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5 apps that keep you safe while traveling [Tech Travel Tips]

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tripmode travel
Apps can make your trip safer and easier.
Photo: TripMode

tech travel tips At home, you can pretty much trust your own Wi-Fi network, and you kind of have to trust your cellular provider. But as soon as you fetch up at a hotel, airport, Airbnb rental or coffee shop, you risk everything.

Short of leaving your MacBook or iPhone out on the table while you visit the bathroom at a hacker conference, using public Wi-Fi is just about the worst thing you can do with your devices when you travel. Fortunately, there are ways to protect yourself — and they’re cheap and easy.

Google Glass gets makeover for factory floors

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Google Glass 2.0
Google Glass 2.0 with a new lunch-bucket worker image.
Photo: Google

Google Glass was a bold look at the future to the select “explorers” who tested the personal computing eyewear in 2013. It also looked funny and creepy to the rest of us.

Today, Google rolled out polished new Glass Enterprise Edition, a workplace tool with valued applications in fields ranging from manufacturing to health care.

PhoneRescue makes iPhone data loss less scary

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tocult
PhoneRescue shows that depth and flexibility are key with mobile data recovery.
Photo: iMobie

This post is brought to you by iMobie, maker of PhoneRescue.

Our iPhones carry all our important info, which makes them something of liability. Losing or breaking one is painful enough, but often the loss of personal data is even worse. Recovery services like Time Machine and iCloud make this less of a worry. But limits remain about what you can retrieve and how.

iPhone will power spectacular $99 AR headset

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Mira
2017 is set to be the year of augmented reality.
Photo: Mira

Apple’s own AR headset may still be a rumor, but if you want to get hold of an iPhone-friendly augmented reality headset you’ll be able to do it later this year — for just $99!

Made by Los Angeles startup Mira, the Prism resembles a slimmed-down version of the $950 Meta 2 AR headset. The new device boasts a small, motion-sensing controller with a Gear VR-style trigger. Check out the teaser trailer below.

Why Apple investors should quit worrying about iPhone 8 delay

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iPhone 8 mockup
Here's how Apple will make iPhone 8 feel less expensive.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple investors have been urged to “quit worrying” by one analyst, who insists the “short-lived” iPhone 8 delay won’t impact stock price.

Robert Cihra from Guggenheim doesn’t deny that iPhone 8 will launch late, but he’s confident fans will wait, rather than jump ship.

Wirelessly diagnose your car, and more [Deals]

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collage-2017-07-16
iPhone cables, mounts, chargers, and a wireless diagnosis tool. These are the auto accessories you're looking for.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

If you’ve got a car, you’ve got a hundred ways to integrate your mobile devices with it. We’ve gathered some great deals on essential tech to take on the road with you. Below you’ll find a futuristic phone mount, a 3-port USB hub, a metal-braided Lightning cable, and a tool for wirelessly checking on your car’s health. Everything Is discounted by 25 percent or more, read on for more details:

Animated avatar grooves alongside human in cool new ARKit demo

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AR
Tim Cook is hella excited about AR. We can't disagree with him!
Photo: Normal VR

Another day, another great showcase of Apple’s new ARKit augmented reality platform, as created by ingenious independent developers.

This time round, the work is by New York developer Normal VR. Devs at Normal used Apple’s augmented reality tech and graphics engine Unity to craft a cool demo showing a cartoon avatar matching the movements of a human user. Check it out below.

Samsung may take over iPhone A-series chip manufacturing next year

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Samsung
Apple and Samsung are BFFs again.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Samsung will reportedly resume production of Apple’s A-series chips for the iPhone from next year, having lost out on orders to TSMC in recent years.

If true, the move is a major win for Samsung, which has increasingly been Apple’s go-to manufacturer as of late, to the betterment of both companies.

WhatsApp will let you watch YouTube videos within chats

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Facebook messaging apps
Coming soon to an iPhone near you?
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

WhatsApp is working to add inline YouTube support to its app, allowing users to enjoy videos within their conversations. The feature will take advantage of the Picture in Picture feature in recent versions of iOS to prevent pulling you away from your conversation.

Apple makes it easier for devs to respond to App Store reviews

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Apple pays $467k for doing business with blacklisted app developer
Customer Support staff can now answer your mean (or nice) reviews.
Photo: Apple

Apple is making it easier for developers to interact with their customers by changing the rules concerning responses to App Store reviews.

Instead of being limited only to developers with admin access, Apple has now made it possible for the newly-created Customer Support developer roles to also respond to reviews posted on the Mac and iOS App Stores.

Qualcomm CEO hints that Apple feud could be settled out of court

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encryption
Things may not wind up in court after all.
Photo: orangesparrow/Flickr CC

It seems that the once-rapidly escalating war of attrition between Apple and Qualcomm may be coming to an end.

