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Take a closer look at iPhone 6s Force Touch display

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IPhone 6s parts are leaking like crazy.
IPhone 6s parts are leaking like crazy.
Photo: Cult of Mac

The iPhone 6s keynote might be less than two week away, but we’ve already seen a bunch parts leak out of upcoming smartphone. A source provided Cult of Mac with the images above of an iPhone 6s screen assembly. The new assembly is slightly thicker than the iPhone 6 screen assembly, which is in line with previous rumors that the new device won’t have the same width as the iPhone 6.

We haven’t been able to take a closer look at the screen assembly, but another leak this morning takes a closer look at a mysterious new chip on the iPhone display that appears to confirm Force Touch is coming.

Wearables soar in Q2 2015 as Apple Watch aims for the top

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Not everybody who bought the Apple Watch is wearing it.
Not everybody who bought the Apple Watch is wearing it.
Photo: Apple
Apple Watch is off to a great start. Photo: Apple
Apple Watch is off to a great start. Photo: Apple

Don’t believe the critics who tell you wearables will never take off, because they’re wrong. During the second quarter of 2015 alone, the wearables market grew a staggering 223.2 percent, according to the latest figures from IDC, and Apple Watch is working its way to the top to tackle Fitbit.

Android Wear, on the other hand, is nowhere to be found.

One the best bluetooth headphones out there is going for 34% off [Deals]

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Comfort, long life, killer sound, MMOVE's Bluetooth earbuds are the best you'll find for the price.
Comfort, long life, killer sound, MMOVE's Bluetooth earbuds are the best you'll find for the price.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

We’ve sure come to expect a lot from our headphones — no wires, killer sound, long life, comfort and durability. It’s a rare treat when we find one that meets our crazy high standards, which is why we’re excited about MMOVE’s stereo Bluetooth headphones. These bad buds press all the right buttons, and right now you can get a set for just $31.99 at Cult of Mac Deals.

Apple Music brings the Latin groove with new partners

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Less playlist, more olé-list, amirite? Sorry about that.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple has signed a deal with Latin American “cultural outlet” Remezcla to create playlists for Apple Music.

The company, which began as a Latino events guide for New York, specializes in Latin America’s musical “new wave.” It regularly produces content for brands and festivals eager to reach young Latino audiences — something Apple is more than keen to do with its new streaming music service.

Tinder releases its list of most ‘right-swiped’ colleges

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Tinder data now shows which U.S. colleges and universities have the hottest student bodies.
Tinder data now shows which U.S. colleges and universities have the hottest student bodies.
Photo: Tinder

Colleges and universities bend over backwards to earn accreditation and good reviews. It’s good for recruiting.

But what if your school earns honors from the dating app Tinder as the most “right-swiped?” A hot student body can’t hurt.

Amazon shrinks hardware efforts following Fire phone flop

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Amazon makes drastic changes to prevent another Fire phone disaster.
Photo: Amazon
Amazon makes drastic changes to prevent another Fire phone disaster. Photo: Amazon
Amazon makes drastic changes to prevent another Fire phone disaster. Photo: Amazon

Amazon has dismissed dozens of engineers and ditched a handful of hardware projects following its dismal attempt at tackling the smartphone market, according to a new report.

The retail giant has also restructured what’s left of its hardware division, combining what was two separate units into one.

A baseball coach changed the game with a little police work to solve fastball mystery

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An early radar gun used by a Dodgers scout during the 1970s.
An early radar gun used by a Dodgers scout during the 1970s.
Photo: efastball.com

Michigan State University baseball coach Danny Litwhiler was reading the campus newspaper one day in 1974 when he decided to call the cops on some of his pitchers.

An article and photo of campus police showing off the department’s new radar gun to catch speeders caught Litwhiler’s eye and he wanted police to swing by the ballpark with the new toy to see if it could read the speed of a pitched baseball.

Litwhiler – a flawless defensive player in the bigs who evolved into a beloved college coach – changed the game of baseball that day. No longer would myth and mystery surround the fastball. Pitchers, for better or worse, would be scouted and evaluated based on a new number – miles per hour.

