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Here’s what the new, better Google Glass looks like

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This is the new Google Glass.
This is the new Google Glass.

The FCC has given us our first glimpse at Google’s next-generation Glass headset today, thanks to a public filing that includes detailed photos of the new glasses aimed at enterprise.

Tony Fadell was put in charge of redesigning Google Glass into something non-nerds would actually want to wear, and based on the FCC’s images, it looks like his team has done just that. Not only is the new Google Glass slimmer and durable, it also touts a bigger display prism while packing a hinge that will allow wearers to fold it up during travel.

We still don’t know when or if Google will officially announce the headset, but based on the FCC documents, it appears that the device is nearly ready to launch.

Take a look at its internals:

Verizon’s new deal showers switchers with cash, data

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Verizon is hungry for new and returning customers.
Photo: Mike Mozart/Flickr CC
verizon-deal-650
Verizon is hungry for new and returning customers. Photo: Mike Mozart/Flickr CC

Verizon Wireless is just about matching the deal other carriers have offered for a while to entice customers on other networks. It’s essentially offering to buy you out of your contract with up to $650 per line, less the trade-in value of your current device. But Verizon also has a few extra bonuses to brag about.

iOS concept brings joy of Windows to iPad

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Windows could change work on the iPad.
Windows could change work on the iPad.
Photo: Steve Troughton-Smith

iOS 9 finally brought split-screen views to the iPad, but it’s still not nearly as useful as the windowed multitasking views you get on a Mac. Developer Steve Troughton-Smith has come up with a much better solution with a new proof-of-concept called iOS window management that would bring the joy of working in a windows environment to the iPad.

Apple already has the foundation built thanks to UIKit. It only took Troughton-Smith 500 lines of code to build the concept with the UIWindow subclass, allowing individual app screens to be resized an overlaid on top of each other.

Check out the concept video:

As more drones take to the skies, droneports will become a thing

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Rendering of the Eldorado Droneport.
Rendering of the Eldorado Droneport.
Photo: The Aerodrome

Just when you thought it was hard to achieve a first in flight in this day and age, a city near Las Vegas has broken ground on what is believed to be the first commercial drone airport.

The Aerodrome, a non-profit in unmanned aircraft education, has partnered with Boulder City, Nevada to develop the droneport. The 50-acre site about 28 miles from the Las Vegas Strip is already partially operational but won’t be complete until 2018.

Bullet, the ‘tiniest flashlight on Kickstarter,’ blows away its target

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The tiny Bullet is sorta like the 12-inch MacBook of LED flashlights.
The tiny Bullet is sorta like the 12-inch MacBook of LED flashlights.
Photo: Slughaus

The makers of a tiny (but badass!) new LED flashlight say they took inspiration from the 9mm bullet, but Apple’s incessant drive toward miniaturization seems at least as much of an influence.

You can almost hear the dulcet tones of Jony Ive’s voice in the description of the Bullet, which its maker calls “the tiniest flashlight on Kickstarter.”

Get iTunes to stop asking you to authorize your Mac

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iTunes on Mac
iTunes ain’t dead yet.
Photo: Apple

Trying to play a song in iTunes and getting the same error over and over can be frustrating. If your computer isn’t authorized with your Apple ID via iTunes, it won’t let you play any songs you’ve downloaded from the iTunes Store until it is. Sometimes iTunes will seem to get “stuck” prompting you again and again with the need to authorize.

If you’re having trouble playing your purchased iTunes on your Mac due to the repeated prompts to authorize your computer, there are a few things you can do.

Soulja Boy’s latest repetitive trap song is all about iPhone

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Trappin off my iPhone.
Trappin off my iPhone.
Photo: Soulja Boy

Rapper, producer and dance meme-maker Soulja Boy finally removed his regrettable Gucci forehead tattoo over Christmas weekend, and to celebrate he released a fresh new song that’s all about his love of Steve Jobs’ greatest gift to gangsters: the iPhone.

The new meme-worthy trap song blasts the same highly repetitive lyrics and catchy trap beats that turned Soulja Boy into a sensation in 2007 with his hit “Crank That.” Aptly titled “Trappin On My iPhone” (but not to be confused with Bigg Quan’s “Trappin Off My iPhone“), the ridiculous new song contains more than 40 iPhone references and talks about why true CEOs of the streets manage drug empires with the best smartphone, instead of a lame flip-phone burner.

