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Apple Pay is finally coming to Chick-fil-A

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Chick-fil-A registers are getting an upgrade.
Chick-fil-A registers are getting an upgrade.
Photo: Mike Mozart/Flickr

Getting your chicken fix will no longer require a wallet at Chick-fil-A restaurants.

The company’s long-awaited Apple Pay rollout that was announced last year is finally coming to stores nationwide this week, allowing iPhone and Apple Watch owners to pay with a tap.

Week’s best Apple deals: Big discounts on Apple TV, MacBook Air and more

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Apple deals
If you don't need the absolute latest models, you can get some great deals on Apple gear this week.
Photos: Apple

Staples is offering the chance to stream high-def content at an unbeatable price, while Groupon cuts huge discounts off a wide range of Apple gear and accessories. You’ll find all these and more in this roundup of the week’s best Apple deals.

10 reasons to release your apps outside the Mac App Store

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DevMate
The Mac App Store isn't the only way you should distribute your apps.
Image: MacPaw

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

Like death and taxes, distributing your new app through the Mac App Store can seem inevitable. It’s widely considered the easiest way to get the widest exposure for an app, a centralized marketplace for software with a captive audience of buyers.

But ever more developers are looking beyond the Mac App Store (MAS) for distribution options that best serve their app. MacPaw, maker of DevMate, performed an interesting survey of developers to ask if they prefer MAS or another app store alternative, and why.

EMT slapped with lawsuit for hitting patient with iPad

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Cult of Mac's buyback program
Don't slap people with your iPad.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

A Connecticut man has filed a lawsuit against an EMT after being hit on the head with an iPad while in the back of an ambulance. Robert Alix, who is seeking $15,000 in damages, also claims that he was beaten and told to “get a haircut and join the military.”

AT&T finally drops overage charges with new data plans

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Get ready to be throttled.
Get ready to be throttled.
Photo: Mike Mozart/Flickr

AT&T customers soon won’t have to worry about going over their monthly data limit, thanks to a new set of plans the carrier is rolling out nationwide later this month.

Instead of cutting your data off once you go over, the new Mobile Share Advantage plans simply throttle your speeds down to a maximum of 128 kbps, making the carrier more competitive with the likes of T-Mobile.

How to use Siri to search, drag and drop images on macOS Sierra

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siri
Siri on Mac makes finding images a whole lot quicker.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The Mac debut of Siri on macOS Sierra opens up a ton of intriguing new use-cases in terms of functionality. One of the most useful? The ability to use Apple’s virtual assistant to search for photos either on the web or your own computer — and then drag them into directly into apps.

Here’s how to use the feature when running Apple’s next-gen macOS, which is currently in public beta and will be released this fall.

Target blames Apple for its own decline in sales

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target-hopes-for-bulls-eye-with-its-mobile-wallet-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads20151214206310981_090d141772_o-jpg
Target says its Apple sales fell 20 percent over the past quarter.
Photo: Target

Declining sales of Apple products is one of the factors Target has blamed for its disappointing second-quarter earnings.

During a conference call today, Target CEO Brian Cornell noted that Apple products fell 20 percent in sales at his company’s stores, resulting in a double-digit percentage sales decline in the retailer’s electronics division.

With eyesight failing, CEO hurries to make voice-enabled tech mainstream

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Chris Maury leads the charge towards smarter voice-enabled technology.
Chris Maury leads the charge towards smarter voice-enabled technology.
Photo: Conversant Labs

Cult of Mac 2.0 bug When Chris Maury tried helping an elderly blind woman use voice commands on an iPad, she thanked him but said, “I just wish Siri could read me the news.”

Maury understood her frustration. He, too, was losing his vision and could foresee a struggle to remain productive using the visual interfaces common on all computing devices.

Stock up on Apple-certified Lightning cables before yours breaks [Deals]

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Get these 3 Apple-certified Lightning cables and make sure you're never without one when you need it.
Get these 3 Apple-certified Lightning cables and make sure you're never without one when you need it.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

The slim Lightning cables that come with our iPhones serve as their lifeline, but they sure are fragile. If you’ve had one for more than a few weeks, you’ve seen it get frayed, cut, scuffed, and generally put through the ringer. It’s only sensible to have a backup lying around, or three — right now you can get a trio of MFi-certified Lightning cables for a big discount, $21.99 at Cult of Mac Deals.

Legendary Apple store unloads treasure trove of vintage Macs

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Tekserve
Tekserve's Mac Museum shortly before it was auctioned off in 2016.
Photo: Roland Auctioneers

Apple fans in the Big Apple are misty eyed this week as a beloved repair shop gets ready to close its doors for good.

Tekseve, with a true genius bar of technicians unmatched by any modern Apple Store, has been forced out of its Manhattan location after nearly 30 years because of high rents and retail competition. Its collection of rare old Macs that were on display will be auctioned off next Tuesday.

Apple is producing an exclusive documentary about Cash Money Records

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Screen Shot 2016-08-17 at 11.54.04
Apple is all about that Cash Money.
Photo: Instagram

In its quest for more exclusive music content, Apple Music has signed an agreement with Cash Money Records: the record label which brought fan Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Young Money and Birdman.

According to the deal, which was described as a “power move” by co-founder Birdman on his Instagram, Apple will produce a documentary about the label — set to air exclusively on Apple Music.

Today in Apple history: Happy birthday to Steve Jobs’ best friend, Larry Ellison

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Larry Ellison
Larry Ellison once offered to buy Apple for Jobs to run.
Photo: Oracle Corporate Communications

17AugAugust 17, 1944: Larry Ellison, billionaire co-founder and former CEO of Oracle, and Steve Jobs’ best friend, is born.

A later member of the Apple board of directors and the closest thing Jobs had to a confidante, in the 1990s Ellison even considered staging a hostile takeover of Apple to reinstall Jobs as CEO during his time away from the company.

Jobs’ son, Reed, reportedly referred to Ellison as, “our rich friend.”

Apple gives hackers a behind the scenes look at iOS security

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iOS 10
Here's how Apple keeps iPhone data locked right.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple gave hackers an inside look at how it keeps iOS 10 secure during a recent Black Hat conference keynote that has now been made available to view online. 

The keynote by Apple security expert Ivan Krstic discusses three iOS security mechanisms (HomeKit, Auto Unlock and iCloud Keychain) in unprecedented detail, showing key elements of Apple’s cryptographic design. If you’ve ever been curious how Apple keeps all your private data safe, it’s well worth watching. 

Check it out below:

Consumers say Apple and Samsung make too many smartphones

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The iPhone 6s is selling like hotcakes.
Do you really need to upgrade every year?
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

When it comes to smartphone upgrades, consumers now think that companies like Apple and Samsung release too many new models and don’t put enough effort towards recycling.

A new study from Greenpeace surveyed over 6,000 people in the U.S. China, Russian, Mexico, Germany and South Korea and found that the average person has at least three phones at home, and more than half said they more than half said they would be okay with changing phones less often.

Apple is hiring a team of lyrics curators for Apple Music

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apple music app
iOS 10 brings lyrics to Apple Music.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The new lyrics feature in Apple Music might not be powered by a third-party company, according to a new job posting found on Apple’s website.

It appears that Apple instead plans to do most of the work compiling lyrics all on its own by hiring “a team of lyrics curators with excellent writing skills, music knowledge, and attention to detail.”

Manage projects of any size with Project Planning Pro for Mac

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Project Planning Pro
Project Planning Pro is a great tool for keeping your projects on track.
Photo: i2e Consulting

This post is brought to you by i2e Consulting.

Keeping any project on track is like cooking a meal, requiring close attention to all the ingredients as well as the sequence and timing of critical tasks. In the kitchen you use a cookbook; in the digital workplace, you face a dizzying array of platforms and software for keeping all the goals, team members, deadlines and contingencies in order.

Project Planning Pro streamlines all that, and right now Cult of Mac is offering a special 30 percent discount on the Mac version of the easy-to-use software.

Ford plans to make ride-hailing service with autonomous cars

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Ford is ready for the future of self-driving cars.
Ford is ready for the future of self-driving cars.
Photo: Mike Mozart/Flickr

The next time you buy Ford, instead of buying a car to keep you might just get access to an entire fleet of autonomous cars.

Ford CEO Mark Fields revealed today during a meeting with employees in Palo Alto that not only is the company building an autonomous car, it plans to launch an entire fleet of autonomous vehicle by 2021 to create its own ride-hailing service by 2021.

iPhone 7 may launch on September 23

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iPhone 7 Plus prototype
Get your wallet ready.
Photo: PConline

Apple’s next iPhone could be available to the public as soon as September 23rd, based on a new leak that reveals AT&T plans to do a big “Merchandising Reset” at all stores that day.

The unveiling of the iPhone 7 is rumored to take place on September 7th with pre-orders to follow two days later, meaning customers will have to wait three weeks for the device to arrive this year instead of the usual two weeks.

7 stylish Apple Watch bands your wardrobe needs [Reviews]

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Bands
Refresh your Apple Watch with these stylish bands.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The Apple Watch has been out for well over a year now, and it’s beginning to get a little bit long in the tooth. In addition, the second-generation wearable, which is rumored to arrive along with the iPhone 7 this September, isn’t shaping up to be a worthy upgrade just yet.

The best way to breathe new life into your Apple Watch is to customize it with some different bands and bracelets. Check out my top seven picks in the video below.

How to add, delete and rearrange apps in the new Apple Watch dock

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apple watch
The new Dock is one of watchOS 3's best features.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple Watch is getting a UI makeover with watchOS 3 which completely changes how you interact with apps, making them faster and easier to access thanks to the all new Dock feature.

Now when wearers press the side button on Apple Watch, instead of bringing up your favorite contacts, the watch brings up the dock providing a quick view of your favorite apps that are now updated immediately, so you spend less time staring at the spinning wheel.

Here’s how to make the most of the new Apple Watch dock: