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Cult of Mac Magazine: iPhone 6s is one sexy beast

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It's all in here.
It's all in here.
Cover Design: Stephen Smith/Cult of Mac

The iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus came out last week, and it’s been a fun ride getting to know what makes these sexy beasts tick.

Check out this week’s Cult of Mac Magazine for all the tips, tricks, reviews, news, and just plain great content with yet another digital issue of your favorite magazine.

Download the brand new Cult of Mac Magazine app from iTunes right now, and you’ll get all this, and more, absolutely free.

How Instagram made 3D Touch pop on iPhone 6s

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3D Touch is awesome on Instagram.
Photo: Instagram

If you’re looking for an app to wow you with the revolutionary powers of 3D Touch, look no further than Instagram. The photo sharing app has already created some great new interactions with 3D Touch by letting users peek at photos and profile info using three new APIs provided by Apple.

We’ve only had 3D Touch iPhones for a week, but Instagram’s engineers have already managed to set a high bar for other apps to aspire to. In a new engineering blog post, the company gives developers a peek at how they implemented the new 3D Touch APIs so seamlessly, and show how other apps can make 3D Touch much more powerful than just a 2015 version of the right click.

Here’s some of the pointers they collected:

Does Apple Watch really need a ‘killer app’?

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What's wrong with thousands of great apps?
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple Watch is missing a “killer app.”

At least that’s what some say. Apple’s first wearable has been selling well, but its inability to convince everyone they need a smartwatch since it went on sale in late April is being blamed on its lack of stellar software by some analysts. But are they right?

Friday-Night-Fights-bug-2Does Apple Watch really need a killer app to become the next iPod (in sales terms), or will it do perfectly well with thousands of great apps?

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

How to beam YouTube to the big screen using El Capitan

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Get YouTube up on the big screen.
Get YouTube up on the big screen.
Photo: Rego Korosi/Flickr

Ever wish you could watch all those great Key & Peele or Inside Amy Schumer clips from YouTube on the big television in the living room?

Sometimes the small screen on your MacBook just isn’t large enough to contain all that hilarity. It’s times like these that you’ll want to send video to that massive HDTV, and El Capitan makes it even easier with a new AirPlay feature.

Here’s how to beam your favorite clips to your favorite screen.

A wireless LED flashbulb makes your phone a much more powerful camera

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iBlazr 2 is a wireless flash that opens whole new ways of taking photos with your phone
iBlazr 2 is a wireless flash that opens whole new ways of taking photos with your phone
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

The phones in our cameras, especially with the release of the iPhone 6S, have become as good as what the pros use. Of course the pros also use more than just cameras to make their pictures look great, and iBlazr 2 brings one of the most important of them to your phone: a wireless flash. Right now it’s going for just $55.99 at Cult of Mac Deals.

Surprise! $80 iPad lacks key features (like, all of them)

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Photo: Apple
This is what happens when you pay $80 for an iPad in a parking lot.
Photo: Apple

Do you know the difference between a tablet and a tile? If so, then there’s a good chance that you wouldn’t be the target of a scammer in Victorville, California, who this week duped an unsuspecting woman out of $80 by selling her what she thought to be an iPad mini 3.

In the worst plot twist this side of a modern M. Night Shyamalan movie, the “iPad” turned out not to be an iPad at all, but rather a piece of tile in an iPad box.

When it comes to porn, Android users come out on top

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We won again, Android bros! Photo: Cult of Android
We won again, Android bros! Photo: Cult of Android

Android users are into some pretty weird… stuff. I know you’re probably denying that now — I tried, too — but you can’t, because Pornhub has its eye on us all. Sort of.

According to the website’s latest browsing statistics, the list of things Android users are into makes for a much more intriguing reading that that for iOS users. Mobile devices are also crushing the desktop when it comes to overall traffic, and Android has the edge.

Yay?

Apple Watch hits Target stores this week

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Apple Watch
The Apple Watch is going mainstream.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Continuing the mass rollout of the Apple Watch, Target announced today that it is ready to start selling the popular wearable device.

Target will begin stocking the Watch in selected stores this week, followed by its website on October 18, and in all retail stores by October 25.

Andy Hertzfeld: Steve Jobs movie is ‘almost nothing’ like reality

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The Woz (left) and Andy Hertzfeld (center) at an original Apple Computer Users Group meeting in the 80s. Photo: Tony Wills
Andy Hertzfeld (center) at an original Apple Computer Users Group meeting in the 80s.
Photo: Tony Wills

Next to Steve Jobs, Andy Hertzfeld is the name I most associate with the original Macintosh project. For that reason, Hertzfeld is one of the characters portrayed in the new Aaron Sorkin Steve Jobs movie, as well as someone who got to see an early unfinished cut of the film.

