The closing of the iBook Store and iTunes movies in China might be the country’s first steps toward shutting Apple out, according to a leading expert on global political risks for corporations.
China has already become the second largest market for Apple in terms of sales, but the iPhone-maker could find itself banned from the country just like Facebook due to its privacy strategy that has already come under fire from government regulators.
Make the most of your Instagram feed with these eight killer Instagram tips and tricks that will make you an Insta-master.
Learn how to put together video in the Instagram app itself, keep stalkers off your Instagram feed, find amazing photos near your current location, and much more.
Two new iPhone 6s ads are zooming in on super high-def video and the power of your fingerprint.
While one is fairly straightforward and informative, the other is kind of … out there. We’re not entirely sure what to do with it, really. The entire Cult of Mac staff just watched it and had no words. But we really can’t stay mad at Neil Patrick Harris, who shows up at the end.
Check out the videos below.
Typing with one hand on the gigantic iPhone 6s Plus just got a whole lot easier thanks to one of Apple’s biggest rivals.
Microsoft revealed today that its new one-handed keyboard app “Word Flow” for iOS is finally ready for primetime after a week in public beta, and it does a lot more than just one-handed typing.
Full details of the iPhone 7 aren’t expected to be revealed until early this Fall, but thanks to the Apple rumor mill we may already know two of the device’s biggest features, and they could be more major than expected.
Apple will supposedly make its next iPhone both waterproof and dustproof, according to supply chain sources in China that also indicate the home button could get its biggest upgrade since the addition of Touch ID.
My dog has a new archenemy, and its name is Botvac.
Neato’s tiny automated robotic vacuum stirs my dog into a fit of worried anger every afternoon I send it out for a round of sweeping and vacuuming. It’s so magical my dog doesn’t trust it.
I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords. Mostly because I’m too lazy to be bothered with tasks like vacuuming.
If you’ve already updated to the latest Google Play Music release for Android and iOS, but you still can’t find the new podcasts section, here’s a simple fix that should bring it out of hiding.
Faster processors, speedier memory, longer battery life and a rose gold finish — what more do we need from a new MacBook? We love Apple gear, but it’s possible we’re getting addicted to the “wow” factor.
Add that to Prince’s untimely death, and the dearth of streaming options for listening to his music, and we’ve got a lot to talk about. It’s all in this week’s free Cult of Mac Magazine, along with reviews of Amazon’s new Echo smart speakers and 12 awesome Apple Watch tricks that prove Cupertino’s wearable doesn’t need a “killer app.”
Here are this week’s top stories.
Cult of Mac readers, it’s your last chance to get this prized writing utility Mac app! If you write on a computer, you know how much of a mess it can be to keep on top of your notes, drafts, research, edits, etc.
Luckily there’s Scrivener 2, an app that’s all about keeping the many parts of your writing process in one place. It’s won awards for its ability to streamline and organize the digital writing desk, it’s beloved by Cult of Mac readers (hey, that’s you!), and right now it can be yours for $22.50, a full half off the normal price.
Samsung will launch its next-generation Gear S3 smartwatch later this year, according to a new report, and the company has teamed up with a Swiss jeweler to create a luxury version that could take the fight to the all-gold Apple Watch Edition.
The Apple Watch celebrated its first birthday on Sunday and, while Apple has yet to publicly disclose sales figures, it seems that the company’s debut wearable device had quite the impressive debut year!
According to analysts, Apple likely sold around 12 million Apple Watches over the past year: around twice the number of iPhones it sold in the first twelve months of Apple’s breakthrough smartphone.
Released on Friday as a short-lived Tidal exclusive, Beyoncé’s latest album, entitled Lemonade, is now available to download via iTunes — comprising 12 music tracks, a one-hour film produced for HBO, and a “digital booklet.”
The $17.99 Lemonade has so far received strong critical reviews, although we’ll have to wait and see whether it can come close to achieving her last album’s record-breaking sales feat, which became the fastest-selling album in iTunes history.
Wall Street seemingly loves to be down on Apple, but if you want some figures to remind you of what a massive profit-generating giant the company is, look no further than the latest numbers collected by SiliconValley.com.
Analyzing the stats coming out of the top 150 Bay Area tech companies for 2015, Apple not only ranked number one in every important metric, but also recorded profits of $53.7 billion in 2015 — which translates to roughly 40 percent of the entire $133 billion Silicon Valley profit pool for the year.
And that’s not all.
Elon Musk has called the Apple Car an “open secret” and now, in a new interview, Ford CEO Mark Fields say that the automaker is acting on a “working assumption” that an Apple Car is not too far away.
