Cult of Mac

Apple guaranteed the iPhone would reinvent the phone. But filmmaking?

Writer and director Conrad Mess said the iPhone’s red record button turned him into a filmmaker. It helped another cash-strapped director win praise and wide distribution for a feature film he shot on the iPhone 5s that was the buzz of last year’s Sundance Film Festival.

The iPhone also is reshaping video journalism, especially across Europe, where news organizations are using the iPhone video camera for an increasing number of stories — and live stand-ups, selfie stick in hand — because the mobile journalist can shoot, edit and share on one device.

Apple is today celebrating one year of Apple Music and Beats 1 radio. The company has put out a new video that showcases some of the station’s highlights, like big interviews with stars like Drake, Adele, Taylor Swift, Will Smith, and Alecia Keys.

Amazon will host its second annual Prime Day on Tuesday, July 12, the retail giant confirmed today. It promises to be the “biggest Amazon event ever,” with big discounts to be had worldwide on over 100,000 products.

If you go online (and now is not the time to pretend you don’t), you’re vulnerable to data violations of all sorts: identity theft, activity monitoring, geo-restrictions.

A great way to secure yourself against these problems is to connect to the internet via a virtual private network, or VPN, that carefully channels and anonymizes your traffic. And right now we’ve got a great VPN, with a great name, at a great price: two years of Hide My Ass! VPN for $69.99.

One of Apple’s biggest chipmakers expects its revenue to rise during the third quarter of 2016 around the launch of the iPhone 7 series. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) likely will start shipping new A10 processors soon.

The iPhone’s 3.5mm headphone jack, rumored to be conspicuous in its absence from the upcoming iPhone 7, has lasted more than twice the length of a regular Apple port.

Having first appeared in an Apple product with 1984’s Macintosh, the headphone jack has been a staple of Apple devices for 32 years at this point. The average Apple I/O standard, on the other hand? According to a new report, that number averages out at only around 15 years. With the transition away from wired connections, many travelers are now looking for the best airplane Bluetooth adapter to keep using their favorite headphones seamlessly.

Given its position as the company’s earliest arch-nemesis, Apple’s partnership with IBM was massive news when it was announced a couple of years ago. But it wasn’t the first time the two companies had agreed to help one another.

On 30 June 1993, Apple and IBM shipped their first collaborative product: the catchily-named “SNA.ps 5250” emulation software package, which for the first time let Mac users run software available previously only for IBM PCs. It was the first step in allowing Macs and PCs to talk to each other in a way that didn’t trap their respective users in proprietary ecosystem hell.

Some new data-gathering vehicles are roaming the streets of San Francisco. They’re unmarked, but are suspected to be Apple’s. They are laden with sensors, but what kind of data are they gathering, and what for?

Experts contacted by Cult of Mac say the mystery vans are next-generation mapping vehicles capable of capturing VR-style, 360-degree street photos. Plus, the vans use Lidar to create extraordinarily precise “point clouds,” a prerequisite for self-driving cars. Mesh those two databases together and you’ve laid the groundwork for an autonomous vehicle’s navigation system.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren took shots at Apple, Google and Amazon during a speech in Washington today, claiming Silicon Valley’s big fish are making it impossible for the small fry to compete.

“The opportunity to compete must remain open for new entrants and smaller competitors,” said Warren. During her rant against Apple, the senator specifically mentioned the unfair advantages Apple Music enjoys against its competitors.

After the speech, Spotify rallied behind Warren with some Apple bashing of its own.

If you haven’t already ditched Evernote for Apple Notes, now is the time. Changes to the company’s subscription plans mean the basic Evernote account is now next to useless for the vasty majority of users who don’t want to pay up.

Transitioning to a future when iPhones no longer come with 3.5mm headphone port is going to be a lot easier thanks to one Apple supplier that is ready to make Lightning headphones a thing.

Cirrus Logic, which makes analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits, revealed that it has created a new headset development kit that will allow accessory makers to quickly develop Lightning-headphones that are made for iPhone and iPad.

