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Programmers: It’s time to tame Python

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Learn Python, one of today's most widely used programming languages.
Learn Python, one of today's most widely used programming languages.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

If you’re pursuing a career in coding, you’re going to have to reckon with Python, one of the most popular programming languages in use. A valuable addition to any resume, it’s a powerful and adaptable language composed of variables, loops, and statements. If that sounds like a foreign language to you that’s because it is, but that can change today if you jump on this bundle of Python lessons for just $29.

Trendy design awards proclaim Apple Watch Hermès ‘life enhancer of the year’

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Hermes Apple Watch bands are now available on their own.
This will enhance your life. Or so hipsters say.
Photo: Apple

Trendy lifestyle magazine Wallpaper* has named the Apple Watch Hermès as 2015’s “Life Enhancer of the Year” in its annual design awards.

The awards were judged by a panel including the architect David Adjaye, jewellery designer Delfina Delettrez, legendary ad man George Lois, Academy Award-winning actor Eddie Redmayne, and designers Patricia Urquiola and Konstantin Grcic. They appear in the magazine’s February 2016 issue.

Sorkin snubbed as Steve Jobs lands two Oscar nods

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Kate Winslet, middle, praises the portrayal of Steve Jobs by Michael Fassbender (right).
Kate Winslet, middle, and Michael Fassbender, right, received Oscar nominations for Steve Jobs.
Photo: Universal Pictures

Steve Jobs flopped at the box office and with Silicon Valley, but with two Oscar nominations the film continues a kind of redemption tour through the awards season.

Jobs actor Michael Fassbender was nominated for best actor and co-star Kate Winslet, who already won a Golden Globe for her portrayal of former Apple marketing chief Joanna Hoffman, received a supporting actress nomination.

Transforming Apple Watch strap is more than meets the eye

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Screen Shot 2016-01-14 at 14.39.41
How a future Apple Watch could attach to your fridge or MacBook.
Photo: USPTO/Apple

Apple has come out with some gorgeous bands for the Apple Watch, but if a patent application published today is to be believed, future Apple Watch straps may get a whole lot more useful.

Specifically, the patent application describes a magnetic band capable of folding, origami-style, into a standalone mini display, protective case, fridge-mounted magnet, or even an extra screen for your iMac.

Talk about robots in disguise!

iPhone 7 concept is a blast from Apple’s past

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Screen Shot 2016-01-14 at 13.51.58
Your next iPhone?
Photo: Arthur Reis

The iPhone 6s is only four months old, but Apple watchers already are looking to the future and imagining what delights the iPhone 7 may hold in store.

A new concept design created mixes the present iPhone 6s design with a curvaceous back piece straight out of the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3Gs era, complete with beautifully rounded edges. Check out a concept video below.

A9 chipmaker records highest earnings in its 29-year history

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chips
There's money in chips.
Photo: Cult of Mac

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), a.k.a. the world’s largest contract chip maker and one of Apple’s two suppliers for the present-gen A9 chip, has announced that its 2015 earnings were the highest in its 29-year history.

Contrasting with reports of developers said to be suffering the effects of weakened Apple orders, TSMC has thrived on the back of the iPhone 6 and 6s — with $9.15 billion in net profits this year alone, representing a 16.2 percent annual increase.

Samsung may spend $7.47 billion to be an even bigger part of iPhone 7

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The Apple brand is the big difference.
Friends forever?
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

The iPhone 7 will be big business for Apple, but you know who else will be benefitting from it? That’s right: Apple’s long-time frenemy, Samsung.

Despite its own smartphone business running into problems, Samsung will reportedly play a massive part in iPhone 7 manufacturing. As well as the storage chips, RAM and processors Samsung already builds for Apple, a new report from Korea claims that Samsung Display is also Cupertino’s pick to supply Apple with flexible OLED panels for future iPhones.

And Samsung was willing to drop some serious coin to secure the contract.

Enthusiasm is cooling for Apple Watch (and what Apple can do about it)

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Apple Watch OS2 add a friend
Are people falling out of love with the Apple Watch?
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple Watch usage is dropping off as the novelty factors fades away, according to a new study. While Apple’s wearable has found a place in many owners’ gadget ecosystems, the device is still viewed as distinctly nonessential.

