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This next-gen light bulb is full of futuristic features, and it saves money [Deals]

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We’re still waiting for our jetpacks, but at least today’s lightbulbs are properly futuristic. The best example of how far lighting has come is the ilumi A21 Bluetooth Smartbulb, a super-efficient LED light that sports features straight out of sci-fi. And right now, it’s going for nearly half its normal price, just $49 at Cult of Mac Deals.

Apple and IBM reveal 10 new enterprise apps for iOS and Apple Watch

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IBM
IBM has 10 new enterprise apps for iOS users.
Photo: Apple

Apple and IBM have been collaborating on creating an excellent suite of apps for the iPhone and iPad over the past year, but starting today, IBM’s MobileFirst apps are adding support for Apple Watch.

The Apple and IBM partnership revealed today that it’s created 10 more apps that cover everything from managing employee shifts to helping government inspectors get all the data necessary while out in the field.

Take a tour of the new apps below:

Beats 1 Radio and other Apple services are down

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It's not just you, Beats 1 Radio is down
It's not just you, Beats 1 radio is down.
Photo: Apple

Fans hoping to catch MTV’s announcement of this year’s VMA nominees on Beats 1 this morning got a rude awakening as Apple servers crashed right before the artists were revealed.

We’ve been trying to access Beats 1 radio all morning but keep getting “Request timed out” errors on all our devices. Other services have been impacted as well: People on Twitter have reported a number of issues with Apple services, including problems accessing the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay and iTunes Match.

Here’s a list of Apple services affected:

iSperm for iPad wants to help you make a baby

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Having a child? There's an app for that.
Having a child? There's an app for that.
Photo: Cult of Mac

From predicting potential heart attacks to helping dementia sufferers, we’ve gotten used to the idea that our Apple devices have a part to play in what is referred to as the mobile health drive.

But here’s a medical application you might not have thought that your iPad would ever be able to play a role in: helping couples to conceive.

Try telling that to the Taiwanese start-up Aidmics, which is hoping to carve out a piece of the $40 billion global human fertility market with an iPad-compatible microscope and accompanying app that lets users know exactly how plentiful their lil’ swimmers are.

Here’s where you’ll find Apple Watch sales figures from today’s earnings call

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Apple Watch
Apple isn't spilling the details about Apple Watch sales.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple’s quarterly earnings call is set to take place later today, but one set of figures we’re not expecting to get is the initial Apple Watch sales. Apple has already acknowledged this data be hidden in the “other products” category — alongside the iPod, Apple TV, Beats Electronics and accessories division.

However, while Apple is likely to keep quiet on the exact breakdown of Apple Watch sales, it will be possible to get a rough idea of how the company’s debut wearable device is faring by doing the following:

Cusby adapters give you the building blocks to adjust to USB-C

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Cusby adapters  allow you to plug into the new MacBook with a single USB-C port.
Cusby adapters allow you to plug into the new MacBook with a single USB-C port.
Photo: Cusby

You can’t stop staring at the new 12-inch MacBook, especially the gold one. It’s lighter and smaller and while it has all the computing power of your suddenly-bulkier model, you’re not sure about life with a single USB-C port.

A Miami startup, led by an electrical engineer, has designed adapters that will allow you to plug in all your peripherals and then gradually cut back as you move to a more wireless future.

The Cusby Building Blocks plug into a USB-C port with each offering a more traditional plug-in, like the current standard USB-A port, another with an HDMI video-audio port or another with an extra USB-C port.

Fingerprint-scanning Gorilla Glass could eliminate iPhone’s Home button

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Touch ID
Say goodbye to the Home button as you know it.
Photo: Apple

We are one step closer to the end of Touch ID as we know it.

Following on from Apple’s recent patent filing concerning “finger biometric sensing pixels” for future iPhones, tech R&D company Sonovation has announced that it’s discovered a way of putting ultrasonic biometric sensors under Gorilla Glass — by bonding the sensors directly onto the display panel. Better yet, it works accurately even when fingers are wet, dirty, or oily.

Parody ad shows us what ‘Shot on iPhone’ videos really look like

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Check out "Shot on iPhone" ads like you've never seen them before. 
Photo: Elite Daily

Apple’s crowdsourced “Shot on iPhone” ad campaign has been described as a “game changer” by Cannes Outdoor Lions jury president Juan Carlos Ortiz, but — let’s face it — most of the videos we shoot daily on our iPhones aren’t the kind of artistic masterpieces Apple chooses to highlight.

With that in mind, Elite Daily has put together a hilarious compilation of “honest” iPhone 6 ads, which are a bit closer to reality for most folks. Check them out below:

The Apple car looks more likely as Cupertino hires new execs

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Apple car concept art shows what Cupertino might put on the road.
Apple car concept art shows what Cupertino might put on the road.
Photo: Aristomenis Tsirbas/Freelancer

Project Titan, Apple’s hundreds-strong initiative to create a next-generation electric car, is continuing to ramp up.

Word has it that Cupertino has just hired one of the industry’s veteran manufacturing executives to help push the so-called Apple car to market.

Free Apple Watch beckons ‘lifestyle’ renters

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Would a free Apple Watch convince you to rent a waterfront apartment?

