Cult of Mac

There’s been a disturbance in the Force: a free-to-play Star Wars game has arrived for iOS and Android, and it’s surprisingly damn good.

Star Wars: Uprising is the first video game that’s actually canon to the new Star Wars Universe, taking place between Return of the Jedi (VI) and the upcoming The Force Awakens (VII).

That alone merits a download, but once you start playing, you’ll find a really well-written storyline, some deep customization options, and an addictive gear collecting and upgrading system that will keep you going back for more. Check out the trailer below for some glorious Star Wars action.

Android Pay has begun rolling out to users with support at more than 1 million locations throughout the U.S.

The Apple Pay competitor, which was first unveiled at Google I/O back in May, is available on NFC-equipped smartphones running Android 4.4 KitKat and above, and it’s compatible with a whole host of banks and credit card providers.

Adding AppleCare+ coverage to your iPhone 6s is going to cost you a little more extra this year. Apple didn’t announce any pricing changes on stage at yesterday’s event, but the company did update its website to reflect the higher prices, and not only will iPhone 6s owners have to pay more to buy AppleCare+, they’ll also be charged more for service fees.

The Pokémon Company’s second smartphone game is going to bring your favorite pocket monsters to the real world for the first time.

Pokémon GO, which is coming to Android and iOS in 2016, is a location-based game that will let you find, fight, and catch Pokémon in the cities, towns, and neighborhoods around you like never before.

So you want to be a blogger. One way or another you’re going to have to reckon with the big cheese in blogging, WordPress. To get your arms around the subject, we’ve gathered a bundle of a dozen courses that cover the ins and outs of using the dominant platform in the blog-o-sphere, and the business of blogging itself. Even better, you can pay whatever you want for the whole shebang.

Apple fans can’t purchase the iPhone 6s, Apple TV, or iPad Pro that were unveiled yesterday, but if you’re lucky you can pick up the cheap gold Apple Watch Sport today, now that Apple Stores have received limited supplies of new units.

Cult of Mac got an early look at the new gold finish thanks to a reader who already scooped up a 42mm gold Apple Watch Sport at the Apple Store in Gilbert, Arizona, and while the new model is way cheaper than its expensive Edition sibling, it still looks like a million bucks.

Take a closer look:

T-Mobile sure wants to be your carrier for the new iPhone 6s.

Having previously introduced attention-grabbing offers like Apple Music streaming which doesn’t take a byte out of your monthly data allowance, the Uncannier is now offering customers the chance to get their hands on a 16GB iPhone 6s for $125 less than its normal sales price of $649.

And outspoken CEO John Legere wants to make sure you know T-Mobile coverage is better than ever, too.

While the just-released iOS 9.1. beta is light on major features, it does contain some big additions for the iPhone’s emoji keyboard.

Tons of new emoji were added in iOS 9.1 as part of the system’s update to Unicode 8.0 standards, which includes support for burrito, taco and unicorn pictograms. There’s also a stop hand, upside-down smiley face, a turkey, prayer beads, and much more.

Here’s a look at all the new emoji:

Apple announced a slew of iPhone upgrades yesterday, but battery life sure wasn’t among them!

As we suspected ahead of time, Apple’s official iPhone 6s video shows that it boasts a 1,715 mAh battery — down from the 1,810 mAh of its predecessor.

The iPad Air 2 may boast a more-than-adequate 2GB of RAM, but the newly announced iPad Pro is living up to its name with a massive 4GB.

Apple reportedly kicked off production of its new 21-inch 4K iMac earlier this month, according to a new report — with the new desktop computers said to be arriving in stores sometime in the fourth quarter.

It is claimed that the new iMac will boast a pixel density the same as Apple’s larger 27-inch 5K iMac, which began shipping almost a year ago. If Apple follows a similar release pattern with its 21-inch iMac, we could well see the new computer officially launch in October.

When Apple sends its millions of followers your way, you’d better be ready!

That’s the lesson learned by mobile health developer AirStrip Technologies, which reports that it was unprepared for the stampede of digital feet which came after its Apple Watch demo at yesterday’s keynote.

“Our website was crashed within seconds,” AirStrip CEO Alan Portela said — adding that, “I have to confess, I didn’t know we were going to be right after Tim Cook.”

Siri may be able to keep a secret, but once word gets out, just try to stop it from sassing you about it.

Apple’s digital assistant is now chock full of sass in the aftermath of the company’s event today, at which it revealed new models of the iPad, iPhone, and Apple TV.

