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Google Photos brings you machine intelligence and ‘unlimited’ storage

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post-324147-image-2331b08f6869dd7db1bca7b1eb32fee2-jpg

Organizing the flood of photos and videos we all have is the central challenge of today’s photos apps.

Director of Photos for Google, Anil Sabharwal, took the stage Thursday morning at the annual I/O conference to detail the company’s new offering that aims to solve this problem: Google Photos.

While initial screenshots on stage looked quite a bit like Apple’s own Photos app, the functionality of Google Photos uses machine learning and algorithms to create what may be turn out to be the most useful way to store and share your photos.

Upper East Side Apple Store will open June 13

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Apple's classiest New York store yet?
Apple's classiest New York store yet?
Photo: Flickr/krystyl cc

If you’re in and about New York after June 13 you’ll have an extra Apple Store to check out, since that marks the date when Apple will open its new retail location on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

Signage was put up overnight, revealing that customers have just over two weeks to wait until construction is finished on the impressive 4,000-square foot upmarket retail outlet.

Not that everyone’s happy about it, of course.

The easiest, fastest way to stream content from your iPhone to your Mac is now 33% off [Deals]

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cultofmac-airserver

Want to show off your vacation photos on a larger screen than your phone? Or quickly pull up a presentation that’s only on your friend’s iPad? We’ve all at some point wished there was a simple solution for streaming videos, apps, and games from a phone to a Mac or PC. Well, the AirServer is it—and we have it for $9.99 at Cult of Mac Deals.

Leave Instagram to the kids. This photo app is for an older generation

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Sherish is a simple app that automatically backs up your photos and lets you be selective on who sees your photos.
Sherish is a simple app that automatically backs up your photos and lets you be selective on who sees your photos.
Photo: Sherish

The best camera is the one that is with you, so the saying goes. But if that is indeed your iPhone, what is the best photo app? You have several thousand from which to choose.

This can be particularly maddening to older generations, for whom robust digital living seems foreign and frightening. They like the ease of the smartphone camera, but they just want to share their pictures with a few people and store securely without all the extras, like locators, timelines or random followers.

Sherish – an iOS app whose name combines the words share and cherish – was developed for the older user who just wants a few functions, a couple of screens, easy album management and, of course, privacy.

Apple loses appeal to dismiss antitrust monitor, again

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Apple can't ditch its ebook compliance monitor.
Apple can't ditch its ebook compliance monitor.
Photo: Apple

Apple just can’t get rid of its shady antitrust compliance monitor.

After making another appeal to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York to disqualify Michael Bromwich as its monitor, Apple was rejected by the federal court this morning, even though the judge said Apple’s allegations against Bromwich ‘give pause.’

Color photography first gained a peel thanks to potatoes

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This photograph was made in the early 1900s using the Autochrome process, which starts with dyed potato starch.
This photograph was made in the early 1900s using the Autochrome process, which starts with dyed potato starch.
Photo: Mervyn O’Gorman

The potato is one of the least colorful of the good Lord’s creations. But somehow, two French inventors figured out how the dud spud could help put color in our photographs using a process they called Autochrome.

 Before brothers Louis and Auguste Lumiere tinkered with taters, photographers were shooting three different pictures of the same scene through colored filters — red, blue and green — and then sandwiching the images for projection.

In 1904, the Lumieres pulverized potatoes into a starchy powder, which they then divided into three separate batches for dying violet-blue, green and orange-red. When mixed together and applied to a glass plate, the microscopic grains of potato filtered the light, creating a negative that could produce a color photo. That was Autochrome.

Jawbone wants Fitbit’s blood in court

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Jawbone wants Fitbit's blood. Photo: Jawbone
Jawbone wants Fitbit's blood. Photo: Jawbone

Once, Jawbone was king of the fitness tracking set. Then, after a series of missteps and disastrous, half-baked product launches, Jawbone’s popularity waned in favor of Fitbit.

Now, of course, the Apple Watch rules the roost, but Jawbone and Fitbit are still at war… and Jawbone just dragged it all into the courts.

The $25 skin which gives your iPhone 6 an Iron Man overhaul

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Photo
Jarvis, order me one of these!
Photo: Slickwraps

When Samsung dropped its Iron Man-themed Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge variant, I had a feeling I’ve never experienced in my days as an iPhone owner: Android envy.

Fortunately that brief emotional response can now be banished to the furthest limits of the Negative Zone courtesy of this gorgeous, metallic-flake-finish “Hero Collection” adhesive skin for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.

No, it’s not Tony Stark’s titanium alloy, but in so far as it gives your iPhone the familiar metallic red-and-gold look associated with everyone’s favorite billionaire philanthropist superhero, it’s pretty darn good.

Pixelmator’s image editing app is now available for iPhone

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Your new photo studio.
Photo: Pixelmator

As one of the best Photoshop competitors on Mac and iPad, the superb photo editing tool Pixelmator is finally available for iPhone.

Promising to be more powerful than other iPhone image editing apps, Pixelmator’s universal app boasts support for layers, in-depth color adjustments, pro-level photo retouching, real-time photo warping, and even digital painting.

Check out a preview video below:

A year later, Apple-Beats deal remains a mystery

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Apple's Eddy Cue and Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine sit in Walt Mossberg's famous red chairs to dish on Apple's Beats acquisition.
Apple's Eddy Cue and Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine discuss the Beats acquisition shortly after the announcement last year.
Photo: Pete Mall/Re/code

The rumor mill continues to churn about what the hell Apple is going to do with Beats Music. It’s been a year since Apple paid $3 billion to acquire the upstart music service and headphone maker, but we are no closer to understanding why Cupertino laid out the cash.

When Apple purchased Beats Music and Beats Electronics, it did so with a splash it generally reserves for the unveiling of a game-changing product like the Apple Watch. Since then, it’s basically been crickets.

It is clear Apple has a way to go to compete in the streaming music game against Spotify, Pandora and the other services scrambling to get a piece of the music industry pie. But what form will Apple’s next music play take?

Force Touch was an iPhone 6s Plus exclusive, until Apple realized that was stupid

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Apple Watch-style Force Touch is coming to both iPhone models this September.
Apple Watch-style Force Touch is coming to both iPhone models this September.
Photo: Apple

Every report we’ve heard suggests that Force Touch is practically a lock for Apple’s next-generation iPhones, but a rumor coming out of Taiwan claims that the feature was originally planned as a handset exclusive for the iPhone 6s Plus.

According to supply chain sources, the iPhone 6s Plus alone was originally designed to include Force Touch sensors, although Apple has since changed its mind and decided to incorporate the technology into both the 6s Plus and smaller 6s.

That’s certainly good news if — like the majority of customers — you plan to buy the smaller 4.7-inch iPhone 6s, but still want to take advantage of the latest Apple tech.

Here’s a faster way to charge your Apple Watch

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The 6 pin diagnostic port on the Apple Watch charges it faster than induction.
The 6-pin diagnostic port on the Apple Watch charges it faster than induction.
Photo: Reserve Strap

The “secret” developer port on the Apple Watch has yet to be harnessed by third-party developers, but it definitely possesses cool powers, as this new video shows: The tiny port hidden by the Apple Watch band can actually charge your device faster than normal.

Ka-ching! Apple plans to roll out an Apple Pay Rewards Program

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Apple Pay is ready to dominate CurrentC.
Apple Pay is about to give you an extra reason to get on board.
Photo: Wells Fargo

In case you hadn’t noticed, Apple is pretty darn keen on making Apple Pay into the de facto mobile payments solution.

With that in mind, the company is reportedly set to announce a new Apple Pay Rewards Program at next month’s Worldwide Developers Conference, offering exclusive perks to customers who use the service, while driving people to return to participating merchants.

New documentary explores Steve Jobs’ ‘bitter rivalry’ with Bill Gates

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Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, rivals and friends.
Steve Jobs and Bill Gates facing off.
Photo: AllThingsD

We’ve had a new Steve Jobs biography and documentary already this year, with a movie biopic based on the Walter Isaacson book just around the corner.

If you thought Jobs’ life hadn’t been explored enough by biographers, however, think again! The National Geographic Channel is getting ready to a air a new documentary series called American Genius, which will explore famous business rivalries throughout history.

And it’s kicking off with an episode about Steve Jobs and Bill Gates.