Lara Croft Go puts exciting tomb raiding at your fingertips

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Lara Croft Go screenshot
You're about to murder so many snakes, you have no idea.
Screenshot: Evan Killham/Cult of Mac

I’m anxiously awaiting Lara Croft’s next outing on consoles this fall with Rise of the Tomb Raider, but in the meantime, developer Square Enix is tiding us over with Lara Croft Go, a miniaturized adventure starring the iconic graverobber and dinosaur fighter. It’s out now for iPhone and iPad (reviewed version), and like its predecessor, Hitman Go, it’s more about strategy than all-out action.

This game diverts slightly from Hitman, however, doing away with the board game/diorama theme and just sticking our hero into an ancient, turn-based ruin. But that doesn’t diminish its charm or fun at all.

Premiership soccer player faked injury to grab the latest iPhone

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Would you take a dive for a brand new iPhone?
Photo: top2best

Anyone who has ever watched a soccer game knows that players will take a dive for any possible strategic advantage. But what about to get their hands on the latest iPhone?

According to a new report, the answer is a resounding yes. Highly-paid Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli — a man known for his erratic behavior — is said to have feigned an injury during a training game in 2014 so as to get hold of Apple’s latest handset.

Get your first look at the iPhone 6s Plus packaging

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iPhone camera
The iPhone 6s is on its way.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

We’ve had various glimpses of the iPhone 6s itself, but until now we’ve not seen the beautiful, crisp white packaging it will come in.

That (may have) changed, with a new leaked photo appearing to show the box for the phablet-size iPhone 6s Plus. Like the next-gen iPhone itself, the box doesn’t differ substantially from the design of its predecessor, although the packaging does feature a few revealing details.

Check it out below:

Pessimistic analysts miss the point of iPhone 6c

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An iPhone 6c concept.
Coming soon to a pocket near you?
Photo: iPhonesoft

The much-rumored iPhone 6c won’t be enough to let Apple compete for marketshare with super-low-cost Android smartphone makers, claims analyst group IDC — a.k.a. commentators who appear to have totally misunderstood Apple’s entire business model.

Meet the cheap, stylish smartphones backed by ex-Apple CEO John Sculley

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Obi Worldphone’s first smartphones are here.
Photo: Obi Worldphone
Obi Worldphone's first smartphones are here. Photo: Obi Worldphone
Obi Worldphone’s first smartphones are here. Photo: Obi Worldphone

Backed by ex-Apple CEO John Sculley, Obi Worldphone is a startup company that’s hoping to shake up the affordable Android market with two new devices that combine stylish designs and decent specifications with even more attractive price tags.

Meet the Obi Worldphone SF1 and SJ1.5, which start at as little as $129.

Can you dig it? Shovel Knight’s getting a free update

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A plague upon all your houses.
A plague upon all your houses.
Photo: Yacht Club Games

Indie favorite Shovel Knight is getting a new, free update based on a popular bad guy from the first release.

Called Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows, the new expansion will include a whole new way to play in the Shovel Knight universe with new levels, music, art, and platforming. The villainous Plague Knight, master of alchemy, is the star of this new addition, which will come along with the original game, Shovel Knight, and as a free update to owners of the original game, which won over 70 Game of the Year awards in 2014.

Check out the video below to see all the chaos of this action-packed expansion.

Ashley Madison hack airs tech’s dirty laundry

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Email addresses from some of the top tech companies are on the list of outed accounts following a hack on the infidelity site, Ashley Madison.
Email addresses from some of the top tech companies are on the list of outed accounts following a hack on the infidelity site, Ashley Madison.
Photo: David Pierini/Cult of Mac

Some of the tech world’s brightest may have been caught with their hard drives in the wrong place.

Email accounts from some of the biggest technology companies, including Apple and IBM, were among those outed as a result of the recent hack on Ashley Madison, the dating website for infidelity.

iOS 9 code appears to confirm Force Touch for iPhone 6s

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Apple Watch's Force Touch is coming to iPhone.
Apple Watch’s Force Touch is coming to iPhone.
Photo: Apple

The addition of Force Touch on the next iPhone has been churning through the rumor mill practically since Apple unveiled the technology with the Apple Watch last year. We’ve yet to see any component leaks that confirm the tech is actually coming to the iPhone 6s, but one developer may have just found evidence that it’s definitely on the way.

iOS developer Hamza Sood discovered key references to Force Touch in iOS today that appear to confirm the iPhone 6s will indeed come with pressure sensitive technology, and it may also add the new trackpad gestures that Apple is adding to iPad with the release of iOS 9.