Ford wouldn’t be willing to take on a contract manufacturing job, however — since it’s not into the “handset, commodity base business” as Fields puts it.
As the Apple supplier which came under fire a few years ago when one of its 15 year old workers died of pneumonia, iPhone manufacturer Pegatron has opened its doors to the media in an effort to show how much things have changed.
In the process, it sheds light on one of the hidden sides of iPhone production — and the means by which companies like Pegatron try and crack down on supply chain leaks about future Apple devices.
A billionaire serial entrepreneur from China, whose company LeEco offers an ecosystem of streaming video services, electric vehicles, television sets and smartphones, has lambasted Apple for failing to innovate — and says it is failing in China as a result.
“As an industry leader, Apple should be developing more cutting-edge products,” he said. “The iPhone was still a leader five years ago after being launched in 2008 but now the concept has fallen behind.”
Kind of funny considering that LeEco recently rushed to beat Apple to release a smartphone without a 3.5mm headphone jack!
After the craziness of the week, Sundays are the perfect day for kicking back and sampling some of the delights to have graced the App Store over the past week.
From self-destructing messaging keyboards to massive group chats to a fun zombie blasting game, we’ve combed through the recesses of the app marketplace to bring you the juiciest cuts that will make your remaining time until Monday as memorable as it can be.
Check out our picks below.
Blogging. For many it still conjures images of bearded, bespectacled dudes at coffee shops complaining to no one about nothing through their laptops. But of course (as you, dear reader, probably know very well), blogging has become one of the most robust and legitimate ways of contributing to the dialogue on the internet, and doing that right takes the right tools. Whether it’s capturing quality audio or compelling images, or just knowing the nuts and bolts of establishing and running a website, we’ve found some great deals on top notch tools and knowledge for doing blogging right.
This week on The CultCast: Why the new iPad Pro screen is “practically perfect”; stories from The Cult of Mac; our most anticipated WWDC 2016 announcements; a look at Apple’s newly updated MacBooks; Apple’s secret plan to create hit TV shows; and, have you ever wondered how rich you’d be if you invested in Apple’s IPO instead of buying its computers? We break down the numbers.
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.
Most fitness apps seem obsessed with calories. Go for a run, and your Apple Watch tells you how many calories you burned. Scan a barcode and MyFitnessPal tells you how many calories are in the food you are about to eat.
So what exactly are calories, and does counting them really help you achieve your fitness goals?
Whether keeping them charged, free from damage or just having enough connections for all the devices we use, our MacBooks can sometimes use a little help fulfilling our needs.
That’s why this collection of peripherals is exciting — there’s something here for everybody, and at prices that won’t last. Take a look:
Court filings from several law enforcement organizations say that people may just stop helping with police with their investigations if Apple gets its way in an iPhone encryption case in Brooklyn.
The Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, the Association of Prosecutor Attorneys, and the District Attorneys Association of the State of New York all presented their arguments to try to convince the presiding judge that the iPhone maker is subverting centuries of law by refusing to help in a drug case.
Cupertino is about to crack down on non-native Apple Watch apps.
The company posted a new requirement on its developer site that says that in the near future, all new apps must run natively on the device and originate in the watchOS 2 development kit. This new policy could finally get us some Apple Watch apps that work as well as we’d like them to.
You know, instead of some of the ones we have no, which kind of don’t.
Designers have found a lot of interesting ways to cover your precious laptop, but this might be a new one: a marble MacBook case that gives your device a cool, classic look. This one comes courtesy of Elemnt and rawbkny, the same people who found a way to give you a wooden keyboard, and this is easily their most ambitious project yet.
“We have managed to cut down the marble slab to 0.8mm thickness, backed with fiberglass and 3M pressure sensitive adhesive,” Elemnt’s Mikhail Novikov said in an e-mail. “The marble cover is rigid yet flexible enough to wrap the MacBook all around using specific lasercut lines to allow the edges to bend. The marble is sourced directly from Milan, Italy.”
Developer David Repas just wants to give you some free stuff with no obligation on your part.
“I’m just one guy trying to create a company around giving stuff away,” he tells Cult of Android. “I’m not into people tracking, annoying users or any of that funny business.”
The app, Finagle, is the simplest we’ve seen. Download it for iOS or Android, add in your email and mobile number and boom, you’re set. Simply look at the latest giveaway (Repas is offering a Pebble Time smartwatch currently) and you’re entered a random drawing to win.
Getting free stuff is never this easy. What’s the catch?