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Managing multiple Instagram accounts is finally easier

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Account switching is coming to Instagram.
Account switching is coming to Instagram.
Photo: Instagram

Switching between multiple Instagram accounts will get a whole lot easier this week.

Instagram has tested a new feature for months that allows users to manage multiple accounts without logging out and signing in again every time. The company revealed today that its account-switching feature is finally ready for prime time and will roll out to iOS and Android very soon.

Sometimes the best gift for the tech-minded isn’t just another gizmo

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The Hullo is a perfectly simple gift for the tech-saturated.
The Hullo is a perfectly simple gift for the tech-saturated.
Photo: Hulltex

Hackathon may finally create great Apple TV apps

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Apple TV
The next big app might be yours.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Just a few months after release, the Apple TV has just about 3,600 apps in its App store. That’s a ton of entertainment, games, and media apps waiting to be discovered on the big screen.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a single killer app among them.

AppLovin, a mobile adverting and analysis firm, is hoping to change all that with the first ever Apple TV contest and hackathon, to be held in San Francisco this coming April.

Priority Bicycles drop the chain for a ‘maintenance-free’ ride

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Priority makes owning a bike simple.
Priority makes owning a bike simple.
Photo: Buster Hein/Cult of Mac

Best List: Priority Bicycles Classic Diamond frame bike

When it comes to bicycles I am profoundly inept. Riding is fine. Just don’t ask me to fix it when it breaks.

My assembly and maintenance skills are so bad, the last time I reviewed a bike I put a critical piece on the wrong side and didn’t realize my error for weeks until someone finally pointed it out in pics.

So when the folks at Priority Bicycles told me they have a bike that pretty much never ever needs repairs, I couldn’t wait to saddle up and see how well it rides.

watchOS 2.2 and tvOS 9.2 get third beta updates

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Apple Watch
Will Apple finally deliver one of our most-requested features for watchOS?
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Developers can now download the third beta builds of tvOS 9.2 and watchOS 2.2, which bring a number of changes to the Apple Watch and Apple TV platforms.

Apple’s release notes for the software updates don’t contain clues about the new features, but users who have already installed tvOS 9.2 beta 3 report that it adds the ability to use dictation to insert text in search fields as well as the ability to use Siri search in the App Store.

Tim Cook gets sacked by Twitter for blurry Super Bowl photo

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Twitter is not impressed with Tim Cook's photography skills.
Twitter is not impressed with Tim Cook's photography skills.
Photo: Tim CookTwitter

Apple didn’t shell out for a super-expensive Super Bowl commercial last night, but CEO Tim Cook still managed to bring tons of attention to the iPhone — just not in the way he intended.

Celebrating the Bronco’s ugly victory over the Panthers last night, Cook tweeted a picture of the post-game festivities from the 20 yard line. It’s a position millions of people would’ve died to be in, but the only thing Twitter seemed to care about was how horribly blurry Tim’s photo turned out, leading to a flood of “shot on iPhone” jokes.

Pirate Bay adds ability to stream torrents in your web browser

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YAAAR mateys! The Pirate Bay is now streaming.
YAAAR mateys! The Pirate Bay is now streaming.
Photo: The Pirate Bay

The world’s largest torrenting site is making it easier than ever to watch all the movies and tv shows your too cheap to pay for.

Starting today, visitors of the Pirate Bay can use a new plugin called Torrents Time that allows you to stream torrents directly in your browser so you don’t need to download anything.

Photographers, you use Adobe. You should learn it. [Deals]

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These 14 courses cover essential Adobe photo software and the key skillsets in photography itself.
These 14 courses cover essential Adobe photo software and the key skillsets in photography itself.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Adobe’s software products have become an key part of photography for pros and amateurs alike. Photoshop and Lightroom are industry standard platforms, but this bundle of 14 Adobe certified courses extend beyond software and into photography itself. It’s over 65 hours of top quality instruction in shooting and editing photos, and using Adobe’s essential software to bring your photos to their highest realization. Right now, you can get the whole thing for $69.

