Cult of Mac

Adobe’s VP of Products, Scott Belsky, said the iPad will transform how creatives work, and according to some of the most creative people that use the company’s apps, they agree.

Ahead of the iPad Pro’s launch later this week, Adobe gathered some top designers and illustarators to test out the company’s apps on the new tablet to see if you can do real creative work on it. Illustrator Draw, Photoshop Mix, Photoshop Sketch, Photoshop Fix and other Creative Cloud apps shine on the iPad Pro in the demo that highlights how transformative the iPad Pro will be.

Here’s how creatives make use of the large screen:

Apple released the first update for its new fourth-generation Apple TV today with tvOS 9.0.1.

The new tvOS 9.0.1 update is a minor update that mostly focuses on performance improvements and bug fixes that have been discovered after the device went on sale at the end of last month.

Apple Watch is great at interacting with other smart devices, but a cheap hack allows it to recognize everyday (dumb) objects based on their invisible electromagnetic signals.

All it takes is a $10 chip that can be installed on any smartwatch. Check out the demo below:

Apple’s senior VP of services, Eddy Cue, sat down with CNN this morning to talk about why you need to buy the new iPad Pro that will go on sale later this week.

Along with being the best iPad ever for professionals that want to create content, Cue told Brian Stelter that the gigantic tablet is a really great device to consume media on. “It’s great for doing things like email, but I consume more than I create,” said Cue, who claims features like Four Speaker audio will change the way you think about a tablet.

Watch the entire interview below:

Staying productive in business requires inspiration from study and the examples of others. That’s why we’ve gathered some of the best resources for the budding tech entrepreneur, lessons from one of the top minds at Apple, fundamental startup courses and a lifetime of coding courses. Check out what we’ve rounded up:

Apple’s tax practices in Europe have been the subject of investigation for some time now. However, European Union regulators say they’ll finally have a conclusion as to the question of whether Apple benefited from “illegal tax sweeteners” by the end of this year.

According to Ireland’s finance minister Michael Noonan, the decision will be announced, “between now and Christmas.”

What happens when a rose gold iPhone 6s undergoes a bizarre “burnout” stress test beneath the wheels of an Italian Ducati pocket bike? A completely implausible scenario that would never in a million years happen to a handset in the real world, that’s what!

But, hey, if seeing brand new iPhones destroyed in bizarre ways is what gets your engines revving, click below for the oddly-compelling video.

Apple has confirmed that its super-sized iPad Pro tablet will be available to order online Wednesday, with stocks available in retail stores from the end of this week.

More than 40 countries will be covered by the launch, including the United States, Canada, China and much of Europe. Apple will start selling accessories for the iPad Pro at the same time, with the Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard available for $99 and $169 respectively.

There’s being careful about iPhone security and then there’s…. this.

Over the weekend, Japanese Twitter user yossy1999116 posted a video clip shot on the subway, showing a user with an historically long and complex passcode unlocking their iPhone. If you’ve ever wanted an advert for how Touch ID can improve your life, this is almost certainly it.

TAG Heuer is ready to take on the Apple Watch.

Its first smartwatch, powered by Android Wear and called the Carrera Connected, is set to make its debut later this week, and it will retail for $1,500.

Aaron Sorkin and Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs movie had another disastrous showing at the box office over the weekend. With earnings declining more than 69 percent from the previous weekend to just $823,000, the movie was dumped from 2,072 screens — more than any other film.

By comparison, the new Bond movie Spectre took $73 million in its opening weekend.

Apple won’t have to stump up the cash for back-paying thousands of current and former employees at Apple Stores across California, according to the ruling of a federal judge.

The lawsuit was brought against Apple in 2013 by two former retail employees — claiming that Apple’s policy of mandatory bag searches after work had cost them dozens of hours of unpaid wages, totalling around $1,500 per year.

It’s going to be cold soon, and the gloves are about to come back on. That shouldn’t mean we can’t use our most important devices though, so we’ve gathered a couple garments that can keep you in touch with your tech while you stay warm.

This week: the new Apple TV remote is unnervingly easy to break; home-buttonless iPhone 7s; the UK wants your Apple devices to be less secure; and we pitch our favorite new Apple TV apps!

Our thanks to Lynda for supporting this episode. Lynda is like the Apple Music of online education, with over 3000 expert-taught video courses you can stream straight to computer or mobile device. Learn how to use Logic’s new super powerful Alchemy synth, or develop Mac apps for OS X—learn all you want for free for 10 days at lynda.com/cultcast.

When charging your phone or transferring data between devices, it’s only a matter of time before the soft white plastic of the stock Lightning cable frays and breaks. Given how much we use and rely on our devices, that’s just got to stop, which is why Titan’s MFi-certified Lightning cable is a must-have. It’s built tough enough to outlast us all, so you can take the worry of a busted cable out of your mind by putting one of these in your bag for $27.95.

Titan’s cable is wrapped twice in flexible industrial-grade steel, with its USB and Lightning connectors sealed and protected from fray. The MFi rating means Apple vouches for it to keep your devices safe, and it’s even backed by a limited lifetime warranty. Rough handling and time itself are no match for this Terminator-grade charging cable.

Get a Titan MFi-Certified Lightning Cable for just $27.95 at Cult of Mac Deals.

Runkeeper is one of the first big-name running apps to offer full watchOS 2 support, which means you can log a run on your Apple Watch even if you leave your iPhone behind.

The Apple Watch’s built-in Workout app has always offered this feature, but it is new for third-party apps. I had never tried it before, but Runkeeper got me curious. So I left my iPhone charging at home, put on a pair of Nikes and went out for a run.

A new electric car company has revved up Apple Car conspiracy theorists who think the mysterious automaker may actually be a shell company for Apple’s automotive ambitions.

Faraday Future has already pulled in $1 billion in investments and is stocking up on top Tesla talent (just like Apple), but little else is known about the new company that currently boasts over 400 employees with plans to add 100 more of the best automotive engineers and designers in the world before the end of the year.

Take a look at the rendering of their future car:

The billboards and ads featuring beautiful photographs shot with an iPhone 6 are nearly gone. Apple is now promoting a new iPhone. But that does not mean Apple has forgotten the photographers whose work helped sell phones and treat the world to art in public spaces.

Photographers from the “Shot on iPhone 6” campaign have been getting packages in the mail, a pair of cloth-covered coffee table books featuring their work. The books were apparently a surprise and included a pair of white gloves for handling with care.

If you’ve tried to type in any sort of long password or search terms into your new Apple TV using the fancy Siri Remote, you know you’ve had a tough time.

Even if you adjust the tracking to make it a little more accurate, scrolling through letters and clicking on the touch surface can be a nightmare of inaccurate clicks and missed targets.

The fine folks over at The Loop found a different way to navigate single items like this, and it’s totally amazing.

GoPro owns the action camera market it invented and the routine emergence of new competitors only seems to make GoPro’s sales go up. Why would anyone try to compete?

In creating The People’s Action Camera, Utah-based Vidi did not set out to target GoPro. It is instead aiming for more budget-conscious consumers who aren’t necessarily into gadgets. The result is a camera that requires little to no study to use, provides pro-grade high-def footage and has software that edits video for you.

One other thing – it costs less than $100.

You had me at “ruined continent.”

Overland is an upcoming 3D survival tactics game from the creator of Canabalt, Adam Saltzman. Its beautiful, chillingly-chromatic art style has me itching to play it, as does the cool way the team has created an approachable rogue-like set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland without dumbing it down.

Check out the video below, with Saltzman’s narration.

Apple has added a new shopping category to the App Store today, bringing with it a collection of apps that cover everything from auctions, product reviews, price comparisons, Apple Pay apps, and more.

App Store users will begin seeing the new category on the App Store today. It may end up on the tvOS App Store as well, considering one of the biggest selling points during the keynote demo was the ability to shop from your TV. To make the new creation of the new category even better for users, a select number of apps are offering limited deals to iOS shoppers.

The following promotions are available in the ‘Save While You Shop’ group:

Apple Pay and 3D Touch may play a crucial role in Instagram’s quest to develop a more robust marketing platform, based on some new ads the company has started testing.

Instagram has rolled out a number of new ads that let users shop for stuff like clothing, food, skateboards and more by simply using 3D Touch to bring up a menu of options that makes the process of buying goods nearly instantaneous.

The iPad Pro is the Apple tablet of my dreams.

I’ve been lusting after Apple’s crazy-big iPad since the first whispers of the device echoed around the rumor mill a few years ago. When Apple finally unveiled the Pro at the September keynote, I was beyond stoked to fork over more than $1,000 for an iPad big enough to host Thanksgiving dinner on.

The display is breathtaking. The graphics are mind-blowing. The Apple Pencil is magical. Even the freaking speakers are better. But after weeks of debating whether the Pro is really worth it, I’ve realized its diminutive little brother, the iPad Mini 4, is really the perfect tablet for me.

Here’s why the mini 4 might be the best iPad for you, too:

Happy Friday, everyone! That of course means another Cult of Mac Magazine positively brimming with amazing how-to, news, and feature articles to keep you informed and entertained all weekend long.

We’ve got a fair pile of Apple TV how-tos aimed at getting you set up and running hot with Apple’s new set-top box, as well as a round up of the five best games to play on your big screen and several hidden tricks you need to know about the new Siri Remote.

We hope you like all that and a ton more in this week’s Cult of Mac Magazine, the best slice of Apple news and info this side of Cupertino. Be sure to grab yourself a copy today.

Here’s the rundown for this week.