His take on it? That it’s almost nothing like reality in terms of the events portrayed — but a great movie all the same.

Slick aluminum iPhone 6 dock will make you change your ways

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This iPhone 6 dock will simplify your life.
This iPhone 6 dock will simplify your life.
Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

Best List: iPhone 6 dock by Kanex

Every now and then, I need to FaceTime with someone. Holding my iPhone still is kind of a challenge when I’m chatting, plus I can’t gesticulate wildly when I’m keeping the iPhone upright with my hands. The folks at Kanex have me covered thanks to this slickly designed aluminum dock for iPhone 6 or 6 Plus (and I’m pretty sure it will work with the newer “s” models, as well).

iPhone 6s payment plans: the best way to finance your new iPhone

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iPhone 6s
Where should you buy that fancy new iPhone 6s or 6s Plus from? We've got the skinny.
Photo: Buster Hein/Cult of Mac

There’s never been a more confusing time to buy an iPhone.

If you’re looking for the best deal on a new iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus, you have tons of options. From Apple to AT&T, Verizon to T-Mobile, carriers and retailers have expanded their options for buying a new iPhone. That, plus an upheaval in traditional cellphone pricing and plans led by T-Mobile, has us all rather confused.

Where can you find a comparison of all the major US options? Right here, of course. We spent the time with our spreadsheets and the websites of AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, Apple, T-Mobile, Cricket Wireless, Boost Mobile, and (yes) Consumer Cellular to help you cut through the confusion and find the best iPhone purchase plan for you.

This is a comparison of buying your iPhone 6s, not the coverage or monthly cost of phone calls, text or data on any specific carriers, though that will factor in to your choice, of course.

Tim Cook: Apple isn’t interested in sharing your data

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Tim Cook takes home $125 million for Apple’s best year since 2009
Tim Cook is a privacy advocate.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Tim Cook participated in a recent interview with NPR’s Robert Siegel, in which he reiterates Apple’s stance on user privacy, discusses what it would take for Apple to bring its overseas cash pile back into the U.S. — and comically avoids talking about the Apple Car.

You can listen to it below.

Dolphin saves Miami Heat dancer’s iPhone from the bottom of the sea

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The dolphin even hung around for a selfie. Not that we blame him.
Photo: Teressa Cee/Instagram

Apple may be working to make its iPhones more waterproof than ever, but that doesn’t help much if your handset gets accidentally dropped into the ocean.

That’s what happened to Miami Heat dancer Teresa Cee, who recently lost her iPhone while diving with dolphins in the Bahamas. Fortunately, one friendly dolphin apparently outed itself as an Apple fan (or a Teressa Cee fan) by diving down to retrieve her handset.

Check out the video below.

Apple set to land another spaceship in Sunnyvale

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Yet another innovative building planned for Apple.
Yet another innovative building planned for Apple.
Photo: Central and Wolfe/Landbank

Apple has just signed a deal to take on a new innovative office building in Sunnyvale, a northern California community that the Cupertino-based company has been keen on inhabiting for a while now.

The agreement is with Landbank Investment LLC’s planned Central & Wolfe campus, a curvy building that’s planned to look out of this world when its 777,000-square-feet of office space on an 18-acre site is completed. It should, if Apple uses the current plan as is, also include 90,000 square-feet of rooftop garden spaces and over two miles of walking and bike paths on the ground level.

Kindness company tries to sell you on paying it forward

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The card inside the Random Act of Kindness Kit.
The card inside the Random Act of Kindness Kit.
Photo: Kindness & Co.

When a man in Australia created a service where you could pay him to send glitter bombs to unsuspecting enemies, his story went viral and a crushing number of requests shut down his website.

Jesse Weinberg wonders if what worked for vengeance might also work with kindness.

Amazon gives Apple TV and Google Chromecast the finger

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Apple TV 4 brings iOS apps to the big screen.
Apple TV 4 brings iOS apps to the big screen.
Photo: Apple

The most popular online retailer in the world, Amazon, is using its e-commerce powers to put the hurt on Apple and Google’s streaming devices in order to prop-up the Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV stick.

In an email sent to marketplace sellers, Amazon told employees it will stop selling Apple TV and Google Chromecast. No new listings for the devices are allowed, and all other existing inventory is scheduled to be removed by October 29th.

You can’t help but be attracted to this magnetic Lightning cable

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The MagCable works with an adapter tip and magnetic cable.
The MagCable works with an adapter tip and magnetic cable.
Photo: aMagic

From the 1st century to today, you could say the magnet is one component of technology that has stuck around.

With that bad pun out of the way (two if you count the headline), a Hong Kong company is using the simple magnet to make the charging of our smartphones easier and faster. The MagCable is a USB cable with a magnetic end that snaps into place thanks to an adapter tip that plugs into your charging port.

There is even a Lightning magnet adapter for iPhone and charging can be sped up by a button on the cable that shuts off data sync.

Pay what you want for top-to-bottom mastery of the Microsoft Office suite [Deals]

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Office is having a tough time right now.
Office is having a tough time right now.
Photo: Microsoft

Microsoft Office is still the champ of content creation in workplaces the world over, so it’s well worth getting acquainted with. These 12 courses cover the works: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access, for beginners and advanced users alike. It’s hours of content and invaluable insight that right now you can get it for whatever you’re willing to pay.

Apple adds former Boeing exec to its board of directors

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James Bell is Apple's latest recruit for the board of directors.
Photo: Fly-news.eu

Apple has announced a new board member in the form of James A. Bell, previously the chief financial officer and corporate president of The Boeing Company.

“James brings a wealth of global, financial and industrial experience from his successful career at Boeing as corporate president and CFO,” Tim Cook said in a statement. “I am thrilled to welcome him to Apple’s board of directors and I look forward to working with him.”

iPhone 6s enters ultimate stress test against UFC fighter

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Luke Rockhold is clearly an Android user. Poor guy.

We can all remember the first time an errant roundhouse kick shattered our brand new iPhone. But how well does Apple’s cutting-edge iPhone 6s fare when put through the wringer by real-life UFC middleweight fighter Luke Rockhold?

The result of that wacky premise is one of the stranger iPhone stress-test videos I’ve seen this year — subjecting Apple’s new handset to both an impact and bend test like no other.

When people talk about the iPhone’s battery capacity, I’m pretty sure they don’t have this in mind!

As you tune the music, SONOS speaker tunes the room

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The SONOS PLAY: 5 smart speaker analyzes the acoustics of a room and adjusts the sounds.
The SONOS PLAY: 5 smart speaker analyzes the acoustics of a room and adjusts the sounds.
Photo: SONOS

Something very old-fashioned is happening as technology continues to innovate music: We are listening to it out loud again.

The engineers and music geeks at SONOS appreciates personal listening but exists to get us to pull out our earbuds once in a while. It’s latest smart speaker, the SONOS PLAY: 5, is an unassuming package that delivers a vibrant sound with the help of software and the microphones in your iPhone or iPad, which analyzes room acoustics and adjusts the sounds.

Pistol grip helps get your photography on target

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The Grip&Shoot steadies a smartphone photographer's shaky hand.
The Grip&Shoot steadies a smartphone photographer's shaky hand.
Photo: David Pierini/Cult of Mac

Best List: Grip&Shoot Bluetooth smart grip for photographers

Nobody likes a blurry picture. And while smartphone snappers might think they don’t miss a viewfinder, holding an old-school camera close to the face allowed photographers to use their arms against their torsos to steady things.

With a smartphone, which is held out in front of our bodies, there’s far more risk of shake and blur. Luckily, the Grip&Shoot is a simple solution that will steady the hand.

Sorkin’s secret to writing Steve Jobs movie? Panic

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Michael Fassbender as Steve Jobs.
Michael Fassbender as Steve Jobs.
Photo: Universal Pictures

By taking place as a series of backstage vignettes at different product launches, the upcoming Steve Jobs movie is sure to be different to any other Jobs movie we’ve seen before.

In a new interview, screenwriter Aaron Sorkin laid out his reasons for writing the movie in the way he did. The secret? A whole lot of panic, apparently.

U.K.’s second biggest city is set for a stunning new Apple Store

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The site of Apple's upcoming Birmingham flagship store.
Photo: Billygean

Never let it be said that Apple doesn’t source some gorgeous buildings for its retail stores!

According to a new report, Apple is said to have agreed terms to take over an historic Grade II listed building in the U.K.’s second biggest city, Birmingham.

And, despite it not being announced yet, the news is already generating excitement among fellow local retailers.