iOS 9’s new Wi-Fi Assist feature might have you accidentally burning through your data plan, so to clear up any confunsion about the new iPhone feature that switches you over to LTE speeds when a Wi-Fi network is weak, Apple has released a new support document detailing exactly how and when Wi-Fi Assist should work.
Siri can be silently put to work against you, thanks to a new hack discovered by French security researchers that allows attackers to transmit orders to the digital assistant via a radio.
The hack also works on Google Now and utilizes the headphone cord as an antenna to convert electromagnetic waves into signals that register in iOS and Android as audio coming from the microphone. José Lopes Esteves and Chaouki Kasmie — the two French researchers that discovered the hack — wrote in their paper that hackers could use the attack to get Siri and Google Now to send the phone’s browser to a malware site, or send spam and phishing messages to friends.
“The sky is the limit here,” says Vincent Strubel, the director of their research group at ANSSI. “Everything you can do through the voice interface you can do remotely and discreetly through electromagnetic waves.”
Facebook’s algorithmic nostalgia is all well and good — until it starts pulling up the worst memories you’ve shared. Not everyone wants to be reminded of these awful memories.
Introduced this past March, “On This Day” is a Facebook feature that lets you re-share important digital memories from one year ago. Now you can keep specific people and/or dates from appearing in your feed, thanks to a pair of filters introduced on the social network.
Here’s how to make sure your worst memories aren’t surfaced by Facebook.
Anyone who writes on a computer knows the mental juggling routine involved in keeping track of research, notes, drafts and edits. Scrivener 2 offers a way to consolidate the whole process in one place, making for a much more efficient and less time consuming writing process. The award-winning app has also been a hit with Cult of Mac readers, who now have an extra few hours to get a copy of Scrivener 2 for $19.50.
Now that Apple Music’s three-month free trial is over and done with, Apple is stepping up its efforts to make sure (paying) customers are happy with the service they are receiving.
One way it is doing this is with a newly-launched Twitter account @AppleMusicHelp which, you guessed it, offers Apple Music help to anyone with a query.
Apple’s new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus may be packing its best iSight camera yet, but it’s not good enough to topple the latest Android devices.
In DxOMark’s expert camera tests, Apple’s latest smartphones achieve a score of 82, which is five points less than the current mobile leader, Sony’s Xperia Z5.
Stop the presses: supply chain companies really, really want Apple’s business.
According to a new report, key Apple manufacturers Foxconn and Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE) are currently battling over control of a third company, Siliconware Precision Industries, a.k.a. SPIL. Why? Because it will help them win more orders from Apple, of course.
Apple is taking its next step into the fashion world by sponsoring the 2016 Met Gala, the annual star-studded event held in New York to benefit the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute.
The theme of next year’s event — set to take place on May 2 — is “Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology.” Jony Ive will represent Apple as co-chair of the event, alongside other luminaries including Taylor Swift, Idris Elba, and Anna Wintour.
The Zagg Pocket Keyboard is for anyone desperate to carry the bare minimum. Well, the bare minimum would be to skip the keyboard altogether, but if you are looking for the convenience of an external keyboard without the hassle of carrying one, look no further.
Just weeks after iOS 9’s launch, Chinese jailbreak team Pangu has released the world’s first untethered jailbreak for Apple’s new mobile operating system.
The jailbreak, which covers iOS 9 through iOS 9.0.2 for all compatible Apple devices, is available for free, although OS X users will have to wait since there’s only a Windows installer available.
Apple may face $862 million in damages for allegedly infringing on a patent owned by the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s patent-licensing wing, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.
The Apple technologies that take advantage of said patent for increased processor efficiency? None other than the A7, A8 and A8X chips, which are found in the iPhone 5s, 6 and 6 Plus handsets, as well as several iPad models.
Uh-oh.
Quick – how often do you check your iPhone when you’re around other people? When you’re out dining? At home on the couch, maybe watching TV? At the bar? At parties?
If you’re anything like the rest of us, the answer is somewhere between “often” and “far too often.”
Photographer Eric Pickersgill noticed this phenomenon while sitting at a cafe one morning and decided to make some art about it. He calls the project Removed.
This post is brought to you by Coolmuster.
There’s no sense pretending some of us iOS and Mac enthusiasts don’t dabble in the world of Android. Whether using phones, tablets or other mobile devices, we’ve come to rely on all our gadgets communicating reliably with one another, but when using both Apple and Android gear that isn’t always guaranteed.
Luckily, there’s a fix: Coolmuster Android Assistant, which will keep your Android devices working in harmony with your PC or Mac.
When I lose track of my mouse cursor, I’ve always just wiggled it a bit to find it on the screen. It’s a natural gesture, and Apple’s capitalized on it with its new “shake to find” feature in El Capitan.
If you’re constantly shaking your mouse or swiping quickly on your mousepad, maybe while gaming or editing, the new feature might bug you.
Here’s how to turn it off (and turn it back on again if you want to).
When it comes to specifications, Apple’s latest iPhones look like they’re lagging far behind their Android-powered rivals. But thanks to super-efficient software, they’re not as slow and as outdated as they might look on paper.
This is demonstrated in the real-world speed test below, in which the iPhone 6s Plus somehow batters a Galaxy Note 5.
Apple’s new Magic Mouse 2 has some new tricks up its sleeve, but according to a behind-the-scenes look into Apple’s Input Design Lab, perfecting the new eco-friendly mouse with a gliding sound that was just right wasn’t as easy as a click.
The top-secret laboratory where Apple designs its Macintosh accessories opened its doors before today’s product launches, revealing all the insane details Cupertino’s hardware wizards obsessed over in the new iMac, Magic Mouse 2, Magic Trackpad 2 and Magic Keyboard.
Everything from the chemicals used in the smaller iMac’s new 4K displays to the size of the keys on the new keyboard got mercilessly scrutinized.
So a good Halloween costume idea is not coming to you. Steve and Marianne Wintercroft can get you started with an alluring mask.
The British design couple has made a company out of designing masks that the buyers build themselves. For a few bucks, you can download a template of a polygon constructed animal head that you print, cut and assemble.
Google is incredibly accurate at understanding voice searches, which makes it super useful on mobile when you might want to find information without using your hands. But did you know that the company records every single voice search you make?
What’s more, you can listen back to each and every one.
The more time goes by, the more cables we get for new devices or to replace broken ones, and the messier our desks get. We’ve gathered some of the best solutions for keeping your wired things well under control and in working order, like the MOS Cable Organizer. It’s a magnetic hub for keeping your headphones, charging cords, flash drives, and any other necessary connectors off the floor and within reach. It’s just $11.99 at Cult of Mac Deals.
One click and your digital life gets stored in the Cloud. Where or what that is exactly is a mystery to most of us. Two startup companies are producing products aimed at the segment of the computing population that doesn’t want to save pictures, videos and documents to large cloud-based servers.
These products let you create your own cloud to store the personal stuff.
To coincide with today’s brand new Retina iMacs release, Apple has launched a superb new mini-site comparing the latest Mac desktop with the 1998-era iMac G3.
The first major release under Steve Jobs upon his return to Apple, the original iMac was also the computer which introduced Jony Ive as a creative force at Apple, as well as the machine that announced that Apple was on the comeback trail.
Needless to say, Moore’s Law and an extra 17 years of innovation means that the current iMac is on a totally different plain to Jobs’ comeback computer.
Check out some of the astonishing stats below.
The new Magic Trackpad 2 introduced Force Touch to the iMac, but Apple’s not ready to embrace the concept of a Mac touchscreen — and according to Phil Schiller, it’s unlikely to do so anytime soon.
We’ll take that as a “no” for anyone dreaming of an iOS/OS X hybrid.
Alongside stunning new 21.5- and 27-inch Retina iMacs, Apple’s other big announcement of the day relates to the release of an all-new Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse 2, and Magic Trackpad 2.
These gorgeous new devices have been completely redesigned to feel more comfortable than ever, while also featuring fully rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, giving them around one month of charge.
The pressure-sensitive displays packed into Apple’s latest iPhones give them a unique advantage over their rivals, but not for long.
Samsung is already working to put a pressure-sensitive screen of its own into next year’s Galaxy S7, new reports claim.
Apple today revealed its refreshed line of iMacs, including a brand new 21.5-inch 4K Retina iMac and 27-inch 5K Retina model.
The smaller iMac now matches the pixel density of the larger 5K iMac, giving it 4.5 times the resolution of Full HD. The 27-inch iMac, meanwhile, boasts Retina 5K displays across the board, whereas previously they were available only for the $2,499 flagship iMac.
The 21.5-inch 4K iMac starts at $1,499, while the 27-inch version starts at $1,799.