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South Korean court won’t allow Samsung heir’s arrest

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Samsung still makes the best displays.
Samsung's heir apparent won't face charges.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

A court in South Korea has denied a request from special prosecutors to arrest the acting head of Samsung over alleged corruption and bribery charges.

Lee Kun-hee, Samsung’s vice chairman and the only son of its incapacitated chairman, had been accused of using Samsung subsidiaries to make possible bribery-related payments of $36 million as part of a scandal involving the country’s president Park Geun-hye and a confidante.

Hulu will add live streaming, offline viewing ‘in a few months’

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A new App
Hulu on Apple TV.
Photo: Hulu

Hulu has promised it will give subscribers a new live streaming bundle and the ability to download content for offline viewing “in a few months.”

Many of the company’s biggest competitors already offer an offline viewing feature, with Netflix the latest to join the party back in November. Hulu CEO Mike Hopkins assures fans that his team is “working hard” on it.

Apple could keep us waiting for 3 new iPads

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iPad Pro 3
Put away your wallets for now.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple is expected to launch three new iPad models in various sizes in 2017, but we may have to wait until the second half of the year to get our hands on them.

Sources in Apple’s supply chain have confirmed earlier reports that three new models are coming — but they’re unlikely to arrive this spring as previously anticipated.

Forgetful? This iOS app will jog your memory

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Dontforget
The iOS app that gently asks, "Aren't you forgetting something?"
Photo: Layman Lab

In the old days, a piece of string tied around a finger served as a reminder. You just couldn’t forget what the string was for in the first place.

Today, there’s a better way to use your fingers to remember your keys, passport and other personal items with the iOS app Don’t Leave It! Type items into the app you can’t be without and an alert will go off should a certain distance separate you from that particular item.

Apple Pencil 2 may get magnets to stick to iPad Pro

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Apple Pencil
Apple Pencil is the best iPad accessory.
Photo: Apple

Keeping tabs on your Apple Pencil is about to get a lot easier once Apple comes out with the second-generation version later this year.

A new rumor out of Asia claims Apple plans to release an updated version of its fancy stylus this spring and like the Smart Cover, it will use magnets to attach itself to your iPad.

Apple adds new music tools to Logic Pro X and GarageBand

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Logic Pro X now supports the Touch Bar.
Logic Pro X now supports the Touch Bar.
Photo: Apple

One of the most powerful synthesizers in the world has finally arrived on iPhone and iPad, thanks to a big update for GarageBand that Apple pushed to users this morning.

Both Garageband for iOS and Logic Pro X for macOS received huge new features today, bringing new music creation tools for iPhone and Mac users, as well as support for the new Touch Bar on the MacBook Pro.

Week’s best Apple deals: First-ever AirPods discount!

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Act fast to get a hot deal on AirPods!
Act fast to get a hot deal on AirPods!
Photos: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac, Insignia, Apple

AirPods are the hottest item in tech right now, but you can already bag a discount on Apple’s wireless headphones. Plus, we’ve got iPhones both current- and past-gen to suit every taste and budget, all in this week’s best Apple deals.

iPhone 8 may pack frickin’ lasers for facial recognition

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iPhone
Lasers could be the iPhone's next big feature.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple’s next iPhone may come with new facial recognition technology and actual friggin’ laser beams, according to an analyst.

By adding lasers near the front-facing camera, Apple will be able to depth-map objects, according to analysts at Cowen and Company. The camera could also be used for image recognition, enhancing security and fueling augmented reality.

Apple earns ‘most intimate brand’ title

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Screen Shot 2017-01-18 at 16.54.19
Apple is no. 1! Woop, woop!
Photo: MBLM

Apple is the “most intimate” brand in the U.S., according to MBLM’s new Brand Intimacy 2017 Report.

What is an “intimate” brand, you might ask? According to MBLM, brand intimacy is defined as, “a new paradigm that leverages and strengthens the emotional bonds between a person and a brand.”

Apple Music subscribers get CBS Sports Radio

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CBS copy
Apple Music fans have a new channel to enjoy.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple Music fans in the United States can now listen to CBS Sports Radio as part of their subscription package, bringing the total number of news and sports radio channels on the service to nine.

“CBS Sports Radio delivers this to fans 24 hours a day, 7 days a week so it’s an ideal next step to launch a channel on Apple Music, one of the most popular streaming services today, as yet another way we continue to meet the evolving desires of this passionate audience anywhere and everywhere,” said Chris Oliviero, Executive Vice President of Programming for CBS Radio.

Turn Apple Mail into a handy personal assistant [Deals]

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MailButler makes Apple Mail into the basis of a powerful task management assistant.
MailButler makes Apple Mail into the basis of a powerful task management assistant.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Apple Mail houses all of your contacts, correspondence, and other critical details of your day to day life. That makes it a great platform for a productivity manager, and MailButler turns it into one. Packed with a variety of email-organizing functions, this handy plug-in streamlines and optimizes your correspondence to help you prioritize and get organized. Right now you can get MailButler for just $34.99 at Cult of Mac Deals.

Kodak smartphone still shooting for photographers

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Kodak Ektra smartphone
The Kodak Ektra is a camera with a smartphone built in.
Photo: Kodak

It was a pretty bold move for the pioneering but fading photography icon Kodak to launch a smartphone dedicated to serious photographers one month after Apple’s release of the highly anticipated iPhone 7 Plus.

