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How much is lunch with Tim Cook worth?

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Tim's ready for another stellar quarter.
Ready to chow down with Apple's head honcho? Photo: Bloomberg Businessweek
Photo: Bloomberg

Can you put a price tag on bending the ear of CEO of the most valuable company in the world? Apple thinks you can, and its making Tim Cook available for a brief sit down if you’re willing to cough up the cash for charity.

For the third consecutive year, bids are being taken for lunch with Cook to support the RFK Center for Justice & Human Rights. The winner not only gets to meet for an exclusive one-on-one with Cook at Apple’s headquarters, but two VIP passes to an Apple keynote.

Checkmate! Cheating chess master caught using iPod touch

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The one time Apple probably would've been happy to see an Android device pop up in the news. Photo: Telegraph
The one time Apple probably would've been happy to see an Android device pop up in the news. Photo: Telegraph

A chess Grandmaster could be slapped with a 15-year ban after being caught using an iPod touch to cheat.

Georgian champion Gaioz Nigalidze’s strategy involved rushing to the toilet between moves to consult his iOS device, which was reportedly hidden in a cubicle, behind the toilet pan and covered with paper. On it he had stored a chess app which was set up to follow his moves.

Cheating? There’s an app for that.

Reemo smartwatch lets you wave your lights on

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In this demonstration video, a mother gestures to turn off the lights thanks to the Reemo smartwatch she is wearing. Photo: Reemo/YouTube
In this demonstration video, a mother gestures to turn off the lights thanks to the Reemo smartwatch she is wearing. Photo: Reemo/YouTube

This is the year computer power migrates to our wrists. We have the roll-out hype of the Apple Watch to thank for that. But one company wants that power to be flexed through a flick of the wrist.

Reemo is software and a wrist device you probably haven’t heard of. It doesn’t come in gold or send your heartbeat to a loved one.

It is built around the emerging technology of gesture control — users become maestros in their homes and offices. With a range of gestures and arm movements, users can control the volume on televisions and stereos, trigger door looks, drop the temperature of a room and power lighting up or down.

Buy it now? Rare original Apple-1 shows up on eBay

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Photo:
Yep, this could belong to you. Photo: eBay/auctioncause2

If you think an Apple Watch Edition is rare, you should try getting your hands on an Apple-1 computer.

Only 63 are known to exist, but you can nab one now — provided you cough up the necessary cash. A working Apple-1, owned by its original purchaser and his family for more than 36 years, has appeared on eBay and is currently carrying a bid of $20,600.

Google’s Snapseed app got much worse in version 2.0

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post-319203-image-4fded3e56e1f5f1582062295c170958c-jpg

Available for both iOS and Android, Google’s Snapseed has long been one of my favorite on-the-go photo retouching apps. After a year without updates, then, I was excited to see Google update Snapseed to version 2.0, with several new features, including the ability to copy edits from one image to another, five new filters, adjustable lens blur, and brush tools.

Unfortunately, the Snapseed 2.0 update wasn’t all for the better. In fact, it stripped the app of one of its best features: the grunge filter.

The new Retina MacBook could be Apple’s least-repairable notebook yet

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The new MacBook in pieces. Photo: iFixit
The new MacBook in pieces. Photo: iFixit

Apple’s new MacBook may be one “for the future” but it’s already had a teardown from our friends over at iFixit, filling you in on all the ways the next-gen notebook differs from its predecessor.

That includes Apple’s butterfly mechanism keys, its Force Touch trackpad, form-fitting layered battery, and, of course, the thinnest, most energy-efficient Retina display ever seen on a Mac.

It’s not just ports the new notebook is missing, however. It’s also one of Apple’s least-repairable notebooks to date!

Samsung sets up 200-person team to build displays for Apple

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Samsung is after more of Apple's iPhone business.
Samsung and Apple are BFFs again. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Anyone who dreams of Apple giving a “This is Sparta!”-style thrust-kick to rival Samsung, forever booting it out of Cupertino’s production process, is going to be sorely disappointed.

If anything, Apple’s leaning more heavily than ever on its longtime frenemy, with new reports claiming Samsung created a standalone team of around 200 employees dedicated exclusively to building new screens for iPads, MacBooks and possibly future Apple Watches.