Listen to the song below:

Comfy purple goggles make the best of iPhone VR

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Soft and eminently comfy.
Soft and eminently comfy.
Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

Best List: VR Goggles by Merge

If you’ve ever had a hankering to try out VR with your iPhone (or other smartphone), the Merge VR Goggles are a fantastic fit. They’re made of a soft, lightweight, purple sculpted foam that will fit any face and pretty much any smartphone.

You’ll be able to comfortably wear these as long as you can stand virtual reality apps on your iPhone, thanks to the way they mold to your particular facial features and don’t weigh your head down.

Only killer looks or a better tax return gets you into this singles party

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Millionaire dating app Luxy is looking for good-looking and/or rich singles for its global meet-and-greets.
Millionaire dating app Luxy is looking for good-looking and/or rich singles for its global meet-and-greets.
Photo: Luxy

As far as party invitations go, this may be the only one that asks unattractive people to stay away – unless of course they can produce a tax return at the door that shows a yearly income above $200,000.

Luxy, the dating app for only the wealthiest, will be hosting a series of singles nights around the globe next year. If you find such an invitation rude, you probably weren’t going to make it past the door anyway.

Best console and PC games of 2015

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What have you been playing this year?
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Cult of Mac's Best of 2015 It’s been a terrific year for gaming. The next-generation consoles now offer a library of spectacular games that somehow keep getting better and better, while PC gaming just gets greater every year.

2015 brought exciting and long-awaited entries to wonderful franchises like Fallout and The Legend of Zelda, surprising indie smash hits like Rocket League, and must-play platform exclusives like Blooborne and Super Mario Maker.

Here are the best games that we couldn’t put down this year.

OS X’s ultimate old-school game emulator just received a huge update

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The iTunes of classic gaming just got even better.
The iTunes of classic gaming just got even better.
Photo: OpenEmu

OpenEmu, the ultimate old-school game emulator for OS X, just got even better. A beefy update brings an improved user interface, real-time game rewinding and — best of all! — support for an additional 16 game consoles, including the Nintendo 64, PlayStation 1 and PlayStation Portable.

Get an assistant that picks up the slack for Siri [Deals]

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EasilyDo is a digital assistant that makes sure you're on top of your schedule and correspondence.
EasilyDo is a digital assistant that makes sure you're on top of your schedule and correspondence.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Siri is (usually) great for answering questions, but for helping us stay on task it’s a bit of a dud. EasilyDo on the other hand will make sure you’re on time and on point with all your obligations. It’s a powerful assistant for managing contacts, calendar, email and more that’s just $19.99.

iPhone 6s Plus vs. Nexus 6P vs. Lumia 950 XL: Who wins the smartphone NASCAR?

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How long does it take an iPhone to lap a Nexus and a Lumia?

If all of the big boys’ flagship phones – the iPhone 6s Plus, the Google Nexus 6P and Microsoft’s Lumia 950 XL – raced in NASCAR, which would be the fastest phone around? This speed-test video puts that concept to the test, making all three phones “run laps” to see which is the fastest.

How to restore older versions of iOS apps

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It's not easy, but you can restore old versions of apps on iOS.
It's not easy, but you can restore old versions of apps on iOS.
Photo: Jeff Benjamin

Usually, an app update is a good thing. But sometimes, things go wrong: An update does the opposite of what you expect it to do. In that scenario, you want to roll your apps back, but unfortunately, at least on the iOS and Mac App Stores, Apple makes that seemingly impossible.

But it isn’t impossible — just a little tricky. Here’s how to roll your iOS apps back to an older version when things go wrong.

Could Fitbit have had a better Christmas than Apple Watch?

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Fitbit may have had a better Christmas than Apple Watch.
Fitbit may have had a better Christmas than Apple Watch.
Photo: Fitbit

Although Fitbit may consider the Apple Watch a technical threat, Apple’s smartwatch didn’t seem to hamper Christmas sales any for the company: the market-leading activity tracker seems to have had a huge sales surge thanks to Christmas. Could Fitbit have outsold the Apple Watch this Holiday season?