However, the new report includes a list of users’ desired features for Apple Watch 2 — and many of them are things Apple is supposedly working on already.

The Google interview process is harder (but less horrible) than Apple’s

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the-google-interview-process-is-harder-but-less-horrible-than-apples-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads201601Job-Interview-photo-by-Ibrahim-Adabara-jpg
Job Interview photo by Ibrahim Adabara
The interview process is getting longer, but at least that gives you an extra day or two to decide what kind of tree you would be. Photo: Ibrahim Adabara/Pixabay

If you’re dreaming about being a software engineer at either Google or Apple, you should brace yourself for an ordeal.

A new report comparing the difficulty, experiences, and lengths of interview processes from a variety of tech companies says that a Google interview is the hardest one you can undertake. Apple did slightly better in that regard; it was the fourth toughest. But the data suggest that one of those two processes is considerably more pleasant.

Apple’s latest failure: advertising

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apple-iad-banner
Apple just isn't cut out for the business.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s six-year dabble into the world of advertising has come to an end. The company is reportedly surrendering its iAd program over entirely to publishers. That means publishers will get full control over the creation of ads, ad management and selling them. Apple apparently just doesn’t want anything to do with the ad business anymore.

Nancy Pelosi explains Apple Watch break at State of the Union

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Nancy Pelosi Apple Watch
To be fair, we looked at ours a few times, too. Those alerts really want our attention.
Photo: PBS NewsHour (via YouTube)

It seems that Nancy Pelosi had a bit of distraction during the President’s speech Tuesday.

During last night’s State of the Union, President Obama reflected on his time in office and outlined his hopes and visions for the country’s future. It was a conversational, grounded, and relatable address that covered the outgoing leader’s successes and even some regrets.

But at one point, cameras captured the former Speaker of the House tapping away on her wearable.

Clueless Jeb Bush just discovered his ‘Bat Phone’ (Apple Watch) makes calls

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Jeb Bush is amazed by his "Bat Phone."
Photo: Des Moines Register

Jeb Bush is a huge Apple Watch fan even though he knows how to use it about as much as he knows how to beat Donald Trump. The presidential hopeful is always incorrectly referring to the device as an “iWatch” — and apparently didn’t discover until today that it can make calls.

Bush received an untimely call during an interview Wednesday with The Des Moines Register’s editorial board, but had absolutely no idea where the talking voice was coming from. After reassuring reporters that his “watch can’t be talking,” Bush was politely informed that indeed it can.

“I’ve never had my Bat Phone turned on,” exclaims a befuddled Bush in the video. “That’s the coolest thing in the world.”

Watch the goofy incident below:

Google’s self-driving cars aren’t quite ready for the open road

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googles-self-driving-cars-arent-quite-ready-for-the-open-road-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads201601Minority-report-driverless-cars-jpeg
Minority report self-driving cars
We may have to wait a bit longer for the Minority Report future of driverless cars.

As it stands now, self-driving cars may be more accident report than Minority Report.

In a disclosure to the California Department of Motor Vehicles, the search-engine giant outlined specifics of its driverless-car testing from November 2014 to December 2015. Demo vehicles reportedly logged about 423,000 miles over that period. During that time, testers recorded over 300 “anomalies” that required them to take control from the vehicles, either through hardware malfunctions or on their own judgment.

The report suggests that we’re not quite as close to the fully autonomous future that science fiction and our amazing dreams have hoped.

How to use VLC to watch any video on Apple TV

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appletv
Apple TV's new app could give us the interface we've dreamed of.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

So you’ve got a fourth-generation Apple TV (the one with Siri Remote and all the apps) and you’ve just downloaded VLC, the “play everything” video app that was just ported to tvOS.

The last few versions of Apple TV haven’t included any storage for video files, and the same is true of the latest model: All the device’s storage is for apps and associated media files. Getting your own videos up on the big screen using VLC takes a little finesse.

Here’s how to watch any video (with a few caveats) on your Apple TV via VLC.

White House wants to jump-start self-driving cars

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Obama wants to give self-driving cars a boost.
Obama wants to give self-driving cars a boost.
Photo: Google

Pretty much every company in Silicon Valley is working on a self-driving car project, and if the Obama administration has its way, they may hit the road sooner than expected.