Speaking at the Brainstorm Tech conference in Aspen this week, Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf said that issues such as the one between Qualcomm and Apple, “tend to get to resolved out of court, and there’s no reason why I wouldn’t expect that to be the case here.”

Apple has no plans to refresh the iPhone SE

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iPhone SE
Two new iPhone SE models for 2020?
Photo: Sam Mills/Cult of Mac

If you’re yet to adjust to a larger iPhone, it seems you’re going to get left behind. A new report claims Apple has no plans to refresh the iPhone SE, its smallest and most affordable handset, which hasn’t been properly updated since last March.

Limited-edition iPhone lens kit packs sharp-shooting tools

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olloclip and Incase
The Filmer's Kit has most iPhone photo and video scenarios covered.
Photo: olloclip

If you’re an iPhone photographer with olloclip lenses, you’re pretty serious about your mobile image captures.

olloclip and big-name accessories brand Incase partnered with you in mind for a limited-edition Filmer’s Kit that became available today at Apple stores worldwide.

Behold the world’s thinnest leather iPhone case

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Totallee thin leather iPhone case
Totallee's new lambskin-backed iPhone cases are stylish, durable and measure a mere 0.02 inches thick.
Photo: Totallee

This post is brought to you by Totallee, maker of ultra-slim iPhone cases.

When you drop coin for a new iPhone, the natural instinct is to protect it properly. The preferred way to do that is with quality, long-lasting leather. But a nice leather case adds a steep premium to an already pricey purchase.

Gadgets to make traveling easy [Tech Travel Tips]

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roost stand
Travel is a time to leave things behind, but some gadgets will make your trips a lot easier.
Photo: Roost

tech travel tips Welcome to Tech Travel Tips, a week of travel tips for vacationers. This week we’ll show you how to keep your devices safe while traveling, what apps to download before you go, what settings you should change before leaving the house and — kicking off the week — the best travel gadgets to take with you. Let’s get started!

iPhone 8 will show up late but totally rock the party

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iphone 8 display
iPhone 8 could arrive on time after all.
Photo: Martin Hajek

Yet another analyst is warning that this year’s big iPhone 8 upgrade will launch late, but they promise it will be worth the wait.

Morgan Stanley’s Katy Huberty has told investors that the device won’t be available until October, rather than September, but it will bring “the most meaningful feature and technology upgrades in iPhone’s history.”

Apple goes emoji crazy on World Emoji Day

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EMOJIS
Apple's got some new emoji coming to Mac and iOS.
Photo: Apple

Today is World Emoji Day, and to celebrate humankind’s successful reduction of language into 2,000+ tiny pictograms, Apple has shared images of some of the new emoji coming to iOS, macOS and watchOS later this year.

Oh, and it’s launched a pretty awesomely creative promotion in iTunes as well!

This app will clean up your writing, on the phone and computer [Deals]

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GingerPage
GingerPage makes the suite of text editing tools you'd use into part of the writing process itself,
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Whether through email, text, of social media posts, we communicate by text more than ever. And one surefire way to make the wrong impression is to send a message full of misspellings and bad grammar. Or maybe more accurate, the way to set yourself apart is to write without any goof-ups.

Android creator’s Essential Phone will fight iPhone worldwide

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Essential Phone
Essential Phone will expand its reach to new markets.
Photo: Essential

The Essential Phone, built by Android creator Andy Rubin, will do battle against the iPhone in new markets around the world.

For now, the device is only available to those in the U.S. — but Essential is already in talks with carriers in the U.K., Europe, and Japan as it looks to expand its reach.

WhatsApp brings expanded file sharing, chat pinning to iPhone

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WhatsApp
You’ll need a new iPhone if you can’t update to iOS 8 or later.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

WhatsApp just rolled out a big update on iPhone that makes the world’s most popular messaging service even more useful.

Users can now pin chats to the top of their conversation list to make them easier to find, and share files of any kind with their friends and colleagues.

Former Apple exec says iPhone falling behind Samsung

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x
The iPhone set the bar, but Samsung is trying to push it higher.
Photo: Cult of Mac

The new iPhone that will officially mark the 10th anniversary of Apple’s most successful product is already swirling in high expectations and rumors of production delays. Now the much anticipated iPhone 8 has another bar to hurdle – one set by Samsung.

Apple’s former creative director warns that Apple is struggling against its biggest competitor and is now feeling the absence of the late founder and CEO Steve Jobs.

China’s huge Apple Pay promotion offers massive rewards

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Apple in talks to bring Apple Pay to Israel
Apple Pay promotion is the biggest in China since the service debuted.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple is running a massive Apple Pay promotion in China this week, in an attempt to grab a larger chunk of the mobile payments market currently dominated by Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings.

The promotion runs from tomorrow through July 24, and offers customers who use Apple Pay discounts of up to 50 percent, plus reward points up to 50x those of regular credit cards. The promotion is the biggest one since Apple Pay debuted in China in February 2016.