Cult of Mac

Whether through dramatization pop culture or out-of-touch leaders, hacking has gotten a bad rap. The act of testing a system for its flaws goes to the very beginning of computer technology itself, and it’s a tradition carried on by so-called “white hat hackers”, experts who dig into systems to test, expose and correct weak spots. It’s not a dark art but a light one, and one you can learn with the Complete White Hat Hacking and Penetration Testing Bundle . These courses normally go for almost a thousand dollars, but right now you can get access for just $19.

Here’s some of what’s included:

Nintendo’s first smartphone game was nowhere near as exciting as we all expected it to be, but the Japanese company promises it has greater things up its sleeve for 2016.

Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima has confirmed plans to bring the characters we know and love to mobile titles this year, but we’ll have to wait to find out which faces we will see.

Army Sgt. 1st Class Patrick Skluzacek was taking heavy fire from a relentless enemy.

He shot back with everything he had – counseling, psychiatric drugs and lots of alcohol – but felt defenseless against the post-traumatic stress disorder that followed him home to Minnesota.

He lost friends, jobs, and his marriage. But Skluzacek is reclaiming his life for the first time in the eight years since he returned from Iraq.

This is thanks to a surprise ally in his son Tyler and the weapon he invented for his father – a smartwatch app that helps him sleep.

When iOS 9.3 announced Night Shift, a new mode that makes it less likely for your device’s light temperature to disturb your sleep schedule, many noted that it was virtually a carbon copy of F.lux, a Mac and jailbreak iOS app that we’ve previously called a Mac essential.

Now, the developer of F.lux is commenting on Night Shift, and while he’s broadly supportive of Apple’s move, he still wants Apple to allow F.lux on the App Store.

In news that is sure to disappoint some, Netflix is cracking down on customers who use proxies or “unblockers” to trick the streaming video service into thinking they’re in a different country as a way of accessing extra content.

The Apple Watch may have record high levels of user satisfaction, but Microsoft wants you to throw in the towel and trade it for the second-generation Microsoft Band.

To convince customers, it’s even offering a new trade-in program that, depending on the model, could give you up to $250 for your Apple Watch. For those keeping score, that means you can get your hands on Redmond’s newly-launched wearable sequel without having to pay a single (extra) cent for it.

So you’ve just successfully stolen an iPad and are now pondering your next move. Do you A) Not switch it on and sell it for cash as soon as humanly possible, or B) Play around on it, while making sure to snap a few celebratory selfies to commemorate the occasion?

If you voted “A” then, congratulations, you’re already a smarter class of criminal than 19-year-old Ralphy Olivero of Woonsocket, Rhode Island.

Apple could find itself on the receiving end of a hefty $8 billion bill for back taxes as a result of the current European Commission investigation into its tax policies, according to a new report from Bloomberg Intelligence.

If the Commission decides to enforce a tougher accounting standard on Apple, the company may owe taxes at a 12.5 percent rate on the roughly $64.1 billion in profit it generated from 2004 to 2012.

From refusing to have a car licence plate to wearing one “uniform” every working day of the last decade of his life, Steve Jobs certainly had his fair share of personal idiosyncrasies.

In a post for Medium, Adobe senior director Arno Gourdol adds one more to the list: that Jobs absolutely refused to carry an Apple ID with him.

A new musical comedy coming to Broadway this April will spotlight none other than the two rivals for PC dominance, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates.

Rather obviously titled Nerds, the new musical will feature some of the technology the two men helped foster, including onstage holograms, projection mapping and an app that lets audiences decide what ending they’d like to see.

Stolen!, the app that let you buy and sell Twitter users in a fictional exchange, has been taken off the App Store by its developers due to privacy concerns.

“The app is no longer available in the App Store,” the Stolen! team tweeted Thursday afternoon. “We’ve heard everyone’s concerns and have decided the best thing to do is to shut down.”

Apple is increasing transparency on its Wi-Fi Assist feature in iOS 9.3, which is currently available in public beta. And it’s not just doing it for your sake.

The occasionally controversial iPhone setting is getting a minor but potentially super-useful upgrade that will not only make it more user-friendly, but could also save the company a ton of money in legal costs.

Have you heard the one about the phone encryption bill in New York that will fine retailers $2,500 for each cell phone they sell that can’t be decrypted?

That set-up is its own punchline. This bill is a terrible idea.

Want to play your Mega Man 2 ROM on your new fourth-generation Apple TV? How about Super Mario Bros. 3?

It’s a ton of fun to play classic console arcade games, especially if you have a few ROMs lying around on your hard drive and would like to play them on the big screen.

Here’s how to get your new Apple TV all set up to rock some retro games.

Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S7 will reportedly ship with a new feature called “Vivid Photo,” a clone of the Live Photos function on iPhone 6s that lets users automatically capture images that come alive when they are pressed.

Apple is known as one of the most environmentally conscious companies in the world, but some shareholders think the company needs to to a lot more if it hopes to meet the aggressive goals set by the Paris Agreement last year.

Boston-based investment firm Jantz Management has filed a resolution for Apple shareholders that would request that the Board of Directors reveal on plan to shareholders by June 2016 on how Apple plans to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emission status for its facilities and major suppliers by 2030.

Now you can try out the latest and greatest operating systems for Apple products, thanks to public betas for iOS 9.3 and OS X El Capitan 10.11.4. Both are now available for testing — even if you don’t have a developer account.

You can grab both updates from Apple’s beta program website for free. Take note, however, that this is trial software — and updating could cause some apps and features on your iOS or Mac devices to go funky or stop working altogether. Use these at your own risk.

If there’s one thing we know, it’s that technology is continually evolving. This is what we love about it. The excitement of the next Apple product, the newest TV or car. Innumerable websites keep up with rumors and changes, and companies show off their latest and greatest technology and electronics at countless conventions.

But there’s one big problem with this. What happens to our old stuff when we move on to the next thing?

Amazon made Prime an even greater deal this week by adding 20% off the latest games, but if that couldn’t persuade you to finally sign up, perhaps a discounted membership will.

This weekend only, a year of Prime will cost you just $73 — down from $99.

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 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.

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.

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!

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.

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.