Apple is often criticized for its strict App Store guidelines that prevent all kinds of titles from being approved. But the state of the Windows Store proves strict guidelines are a necessity.

Microsoft’s marketplace is currently littered with apps that allow users to illegally stream movies and TV shows for free. There’s also a range of titles that provide access to pirated music.

Apple manufacturer Foxconn will reportedly build three facilities in Wisconsin as part of its sprawling $10 billion, 1,000 acre campus, dedicated to creating LCD displays.

While the facility is on track for 2020, Reuters claims that the three new facilities could be open as soon as next year.

When we’re traveling, our mobile devices help keep us entertained. But when traveling, taking a proper set of headphones can be a real inconvenience. That’s why so many of us use the tiny, sonically inferior earbuds — it’s just easier.

The iPhone 8’s facial recognition feature will work “within a few hundred milliseconds,” be more secure than the existing Touch ID sensor, and even work in the dark, a pair of new reports claim.

In addition to the regular iPhone sensors you’d expect to find, the upcoming handset will reportedly boast a new “structured light” sensor, which uses bounced infrared light to work out the depth of different points on the face.

ZCast, the app that makes podcasting from an iOS device easy, just got a big new update that makes it an even greater platform for publishing your own shows.

Version 3.0 gives users the ability to record in studio-quality audio, and support for social media embeds that allow fans to enjoy your content directly within tweets and Facebook posts.

In photography terms, snapping a photo of the moment the moon drifts in front of the sun is as easy as snapping any other fleeting event. In future-blindness terms, though, it is quite different.

Staring into the nuclear furnace that is our nearest star won’t only fry your own eyes, it could also finish off your camera’s sensor. With a few simple precautions, though, you can not only view the eclipse safely through your iPhone’s lens, but take some great photos.

Apple has told educational institutions who use its iTunes U content that iTunes U collections will migrate to Apple Podcasts next month.

The transition will happen with the release of iTunes 12.7 in September.

Barclays is making it even easier for its customers to spend their hard-earned cash.

The latest update to its Mobile Banking app on iOS lets you use Siri to send money to any existing payee, but there is a limit to how much you can send with your voice.

The latest purported iPhone 8 components leak appears to show the handset’s display assembly, flex cables for power transfer, and part of the Lightning connector.

The new component leaks appear to confirm previous reports about the form factor of the new iPhone 8 display. Check out the other two pics below.

Apple has updated its iTunes desktop and mobile storefronts to grant users the ability to donate money to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a U.S. nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation.

Users have the option of donating in $5, $10, $25, $50, $100, or $200 increments. Apple states that 100 percent of donations will be transferred to the Southern Poverty Law Center, and that it won’t share user information with the organization.

Want to know which app to download for everything you need to know about this week’s total solar eclipse? We’ve singled out one of the best options as part of our latest “Awesome Apps” roundup.

We’ve also got a great update to a brilliant iOS fighting game, a story-driven racing title, and a big improvement to ESPN’s app for every sport lover out there. Check out our choices below.

In this day and age, going online without VPN protection is like going into battle wearing a bathrobe. With threats of identity theft, surveillance, and the annoyance of content restrictions all make using VPNs a must. It’s an easy way to anonymize and encrypt your online life.

August 20, 2012: Apple breaks records as it becomes the most valuable public company in human history.

When markets close, Apple’s market cap — the stock price multiplied by the number of outstanding shares — sits at an astonishing $623.5 billion. This beats the previous record of $618.9 billion set by Microsoft on December 30, 1999, at the height of the dot-com bubble.

This week on The CultCast: Apple makes a major play to become the next HBO. Meanwhile, intriguing new images surface showing what looks to be a product we all thought had died — the long lost Apple Television.

Plus: A trusted source says Apple’s next Watch will be more boring than we hoped; and finally … eating bugs … Thai Tinder … yes, Buster Heine is back to share strange stories from his travels deep into the heart of Thailand.

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.

Another week, another round of awesome new deals on gear and gadgets in the Cult of Mac Store. This go around, we’ve got a special lens for taking ultra slick selfies, and 2 terabytes of secure cloud storage for life. On top of that, there’s a powerful VPN subscription, and a special podium stand for your iPhone. Plus, everything’s discounted more than 60 percent. Read on for more details:

Picture the scene: You’re on a plane, and your iPhone is your entertainment hub. You may be listening to podcasts, or music, or audiobooks. You may be playing a game, or reading Instapaper, or just checking and editing your vacation photos. Whatever you’re trying to do, it will be interrupted every time you unlock your iPhone, because your stupid boarding pass is right there on the lock screen. Even hours into a transatlantic fight, the boarding pass you already used hangs around, blocking things like the now-playing feature, and lock-screen controls for any music or audio apps.

Thankfully, it’s easy to get rid of — if you know where to look.

Apple has begun eliminating official accessories in many color options from its online store.

Shoppers are discovering that a number of iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch accessories are no longer available in some color options. They are likely being phased out before new accessories for Apple’s next-generation devices arrive this fall.

As we get closer to the iPhone 8’s launch, more and more alleged components are starting to show up online. The latest is what is reported to be the A11 chip which will power the next-gen device.

Made by TSMC, previous reports have stated that the new chip is manufactured using a 10-nanometer manufacturing process, which should make it faster and more efficient than the 16-nanometer A10 Fusion used in the iPhone 7. It should also be faster than the A10X Fusion chip used in the latest iPad Pros.

Apple’s supposedly impenetrable security chip found inside iOS devices has been penetrated.

A hacker has released what is claimed to be a decryption key for the Secure Enclave Processor (SEP) that handles things like Touch ID and password verification. But we shouldn’t worry about the security of our Apple devices being compromised… yet.

Best Buy will kick off a massive 50-hour sale later today, offering generous discounts on a number of Apple’s hottest products, including the MacBook, iMac, iPhone 7, and iPad mini.

The company is also slashing up to $200 off Beats headphones, and up to $600 off LG’s 4K TVs.

Raspberry Pi is the premier platform for DIY computing. It’s beloved by makers of all sorts, perfect for projects in coding, robotics, gaming, cryptocurrency mining, you name it. The possibilities are endless, so where do you begin?

Apple could come close to doubling its 25,000 Santa Clara Valley employees in the coming years, based on Apple’s aggressive long-term office space leasing in the region.

Its latest long-term lease is two buildings — collectively totaling 73,000 square feet — in Sunnyvale, near its 13,000 person Apple Park campus. Apple also leases another nearby 105,000 square foot building around three blocks away.

Hollywood is pushing for iTunes to show the latest blockbuster movies just weeks after they hit the theater.

Sources say a deal between Apple and a number of major studios could be signed as early as next year without the blessing of theater chains. However, talks are currently held up over the price that Hollywood wants to charge for new rentals.

Apple Watch shipments may have slowed in recent months, but with Series 3 right around the corner, the device is expected to enjoy a strong end to 2017.

According to sources in its supply chain, Apple is likely to ship a total of 15 million Apple Watches for the year. That figure could rise even higher in 2018.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation criticized tech companies that took action against white supremacist groups in the wake of deadly clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Quick to take a stand against hate groups, tech companies removed some neo-Nazi groups’ access to web servers and online services. But the EFF issued a statement reminding them of the slippery slope of censorship.