You can get your hands on Gboard today if you live in the U.S. Photo: Google
Google just launched its very first keyboard for iPhone and iPad — and it’s awesome.
Called Gboard, and designed to look a lot like the default iOS keyboard at first glance, it’s jam-packed with useful features, including the ability to type with glide gestures, send GIFs, and search Google from almost anywhere.
Taylor Swift is becoming Apple Music's biggest fan. Photo: Apple
Taylor Swift is quickly becoming the face of Apple Music. The pop sensation has appeared in yet another ad for Apple’s streaming service in which she goes crazy for “I Believe in a Thing Called Love”by British rock band The Darkness.
Devs aren't left waiting for so long thanks to Apple. Photo: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac
Apple has cut the amount of time it takes to approve new submissions for the App Store down to just one day, claims a new report.
The initiative — which is part of Apple’s efforts to focus on improving its services at a time when iPhone sales are decreasing — means that, in the past year alone, the mean number of days it takes an app to be approved has fallen from 8.8 down to only 24 hours.
Imagine that you’re in a Samsung team meeting. You’ve been asked to come up with unique ideas for a Galaxy S7 case and, because it’s late in the day and all the good ideas have already been voiced, you start coming up with joke suggestions.
Since everyone seems to love giant smartphones, you quip that some people might like it if you created a case the size of a surfboard. People could even use it for real, since the S7 is water-resistant. You look at the rest of the group, expecting someone to laugh. Your boss doesn’t crack a smile. Then he reaches for his phone and you fear that you’re out of a job.
“I’ve got a member of my team down here who deserves a massive raise,” he says.
Siri feeling slow? Speed it up with this quick tip! Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Have you ever noticed that Siri understands you less and less as the months go by? The digital assistant works great when you first set it up on a shiny new iPhone, but over time, it has a habit of becoming annoyingly inaccurate.
In this week’s Quick Tips video, I’m going to show you how to retrain Siri. By improving its recognition of your voice, you can make it work just as well as it once did.
Parents of missing teens had hoped Apple would be able to shed some light on disappearance. Photo: Blu Stephanos
Apple has reportedly admitted defeat when it comes to saving the iPhone 6 belonging to 14-year-old Austin Stephanos, who went missing with his friend Perry Cohen last July 24 — only for his damaged, non-working smartphone to be discovered off the coast of Bermuda.
It was hoped that being able to get the iPhone up and running would offer some answers about what happened to the two boys, whose disappearance prompted an extensive eight-day search of the Atlantic, spanning 50,000 nautical miles.
The FBI isn't backing down in its war on end-to-end encryption. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Fighting Apple may, according to some, have been the FBI’s worst PR disaster in history, but even its failure to convince Congress of its goals isn’t stopping its war on encryption — with FBI director James Comey telling reporters this week that more litigation can be expected as the feds seek to hack devices.
Update: Apple is denying a report that it plans to stop selling downloads within the next few years. “Not true,” Apple rep Tom Neumayr told Re/code Wednesday afternoon without elaborating.
Apple is planning to give iTunes music downloads the boot in as little as two years, according to sources currently working with the company.
With sales already falling, Apple will instead focus its efforts on persuading fans to stream tracks and albums through Apple Music.
A Pegatron toilet that had to accommodate up to 40 workers. Photo: The Daily Mail
A rare look inside the abandoned facilities where Chinese workers toiled away making iPhones reveals a grim environment that’s a long way from Silicon Valley’s plush lifestyle.
Depressing images reveal the tiny rooms where up to 12 Pegatron workers slept each night, the dirty dining areas where they ate, and the disgusting bathrooms where they washed.
Everybody wants to bring their own device to work. AirWatch takes the hassle out of BYOD. Photo: William Iven/Pixabay CC
This post is brought to you by VMware AirWatch.
If you know what the word “containerization” means, you probably work in IT (or you’re tech-savvy and adventurous enough to run afoul of your IT department on a regular basis). Containerization is the method of securing a device for corporate use by putting a part of it behind some type of authentication — without managing the actual device.
It’s a common practice in the corporate world, especially for bring your own device (or BYOD) environments, because containerization is often viewed as more lightweight than mobile device management, aka MDM. Users also may assume that MDM is overly intrusive and that containerization is a good compromise.
However, many of these issues are already solved for iOS. By leveraging Apple’s built-in privacy protections, AirWatch allows IT departments to preserve the native device experience while protecting corporate data.
Google Translate goes offline. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac
When you’re lost in a foreign country without a data connection, Google Translate can now help you get directions from a local. Its latest update for iPhone and iPad adds the ability to get offline translation in 52 different languages.
Craig Sarich with a Steve Jobs tribute design tattooed on his arm. Photo: Craig Sarich
Apple fans felt a deep sense of mourning in 2011 when Apple founder Steve Jobs succumbed to cancer. With the fifth anniversary of his passing approaching, Cult of Mac looks at the artistic tributes that followed.
