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Why the Chinese military is frightened of the Apple Watch

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Is Apple Watch demand waning?
The Apple Watch is on the Chinese military's watch list. Though not in a good way.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

The Apple Watch is expected to do big things in China — with even the high-end Apple Watch Edition selling out within its first hour of preorders in the country — but one place the company’s debut wearable device won’t take off is the Chinese army.

That’s according to a recently released memo in which Chinese military leaders argue that wearable devices such as smartwatches and fitness trackers are sure to compromise soldiers’ security.

Using this camera with Apple Photos could destroy your photo library

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If you have this camera, don't use Apple Photos. Photo: Leica
If you have this camera, don't use Apple Photos. Photo: Leica

If you’re an owner of a new Leica M Monochrom camera — a beautiful digital camera specializing in beautiful black-and-white photographs, which Leica released on May 7th — you may want to avoid hooking it up to your Mac right now.

According to a new advisory, a nasty bug affects the Leica M Monochrom which can cause it to destroy your entire Apple Photos library. Whoa!

Design nerds will love this beautiful Apple Watch schematic

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post-322567-image-d5685fb22f97f21d48d666d230ffff25-jpg
If you think the Apple Watch is good-looking now, wait until you see it with lines and numbers everywhere.

If you’d like to see the Apple Watch in a cool new way, we have something to show you.

Apple created the below Apple Watch assembly drawing as part of its Made for Apple Watch program, which supports designers who are interested in creating third-party bands for the new wearable. It includes guidelines, notes and measurements of every part of the Watch, but mostly it’s just beautiful to behold.

Broadcom’s Internet of Things platform gains HomeKit support

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HomeKit
HomeKit is all about letting your things talk to your other things.
Photo: Apple

HomeKit just gained a powerful new partner: Communication firm Broadcom announced yesterday that its WICED (“Wireless Internet Connectivity for Embedded Devices”) software now offers full support with Apple’s connected-accessory framework.

WICED is the first software development kit to meet HomeKit’s standards for Wi-fi and Bluetooth Smart, which gives it a head start over other companies looking to get in on Apple’s platform.

How real historical intrigue inspires Game of Thrones

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The Lancasters always pay their debts. In blood.
The Lancasters always pay their debts. In blood.
Photo: TED-Ed

You know nothin’, Jon Snow. Especially how much more full of shifting alliances and intrigue The Wars of the Roses was than your epic television series is able to show. Game of Thrones superfans may already know that 15th-century England inspired much of the structure of George R. R. Martin’s overarching book series, but having it all laid out — lovely animations and visuals to support the historical information — is our first exposure to that fact.

The short animated video, written by Alex Gendler and animated by Brett Underhill, even illustrates how Game of Thrones matches directly to historical facts with some fun Pop-Up Video-style flourishes. You’ll love it.

Up, up and away! First Supergirl trailer has us cautiously optimistic

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She's not just here to look good, but to do good.
She's not just here to look good, but to do good.
Photo: CBS

It’s not a bird. It’s not a plane. It’s not a man. It’s Supergirl.

Seeing Kara Zor-El finally embrace her amazing Kryptonian powers in this trailer for the upcoming CBS television series Supergirl is an eye-welling moment of pure awesomeness for men and women alike who appreciate the Super myths from DC Comics.

Watching her bumble her way through cheesy, flirty moments as the gopher for media conglomerate owner Cat Grant (played by Calista Flockhart) and giggling through her scenes with beefcake James Olson, however, is a cheesiness that rivals some of the worst of Smallville, so color us warily excited. Check out the trailer and make up your own mind.

Steve Jobs actor still uses a broken iPhone 4

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Michael Fassbender
Even his Ancient Greek character in 300 had a 5s.
Photo: Warner Bros.

Michael Fassbender is a lot of things: actor, producer, Magneto … but one thing he isn’t is on the cutting edge of technology.

The man playing Steve Jobs in the upcoming biopic from director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) confessed in a recent interview that he is a little behind the times, phone-wise.

Apple Watch’s Digital Touch has more colors than you know

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Getting to this screen is key. Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac
Getting to this screen is key. Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

When you hit your Apple Watch’s side button, just under the Digital Crown, you get a list of the contacts you‘ve marked as Favorites in order to send your heartbeat or taps to them via Digital Touch, or folks you want to text with using your new Apple wrist gadget.

There are seven different presets for color coding those contacts, too, which default to red, blue, green, yellow, orange, white and purple.

Did you know that you could customize the colors of each of these seven slots? Here’s how.

FTC could pave the way for direct-to-consumer iCars

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We'd like to buy this directly from Apple, OK?
We'd like to buy this directly from Apple, OK?
Photo: Josh Baré/DeviantArt CC

In a strongly worded blog post Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission derided legislative attempts to prevent consumers from buying cars directly from manufacturers. While this certainly applies to Tesla Motors’ plans to cut out the middleman on auto sales, the government position would cover any company that wishes to sell cars directly to consumers — like, say, Apple.

Can you imagine a day when we can roll into an Apple retail store, flash an Apple Watch and purchase an iCar with Apple Pay?

