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Controversial Steve Jobs documentary hits theaters today

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Alex Gibney's Steve Jobs documentary opens Sept. 4th.
Probably not a Steve Jobs portrait his friends would enjoy.
Photo: Magnolia Pictures

Movie fans may be waiting on Aaron Sorkin and Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs biopic, but another Jobs-related project arrives in theaters today. And, boy, is it not a film Apple is happy about!

Titled Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine, the feature-length documentary is directed by Oscar winner Alex Gibney, who has previously made docs exploring the dark side of Enron and the Church of Scientology.

Yep, you can probably see where this one is going!

Knights of Pen & Paper 2 rolls dice on new adventures

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Slay powerful beasts with strategic combat decisions.
Slay powerful beasts with strategic combat decisions.
Photo: Paradox

Playing Dungeons and Dragons as a youngster is a watershed moment of a modern adult’s formative nerd experience. Grownups, however, don’t necessarily have time to draw up characters or roll dice for strength and charisma stats, let alone spend weekends huddled around a table full of charts, oddly shaped dice and Cheetos.

Knights of Pen & Paper 2 is a less-time-intensive way to recapture the dungeons (and dragons!) of yore in a cheeky, fun, self-aware way, all from the relative safety of your iPad, iPhone or select Android devices.

And now there’s an expansion for the mobile game, called Fist of +1 Fury, available as an in-app purchase for $1.99. Check out the trailer below for all the retro nerd fun.

Clashem turns iPhone into an arena of epic video battles

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Five-second video clips go head-to-head on the iOS app Clashem.
Five-second video clips go head-to-head on the iOS app Clashem.
Photo: Red Bull Media

There is now an iOS app where you could possibly see a flashy snowboarder fighting a guy who can spit ping-pong balls into distant beer cups. The best part is, you decide who wins.

Red Bull Media rolled out a free mobile app called Clashem, where users try to win fame five seconds at a time in a video battle where the community votes what wins and what loses with the swipe of the finger.

Don’t Starve brings hunger game to iPhone

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Those beefalo look pretty worried.
Those beefalo look pretty worried.
Photo: Klei Entertainment

Seriously, try not to starve. That’s the entire point of Klei Entertainment’s runaway hit game Don’t Starve, a test of survival set in a darkly humorous, Edward Gorey-esque world filled with vicious hounds, creeping spiders, herds of stampeding Beefalo and slimy fish men.

Now you can get in on the action on iPhone, as the desktop game just became a universal app called Don’t Starve: Pocket Edition.

Apple Watch your Airbnb plans take shape

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The new Airbnb app for Apple Watch simplifies communication between hosts and guests.
The new Airbnb app for Apple Watch simplifies communication between hosts and guests.
Photo: Airbnb

When Airbnb set out to design an app for the Apple Watch, its team did so like a master woodcarver. Whittle away until you leave what is essential.

The popular community hospitality network launched a watch app today that provides a simple messaging hub for hosts and guests. Travelers can send a host a message with name, photo and requested dates. A host can accept or decline right on the wrist and respond to messages, either through dictation or a preset response.

Tiny charger taps AA batteries to keep your phone running

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tiny-mobile-phone-charger-uses-aa-batteries-to-keep-you-running-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads2015094694c805b2581cea79001de0369de32b_original-jpg
No, that's not a giant hand.
No, that’s not a giant hand. Photo: The Nipper

Modern mobile phones need a lot of power; chances are we’ve all got an external battery pack (or at least a second cable and wall plug) tucked away in a bag somewhere that will charge up our Android and iOS mobile phones while we’re on the run.

The thing is, those things need to be taken along with you when you leave the house. If you’re like me, though, that requires a heck of a lot of cognitive overhead and pre-planning.

The whole point of the Nipper, this tiny new mobile phone charger that uses two AA batteries to give you a bit of juice when needed, is to always be available.

Spoiler alert: All the juicy details on iPhone 6s

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It's time to get ready for your iOS 9 upgrade.
Here's everything we know about the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Although the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus aren’t expected to bring major design changes to Apple’s world-beating smartphone lineup, a bevy of hardware upgrades will make the new models faster and easier to use.

Even though we’re almost a week away from Apple’s 2015 iPhone unveiling, we pretty much know all the key features that are coming. Here’s everything we think know about the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, which will undoubtedly become most popular iPhones ever.

Cute Apple miniatures will transport you to 1984

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This 3D printed miniature of an Apple II was designed to house a Raspberry Pi computer.
This 3D printed miniature of an Apple II was designed to house a Raspberry Pi computer.
Photo: Charles Mangin/RetroConnector

Apple rolls out new products next week at the annual fall reveal, but you can’t stop thinking about the Apple IIc from 1984.

Self-taught hardware hacker and 3D printer Charles Mangin feels you. So much so that Mangin, of Raleigh, NC., creates tiny versions of classic Apple computers that encase the Raspberry Pi computers. He has even made a classic Mac that serves as a working charging dock for the iPod Nano and an SD card reader that looks an old Apple disk drive.

With this pocket power station, the world is your outlet [Deals]

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An all-in-one adapter that makes sure you can always find a charge in more than 150 countries.
An all-in-one adapter that makes sure you can always find a charge in more than 150 countries.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Traveling usually comes with anxiety over either not having access to a wall socket for all your devices, or having the wrong one for the country you’re in. Consider that problem solved with the Twist+ World Charging Station, a compact charging hub that makes sure no matter where you go, you’ve got a place to plug in all your devices. It’s a game-changer for convenience, and it’s going for just $34.99 at Cult of Mac Deals.

iPhone 6s will be Apple’s best selfie machine ever

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The iPhone 6s FaceTime camera is getting some big upgrades.
The iPhone 6s FaceTime camera is getting some big upgrades.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple is bringing some big upgrades to the iPhone 6s FaceTime camera according to a new report from one of the most respected Apple analysts on the planet.

