Angela Ahrendts wants Apple stores to be locally relevant. Photo: Apple
Angela Ahrendts is behind Apple’s strategy of rethinking its retail stores to play a bigger part in local communities, Apple’s senior vice president of retail revealed in an interview at Fortune‘s “Most Powerful Women” conference Monday night.
Portrait Mode is nearly ready for primetime. Photo: Apple
The fourth beta build of iOS 10.1 was seeded to public testers today by Apple after the company gave developers a first look at the software last week.
The new beta comes less than a week after Apple seeded iOS 10.1 beta 3 to testers, bringing a number of bug fixes and as well as support for Portrait Mode on the iPhone 7 Plus.
Sorry, Alexa: Siri still the most widespread AI assistant Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Siri is about to get a lot smarter thank to Carnegie Mellon researcher Russ Salakhutdinov, who announced today that he is joining Apple to lead the company’s artificial intelligence efforts.
iOS 10.0.3 is just for iPhone 7 owners. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Apple has rolled out iOS 10.0.3 to address cellular connectivity issues with the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. The update is not available to download on older handsets, which were not affected by the bug.
Samsung has pointed plenty of customers in Apple's direction. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac
Samsung may have acknowledged that its disastrous Galaxy Note 7 debacle is likely to cost it $5.3 billion, but the real cost — the negative impact on customer loyalty — may turn out to be the real killer.
That’s according to KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who suggests that around 5-7 million ex-Note 7 customers will become new iPhone 7 customers as a result of losing faith with the Samsung brand.
Facebook Messenger is going on a data diet. Photo: Rob LeFabvre/Cult of Mac
Facebook Messenger can be a real data hog if you’re a frequent user — especially if you send and receive a lot of GIFs, images, and videos. But that’s going to change thanks to a new Data Saver feature that’s currently being tested on Android.
Would an Amazon Prime-style service work for Apple? Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Apple should take a note out of Jeff Bezos’ playbook and launch an Amazon Prime-style subscription service, claims an analyst for Goldman Sachs.
“We think Apple should launch a subscription bundle as a way to reinforce iPhone loyalty and leverage it into content,” Simona Jankowski writes in a new note to clients. In the brief, Jankowski and colleagues ponder the potential of a $50 monthly subscription that would get customers the latest iPhone plus other services like Apple TV, Apple Music and freemium access to the iTunes library.
Get a year of access to the largest library of streaming content in the world. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
Even the best streaming services can be a crapshoot when it comes to our favorite shows — one day they’re there, the next day they aren’t. Aren’t Netflix and Hulu supposed to have the biggest, most formidable libraries of content? Not exactly.
SelectTV by FreeCast boasts the world’s largest entertainment library, bringing the perks of both cable TV and web streaming, effectively dwarfing any competitor’s library. The same can’t be said of the price, though, because right now you can get a year of SelectTV for just $19 at Cult of Mac Deals.
Will the Apple Car remain a concept forever? Photo: Motor1
Apple’s “Project Titan” automotive project is not enjoying a smooth ride, according to a new report that claims the company is no longer interested in building an Apple Car.
The Jamaica-branded Apple Watch strap. Photo: Apple
It’s well known that Apple, like many multinationals, uses a variety of non-U.S. countries to help reduce its tax bill. However, what is less well known is that the company also takes advantage of some interesting pieces of international legal minutiae to keep its future plans secret.
In particular, Apple is a big fan of Jamaica when it comes to filing trademark paperwork about its upcoming products — since Jamaica doesn’t easily provide would-be snoopers with a way to search databases about newly-filed information.
Tim Cook is eying Japan for Apple's AI research hub. Photo: Scott Schaut/Mansfield Memorial Museum
Apple’s new R&D base in Yokohama, Japan, will focus on artificial intelligence and other related technologies, Tim Cook has revealed.
The new facility is set to be completed by December, well ahead of the projected date of March 2017. In an interview with Nikkei Asian Review, Cook called it a center for “deep engineering,” and said it will be “very different” from the R&D centers Apple plans to build in China.