Here’s what Hamza found:

With each sip of coffee this cup lid gives you some sugar

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This coffee cup lid will let you drink from its delicious lips and include an awkward touching of noses.
This coffee cup lid will let you drink from its delicious lips and include an awkward touching of noses.
Photo: Jang Woo-Seok

Jang Woo-Seok loves coffee and kisses. But it’s only coffee he gets on a daily basis – that is until he designed a cup lid that provides both.

The designer from South Korea has taken the common coffee cup lid and gave it puckering lips for B2B, a chain of coffee shops in his home country.

Jony Ive will offer another peek behind Apple curtain at Vanity Fair Summit

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Jony Ive
Jony Ive doesn't find failure very interesting.
Photo: Vanity Fair/YouTube

Jony Ive seemed embarrassed when Vanity Fair’s Graydon Carter started their interview by calling Ive the “greatest industrial designer in the world right now.”

The Apple design guru closed his eyes, rubbed his head, and then provided a soft-spoken but enlightening 25-minute peek inside his head during 2014’s Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit. Wonder what he’ll say this year?

Pocket now recommends stories you might have missed

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The app update wants to fill your pocket with recommended stories and videos.
Photo: Pocket
pocket-6-recommendations
The app update wants to fill your pocket with recommended stories and videos. Photo: Pocket

Pocket updated its apps for Android and iOS to version 6.0, which now tailors to your interests. The release brings a new Recommendations tab that scans your activity in Pocket and, armed with that knowledge, presents you with new stories and other content you might find interesting.

First third-party watch accessory hits Apple Store shelves

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NightStand is the first third-party Apple Watch accessory in Apple Stores.
NightStand is the first third-party Apple Watch accessory available in the Apple Store.
Photo: ElevationLab

You no longer have to depend on the Internet to provide you with third-party Apple Watch accessories, as the company has started stocking them in its gleaming, glass-covered retail locations.

The first accessory on offer is a minimalist charging dock that will be compatible with watchOS 2’s Nightstand Mode when the firmware update launches this fall.

Swipe your way to iOS 9’s suggested contacts

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There they are! Hello, contacts!
There they are! Hello, contacts!
Screen: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

iOS 8 introduced the idea of showing your most-contacted contacts in the multitasking screen. You’d simply double click on the Home button to see the list of the most recent apps as well as a row of the folks you contacted the most across the top.

If you’re looking for that feature in iOS 9, you might have noticed that the contacts are no longer in the multitasking screen. Never fear, though, they’ve just moved.

Send your photos to a select few with XY Share It

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The XY Share It lets you transmit photos to only those you want looking at them.
The XY Share It lets you transmit photos to only those you want looking at them.
Photo: XY

You have a great picture of your kid on their first day of school and you would like to share it with just two people. You could post to Facebook or Instagram, but then everyone sees it. You could attach it to an email or text or you could just pass the phone over the next time you see them.

The company XY has another option. It has designed a Bluetooth device the size of a keychain that lets you share an album of pictures with select people.

Tablet and PC shipments expected to decline faster than expected

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El Capitan coming to an iPad near you?
El Capitan coming to an iPad near you?
Photo: Cult of Mac

Microsoft recently launched Windows 10 to the public, but it looks like that won’t be enough to help increase PC shipments next year as IDC estimates PC shipments will fall by -8.7% in 2015 and not stabilize until 2017.

PC shipments aren’t the only tech item on the decline either. Tablet sales are expected to decline even faster than IDC’s previous forecast of a 3.8%. The firm currently projects tablet shipments will drop 8% in 2015, however there is a silver lining for Apple.The 2-in-1 tablet market is expected to grow 86.5% in 2015, right as Apple’s preparing to launch the iPad Pro.