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo issued a note to investors this morning, claiming the new iPhone 6s will add a much improved 5 megapixel camera sensor to the FaceTime camera, making it it the best selfie machine Apple has ever made.

Apple admits there’s ‘homework to be done’ with Apple Music

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Tired of Apple Music's playlists? Try something even more indie.
Apple Music needs plenty of revision if it's going to pass finals.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

In a rare showing, Apple has acknowledged that there is still “a bit of homework to be done” when it comes to improving one of its products — in this case, Apple Music.

The company’s streaming music service has seen mixed success since its launch back in June, with reports of falling listenership and even a public slating from a well-known pro-Apple pundit.

Recently Apple Music’s senior director upped and left the company, with no word on whether it was his or Apple’s decision to step down.

Your very own Star Wars BB-8 droid is not so far, far away

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BB-8, the cute little droid from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, is now available as an app-enabled companion.
BB-8, the cute little droid from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, is now available as an app-enabled companion.
Photo: Sphero

The editing on Star Wars: The Force Awakens isn’t finished yet but one of the characters already promises to be the hot toy of the Christmas season.

BB-8, the roly-poly little droid seen spinning across the screen in trailers for the highly anticipated movie, is now an app-controlled toy with an adaptive personality that responds to voice commands.

From hobby to hero: The history of Apple TV

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Apple TV
Apple TV was a hobby for years. Until it wasn't.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple just keeps trying to crack the lucrative nut known as your living room. From a gimmicky Macintosh TV in the 1990s to a “hobby” Apple TV in the mid-2000s, Cupertino keeps trying to come up with ultimate digital hub for our homes.

So far, Apple has failed to deliver a magical device that will tame all our televisions. Here’s a brief history of Apple’s TV efforts — a two-decade push aimed at ensconcing an Apple machine at the center of our domestic universe — ahead of next week’s likely Apple TV refresh.

Apple and other tech companies pay $415 million to settle ‘no poaching’ lawsuit

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Apple raked in the cash last quarter.
The long-running antitrust lawsuit is finally over.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

The long-running Silicon Valley antitrust case that saw Apple, Google, Intel and Adobe accused of conspiring to suppress worker salaries has finally come to an end.

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh gave final approval to a $415 million settlement in a ruling on Wednesday. This is an increase of around $90 million on the $324.5 million settlement rejected last year, but far below the $3 billion that plaintiff Michael Devine had asked for in a letter written to Koh in 2014.

5 ways to turn your old iPhone into money

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iphone back
Your old iPhone is far from worthless.
Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

If the rumor mill has it right, new iPhones are right around the corner. But that doesn’t mean you should relegate your current model to the junk drawer once you trade up: You can turn your old iPhone into money in one of several ways.

Apple rejects Cecil the Lion app where you shoot the poachers

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Apple's rejection of the app is bound to stir up old debates about policing the App Store.
It was inevitable that this would happen wasn't it?
Photo: Cecil's Revenge

Apple’s App Store policing is being called into question again after the company rejected a Cecil the Lion-inspired game in which animals turn guns on poachers.

Cecil’s Revenge features a safari truck of cheerful-looking wildlife firing at various caricatures of hunters, ranging from old-timey colonialists with rifles to cartoon Africans with guns.

Apple may wait for 30 million subs to create original TV content

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Apple's new improved TV could be coming as early as this fall.
Original Cupertino programming in 3, 2, 1...
Photo: Robert S. DonovanFlickr CC

Given Netflix’s success in the area, it would be fair to say that most people are excited about the possibility that Apple may be entering the original programming arena.

However, according to a new report citing industry insiders, Apple could wait quite a while before launching into its latest venture.

Affordable iOS security kit locks down your house

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Here's our review of this cool security system.
Here's our review of this cool security system.
Photo: Stephen Smith/Cult of Mac

A connected home security system that you can run right from your iPhone sounds like a fantastic idea. But which system should you pick up?

We’ve taken a look at the Skylink Alarm System Starter Kit to see what it can do. It includes a security hub, various window and door sensors, and a slick Wi-Fi-connected camera that you can set up and use from your iPhone no matter where you are in the world.

Check out our fun video review of this iOS-controlled home security system below.

Apple Watch is huge in China with 1 million actual users

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Are Apple Watch expectations just too high?
China is definitely getting into the Apple Watch.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple is still being pretty cagey about exactly how many Apple Watches it has sold since the wearable premiered in April, but a new report suggests that the device is doing just fine in the all-important Chinese market.

Shanghai-based research company RedTech Advisors estimates that China has more than 1 million Apple Watches in use, and it reached this number in a mere 17 weeks.

How to boost iOS 9 security with 6-digit passcode

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Password Six

Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

We’ve all been using a passcode to secure our iPhones and iPads since forever, right? You’ve had the option to use an alphanumeric passcode since iOS 7, but if you chose to use a simple numeric code, you were limited to four digits.

Not anymore! Apple added the ability to use a six-digit passcode in iOS 9, and this quick settings tweak will make your iPhone or iPad far more secure.

Apple Music festival lineup adds The Weeknd and Leon Bridges

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Apple Music Festival is starting to dial in its lineup.
Apple Music Festival is starting to dial in its lineup.
Photo: Apple

The Chemical Brothers and the Weeknd will headline this year’s Apple Music Festival according to an announcement made today by the company on Twitter. The festival was revealed last month but Apple has only given us a few hints about who’s going to take the stage until today when Leon Bridges was also revealed to be one of the acts headlining the 10 day event.