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Chronic pain patients can ease their suffering with an iPod touch

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Fix your back? There's an app for that. Sort of.
Fix your back? There's an app for that. Sort of.
Photo: Dillon K/Flickr CC

From the health-tracking features of the Apple Watch to iPhone cases capable of predicting strokes, there are more and more medical devices involving Apple products.

Perhaps the most amazing so far, however, involves a newly-launched medical technology which allows chronic pain patients to use their iPod Touch to interrupt the pain signals travelling up their spinal cord on their way to the brain.

With its little life preserver, UE Roll is the perfect summer speaker

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The UE Roll didn't float, so  it comes with an itsy-bitsy life preserver (if you order direct).
The waterproof UE Roll doesn't float, so it comes with an itsy-bitsy life preserver (if you order direct).
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

SAN FRANCISCO — Not content to conquer the Bluetooth speaker market with tubes and bigger tubes, Ultimate Ears made its latest portable audio device look like a lily pad. They made it waterproof, too. The only problem was, the UE Roll sank like a stone.

“As life would have it, it doesn’t float,” said Rory Dooley, Ultimate Ears’ senior vice president, during a visit to the Cult of Mac headquarters.

The solution? Create a tiny life preserver for the UE Roll, and give it away to anybody who orders the hottest speaker of the summer directly from UE’s website (while supplies last).

Apple almost signed Uber to handle its same-day deliveries

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Uber failed to win over Apple as a partner for its delivery business.
Uber failed to win over Apple as a partner for its delivery business.
Photo: Cult of Mac

Apple nearly made a deal with Uber for its new same-day delivery service, before ditching them in favor of startup courier service Postmates Inc., according to a new report.

Apple allegedly considered adopting Uber’s new delivery project, known internally as UberEverything. Starbucks also entered into negotiations with the taxi company, before settling on the same delivery service as Apple.

Apple wants to stop rivals ripping off one of its most iconic retail store designs

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Apple's second most recognizable Apple Store designs?
Apple's second most recognizable Apple Store design?
Photo: Apple

In the West, the most iconic Apple Store is probably the company’s glass cube for its Fifth Avenue flagship store in New York. In the East, however, arguably Apple’s most recognizable retail outlet design is the 30-foot glass cylinder used for both the company’s Shanghai and Chongqing Apple Stores.

As Apple continues its rise in places like China, it is doing everything it can to stop rivals from ripping off its ideas — which is why it filed a design patent on the building, which was published today — naming none other than Steve Jobs as one of its inventors.

These Apple Watch docks were made for Nightstand mode

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Night Stand for Apple Watch
Take that, Apple.
Photo: ElevationLab

Apple Watch stand makers are responding to watchOS 2’s Nightstand mode feature, which will turn your wearable into a makeshift alarm clock and display the time in landscape mode when it’s charging on its side. New Apple Watch docks are starting to appear to accommodate this feature ahead of the software update coming this fall.

Apple’s latest ‘Shot on iPhone 6’ videos are absolutely gorgeous

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Shot on iPhone 6 by Trond K.
Shot on iPhone 6 by Trond K.
Photo: Apple

I’ve been loving Apple’s “Shot on iPhone 6” ad campaign, if for no other reason than it gives me hope that one day, I too will be able to capture crazy beautiful images with my smartphone’s camera.

Apple has pushed the campaign with tons of billboards, posters and videos, all shot by various iPhone 6 users around the world. The latest group of short videos features breathtaking shots of the Netherlands, Norway, Oregon and Australia, accompanied by sweet indie jams like “Murakami” by Made in Heights.

Watch all four videos below:

It’s Star Wars vs. Star Trek in a battle for nerd supremacy

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Darth Vader pushes all of Captain Picard's buttons in this sketch animation from College Humor.
Darth Vader pushes all of Captain Picard's buttons in this sketch animation from College Humor.
Photo: College Humor/YouTube

If the fight card featured the urbane intellect of Capt. Jean-Luc Picard against Darth Vader and his command of the Force’s Dark Side, who would win?

We won’t spoil it for you. One fired the fatal shots, but the other got the last word. To say they fought to a draw would not give anything away.

The hilarious writers at College Humor did an animated sketch with the Next Generation cast rattling sabers with the great Sith Lord from his Death Star. The prize was not a planet or some other galactic real estate. It was to decide which series concept is nerdier?

iOS 9’s Split View for iPad is everything you hoped it would be

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Split-View-iPad-Air-2

Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

 

When iOS 9 rolls out to the public this fall, it’ll be iPad users that appreciate it most, thanks to the many improvements Apple has made to multitasking. One of the biggest is Split View, a feature that’s exclusive to the iPad Air 2, which lets you run two apps side-by-side — just like you would on your Mac.

Split View lets you read articles in Safari while composing an email in Mail, enjoy a novel in iBooks while taking notes in the Notes app, and talk to friends via iMessage while organizing your schedule in Calendar.

But is Split View as game-changing as it looks at first glance? You bet it is.

Postapocalyptic colony under your control in Fallout Shelter

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Fallout Shelter
The nuclear holocaust has never been so adorable.
Photo: Bethesda

Developer Bethesda had a surprise or two for its showcase at the Electronics Entertainment Expo trade show last night. But the biggest one was a previously unannounced game called Fallout Shelter, a resource-management title for iOS that puts you in charge of a subterranean colony after the nuclear holocaust.

