article to a 140-character Twitter post? Or maybe you want to email this article to a friend of yours who is too lazy to read it, but could totally use the advice.

Verizon offers big iPhone X discount to trade-in customers

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iPhone X Plus
The iPhone X is going to be in short supply at launch.
Photo: Apple

The fight between carriers to create the hottest iPhone X deal is starting to seriously heat up.

Just a few hours after Sprint revealed its big iPhone X discount, Verizon has come out with details on its own plan to give customers a big discount on Apple’s futuristic phone if you trade in your iPhone.

MacX MediaTrans backs up iPhone data the way iTunes should [Giveaway]

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For a limited time, you can grab a free licensed copy of iPhone data syncer MediaTrans.
For a limited time, you can grab a free licensed copy of iPhone data syncing app MediaTrans.
Image: MacX

This post is brought to you by MacX.

At long last, Apple released the latest and greatest version of iOS. Now anyone eyeing a new iPhone 8 or iPhone X, or simply upgrading to iOS 11, faces the always-fun process of using iTunes to manage and back up data. Prepare for ham-handed syncing, and repeated tries before you get your device’s data in order.

If you’re looking forward to a new device, but not to the process of using iTunes, you’ve got other choices. One option is MacX MediaTrans, which you currently can try for free, thanks to a limited-time giveaway.

Insurer offers latest Apple Watch for $25 – if you exercise

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Apple Watch Series 3
Health companies are embracing Apple Watch
Photo: Apple

Signing up for life insurance might just be one of the cheapest ways to get a new Apple Watch Series 3 now.

John Hancock revealed today that it is offering all of its new and existing life insurance customers the opportunity to earn an Apple Watch Series 3 for $25. All you have to do is put in the exercise to work for it.

Letters show just how tight Steve Jobs and Bill Clinton were

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Steve Jobs and wife Laurene Powell Jobs in the Oval Office.
Steve Jobs and wife Laurene Powell Jobs in the Oval Office.
Photo: Clinton Presidential Library

A batch of newly released files is shedding some light on the relationship between Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and former U.S. President Bill Clinton.

Jobs and Clinton were known to be buddies for years, but details of their relationship have been scarce. Now a set of documents from the Clinton Presidential Library has revealed some of the letters the two exchanged. In one note, Steve Jobs even goes so far as to make some cabinet post recommendations to Clinton. the two.

The Roland Go iPhone mixer won’t rock your world [Review]

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roland go mixer
Like a spider at the center of a fancy audio-cable-based web.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

The Roland Go mixer is a little USB-powered mixer that lets you hook up a whole band’s worth of instruments to your iPhone, and record them. You can plug in almost anything, you can listen direct to the mix with headphones, and you can even pipe in music from an MP3 player or another iPhone via jack. On paper, it seems fantastic. In the studio, or bedroom, though, it proves to be just the opposite.