Apple rolled out one drool-worthy new gadget after another Wednesday.

The iPad Pro? Want.

A Hermes Apple Watch? Gotta have.

The new Apple TV? Gimme!

If you’re like me, you’ll want one of everything Tim Cook and crew showed off in Apple’s September showcase. But if you get one of everything, it is going to cost you.

After a little playtime with Apple’s new products Wednesday, the bloggers and tech reporters who cover Cupertino wrote positive reviews, but nothing seemed to make anyone pause and say wow.

The hands-on reviews and observations of the new Apple TV, the iPad Pro and iPhone 6s were measured praises of what may come later, the story appears to be more about evolution than revelation.

Wow, that was fast – Logitech, purveyor of fine Apple accessories for a long time, has just pulled the curtains from around its new Create Keyboard Case, made to work with the iPad Pro just announced this morning. The case is an alternative to Apple’s also just-announced Smart Cover.

Perhaps its even more telling that Logitech worked with Apple to get its new Create keyboard to market on day one; something that never happened in the past at Apple. If the mothership is helping third-party companies ahead of new products, consumers will ultimately win out with more day-one options for all their magical Apple gear.

If the iPad Pro portion of today’s keynote felt a little bit familiar to you, it might have been because Apple’s new gigantic tablet is in many way a direct copying answer to the Microsoft Surface Pro tablet that was introduced three years ago.

Making an iPhone is complex, for sure. Creating the hardware and software that rules our daily lives has been an ongoing, iterative process since 2007, when Steve Jobs revealed the first one.

Since then and on up to the newly announced iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, the iPhone itself has improved bit by bit while still wowing consumers as better enough to upgrade to.

“You can’t just say, ‘Here it is. It does the same thing 5 percent better than last year,’ says senior vice president of worldwide marketing Phil Schiller in an interview over at Bloomberg. “Nobody cares.”

In a device that’s the essence of complexity, refined, the new 3D Touch was super tricky to make, as the in-depth interview explains.

Wow. That was a big deal. For a mere “s” upgrade, Apple went way above and beyond with today’s big product showcase. Three major product lines have been not just upgraded, but reinvented, and finally there’s a reason to buy the one that has been languishing — the Apple TV, which is now a gaming console as well as an entertainment center.

Maybe I’ve drunk too much Kool-Aid, but I thought this morning’s presentation was one for the history books.

You can almost see the new and improved iPhone 6s in your hands. Now, how about a new case for that gorgeous hunk of gear?

Several companies began showing off cases — everything from luxurious leather accessories to battery-extending packs — for the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus following Apple’s big fall products reveal in San Francisco today.

Most games you’ll get on the new Apple TV will likely take advantage of the new Apple TV remote, with its accelerometer, gyroscope, voice, and touch controls.

But if you want to play more hardcore games, you’ll want a more hardcore controller like this new SteelSeries Nimbus, a full-on gaming controller that looks and feels a lot more like the kind of controller you’d hook up to your living room console.

Apple announced that it’s dropping the price on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 5s this morning, but what it didn’t tell fans is that if you want a gold iPhone, the only way to get one is to upgrade to the newest model.

Apple removed the option to purchase the gold finish on the iPhone 5s and iPhone 6 from its website today. Both devices have come in gold since they were introduced, but now it looks like Apple wants to force anyone who wants their iPhone to shine like gold to upgrade to the latest and greatest model.

Here’s the updated list of iPhone models and their color options:

If there was one thing heard across Twitter during today’s Apple announcements, it was the sound of money being sucked from wallets.

The introduction of an iPad 2, a more interactive Apple TV and the upgraded iPhone 6s generated tons of spending declarations on Twitter and in the posts written in another language, the exclamation point was a good indication of the social media excitement over Apple’s new products, rolled out today at the Bill Graham Auditorium in San Francisco.

Developers who are eager to start building apps for the Apple TV might be able to get their coding fingers on the new black box a little early, thanks to a new Apple TV Developer Kit that the company is offering to teams who sign up before September 11th.

Despite being identical to their predecessors, iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus are much-improved in almost every way. But do they have the specifications they need to take on the latest Android-powered smartphones we’ve already seen this year?

Find out in our comparison below, which compares Apple’s next-generation iPhones with rivals like the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge, the Moto X Style and Moto X Play, Sony’s new Xperia Z5, and more.