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.
Chances are you can vaguely remember the last Apple ad you saw, but do you remember it in the same way you remember the company’s “1984” commercial for the original Macintosh, or its wonderful “Think Different” campaign? It’s been a while since we saw anything quite as iconic.
Apple still creates great commercials we can’t help but talk about, but many fans would say those ads aren’t as good as they once were. Has Apple lost its marketing magic, or is it just too difficult to create truly iconic ads in the digital age?
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!
My professional DSLRs are starting to look good in retirement. Just ask my neck, back and right shoulder, which are still angry after years of toting the heavy cameras and lenses around.
In their place to sate my photographic wanderings is the Fujifilm X100T, a diminutive, mirrorless, rangefinder-style camera that records gorgeous files. Its exterior is also easy on the eyes — it tends to stop passersby, who ask questions like, “Is that a Leica?”
While working for Apple alongside good friend Jony Ive on special projects, like the Apple Watch, industrial designer Marc Newson found time to devote his celebrated sensibilities to two very simple objects.
Behold his take on the toaster and the teapot. Simple and clearly fitting for kitchens right now and 100 years from now.
iOS 9 is here and the development frenzy has begun. It’s not too late to get in on the action though, and right now may be the best time to start with this bundle of top notch lessons that can be your for whatever you want to pay. The almost 100 hours of instruction covers iOS 9, Swift, Xcode, WatchOS 2, tvOS, and more, and all proceeds go to Project HOPE, delivering medicine, supplies, experts and medical training in response to disasters and wellness needs around the world.
Google is in talks with chipset manufacturers with a view to designing its own processors and other components for future Android devices, according to a new report.
The company is said to be interested in following Apple’s footsteps in an effort to make Android “more competitive” at the high end of the market, and to “solve other major problems.”
You know that Apple TV is a great set-top box that allows you to play games, watch TV shows and movies, and even listen to Apple Music streams.
What you may not have known is that you can connect Bluetooth speakers so that you don’t bother your roommates or family when you’re watching, enhance dialogue, and even change the audio language on supported media.
Here’s how to do all that, from the comfort of your couch with the new Siri Remote.
There are only 5 more Fridays left until Star Wars: The Force Awakens debuts in theaters. Director JJ Abrams swore he wouldn’t give fans any more trailers, but a new international trailer for the film was released this morning, and oh boy is it filled with a bunch of new scenes.
This might be the most revealing trailer we’ve seen yet, with new footage of BB-88, Chewbacca, Leia, Finn, Rey, and of course, Kylo Ren wielding his broadsword lightsaber.
Check out all the new goodness in the trailer below:
Everything we’ve heard so far about Apple’s long-awaited iPad Pro suggests that it’s coming November 11th, but according to a source familiar with Apple’s plans, would-be customers can actually expect the plus-sized tablet to officially launch on Friday 13th.
Jason Voorhees would be proud!
Apple TV’s killer feature is the App Store. And with an App Store comes games.
I don’t care what near-sighted gaming sites are saying. Sure, Apple’s new box doesn’t have a whole lot of gaming content yet, but it has some great offerings if you poke around a bit. I’m finding games for the new Apple TV that never grabbed my attention when they were on my iPhone or iPad, but seeing them up on the big screen pulled me right in.
Which are the best games for the Apple TV to check out right now, though? Here are our five favorites, in no particular order. Note that the links below will take you to the iTunes App Store. If you purchase them with the same iTunes ID you have set up on your Apple TV, they’ll appear in the “Purchased” tab of the little black puck’s App Store. Alternately, you can search for the game name directly from your TV.
iOS 9.1 brought a whole lot of new emojis, but some users are complaining that it had another unintended consequence too — breaking their Touch ID fingerprint sensor.
Posts on Apple’s Support Communities website claim that the recent update either slows down their Touch ID, or in some cases means it even fails to recognize fingerprints altogether.
Prior to founding a tiny little company called Apple, Steves Jobs and Wozniak were “phone phreakers” — selling illegal blue boxes to help people make free long-distance phone calls.
While both quickly turned their back on their law-breaking ways, Jobs noted that, “If we hadn’t made those little blue boxes, there might never have been an Apple computer.”
The entire saga is now the subject of a short documentary, featuring new interviews with Woz, alongside notable phone phreaks Charlie Pine, Tony Lauck, and John “Cap’n Crunch” Draper. Check it out below.