If the granite countertops, stainless steel appliances and “breathtaking water views” don’t sell you on moving into East Beach Marina Apartments, maybe the offer of a free Apple Watch will.

Just lease one and move in by the end of July, and you’ll nab a free Apple wearable that will help turn you into the perfect neighbor.

5 Apple Watch apps that are best left unmade

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Netflix Watch
Don't look for Netflix on your Apple Watch any time soon. You'd go blind.
Photo: Netflix (via YouTube)

The Apple Watch has been out for a few months now, and it’s given us plenty of time to decide what we do and don’t want from the wearable. It’s a versatile device, to be sure, but that doesn’t mean that we expect it to do everything for us. In fact, a lot of the apps that we use all the time on our iPhones and iPads would be ill-suited, if not impossible for that plucky little screen.

Here are some Apple Watch apps that wouldn’t break our hearts if nobody ever got around to making them.

The SHOTBOX puts a well-lit iPhone photo studio on your table

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Product shots, documents and photographs can easily be documented with your smartphone camera in this collapsable tabletop studio, known as the SHOTBOX.
Product shots, documents and photographs can easily be documented with your smartphone camera in this collapsable tabletop studio, known as the SHOTBOX.
Photo: SHOTBOX

Give Aaron Johnson the chance to give you his elevator pitch and he just might convince you that you need a tabletop photo studio.

But even if you accept his points, you probably don’t have studio know-how or the room for the lights, the tripod, backdrops and a ladder.

Johnson answers with the SHOTBOX, a collapsable tabletop studio with seamless diffused lighting with a setup that can have you camera-ready in seconds. The SHOTBOX is designed for iPhone and other smartphone users who want to make simple product pictures, digitize family photos and copy documents.

Filters for iPhone up for new ownership shortly after launch

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Filters goes up for sale after just four months in the App Store.
Photo: George Tinari/Cult of Mac

Not long after debuting to a pretty successful launch, Filters for iPhone is up for sale. Developer Mike Rundle explains that he has a full-time job plus children to feed and his little side project of love deserves more attention than he can give. His asking price? $10,000.

Master web notifications in Safari and Chrome

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MacBook Air
The World Wide Web would like you to pay attention.
Photo: Apple

Websites these days have another tool to engage you: the desktop notification. Many sites, this one included, allow you to opt in to a system of popup notices that encourage you to click through and see new content.

Of course, not all content is created equal, and you might someday wish to stop being notified of new cat photos from that feline-friendly website.

Here’s how to manage web notifications using two of the Mac’s most popular web browsers, Safari and Chrome.

Spotify fires back at Apple Music with personalized playlists

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Spotify is taking what it knows about your music tastes to curate a personalized weekly playlist.
Spotify is taking what it knows about your music tastes to curate a personalized weekly playlist.
Photo: Spotify

Spotify doesn’t want to go down without a fight.  The service is debuting Discover Weekly, a new playlist for every user that updates every Monday with unique recommendations for each person. One of Apple Music’s advantages over Spotify is its personalized playlists for users’ tastes, and now Spotify is matching it.

Handy running accessory charges your iPhone (and could save your life)

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Keep yourself and your iPhone alive with the BSEEN Boost Pack.
Keep yourself and your iPhone alive with the BSEEN Boost Pack.
Photo: Trident Design

You can charge your smartphone while cycling or running with an accessory also designed to keep you alive on the road.

Sounds like a lot to ask of a battery pack, but the Boost Pack by BSEEN does both with a rather simple design.

The Boost is a belt pack with an LED light panel that stays lit or flashes. It also holds your smartphone and a lightweight 4000 mAH rechargeable travel battery pack to keep your phone charged.

Get the complete Learn to Design Course Bundle for 93% off [Deals]

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Even if you’re a specialist in an area of digital design, understanding the basics in other parts of the wide field of UX/UI, web, game and mobile design will vastly expand your perspective and marketability. A broader outlook is just what you’ll get from Udemy’s Learn to Design 2015 Course Bundle, a sprawling buffet of design knowledge, now going for a whopping 93 percent off the normal price, just $59.

Apple Watch gains a higher satisfaction rating than original iPhone or iPad

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Apple Watch customers are some of the most satisfied people around.
Apple Watch customers are some of the most satisfied people around.
Photo: Wristly

Everyone writing about the supposed failure of the Apple Watch may want to check out analyst Ben Bajarin’s latest reporting — suggesting that the Apple Watch has a massive 97 percent satisfaction rate among early adopters.

For those keeping track at home, that’s higher than both the original iPhone (92 percent) and the original iPad (91 percent). In fact, only the current iPhone (99 percent satisfaction) scores higher.

Gene Munster thinks 2017 will be Apple Watch’s breakout year

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The Apple Watch may be a slow builder.

For all those people writing off the Apple Watch as a failure just a few months after its launch, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster has a simple message: Slow down on the quick judgments.

In a new note to investors, Munster claims that the Apple Watch is doing about as well as he expected so far, but doesn’t predict that it will truly hit its stride until 2017 — when sales of the wearable device will be around 40 million units, or approximately 9 percent of Apple’s revenue.

Here are his full comments: