Mobile menu toggle

Trent Reznor shreds YouTube and Spotify for ripping off artists

By

iOS 10 gives Apple Music a makeover.
iOS 10 gives Apple Music a makeover.
Photo: Apple

Apple Music will receive a much-needed makeover as one of the big new features in iOS 10, but according to Apple’s music guru Jimmy Iovine, it’s going to take some time before the streaming service reaches its full potential.

The Beats co-founder sat down for a post-WWDC interview with Apple execs Eddy Cue and Robert Kondrk to talk about the progress of Apple Music. Nine Inch Nails frontman and Apple employee, Trent Reznor, was also in the interview and took some shots at rivals, saying any free-tiered service is not fair to artists.

Photographers rejoice! iOS 10 lets you snap RAW images

By

iPhone 6 Plus
You may be in for a treat when you visit the Genius Bar.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Pictures snapped from an iPhone are about to take a huge step closer to pro status this year and you won’t even need to buy the iPhone 7 Plus’ rumored dual lens to get them.

For the first time ever, Apple is finally bringing RAW image files to the Camera app in iOS 10 thanks to a new AVCaptureOutput that will also allow third-party apps to snap Live Photos along with RAW.

ZEISS lens attachment gives iPhone pro glass

By

ExoLens, which partnered with ZEISS for a pro line of iPhone lenses last year, will soon offer a protective case for the iPhone 7 to accommodate the lenses.
ExoLens, which partnered with ZEISS for a pro line of iPhone lenses last year, will soon offer a protective case for the iPhone 7 to accommodate the lenses.
Photo: ExoLens

If you feel cheated over Apple not rolling out new hardware at WWDC this week, legendary optics company ZEISS has a little something to ease the suffering of iPhone users who love photography.

With the iPhone considered by many to be the world’s most popular camera, ZEISS brings its 170 years of lens design to mobile photography with wide-angle, telephoto and macro attachments for the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. ZEISS partnered with accessory brand ExoLens and boasts the new mobile lenses will bring “gold-standard gear” to iPhone shooters.

Apple crowns its 12 favorite apps of 2016

By

Safari iOS 11
Download these apps pronto.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

To top off its monstrous opening day of WWDC 2016, Apple revealed the winners of its 2016 Apple Design Awards. The 10 developer apps and 2 student selections showcase the cutting edge of iOS technology by pushing their genres to new levels.

Games were the big winners last year, but this year Apple has highlighted everything from audio creation tools to a beautiful writing app.

And the winners are …

Safari 10 puts another nail in Flash’s coffin

By

sheet
Apple still doesn't like Flash.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s next Safari update will arrive with new ways to handle legacy plugins like Adobe Flash to provide users with a better browsing experience, improved performance, and greater battery life.

Safari 10 will also use the speedier and more stable HTML5 over Flash whenever possible.

iOS 10 ensures you never forget where your car is parked

By

iPhone SE
iOS 10 helps keep tabs on your car.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

“Dude, where’s my car?” is about to become a question of the past thanks to a new feature in iOS 10.

The underrated new feature went unmentioned during Apple’s two-hour keynote yesterday, but it might solve one of the biggest problems with going to any mall, festival, airport, hotel or hospital: remembering where you parked.

Just in time for WWDC 2016, learn how to develop for iOS [Deals]

By

iOS Coding Mainframe
Learn Swift and other key programming languages to start making apps for iPhone and iPad.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

With all the great minds working at and with Apple coming together again for WWDC 2016, we’re sharing deals aimed at developers new and seasoned alike. These lessons in Swift, Objective-C, Xcode and other essential iOS languages and frameworks will get you up to speed with some of the most lucrative and in-demand skills in today’s job market. Take a look:

Apple gives devs the chance to harness power of neural networks

By

3238821080_94b424563c_b-2
A rough approximation of a neural network.
Photo: Fdecomite/Flickr CC

Apple is making a new push into artificial intelligence, giving developers access to the company’s neural network technology in a move that should mean big things for apps you’ll use in the future.

While opening up Siri to third-party developers was the most attention-grabbing news coming out of yesterday’s Worldwide Developers Conference keynote, Apple has also revealed that it is will allow developers to tap into the company’s artificial neural network technology. And once the dust is settled, this could turn out to be the biggest development of WWDC, bar none!

Today in Apple history: Apple Logo teaches kids to code

By

Apple-Logo-II-splash-screen
Apple Logo was Apple's first go at getting kids into coding.
Photo: Apple2history

tuesday14 Under Tim Cook’s leadership, Apple has been upping its focus on teaching kids to program — thanks to events such as its free “Hour of Code” classes at Apple Stores around the world.

But Apple’s been helping introduce young people to coding for far longer than that. In fact, years before Apple ushered in its Swift Playgrounds app as it did this week at WWDC, it helped popularize home programming thanks to Apple Logo, a basic coding language which found success on the Apple II.

Does this Apple Car concept rev your engines?

By

iphone-start-car-640x4001
The Apple Car is on the way, but how will it look?
Photo: Cult of Mac

Although Apple is rumored to have already started prototyping its much-rumored Apple Car, what the vehicle will look like if and when it rolls out of Cupertino’s Product Realization Lab (yep, that’s a real place!) is still anyone’s guess.

With that in mind, the folks over at automotive industry website Motor1 recently took a stab at guessing how Apple’s Project Titan will appear.

