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Google can now locate your lost iOS devices

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Screen Shot 2016-06-02 at 16.34.39
Thanks, Google!
Photo: Google

So you forgot to activate Find My iPhone when setting up your new iOS device, and now you’ve lost it. Fear not, because thanks to Google, you have a backup service.

Simply type “I lost my phone” into Google Search and you’ll be able to locate all the devices connected to your account.

This slim SD card adds a huge chunk of storage [Deals]

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Nifty MiniDrive instantly adds 128 gigs of space to your Macbook, without adding a bulky external drive.
Nifty MiniDrive instantly adds 128 gigs of space to your Macbook, without adding a bulky external drive.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

If you’ve ever found yourself up against the limits of your Macbook’s hard drive, raise the limit. The Nifty MiniDrive instantly adds 128GB of storage, fitting seamlessly with the contours of the MacBook, eliminating the need for bulky external hard drives. Right now you can get a Nifty MiniDrive for $33.99 at Cult of Mac Deals.

Check out the crazy attention to detail at Apple’s new San Francisco store

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Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

SAN FRANCISCO — Look carefully at the cracks in the sidewalk around Apple’s new flagship store in San Francisco. They all line up with architectural elements of the store.

Some are continuous with the metal panels on the exterior walls. Some line up with the windows, and the huge glass panels that make up the 42-foot high front door. Some of the cracks are continuous with the stone floor tiles inside the store.

In turn, the joints in the floor line up with panels on the wall, which line up with the lighting panels on the ceiling.

In fact, most of the lines in the store — the edges of the glass balconies, cutouts in the middle of the tables, the edges of shelves and drawers — all line up with other elements of the store.

Some of these lines run continously from the sidewalk in front of the store all the way through to the tree-lined plaza in the back. It’s a bit crazy, when you examine it, and very, very difficult to pull off.

Apple ace reporter Mark Gurman is moving to Bloomberg

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Mark Gurman, of 9to5Mac, chats with a developer at the AltConf Journalist Pitch Lab in San Francisco, CA, June 3, 2014. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Mark Gurman is Apple PR's worst nightmare.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Few Apple bloggers can strike fear in the heart of Apple execs like 9to5Mac’s Mark Gurman, and starting next month the ace Apple reporter will be taking his scooping talents to Bloomberg.

Gurman has been one of the most prolific Apple reporters during his time at 9to5Mac. Despite being just 22 years-old, the scoop master has revealed some of Apple’s biggest products and software updates well in advance of their official unveilings.

Now with the full backing of the Bloomberg media machine, Gurman will be extending his reporting skills to cover other tech companies. According to a memo sent to staff by Bloomberg editor Brad Stone, Mark Gurman will now cover consumer products made by Apple as well as its rivals.

Hungry in China? Get ready to DianPing it

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China's Dianping app combines crowdsource reviews like Yelp with group discounts like Groupon.
China's Dianping app combines crowdsource reviews like Yelp with group discounts like Groupon.
Photo: Virginia Werner/Cult of Mac

Made_in_china_bugMainland China is Apple’s second biggest market, and will one day be its first. The company is making a big push on the mainland, opening new stores and investing in home-grown companies. Why the interest? Because China is the new Japan — it’s where the future is happening. All this week we take a look at the cutting-edge apps that define mobile life on the mainland.

SHANGHAI CITY, China — “Where are we going to eat? Have you DianPing-ed it yet?” These are questions my friends and I often ask each other when we get together. This convenient app, backed by internet powerhouse Tencent Holdings, is a great tool that combines the functions of Groupon and Yelp.

iPhone shipments will get worse before they get better

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iPhone 6 Plus_7
Apple will have to wait until next year for iPhone growth to return.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple is confident the iPhone will bounce back from its current slump in demand, but new forecasts suggest shipments will get worse before they get better. Researchers don’t expect growth to return until 2017 when Apple introduces bigger upgrades.

Coach leaks Apple Watch bands before official unveiling

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Watch out Apple Watch, Google is coming for you.
Coach is busting out some fancy Apple Watch bands.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Move over Hermes. There’s a new high-end fashion brand that is ready to capitalize on the Apple Watch and its leather bands will be launching soon.

Coach has secretly listed its first Apple Watch bands on its website. An official unveiling of the luxury leather bands is still in the works, but based on the early listings it appears that the bands will come at a relatively cheap price point.

Apple will host its WWDC 2016 keynote on June 13

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Apple's WWDC keynote is confirmed!
Photo: Apple

Apple has begun inviting members of the press to its WWDC 2016 keynote on June 13.

The event kicks off at 10 a.m. PT in the Bill Graham Auditorium in San Francisco, and it should deliver our first sneak peeks at iOS 10 and Apple’s next major upgrades for watchOS, tvOS, and OS X.

