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Apple seeds new betas for macOS, watchOS and tvOS

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macOS High Sierra
Apple is said to be working on a fix.
Photo: Apple

Along with dropping a new iOS 11.1 beta, Apple also released the second beta builds for macOS 10.13.1, tvOS 11.1 and watchOS 4.1.

The new batch of betas come about two weeks after Apple seeded the last set of betas to developers and come with a host of bug fixes and under-the-hood improvements for Apple’s platforms.

iPhone X’s biggest feature may come to iPad Pro in 2018

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iPhone cameras
The True Depth Camera keeps an eye on you.
Photo: Apple

Apple will include Face ID and the TrueDepth Camera in 2018 iPad Pro models, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo told investors Monday morning.

Kuo, who has a highly respectable track record on Apple predictions, also said the technology that is part of the soon-to-be-released iPhone X, will be standard issue in future iPhones.

Apple drops iOS 11.1 beta 2 with dozens of new emoji

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iOS 11.1 emoji
Mythical creatures coming in iOS 11.1.
Photo: Apple

Apple unleashed hundreds of new emoji on developers today with the release of iOS 11.1 beta 2.

The new beta update arrives nearly two weeks after the last beta was made available and comes with a host of new features and bug fixes, including support for Unicode 10 emoji characters.

iPhone X Plus concept shows that bigger really is better

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iPhone X Plus
2018 iPhones will look at lot like the iPhone X.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The iPhone X launch is less than a month away but we’re already lusting after what 2018 might bring. Even though the iPhone X has a larger screen than the iPhone 8 Plus, we wouldn’t be shocked to see the edge-to-edge display come to the Plus-sized model next year.

Now we know exactly what such a device could look like thanks to some new renders that show how beautiful all that screen real estate would be.

Check out what it’d look like compared to the iPhone X:

Samsung will be first to deliver big feature Apple couldn’t

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Galaxy Note 7 USB-C
Samsung's next Galaxy Note will have a fingerprint-scanning display.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Samsung will beat Apple to delivering a revolutionary new smartphone display, according to one reliable analyst.

The South Korean company’s next Galaxy Note will have a fingerprint-scanning screen, which Apple had to drop from iPhone X because it couldn’t be perfected in time for launch.

Name your price for 5 performance-enhancing Mac apps, feat. TechTool Pro [Deals]

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These five apps can up your Mac's performance and productivity, for whatever you're willing to pay.
These five apps can up your Mac's performance and productivity, for whatever you're willing to pay.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Your Mac comes out of the box as a lean, mean computing machine. But any Mac is only as useful as the apps you put on it. That makes this bundle of Mac apps worth checking out. In addition to including various ways of improving the performance and productivity possibilities of your Mac, the Fab 5 Mac App Bundle is available for whatever you’re willing to pay. Read on for details.

Steven Soderbergh’s Mosaic iOS app is a new type of storytelling experience

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Mosaic
It's like a "pick your own adventure" experience.
Photo: HBO

An innovative new “branching narrative” TV app is being launched by HBO and Academy Award-winning movie director Steven Soderbergh, which will let audiences make active decisions that will help shape the story’s outcome.

A linear version of the show, Mosaic, is set to debut on TV in January 2018. However, the app version isn’t just a bit of advance promo, but a fully-fledged part of the experience, which reportedly took three years to develop.

Apple’s ‘Free App of the Week’ is gone in iOS 11

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iOS 11 iPad Pro
Look out for the changes next month.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple appears to have dropped its “Free App of the Week” promotion.

Users have been unable to find the giveaway since the introduced of the all-new App Store in iOS 11. Apple now has “App of the Day” and “Game of the Day” highlights, but unless its picks were already free, you have to pay for them.

Microsoft admits the Windows Mobile platform is dead

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Windows 10 Mobile
Windows phones could be about to make a comeback.
Photo: Microsoft

Microsoft’s effort to compete with Android and iOS is over.

In a series of tweets, the company’s vice president of operating systems admitted that there will be no new features or hardware for Windows 10 Mobile in the future. He blamed the decision on a lack of support from third-party app developers.

Apple’s new Irish data center gets support from 300+ person rally

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Ireland
A mock up of Apple's proposed data center in Ireland.
Photo: Apple

Over the weekend, more than 300 people in Ireland staged a rally in support of Apple’s proposed 850 million ($960 million) euro data center in Athenry, County Galway.

The new data center was officially given the go-ahead over two years ago, although construction on it has been delayed by continuing legal issues. If built, the data center will help power Apple Music, the App Store, iMessages, Maps and Siri — while providing plenty of jobs to locals.

Strike one! MLB coach fined for using his Apple Watch in the dugout

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apple watch 1
Remember to take off your Apple wearable in the dugout.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Major League Baseball might be all in on incorporating Apple technology wherever possible, but it has its limits.

During last week’s NL Wild Card game on Wednesday, game cameras caught Diamondbacks coach Ariel Prieto wearing an “illegal electronic device” in the dugout, which transpired to be an Apple Watch. Although the wearable was reportedly left on in error, and wasn’t being used for anything related to the game, Prieto has been fined for the incident.

