Mainland 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 — In China, 478 million people — more than the entire population of the United States — listen to music online, according to government statistics. I am one of those people, and in China I have joined the reported 80 million active users of QQ Music to stream music on my iPhone.

With WWDC 2016 set to kick off in just 10 days, Apple has released a new update to its annual WWDC app that makes it easy to keep track of all the new software and announcements, even if you’re not attending the conference.

Developers will now be able to virtually attend sessions thanks to the new live streaming tools that come with the new tvOS version of the WWDC app, as well as multitasking picture-in-picture option for the iPad version.

Former Apple marketing guru Ken Segall helped launched Apple’s string of i-devices, but now he says that the company has lost its way from simplicity lately and there’s no clearer sign than the confusing naming scheme of the iPhone.

In a recent op-ed claiming Apple’s days of simplicity may have died with his buddy Steve Jobs, Segall takes Apple’s product names to tasks for being far too complex for customers to keep track, saying Tim Cook has created products that he finds bewildering.

Google’s DeepMind team has been working with scientists to create a way in which humans can kill artificial intelligence agents before they can turn on us.

It’s a concern many have as the AI systems being developed by tech giants become more intelligent and more capable — but Google has us covered.

Apple’s business model is based on the future, but sometimes a fan pines for the machine they had as a kid.

Self-taught hardware hacker and 3D printer artist Charles Mangin happily tries to satisfy those vintage tech longings by recreating pieces of Apple’s past in miniature. He even brings the screens to life — sort of.

Just days after it arrived on the App Store, NBA star Steph Curry’s emoji app, StephMoji, has already shot to the top of the paid apps list.

Because which indie devs need your money more than a $12 million per year basketball player?

Getting online is getting in position to be hacked, snooped or blocked. Hotspot Shield dramatically reduces the risk of all of the above, encrypting your data through high speed connections with a secure and private network even via public Wi-Fi. If you’re uneasy about identity theft, frustrated by geo restrictions, or having your activity tracked, sign up with Hotspot Shield Elite VPN for life for $39.99 at Cult of Mac Deals.

Facebook is giving up on its attempt to be your go-to news outlet. Just seven months after it made its initial debut, the standalone Notify app, which provided push notifications for breaking news, is no more.

The 4-inch iPhone SE may not be the go-to choice of users wanting to get their hands on Apple’s premium handsets, but they’ve proven immensely popular in developing markets where they’ve been causing a major headache for Chinese makers of low-cost phones.

With that in mind, it’s no surprise to hear that Xiaomi — a company not exactly not for its reluctance to rip off Apple’s ideas — is rumored to be developing a smaller-sized smartphone aimed at taking back some of the ground it’s lost to the iPhone SE.

You may identify as an Apple fan in life, but is that really the way you’d like to be best-remembered in death?

If so, a company called Autograph, founded by Serbian artist Pavel Kayuk, may be able to help you. It has created a tombstone in the shape of an iPhone, referred to (of course) as the iTombstone — forever marking you out as coolest character in the graveyard. Or something like that.

Apple’s often-ridiculed Maps app is getting some much-needed assistance, thanks to a recent new hire who helped invent the satellite navigation systems used by a bevy of automakers. 

Sinisa Durekovic, a software engineer who was the principle architect and engineer for Harman International Industries’ navigation systems, has reportedly joined Apple, and the company won’t say what he is working on.

Having trouble using iCloud, iTunes, or pretty much any other Apple service right now?

It’s not just you. Multiple Apple services are currently down and there’s no word on when they’ll be coming back up.

Mainland 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 — A Chinese friend of mine recently started a fashion blog and asked me to take and edit some photos of her. We met up one sunny afternoon and I snapped various shots of her posing in a local park for an hour or so. After the shoot, we took a look at the photos together and she selected a few for me to edit. I took a crack at the photos in Photoshop, but she was far from satisfied.

“You barely even fixed my face,” she told me. “Just send me the photos and I’ll edit them on my iPhone.”

I was mystified. What iPhone app can rival the technology of Photoshop? How exactly was she going to “fix” her face?

Apple is expected to introduce a massive MacBook Pro redesign later this year, and photos recently published by Cult of Mac all but confirm it will feature an OLED touchpad and USB-C connectivity.

But it seems the company will have to win some fans over first, because many aren’t happy about these changes.

The folks at Chick-fil-A have found a magical formula for shooting to the top of the App Store charts: free chicken.

To promote its new mobile ordering app, the chicken-based fast food company is giving away free chicken sandwiches, all you have to do is download the new app and createa Chick-fil-A One account.

We’ve got another bonanza of discounted Apple gear, from laptops to desktops. These and more are in the best Apple deals we’ve seen this week.

Used Apple MacBook Air Laptops from $479

Other World Computing discounts a selection of used Apple MacBook Air Laptops, with prices starting at $479. This price was found on a 13″ MacBook Air with Core i5 Sandy Bridge processor, 64GB SSD and 4GB RAM. Plus, all orders qualify for free shipping. Available quantities for some models may be limited. Each is covered by a 90-day warranty.

Apple took a major step this week toward getting out of its $533 million payment to the patent troll Smartflash LLC after the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ruled that two of three patents owned by Smartflash are invalid.

The patent agency ruled that the two of the patents shouldn’t have even been issues in the first place because they are abstract concepts and not specific inventions. The USPTO made a similar ruling against one of Smartflash’s patents in March, which could help Apple get the case dismissed.

Microsoft today announced that it’s opening up its HoloLens platform to third-parties — and it has a crazy new ad to celebrate.

The three-minute clip showcases some of HoloLens’ insane capabilities, like turning an old warehouse into a shoe store, putting people from around the world in the same room, and taking you on sublime acid trips without the acid.

Apple will not be updating its old ass Thunderbolt display anytime soon, despite rumors that suggested the company was planning to unveil a new 5K Thunderbolt display with a built-in GPU at this year’s WWDC.

Apple should have started development on the Apple Car a lot earlier than it did, according to Space X and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

The real-life comic-book superhero sat down for an interview at Code Conference and said that when it comes to autonomous cars, Google won’t be a competitor because they’re not a car company, however Apple will be.

Musk thinks it may be too late for Apple to be truly competitive though.

It looks like a dual-lens camera will be the most exciting upgrade for the iPhone 7 Plus this year, but you might be able to get one a month early from Samsung.

According to one report, the South Korean company is expected to deliver one inside the Galaxy Note 7 edge, which is due to make its debut in mid-August.

9.7-inch iPad Pro devices that were bricked by Apple’s initial release of iOS 9.3.2 are finally getting some relief today in the form of a new update that should set everything right.

Two dating Mac geeks set a gift ground rule one Christmas: presents must be handmade.

Roberto Hoyos, with the ability to sew in his DNA, crafted seven throw pillows in the shape of the Mac OS X icons. The Apple fan couple is no longer an item — but the pillows are.

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.

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.