Most surprising of all: It’s out right now, and it’s free.

What it’s like to get a cup of coffee with CarPlay and Android

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CarPlay and Android Auto are Apple and Google’s first attempts to slowly invade the automobile, but finding a car that supports them hasn’t been easy the past year. If you’ve been curious what it’s like to drive around with either system, the folks at Consumer Reports put the two systems head-to-head during a morning drive to get coffee.

Each interface has its promises, but the report also highlights a lot of areas that need to be worked on — like how you can’t change your car’s FM radio while using Apple Maps. Unlike your car system though, CarPlay and Android Auto will probably be upgraded every year, giving you new features each year, just like your smartphone

Here’s what it’s like to ride with CarPlay and Android :

Emoji are about to takeover over your passwords

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How will we express this emotion?!
A British company has developed an emoji-only password option for online banking.
Photo: Intelligent Environments/Vimeo

Our friends chuckle when we text them a story using emoji. Fun little pictures rich in context and feeling, especially when we can make use of the smiling poo.

But that funny emoji story could also make a very secure password.

The British company Intelligent Environments has developed emoji security technology the developers say will be easier to remember and offer many more combinations that a four-digit PIN code.

How much of your Apple Music subscription fees go to record labels

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Apple-Music-iPhone
Apple Music arrives on June 30 with 24/7 internet radio.
Photo: Apple

When Apple Music launches at the end of June you won’t have to pay a cent to listen to all the music your ears can hear for the first three months. If you want to keep using Apple Music after the three month trial period though you’ll have to fork over $10 a month, and according to a new report it’s paying out more to the record labels than Spotify.

These award-winning iPhone photos put your snaps to shame

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Heading
The iPhone photograph to beat this year.
Photo: Michał Koralewski

Thanks to its constant improvements and the fact that we carry it around virtually everywhere we go, the iPhone has become our de facto camera over the past few years.

But while most of us use our iOS devices for little more than taking Facebook snaps, the annual IPP (iPhone Photography) Awards are a reminder of just how gorgeous our mobile pics can look.

Simply put, there’s no excuse!

Hidden iOS 9 keyboard practically confirms iPad Pro is coming

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You can now turn your iPad keyboard into a trackpad.
You can now turn your iPad keyboard into a trackpad.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s giant iPad has been one of the rumor mill’s favorite products to gossip about for years, even though no one has seen so much as a chamfered edge of its supposed 12-inch display. However, some assets hidden inside iOS 9 indicate that the new tablet — often referred to as the “iPad Pro” — could make an appearance soon.

According to a developer who’s been digging through iOS 9, the new keyboard scales to a much larger screen size than we’ve seen so far. When the new keyboard is enlarged, it adds an extra row of keys, hinting that Apple’s monstrous new tablet could rear its head in the near future.

Check it out:

Forget iPads, this school district relies on… Amiga?

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The Atari
The Amiga 2000 in all its vintage glory.
Photo: Flickr/Marcin Wichary CC

Apple has always been big in the educational market, but it’s something the company has pushed more than ever under Tim Cook — albeit with sometimes mixed results.

The dream of having schools fully embrace the Apple ecosystem certainly sounds pretty far off, however, when you hear that one school district in the U.S. is still reliant on almost 30-year-old Commodore Amiga 2000 computers to automate its air conditioning and heating systems.

Say it ain’t so, Grand Rapids, Michigan!

See magnets crush a $10,000 Apple Watch Edition

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Heading
Magnet + Apple Watch Edition = too much money.
Photo: TechRax

Some were outraged about the $10,000 cost of the Apple Watch Edition, but will people really race to see one of the glittery timepieces get obliterated by powerful neodymium magnets?

Oddball YouTube stress-tester TechRax clearly hopes so, because he recently plonked down the money to carry out just such an “experiment” in his quest for views. Check out the resulting video below.

Seriously, how does this guy get his money?

Speed through Apple’s WWDC 2015 keynote in less than 3 minutes

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Will we see a
What was Tim Cook's "one more thing" at WWDC 2015? Find out in less than three minutes with Cult of Mac's keynote supercut.
Photo: Apple

Not everybody has two-and-a-half hours to watch an Apple event. Tim Cook and crew delivered tons of updates at the kickoff for this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference, and you can speed through all the news with this WWDC 2015 keynote supercut.

It’s just two-and-a-half minutes long!

These 3-D-printed Apple Watch stands will show off your shiny smartwatch

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Tossing your Apple Watch on the table just doesn't feel right.

After spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars on your new Apple Watch, it’s hard to justify tossing the device on the table to charge like discarded jewelry. If you’ve got a 3-D printer, it’s easy to class things up by printing out an Apple Watch stand.

These 3-D-printed Apple Watch stands will protect your high-tech timepiece from scratches and, more importantly, provide a platform to show off your new smartwatch to friends and family — even when you aren’t using it.

A variety of 3-D printing files are available to download completely free of charge, and they get the job done just fine. Take a look at some of the best designs out there — all of which cost nothing to download.