Pediatric exoskeleton proposal wins top robotics prize

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pediatric-exoskeleton-proposal-wins-top-robotics-prize-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads201602Phoenix002-940x656-jpg
The Phoenix weighs just 27 pounds.
Photo: SuitX

SuitX, a company driven to lower the cost on bionic technology to help people walk, won a prestigious robotics competition that will help it fund a pediatric exoskeleton for children with neurological disorders.

Last week started with SuitX debuting an exoskeleton for $40,000 and ended Saturday with a $1 million prize in the United Arab Emirates AI and Robotics Award for Good.

Deleting Facebook app will give your iPhone 15% more battery

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facebook-logo-file
It won’t happen until 2020 at the earliest.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

The most popular social network in the world is ruining your iPhone’s battery life.

Facebook’s iOS app is in the hot seat again this week thanks to a new report that reveals iPhone users can get up to 15% more battery life if they simply delete Facebook’s resource hogging app and just use the Safari app instead.

India will fast-track approval for Apple Stores

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India
Apple wants to dramatically improve its 2 percent share on the smartphone market in India.
Photo: Tim Cook/Twitter

India has indicated it will bypass the usual regulations for foreign companies and grant easy approval for Apple to establish retail outlets there.

This comes as CEO Tim Cook tries to tap new global markets, especially India, a country of 1.3 billion people where it has seen small gains in iPhone sales.

Last chance to reap the very real benefits of a VPN [Deals]

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Secure and accelerate your Internet experience with one of the top VPNs in the business.
Secure and accelerate your Internet experience with one of the top VPNs in the business.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

It doesn’t take long for the information superhighway to start feeling more like a hazardous dirt road from Mad Max. All sorts of bad guys and obstacles await us in the Internet — identity thieves, unscrupulous advertisers, location restrictions. Virtual private networks (VPNs) are a great way to secure passage to your favorite sites online, and PureVPN, one of the fastest options for securing and anonymizing any online connection, is available for the last time at just $59.

Parking, a weathercat, and other awesome apps of the week

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appsoftheweek_1024

Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apparently some kind of sportsball contest is going on this weekend, but that’s no reason to put your phone down — we still have plenty of cool stuff for you to try out in our apps of the week roundup.

Whether you’re looking to organize your daily thoughts, start your day off with a cartoonish weather forecast, or really feel like paying for parking with your Apple Watch, we have you covered. And maybe we have something about football, too. Who knows?

Only one way to find out.

Turning pro with Adobe software has never been easier [Deals]

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Become an expert in any and all of Adobe's software products with more than 7,000 video lessons.
Become an expert in any and all of Adobe's software products with more than 7,000 video lessons.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Adobe is all over the digital workplace, creative workflows, and heck, the internet itself. The list of Adobe’s software platforms is long and familiar — from Photoshop to, InDesign to Flash and Dreamweaver and beyond — and getting fluent in one or several of them can improve your effectiveness and hireability dramatically. This bundle of training videos makes that possible, and right now you can get a lifetime subscription for just $74.

Apple’s rumored March event: Catch our hardware expectations on The CultCast

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New Apple hardware in March?  Party time!
New Apple hardware in March? Party time!
Photo: Kickboxer, Lionsgate

This week: New hardware, incoming! We’ll tell you our hardware expectations for Apple’s rumored March 2016 event, and there’s a lot to discuss. Plus: Why the next iPad Air could be the best one yet; iPhone 7 may have far fewer features than expected; and, is Apple making a move into virtual reality?

Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. It’s simple to build a website that looks beautiful on any device that visits at Squarespace.com. Enter offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10 percent off.

Rule the Health app! Plus: best email apps, Apple’s March event and more

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Tweak that Health app dashboard for even better results.
Tweak that Health app dashboard for even better results.
Cover design: Stephen Smith/Cult of Mac

If you take the time to properly set up your iPhone’s Health app, you can turn it into a powerful dashboard for keeping track of all the metrics that matter most to you.

Find out how to turn the unloved iOS app into an essential fitness dashboard in this week’s Cult of Mac Magazine. We’re also spilling the beans on Apple’s March event, rating the best email apps, exposing the latest iPhone 7 camera rumors, and rolling up a bunch of must-have Apple travel accessories.

