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 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.

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.

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:

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.

Apple Watch is one the most incredible watch I’ve ever owned, but there’s just one problem — the apps are all soooo slow.

That could change pretty soon, according to Apple VP of Operations Jeff Williams, who says Apple will give developers a preview of native Apple Watch apps at next month’s Worldwide Developers Conference.

Apple updated its official WWDC app this morning, and along with listing hundreds of sessions that will give developers an inside look at the latest iOS and Mac software, the app reveals the conference will kick off with a two-hour keynote June 8.

Google I/O is one of the biggest events on the calendar for Android fans, and this year’s event is going to be just as exciting as the last. In addition to the next-generation Android upgrade, we’ll see updates to other Google platforms, and maybe even new devices.

Here are nine things even Apple fans won’t want to miss during Google I/O 2015, which runs May 28 and 29. (This post was updated May 27.)

All good things come to an end. Case in point: our amazing Apple Thunderbolt giveaway, which comes to an end tonight on Cult of Mac Deals.

Developers have been eager to capitalize on the Apple Watch hype, with thousands of apps already available, but according to Snapchat’s CEO, it’s going to be a long time until you’re able to check your snaps on Jony Ive’s timepiece.

If you’re looking for a good deal on a movie to watch you may want to check out the freshly-launched Movie of the Day! app on iOS, which offers up to 70 percent discounts off the price of new and classic films.

A joint effort between Fox and Apple, the app offers users a new iTunes movie download each day. According to Apple these movie deals will “range from blockbusters to acclaimed indies,” so there’s a high probability that you’ll find something that you enjoy.

An iPhone 5 user from San Diego almost lost his Apple handset after accidentally dropping it into the sea.

“My brother tried throwing my phone to me,” Gregory Papadin told British newspaper The Mirror. “It ended up going straight under water and sank to bottom of the ocean floor.”

Papadin says the underwater pressure proved too much for him and his brother to swim down and retrieve the phone, but the captain of the ship he was renting was able to dive in and get it — to discover that the phone had not only managed to survive the episode, but actually film its own watery descent.

Check out the video below:

The phenomenal success of the iPhone 6 has catapulted Apple back to the spot of “world’s most valuable brand” in the 2015 BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands list, after it temporarily lost the title to Google last year.

According to organizers Millward Brown, Apple increased its brand value by a whopping 67 percent to $247 billion in the last year, compared to 2014’s winner Google, which achieved “only” a 9 percent value increase during that same time.

There is plenty that former Android-users won’t miss if they make the jump to iOS, but one thing they might is the iPhone’s lack of an Android-style “back” button — the result of Steve Jobs’ belief that everything about the iPhone be as uncluttered as possible.

A new Kickstarter project gives you back this feature, however, thanks to a “smart” screen protector which adds just such a button to your iPhone 6 or 6 Plus home screen.

And based on the fact that it’s already been funded more than six times over, we’re assuming it’s something a number of users would really, really like to get their hands on. Literally.

Some iPhone users are getting a flashback to 2013 as a new version of the so-called “Unicode of Death” has returned to wreak havoc with their iMessages.

The security exploit, which activates when someone sends you the message in the image above, reportedly forces jailbroken handsets into Safe Mode and completely removes other units’ ability to access the Messages app.

The son of China’s richest man has bought not one, but two gold Apple Watch Editions. For his dog.

Wang Sicong’s father, real-estate magnate Wang Jianlin, is worth about $34 billion dollars, and the 27-year-old son officially has too much disposable income.

A fire of unknown origin broke out today in Apple’s command center in Mesa, Arizona.

Local firefighters responded at around 11:30 Tuesday morning to the structure, which formerly held sapphire glass supplier GT Advanced Technologies.

A Mesa fire spokesperson said the flames seemed to be localized to the roof of the building, near Signal Butte Road and Elliot Road.

Clear, high definition video is all about a frame rate of 60 frames per second (fps).

Luckily, your iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus can shoot in this high-speed format that will smooth out your videos as well as make the results of your slo-motion editing a much more watchable experience.

If you want to set your iPhone 6 or 6 Plus up to shoot 60 fps video, here’s how to do it.

This is Richard Howarth, Apple’s newly appointed vice president of industrial design, and the man who has to fill Jony Ive’s (calf-leather) shoes.

Ive has been promoted to chief design officer to do more “blue sky thinking,” leaving Howarth to run the legendary Industrial Design studio that has been Apple’s ideas factory and product foundry for more than two decades.

Howarth is no stranger to the studio. He’s worked there for 20 years, heading up the design of the iPod, iPhone and a string of MacBooks, among many other products. He’s African-born, London-educated and has been Ive’s second-in-command for some time, earning a reputation among colleagues as a “badass.”

The man charged with keeping Apple user interfaces looking and working beautifully made his bones by suggesting hand-painted boxes for the original iPhone.

That’s just one shimmery detail from the resume of Alan Dye, Apple’s new vice president of user interface design. Here’s everything else you need to know about the man taking over from Jony Ive when it comes to the day-to-day running of all things UI.

There’s no easier way to build your own interactive projects—from robots to self-playing instruments—than with the Arduino micro-controller. And we’ve made it even easier, with 85% off a bundle containing the ARDX Arduino Starter Kit and three courses perfect for beginners.

The battle between virtual assistants is about to hot up again as Microsoft Cortana prepares to go cross-platform to take on Siri and Google Now. The intelligent virtual assistant will be arriving on Android and iOS later this year, but you can get a sneak peek in the video below.

Apple could make its upcoming iPhone 6s handsets slimmer and lighter than ever by taking advantage of new smaller LED backlighting chips, according to a new report.

The new chips have the same 3.0 x 0.85mm dimensions as those used in present generation iPhones, but are an impressive 0.2mm thinner than the current 0.6mm components.

I’ve started cheating on my Apple Watch. It’s not that I don’t love it. It’s amazingly beautiful. It does stuff I didn’t even know I’d like. But when it comes to running wild in the outdoors, I’ve found a smartwatch that satisfies me more than Jony Ive’s wearable does.

For the past week I’ve been testing the Garmin Fenix 3, a top-of-the-line smartwatch from a company that’s made a name for itself by providing runners and outdoorsmen with some of the best wrist-worn fitness tech. I hate wearing the Fenix 3. While Apple Watch gently caresses my wrist, the Fenix 3 feels like I’ve strapped a tank to it. Yet it boasts features Apple Watch doesn’t have that I’m starting to think I can’t live without on runs and hikes.

I don’t plan to completely break up with the Apple Watch anytime soon, but I’m ditching it during my four-day trek through the Grand Canyon this weekend because there are still a couple things it needs to learn before it can truly be the best all-around fitness tracker.

If Apple’s former CEO had been more sentimental, we’d be referring to the company’s upcoming “Spaceship” headquarters as the Steve Jobs campus, according to an interesting tidbit in Stephen Fry’s Telegraph article about Jony Ive’s promotion.

While being given a tour of the rapidly advancing Apple Campus 2 site, Fry suggested it should be named after Jobs, who died in 2011 but was heavily involved with the early stages of planning.

“Oh, Steve made his views on that very clear,” said Tim Cook — hinting that the idea was discussed, but that Jobs wasn’t a massive fan of it.