Tim Cook meeting with France’s President Macron

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Tim Cook takes home $125 million for Apple’s best year since 2009
It is likely the duo will discuss Apple's tax battles with the E.U.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Tim Cook is currently in France, where he making a variety of visits — including meeting with President Emmanuel Macron.

Cook will meet with President Macron, who assumed power in this year’s May election, later today. He has also made a number of stops, including meeting with one of Apple’s suppliers and paying his respects at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, which honors American troops who died in Europe during World War II.

Stranger Things: The Game and other awesome apps of the week

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

A fun, appropriately retro game retelling of the first season of Netflix hit Stranger Things is just of one of the picks for this week’s “Awesome Apps of the Week.”

In addition, we’ve got a great action-packed top-down blaster, a superb upgrade to a popular iOS camera app, and… YouTube? Check out our picks below.

Cult of Mac Magazine: Google’s Pixel 2 vs. new iPhones and more!

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cover
In this week's Cult of Mac Magazine, we show you how Google's Pixel lineup compares to iPhone 8 and the upcoming iPhone X, and much more!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Can Google convince iPhone fans to jump ship for the new Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL?We show how Google’s Pixel lineup compares to iPhone 8 and the upcoming iPhone X.

In this week’s Cult of Mac Magazine, you’ll find that story and more. Check out the serious internal upgrades packed into iPhone 8 Plus, and Google’s new mini speaker. We’ve got some great Mac apps for photo editors, a roundup of the best chargers and stands for Apple Watch Series 3 and a review of the iconic Speidel Twist-O-Flex band. Get your free subscription to Cult of Mac Magazine from iTunes. Or read on for this week’s top stories.

Streamline your calendar, charging, coding skills, and more [Week’s best deals]

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This week's best deals include tools for keeping all your passwords safe, all your devices charged, and lots more.
This week's best deals include tools for keeping all your passwords safe, all your devices charged, and lots more.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

To celebrate the start of a new week, we do what we do every week: gather up some of the best deals on gear, gadgets, and more. This round, we’ve got a comprehensive course in iOS 11 coding, and a ‘Hiffecient’ USB charging hub. We’ve also got a tool for streamlining online form-filling, and an upgrade for your Mac’s calendar. Everything is discounted by more than 40 percent. Read on for more details:

What we love (and don’t) about the Apple TV 4K, plus our favorite minimalist iPhone 8 cases on The CultCast

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CultCast on Apple TV
The 4K Apple TV is even better than we thought.
Photo: Apple

This week on The CultCast: A company unlike any other, some say Steve Job’s greatest product was Apple itself. But how has it fared in the six years since his passing? We’ll share the cold, hard facts. Plus: What we love (and don’t) about the Apple TV 4K; an iOS 11 software trick doubles your iPhone storage; and we’ll wrap up our favorite minimalist cases for your iPhone 7, 8 and X.

Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. It’s simple to accept Apple Pay and sell your wares with your very own Squarespace.com website. Enter offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10 percent off any hosting plan.

How to print anything to PDF without touching a mouse

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print to pdf
Printing is so easy now that you don't even need paper any more.
Photo: Cult of Mac

One of the neatest tricks built into the Mac, and now into iOS, is to print to PDF. In short, anything that can be printed can also be saved as a PDF. But doing so on the Mac means using the mouse to click a little drop-down picker in the print dialog. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just tap Command-P — the keyboard shortcut for printing — twice instead?

Smiles trigger selfies with Camera+ app update

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iPhone photo app
Camera+ adds features like smile mode and depth support.
Photo: David Pierini/Cult of Mac

Even when your arm is stretched out as far as possible, it can be a struggle to get a finger or thumb on the shutter of your iPhone camera to take that selfie. An update to the app Camera+ trips the shutter with a smile.

Version 10 of Camera+, one of the more popular apps for iPhone photographers, announced new features this week with improvements that take full advantage of iOS 11.

Jony Ive praises Apple’s ‘hopelessly inquisitive’ design team

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Jony Ive
Jony Ive doesn't find failure very interesting.
Photo: Vanity Fair/YouTube

Apple is a company with “a bunch of worrying individuals.”

Jony Ive shared this with a New Yorker TechFest audience Friday as an executive paid to shoulder more worries than most. The chief design officer at Apple doesn’t do many interviews, but he joined The New Yorker editor Dave Remnick onstage for a brief but insightful chat.

How to change the default location of saved files on iOS 11

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default locations dropbox iOS 11
You're no longer required to use iCloud Drive as your default.
Photo: Cult of Mac

You probably know by now that iOS 11’s Files app can integrate services like Dropbox, and Google Drive, so that they appear and act like regular folders on your iPhone or iPad. But did you know that you can choose these third-party services at the default storage option for your apps? Take Apple’s own Pages, for instance. In the olden days, it would store files in your iCloud Drive, or locally on your iPad. Now, you can pick anything, including Dropbox, as the default location for saving.

‘Poisoning’ mobile game blinds Chinese woman

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Arena of Valor
The game has been described as "electronic heroin."
Photo: Tencent

A Chinese woman has gone blind in one eye after playing a hugely addictive mobile game. The 21-year-old suffered retinal artery occlusion caused by severe eye strain after playing the online battle game for up to eight hours without taking a break.