Nothing grants a person supreme being status like a tattoo. After all, the ink is permanent.
So even if the late Steve Jobs had a well-established legacy as the father of personal computing, some Apple fans felt the need to wear their devotion more deeply.
Previous leaks have already revealed an iPhone with a dual-lens camera. Photo: Bastille Post
You may not have to pay extra for a high-end iPhone 7 Plus with a dual-lens camera after all. According to one reliable analyst, Apple now plans to deliver the upgrade as standard on all 7 Plus models as demand for greater smartphone cameras increases.
Get more out of your commute with one or two of these pannier backpacks. Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac
Best List: Convertible Pannier Backpack by Two Wheel Gear
When I commuted to my office via bicycle a few years back, I had two choices, a backpack or a pannier bag. The backpack usually won out, because who wants to carry around a massive set of bags when they get to the office?
But a backpack can get heavy and sweaty as it sits on my back while I pedal furiously across town to get to work, so I’d end up trying the pannier thing every once in a while, dealing with the awkward carry when I’d arrive.
Two Wheel Gear has a nice compromise, however, a convertible bag that’s made to connect to your rear bike rack, pannier-style, that also converts into a handsome, rugged backpack to easily carry around once you reach your destination.
Get access to the world's most powerful suite of tools for digital creation. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
If you use a computer to make content, you’re going to be working with Adobe. The company’s software is key to everything from photography and video editing to website design and digital document drafting. And all these powerful programs are contained within Adobe’s Creative Cloud suite.
Instagram is rolling out a brand new user interface on iPhone that ditches bright colors to make your photos look even prettier… but no one really cares about that. The real news is the brand new logo that comes with it.
Filled with beautifully bright colors like a sweet acid trip, it’s the first new logo Instagram has had since it launched five years ago, and it replaces the familiar retro camera, which was starting to look a little long in the tooth.
But a new report underlines just how poorly Microsoft Stores are doing as they finally crawl past the 100 store milestone — but without being able to attract a significant number of customers along the way.
Back up your iPhone to your Mac on the go. Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac
Want a quick way to move your photos, music and documents from your iPhone to your Mac? What about backing up your iPhone on the go?
iKlips Duo is an innovative little gadget that will do both. It’s a well-made, MFi-certified USB stick that lets you connect to your iPhone (or iPad) via its Lightning port and to your Mac via a USB 3 port. Toss it in your bag and rest assured that you’ve always got a way to get your data off your iOS device.
It’s simple, easy and doesn’t require iTunes or iCloud. Here’s how to transfer your iPhone media to your Mac or PC, and then put it back, if you like, using the iKlips Duo.
WhatsApp has debuted its official OS X native app. Photo: WhatsApp
Having followed Cupertino’s lead with end-to-end encryption, WhatsApp is further ingratiating itself with Apple fans by introducing a new official Mac desktop app.
The Apple Watch is the only Apple product Sculley doesn't currently own. Photo: Web Summit/Flickr CC
Even a year on from its launch, former Apple CEO John Sculley isn’t convinced the Apple Watch is a must-have Apple device just yet.
“I think the Apple Watch is beautiful, but it doesn’t have enough utility to be something that I feel I have to have at this point in time,” he says in a new interview with The Street, noting that it’s the only major Apple product he doesn’t use.
It's tough to make it in the App Store. Photo: Apple
You’ve probably heard it’s hard to make money in the App Store, but not for a small few. Last quarter, a staggering 94 percent of App Store revenue generated in the U.S. went to just the top 1 percent of app publishers, according to new data.
Apple today made a number of changes to Apple News that make the platform much more friendly for content publishers — especially those who are only just signing up. The company now allows all channels to use custom graphics, and allows old stories to be added seamlessly.
Give your phone a jump-start with the JumPack. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
JumPack Power Pack CPP 8000 by Cobra
If you’re anything like me, you carry a ton of gadgets. Keeping them all charged is a juggling act and, inevitably, there’s always one device I’ve neglected to keep juiced.
Coming to my rescue though, Cobra sent over a JumPack Power Pack to charge up all my devices. Plus, it comes with an extra trick up its sleeve.
Tony Hawk, Madonna and No Doubt are just a few of the names whose signatures graced Special Edition models of the iPod Classic. Photo: Ivan Chernov
Nick Wellings listens to music on his iPhone, preferring not to disturb any one of his 108 iPods.
He figures his collection would hold 231,000 songs, but only one has ever been touched or seen the light of day. They remain factory-sealed in their boxes.
The iPod’s status as an icon was brief but seismic, a sleek and at-times-colorful trigger of upheaval to the music industry in the middle of the century’s first decade. Soon the iPhone, which grew more powerful with each generation, relegated the iPod to junk drawers, closets and boxes, next to that cassette-tape-playing Sony Walkman.