This week’s best Apple deals include some amazing offers on hardware, from refurbs to open-box devices to brand-new MacBook Airs. Read on to see these savings and more.

New photos of what are claimed to be Apple’s next-generation EarPods all but confirm that its iPhone 7 series will ship without the beloved headphone jack.

The new EarPods, which surfaced on Chinese micro-blogging website Weibo, swap the 3.5mm jack we’ve been using for decades for a Lightning connector.

iOS 10 and macOS Sierra are getting all the attention after their grand unveiling at WWDC, but Apple continues to fine-tune its current software before unleashing the next-gen goodies later this fall.

Apple dropped four new beta updates on developers today, bringing a huge batch of bug fixes and under-the-hood improvements to iOS 9, OS X El Capitan and tvOS.

It looks like Siri was one of the record 8.9 million people glued to Game of Thrones’ Season 6 finale last Sunday. Now that the season is over, fans are left with one question: Who is Jon Snow’s real father?

Siri knows the answer.

Warning: Game of Thrones spoilers below.

Updated: Check out two new battery cases for the iPhone 6/6s, the Moshi iGlaze Ion and the Spyder PowerShadow.

Protect your iPhone investment with the perfect case. Whether you’ve chosen the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s or 6s Plus, and 7 or 7 Plus. Cult of Mac has your phone safely covered. We receive and review a massive number of cases and bring only the best to you here in our review roundup, with new cases to be added each week.

Each case is tried and tested, with iPhone protection being the top priority. If you need something rugged and extra-durable, a minimalist case with sleek lines, or one in which to slip your credit cards and cash, browse our evolving list of featured iPhone 6 cases.

Check back often for our latest picks!

The photographers were assembled with all their heavy camera equipment, about to walk 18 holes under the hot Florida sun to cover The Players Championship in Ponte Verde Beach when in strolled their colleague, Brad Mangin.

“Where’s your gear?” Mangin was asked. He pulled out his iPhone 6s to a chorus of groans and curses.

Tired of hunching over your laptop and typing like a T-rex? Feeling limited by having a single screen? Boy have we got a deal for you. This is your chance to win a high resolution 27″ Apple Thunderbolt display, along with an Apple wireless keyboard and mouse, all set upon an adjustable 30 x 48” standing desk by Evodesk that’ll keep your posture proper.

Facebook is updating its news feed to bring the focus back to your friends. Users will begin to see more posts from the people they care about, rather than a flood of articles and videos from media publishers.

The iPhone went on sale nine years ago today, and to mark the momentous occasion a Florida man is suing Apple for a whopping $10 billion and 1.5 percent of all future Apple earnings — because he claims to have come up with the idea for Apple’s breakthrough mobile device all way back in 1992.

The iPhone 7 may not be the major refresh that Apple’s full-number iPhone releases usually are, but it could feature an intriguing new addition in the form of a “Force Touch Home button,” according to analysts at Cowen and Company.

Cold hard cash, and a surprising amount of creative input from top Apple executives, are key to Cupertino’s plan for making Apple Music a hit, according to a new behind-the-scenes report about the streaming service.

Unlike its rivals at Facebok, Twitter has shown little interest in virtual reality, but it appears that the company is finally ready to make a play and an ex-Apple designer is leading the charge.

Twitter has hired Alessandro Sabatelli as its first Director of VR and AR where he has been charged to “empower us all in the spatial computing revolution.”

After going all in on football, Apple’s Shot on iPhone ad campaign is taking a new direction with a series of colorful new ads across the globe.

The new Shot on iPhone campaign called “Colors” has some of the most artsy billboards ever that focus on big bright colors. Only instead of featuring images from photographers around the world, the new ads highlight local photography shot near where the ads have been posted.

Take a look:

The price of Apple shares have been in a slump all of 2016, but 2017 is shaping up to be an explosive year for AAPL.

Thanks to pent up demand from iPhone users for a big upgrade that probably won’t come this year, Apple is poised to have its biggest year ever when it launches the iPhone 7s, according to Cowen & Co’s financial analyst Timothy Arcuri who claims it pays to get in right now and wait out the iPhone 7 slump.