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Jamstik+ teaches you to rock (while looking like a dork) [Reviews]

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Jamstik Bluetooth guitar
The Jamstik looks like a toy, but it could teach you some serious skills.
Photo: Evan Killham/Cult of Mac

As a long-time player of console rhythm games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band, I’ve had several people’s share of silly, plastic instruments laying around my house. And while they’ve all looked varying levels of authentic, none of them actually taught me anything about how to play the guitar other than the base concepts of “one hand pushes down here while the other one goes up and/or down.”

But the Jamstick+ aims to change that by being an odd-looking, toy-like instrument that actually has lessons (via apps) to show you the basics and help you learn strumming, plucking and finger assignment. It even has real-feeling strings and frets to help you translate your lessons into the real thing.

Other than those individual pieces, however, you might feel ridiculous holding it.

Warren Buffett is betting big on Apple

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iphone stocks app
Berkshire Hathaway's investment in Apple could send the price back up.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Some of the world’s biggest investors have ditched their Apple shares lately, but where others see doom and gloom Warren Buffett sees an opportunity to make some serious money. 

Warren Buffet’s legendary investment firm Berkshire Hathaway has taken a large position in Apple stock, scooping up 9.81 million shares, worth about $1.07 billion.

TarDisk is a slim solution for stretching MacBook storage [Deals]

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TarDisk adds 64GB of flash storage to your MacBook Air via the SD slot, without changing its slim profile.
TarDisk adds 64GB of flash storage to your MacBook Air via the SD slot, without changing its slim profile.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

The MacBook Air is delightfully lean, but it’s less than pleasing when its drive space runs thin. It’s a costly hassle to upgrade the internal drive, which makes TarDisk’s 64 gig SD drive expansion a very attractive alternative. It plugs right into the SD slot on the side of your laptop and stays out of the way, for an easy expansion that you can get right now for just $99.99.

How to quickly recover deleted notes on iOS

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Notes-2
Always deleting important notes? Don't worry, we've got you covered.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Notes on iOS is an extremely useful app, and it got more useful with the addition of password protection in iOS 9.3. Keeping bank codes, addresses, passwords and more has never been more secure from outside threats. But that doesn’t mean it’s safe from you.

If you tend to tidy up apps and notes in a rush — as I do — you may end up deleting something you need or want. And if you haven’t finished with that note yet, that becomes a big problem. But it’s one that’s easy to fix.

In this week’s Quick Tips video, I’m going to show you how to recover deleted notes and restore all those personal details you’ve jotted down to their rightful place.

Check the video out below.

Google Chrome will swap Flash for HTML5 this fall

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Google-Chrome
Slowly but surely Flash is dying.
Photo: Apple

Google is finally stepping up its bid to kill Flash content. Later this year, its Chrome browser will default to HTML5 wherever possible, using Flash only as a last resort.

The move should make Chrome speedier and more stable — and better on battery life when used on a MacBook.

Gorgeous puzzle game Mekorama hopes to be 2016’s Monument Valley

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mekorama
Familiar, but with a difference.
Photo: Martin Magni

I was an enormous fan of the puzzle game Monument Valley, and it appears that I was far from the only one.

That’s based on the look of new iOS puzzler Mekorama, which adopts a similarly surreal aesthetic for a game that looks set to dazzle, delight and downright befuddle gamers mobile gamers everywhere.

Check out the trailer — and download link — below.

‘Leaked’ iPhone 7 confirms what we all feared

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iPhone 6 Plus_5
The iPhone 7 is on its way. But a major redesign apparently isn't.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The iPhone 7 is still four months away from debuting, but a new picture “leaked” online appears to give us another early glimpse of the next-gen handset — suggesting once again that this might not be a significant redesign from the current iPhone 6s.

Check it out below.

Larry Ellison: Steve Jobs shot down my Apple takeover plans

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Why Salesforce chief gave up AppStore.com for Apple
Oracle's founder says Steve Jobs didn't re-join Apple for the cash.
Photo: Ben Stanfield/Flickr CC

Oracle Chairman and CTO Larry Ellison gave the commencement speech at the University of Southern California late last week, and among other things he talked about a plan with his best friend, Steve Jobs, concerning a mid-1990s bid to stage a takeover of Apple.

