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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.

Apple surprises developers with fifth iOS 11.1 beta

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iPhone
iOS 11.1 is nearly ready for the public.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Developers received the fifth beta build of iOS 11.1 this morning, just three days after Apple released the last batch of updates.

The new iOS 11.1 beta 5 update brings a number of bug fixes and performance improvements to the iPhone and iPad. Apple added a couple of UI tweaks and new features in the previous iOS 11.1 beta build.

Google investigates potentially disastrous Pixel 2 display fault

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Pixel 2
OLED display is causing issues for Google.
Photo: Google

Apple’s not the only company that’s had issues with OLED displays this year. According to early reviewers, Google’s Pixel 2 XL suffers from screen burn-in, which leaves faint outlines of the phone’s navigation buttons on the display.

Needless to say, that’s a bit of an issue if it turns out to be widespread. Google says that it is “actively investigating” the potential problem.

Does iPhone X show that Apple’s ‘lost its supply chain mojo’?

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iphone X3
Apple's supply chain may no longer be quite so brilliant.
Photo: Apple

Apple has “lost its supply chain mojo,” claims a new report, suggesting that this year’s iPhone refresh has highlighted that Apple’s once-enviable supply chain brilliance is no longer quite so, well, brilliant.

While there have been component issues Apple has dealt with in the past, this year’s iPhone X manufacturing process has been particularly prone to problems, with the upshot being that supply of the in-demand device is unlikely to match with demand until well into 2018.

iPhone X fever likely suppressing demand for iPhone 8

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iPhone SE 2 could cost $399 just like the first-gen iPhone SE
Has the iPhone X been the iPhone 8's biggest enemy?
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The iPhone 8 and 8 Plus are likely performing worse than expected for a full-number iPhone release, according to a new report from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners.

Instead, CIRP suggests iPhone 8 sales figures are far closer to an iPhone “s” release. That makes a lot of sense, given that the iPhone 8 line is shipping the same year as the eagerly anticipated iPhone X.

Never-ending Apple vs. Samsung battle will continue

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iPhone with Samsung
They’re still running!
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Apple and Samsung are headed back to court… again.

The two companies are still battling it out over a patent infringement lawsuit that was originally settled in 2012. A successful Samsung appeal means the most recent sum of damages will be reassessed at trial yet again.

Ex-Amazon Studios exec joins growing Apple Video team

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apple tvPIC
Apple Video has a major new executive.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple has hired former Amazon Studios alumni Morgan Wandell to head up its international development for Apple’s original content division, Apple Video.

Wandell’s official job title is international creative development for worldwide video. While at Amazon, he helped develop shows including The Man in the High Castle and Goliath, as well as the upcoming Jack Ryan and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

ARZombi, Placer and other awesome apps of the week

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Awesome Apps
'Appy weekend!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

An app that uses AI to ensure any pictures you want to keep hidden stay that way is just of one of the picks for this week’s “Awesome Apps of the Week.”

In addition, we’ve got a great app that saves you waiting in line (like for an iPhone X, for instance), a fun zombie-themed augmented reality survival game, and three new characters in one of the year’s best iOS fighting games. Check out our picks below.

These twistable power hubs work around the globe [Deals]

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This pair of chargers can juice up your devices almost anywhere in the world.
This pair of chargers can juice up your devices almost anywhere in the world.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Travel a lot? Use a variety of devices? Then you know how much of a headache it can be to keep everything charged. Different countries use different plug types, which can mean carrying all sorts of plugs and adapters around in your bag. But with Twist World’s line of chargers, you can adapt to the charging situation everywhere you go, with a simple twist. We’ve rounded up great deals on a pair of Twist World Chargers, check em out:

Best List: Zens Power Bank is a great little Apple Watch battery [Review]

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Zens Apple Watch Power Bank
Cool, compact, and incredibly useful.
Photo: Lyle Kahney/Cult of Mac

Update: The Apple Watch Powerbank by Zens is now available at the Watch Store with free shipping!

Best List: Apple Watch Powerbank by Zens

Most external batteries for the Apple Watch are BYOC — Bring Your Own Cable — and have bulky winding systems for tucking the cable away.

Not the compact Apple Watch Powerbank from Zens, perhaps the most portable external battery pack on the market.