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Wirelessly diagnose your car, and more [Deals]

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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.

iPhone 8 won’t enter mass-production until months after launch

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iPhone 8 facial recognition
We could be waiting a long time for iPhone 8.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Want to be one of the first to get your hands on Apple’s big iPhone 8 upgrade this fall? Prepare yourself for disappointment.

According to a new report, the device won’t enter mass-production until months after its official unveiling, and only small quantities will be available at first.

Australia wants Apple to create an iPhone backdoor

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iPhone hack
Apple is unlikely to be totally on-board.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Australia’s Attorney-General George Brandis is set to meet with a representative from Apple this week to discuss the subject of strong encryption, and how this relates to police and intelligence agency investigations.

Brandis is reportedly pushing for Apple to create a backdoor that would allow security agencies to circumvent Apple’s current end-to-end encryption.

Amazon’s ‘Anytime’ app may muscle in on messaging

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Amazon
Amazon plans to launch a 'me too' mobile massaging app, apparently.
Photo: AFTV News

Amazon is reportedly launching its own messaging app to rival Apple’s Messages, among others.

Called “Anytime,” the service will reportedly boast voice and video calls, and possible photo-sharing, with the obligatory filters for photos and video with “special effects and masks.” More interestingly, it will also focus on group activities, such as playing games, listening to music, and — here’s the big one — ordering food.

Seeing AI, Infltr, and other awesome apps of the week

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

If you want to see how far artificial intelligence has advanced in the past few years, this week saw the release of an impressive AI image recognition app that can describe the world around you in natural language.

That’s just one of the picks we’ve highlighted for this week’s “Awesome Apps” roundup. We’ve also got a great new Street Fighter IV port, a brilliant photo-editor gone free, and a tremendous artistic puzzle game.

Check out our choices below.

This lesson bundle is like boot camp for coding [Deals]

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Pay What You Want Learn to Code
Whether you're a beginner or a pro, this bundle of coding lessons can help get you caught up for whatever you're willing to pay.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

For newcomers, the world of coding can seem too big to even know where to begin. Even seasoned developers can find their skills slipping from too little use. That’s why both groups can benefit from a comprehensive coding education.