Time to ditch your DVDs and make them mobile-friendly [Deals]

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Convert all your DVDs and other video files into formats that work great on Apple and Android devices.
Convert all your DVDs and other video files into formats that work great on Apple and Android devices.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

DVDs have all but gone the way of laserdiscs and the dodo. With HD streaming video and high capacity hard drives, keeping shelves full of movies just doesn’t make much sense anymore. But that doesn’t mean you should toss them, at least not yet. The two applications in the MacX DVD Video Converter Pro Pack make it easy to capture and convert your DVDs and other digital videos into formats friendly to your computer and mobile devices. It’s a great way to extend the life of your favorite DVDs into the future for just $11.99.

Must-have Apple TV apps of 2015

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best apple tv apps
These apps truly shine on the new Apple TV.
Photo: Stephen Smith/Cult of Mac

Cult of Mac's Best of 2015 The Apple TV’s App Store is still so new, odds are you might be having trouble figuring out which apps are the best.

The holidays are just around the corner, so for the sake of the friends and relatives who will soon be swarming your living room, you might want to populate your new set-top box with some must-haves. Take a look at Cult of Mac’s top picks for best Apple TV apps.

Inside Apple’s super-secret design lab, plus the best movies of 2015 on The CultCast

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The inner sanctum, aka, the Apple design lab
The inner sanctum, aka, the Apple design lab
Photo: CBS

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: We venture into very heart of Apple, inside Jony Ive’s super-secret design lab, and what we find is amazing. Plus: the best holiday iOS App Store deals and our favorite movies of 2015!

Our thanks to FreshBooks — the easy-to-use invoicing software designed to help small business owners get organized, save time invoicing and get paid faster — for supporting this episode. Get started with a free trial at Freshbooks.com/cultcast.

Free app Veer takes the hassle out of reaching your contacts

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Veer is a free app that streamlines the way we interact with our contacts.
Quick-launch app Veer expands on iOS 9's Siri suggestions, putting your contacts and actions closer than ever.
Photo: Code Atlas

This post is brought to you by Code Atlas, maker of Veer.

Sometimes great innovations are really just refinements of something few would have thought of trying to improve. If you think Apple’s already figured out the best way of reaching out to your contacts in iOS 9, Veer will make you reconsider. It’s a novel new iOS app and Notification Center widget that blends seamlessly into your iPhone’s normal operations, simplifying and streamlining how we use the device to reach people.

Weirdest of 2015: This year’s most blistering insults

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Apple fanatics got up to some strange stuff in 2015.
There was plenty of trash talk to go around in 2015.
Image: Stephen Smith/Cult of Mac

Cult of Mac's Best of 2015 In addition to rounding up the best stories of the year, we’re also showcasing the weirdest of 2015, and we can’t do that without including the sickest burns people laid down over the past 12 months.

It’s always strange when companies and CEOs snip and snap at each other like annoyed children. We should expect them to be above that sort of behavior, but guess what? They totally aren’t.

Here are some of the most blistering insults of the year.

Becoming certified in project management will upgrade any resume [Deals]

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Learning project management skills can make you a lot more marketable. This bundle of courses will teach you.
Learning project management skills can make you a lot more marketable. This bundle of courses will teach you.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

If you want to work in an organization of any size, becoming fluent in project management is one of the most marketable skills you can acquire, This bundle of five classes, clocking in at more than 120 hours, offers a clear path to getting PMP® certification, and the pay bump that comes with. It’s an invaluable resume booster can be yours for only $39.

Why most New Year’s resolutions fail (and how iPhone can help you succeed)

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The secret to losing weight and getting fit with iPhone in 2016
An expert reveals the secret to losing weight and getting fit with iPhone.
Photo: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac

If you’re feeling guilty about your festive overindulgence, you may be planning to lose some weight and get fit in the new year. Well, sorry to be a Grinch, but research suggests that only 8 percent of New Year’s resolutions are successful.

The good news is that there is a better way. One that involves steadily building healthy habits over time. There are some handy iPhone apps that can help with this, but you won’t find them in the Health & Fitness section of the App Store.