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Big, comfy headphones make Mac gaming even better [Reviews]

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Mac accessories 2016
The Siberia 350 heads phones are light and comfortable.
Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

Massive over-ear headphones are the best way to immerse yourself in a video game, whether you’re managing the minutiae of Civilization V, hiding from the xenomorph in Alien Isolation, or blasting your way across multiplayer maps in Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Huge sound is a big part of gaming on your Mac, PC or PS4, and these fantastic-sounding and incredibly comfortable Siberia 350 headphones from SteelSeries are the best way to get your game on without sacrificing on comfort.

Last chance to save on top Mac apps, decoy phone lines and more [Deals]

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Now's your last chance to save on these top-notch Mac creativity and productivity apps.
Now's your last chance to save on these top-notch Mac creativity and productivity apps.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Summer’s here and last season’s deals are heading out the door. Don’t let these deals expire before you’ve had your chance to get in on them: top notch data recovery software, Dragon’s industry-leading transcription software, comprehensive digital design lessons, and a private phone line. Take a look:

Bon Iver frontman slams ‘horrid’ Apple Music

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AppleMusic
Bon Iver is no fan of Apple Music.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

From Taylor Swift to Drake, Apple’s pretty adamant on coming across as artist-friendly when it comes to Apple Music. But one artist who’s apparently less than impressed with Apple’s streaming music service is Bon Iver singer-songwriter Justin Vernon.

In a pair of tweets sent today, Vernon referred to Apple Music as “literally a horrid platform” and slammed Apple for its “commercialization.” Check out his comments below.

Today in Apple history: Apple’s first ever computer goes on sale

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apple-1-dec-2014-auction
One of today's surviving Apple 1 computers.
Photo: Christie's

Friday 1 July 1, 1976: The Apple 1 goes on sale, becoming the first computer ever sold by the Apple Computer Company.

Arriving the same month Jimmy Carter was nominated for U.S. president, Family Feud debuted on TV, and the United States celebrated the 200th anniversary of its Declaration of Independence, the Apple 1 is only produced in small numbers, and sells for the unusual price of $666.66.

Apple might buy struggling competitor Tidal

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apple music app
A Tidal acquisition would give Apple Music even more artist exclusives.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Jay Z and Apple might be joining forces.

Apple has dominated the jigga man’s streaming service, Tidal, ever since the launch of Apple Music one year ago, but a new report claims that the iPhone-maker is in exploratory talks to acquire the music streaming service.

iPhone 7 concept imagines Apple’s dark future

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A black iPhone 7 would be killer.
A black iPhone 7 would be killer.
Photo: Martin Hajek/Flickr

Apple might be going back to black with the iPhone 7, making it the darkest iPhone since the days of the iPhone 3Gs.

We got a major crush on the deep blue iPhone 7 earlier this month, but now that mockup artist Martin Hajek has whipped up this Space Black creation, we’re torn between what Apple’s new iPhone color should be.

Prepare to drool:

Tim Cook just got a big promotion at Nike

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Tim Cook
Just when you thought Tim Cook couldn't climb any higher...
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple CEO Tim Cook is moving up in the world of Nike, where he’s been serving as a member of the board of directors.

Nike revealed that starting today, Cook will be the lead independent board member at the athletic apparel company, which is undergoing some big leadership changes.

App world goes bananas for art app that turns photos into Van Goghs

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Prisma
The Prisma app for iPhone lets you apply the painting style of a famous artist.
Photo: Prisma

An AI-powered app that turns any boring photo into an art masterpiece is taking the app world by storm.

Prisma is an iOS app that not only transforms an ordinary photo into a painting, it does so in the styles of different famous artists, from Van Gogh and Picasso to Edvard Munch of “The Scream” fame.

Developed in Russia, the app is taking off like a rocket, doubling its servers, topping the charts and inspiring the #Prisma hashtag. It even counts the Russian President among its enthusiastic users.

Apple celebrates NASA’s Juno mission with hypnotic space video

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Music and space have a lot more in common than you'd think.
Music and space have a lot more in common than you'd think.
Photo: Apple

NASA’s Juno mission is set to arrive at Jupiter on July 4th, so to celebrate the space agency did the most sensible thing it could think of: team up with Apple and Weezer to make awesome videos about space and music.

While Weezer created the patriotic rock anthem “I Love the USA” to mark the occasion, Apple created a hypnotic short film called “Visions of Harmony” that explores the link between space travel and music. The soundtrack for the hypnotic film was created by Nine Inch Nails frontman and Apple VP Trent Reznor and collaborator Atticus Ross.

Watch it below:

Spotify accuses Apple of blocking app update

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Rap Genius is partnering with Spotify.
Apple is making it harder for Spotify to compete on iOS.
Photo: Spotify

Apple is allegedly stopping Spotify from competing with Apple Music by blocking the streaming service’s latest iOS app update from the App Store.

Spotify sent Apple’s general counsel Bruce Sewell a letter this week claiming that Cupertino is inflicting great harm on its streaming music competitor (and Spotify’s customers) by not allowing Spotify to use its own billing system for subscriptions.

A growing number of filmmakers say, ‘Lights, iPhone, action!’

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The set of Time to Pay Off Debts, a film short made with the iPhone 6s.
The set of Time to Pay Off Debts, a film short made with the iPhone 6s.
Photo: Conrad Mess

Cult of Mac 2.0 bugApple 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.

Reading this without using a VPN? That’s risky, but there’s a fix [Deals]

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vpn
Get two years of VPN protection to keep all your data and browsing activity private.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

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.

Headphone jack supported by Apple much longer than most ports

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iPhone-7-EarPods
These photos of Lightning EarPods have done the rounds recently.
Photo: Weibo

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.

Today in Apple history: IBM and Apple team up for the first time

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Steve Jobs wasn't at Apple in 1993, but this pic sums up Cupertino's classic attitude to IBM.
Photo: Andy Hertzfeld

Thursday 30 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.

Mystery vans likely making 3-D road maps for Apple’s self-driving car

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apple van
Mysterious unmarked vans roaming the Bay Area have been linked to Apple, and are likely generating detailed 3D maps for robot cars.
Photo: Business Insider/Stephen Smith

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.

Spotify and Elizabeth Warren tag-team for some Apple bashing

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Spotify
Is Spotify being treated unfairly?
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

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.

Apple supplier paves way for third-party Lightning headphones

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EarPods aren't going wireless in 2016.
EarPods might get a Lightning upgrade this year.
Photo: Buster Hein/Cult of Mac

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.

Gaze upon iPhone 7’s Lightning EarPods in all their glory

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iPhone-7-EarPods
But are they genuine?
Photo: Weibo

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.

New betas are out for iOS, OS X and tvOS

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Now the public can try out the new betas, too.
Get the new iOS beta while it's hot.
Photo: Apple

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.