Here are the top stories this week.

App Store hero targets bogus reviews for termination

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App Store
Apple needs to help consumers find quality apps, and developers to sell them.
Photo: Parampreet Chanana/Pixabay

A new search engine wants to keep App Store reviews honest and accurate by completely ignoring the ones that may come from paid shills or through developers’ relentless badgering of users.

As of this writing, the system claims it has audited over 17 million reviews and ignored 1.1 million of them. And if you’re wondering if the hot new game or feature-filled calendar app you’re about to download is really worth your time, you might want to check this site out.

Apple is ‘biggest destroyer of wealth this year’

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Apple stock
Apple stock is leading the way for losing investors money.
Screenshot: Evan Killham/Cult of Mac

We can add another award to Apple’s long list, although the company might not be too happy to accept it: The iPhone maker’s stock lost the most value of any tech company this year.

The news comes out of a study from USA Today that reports a shocking average 14 percent decline in value from 462 tech companies. That drop resulted in total losses of $529 billion, but Cupertino is the lead horseman in this year’s stockpocalypse.

Watching VR games get built in VR will blow your mind

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Unreal Engine 4 lets you build in VR.
Unreal Engine 4 lets you build in VR.
Photo: Unreal EngineYouTube

Virtual Reality isn’t just going to change how we consume content. It’s going totally change how we make content for the digital world too.

Developers at Epic Games have already created a way to build VR games using the Unreal Editor in VR mode, and it’s unlike any software development tool you’ve ever seen. Rather than clicking around on a 2D screen, designers Tim Sweeney and Mike Fricker show how game makers can walk around inside levels to manipulate objects and get everything just right.

Take a look:

How to create perfectly sized iPhone and iPad wallpapers

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Tired of parallax or landscape photos ruining your wallpaper? Pixelmator can help!
Tired of parallax or landscape photos ruining your wallpaper? Pixelmator can help!
Photo: Ally Kazmucha/The App Factor

app-factor-logo-thumbnailAnyone who knows me in real life would tell you I’m a bit of a wallpaper nut when it comes to my iPhone and iPad. While I can normally get my fix via Google image search, that sometimes doesn’t cut it. Sometimes I come across a photo that isn’t sized correctly. Luckily, as long as you know iPhone wallpaper size, or iPad for that matter, Pixelmator can help you create a perfectly sized wallpaper in no time.

Why would anyone game on an Apple TV?

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fnf
Which one would you choose?
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The new Apple TV has been on sale for just over three months now, and the growing catalog of tvOS apps and games looks incredibly promising. It’s what Apple TV fans have been calling out for for years, and it doesn’t disappoint.

Friday-Night-Fights-bug-2But does tvOS and a strong backing from iOS developers make Apple TV a good game console? Is it an ideal buy for casual gamers, and can it mount a real threat against the latest and greatest consoles from Sony and Microsoft? Do we even need another console?

Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight between Cult of Android and Cult of Mac as we battle it out over those questions and more for your entertainment!

HTC’s new One M10 looks like another iPhone clone

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htcs-new-one-m10-looks-like-another-iphone-clone-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads201404HTC-logo-M8-jpg
HTC has finally ditched its logo bar. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Android.
HTC has finally ditched its logo bar. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Android.

HTC’s flagship for 2016 has leaked out early, and it looks like yet another iPhone clone.

The One M10 is almost identical to the One A9 that was introduced last October, but it finally does away with the front-facing HTC logo that was universally hated.

Awesome iOS game will make an even awesomer Lego set

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This superfan would like to see Monument Valley in the real world.
This superfan would like to see Monument Valley in the real world.
Photo: Isometry/Lego Ideas

A Monument Valley fan has taken to the Lego Ideas website with plans to create real-life Lego models out of the award winning iOS game.

Lego Ideas user Isometry has created a page that you can log in and vote for if you want to support the project; it costs nothing but your time to do so.

And why wouldn’t you? This is a fantastic way to bring one of the best iOS games into the real world.