And how Steve talked him out of it.

iOS 9 adoption hits 84 percent, weeks before iOS 10 arrives

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iOS 9 is good, but iOS 10 needs to be spectacular.
More than 8 out of 10 users are now running iOS 9.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

With WWDC (and, presumably, iOS 10’s debut) weeks away, Apple has revealed that 84 percent of possible users are now upgraded to iOS 9, currently the latest version of its mobile OS.

For those keeping track at home, not only is that an extra 4 percent increase from the numbers announced at Apple’s iPhone SE launch event in March, but it also puts Android’s fragmented adoption figures to shame.

From iPhone lens kits to waterproof smartwatches, the latest deals at Cult of Mac [Deals]

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These 3 lenses will up your iPhone camera game into DSLR territory
These 3 lenses will up your iPhone camera game into DSLR territory
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Wow, this week we brought in a truly great haul of fresh deals. It’s all about variety — lenses to take even better photos with your iPhone, a combination smartwatch/fitness tracker that’s waterproof, a kit of custom screwdrivers for repairing electronics, and courses in product management. There’s something here for everybody, and all at massively reduced prices.

Take a look:

The unreal price of old Apple tech and our Best List of the gadgets we covet on The CultCast

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Want to trade your iPod for a sports car?
Want to trade your iPod for a sports car?
Photo: Listener @YSR50

This week, on The CultCast: Apple aims to end music downloads; you can now live stream your aerial drone flights to iDevices worldwide; staggering facts about who’s making money in the app store; creators of Siri demo an even smarter AI; the ridiculous resale value of old Apple tech; and we reveal our Best List of the gadgets we’re currently coveting.

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.

From iOS storage to coding classes: Cult of Mac’s best deals this week [Deals]

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DUO adds 64 gigs of space to your iOS device, and lets you transfer data effortlessly.
DUO adds 64 gigs of space to your iOS device, and lets you transfer data effortlessly.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Here we go again, sharing our favorites from the week’s deals on gadgets and lessons. This round we’ve got a massive expansion for iOS storage, a powerful PDF flipbook maker, and comprehensive lessons in coding and Microsoft Office.

Take a look:

The many faces of Steve Jobs, ending ‘wrist rage,’ and the weird world of iPod collectors

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Art comes in many forms.
Art comes in many forms.
Photo: Stephen Smith/Cult of Mac

But is it art? There’s a whole new way of looking at these works, in the form Steve P Jobs himself–or at least his likeness.

Learn all about these odd yet interesting portraits of the late Apple co-founder, including tattoos, technology-art, and the bubble wrap portrait you see above, as you browse this week’s Cult of Mac Magazine.

Inside this deliciously digital magazine-style app, you’ll find out more about possibilities for the new Apple Watch OS, how to retrain Siri to make better sense of your verbalizations, inside the weird world of iPod collectors, and all the reviews and how-tos you need to stay up to date on tech through an Apple lens.

Here are this week’s top stories.

Should Apple kill off iTunes music downloads? [Friday Night Fights]

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fnf
Are you ready for a world without music downloads?
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

iTunes music downloads still rake in millions of dollars every quarter for Apple, but they’re falling fast.

FNF-bugAccording to sources who claim to be actively working with the company, it is already mulling the idea of chopping music sales completely in as little as two years, and instead placing an even greater focus on Apple Music.

Is it a good idea for Apple to boot such a popular service in the same way it massacred floppy discs and FireWire, forcing users to stream all their music? Or should it keep iTunes alive until downloads die out naturally?

Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we battle it out over the future of the world’s most popular music store.

Google I/O iPhone app is perfect for switch-hitting coders

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Google-IO-iPhone
I/O on iPhone.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

If you’re an iPhone user who loves Google, or you just like to keep up with the competition, then you’ll be pleased to know there’s now an official iPhone app for next week’s Google I/O conference.

You can use it to keep track of events, navigate your way around if you’re going to be there, and to watch the keynote and sessions live if you’ve been following from home.