While Apple and Google are busy developing their visions for our future Autopia, the Obama administration plans to announce its effort to boost the development of self-driving cars on Thursday.

Voice-boosting TV speaker makes sure you never miss a word

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grace-digital-voice-enhanced-tv-speaker - 1
This TV speaker could Grace your living room or bedroom.
Photo: George Tinari/Cult of Mac

Grace Digital’s Voice Enhanced TV Speaker promises to enhance the sound of your television and potentially give it a volume boost. The sound was engineered with voices in mind because, more than anything when watching TV, dialogue is what you need to hear. As a bonus, a Bluetooth connection lets the speaker work with any Bluetooth-enabled computer or smartphone.

I hooked up Grace Digital’s Voice Enhanced TV Speaker to my television and gave it a whirl.

iOS devices finally outnumber Windows PCs

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iPad Air 3 will pick up some tricks from the iPad Pro.
iPad Air 3 will pick up some tricks from the iPad Pro.
Photo: Apple

Surprising no-one, the number of shipped iOS devices has overtaken Windows devices in 2015. The number of iOS devices shipped equalled that of Windows PCs just last summer, but this is perhaps the final blow in the post-PC world that Apple’s been predicting (and promoting) for some time now.

Asymco analyst Horace Dediu sent out the following chart on Twitter that shows the continuing trend in detail, comparing Windows PC shipments to iPad, iPhone, and Mac units shipped. Check it out.

What iPhone 6s ads designed in MacPaint would look like

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What would ads for iPhone look like if it came out in 1985?
What would ads for iPhone look like if it came out in 1985?
Photo: Apple

Apple’s marketing team creates gorgeous ads that show every minuscule detail of new iPhones, but what would the images look like if they were produced using the original Macintosh and MacPaint?

Some redditor with way too much time on his or her hands decided to dig out an old Mac and find out, and the results are actually pretty fantastic.

Triple-whammy Bluetooth keyboard connects to 3 devices flawlessly

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Logitech triple threat keyboard
The magic buttons on this Logitech keyboard make connecting to three different devices as simple as 1, 2, 3.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Best List: K380 Multi-Device Bluetooth Keyboard by Logitech

Not one, not two, but three devices, all commanded by a single keyboard.

Three Bluetooth presets on one thoughtfully designed, battery operated, portable input device.

I’ve been using the Logitech K380 for a little while and I still can’t get my head around why someone would need to hook up a keyboard to three different devices at the same time. However, if you do, this keyboard is a no-brainer.

This app reveals and repairs Wi-Fi dead zones [Deals]

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Map and iron out Wi-Fi dead zones with this easy-to-use Mac app.
Map and iron out Wi-Fi dead zones with this easy-to-use Mac app.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Until the day when Wi-Fi is evenly distributed around the planet, we’ll have to deal with dead zones. Instead of hoping you don’t fall into one, use NetSpot Pro to visually map and address the holes in your wireless network. It’s an invaluable tool for any home or business where connectivity matters, and right now you can get access at your home or office for just $18.49.

iOS 9.3 officially supports hiding stock apps. Here’s how to do it.

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Apple Configurator 2.2 beta can hide your unwanted apps for you.
Apple Configurator 2.2 beta can hide your unwanted apps for you.
Photo: Reddit

iOS ships with a few dozen default system apps, all of which take up valuable room on your homescreen since Apple won’t let users delete them. Until now, the best you could do is squirrel them away into a folder, or jailbreak.

But with iOS 9.3 Beta 1, it looks like Apple is finally making it possible to hide unwanted system apps. Here’s how.

Criminals use fake IDs to buy $16,000 of Apple devices

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The iPhone isn't ditching LCD screens.
"Yes, I'd like to buy $16k worth of iPhones please."
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Two New York criminals managed to buy $16,000 worth of iPhones, iPads and Apple Watches using fake driver’s licenses and credit cards, before their purchases were flagged as being suspicious.

Jorge Escotto, 23, and Joshua Gonzales, 25, were arrested and charged with identity theft and receiving stolen property after the spending spree — much of which appears to have taken place in Verizon stores.