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Flexible stylus has some cool hidden talents [Reviews]

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StylusFlex
The StylusFlex does a bit more than just let you poke at your screen.
Photo: Evan Killham/Cult of Mac

StylusFlex

Most people don’t use a stylus with their iPhones, and late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs wouldn’t want them to. But the StylusFlex might change a few minds because it’s not simply a substitute for the five styli you have at the end of your arm.

You have plenty of reasons to just stick with your fingers when you’re using your iPhone or iPad, and this device seems to realize that. That’s why it does a few extra things that might help it earn its keep.

To work with data, you have to learn SQL [Deals]

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SQL
It's time you enlisted in SQL Bootcamp.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

In today’s digital job market, data is king. Learning to work with the vast oceans of data that inform today’s enterprises of all sizes can be intimidating, but one thing you can be sure you’ll need to know is the SQL database language.

Knowing how to build and manage databases is one of the most lucrative skills you can add to your resume, and right now you can learn learn SQL inside and out when you sign up for this SQL Bootcamp for only $49.

Viber follows Apple’s lead with end-to-end encryption

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viber-follows-apples-lead-with-end-to-end-encryption-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads201604Viber-Logo-png
Viber's new app update is a significant one.
Photo: Viber
Viber's new app update is a significant one. Photo: Viber
Viber’s new app update is a significant one. Photo: Viber

Popular cross-platform messaging service Viber has announced that it will follow Apple’s example by embracing user privacy through the introduction of end-to-end encryption.

Viber revealed today that it will start rolling this out for all of its one-to-one and group conversations, whether that be video, voice, or text messages. According to a spokesperson for the company, the encryption update will be available to users worldwide within “several weeks,” although an exact date isn’t specified.

Apple unleashes improved MacBooks, now in rose gold

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12-inch MacBook lineup
Aren't they stunning?
Photo: Apple

Update: As several readers have pointed out, right now Apple’s “buy” page appears to be down for its new MacBooks. Either the company’s not quite ready to make the MacBooks available for sale or someone in Cupertino is costing Apple thousands and thousands of dollars.

Apple today unveiled its new MacBooks, boasting the latest Intel processors, improved graphics, faster flash storage and an additional hour of battery life.

The new 12-inch notebooks are available in four different aluminum finishes, including gold, silver, space gray and — for the first time ever — rose gold.

How to get Apple Maps on your Apple TV (sort of)

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Plan your next trip from your couch.
Plan your next trip from your couch.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Have you ever tried to plan a trip with your posse while gathered around your iPhone? It’s kind of a mess. The tiny screen doesn’t really lend itself to larger viewings. Even an iPad is much smaller than one of those big-old paper maps we used to use to group plan.

If you want to use a big screen to find your way to a road trip this summer, perhaps TV Maps by Arno Appenzeller will do the trick, letting you plan a trip right on your giant screen TV.

This third-party Apple TV app will let you search a destination, get directions, and then send everything to the companion app on your iPhone, which will then launch Apple’s Map app to get you where you need to be.

Here’s how.

Futuristic Apple touchscreen will let you feel textures and temperatures

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iPadwood
Got wood?
Photo: Cult of Mac/Oscar Cortez

3D Touch is all well and good, but future Apple devices may incorporate advanced haptic technology which lets software simulate textures ranging from the grain of wood surface to the cold feeling of metal.

That’s according to a new patent published today by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, describing a “Touch Surface for Simulating Materials” through the touch-sensitive display or trackpad of an iPhone, iPad, or Mac.

Find My iPad leads police to gang of armed robbers

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iPad mini 4
Gang will have plenty of time to think about their mistakes behind bars.
Photo: Buster Hein/Cult of Mac

From reuniting families separated by a California wildfire to tracking down kidnapping victims, there are plenty of high drama stories concerning Apple’s location-tracking Find My iPhone/iPad feature for iOS.