How silly songs about the iPhone sparked a music career

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When the Moog strikes, Parry Gripp writes funny songs about anything.
When the Moog strikes, Parry Gripp writes funny songs about anything.
Photo: Dana E. Ross

Cult of Mac 2.0 bugParry Gripp was the lead vocalist of a promising pop punk band that had a record deal and stardom just around the corner.

Success never came and just as Parry Gripp was set to give up, a new career in music rose from the ashes — by accident — thanks to the iPhone and Apple.

The technology company was not only fodder for Gripp’s brand of absurd novelty music he was creating but, through iTunes, Apple provided a way for him to publish his music and start to make a living.

Win It Wednesday: 5 years of the complete Adobe Creative Cloud [Deals]

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Enter now to win five years of free access to Adobe's Creative Cloud.
Enter now to win five years of free access to Adobe's Creative Cloud.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Content creators of all types and stripes use Adobe products, whether they know it or not. From Photoshop, Premiere and Indesign to Flash and Acrobat, Adobe underpins everything from photography and video to web design and digital documents. All of the above is wrapped up in Adobe’s Creative Cloud, and now’s your chance to get access to the whole shebang for a full five years, at no cost.

Enter to win five years of access to this invaluable suite of tools — a $2,999 value! — at Cult of Mac Deals.

iPhone 7 and 7 Plus to come in 256GB storage options

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Screen Shot 2016-06-01 at 15.49.39
There could be a lot more storage inside your next iPhone.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s next-generation iPhones could be its biggest yet — at least as far as storage is concerned.

According to one research firm, both the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus will come in whopping 256GB options, while the latter will also pack more RAM.

WeChat is the messaging app that’s more like a mobile OS

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WeChat
China's WeChat is a messaging app tha offers just about everything, from text messaging to instant payments. It's a monster, with mote than 1 billion registered users.
Photo: Virginia Werner/Cult of Mac

Made_in_china_bugMainland China is Apple’s second biggest market, and will one day be its first. The company is making a big push on the mainland, opening new stores and investing in home-grown companies. Why the interest? Because China is the new Japan — it’s where the future is happening. All this week we take a look at the cutting-edge apps that define mobile life on the mainland.

SHANGHAI CITY, China — Now that I use WeChat, I don’t need much else when it comes to social media apps. In fact, WeChat has almost entirely replaced text messaging in China. I am able to link up with other WeChat users through their username without providing a telephone number, so it is a great platform for communicating with new acquaintances or people I am working with.

I have hundreds of WeChat contacts, but only a handful of telephone numbers in my iPhone. The app also recently introduced group video messaging and has an extensive WeChat Wallet service (similar to Zhifubao) available to Chinese bank account holders.

Facebook Messenger may soon add end-to-end encryption

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Facebook messaging apps
Messenger is finally getting encryption.
Photo: Facebook

Facebook plans to tighten security on its popular Messenger platform this summer, but it won’t be turned on for all users by default.

Messenger will add a new end-to-end encryption feature that prevents hackers and the government from being able to read your text messages. Facebook won’t be able to read your messages either though, and that will seriously hurt its ability to make bots great if you decide to opt-in to better security.

Harvard and MIT teamed up for this open-source online education platform

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Education is easy with EDX's learning platform.
Education is easy with EDX's learning platform.
Photo: EDX

This post is brought to you by EdX.

It’s often said that the internet makes it possible for anyone to get educated on any subject. But just as in offline modes of education, the many models of online teaching and learning are far from perfect, with plenty of room for improvement and innovation.

A joint effort between Harvard and MIT — dubbed EdX — is aiming to provide not only a place for learning new skills, but a platform for innovating new ways of teaching and learning over the web. It’s a nonprofit online education platform partnered with nearly 100 of the world’s leading universities and institutions — Harvard, MIT, Microsoft, Caltech, Columbia, you get the picture — to provide students anywhere in the world access to more than 1,000 certified courses. As an open-source platform, it also offers educators an opportunity to design and implement their own modes of teaching.

Beastly all-in-one proves the iMac could be great for gaming

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The Aura is spectacular inside and out.
Photo: Digital Storm

Apple doesn’t have gamers in mind when choosing components for its latest Macs, but PC maker Digital Storm has proven that it’s possible to build a beastly gaming rig into the iMac’s gorgeous all-in-one form factor.

Check out the company’s stunning new Aura PC, which puts NVIDIA’s latest GTX 1080 graphics card behind a 34-inch curved display.

Apple Campus 2 nears closer to completion in latest drone video

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Apple moves in early next year.
Apple moves in early next year.
Photo: Jerry Gonzo

Construction on Apple’s new campus isn’t expected to be completed until the end of the year, but the spaceship is starting to come into shape in the latest flyover video that shows some buildings have already been completed.

Tim Cook’s beautiful pile of dirt keeps growing in Matthew Roberts’ latest drone footage of the new campus that takes a look at the massive 11,000 vehicle car garage that is nearly finished, as well as a new plaza that’s being constructed near the underground theater entrance.

Watch the action below: