Mobile menu toggle

Tim Cook visits Swedish supplier of Apple’s sustainable packaging

By

sustainable packaging
This should really be a caption contest.
Photo: Tim Cook

As part of his trip to Europe, Tim Cook visited a forest in northern Sweden with a representative from one of the companies which supplies Apple’s sustainably sourced packaging.

On Twitter, Cook described the “breathtaking forests,” which he got to experience with employees from Iggesund Paperboard, a supplier that that has been working to provide Apple with packaging for its various devices for more than 10 years. As part of his trip, Cook symbolically planted some pine trees.

Face ID will replace Touch ID on all 2018 iPhones

By

Face ID
An extra layer of protection for your messages.
Photo: Apple

Apple is so confident that Face ID is the future of biometric security that it plans to include it in every iPhone it launches in 2018. The lineup will do away with the beloved Touch ID scanner entirely, according to one reliable analyst.

Samsung CEO resigns, citing ‘unprecedented crisis’

By

Galaxy Note 8
Samsung CEO quits, despite record earnings projections.
Photo: Samsung

Samsung is in meltdown mode after CEO Kwon Oh-hyun, who has worked at the company for 32 years, announced his resignation today, citing an “unprecedented crisis.”

Kwon Oh-hyun will officially step down as chief executive and vice chairman in March. The news comes not long after Samsung’s vice chairman was sentenced to five years in prison for corruption, the Galaxy Note 7 debacle, but also just as Samsung is projecting record quarterly profits.

ARKit downloads dominated by games so far

By

ARgames
AR games account for the majority of app downloads and revenue made.
Photo: Sensor Tower

The vast majority of augmented reality ARKit apps released so far have been games, according to a breakdown release by analytics firm Sensor Tower Intelligence.

Combing over the AR apps released since iOS 11 launched on September 19, reveals that games represent around 35 percent of ARKit-only apps worldwide, followed by utilities (19 percent), other entertainment (11 percent), education (7 percent), photo and video apps (6 percent), and lifestyle (5 percent). The “other” category — for those apps which don’t fall into any of these genres — accounts for the remaining 8 percent.

Amazon is about to ruin its best Kindle model

By

new Kindle oasis
That hot unibody is 50% heavier than the old model.
Photo: Amazon

The new Kindle Oasis was just launched, and it looks amazing. It has the same super-slim form as the current Oasis, along with the asymmetric shape and hardware page-change buttons, only now it also has a bigger 7-inch screen, better battery life, and it is waterproof. It’s even cheaper than the current model.

Luckily, this new Oasis doesn’t go on sale until the end of October, so you still have a few weeks to buy the old one while you still can.

Your drive crashed before you backed it up. Now what?

By

There's never a good time for a hard drive failure.
There's never a good time for a hard drive failure.
Photo: Markus Spiske/Pixabay CC

This post is presented by Prosoft Engineering, maker of Data Rescue 5.

There’s nothing good about a hard drive going bad. Or any drive, for that matter. It’s just as inconvenient to the photographer or videographer to have a corrupted SD card or cartridge as it is for a writer or graphic designer to lose their local drive. At least with computers, many people are in some habit of regularly backing up. But if your bad drive also happens to host your operating system, this headache becomes a migraine.

Sometimes there’s no way around it: Without help, your important data could be lost. A utility like Data Rescue, though, gives you a number of ways to recover.

12 white dudes in room is totally diverse, says Apple VP of Diversity

By

diversity Apple
Apple is pledging to do more on the diversity front.
Photo: Apple

Creating diversity at Apple isn’t just about making sure more people of color get added to the mix, according to the exec put in charge of creating a more diverse and inclusive culture at the iPhone maker’s offices.

Denise Young Smith, Apple VP of Diversity and Inclusion, was part of a recent panel discussion on fighting racial injustice where she talked about her mission at Apple. White men currently account for 56% of Apple’s workforce, but Young Smith says that doesn’t mean the company isn’t diverse.

How to use Spark’s amazing advanced email features

By

spark header
Spark works everywhere.
Photo: Readdle

Apple’s own Mail app is pretty amazing in iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra, and is more than good enough for most people. But Cult of Mac readers aren’t “most people,” and that’s where Readdle’s Spark comes in. If you’re looking for more features, like scheduled sending, automatic follow-ups, and integrations with third-party apps and services, then Spark is the place to look. Today we’ll look at how to use these great new features.

Apple pledges $1 million to help fire-ravaged wine country

By

Extreme winds and dry weather are making the wildfires in California's wine country hard to contain.
Extreme winds and dry weather are making the wildfires in California's wine country hard to contain.
Photo: U.S. Department of Agriculture/Flickr CC

The fire-relief efforts in Northern California are getting a boost from some of the biggest tech companies in Silicon Valley.

Smoke from the wildfires ravaging wine country are currently choking out residents in San Francisco’s bay area, so Apple, Google and Facebook are stepping up by donating local efforts.

iPhone X supply still plagued by TrueDepth sensor delays

By

iphone x
Your iPhone X is on its way. Now make sure you're prepared.
Photo: Apple

iPhone X supply is still being plagued by manufacturing issues.

Some analysts have slashed supply forecasts even further due to the problems faced by TrueDepth sensor makers. It looks like Apple’s hottest handset will be even harder to obtain than originally anticipated.