Woz gets waxed as next Madame Tussauds statue

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Coming soon to a waxworks near you.
Coming soon to a waxworks near you.
Photo: Robert Scoble

The Cult of Mac faithful have spoken: Apple’s cuddly co-founder The Woz will be the latest tech icon recreated in wax as a Madame Tussauds statue.

Beating out other possible candidates including Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak will take his rightful place alongside the waxen visages of Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg at Madame Tussauds’ San Francisco museum this fall.

SuicideGirls give ripoff artist a taste of his own medicine

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Richard Prince sold and Instagram screen shot for thousands, but the original owner will sell it on a deep discount.
Richard Prince sold Instagram screenshots for thousands of dollars, but the original owner will sell it on a deep discount.
Photo: SuicideGirls

You can spend $90,000 on a Richard Prince “piece of art.” Or you can get the same thing from the original source he ripped off at a 99 percent discount.

Prince used screenshots of people he followed on Instagram and converted them into a large inkjet paintings he then sold for thousands of dollars. Prince did not alert the subjects their Instagram shares were being displayed and sold.

Some of the images were from the popular trend-setting SuicideGirls, whose founder has offered the same pictures printed in the same way for sale for $90 on its website.

Opposable thumbs take full advantage of this conceptual iPhone keyboard

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Rethink the thumb.
Rethink the thumb.
Photo: Frank Costa

Designer Frank Costa uses his iPhone 6 Plus for lots of things, but he noticed that when typing on it one-handed, the anatomy of his thumb use wasn’t as ergonomic as it could be.

Costa decided to design a new kind of keyboard for the thumbs, one that would only need you to tap and then move your thumb a short distance away from wherever you tapped. This would require less stretch and — perhaps — less stress on the thumb joints.

“So, being a designer,” Costa writes on Medium, “I played with the idea of a keyboard thought (out) for the thumb. A keyboard requiring only a single tap and some short swiping to construct words and sentences.”

Apple confirms iMessage bug is crashing iPhones

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Unicode of Death 2015
Evan likes to send malicious Unicode to co-workers.
Screen: Evan Killham/Cult of Mac

Apple has confirmed the existence of the “Unicode of Death” security exploit in iMessages.

“We are aware of an iMessage issue caused by a specific series of unicode characters and we will make a fix available in a software update,” an Apple rep said today in an e-mail to Reuters.

CBS will ‘probably’ sign Apple TV deal, if the money’s right

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Add CBS to the list of broadcasters ready to sign a deal for Apple TV
Add CBS to the list of broadcasters ready to sign a deal for Apple TV
Photo: Cult of Mac

The new Apple TV streaming service might not be launching as soon as we hoped, but when it does, CBS will probably be part of the package.

CBS CEO Les Moonves made an appearance at Recode’s Code Conference and revealed that he just met with Eddy Cue last week to talk about Apple’s upcoming plans. When asked whether CBS will be apart of the new service, Moongraves said “probably.” However, it’s going to take a lot of money to close the deal.

Cars are ‘ultimate mobile device’ and other Apple insights from Jeff Williams

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The man described by Fortune as
The man described by Fortune as "Tim Cook's Tim Cook."
Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac

Apple’s VP of operations, Jeff Williams, took the stage at Recode’s Code Conference today to talk about everything from his pride and joy (ResearchKit), to the future of Apple Watch.

A full lineup of new software and products are sure to be announced next month at WWDC, but Williams revealed some of the surprises early, telling Walt Mossberg that Apple Watch apps are about to get a new SDK so they can run faster.  Apple’s electric car project came up as well with Williams calling cars  ‘the ultimate mobile device.’

Here are seven juicy insights into Apple’s future from the interview:

How to set default Apple Pay cards on iPhone and Apple Watch

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iPhone continues to rock across the globe.
Set your Apple Pay default credit card for your Apple Watch on your iPhone.
Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

If you have more than one credit card, chances are you’ll want to put them all into Apple Pay so you can use any of them when the mood strikes, or your card balance dictates.

If you’ve got an Apple Watch, you’ll need to add them to the Watch via a separate process than the way you added them to the iPhone.

Once you’ve added more than one card, though, you might want to change the default Apple Pay card. Here’s how to do just that.