Well, you can add one more to the list — as police in Bangkok recently captured a violent armed gang responsible for a string of vicious robberies in the country’s northern region — all thanks to their ill-advised decision to steal an iPad mini with the feature enabled.

U.S. government asked Apple for info on 5,192 users over past six months

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iPhone 6s
Apple is being transparent about government requests.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple has released its latest report on government information requests, showing how many times it has been asked to hand over data on its users over the six month span running from July to December 2015.

At a time when Apple was increasingly finding itself at odds with the Justice Department over the topic of encryption (something which exploded earlier this year with the San Bernardino shooting case), U.S. law enforcement made requests relating to 5,192 individual Apple accounts.

Apple Pay is now available to use in Singapore

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Apple in talks to bring Apple Pay to Israel
Apple Pay is available in a new market.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple Pay has made its debut in Singapore, bringing the total number of countries adopting Apple’s mobile payment service to six — also including the U.S., Canada, China, Australia, and United Kingdom.

As in Australia and Canada, the service is initially available only for American Express customers, although Apple says it looks forward to new banks and card providers joining throughout 2016.

How Apple makes encryption easy and invisible

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iPhone SE encryption
iPhone SE set for biggest upgrade yet.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Do you know how many times a day you unlock your iPhone? Every time you do, you’re participating in Apple’s user-friendly encryption scheme.

Friday, the company hosted a security “deep dive” at which it shared some interesting numbers about its security measures and philosophy as well as user habits. To be honest, we’re less concerned with how Apple’s standards work than the fact that they do and will continue to. But that’s kind of the point behind the whole system — Apple designed its encryption system so that we don’t even have to think about it.

Apple is secretly planning to take over Hollywood 

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Apple TV might get exclusive TV shows.
Apple TV might get exclusive TV shows.
Photo: Apple

Hollywood’s top filmmakers held secret meetings with Apple at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, according to a new report that claims Apple is planning to make a big play to take on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video by creating its own original TV shows and movies.

Apple hosted a secret ‘iTunes Lounge’ at Sundance for a number of invitation-only events for film makers, producers, actors, and other A-list talent to hear the company’s pitch on how it plans to create a ton of original content that will be exclusively available on Apple TV.

9.7-inch iPad Pro’s display is practically perfect

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x
The new iPad Pro may feature smaller bezels.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The TrueTone display on the new iPad Pro may actually be worth all the hype.

Experts at the display evaluating site DisplayMate have finally put the 9.7-inch iPad Pro display through a gauntlet of extensive testing and discovered that Apple’s new display is “by far the best performing mobile LCD display that has ever been tested.”

Change your Apple Watch language in a flash

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Force touch Apple Watch
Here's a hint.
Photo: Apple

This tip won’t help everyone, but it should be a huge timesaver for multilingual users: You can change your Apple Watch language for Messages with just a couple quick taps. And you can do it directly on the device without having to go into the companion app on your phone.

Here’s how to make it happen.

Siri reveals WWDC 2016 dates

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Siri
When is WWDC 2016? Siri knows.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Update: Apple has confirmed that its Worldwide Developers Conference 2016 will take place June 13 through June 17 in San Francisco. The keynote address will rock the stage at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, with the remainder of the week’s sessions at Moscone Center West. See below for registration details.

While Apple has not yet made public the dates or location for this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference, apparently Siri knows when and where the event will take place.

Kanye West and Tidal in hot water for putting Life of Pablo on Apple Music

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Kanye
The self-proclaimed 'Next Steve Jobs' is in trouble for loving Apple.
Photo: Justjared

Kanye West tricked fans into subscribing to Tidal, claims a new class-action lawsuit against the rapper for backtracking on his commitment to make ‘The Life of Pablo’ a Tidal exclusive.

Yeezus originally proclaimed that his highly anticipated new album would be available exclusively on Tidal and would never go on sale. In a Twitter rant a few days after the album’s release, West told fans the album would “never ever be on Apple,” only to turn around a month later and put it on Apple Music and Spotify.

