HomePod will launch in December, but supplies will be constrained. Photo: Apple
Apple’s early software for the HomePod continues to reveal new features of the smart speaker, as developers dive deeper into files. After details on the speaker’s screen got discovered, another developer unearthed the UI sounds that will be used on HomePod.
The Nerve Black messenger bag by booq delivers some serious attitude. Photo: David Pierini/Cult of Mac
Best List: Nerve Black messenger bag by booq
Most messenger bags would look out of place slung over the shoulder of a leather-clad Harley rider. Not the Nerve Black by booq: It exhibits a transcendent cool, whether paired with a business suit or motorcycle chaps.
There’s no cowhide on this bag. Yet the water-repellent tarpaulin flap looks a lot like leather and makes a striking first impression.
These Bluetooth earbuds include with a charging case that can revive them up to 7 times. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
Wireless Bluetooth earbuds are basically the ultimate in convenience for listening to music. Unfortunately, their one weak point is the constant need for recharging. Even with improving battery lives, running out of juice is a problem worth avoiding.
Removal request came from Australia, but is a worldwide problem. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Apple and Google have removed a total of 330 binary trading apps from their respective app stores, following intervention from the Australian Securities & Investments Commission.
Australia’s securities regulator requested the removal of the apps based on fraud investigations, concerning certain apps which allow users to make bets about whether or not shares and currency will rise or fall. While some apps that do this are legitimate, others have been linked to scams.
HomePod firmware spills more iPhone 8 secrets. Photo: Apple
Yet more information about the iPhone 8 has been discovered in Apple’s HomePod firmware. We now know the device will have a split status bar designed to fit its edge-to-edge display and tap to wake functionality like its Android-powered rivals.
However, the future of Touch ID still looks bleak.
Some folks will go to crazy lengths to get their hands on an iPhone! Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Five men from Romania have been arrested after stealing $600,000 of iPhones from a moving truck in an astonishingly risky late-night raid that ultimately didn’t pay off for them.
Who needs the Fast and the Furious movies when you’ve got real life?
Apple is smashing its previous forestry targets. Photo: Whitney Flanagan, The Conservation Fund
Apple is now protecting enough sustainable forest land to cover all its paper packaging needs. The news is a major milestone for Apple, which has been buying up massive swathes of forest around the world for the past couple of years as part of its sustainability drive.
It means that Apple has already hit its goal of protecting 1 million acres of responsibly-managed forest by 2020 — two-and-a-half years ahead of schedule!
You won't have to listen to music you don't like. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Spotify has extended its lead on Apple Music when it comes to paid subscribers, according to a new report that claims the streaming music service has broken the 60 million threshold.
It's now easier than ever to share maps and videos. Photo: Google
Google today rolled out a nice new Gboard update for iPhone, adding the ability to send drawings, Google Maps, and YouTube videos. The additions make the best third-party keyboard on iOS even better.
Your weather app is probably the last thing you daydream about upgrading. After all, iOS comes with a pretty straightforward, reliable weather app. But when we tried free alternative Today Weather, we found some interesting features we didn’t even know we wanted.
There are still a lot of unanswered questions about the HomePod speaker Apple announced at WWDC last month. But thanks to the firmware that was released to developers on Friday, we now know a little bit more about its internal hardware.
You can use third-party apps to load podcasts on your Apple Watch. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
A lot of people who enjoy listening to podcasts or music while jogging will agree that it’s inconvenient to carry an iPhone. While music lovers can sync playlists from their iPhone to their Apple Watch, Apple’s Podcast app doesn’t do the same for podcasts.
That’s unfortunate. However, it’s simple to send podcasts to Apple Watch using third-party apps.
Apple could be a $2 trillion company by end of 2021 Photo illustration: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Apple is set to unveil its latest earnings report on Tuesday, and Wall Street analysts predict it will probably be the most boring earnings call of 2017.
This will likely be Apple’s last public announcement before it unveils the next generation of iPhones. Apple CEO Tim Cook might drop some hints on what to expect, and when, as investors look forward to Apple’s next big blockbuster quarter. As usual, Cult of Mac will be here liveblogging the entire event with all the analysis and wit we can muster.
Jamaica helps Apple keep its plans secret. Photo: Apple
Here’s one reason we still don’t know whether the next iPhone will be called the iPhone X, iPhone 8 or something else entirely. A loophole that allowed intrepid investigators to dig up secret Apple product names has been closed.
WALTR 2 makes it easy to transfer music, videos, PDFs, and other media to iPhone or iPad compatibility issues. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
iPhones and iPads are great platforms for movies, TV shows and music. That is, if you can get them on there and working. iTunes doesn’t always make it easy, and some popular formats like FLAC don’t work at all.
Microsoft’s Word Flow keyboard for iPhone has been pulled from the App Store now that the company’s “experiment” is over.
The unique keyboard, which made its debut last April, was designed for one-handed typing on larger displays. Now Microsoft is advising fans to switch to SwiftKey instead.
Vic Gundotra thinks Apple did a "great job" with the iPhone 7 camera. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Every year, we see some fancy new Android handset try to challenge the iPhone camera, whether it be in sheer number of megapixels or some smart AI image processing technology.
However, Vic Gundotra, Google’s former senior vice president of social, says there’s only serious contender when it comes to making him replace his DSLR: the iPhone.
LG could provide 30 percent of OLED displays for the iPhone by 2020. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Samsung may be providing 100 percent of the OLED displays for Apple’s iPhone 8, but according to KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, LG Display will be playing an increasingly big role in iPhone OLED display manufacturing in the years to come.
Specifically, he thinks that LG will to supply 10-20 percent of the iPhone’s OLED supply by 2019, and 20-30 percent by 2020.
We could be waiting a long time for iPhone 8. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Code confirming the existence of Apple’s infrared facial recognition technology has been discovered by intrepid developer-turned-iOS sleuth Steve Troughton-Smith.
Troughton-Smith discovered the code in the HomePod firmware Apple released late last week. It suggests that previous reports about face unlocking on the iPhone 8, possibly as a replacement for Touch ID, may be accurate.
'Appy weekend everyone! Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
A stunning minimalist iOS puzzle game, in which you must guide a beam of light through a network of pipes, is just one of the great App Store picks we’ve highlighted for this week’s “Awesome Apps” roundup.
We’ve also selected a great music-making app for iPhone and iPad, a smart Bluetooth device finder for tracking down your lost Apple Pencil, and an entertaining parkour endless runner. Check out our choices below.
Run one of the deepest diagnostic tests on the market to keep your Mac running smoothly. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
Beneath that shiny Mac exterior is an incredibly complex machine. Unlike an old car, when something falls out of whack, you aren’t likely to fix it yourself.
Fantastic slow-downer app Capo Touch just got even better. Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac
Capo touch is the iOS version of Capo, an amazing Mac app that lets you slice and dice a song, slowing it down so you can learn it on guitar or another instrument.
Developer SuperMegaUltraGroovy added some great new features to Capo touch version 2.5. If you’re a long-time user, you’ll appreciate the interface tweaks, the Apple Music support and the new audio-scrubbing engine. If you never used Capo, and you play a guitar, you should buy Capo touch right now.