Make iOS Calendar look the way you want

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Calendar
Press the button. Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac
Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

Oh, that pesky list view in your iOS Calendar app. It sure likes to go missing in various iOS updates, doesn’t it, like in iOS 7 when it just, sort of, disappeared.

It’s not totally gone now in iOS 8.3, but there is a new way to access it along with a new layout. There are also some funky ways to move around your Calendar app that may not be as intuitive as they should. These aren’t necessarily new to iOS 8.3, but it’s handy to know them, as well.

Here’s the recipe you’ll need to view your iOS Calendar the way you want on your iPhone and iPad.

Apple’s latest acquisition could revolutionize iPhone camera

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Get ready for a major camera upgrade for the iPhone 6s.
What tech advances will the next iPhone camera bring? Photo: Apple
Photo: Apple

Apple is looking to ramp up its camera technology with the acquisition of Israeli company LinX.

The two companies reached a deal that will see Apple paying about $20 million for the startup, but if the company’s multi-aperture cameras are actually as stunning as advertised, future iPhones could gain SLR-quality images.

Blizzard’s addictive card game Hearthstone is now on your iPhone

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I can play this anywhere? Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac
I can play this anywhere? Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

Hearthstone addicts players rejoice! Blizzard’s incredibly compelling digital card game is now optimized for your iPhone or iPod touch.

We’ve heard rumors that some folks even use their iPhone while in the bathroom. Gross! If you’re one of those people, though, get ready to never stop playing Hearthstone again.

Sure, the video game company behind mega-hits World of Warcraft, Starcraft II, and Diablo III has had a version of this easy-to-learn, hard-to-master two-player collectible card game on the Mac and iPad since 2013, but this is the first time you’re able to play it on the small screen without any jailbreaking or hacking needed.

Hearthstone is now officially supported on iPhone and iPod touch,” says the App Store description. “…Featuring an all-new intuitive interface hand-crafted for the mobile experience, it’s never been easier to take Hearthstone with you anywhere you want to play.”

China overtakes U.S. for iOS app downloads

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App Annie
China is now beating the United States on iOS downloads. Photo: App Annie

 

Tim Cook has been staunchly outspoken in his belief that it’s only a matter of time before China overtakes the U.S. as Apple’s biggest customer.

According to a new report from app analytics company App Annie, that benchmark has now been passed when it comes to app downloads — with China leading the way in the first quarter of 2015.

But which country is winning in the all-important revenue generating category?

New Guitar Hero will turn you into a realistic rock star

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Things could be going a bit better, for sure. Photo: Activision
Things could be going a bit better, for sure. Photo: Activision

You’re in the green room, waiting for your curtain call. You can hear the throngs of rabid fans in the audience, just waiting for you and your group of rock and roll rebels to take the stage.

You and your bandmates head out, winding through backstage. You flirt with a cute blonde production assistant; a bearded roadie hands you your favorite axe. You step out onto a massive stage in front of a crowd of thousands. You totally suck at playing the guitar. The crowd, fickle as ever, turns on you.

No, this isn’t that anxiety dream you’ve been having ever since you were a teenager, this is the new Guitar Hero, a new video game with a familiar name and a very different experience.

Did ‘bug’ cause Russian Siri to be homophobic?

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Photo: Jackee Chang / Twitter
Apple's Russian virtual assistant had some Siri-ously outdated views. Photo: Jackee Chang/Twitter

Apple’s Russian version of Siri launched earlier this month, and while the presence of the virtual assistant in Russia is certainly welcome, its early bigoted views were not.

According to one YouTube user, Siri not only refused to answer questions about gay bars but went a step further, providing downright homophobic responses. In the video, Siri supposedly claims to be embarrassed by the topic, suggesting that gay marriage is a bit of a downer.

ResearchKit is now open to everyone

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ResearchKit is just as revolutionary as researchers hoped.
Now everyone can be a medical researcher. Photo: Apple
Photo: Apple

Apple’s unveiling of ResearchKit was one of the biggest surprises at event in March. The software framework is designed to help doctors and scientists with medical and health research, and starting today, Apple is opening up ResearchKit to everyone.

The first five ResearchKit apps that study asthma, breast cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and Parkinson’s disease already enrolled over 60,000 iPhone users in the first few weeks. Now medical researchers all over the world will be able to tap into the same software that researchers at Stanford and Oxford University used to develop their medical apps.