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Best wireless Bluetooth headphones for iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus

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AirPods
Maybe the best thing Apple has invented in years.
Photo: Cult of Mac

Updated: May 11, 2017

The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are Apple’s first iPhones to drop the headphone jack. And while you can keep using your old headphones by plugging them into the adapter that comes in the box, that gets old as soon as you discover you left the little dongle at home connected to a speaker, and you can’t listen to any music.

You’ve got two options. One, stick with a cable and buy some Lightning headphones. That’s fine, but then you can only use them with recent-vintage iOS devices, and you can’t charge your device while you use them. Or two, go wireless. That means Bluetooth, either the vanilla kind, or Apple’s augmented Bluetooth headphones, with the special W1 chip added to make pairing easier.

Shrink PDFs without losing quality for easy emailing, with ColorSync Utility

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colorsync-banner
You probably never even noticed ColorSync Utility was on your Mac, but if you work with PDFs, it may turn out to be the most useful app you have.
Photo: Cult of Mac

PDFs are fantastic. If you send somebody a PDF, you know it will look exactly the same on their computer as it does on yours. Same if you print it. But if your PDF contains a lot of images, it can quickly swell to an impractical size, making email impossible. Today we’re going to find out how to shrink that huge PDF dramatically, while making almost no difference in quality to the images therein. And we’ll do it using an app that’s already on your Mac, hidden in the Utilities folder: ColorSync Utility.

Apple drops more iPhone 7 photography tip videos

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Apple wants to help you shoot better photos.
Apple wants to help you shoot better photos.
Photo: Apple

Did you know that you can shoot video and take still photos on your iPhone at the same time?

If not, you definitely need to watch Apple’s latest series of iPhone 7 videos that offer tips on how to capture amazing photos with the camera that’s always with you. Apple posted four more videos today that go with the other photography tutorials that came out yesterday. Now you can learn more about selfies, better angles, golden hour and more.

Watch all four new videos:

T-Mobile and Sprint begin informal merger talks

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t-mobile
T-Mobile CEO John Legere is trying to make is carrier relevant again.
Photo: T-Mobile

A merger between Sprint and T-Mobile could be back on the table, according to a new report that claims informal talks between the two carriers sparked up again this week.

Sprint attempted to acquire T-Mobile back in 2014 but the deal fell apart because of regulatory concerns. Now the heads of both companies have expressed to investors that they’re willing to consider consolidating again.

iPhone 8 could start at $1,000

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money
Start saving now for this year's iPhone!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

According to Goldman Sachs, the iPhone 8 is set to be Apple’s priciest iPhone ever by quite a wide margin. A note from analyst Simona Jankowski claims the next-gen iPhone will carry the suitably next-gen price of $1,000.

More specifically, Jankowski predicts that the 128GB iPhone 8 will sell for $999, while the 256GB version will set you back a whopping $1,099.

Go full X-wing with this nimble racing drone [Deals]

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Aerix Black Talon 2.0 Micro FPV Beginner Racing Drone
Get your Millennium Falcon on with this high speed, highly maneuverable racing drone.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Consumer-level drones are fun, but someone with a proper racing drone can pull aerial moves like Luke Skywalker — and it can make anybody jealous. Racing and doing acrobatics requires a better drone and more experience than most people have money or time for. That makes the Aerix Black Talon an exciting option for anybody looking to up their drone game.

It’s an affordable, high-performance drone that will scratch your itch for speed and maneuverability. It sports a range of flying options, a built-in HD camera and other great features. And right now, you can get an Aerix Black Talon for just $99.99 at Cult of Mac Deals.

Apple Watch users can take on the new Mother’s Day Challenge

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Remember that it's Mother's Day this Sunday!
Photo: Apple

Apple has added a new “Mother’s Day Challenge” for the Apple Watch, rewarding anyone who can complete a walk, run or wheelchair workout of one mile or more.

Those who complete the challenge get an addition badge in the Activity app, alongside new stickers they can us in Messages, to casually show off among their friends.

Apple gives $200 million to iPhone glassmaker to promote U.S. manufacturing

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Corning employees in Harrodsburg, Kentucky.
Photo: Apple

Apple has awarded Corning the first grant of its $1 billion investment aimed at boosting high-tech manufacturing jobs in the United States. The glassmaker will receive $200 million.

Corning has worked with Apple for a decade — ever since the original iPhone’s Gorilla Glass — to create the glass found on its devices. Apple’s contribution as part of its “Advanced Manufacturing Fund” will support Corning’s R&D, capital equipment needs, and state-of-the-art glass processing.

Macphun tools will make photos look like tintype relics

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macphun
HEADING
Photo: David Pierini/Cult of Mac

I keep telling myself I’m going to buy an old wooden camera with a brass barrel lens and take one of those workshops where I learn some 19th-century photographic process. But I know myself. The steps are exacting and tedious, the chemistry complicated and my patience and attention for such details could fit in a pixel.

So when imaging software company Macphun developed a beautiful set of one-click presets that emulate tintypes and other old photo finishes, I felt like I found a process I could master.

Apple wants to show you how to take better photos on your iPhone

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Screen Shot 2017-05-12 at 11.42.07
Apple is rightly proud of its iPhone 7 camera.
Photo: Apple

Apple is rightly proud of its great iPhone 7 camera, and in a new series of instructional videos debuting online it wants to make sure that users take full advantage.

The video series, posted on both Apple’s YouTube channel and a new webpage, follows on from the company’s acclaimed “Shot on iPhone” ad campaign, which highlights photos taken by everyday iPhone users. The new videos deal with topics like how best to shoot action or close-ups on your new iPhone.

