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Apple Music Festival axed after 10-year run

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Festival
The festival first launched ten years ago as the iTunes Festival.
Photo: Apple

Apple is reportedly pulling the plug on its annual Apple Music Festival at London’s Roundhouse in the U.K.

The festival was first staged by Apple in 2007 as the iTunes Festival, and was rebranded in 2015 for the Apple Music launch. In addition to offering tickets for fans to attend live, Apple streamed the shows online.

Apple snaps up all available cameras for massive iPhone upgrade

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iPhone 7 camera
Even more powerful iPhone cameras are coming.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple is consuming the entire production capacity of a new smartphone camera facility as it prepares to take the iPhone’s iSight sensor beyond 12 megapixels.

Largan Precision in central Taiwan is said to be the only manufacturer that meets the company’s minimum yield rate requirement, with its new Taichung factory designed to output around 600 million lens modules every single month.

How to use the Finder’s powerful bulk renaming tools

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file renaming mac finder
You might be surprised by how much the macOS Finder's renaming tools can do.
Photo: Cult of Mac

Renaming a single file in the Finder isn’t too bad. You can click on its name and type in a new one. But what if you want to rename a whole bunch of files at once? Maybe you want to add the same text to the beginning of every file, or add a number to the end of a folder full of MP3 recording to keep them in the right order. Do you have a folder full of photos named IMG_00xx.JPG that need to be called dads_wedding_00x.jpg instead? Or perhaps that intern spelled the company name wrong on every single one of a hundred files, and you need to correct that word on every file?

In the olden days, you would have to either a) research, download, buy, and learn to use a new bulk-renaming app or b), punish your intern by making them correct everything by hand, before finally resorting to a) anyway because the intern screwed it up again. Now, the Finder has powerful bulk-renaming tools built in, so you can just take care of it all in a couple of minutes, and have your intern make you a coffee instead. If they can be trusted to do it, that is.

iPhone becomes a reliable light meter with Lumu Power [Review]

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Lumu Power light meter
Is that an iPhone or a light meter? It's both.
Photo: David Pierini/Cult of Mac

Lumu Power light meter for iPhone

The iPhone democratized photography and disrupted the video and camera industry. Now a new product that plugs into the iPhone’s Lightning port aims to replace an important photographer’s tool — the handheld light meter.

The Lumu Power light meter is a small, plug-in photodiode that looks like a pingpong ball cut in half. The light meter, a product of Lumu Labs from Slovenia, rose out of a Kickstarter campaign in 2015. It’s won favorable reviews from photographers and photo websites as the company works to improve the companion app.

Here’s how much the three tiers of iPhone 8 will cost

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Apple could be a $2 trillion company by end of 2021
Get ready to splash some cash!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple is set to show off its new, eagerly anticipated iPhone 8 for the first time next week — and according to renowned Apple leaker and tipster Benjamin Geskin, it won’t be cheap.

Geskin has posted the prices for the new handset on Twitter, which he reportedly heard from a friend with knowledge of Apple’s plans. Here’s how much Geskin thinks we’ll be shelling out for the new devices:

Apple will use another novel pairing method for HomePod

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Phil Schiller gives the world a sneak peek at the HomePod during WWDC 2017.
This is how you'll pair HomePod with your iPhone.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s HomePod smart speaker will pair with other devices by generating a special tone that can be detected by your iPhone or iPad.

The tidbit was discovered by developer Guilherme Rambo over the weekend, hidden in Apple’s latest iOS 11 beta release.

Here’s how you’ll activate Siri on the new iPhone

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Sorry, Alexa: Siri still the most widespread AI assistant
Sorry, Alexa: Siri still the most widespread AI assistant
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

We might have a brand new way to activate Siri on Apple’s next-generation iPhones, according to one iOS developer.

References in Apple’s source code hint at a new gesture using the physical sleep/wake button, which will enable us to access the virtual assistant in situations where using the “Hey Siri” command isn’t ideal.

Apple will no longer repair or service your sixth-gen iPod nano

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iPod nano
Don't ask Apple to fix your broken sixth-gen iPod nano.
Photo: Apple

Apple is no longer providing repairs or service for the sixth-generation iPod nano.

The device was added to the company’s list of vintage and obsolete products on August 30, and a memo distributed to Apple stores and Authorized Service Providers confirms that repairs are no longer being carried out … unless you live in California.

Tim Cook defends 250 Apple employees at risk of deportation

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Tim WWDC
Tim Cook is opposed to President Trump on immigration issues.
Photo: Apple

Over the weekend, Tim Cook shared a post on Twitter, showing his support for the 250 of his Apple colleagues who entered the United States illegally as children — who currently benefit from Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) protection. Cook described how these employees, “deserve our respect as equals.”

His tweet comes as President Donald Trump is reportedly set to scrap the legal protections offered under the DACA program, which keeps close to 800,000 young men and women safe from deportation.

Use competitors’ SEO rankings to boost your own [Deals]

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Serpstat Lifetime Subscription
Serpstat does a deep analysis of the SEO landscape, using your competition's strategy to inform your own.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

There’s no doubt that good SEO can make the difference between success and failure online. That means anyone trying to sell products or get an audience is competing with their own regionally tuned cocktails of keywords, domains, and search suggestions. If you’re not working with a major SEO firm, it can be hard to know where to begin.