The Android handset was released in Europe and Australia and some lackluster reviews soon followed. But Kodak and its partner in smartphones, Bullitt, still have high hopes in putting the Kodak Ektra in the hands of more photographers.

India won’t rule out Apple manufacturing incentives

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Apple supplier is increasing its ability to build masses of iPhones in India
Will 2017 be the year we finally get iPhones that are designed in California, made in India?
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Indian officials are reportedly keeping an “open mind” with regards to Apple’s demands in return for considering producing iPhones in the country.

“We will very much like Apple to come and have a base in India,” Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters earlier today.

Super Mario explores Liberty City in hilarious GTA mod

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Mario-GTA-4
Not even Mario is safe in Liberty City.
Photo: CrowbCat

By now you’ve probably already seen the new Super Mario Odyssey trailer for Nintendo Switch, in which everyone’s favorite plumber ventures into the real world for the first time. But what if that world wasn’t created by Nintendo?

The hilarious mod below puts Mario in Grand Theft Auto 4’s terrifying Liberty City, and he looks to be having a whale of a time.

Tim Cook’s impressive career in 90 seconds

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Tim Cook
How Tim Cook got to where he is today.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

There may be disagreement over whether Tim Cook’s Apple is a more predictable, less interesting one than Steve Jobs’ Apple, but one thing that’s for certain is that Cook has enjoyed a heckuva rise to power.

In a new video created by the U.K.’s Telegraph newspaper, a 90-second recap of Cook’s career so far shows how he went from a kid growing up in Alabama to the head of the world’s most valuable tech company, with a net worth of $785 million.

Check it out below.

Simple text message crashes almost any iPhone

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iPhone-text-glitch
Three characters is all it takes to freeze your iPhone.
Photo: EverythingApplePro

Apple makes iOS more secure with almost every update it rolls out, but there’s always a glitch somewhere that slips through the net.

The latest is a bug in iMessage that allows any iPhone running iOS 10 to iOS 10.1.1 to be crashed with a simple text message.

Stanford will hand out 1,000 Apple Watches for new health program

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Apple Watch
Stanford believes in the wellness possibilities of the Apple Watch
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Stanford University has launched a new program, offering faculty members and instructors up to 1,000 Apple Watches and $10,000 in funding to investigate how Apple’s wearable device can be used in healthcare.

“This seed grant program is designed to stimulate and support creative uses of the Apple Watch to address important issues in healthcare,” the Center for Digital Health’s website notes. “We are particularly interested in high impact projects that will positively influence the selected study population and/or clinical workflow.”

Former employee explains how Tim Cook made Apple boring

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LOVELOUD
Tim Cook wants to keep peace at Apple.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Tim Cook’s kinder, gentler management style is the biggest reason why 2016 was one of the most boring years for Apple in recent memory, according to a former employee of the company.

Steve Jobs was notorious for inciting conflict and competition between top employees, which him a controversial leader but also birthed some of the most iconic tech products ever (iMac, iPod and iPhone). After Cook took over, he worked to eliminate conflict within Cupertino’s walls and made employees less passionate, claims ex-Apple employee Bob Burrough.

Pro tips for improving your app reviews

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App Store reviews
Here's how to harness the power of app reviews (even bad ones).
Image: MacPaw

Our App Business section is brought to you by MacPaw, maker of proven Mac apps.

Getting a bad app review is a definite bummer. When some faceless user trashes your labor of love in the App Store or some other public venue, it can really sting. But if you’re smart about it, you can turn negative reviews into positive opportunities for improving your app and winning committed customers.

Here’s how to spin bad app reviews into developer gold.

Apple Music execs discuss the future of music streaming

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Bozoma Saint John
Bozoma Saint John is in charge of hyping Apple Music.
Photo: Apple

The future of Apple Music will be a lot less focused on music and more about pop culture, according to three of Apple’s top employees working on the project.

Beats One DJ Zane Lowe, marketing guru Bozoma Saint John and Apple Music’s head of content, Larry Jackson, sat down for a three-headed interview to discuss what fans can expect from the streaming service. Music will always be part of Apple Music, but Lowe revealed that other forms of entertainment are coming soon.

Vintage Mac Museum steers clear of Macs that sucked

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Adam Rosen's Vintage Mac Museum
The Vintage Mac Museum heads west to Montana
Photo: Adam Rosen

Cult of Mac 2.0 bug Adam Rosen’s collection of vintage Macs doesn’t make him a hoarder, but he acknowledges it doesn’t make him an obvious choice for a husband, either.

In several rooms of Rosen’s Boston home you’ll find a love story nonetheless. The rooms are shrines to a high school sweetheart that matured and grew more sophisticated with time, a friendly face still aglow with “hello.”

This pricey iPhone case is sharp enough for a samurai

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Element Case
The Katana attaches to your iPhone 7 or 7 Plus with steel screws.
Photo: Element Case

Maybe you begin to bristle when the price of a quality iPhone case goes above $40. If so, your eyebrows could reach new heights when you notice the price on the newest luxury covers for the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus from Element Case.

Starting at $349, the Katana is not the most expensive luxury case on the market, but it is sure to elicit a gasp from budget-minded consumers.