Hollywood’s fave iPhone app supports Apple’s go-to video format

By

iPhone filmmakers get HEVC support in Filmic Pro update.
iPhone filmmakers get HEVC support in Filmic Pro update.
Photo: Filmic

Filmic Pro, the gold standard iPhone app for filmmakers to achieve near-cinematic quality, released an update today to support the new HEVC format in iOS 11.

HEVC stands for High-Efficiency Video Coding (also called H.265), a compression standard that reduces the file size of videos while retaining much of the quality. This means users can store twice the number of videos on their iPhones or iPad Pros.

iPhone X makes apps look horrible … for now

By

iPhone X wild
This photo of iPhone X highlights an ugly problem.
Photo: EddiOS42/Reddit

The edge-to-edge display on iPhone X is going to make everything we do look spectacular. That’s what Apple tells us, at least. But the truth is, a lot of your favorite apps are going to look downright horrible when you first start using one.

This picture of an iPhone X in the wild highlights an ugly problem Apple’s new smartphone will face when it makes its big debut next month.

Pokémon Go hands out prizes for coolest AR photographs

By

Pokemon Go
There's a new reason to play Pokémon GO.
Photo: Niantic

In an attempt to capitalize on current headlines about augmented reality, Pokémon Go developer Niantic has launched an AR photography contest within the app.

Through October 25, users can snap a photo in the game and then upload it to Instagram using the tag #PokemonGoContest. If your image is one of the top 10 submissions, you’ll win a Pokémon Go prize pack containing a Pokémon Go Plus accessory, a poster autographed by the Pokémon Go team, and Bluetooth earbuds.

A crucial iPhone X chip is now reportedly on its way to Apple

By

Face ID
Face ID is one of the top features of the iPhone X.
Photo: Apple

Himax Technologies, one of Apple’s suppliers, has reportedly started shipping one of the key components for the iPhone X’s Face ID sensor to Apple.

Alongside the edge-to-edge Super Retina display of the new handset, Face ID is one of the most attention grabbing features of the new iPhone. However, production problems have also made it one of Apple’s biggest pain points — and a reason why supplies of the iPhone X are likely to be so limited early on.

After 2 years of delays, Apple’s Irish data center can finally proceed

By

Politicians receive frightening threats about cancelled Apple data center
A look at Apple's data center as it will appear when it's finished.
Photo: Apple

A court in Dublin, Ireland has determined that Apple has permission to officially start work building its 850 million euro ($960 million) data center in Athenry, County Galway.

The new data center was given the go-ahead over two years ago, but has been hit with numerous delays since then due to legal issues. The giant data center will help power Apple Music, the App Store, iMessages, Maps and Siri.

Tim Cook opens up new Oxford Foundry facility in the U.K.

By

Cook
Tim Cook shared his thoughts with future entrepreneurs.
Photo: Saïd Business School, University of Oxford

Tim Cook made an appearance in the U.K. yesterday to open The Oxford Foundry, a new Oxford University venue that’s focused on developing entrepreneurial skills for students and future entrepreneurs.

In a wide-ranging conversation on stage, Cook discussed everything from his approach to innovation to when to listen to customers (and when not to). Check out a video below.

Google’s most underrated app finally comes to iPhone

By

Google Opinion Rewards
Google Opinion Rewards pays real cash for your opinion.
Photo: Google

Google Opinion Rewards, the company’s most underrated app, has finally landed on iPhone.

For the first time, iOS users have the chance to answer surveys that earn them real cash. More than 10 million people are already using the service on Android.

Apple and other tech giants battle Chinese intellectual property theft

By

Apple Store
Apple has faced challenges growing its brand in China.
Photo: Apple

Chinese companies copying Silicon Valley tech giants, and thereby infringing on intellectual property rights, is something that has been an issue for years.

It seems that U.S. tech companies are striking back, however, with a trade group that represents companies including Apple, Google, and IBM speaking out against Chinese regulators at an International Trade Commission hearing this week.

OnePlus is dominating Apple in key emerging markets

By

iPhone in India
iPhone's high price tag puts it out of reach.
Photo: CC: Aasif Iqbal J/Flickr

Smartphone sales are exploding in emerging markets like China and India. Apple has been trying to take advantage of that for years, and it insists it is succeeding. But in reality, other manufacturers are dominating the premium smartphone segment.

According to the latest data, OnePlus handsets accounted for 57 percent of all premium handsets sold in India during the second quarter of 2017.

This dongle fixes the jackless iPhone 7 for good

By

amazon lightning iphone 7 dongle
Amazon is getting in on the iPhone dongle game.
Photo: Amazon

Apple’s obsession with lopping ports off its devices has spawned a whole industry of dangling dongles. Every time Apple removes hole to slim down an iPhone or a MacBook, or to make space for a bigger battery, somebody else fills that gap with an external widget that does the exact same thing, only messier and more expensive.

The latest in this dongle parade is the AmazonBasics Lightning to 3.5mm Headphone Jack Audio Adapter with Remote and Lightning Charging Port, a product whose name tells you almost everything you need to know.

This free weather app is a perfect storm of features

By

The WeatherBug free weather app serves up lightning alerts and other real-time info.
The WeatherBug free weather app serves up lightning alerts and other real-time info.
Photo: Pixabay CC

This post is brought to you by GroundTruth.

Nearly everybody cares about the weather, because unexpected changes can ruin plans or even bring danger. Among the methods for staying up-to-date on weather forecasts, using a weather app stands out as one of the most effective.

But you should think twice before selecting a weather app.