Useful upgrade or unnecessary gimmick? Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Apple’s new MacBook Pro is right around the corner, if recent rumors are to be believed, and it’s shaping up to be one of the most significant refreshes we’ve seen in years. Spy photos all but confirm a new OLED touchbar is coming, but is this advanced hardware really necessary?
Those who are excited about it can see the how customizable function keys might improve their experience in macOS, while others believe it will be little more than a gimmick.
Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we discuss whether the MacBook Pro really needs an OLED touchbar.
Looking to get up to speed on the week’s hottest apps? We’ve got your back!
Whether you’re looking for a useful way to sign PDFs from your iPhone, a great beat-em-up, or even the chance to build your own RPG from the ground-up, we’re confident we’ll have something that will tickle your fancy.
These earphones won't tangle or catch as you go about your day Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
We’re halfway through October and the new deals just keep coming. This week we’ve got a set of high definition, wireless Bluetooth headphones, a lifetime without streaming geo-restrictions, a 5-port car charger, and a 16-million color Bluetooth lightbulb. Read on for more details:
Protect your browsing and bypass restrictions with a convenient and effective VPN Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
Another week, another delivery of great new deals to share with you. This time around, we’ve got a lifetime of virtual private network access, a coin-sized transmitter that turns your phone into a universal remote, a lifetime of password consolidation and protection, and a tough, water resistant wireless Bluetooth speaker. They’re all worth checking out and discounted by as much as 94 percent. Read on for more details:
This week on The CultCast: Learn Instagram tips, tricks and techniques to take beautiful iPhone photos and build a massive following. Plus: The crazy exploding Samsung Galaxy Note 7 saga ends with a strange twist; rumors point to Macs with radically new e-ink keyboards; and an honest look at Siri versus the AI competition.
This episode is supported by CultCloth, the best way to keep your iPhone 7, Apple Watch, Mac and iPad sparkling clean. Check them out at CultCloth.co and for a limited time save 20 percent with code JetBlack.
Apple isn’t the only smartphone maker that wants to kill headphone jacks.
Removing the 3.5mm audio port from the iPhone 7 was the most controversial design decision Apple has made in years. Now some leaked photos have revealed that HTC plans to copy the move on its next flagship device.
The Jet Black iPhone will be a scratch-magnet. Photo: Apple
Apple stores across the United States are suddenly flush with stock of the iPhone 7 Plus.
Finding the jet black iPhone 7 Plus at Apple retail outlets has been an impossible task ever since the device launched last month, but a site that monitors supply shows that tons of Apple stores just got the rare item in stock.
They say we’ve all got a book in us. And while not all of us will write that whole book, the internet makes it exceedingly simple for anybody with something to say to self-publish. Start a blog and you can say as much or as little as you like, at whatever pace suits you.
Blogging obviously isn’t new, but it hasn’t gone away either. And the tools for creating your own platform of online expression have never been easier to get hold of and use.
The Note 7 is all washed up. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac
Issuing a global recall for the Galaxy Note 7 is going to cost Samsung even more money than it expected.
Samsung released a statement to investors today revealing that its fiery phablet will hurt overall profits for the next two fiscal quarters, costing the company a total of $5.3 billion.
Tim Cook and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe must be talking about the Note 7. Photo: Sourikantei/Facebook
Apple CEO Tim Cook made a pit stop Friday at the office of Japan’s prime minister to talk about Apple’s growth in the country.
Cook told Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that Apple’s new R&D facility in Yokohama will be completed by December, well ahead of the projected date of March 2017. Apple says it hopes the new R&D facility near Tokyo will help it forge more local partnerships to source parts for future Apple products.
Deals on Apple Watch Sport, the DJI Phantom 4 drone, and a Canon camera highlight this week’s best of the internet.
The internet is going bananas with deals this week, with huge savings on Apple Watch Sport, one of Samsung’s flagship 4K HD TVs, and much more. We’ve scoured the web to find some of the best deals on things you might need, as well as some things you just might really want.
This coin-sized device makes your home's devices controllable right from your phone Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
So much of science fiction has been driven by an interest in things that we imagine would make our lives better, and sometime the real world delivers. The KlikR, a sleek and small Bluetooth module that makes any infrared-controlled device accessible from a smartphone, instantly brings a bit of that feeling of futurism into the home.