How to get iPhone alerts when someone replies to that super-important email thread

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thread alerts for email
Make sure you never miss an important reply with thread alerts.
Photo: Cult of Mac

The VIP mailbox in Apple’s Mail app helps stem the torrent of incoming email alerts by limiting the notifications you see to folks you mark as important. But what about when you want to get an alert for a one-off reply?

Perhaps you’re waiting on an email from an eBay seller about that sweet vintage guitar, or you’re desperate for a reply from your landlord about switching off the heating because, c’mon, it’s almost summer already. Then you need email thread alerts.

You no longer need a Mac to code iOS apps on Windows

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iPhone 7
Coding iPhone apps on PC just got a lot easier.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Developing iOS apps no longer requires access to a Mac, thanks to a new program introduced by Microsoft called Xamarin Live Player.

Microsoft unveiled the new tool today at its Build 2017 developer conference. With Xamarin Live Player, developers can deploy iOS apps directly to an iPhone using Visual Studio on a PC, removing altogether the need for a Mac to code.

Lady Gaga emoji will delight her Little Monsters

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Oh! My! Gaga!
Oh! My! Gaga!
Photo: Snaps Media

Lady Gaga is the queen of provocative visuals. This has been her undisputed title ever since she performed on stage in a dress of raw beef seven years ago.

Now her devoted fans have her help in expressing themselves in roaring Mother Monster fashion on iOS with Lady Gaga emoji, a series of animated iMessage stickers and GIFs that debuted today.

Name your price to master mobile app development [Deals]

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CoM - Pay What You Want- Mobile Cross Platform Development Bundle
More than 100 hours of training will prepare you for a fruitful career in mobile development.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Mobile is the platform of the future, and learning to build apps for mobile devices is where the work is for developers. In a vast and fast-changing field, you’ll want a leg up to get started. That’s exactly what this massive bundle of nine iOS coding courses offers.

Clocking in at more than 100 hours of lesson content, it will teach you a wide range of tools, techniques and languages to build scalable mobile apps. The best part? Right now you can name your price for the entire Mobile Cross Platform Development Bundle at Cult of Mac Deals.

Apple wants to give you new ways to communicate with Siri

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Sorry, Alexa: Siri still the most widespread AI assistant
You may soon be able to access Siri inside Messages.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple wants to give users new ways to interact with Siri, according to a patent application published today.

The patent describes how users may be able to engage in text-based conversations with Siri using an app like Messages. This wouldn’t just be accessible to single users, but could also be drawn on by multiple users in a group chat, perhaps similar to the way that Google’s Gboard keyboard allows users to search without having to load up an app like Safari.

Jennifer Aniston says iPhone would have ruined Friends

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Rachel and the iPhone are on a break.
Photo: NBC

From 1994 until 2004, the sitcom Friends was a pop culture phenomenon. But according to Rachel Green actress Jennifer Aniston one thing would stop the show from working today: the iPhone.

“If Friends was created today, you would have a coffee shop full of people that were just staring into iPhones,” Aniston told Arianna Huffington on Wednesday’s episode of iHeartRadio’s Thrive Global Podcast. “There would be no actual episodes or conversations.”

Being there for you when the rain starts to pour? Apparently there’s no app for that.

Tekserve’s Apple artifacts wind up in Ukrainian museum

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MacPaw Apple museum

Photo: MacPaw

When legendary Mac repair shop Tekserve closed its doors last summer in New York City, Apple fans of a certain age experienced two deaths.

They bade goodbye to the original Genius Bar, technicians that had been servicing their devices for nearly 30 years. Those fans would also never again stare at Tekserve’s impressive Apple computer artifact collection, which was quickly auctioned off to an unknown bidder for $47,000.

The collection returned to a museum display today, more than 4,600 miles away in the Ukraine. Its new home is at the headquarters of software developer MacPaw.

Apple’s Reno data center will get a massive $1 billion expansion

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Apple helped turn Reno, Nevada, into a booming city.
Apple's making a major new investment in Reno.
Photo: Lvtalon/Wikipedia CC

Apple will be building a massive $1 billion expansion of its Reno data center, five years after it first opened the Nevada facility. The expansion will provide 100 new jobs in the region, while construction will add an extra 300 temporary positions.

“We’re excited to be increasing our contributions to the local economy with an additional $1 billion investment to expand our data center and supporting facilities,” said Apple spokesperson John Rosenstock.

Forget Apple News: Here’s how to use Safari Shared Links instead

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Safari packs some surprisingly powerful features, like Shared Links.
Safari packs some surprisingly powerful features, like Shared Links.
Screenshot: Cult of Mac

Apple’s News app is pretty great, but only if you’re happy reading stories from Apple-approved sources. There’s plenty of news in the default configuration to keep you going, and you can also dig in and easily pick your own sources and subjects to make it more relevant.

But what about those oddball sites that you read every day? Your favorite ferret-legging forum, for instance? Is there a way to include those in the News app? There used to be, but Apple removed the ability to subscribe to any and all sites somewhere around iOS 10. The goods news is, you can still subscribe to your favorite sites right in Safari’s Shared Links.

Awesome RPG To the Moon can finally make you cry on iOS

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This game will make you cry, but in a good way.
Photo: XD Network

Beloved indie RPG To The Moon has just arrived on iOS in a stunning HD, remastered version from Ragnarok Online devs XD Network.

Originally released on Steam way back in 2011, the beautifully heartwarming game tells the story of two doctors who travel back through a dying man’s memories to help fulfill his final wish — and discover why he made the wish he did.

Check out the trailer below.