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Transform your mobile into a full-on gaming platform [Deals]

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Phonejoy's Bluetooth gamepad turns almost any phone or tablet into a fully-fledged gaming platform.
Phonejoy's Bluetooth gamepad turns almost any phone or tablet into a fully-fledged gaming platform.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

The more our phones become a platform for high quality gaming, the less adequate the touch screen feels for keeping up. With the Phonejoy GamePad 2, your phone gains the precision and range of a full-fledged game controller. It’s an instant upgrade the way you interact with your phone, powered by Bluetooth and available for $59.99 at Cult of Mac Deals.

Insanely crap: Top critic calls Steve Jobs one of 2015’s worst movies

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Aaron Sorkin’s Steve Jobs movie is coming to Netflix
Why do you hate me?
Photo: François Duhamel/©2015 Universal Studios

One of the most surprising movie flops of 2015 was Aaron Sorkin and Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs: a movie which, miraculously, earned even less for its creators than 2013’s panned Jobs, starring Dude, Where’s My Car‘s Ashton Kutcher.

Now the movie has received another ignominious fate: being singled out by major film critic and former co-host of At the Movies Rex Reed as his pick for no. 1 worst film of the year. Ouch!

Apple looks to Asia to speed Apple Pay growth in 2016

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Apple in talks to bring Apple Pay to Israel
Asia and Europe are Apple Pay's two biggest focuses next year.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple watchers should expect the company’s mobile payment service, Apple Pay, to expand to new markets in 2016 — with a heavy emphasis on Asia.

According to a new report, Apple is focusing on Asia and Europe since adoption in the United States has been slower than expected. Regions set to get Apple Pay next year so far include China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Spain.

Police crack massive iPhone black market crime ring

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Apple
I'd be happy with just the one iPhone, to be honest.
Photo: Tigard PD

Police in Tigard, Oregon have cracked an organized retail crime ring which used stolen gift cards worth three-quarters of a million dollars to buy iPhones bound for the Hong Kong black market.

Tigard Detective T.J. Hahn told the local KOIN 6 News that organized retail theft has become a bigger crime than even drug sales.

“This kind of activity makes millions of millions of dollars, into the billions,” he said.

FAA hits turbulence with drone registration

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The FAA is trying to address glitches in its new online drone registration process.
The FAA is trying to address glitches in its new online drone registration process.
Photo: Cult of Mac file

Several thousand drone pilots registered their aircraft with the Federal Aviation Administration within the first 24 hours, but glitches in the system briefly shut it down after takeoff.

The FAA said the new mandatory online registration had to be shutdown for troubleshooting but would reopen Thursday.

iOS tip: The weird way to find keywords in a webpage

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Find what you want in mobile Safari.
Find what you want in mobile Safari.
Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

Sometimes I’m browsing a site like Cult of Mac on my iPhone and I’m looking for something specific, like a story about encryption, for example. Instead of swiping down the page and hoping I see the story I’m looking for, I want to just search for it.

When you’re on your Mac, it’s super easy to find something like this: simply hit Command-F, type in the text string you’re looking for, and Safari (or any other web browser on the Mac, really) will find them all in the web page you’re on, highlighting them for you.

But what about finding stuff when browsing the web on your iPhone? There’s no Command-key on the built-in keyboard, so how do you search your favorite web page to find keywords?

Turns out, there are two ways to do it, which is kind of odd.

HappySacs keep your boys out of some sticky situations

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HappySacs
HappySacs: They go on your man-bag.
Photo: Evan Killham/Cult of Mac

Best List: HappySacs

Let me just make this clear up front: HappySacs are little, elastic-banded bags that you put over your testicles. This is probably when you start wondering why a person would do such a thing, and nobody will blame you for thinking so.

But HappySacs have a noble mission in mind, and it extends even beyond comfort. These weird little pouches want to save your balls in both the short and long term. And they do so way less awkwardly than you might think.

