Apple has made a big show of just how seriously it takes your privacy — but it’s not just criminals and government spying agencies whose hands it wants to keep off your devices.

According to a recent news story, Apple insisted that a Canadian widow sought a court order to retrieve her deceased husband’s password so that she could access his iPad — just to play a card game.

Update: Employees are now back to work after the security alert was lifted. Only Apple’s Hollyhill and Levitt’s Quay were affected.

Apple reportedly evacuated 4,000 staffers at several of its premises in Cork, Ireland, this morning after an online bomb threat.

Employees were evacuated from Apple’s facilities in Hollyhill, the nearby Levitt’s Quay, and (possibly) the Model Farm Road site at 10 a.m. local time, with a search now being made of all premises. The Army Bomb Disposal unit has been notified and an explosive ordnance disposal team is on standby.

WhatsApp will ditch the service’s annual subscription fees, after founder Jan Koum admitted that the $1 per year payment concept “doesn’t work that well.”

Analysts may be tripping over one another to proclaim the sky is falling for Apple, but apparently no-one told hedge fund managers because (surprise, surprise!) it turns out they’re not in a hurry to get rid of their AAPL stock at all.

Far from it, in fact.

Steve Jobs may have proved divisive among critics and an epic flop at the box office, but that’s not stopping it from cleaning up on the awards circuit.

The latest prize the Aaron Sorkin and Danny Boyle movie picked up was a Supporting Actress of the Year award for Kate Winslet at this weekend’s Critics’ Circle Film Awards in London. Winslet, who has already earned a Golden Globe for the role, stars in the movie as legendary PR guru Joanna Hoffman.

Apple has beaten Samsung to claim one of the top three places in the United Arab Emirates’ Annual BrandIndex Buzz Rankings — knocking Samsung from its previous No. 1 position down to No. 4.

That wasn’t Apple’s sole placement on the list either, since the iPhone (placed at No. 7) was the only handset brand named. Other notable tech entries included Google, Facebook, WhatsApp and YouTube.

It’s a lazy winter’s Sunday, which means it’s the perfect day of the week to try out a few of the hottest new apps currently hitting Apple’s various App Stores. But which ones to sample?

Whether you’re looking for a great Apple TV media player, an engrossing text-based game for your Apple Watch, or a great iPhone app to plan your first 2016 adventure, we’ve got you covered!

Check out our picks below.

Despite the amazing age of technology we live in, traveling isn’t any less of a hassle than it used to be. Luckily we’ve found some great options for taking the edge off next time you’re in line at a security checkpoint, trying to catch a snooze on a cramped train, or worried about your phone dying while on that international walking hike you’ve been waiting years to make. There’s plenty more than that here, take a look and see if there’s a travel companion here that’s right for you.

This week on The CultCast: super-sized drones, app-controlled robot bartenders, smart coffee mugs and the coolest of gadgets from CES 2016. Plus, don’t miss our picks for the absolutely, positively, you-should-install-them-today, most essential Mac and iOS apps.

Our thanks to Harry’s for supporting this episode. Harry’s super-sharp, German-made razors ship free right to your door and for way less than drugstore razors. Learn more at Harrys.com and save $5 off your first order with code CultCast.

These days good design is the key to any successful product, website, ad campaign, you name it. With these discounted resources, you can step up your design game and your pay scale at the same time. From drawing by hand with Adobe, to web development lessons and a library of design assets, there’s something here for anyone looking to improve their marketability in a design-conscious industry.

Here’s some of what’s included:

If you’re expecting the second-gen Apple Watch to drop in March, think again. A new report suggests that while we might see new bands and partnerships announced in two months, a revised version of the Apple Watch hardware itself will not be on the table.

Recent reports suggest Apple might ship wireless, noise-canceling EarPods with the iPhone 7. From a hardware perspective, these headphones would be very similar to hearing aids.

With the right feature set, these devices could change the way we hear digital audio and pave the way for transformative new audio experiences for everyone.

Apple Music is shutting down its ad-supported radio as of January 28, pushing Beats 1 as the premier free “broadcast” for Apple. Apple sent the news out in an email to subscribers and free listeners today.

You’ll still be able to listen to all the Apple Music radio as an Apple Music member, but not as a free listener.

An accidentally deep discount on Apple Watch bands has the seller reaching out for positive reviews on Amazon.

Baoxing Trading mistakenly marked down some of the accessories in its store to too-good-to-be-true levels, and while they were, in fact, that, the company decided to honor the prices and ship the items at a loss. And that’s pretty nice and honorable of them, but it doesn’t mean they aren’t asking for a small favor in return via a note included in the packages buyers are receiving.

Check out the letter below:

We all know Apple’s are much safer than Windows PCs at keeping out the malware, right?

Researcher Patrick Wardle has been trying to make sure of that for months now as he pokes holes in Apple’s current protection scheme, Gatekeeper.

In fact, he’s gotten past Apple’s latest patch to its software security system in literally five minutes.

We’ve seen a clever smartwatch hack or two, but this is not one of them.

A University of Cophenhagen student found a way to infiltrate smartwatches and trick them into giving up sensitive data like passcodes and personal identification numbers by accessing their motion data and offloading it to a secure server. And if that sounds completely terrifying, that’s because we haven’t told you how it works.

But it has a pretty big hole in its methodology.

We’re back from CES and rounding up everything from the show, checking out the new operating system betas for your iPhone, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV, proposing ways to fix Apple’s fitness apps, and taking a little time to mourn David Bowie and play some retro-tastic games on Apple TV.

All this, and a lot more, coming your way in this week’s Cult of Mac Magazine.

Apple was the only computer maker that didn’t endure a blue Christmas, with Mac sales up 3 percent year-over-year as worldwide PC shipments declined. But for how long can the Mac business continue to fight on, immune to the growing thread from other industries?

Smartphones and tablets are now capable at handling many of our daily tasks, and every year they get better. Will the iPad Pro ever be powerful enough to replace your iMac, or will we forever be reliant on powerful processors and dedicated GPUs?

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

Cybersecurity and civilian data become a hot topic at the end of last night’s GOP debate with Apple getting caught in the crossfire. Candidates criticized the company for its decision to keep customer data private, but Apple fanboy Jeb Bush revealed he has a radical strategy that will get Tim Cook to change his stance on encryption: ask really nicely.

Looking to pick up an Apple Watch but don’t want to spend extra on watch bands or a charging stand?

Groupon has your dream bundle, then, with a Sport edition of Apple’s famous wearable, along with third-party knockoffs of the Milanese Loop and leather strap and a charging stand all for the price of the actual Apple Watch.

Google’s answer to Apple Pay may have been late to the game, but it’s already leading the way with a new rewards program — and it’s awesome.

Dubbed “Tap 10,” the program offers up free Google Play content simply for using Android Pay on a regular basis, and there’s even a mention of Chromecast giveaways.

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.