It looks like it’s about to all fall down on Kanye, Jay Z and Tidal, now that some gold diggers are claiming it was all just a ploy to boost Tidal’s subscribers.

Clash of Clans maker warns gamers to play fair — or else

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Hit mobile game developer Supercell has a few words of warning for cheaters.
Hit mobile game developer Supercell has a few words of warning for cheaters.
Photo: Supercell

Quit cheating, or face the consequences, says top mobile developer Supercell, the team behind insanely popular games Clash of Clans and Clash Royale.

With the incredible popularity of these two top iOS mobile games, it’s no wonder that Supercell has had to crack down on cheaters.

Steve Jobs’ favorite tech adviser dies

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Bill Campbell served on Apple's board longer than anyone.
Bill Campbell served on Apple's board longer than anyone.
Photo: Niall Kennedy/Flickr

Legendary Silicon Valley tech adviser and former Apple board member Bill Campbell had died.

Campbell was popular for dishing out wise advice to top tech leaders like Steve Jobs, Larry Page and Jeff Bezos, and was popularly known by his nickname, “The Coach.”

Why I love both of Amazon’s new Echo smart speakers [Reviews]

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The Amazon Echo Tap is the portable, battery-powered member of the smart speaker family.
The Amazon Echo Tap is the portable, battery-powered member of the smart speaker family.
Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

Best List: Amazon’s Echo Dot and Echo Tap

Ask Amazon’s Echo smart speaker “How much does the Earth weigh?” and she’ll rattle off the answer in pounds. It takes about a full minute and is genuinely amusing. It’s just one of many surprises up Echo’s sleeve (see this crazy list of Echo Easter Eggs on Reddit). It proves she is by far the best computer you can talk to. Sorry Siri.

And now there are two new members of Amazon’s smart speaker family, both with significant advantages. I love them both, with a couple of caveats.

Avoid hitting walls online, try a different DNS [Deals]

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StreamJack

When you connect online, it’s through a Domain Name System, or DNS. Depending on which DNS network you use, you could be faced with various types of restrictions like blocked shows and sites, or run the risk of your data and identity being exposed to theft. StreamJack offers a proprietary DNS network that bypasses many of those issues, offering the chance to get access and anonymity no matter where you log on for just $29.

Android N brings native support for iPhone-like 3D Touch displays

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3D Touch app switching
3D Touch in action on iPhone 6s.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Android
3D Touch in action on iPhone 6s. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Android
3D Touch in action on iPhone 6s. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Android

Google’s upcoming Android N upgrade will bring native support for iPhone-like pressure-sensitive displays.

The move should make “3D Touch” screens more popular on Android, and will make it easier for app developers to take advantage of them.

You can now enjoy Amazon’s video service for $8.99 a month

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Amazon is taking the fight to Netflix.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Android
Amazon is taking the fight to Netflix. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Android
Amazon is taking the fight to Netflix. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Android

Amazon is stepping up its battle with competitor Netflix by introducing a payment option allowing customers to buy its streaming video service for a monthly fee of $8.99 — one dollar less than Netflix’s most popular subscription plan.

Previously Amazon’s video service was only available to Prime members, who paid $99 annually for cheaper, faster shipping, alongside other perks.

Apple has a secret ‘Project Titan’ R&D lab in Germany

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What will the Apple Car look like? And, more importantly, what will it do?
Ich bin ein Apple Car user.
Photo: Motor Trend

It seems that research for Apple’s automotive “Project Titan” is picking up speed, with a newly published report claiming Cupertino has opened a small R&D office in Berlin — with the sole purpose of inventing the electric car of the future.

The new Apple car facility employs between 15 and 20 “top-class” employees, many of whom have previously worked in Germany’s buoyant automotive industry. Skills include everything from creating software to mechanical engineering and sales expertise.