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Enter the world of iOS 9 by building apps for iPhone and Apple Watch [Deals]

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This bundle of five courses bridges the worlds of iOS and Apple Watch developing.
This bundle of five courses bridges the worlds of iOS and Apple Watch developing.
Photo: StackSkills

Apple Watch is changing the face (pun intended) of user interaction and design. But developing its next generation of apps also requires having a foot in the still-vibrant world of iOS. Lucky for you budding Watch whizzes, we’ve found a bundle of 5 courses that bridge the worlds of wearable and mobile development, by teaching essential skills through building real, working apps on both platforms. And right now it’s going for 93% off, $25 at Cult of Mac Deals.

Apple will patch serious security flaws in OS X ‘as soon as possible’

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Tim Cook addresses the White House Summit on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection. Photo: White House
Tim Cook talks cybersecurity earlier this year.
Photo: White House

Apple plans to issue an update fixing two severe OS X Yosemite security flaws “as soon as possible,” according to a new report.

One bug is the recently discovered Thunderstrike 2, which allows attackers to overwrite a computer’s firmware in a way that is impossible to reverse unless users have the wherewithal to open up their Mac and manually reflash the chip.

The other is a “privilege escalation” bug known as DYLD that allows a program to run as though it has administrator access without prompting users to enter their passwords.

Force Touch makes early appearance on iPhone in new concept video

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Force Touch
Here's what Force Touch may look like on the iPhone 6s.
Photo: Maximilian Kiener

A new video mockup shows how Force Touch might work on the iPhone 6s, the less-expensive Apple smartphone expected to hit shelves next month.

Given that we’ve already seen how Force Touch is implemented on the Apple Watch and MacBook, this neat conceptual video shows some of the many ways we may use the technology in new iPhones.

How to listen to Beats 1 shows you’ve missed

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Apple Music now lets you jump on the replay.
Photo: Apple

Apple Music now offers replays of several Beats 1 shows through a feature called Beats 1 Replays.

These full replays aren’t particularly easy to find, but here’s how you can locate them and catch up with shows you’ve missed in their entirety.

Oasis’ Noel Gallagher slates Apple Music for its arrogance

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Noel_Gallagher_at_Razzmatazz,_Barcelona,_Spain-5March2012_(3)
Noel Gallagher isn't the biggest fan of Apple Music.
Photo: Snowmanradio/Wikipedia CC

Apple Music has its share of big-name supporters from the world of music, but Oasis’ Noel Gallagher isn’t one of them.

The outspoken musician — who has taken issue with just about every topic under the sun at some time or other — criticized Apple Music for its Beats 1 radio station and its “Connect” feature.

Good Samaritan returns lost iPhone for military widow

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iphonethiefdaters123
Our iPhones contain plenty of sentimental material.

A Marine widow has had her stolen iPhone returned to her after revealing that it contained the text message and photos from her late husband, who was killed in a helicopter crash in Nepal.

“This is probably the happiest I’ve been in the last three months,” said Haley Johnson after she recovered the handset.

Instagram is about to hit you with ads whether you Like them or not

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Instagram ads
Get ready to see this stuff all the time.
Photo: Progressive (via Instagram)

Are you tired of your Instagram feed being low on sponsored posts from companies trying to sell you things? If so, here comes the best news you’ve ever heard.

The company has opened up its advertising code to make it easier than ever for partners to get ads all up in the Facebook-owned photo-sharing app.

This intricately engraved Apple Watch is absolutely crazy

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MadeWorn's custom engraved Apple Watch is better looking than an Edition.
MadeWorn's custom engraved Apple Watch is better looking than an Edition.
Photo: MadeWorn

MadeWorn made a name for itself putting insanely detailed engravings on expensive Rolexes for celebrities willing to shell out thousands of dollars for the custom timepieces. Now the Los Angeles-based company has put founder and artist Blaine Halvorson’s touch on the Apple Watch — and it looks absolutely crazy.

Apple may launch five additional Beats radio stations

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Even Taylor Swift loves Apple Music.
Even Taylor Swift loves Apple Music.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple’s creation of the Beats 1 radio station has been one of the best parts about the company’s new Apple Music streaming service, but it might not be Apple’s only station for much longer.

As part of the deal Apple signed with major labels ahead of launch, Apple Music has the option to expand its lineup of Beats radio stations nearly at will, according to a new report citing sources with knowledge of the situation.

Ingenious braille smartwatch puts time at your fingertips

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The Dot smartwatch has a changing braille face to help visually impaired users receive digital information.
The Dot smartwatch has a changing braille face to help visually impaired users receive digital information.
Photo: Dot

We hear all the time how technology makes our lives better. But many such advances leave the world’s 285 million visually impaired people in the dark.

Not so with this invention: A South Korean startup has developed a smartwatch with a face that has four sets of six dots that represent braille characters.

Crazy-sounding smart clothing line claims it will chill your fat away

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Thin Ice smart clothing
Alright, so it's super weird.
Photo: Evan Killham/Cult of Mac

A lot of products promise to help you lose weight without requiring you to do any extra work. And here’s another one.

Thin Ice is a line of smart clothing, and its creators say that it will melt fat by tricking your body into thinking it’s colder than it is. And that’s it; that’s how they say it works. You can learn more in the occasionally awkward video below.

Need Publisher for Mac? Give Lucidpress a try

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Lucidpress gives you all the power of Publisher or InDesign.
Lucidpress gives you all the power of Publisher or InDesign.
Image: Lucidpress

This post is brought to you by Lucidpress.

Anyone involved in digital publishing is pretty much forced to work with one of two applications: Microsoft’s Publisher or Adobe’s InDesign. The pricing of the two reflects the fact that they’re the only two games in town. And since Publisher is PC-only, Mac users have only one option.