Raindrop.io, WriteMapper, and other awesome apps of the week

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

Looking for an app that will help you keep all your ideas in one place, whether you’re jotting down basic ideas or fleshing them out in more detail? This week saw the release of a tremendous mind-map and text editing app that will help you do just that.

That’s just one of the picks we’ve highlighted for this week’s “Awesome Apps” roundup. We’ve also got a fun update of an augmented reality favorite, a brilliant video app gone free, and an app for easily saving your bookmarks.

Check out our choices below.

Map your Wi-Fi, clean your Mac or fly a drone [Week’s Best Deals]

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collage-2017-08-29
This week's best deals include powerful Mac maintenance tools, sleek drones, and more.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

With summer coming to a close, the Cult of Mac Store is still bringing in hot new deals. This week, we’ve got a discount on top-shelf Mac maintenance app CleanMyMac 3. Plus, we’ve got half off or more on Final Draft 10, a sleek drone with 4K video, and an app for maximizing Wi-Fi connections. Additionally, for a limited time, you can get an additional 15 percent off each deal by using the coupon code “BYESUMMER” at checkout.

Catch our iPhone 8 event predictions, this week on The CultCast

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CultCast on iPhone 8
It's about time for a big change.
Photo: Johannes Eret

This week on The CultCast: It’s official — Apple’s next iPhone event happens September 12! Tune in to catch our hardware predictions. Plus, we take a look at the leaked iPhone 8 UI, and how the new phone will work without a Home button.

Then we’ll regale you with the story behind the evolution of the Apple logo, and the story you’ve never heard about the purpose of its iconic bite. And stick around for an all-new What We’re Into, where Leander tells us why Game of Thrones has turned into his most despised show!

Cult of Mac Magazine: Why ARKit will be huge for Apple and more!

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cover
ARKit is going to be massively important for Apple.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple’s got no shortage of big launches coming in the next few weeks, but the one with the biggest long-term potential for Apple is ARKit. This is going to be massively important for Apple.

In this week’s issue of Cult of Mac Magazine, you’ll find that story and more. Get the latest iPhone 8 keynote event predictions. And learn how to stop your iCloud and Apple ID from getting hacked. Save big in our Watch Store this Labor Day weekend! Get your free subscription to Cult of Mac Magazine from iTunes. Or read on for this week’s top stories.

Siri gets a new boss

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siri ios 11
Siri has received a lot of love in the latest iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra update.
Photo: Cult of Mac

Apple’s digital assistant is under new management.

Along with updating its corporate leadership page to include its two newest VPs, Apple also revealed that it has replaced Eddy Cue as Siri’s boss and given the task over to software VP Craig Federighi.

Apple updates Leadership page to include its two latest VPs

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Leadership page
Apple's two newest Vice Presidents are veterans of the company.
Photo: Apple

Apple has updated its Leadership page to include its two newest Vice Presidents, both of whom have now started in their new roles at the company.

Deirdre O’Brien is listed as Apple’s VP of People, while Isabel Ge Mahe is Apple’s Managing Director of Greater China. Check out more details concerning the new VPs below.

Stay safe by going online with a VPN [Deals]

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Windscribe VPN
Time to stop messing around and start protecting yourself by using a VPN.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

You probably keep hearing about how important it is to use a VPN to get online. That’s because it is important. With all the data and identity theft, content restrictions, and other online snooping, it’s just plain unwise not to have a VPN. If you’re looking for a place to start, we’ve got a great deal for you.

Apple’s peer-to-peer payments service won’t just be available in U.S.

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Apple in talks to bring Apple Pay to Israel
Apple Pay Cash will let you send money to friends using the Messages app.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple Pay Cash, Apple’s new peer-to-peer payments service set to debut with iOS 11, looks like it will be coming to Europe, alongside the United States.

That’s based on a new trademark application Apple filed with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) this week.

Apple competes with Netflix over Jennifer Aniston drama series

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Apple could be a $2 trillion company by end of 2021
Apple will have to splash the cash to secure rights to new drama series.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple is reportedly battling with Netflix over the rights to a new original drama series starring Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon.

The show is based around the workings of a morning television TV chat show, possibly (hopefully!) suggesting something similar to Aaron Sorkin’s The Newsroom or Sports Night.

Tim Cook signs letter supporting DACA immigration rights in U.S.

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Tim WWDC
Silicon Valley supports the rights of immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as kids.
Photo: Apple

Tim Cook has joined the CEOs of Microsoft, Amazon, HP, Google, and others in signing a letter from immigration reform group FWD.us.

The letter asks that President Donald Trump keep in place legal protection under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program for undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as children. Without this protection, they could be subject to deportation.

5 outrageous theories about Apple’s iPhone 8 invite

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Apple invite
Apple fans have a lot of theories about the iPhone 8 invite.
Photo: Alberto Bagnoli/Twitter

After the maddeningly vague invites went out for Apple’s next iPhone unveiling, it took fanboys on the internet no time at all to come up with crazy theories about what the picture on the invitation “really means.”

This year’s invite seems very abstract and completely devoid of hints. But if you squint your eyes and huff enough glue, you too can find some clues about what Apple plans to announce on September 12.

Here are some of the most outlandish theories we’ve seen from fans decoding the invite: