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Raise shields when you go online with this powerful VPN [Deals]

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This high speed VPN can protect your internet connections on up to five devices at once.
This high speed VPN can protect your internet connections on up to five devices at once.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Setting out into the wilds of the internet means being vulnerable to all sorts of hazards and headaches. From identity thieves to data snoops and location restrictions, PureVPN offers a way to deflect these threats and keep your personal data and online activity safe and anonymous. And right now, you can get a lifetime subscription to PureVPN for just $69 at Cult of Mac Deals.

Apple could offer original scripted TV content by end of 2017

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Could Apple challenge shows like Netflix's Stranger Things
Photo: Netflix

Move over The Crown and Stranger Things! Apple is planning to enter the original TV shows and movies market, according to a new report.

The Wall Street Journal claims Apple has been in talks with “veteran producers” over the past few months about buying the rights to existing shows, and has also told them that it has plans to create its own programming — although those efforts are still in the early stages.

Blood glucose monitoring kit boasts sleek Apple-inspired design

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One Drop could be the solution diabetics have been waiting on!
Photo: One Drop

Apple has started selling a new FDA-approved blood glucose monitoring kit on its online store, created by the health startup One Drop.

Costing $99.95, the device comprises a Bluetooth-enabled blood glucose meter, 100 test strips, carry case, and a chrome lancing device — which we’re helpfully told was based on a Marc Jacobs lipstick design.

iOS revenue to surpass $1 trillion this year

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iPhone 7
iOS sales are about to hit a major milestone.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple’s revenues generated from the iOS ecosystem will surpass $1 trillion sometime this year, according to one analyst.

By mid-2017, the company is forecast to have sold a whopping 1.2 billion iPhones, while collective sales of all iOS devices will surpass 1.75 billion units.

The real reason iPhone didn’t inherit iPod’s click-wheel UI

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Yep, this is how the iPhone could have looked -- had project P1 taken off.
Photo: Apple

Former Apple VP Tony Fadell has dispelled the popular rumor that Apple had two rival teams working on different user interfaces for the first prototype iPhone.

Video of two prototype operating system builds for the original iPhone surfaced this week as Apple celebrated the iPhone’s 10th anniversary. One of the UIs proposed adopted the iPod’s click wheel interface and, according to Fadell, it actually worked really well.

There was just one problem: It sucked at making calls.

Enter to win an iPhone 7 Plus [Giveaway]

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Now's your chance to win a brand spanking new iPhone 7 Plus.
Now's your chance to win a brand spanking new iPhone 7 Plus.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

For some of us, “new iPhone” is another way of saying “cool thing I definitely can’t afford.” Instead of sitting on the sidelines staring sadly at your wheezing old mobile and waiting for the contract to turn over, you can jump at the chance to get a shiny new iPhone 7 Plus in this amazing giveaway.

This is not a drill, folks. Now’s your chance to win the latest and greatest mobile device around.

Flashing the peace sign is now a security risk

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fingerprints from selfies
Your fingerprints can now be snatched straight from your selfies.
Photo: Ryuta Ishimoto/Flickr CC

Next time someone poses for a selfie with their fingers held up in a peace sign, maybe tell them to leave it at a smile.

An ordinary photo of the universal sign of goodwill might be enough for a thief to copy a fingerprint, thanks to the high quality of digital photos these days. And since Touch ID and similar technologies turn fingerprints into keys that unlock our devices and the data we keep in them, that’s cause for concern.

Adobe wants you to edit photos by voice with Siri-style assistant

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Instead of using your fingers to adjust the crop guides, use your voice to ask for a square crop.
Instead of using your fingers to adjust the crop guides, use your voice to ask for a square crop.
Photo: Adobe Research/YouTube

Great photographers often employee great assistants. Ansel Adams hired master darkroom technicians who printed to his exact specifications, and the lush lighting in an Annie Leibovitz portrait is typically achieved by trusted assistants who understand her vision.

Adobe is working to bring photographers of all levels a valued assistant — and the voice of that assistant may sound familiar.

A video produced by Adobe Research shows a man giving voice commands to an iPad to crop a photo and prepare it to post on Facebook. The voice coming from the iPad sounds like Siri as it repeats the photographer’s commands.

Apple’s spaceship campus gets closer to launch in latest drone vid

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Landscaping on Apple's HQ is still underway.
Landscaping on Apple's HQ is still underway.
Photo: Matthew Roberts/YouTube

Cupertino has been soaked with rain the last few days which has made construction on Apple’s spaceship campus messy work in the latest drone video showing the headquarter’s progress.

Smaller structures are starting to take shape inside the infinite loop, while construction of the solar roof is about 65% complete. The first of hundreds of large trees have finally brought in as landscaping continues on the property. Crews have nearly finished burying the main tunnel to the parking lots which are now starting to be used.

Check out all the details:

Apple loses another key employee to Tesla

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Tesla
Tesla is siphoning engineering talent from Apple.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The battle between Apple and Tesla to attract top talent revved up to a new level this week after another key employee for the iPhone-maker defected to Elon Musk’s auto company.

Matt Casebolt, who made key contributions to the design of the original MacBook Air, has reportedly left the company to work as an engineer for Tesla.

Astropad Studio makes iPad Pro the ultimate art tool

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Astropad Studio is for professional artists who use the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil.
Astropad Studio is for professional artists who use the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil.
Photo: Astropad

A couple of ex-Apple engineers released an app that turned the iPad into a drawing tablet and the reviews, especially from artists, were positive. One even said “life-changing” while others saw only a couple of limitations that could easily be worked around.

The creators of Astropad were concerned that there was even one limitation. On Wednesday, it launched what it hopes is a tool with no limits, Astropad Studio, a subscription-based version of the app for professional creatives who use the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil as their go-to tools.

New video shows iPhone prototypes going head-to-head

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Apple's earliest iOS prototypes.
Photo: Sonny Dickson

Apple calls iOS “the world’s most advanced mobile operating system,” but it was almost the world’s worst.

Before deciding on the icon-based user interface we know and love today, Apple designed an awful prototype UI that was based on the iPod’s software and controlled with a virtual click-wheel. Check it out in the video below.

Nope, Apple won’t manufacture servers at AZ center

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court order iCloud access
Apple isn't making iCloud servers in the US.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple says it has no plans to manufacture high-tech servers in the USA, despite a recent report claiming the iPhone-maker applied for permission to do “high-tech manufacturing” at its site in Mesa, Arizona.

The Mesa center was previously the home of Apple’s ex-sapphire supplier that went bankrupt in 2014. Instead of seeking permission to manufacture on the site, Apple clarified that it is actually just applying to renew the original Foreign Trade-Zone status of the location that brings some big tax benefits.

Pokémon GO too dangerous for China

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Pokémon Go
China says no to Pokémon GO.
Photo: Niantic

Pokémon fans in China may have to go without hit mobile game Pokémon GO after it was deemed too dangerous for approval.

The government is working to evaluate potential security risks, but it looks like the world’s biggest smartphone gaming market will miss out on one of the world’s biggest smartphone games.

iPhone triumphs in U.S., while Android continues to decline

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iPhone 7
iPhone 7, 7 Plus and 6s were big winners over the holiday season.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Sorry Android, it seems that iOS got the better gifts this Christmas!

According to the latest Kantar Worldpanel ComTech sales figures, iOS gained market share at Android’s expense in the United States, United Kingdom, France and elsewhere.

In the U.S., this marked the sixth consecutive quarterly decline for Android, while Apple grew 6.4 percent year-on-year.

This smartphone tripod folds down to credit card size [Deals]

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This tripod is solid, versatile, and folds up to the size of a credit card.
This tripod is solid, versatile, and folds up to the size of a credit card.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

To take great pictures, even with your smartphone, you need a tripod. Here’s a tripod for your smartphone fits in your wallet. Pocket Tripod PRO is a cleverly engineered, versatile platform for your mobile that folds into the size of a credit card. It’ll make for a huge leap in your phonetography that won’t put a dent in your pocketbook. Right now you can pre-order a Pocket Tripod PRO for just $19.99 at Cult of Mac Deals.

Apple now shipping LG’s UltraFine 5K Display in under a week

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Order yours now for delivery next week.
Photo: Apple

Apple is beginning to catch up with demand for the LG UltraFine 5K Display, causing shipping times to drop significantly in the U.S.

Earlier this week, new orders for the $974 screen were scheduled to ship in two to four weeks, but as of this morning, that estimate has been cut to just three to five business days.

Three security firms offered to hack iPhone for FBI

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iPhone hack
100 pages of documents about the case were recently released.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Aside from the massive privacy questions it raised, one of the biggest questions coming out of the FBI’s 2016 standoff with Apple was how exactly it managed to hack the iPhone used in the San Bernardino shooting.

While we still don’t know for sure, 100 pages of documents released recently by the FBI as part of a lawsuit by three organizations sheds a bit of light on what happened.

Apple enlists security team to bolster CareKit encryption

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CareKit is Apple's most recent dive into mobile healthcare.
Photo: Apple

Apple has partnered with security firm Tresorit to offer CareKit developers extra privacy options. In doing so, it makes it more straightforward for hospitals to use Apple’s CareKit platform, by allowing it to more closely meet regulations about patient data.

Called ZeroKit, Tresorit’s security technology includes user authentication for patients and healthcare workers, end-to-end encryption of health data, and “zero knowledge” sharing of health data, meaning that data isn’t shared with any service as it transfers.

Breakout Ninja fights to be the best one-button runner

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LukeiPhone
It's got some gorgeous graphics too!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Anyone who remembers the glory days of Shinobi or Ninja Gaiden may want to check out the recently-released Breakout Ninja.

A super-simple ninja game with one-tap control mechanics, it’s incredibly addictive, and could well turn out to be one 2017’s early breakout (no pun intended) hits.

Oh, and did we mention that it’s the work of just one man?

Apple fan uses two first-gen iPhones: One for calls, one for trippy pics

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Joe Cunningham
We don't remember the original iPhone camera taking photos like this!
Photo: Joe Cunningham

Joe Cunningham loves the original iPhone so much that he carries two of them — one for calls and texts, and one for taking trippy photos enhanced by a mysterious glitch in the decade-old device.

Like the kind of haunted handset you’d find in a Stephen King novel, the second iPhone exhibits a strange quality: It takes pictures that look like they’re the result of a bad acid trip.

“The psychedelic iPhone only gets used as a camera because I want to extend its life as long as possible,” Cunningham told Cult of Mac.

The guy that invented Swift leaves Apple for Tesla

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Apple wants everyone to learn to code in Swift.
Apple wants everyone to learn to code in Swift.
Photo: Apple

Apple will soon lose the veteran coder who helped make Swift one of the fastest-growing computer languages in the world.

Chris Lattner, who has worked as Apple’s director of developer tools for the past few years, revealed today that he is leaving the company to join Tesla.