Trippy game Katamari Damacy rolls onto mobile at last

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trippy-game-katamari-damacy-rolls-onto-mobile-at-last-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads201512Katamari-Damacy-940x509-jpg
The King of All Cosmos is back, telling the Prince what to roll up. Photo: Bandai Namco
The King of All Cosmos is back, telling the Prince what to roll up. Photo: Bandai Namco

Describing the funky weirdness of Katamari Damacy has always been somewhat of a challenge. You play a pill-headed little person who must roll a big sticky ball around various environments, picking up weird stuff like rice candy, cows, and pencils, while taking your quests from some odd king-looking dude who speaks in an odd, english as a second language-flavored patois.

It’s bizarre, but super fun, and its coming to a mobile phone near you as Tap My Katamari on iOS and Android. Check out the teaser trailer below.

Robo-dog Santa sleigh will haunt your Christmas

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Ho, ho, horrifying?
Ho, ho, horrifying?
Photo: Boston Dynamics/YouTube

Robots are cool, but there are some things visionary engineers in the robotics field should not mess with – like eight tiny reindeer.

Boston Dynamics put their famous robotic dogs through another test – harnessing three Spot bots to a sleigh, pulling a waving Santa-like figure (not the real Santa, but a real person dressed as Mrs. Claus). The Google-owned company posted a video on YouTube of the prancing robo dogs, apparently showing the world once again that even the job of Rudolph can be replaced by a robot.

China defends its new anti-encryption law

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Photo of Apple CEO Tim Cook talking with Chinese children to illustrate an Apple history article about the deal that brought the iPhone to China Mobile, the world's largest carrier.
China argues new laws are necessary to keep citizens safe.
Photo: Apple
China argues new laws are necessary to keep citizens safe. Photo: Apple
China argues new laws are necessary to keep citizens safe. Photo: Apple

China’s Foreign Ministry said today that U.S. tech companies have nothing to fear from the country’s new anti-terrorism law, which could require companies to create “back doors” in products, or to hand over encryption information to the Chinese government.

You’ll soon be able to listen to The Beatles on Apple Music and Google Play

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BeatleslogoT
The Fab Four are coming to streaming music services everywhere.
Photo: The Beatles
The Fab Four are coming to streaming music services everywhere. Photo: The Beatles
The Fab Four are coming to streaming music services everywhere. Photo: The Beatles

Forget The Ed Sullivan Show, The Beatles are coming to Apple Music, Google Play, and a variety of other online streaming music services — and just in time for Christmas, too.

Starting Christmas Eve, the Fab Four will be available for your listening pleasure on Apple Music, Spotify, Slacker, Tidal, Microsoft’s Groove, Rhapsody, Deezer, Google Play, and Amazon Prime.

Weirdest of 2015: This year’s most dedicated iFans

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Apple fanatics got up to some strange stuff in 2015.
Apple fanatics got up to some strange stuff in 2015.
Image: Stephen Smith/Cult of Mac

Cult of Mac's Best of 2015Apple fans are some of the most dedicated in all of tech (some might even call them a cult), but a few enterprising and/or desperate people really outdid themselves this year.

Not that we can really blame them. Cupertino brought the heat this year with the Apple Watch, a cool new Apple TV, the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, and the massive iPad Pro. We can forgive the superfans for really going all out to get their hands on the latest iGear. But some of their efforts might have been a bit too enthusiastic.

Here are some times when people’s love of Apple outweighed logic this year.

Judge rules in Apple’s favor in lawsuit about disappearing Android texts

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judge-rules-in-apples-favor-in-lawsuit-about-disappearing-android-texts-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads201506apple-android-battle-jpg
The latest Android vs. Apple lawsuit is over.
Photo: Tsahi Levent-Levi/Flickr CC
apple-android-battle
The latest Android vs. Apple lawsuit is over. Photo: Tsahi Levent-Levi/Flickr CC

Apple has claimed final victory in a lawsuit arguing that the company was purposely intercepting and failing to deliver texts sent from iPhones to Android owners.

The case was related to Apple’s iMessage service, which posed a challenge to Apple-to-Android switchers up until 2014, when Apple finally issued a fix for the problem.

The greatest Xmas gift you can give: Apple evangelism

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The holidays are the perfect time to spread the Apple love.
The holidays are the perfect time to spread the Apple love.
Photo: Jack Mayfield

As an Apple fan, there’s a great gift you can bestow upon your friends and family this holiday season. The amazing part is, it’s free.