Apple Watch 2 likely to ship 2 million units per month

By

Apple Watch n
Apple is being "very aggressive" with component orders for its sequel wearable.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple’s announcements about the new watchOS 3 was one of the exciting highlights of Monday’s WWDC event, and it seems that Apple’s just as enthusiastic about its next-gen Apple Watch hardware — with sources in the supply chain claiming it’s ramped up component orders for the wearable sequel.

At WWDC 2016, Apple strengthens bonds between increasingly powerful platforms

By

Apple lays out the future of its evolving ecosystem at WWDC 2016.
Apple lays out the future of its evolving ecosystem at WWDC 2016.
Photo: Apple

With absolutely no new hardware to show off, Apple focused on software — the glue that binds together its increasingly powerful and interconnected platforms — during the Worldwide Developers Conference kick-off event Monday.

“Our North Star has always been about improving people’s lives by creating great products that change the world,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook, addressing thousands of developers in San Francisco’s Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. “Today for the very first time, we are going to talk to you about four Apple platforms. Each of these platforms is category-defining and world-changing.”

Apple quietly killed Game Center app today

By

Game Center is causing some problems for iOS 9 updaters.
Farewell, Game Center. We hardly knew (or used) you.
Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

Game Center finally met its demise this morning with the unveiling of iOS 10, which effectively kills Apple’s attempt at creating a gaming social network.

Starting with iOS 10, the Game Center app will no longer be found on iPhones and iPads, after having been preinstalled on devices for years. Apple isn’t just adding it to the list of stock iOS apps you can delete, though. It’s actually getting rid of the platform altogether in favor of GameKit.

Everything from WWDC 2016 worth getting excited about

By

There's some exciting stuff at WWDC.
There's some exciting stuff at WWDC.
Photo: Lyle Kahney/Cult of Mac

Although WWDC is a developer event, Apple’s keynote today was chockablock with features for end-users. It came thick and fast, with updates for watches, TVs, phones and computers.

There’s lots to unpack. Some of it was ho-hum. Siri on the Mac? Meh. A new app called Breathe? To do what exactly — remind you to inhale?

But there was tons of great stuff. Here are the features big and small that we’re most excited about.

You can now watch Apple’s WWDC 2016 keynote online

By

Sign off
Apple just posted its WWDC 2016 keynote video.
Photo: Apple

Didn’t have time to catch Apple’s huge keynote this morning? You could go back through Cult of Mac’s liveblog to relive all the action. Or if you’d prefer the real thing, Apple just posted a video of the two-hour event on its homepage.

The new video covers all of the changes that Apple unveiled today for iOS 10, macOS Sierra, watchOS 3, and some new Apple TV software too. Apple topped off the event with a video celebrating developers who took their first step into coding with Apple’s Swift programming language.

 

iOS 10 finally lets you delete Apple apps you don’t want

By

iPhone
Free at last!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The days of having a junk folder full of Apple-made apps you don’t want is finally coming to an end.

It appears that Apple made its first steps toward allowing iPhone and iPad users to delete stock apps today by making them available to download via the App Store.

The company didn’t announce the changes during its WWDC keynote, but after installing the first beta build of iOS 10, developers have discovered that apps like Maps, Contacts, Stocks, and others can now be deleted.

Apple gives first look at iOS 10 in new video

By

iOS 10 launches this fall.
iOS 10 launches this fall.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s big iOS 10 update for iPhones and iPads won’t be available to the public until later this fall, but the company has already started hyping its launch with a new teaser video.

iOS 10 packs 10 big additions that change everything from the lock screen’s UI, Siri, and how you’ll interact with friends in Messages. We’re still diving into all the new features in the first developer beta. In the meantime, you can get your first glimpse of iOS 10 below:

iOS 10 won’t be compatible with all iOS 9 devices

By

otherfeatures
You might need a new iPhone to get iOS 10.
Photo: Apple

Tim Cook called iOS 10 “the mother of all releases” during today’s keynote in San Francisco, but Apple doesn’t plan to share iOS 10’s greatness with all the devices that are currently running iOS 9.

Apple made iOS 9 supported on more devices than ever last year by pushing it to all iPhones and iPads running iOS 8. This year though it appears that some users will be left out of the update, including iPhone 4s owners.

Here’s which devices will be compatible with iOS 10:

Apple’s new Swift Playgrounds app turns kids into coders

By

Coding is fun with Swift Playgrounds.
Coding is fun with Swift Playgrounds.
Photo: Apple

Apple introduced a powerful new way to teach kids how to learn to code today with a new app called Swift Playgrounds that makes learning Swift as easy as ABC.

The iPad app helps students learn to code by presenting a number of simple lessons aimed at kids, though simpleton non-coder adults can learn a great deal from it as well.

Siri comes to Mac and opens up to developers

By

Siri is coming to the Mac, and will be opened to third-party developers on iOS.
Siri is coming to the Mac, and will be opened to third-party developers on iOS.
Photo: Apple

Big changes are coming to Siri, Apple’s intelligent voice-activated assistant. For the first time, Siri will be available on the Mac and will be opened to third-party developers on iOS.

While Siri was one of the first voice-controlled AI assistants on the market, it’s fallen behind competitors like Amazon’s Alexa and Google Now, largely because it was a closed system that worked only in Apple’s apps. Opening it to developers makes it much more functional, and presents a more serious challenge to upstarts like Viv that promise to help with a wide range of services and tasks.