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Apple denies pulling non-Apple Music artists from iTunes

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Iovine
Jimmy Iovine talks up Apple Music at WWDC 2015.
Photo: Apple

An Apple spokesperson claims that the company will not remove artists who decline to sign up for Apple Music from the iTunes Store.

This is the latest development in the tense negotiations leading up to the streaming service’s launch on June 30, with indie musicians and labels claiming that Apple is trying to bully and coerce them into putting their music on the new platform.

Android M vs. iOS 9: A battle of the giants

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Fight! Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Fight! Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Friday-Night-Fights-bug-2Google I/O and WWDC have been and gone, and Google and Apple have laid out the plans for their next major platform updates — Android M and iOS 9.

Now that we’ve had a chance to let those announcements sink in, it’s time for Cult of Android and Cult of Mac to battle over which is best in another Friday Night Fight. Let us help you decide which one will reign supreme when they roll out to the public this fall.

Apple pulls last non-Retina iPad from stores

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Apple stops selling its last non-Retina iOS device.
Apple stops selling its last non-Retina iOS device.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

The last iPad with a non-Retina display was sent to the grave today, almost three years after its debut.

Apple quietly pulled the iPad mini from its online store, leaving just the iPad mini 2 and 3 behind to go with the iPad Air 2. In doing this, Apple made a significant milestone stone: the Apple Store no longer sells non-Retina iOS devices.

Kids in one New York school spend 75% of the day on iPads

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Ipad
iPads have taken over this New York school.
Photo: Gail Robinson

A New York elementary school has taken the bold move of upgrading 75 percent of its third and fourth curriculum to iPad, meaning that students spend three-quarters of each day using their Apple tablets.

Jackson Avenue School is currently in its fifth year of a district initiative providing all students in grades 3-9 with iPads for digital learning.

10 Great Improvements to Your Mac For $20 [Deals]

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com-mac essentials bundle

Sorry to break it to you, but your Mac isn’t living up to its potential. The good news? We’ve rounded up 10 amazing Mac apps in a Summer Mac Essentials Bundle that can streamline efficiency & run faster, transforming how you email, take photos, stream content, transfer files, and more. Bought separately, they’re valued at $234, but we’ve bundled them up for $19.99 total. Grab the bundle today and start doing this with your Mac:

Newt Gingrich has a few thoughts on the Apple Watch

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post-326795-image-cbce76dec1920141718017800996f86f-jpg
You know what we need on a Friday? A celebrity Apple Watch review.

“Did you hear what Newt Gingrich said about the Apple Watch?” sounds like the opening line to a Stephen Colbert joke. In fact, it’s a genuine question, since the former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and “keen observer of technology” just published his first review for Mashable — offering his thoughts on Apple’s debut wearable device.

Testing out an Apple Watch Sport, Gingrich recounts a day spent on airplanes and in McDonald’s restaurants (yes, really!), before giving his final verdict on Cupertino’s first crack at a smartwatch.

Check out the highlights below:

A beautiful, elegant app to check your iPhone’s battery on your Apple Watch

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Save yourself energy while checking your iPhone's power.
This is the simplest, most elegant app for checking your iPhone's battery on your Apple Watch.
Photo: Thientam Beck

We all know that the Apple Watch doesn’t exactly have great battery life. At best, it’ll get you through the day. But, of course, one of the big sells of the Apple Watch is that it’ll save your iPhone battery life, because you don’t have to pull it out as much.

Of course, then you end up in a Catch-22. Your Apple Watch depends on your iPhone to work properly, but without pulling out your iPhone, you can’t tell how much battery you have left, therefore risking both your Apple Watch and your iPhone crapping out on you in the middle of the day. If only the Apple Watch could tell you your iPhone’s battery level.

It can’t, but luckily, there’s an app for that. And it might be the loveliest one yet.

Colorblind? This iPhone app tells you what color you’re looking at

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Red Stripes tells color blind users what color they're looking at.
Red Stripes tells color blind users what color they're looking at.
Photo: Cult of Mac

Color blindness is an extremely prevalent disability, especially amongst men: according to official statistics, 1 in 12 men are color blind (although women fare better, at a rate of only 1 in 200). These rates of color blindness are part of the reason why Google places such importance in their Material Design guidelines on designing with color blindness in mind. For example, by not relying on color alone to relay critical information within an app.

But no matter how well programmed an app is, it’s not going to help someone who is color blind see colors… or is it? Red Stripe is a new app by developer Michel Fortin that aims to do just that.

Apple receives Helen Keller Award for its pioneering VoiceOver feature

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Apple's focus on accessibility isn't going unrecognized.
Apple's focus on accessibility isn't going unrecognized.
Photo: Apple

Apple has been rewarded for its work in making technology accessible to blind users with a Helen Keller Achievement Award, given at an New York event yesterday evening.