I’m not talking about the free tech support you’ll inevitably dole out to befuddled relatives (Cult of Mac’s how-to section can help with that, BTW). I’m talking about evangelizing for two of Apple’s least-loved products — and this gracious act will also goose the greater good.

This concept turns the iPhone 7’s touchscreen into an infinity edge pool

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If Apple took a page out of Samsung's bezel-less design book.
If Apple took a page out of Samsung's bezel-less design book.
Photo: SCAVidsHD

There have been plenty of rumors about Apple creating bezel-less iPhones over the years, and as many concept videos turning those rumors into sci-fi CGI.

This concept’s different, though, in that it’s actually plausible. Meet the iPhone 7 Edge, a concept that takes the concept of the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge and applies it to the next iPhone.

WhatsApp will take on FaceTime with video calling feature

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WhatsApp-Update-iPhone-UK-Version-iPhone-6S-3D-Touch-iPhone-New-Feature-WhatsApp-Update-iPhone-Video-Calls-WhatsApp-Update-Video-421217
You'll now be able to WhatsApp your friends with full motion video.
Photo: Macerkopf.de

Having added voice calling at no extra cost earlier this year, WhatsApp is now reportedly looking to introduce FaceTime-style video calls, according to a new report.

The leaked iOS screenshot shows a full-screen video call, along with a smaller inlaid video preview with the camera view of the call recipient, just like Skype or Apple’s own video calling service.

360-degree videos debut on Apple TV

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appletv
Immersive 360-degree videos are now available to fourth-gen Apple TV owners.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Now you can watch (and explore) 360-degree videos on the new Apple TV, thanks to virtual reality network Littlstar’s free app.

The network’s new tvOS app delivers content from the likes of Showtime, Disney and PBS. It works with Apple TV’s Siri Remote, granting users the ability to control the angle used in the immersive 360-degree videos via the remote’s nifty trackpad.

iRich: Businessman gifts former classmates 39 iPhone 6s handsets

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Iphone_for_free
Well, that's one way to show you remember your classmates.
Photo: Weibo

Christmas came early for schoolfriends of a Chinese businessman when he distributed 39 brand new iPhone 6s handsets during an elementary school reunion (!) over the past weekend.

The rose gold iPhones were engraved with the words, “To commemorate the Beilun Sanshan Primary School Class of 1998.” The generous giver of the gifts, a businessman with the surname Zhang, reportedly handed out the iPhones during a dinner in Ningbo, a city in China’s Zhejiang province.

Pro Tip: How to watch video while checking email on iPad

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There goes my productivity. Thanks, Apple!
There goes my productivity. Thanks, Apple!
Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

Pro Tip Cult of Mac bugSo you’re watching a TV show or movie on your iPad and you hear the ding that means you just got a new email. You could double press on the Home button to bring up the multitasking bar and swipe over to your Mail app, but why?

One of the cool gosh-wow things of iOS 9 on a newer iPad is the picture-in-picture multitasking feature, which means you can switch over to any app while you continue watching that video.

Here’s how.

The absolute best gifts to get loved ones for the holidays

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'Tis the season for giving.
'Tis the season for giving.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

If you’re anything like us, procrastination is one of the biggest hallmarks of the holidays. We’re here to help with our gift guide liveblog, which will be updated from now until Santa starts dropping through chimneys.

Whether you’re looking for something for a friend, spouse, significant other or just your dog, we’ve got a little something for everyone. Snap up these great gift ideas now — so you can get back to procrastinating.

China Mobile roadmap reveals iPhone 7c launch date

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A concept rendering of the iPhone 6c.
A concept rendering of the iPhone 6c.
Photo: Martin Hajek

The biggest wireless carrier in the world may have just revealed when the iPhone 6c 7c will finally launch.

Rumors of the iPhone 7c have been heating up the rumormill for months now, and with the device’s big unveiling supposedly just around the corner, it appears that China Mobile has accidentally confirmed to the world that the new low-cost iPhone will arrive by April 2016.