Our fixers are hard at work on Apple devices sent in by Cult of Mac readers. Photo: Gabe Trumbo
If you’ve heard about or used the Cult of Mac buyback program, you might be wondering what we do with your old devices — especially if you sent in broken gear. Is your old-but-loved iPad or iPhone in good hands?
Get control of your passwords and auto-fill information with a single, secure password Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
We’ve all got a system for keeping track of the dozens of online passwords we need these days. While some are more effective than others, none are as simple and secure as keeping all your passwords and auto-fill information under a single password. That’s exactly what Password Boss Premium does, and right now you can get a lifetime subscription for just $19.99.
It was a good day when Netflix added My List to the list of awesome features it has to allow us to watch anything we want on our TV, computer, or game console. It lets us all keep track of what we want to watch while helping corral the overwhelming amount of distracting movies and TV shows on offer.
However, Netflix still wants to manage what you watch; My List is ordered by some magic Netflix algorithm that makes sure it puts movies it wants you to see up front.
Switch your Netflix My List queue to Manual sorting, then move some stuff around, and you’ll supercharge your Netflix watch list in no time.
There’s some great news for jailbreakers to end the week on, as the Pangu Team has just made its latest iOS 9.1. jailbreak available — offering iPad Pro users (along with the usual iOS suspects) the chance to jailbreak their device for the first time.
Pangu claims that its untethered iOS 9.1 jailbreak works with 64-bit devices including the following:
Loretta Lynch argues her case to Stephen Colbert. Photo: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
With a growing number of people siding with Apple in its privacy standoff with the U.S. government, United States Attorney General Loretta Lynch attempted some damage control last night by appearing on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to defend the FBI’s position.
Toy-making giant Hasbro wants to bring its kiddy-friendly offerings into the twenty-first century with a nifty smartphone accessory, which would let people scan their favorite toys using their iPhone.
So why wouldn’t Alphabet chairman and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt use an iPhone to document his recent trip to South Korea? Makes perfect sense to us!
Coming soon to a smartphone near you. Photo: Nintendo
Nintendo’s first ever smartphone game will finally land on iOS and Android this month — and we now know when and where it will be making its world debut.
Called Miitomo — and described by its creators as a “smart-device app that sparks one-of-a-kind conversations between you and your friends” — the game will first be available to download in Japan on March 17.
Jon Rubinstein was one of Steve Jobs' most trusted lieutenants. Photo: AllThingsD
With its massive on-hand cash pile, Apple could easily be mistaken for a bank disguised as a tech firm. Modern hedge funds, on the other hand, are increasingly tech firms disguised as banks.
Which is one reason it kind of makes sense why one of Steve Jobs’ most trusted former lieutenants, ex-Apple exec Jon Rubinstein, has just been announced as the new co-CEO of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund — with a massive $169 billion in assets.
That’s an amount that would even make Apple sit up and pay attention!
The Department of Justice is taking Apple to task -- and head counsel Bruce Sewell just isn't having it. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
We knew we were going to hear back from Apple’s lawyers after the Department of Justice filed another motion in its ongoing struggle to get the company to disable the passcode lock on a terrorist’s iPhone, and we weren’t disappointed.
Apple’s lead counsel Bruce Sewell fired back at the new document in a phone conversation with reporters today, and this whole thing is just one chair-toss away from being a talk-show episode. According to Sewell, the government’s response was “intended to smear [Apple] with false accusations and innuendo,” and he just kept going from there.
Apple’s sent out the invite to its March 21 event, and it’s making everyone crazy. The message contains a single image (one version of which is pictured above) and a message: “Let us loop you in.”
The Internet has been trying to figure out what it all means since it went out.
And some of its guesses are … well, we’ll just say “interesting.” But others might be on to something.
Cola's bubbles want to take over your texting experience. Photo: Cola.
Most iPhone users spend more time texting than in any other app. Everything from scheduling meetings to finding out what your buddies want to eat tonight is done through texting, the only problem is the experience really hasn’t evolved since iOS was first introduced.
Cola is a new messenger app that wants to fix that by streamlining your communication with little bubbles that let you do stuff like create polls, make a to-do list, and much more so you can spend less time texting and more time enjoying life.
Apple wants to keep everyone (even the feds) out of iOS. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a new motion in court today regarding its battle against Apple to compel the iPhone-maker to unlock the iPhone 5c that belonged to San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook.
In the new filing the feds argue that Apple has “deliberately raised technological barriers” on iOS to make it harder for the government and other attackers to hack Apple devices. They also claim that demanding Apple to unlock one iPhone won’t result in a security vulnerability for all users.
Just like music often makes movies, it can also make an already great game even better! Photo: Ally Kazmucha/The App Factor
You can usually tell when a game has been well-crafted. A great game will include excellent graphic design, playability, a captivating story and, of course — the soundtrack. A soundtrack can turn a great game into an extraordinary game, captivating the player and immersing them into a world they’ve only dreamt about.
A compelling soundtrack will have amazing melodies, epic chord changes that make you feel something, and sounds that are perfectly tailored to the atmosphere of the game. Below, check out four great iOS games that have amazing soundtracks. I caught up with a few of the soundtrack creators who make these beautiful soundscapes, and their answers to my questions give a ton of insight into how special this music really is.
The latest Wikipedia mobile update brings exploration to the fore. Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac
Whether you’re into a quick search for needed information or a deep dive down the rabbit hole of a massive topic of your own choosing, chances are you’ll spend a bit of time on Wikipedia.
Wikipedia’s new iOS app update today will help you with both use cases, letting you drill down to a single bit of knowledge as well as leaning back and enjoying your exploration of the online portal’s over 36 million articles.
The iPhone SE keynote will be livestreamed. Photo: Martin Hajek
The iPhone SE and a new iPad will be unveiled by Apple on March 2st at an event at the company’s Cupertino headquarters, but Apple fans don’t need a press pass to get full access to first keynote of 2016.
The BrydgeAir iPad keyboard case is the perfect fit for your iPad Air. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
We all like to carry our gadgets around with us, but there are certainly times when being ultra-portable is apropos to the activity at hand. Say, vacation. I want to be able to take along just my iPad, or perhaps get some writing done in the local coffee shop — and the trendy ones usually have tiny tables that aren’t big enough for a full laptop.
The BrydgeAir iPad keyboard case is an impressive Bluetooth accessory and a fantastic match for the iPad Air. The keyboard allows me to be a bit more productive than I would without an actual keyboard, turning my iPad into a small, MacBook-like, laptop-style tablet.
That iPhone in your pocket is much more well-traveled than you are. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Apple is expected to unveil a brand new iPhone in a little over a week, only instead of going big, the first new iPhone of 2016 will be perfect for people with tiny hands and those who don’t want to spend a lot on a new smartphone.
The rumor mill has been serving up juicy bits of gossip on Apple’s upcoming handset for over a year, so as the big day approaches we have some pretty solid clues about the next iPhone’s design, hardware, price, name and much more.
Here are the probable answers to all your iPhone SE questions.
Apple has confirmed the date of its next keynote event, which will take place on March 21 in Cupertino, California.
Invitations to the event don’t offer any details about what’s going to be unveiled, but feature a tagline (“Let us loop you in”) and close-up of the Apple logo.
Pay what you want for a comprehensive set of 10 courses in game development. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
It’s clear that video games aren’t going anywhere, and they remain as rich a career field for developers new and seasoned alike. Both can learn a lot from this massive bundle of 10 courses, clocking in at 108 hours, from Unity3D to JavaScript to SpriteKit and beyond. The best part is that you can pay whatever you want for these courses, with part of every dollar going to support the important work of Save the Children.
Watching a UK-only movie on Netflix from the US. Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac
If you live in the United States and use Netflix, you might be disappointed to find out that some shows, like Kajaki: The True Story, are unavailable due to region restrictions.
These are based on licensing agreements that Netflix has with content providers. Many shows and movies are region-locked, which means that you can’t watch a show in the U.S. if it’s only available in the U.K., and vice versa.
There is a way around it, however. Here’s how to beat Netflix region restrictions to watch whatever you want, whenever you want, from wherever you want.
One of the most positive pieces of publicity the Apple Watch has yet received came when its in-built heart monitor revealed that a teenager was suffering from a potentially fatal condition, which could have resulted in his untimely death if left unchecked.
A future feature for Apple devices might take this life-saving concept even further by not just notifying users of possible medical emergencies — but actually alerting doctors or family members on their behalf if required.
Space-age iPhone, coming soon to a 3D printer near you. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
On its journey to product perfection, Apple is well-known for its endless prototyping of the next iPhone, iMac or Apple Watch.
Now the company may add ultra-tough metal alloy Liquidmetal to the list of materials it can use to create these rapid prototypes, thanks to a cutting-edge 3D printer designed for the job.
This case may offer some big clues about Apple's next tablet. Photo: Steve Hemmerstoffer
If you’ve been lusting over the feature set of Apple’s iPad Pro, but would rather stick to the 9.7-inch form factor of the smaller-size iPad Air, today could be your lucky day.
That’s because new photos of an alleged iPad Air 3 case (complete with dummy device) appear to show that Apple’s next tablet will be a scaled-down version of the iPad Pro — complete with the same quad speaker setup as its big brother, along with the triple dot Smart Connector that the iPad Pro uses to connect to its Smart Keyboard attachment.
President Obama threw some shade Apple’s way yesterday, failing to mention it as one of the tech companies putting user privacy and security first, while describing his new Cybersecurity National Action Plan.
Obama talked about businesses which “empower Americans” by keeping them safe with extra layers of security like fingerprints scanners — only to then namecheck “companies like Google, Facebook, Microsoft… and Visa.”
No mention of the company which actually popularized Touch ID then? No, just checking!