Lucidpress thinks people are hungry for a viable alternative, so it’s created a web-based publishing platform that’s as scalable and feature-rich as any of the big-name desktop software — but priced for access to anybody.

Fourth OS X El Capitan public beta arrives

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El Capitan beta is here to change your Mac.
El Capitan beta is here to change your Mac.
Photo: Apple

Apple seeded a new beta of OS X El Capitan yesterday, and now the company is making the same software available to its public beta testers.

The fourth El Capitan public beta comes less than a week after Apple released the last one. And while it’s light on major new features, it comes with a bunch of bug fixes and performance improvements.

T-Mobile sprints into U.S. top 3 carrier spot

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Sprint added new customers, but not enough to keep its bronze model from T-Mobile.
Photo: Mike Mozart/Flickr CC

T-Mobile is doing pretty hot lately, but it’s unfortunately at Sprint’s expense. While the latter carrier has been declining in market share for the past couple of years, it’s finally now in last place out of the four major U.S. wireless carriers. T-Mobile snatched the bronze model.

In the quarterly earnings call, Sprint said it had 57.7 million customers with a net gain of 675,000. T-Mobile, however, gained 2.1 million customers last quarter for a grand total of 58.9 million.

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Take the padlock off your PDFs with 50% off PDFPen 7 [Deals]

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PDFPen 7 lets you get into your PDF files to edit, add text, and lots more.
PDFPen 7 lets you get into your PDF files to edit, add text, and lots more.

It happens all the time: you spot a tiny error in a PDF document, and you’re powerless to fix it. Instead of accessing the original doc, opening it, making the change and saving another copy, what if you could just edit the dang PDF? That’s what PDFPen lets you do, along with a bunch of other functions that’ll make PDFs a lot more pliable, and right now it’s going for half off at $37.

At the International Space Station, it’s Suntory time

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Suntory whiskey mellows with age, but the company wants to know how it tastes after time in space.
Suntory whiskey mellows with age, but the company wants to know how it tastes after time in space.
Photo: Suntory

We should pity the astronauts on the International Space Station, especially the two who are currently there for a year.

Just feet away from where they probably drink their Tang, the Japanese Experiment Module will soon hold samples of that country’s legendary Suntory whiskey to see how it ages in microgravity.

Suntory announced last week that it was sending whiskey samples on a Japanese transfer vehicle that will take off on Aug. 16 to rendezvous with the ISS. Some of the whiskey will be stored for up to two years to see how it mellows in space.

Hit a high with this slow-motion video of swooping birds

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From
From "Birds in Slow Motion" by the BBC's Earth Unplugged.
Photo: BBC/YouTube

You understand bird’s-eye view. How about the view of its prey?

It’s likely that mouse or fish don’t even see the canopy of feathers coming. Our eyes and brains barely work fast enough to process the sight ourselves, so the guys who work in the studio for the BBC’s Earth Unplugged slowed it down for us.

The Earth Unplugged slow-motion studio, which loves to deconstruct the spit of cobras and the flight of fleas frame by frame, has compiled a 70-second clip of a variety of birds as they take off, float and hover and, of course, stick their landings.

El Capitan code confirms new 4K and 5K iMacs are on the way

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OS X El Capitan is coming
New iMacs will likely arrive with El Capitan.
Photo: Apple

New 5K 27-inch iMacs and a 4K 21.5-inch model are almost certainly on the the way, according to code discovered in yesterday’s sixth OS X El Capitan beta.

An in-depth look at the latest version of El Capitan reveals three new files referencing the new Mac resolutions, while an accompanying image suggests the exterior design of the machines will remain largely unchanged from current models.

Apple will make us wait until 2016 for the iPhone 6c

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Is the 4-inch iPhone coming or not?
Apple's next iPhones may offer small, medium and large options.
Photo: ModMyI

Apple’s long-rumored (and eagerly anticipated) iPhone 5c successor, the iPhone 6c, may not have been shelved after all — but instead pushed back to the second quarter of 2016, according to a new report.

Sources in the supply chain say Apple’s next-gen budget smartphone will also boast advanced “FinFET” processors to deliver increased performance and greater power efficiency.

This 3-D-printed case could save your iPhone 6 from accidental breakage

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If you like it then you should have put a ring on it.
Photo: David Tsai

There are plenty of advantages to larger, phablet handsets like the iPhone 6, but an obvious disadvantage is that they’re less easy to transport by slipping them into your pocket.

Industrial designer David Tsai has come up with an interesting solution to that problem with his new 3-D-printed iPhone keychain case, which allows you to easily attach the device to a belt or similar in order to avoid accidentally dropping it.

Samsung’s so far behind Apple, it’s ripping off iOS 6

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Why focus on innovation, when there's imitating to do?
Photo: Samsung

Isn’t it the most Samsung thing in the world to introduce a new technology that’s actually kind of interesting, and then ruin any originality points it picked up by blatantly ripping off Apple?

That’s exactly what happened when Samsung recently announced the SE370, the industry’s first computer monitor with integrated wireless charging function for mobile devices — only to “borrow” the exact same charging battery charging icon Apple used back in its skeuomorphic days before iOS 7 came along.

Oh, Samsung, will you never learn?

CONTINUE READING>>

Super-durable leather cable is bad for cows, good for you

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Esbee leather cable
The Esbee leather cable hopes to be the last charging cord you ever buy.
Photo: Esbee

It’s usually a question of when, not if, your charging cable is going to start wearing around the point where the cord meets the connector. And maybe you’ll try to make it work for a little while, but sooner or later your denial will wear off and you’re going to have to drop the cash on a new one. And then the whole sad process starts over.

One company is hoping to break the cycle with a leather cable that is not only tough but also aims to be the best-working cord you’ve ever bought.