Organized by the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), Apple was specifically praised for VoiceOver, the iOS feature which reads out descriptions of everything happening on a device’s display.

Apple signed a secret 4K video deal with Sony in 2013

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Apple's
4K is the way of the future for movie fans.
Photo:

Apple may not have any immediate plans to support 4K content in its next-generation Apple TV, but if true, the decision wasn’t one the company came to lightly without weighing up all the options.

In fact, according to a document leaked to WikiLeaks as part of last year’s Sony Pictures hack, Apple has been testing and licensing select 4K content from Sony since at least 2013.

App Store facelift brings out the beauty in Watch apps

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Apple Watch App Store previews
Left: Old 'n' busted. Right: New hotness.
Photo: Evan Killham/Cult of Mac

Apple’s rolled out some much-needed changes to how Apple Watch preview screens look in the App Store.

Have you looked at those shots lately? They look weird. And depending on which version of iOS you’re currently running, that could mean “horrible” or “way better than before, holy crap.”

Apple wants to add a lot more context to iMessage

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Federal judge shoots down down group iMessage lawsuit.
Someday, it could be possible for this entire conversation to happen with no human thumbs involved.
Photo: Apple

A new Apple patent could add a startling amount of functionality to your iMessages.

The tech would let you schedule pre-written texts and even send new ones automatically based on context the app draws from elsewhere on your iPhone.

Tom Ford turned Apple Watch into a fashionable pocket watch

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The Apple Watch is starting to make its mark on rivals.
The Apple (pocket)Watch
Photo: TheChicGeek/Instagram

Tom Ford unveiled his Spring 2016 collection this week in London, and while the fashion designer’s newest fanciful dinner jackets drew in a flock of celebrity, the Apple Watch made a surprise appearance in the ready-to-wear collection.

Rather than designing a fashionable Apple Watch band, the forward-thinking designer bridged Apple’s timekeeping accessory to the past by turning it into a pocket watch attached to a chain.

Here’s another look at it:

Apps that you can stream is Google’s newest dream

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post-326754-image-024597aacd1d04658be134556795646e-jpg

 

Downloading apps to your smartphone could soon be a thing of the past, thanks to a software streaming service reportedly being developed by Google.

A new report claims the search giant wants to make apps available on-demand without the need to install them locally first — and Google has already acquired the company that could make it happen.

The Duo watch wants to be your Apple Watch’s BFF

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Wear two watches at once
Wear two watches at once with the Duo band
Photo: Original Grain

Traditional watch manufacturers are struggling to find a solution to take on Apple Watch, but Original Grain has taken the ‘if you can’t beat em, join em’ cliche a bit too literal with its newest watch collection.

The company launched a new Kickstarter today for its new traditional watch, The Barrel, that comes with a very non-traditional feature called The Duo Connection clasp that lets you wear you Apple Watch on the same wrist.

Apple Watch 2 will add FaceTime camera, better WiFi and more

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Force touch Apple Watch
The Apple Watch 2? Watch this space.
Photo: Apple

The Apple Watch has only just landed in Apple Stores, and already a bevy of Apple Watch 2 rumors are basically rendering it outdated.

According to a new report, not only is a second-generation Apple Watch coming next year, but it will boast an added FaceTime camera, greater levels of iPhone independence, and extra high-end $1000+ models.

Amp up your iPhone photography with this add-on

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The DxO One Camera attaches to your iPhone to beef up image quality.
The DxO ONE Camera attaches to your iPhone to beef up image quality.
Photo: DxO

We rely on our iPhone for so many facets of our life, but as a camera it has become a disruptive force in the photography world. The “Shot with an iPhone 6” advertising campaign is likely making traditional camera companies shutter – pun intended – as sales of consumer cameras continue to fall.

It’s a go-to tool for professional photographers, who have done everything from publish books with iPhone photography to shoot commercials for corporate clients. But there are limitations and sometimes it would be nice to supplement a smartphone’s camera with the punch of a DSLR camera.

DxO, the makers of sophisticated imaging software, may have the ONE camera to do this. The ONE is a palm-sized camera that plugs into your iPhone with functions and optics that have the potential to deliver greater image quality.

Jeff Williams’ Code Conference interview is now online

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Heading
Jeff Williams handles his Walt Mossberg grilling with class. And some dishy scoops.
Photo: Re/code

If you weren’t in the crowd at Re/code’s recent Code Conference, you can now check out the video of Apple Operations guru Jeff Williams’ interview with Walt Mossberg from the comfort of your home.

In a wide-reaching half-hour conversation, Williams touches on everything from Apple’s plans to disrupt the car industry, to Foxconn suicides, to Williams’ own wish for a Star Trek-style tricorder in future iPhones.

Check out the video below.