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Instagram has now snapped over 500 million users

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Instagram
Instagram's user base just keeps growing.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

The human race shows no signs of photo fatigue. Unequivocal proof comes from Instagram, which just announced it reached the 500 million membership milestone.

The photo-sharing app more than doubled its monthly user base over the past two years and Instagrammers now share some 95 million photos and videos each day.

Easily edit any scanned documents with this power app [Deals]

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Prizmo
Prizmo 3 makes editing scanned documents a snap.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

If you’ve ever had to edit a scanned document, you’ll know how time-consuming and painstaking this can be. And you’ll appreciate how easy the Prizmo 3 scanning app makes the process. Just download this app onto any image capturing device (a smartphone or camera, for instance), then quickly scan and edit any document to your heart’s content. You can currently get Prizmo 3 for just $29.99 through Cult of Mac Deals.

E-book customers receive payouts for Apple price fixing

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money
Affected customers will get their share of Apple's $450 million payout.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Bringing an end to Apple’s long-running iBooks price fixing scandal, affected customers will today receive their settlement payment for books bought between April 1, 2010 and May 21, 2012.

Settlements work out at $1.57 for the majority of e-books, increasing to $6.93 for New York Times bestsellers. Publishers involved in the suit include the Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Group, and Simon & Schuster — all of whom were found guilty of colluding with Apple to fix e-book prices.

Ultimate Ears speakers’ get voice upgrade that lets you ‘say it to play it’

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With the UE Boom 2, Ultimate Ears makes a great speaker even better.
A firmware update lets you bark song requests at your Boom 2 speaker. But you'll have to push a button first.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

A firmware update to Ultimate Ears’ Bluetooth speakers lets you use simple voice commands to make song requests.

After you install the over-the-air update, just tap the Bluetooth button on the top of your paired Boom 2 or Megaboom speaker, then say something like, “Play ‘Iron Man’ by Black Sabbath.” Soon the track will play as if by magic.

Tim Cook doesn’t hate all Republicans — just Donald Trump

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Tim Cook
Tim Cook wants to be pals with Paul Ryan.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple is boycotting the Republican National Convention this year due to Donald Trump being the party’s presumed nominee, but CEO Tim Cook actually wants to strengthen ties with the GOP.

Cook reportedly plans to host a fundraiser for House Speaker Paul Ryan next week as part of the Apple’s effort to court Republican lawmakers.

Latte artist serves up steaming hot cup of Steve Jobs

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Steve Jobs appears from a swirl of milk and coffee in latte art by Kohei Matsuno.
Steve Jobs appears from a swirl of milk and coffee in latte art by Kohei Matsuno.
Photo: Kohei Matsuno/Instagram

From opera to tattoos, Apple founder Steve Jobs is a subject for artists cross many mediums – even coffee.

Kohei Matsuno, a rising star in the latte art world (yes, that is a thing), added a dollop of foam to Jobs’ legend when he created a portrait of him using espresso, milk and a fine-pointed tool made especially for the most creative baristas.

Freelancers will appreciate this invoicing innovation

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Invoicely takes the pain out of invoicing.
Invoicely takes the pain out of invoicing.
Photo: StartupStockPhotos/Pixabay

This post is brought to you by Invoicely.

With the exploding number of freelancers and independent business owners, we might need to rework an old phrase to say, “Nothing is certain but death, taxes and invoices.”

Keeping track of which clients need to pay you, and which vendors need paying, is a mind-numbing but necessary part of surviving in today’s economy. Many of us utilize our own DIY systems for invoicing. But Invoicely — a free, cloud-based service designed for freelancers that can scale up to work for businesses of all sizes — delivers handy features that make invoicing the least of your worries.

Spotify is first music streamer to reach 100 million users

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Spotify
Spotify is the largest music streamer in the world.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Spotify now has more active users than any other music streaming service on the planet, but when it comes to paid subscribers, it looks like growth has stalled.

The Swedish music streaming service revealed today that it now has 100 million active users — up from the 75 million it had last year — however its paid subscribers total hasn’t budged since March.

Apple loses to Facebook and Google as top talent attractor

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Apple adds 5 new vice presidents to its executive lineup
Employees love working at Apple.
Photo: Milo Kahney/Cult of Mac

Apple is one of the top 5 companies in the U.S. when it comes to attracting and keeping talent, but its rivals Facebook and Google are even better.

LinkedIn has come out with its first ever Top Attractors list based on insights from tracking billions of data points of its 433 million members and discovered that in the employee perks arm race, few can top Google.

Snap underwater selfies with this waterproof camera [Deals]

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YoCam
Pocket-size and waterproof, the YoCam is ready for splashy summer fun.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Cameras are just getting more versatile, and the YoCam is proof. It’s designed to work in any scenario you can imagine, from snapping selfies to setting up a security camera or filming underwater. It’s small but feature rich, and connects with a versatile app that will make this a great go-to camera, all for $179 at Cult of Mac Deals.

Today in Apple history: eWorld opens its virtual doors

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macintosh_90s
Short of a Nirvana MIDI playing in the background, you can't get more 1990s than this!
Photo: Andrea Grell/Ste Smith

Monday20 On June 20, 1994, Apple launched its short-lived eWorld service. Why is eWorld so significant? Because it represented Apple’s first deep dive into being a provider of internet services — several years before Steve Jobs returned to the company and embraced the importance of going online.

Part messaging service, part news aggregator — and all with Apple’s customary premium prices — eWorld was ahead of its time.

Apple will be able to open retail stores in India on one condition

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Photo: Apple
Apple wants to open a flagship Apple Store in India, similar to its Fifth Avenue outlet.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s plans for a string of retail stores in India hit a hurdle last month when the country’s finance minister ruled that Apple must conform to local sourcing laws in order to be granted a permit for the country. Requiring that Apple procure 30 percent of its goods locally, this seemed like it put a decisive halt to plans for Apple Stores in India.

Fortunately, it seems that cooler heads have prevailed — as part of a much larger rethink that goes way beyond Apple.

1979 Revolution, Slip Away, and other apps of the week

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appsoftheweek_1024
'Appy weekend everyone!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Happy Sunday everyone! During seven days in which Apple revealed iOS 10 and Mac OS Sierra to the world, developers released some great new apps and updates into the App Store.

From a great choose-your-own-adventure game set in 1979 Iran to a price comparison search app, here are our picks for apps of the week.

Check out these great sketchnotes from Apple’s WWDC

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Apple's 2016 WWDC Keynote. Sketchnote 1 of 2
Apple's 2016 WWDC Keynote. Sketchnote 1 of 2
Photo: Andy McNally/@andymcnally

There’s nothing more cryptic than someone else’s notes. Not so Andy McNally’s.

McNally, a senior UI design consultant from Memphis, Tenn., created several great “sketchnotes” of the talks at Apple’s WWDC.

Sketchnotes are a form of visual thinking that combine notes and sketches. They’re increasingly popular, inspiring an army of aficionados and books by noted practitioners. The Core77 design site has a whole Sketchnotes section that’s worth exploring.

McNally kindly allowed us to reprint his WWDC sketchnotes. Check them out:

The best WWDC 2016 announcements plus iOS 10 hidden features on The CultCast

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You'll need to be a registered developer to get them today.
You'll need to be a registered developer to get them today.
Photo: Apple

This week on The CultCast: It’s our WWDC 2016 reactions! Plus: All the WWDC announcements worth getting excited about; the best hidden iOS features not mentioned onstage; more confirmation that a MacBook Pro with OLED touch bar is imminent; and a very strange iPhone 7 rumor surfaces.

Our thanks to Freshbooks for supporting this episode. FreshBooks is the easy-to-use invoicing software designed to help small business owners get organized, save time invoicing and get paid faster. Get started now with a 30-day free trial.