Video shows how Disney animators recycled footage from older films

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Will the real Baloo please stand up? Photo: Movie Munchies
Will the real Baloo please stand up? Photo: Movie Munchies

Drawing an entire new movie by hand is a long, hard, tedious process, but the animators at Disney have a hidden trick up their sleeves: they recycle footage from older animated films into new ones.

In a new video showing how Disney’s team of animators remixed old animations for newer films, the team at Movie Munchies have mashed up some of Disney’s most classic movies. Did you know Sleeping Beauty and Beauty and the Beast have the exact same dance scenes? Or that animators drew over scenes from Snow White  to create footage for Robin Hood, all with the same characters and movements.

Watch the video below to have your childhood ruined:

Apple reaches agreement for poaching battery engineers

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Apple car concept art shows what Cupertino might put on the road.
Apple car concept art shows what kind of vehicle Cupertino might roll out.
Photo: Aristomenis Tsirbas/Freelancer

Apple and electric car battery maker A123 Systems have nearly reached a settlement, after A123 filed a federal lawsuit accusing Apple of poaching its top engineers and scientists to build its own battery division.

Court filings from A123 this week revealed the company asked a federal judge to grant it more time to finalize the settlement now that the two sides have “reached an agreement, signed a term sheet, and are in the process of drafting a final settlement agreement.”

Thieving educator takes phrase ‘an Apple for teacher’ too far

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If only this story was quite so innocent. Photo: Pioneer Institute
If only this story was quite so innocent. Photo: Pioneer Institute

An old saying states that those who can, do; those who can’t, teach — and to this we should maybe add that those teachers who can’t afford the latest Apple products on their salary, steal.

That’s according to a new report stating that a former Caldwell School District teacher in Idaho has pleaded guilty to grand theft charges, after buying (and then failing to hand over) a plethora of Apple gadgets — including two iPod touches, three iPad 2s, a 27-inch iMac, and three iPad minis.

That’s an A for effort, but a D- for execution.

The Arduboy is the perfect credit card-size gaming backup for your iPhone

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The Arduboy is designed for 8-bit gaming on the go.
The Arduboy is designed for 8-bit gaming on the go.
Photo: Arduboy

The iPhone is probably the best, most portable gaming device around. Even so, sometimes nostalgia kicks in and you miss your old Gameboy.

The Arduboy is a new, credit card-size console that is just as portable as an iPhone, if not more so. And it can play all the old 8-bit games your iPhone can’t.

BitTorrent’s new app is a secure alternative to iMessage and Snapchat

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You can replace iMessage and Snapchat with Bittorrent's new app. Photo: Bittorrent
You can replace iMessage and Snapchat with BitTorrent's new app. Photo: BitTorrent

BitTorrent’s not just a way to torrent anymore.

Released a couple years ago, BitTorrent Sync proved itself to be a great way to keep your files synced between machines without trusting a service like Dropbox with your data.

And now? BitTorrent Bleep, a serverless chat app, is here to show you you can do without Snapchat or iMessage.

Walt Disney chief thinks the future of movies is… the iPhone?

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More than a trillion photos were captured in 2015.
Forget 35mm, the iPhone is the future of filming. Photo: HypeBeast
Photo: HypeBeast

It’s easy to think that Steve Jobs’ biggest contribution to movies was his work at Pixar. In fact, according to no less an authority than Walt Disney and Pixar chief creative officer John Lasseter, Jobs’ biggest lasting influence on cinema could turn out to be none other than the invention of the iPhone.

Speaking at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Tuesday, Lasseter said he can easily see a day when the big award-winning movies we watch are produced by filmmakers using only their iPhones and GoPro cameras.

Michael Fassbender responds to doubts that he can play Steve Jobs

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Fassbender as Steve Jobs.
Fassbender as Steve Jobs. Photo: Sean Nung/Instagram
Photo: Sean Nung/raqu3l

It’s no secret that Michael Fassbender — the actor probably best-known for playing Magneto in X-Men: First Class and Days of Future Past — wasn’t writer Aaron Sorkin’s first choice for the role of Steve Jobs in the upcoming biopic.

But in a new interview, Fassbender says the screenwriter’s early lack of faith in him isn’t something he’s too bothered by, and puts it down to a difference of opinion.

Argentine authorities catch massive illegal shipment of Apple devices

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"Don't buy from me, Argentina!" should be the message of iPhone smugglers. Photo: Evita, Buena Vista Pictures

An illegal shipment of gadgets worth almost $800,000, including 500 Apple products, has been seized by Argentine authorities.

The products were on their way to Argentina from the U.S., with the aim of avoiding the import restrictions the country puts on smartphones, tablets, and similar items. Inspectors discovered around 260 iPhones, 60 MacBooks, numerous iPads, and more as part of the raid.

This sleek camera drone captures selfies from the skies

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Just hurl it into the air and start moving. Photo: Lily Camera/The Verge

Forget about your run-of-the-mill selfie stick, the future of mobile photography could very well be a new easy-to-use, self-flying camera drone — which users launch into the air like a frisbee and which will then follow them around capturing gorgeous HD video as it does so.

Called the Lily Camera, the rugged and waterproof camera drone boasts a 12MP 1080p camera, is small and light enough to fit in a regular backpack, and functions by way of both GPS and the latest computer vision algorithms.

Check out a video demonstration below: