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Future iPhones could advise your friends to quit bugging you

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iPhone patent would take a note out of the I.M. playbook. Photo: Kiwihen
iPhone patent would take a note out of the I.M. playbook. Photo: Kiwihen

The iPhone is more advanced than it’s ever been, but there’s one thing Apple’s smartphone can do no better than the Nokia 3310 I had when I was a teenager: stop you getting calls at inappropriate times.

That may be about to change, however, as a newly-published patent describes an Instant Message-type system whereby future iPhones could automatically broadcast their user’s status — essentially advising others on whether it’s a good time to ring or not.

Your selfie stick isn’t welcome at WWDC

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Selfie sticks aren't welcome at WWDC. Photo: R4vi/Flickr
Selfie sticks aren't welcome at WWDC. Photo: R4vi/Flickr
Photo: R4vi/Flickr

If you’re lucky enough to get an invite to Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference this June, make sure you don’t turn up at Moscone West with your selfie stick.

Apple’s information page for the event confirms that selfie sticks and similar apparatus will not be allowed inside the venue or within the Yerba Buena Gardens, so if you really must take pictures of your own face, you’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way.

Drafts, iOS’s best note-taking app, will be even better on the Apple Watch

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Drafts is coming to Apple Watch. Photo: Agile Tortoise
Drafts is coming to Apple Watch. Photo: Agile Tortoise

Agile Tortoise’s Drafts is, without a doubt, the single best note-taking app on the iOS App Store. It’s not only the easiest app to jump right into and start typing before you lose your train of thought, it’s the easiest app to export your notes from: It plugs into pretty much everything, from Dropbox to Evernote.

And coming soon? Drafts will plug into the Apple Watch, too.

Foxconn is buying up to 60,000 used iPhones per day to sell in China

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Customs officials in China caught this man trying to smuggle 94 iPhones into the country. Photo: Sina News
Foxconn is buying more iPhones per day than even this guy can carry. Photo: Sina News

Looking for more evidence that China is set to take over from the U.S. as Apple’s biggest market?

According to a report from the Chinese-language news outlet Tencent, Foxconn is currently buying 50,000-60,000 second-hand iPhones per day through worldwide channels, and then selling these on to the Chinese market.

Roughly 80 percent of the iPhones are said to sell through stores in Hong Kong.

Apple will kick off WWDC 2015 on June 8

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WWDC 2015 is official. Photo: Apple
WWDC 2015 is official. Photo: Apple

This year’s Worldwide Developers Conference will kick off June 8 at San Francisco’s Moscone West, Apple said today. The five-day event will provide an early glimpse at the future of iOS and OS X, plus more developer sessions than ever before.

Users in China are going to have to wait for Apple Pay

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Apple in talks to bring Apple Pay to Israel
Tim Cook's going to have to keep on waiting for Apple Pay to show up in China. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Tim Cook has described making Apple Pay available in China “top of the list” in terms of his priorities. Sadly, it seems he’s going to have to wait a bit longer until that dream becomes a reality.

That’s because, despite beginning conversations with China’s eight major banks last year, Apple’s discussions have apparently not gone well — as Chinese banks have been reticent about letting the Cupertino company eat into their existing profits.

IBM’s Jeopardy!-winning A.I. will revolutionize Apple health data

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Steve Jobs and IBM
A lot has changed since Steve Jobs flipped off IBM 30 years ago. Photo: Andy Hertzfeld
Photo: Andy Hertzfield

IBM has announced a new alliance with Apple (among other companies) to utilize its acclaimed Watson artificial intelligence system to provide personalized insights regarding health data.

For those who don’t remember, Watson was the IBM A.I. which famously defeated two former winners on the gameshow Jeopardy! in 2011 to receive the first place prize of $1 million.

By linking up with Watson, Apple not only solidifies its existing relationship with IBM, but also gains a very powerful ally in its quest to revolutionize the way we think about mobile health with the Apple Watch and iOS 8 Health app.

Take a GIF tour of iOS 8.4’s new Music app

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Apple's Music app is getting a redesign. Photo: Cult of Mac
Apple's Music app is getting a redesign. Photo: Cult of Mac

Rumors of a redesign coming to the iOS Music app have been floating around the rumor mill ever since Apple acquired Beats last year, and today we got our first preview of the future of music.

iOS 8.4 gives developers a look at the redesigned Music app that’s aimed at making it easier, faster, and more fun to listen to music than ever before. Apple has left out the long-rumored streaming-music component of the app, but the redesign is full of other noteworthy features.

Here’s a quick GIF tour of all the new changes:

Apple’s new Music app arrives in iOS 8.4 beta

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Apple has big ambitions for its new music streaming service.
Beats redesign is here! Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple just delivered a huge update to users with the release of iOS 8.3 last week, now it’s giving developers a preview of it’s upcoming redesign of the Music app with iOS 8.4 beta 1.

The new iOS 8.4 beta is available now in the iOS Dev Center and includes new Music app with an all-new design that makes exploring your music collection “easier and more fun.”

We’ll let you know what new features we find. In the meantime, here’s Apple’s description of the new Music app:

How to keep iOS gaming sessions from being interrupted

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Stop getting interrupted when you're gaming. Photo: Rob LeFebvre
Stop getting interrupted when you're gaming. Photo: Rob LeFebvre

I’ve been playing Vainglory quite a bit lately, and the one thing that really distracts me and actually impacts my gameplay (when on my iPad 3) is notifications. They can make the game stutter, which wreaks havok on my ability to gank an enemy Joule from the bushes with my Krul.

Seriously, it’s annoying.

I turned on Do Not Disturb last week to try and get rid of these badges that annoy, but it never worked: I still got notifications from Facebook, Messages and other appss. I did some digging to find out why.

Apple only takes 15% cut on HBO Now, Netflix, and Hulu subscriptions

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HBO Now on the big screen. Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac
HBO Now. Photo: HBO

Apple scored a huge win for Apple TV by making it the only platform your can watch HBO Now on for the next three months, and according to a new report, Apple might be rewarding HBO by taking a much lower cut on subscription fees than cable companies.

Apple has been taking a 30 percent cut anytime a company signs up a customer for a service through an iOS app. Publishers bristled at Apple’s policy when it was introduced in 2011, however, when it comes to subscriptions purchased through Apple TV, Apple has decided to reduced its take by 50%.

Inventive shorts show what you can do with new Sony Action Cams

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In the short film Picture Machine, a Sony Action Cam gets loaded into a tiny clear car to capture unique shots. Photo: Studio Nos
In the short film Picture Machine, a Sony Action Cam gets loaded into a tiny clear car to capture unique shots. Photo: Studio Nos

This post is brought to you by Sony.

We’re massive fans of Sony cameras, so we’re really interested in two new Action Cam models that challenge the GoPro status quo. To show off the eye-popping capabilities of its high-def duo — the 4K and the Full HD — Sony commissioned more than 20 short films shot on the tiny video cameras by directors from all over the world.

The first batch of the Never Before Seen shorts show how innovative filmmakers and artists utilize the Action Cams’ small size, enhanced image stability and other unique features to make Hollywood-level videos.

These floppy disks play ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ better than Cobain

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You've never heard Nirvana like this. Photo: Arganalth
You've never heard Nirvana like this. Photo: Arganalth

Arganalth, a 23-year old engineer from Lille, France gives old computer hardware a second life by creating electrical orchestras in a suitcase.

His latest masterpiece plays Nirvana’s “Smell’s Like Teen Spirit,” only instead of strumming the cords on a Fender Mustang, all the distortion and rock is provided by a couple floppy disks and hard disk drives, with a Raspberry Pi as the conductor. It’s one of the most popular new music videos on YouTube right now, and it doesn’t take like to appreciate why.

Listen to the full performance below:

Spain’s strict protest laws can’t stop marchers made of light

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New laws in Spain would criminalize certain forms of protest so human rights groups rallied in holographic form. Photo: Ukraine Today/YouTube
New laws in Spain would criminalize certain forms of protest so human rights groups rallied in holographic form. Photo: Ukraine Today/YouTube

Spain’s government has passed a series of laws that criminalize some forms of protest. But authorities may find it challenging to arrest holograms.

The group No Somos Delito, or We Are Not Crime, fired back at the government Friday using irony and digital technology with a projected hologram rally in front of Spain’s parliament.

Human rights groups were outraged when the conservative government passed laws in December that were seen as silencing protests over Spain’s austerity programs.

Tiny hero, giant fun: Ant-Man’s new trailer packs a punch

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Rudd looks a bit skeptical. Photo: Marvel Studios
Rudd looks a bit skeptical. Photo: Marvel Studios

While we might all be waiting breathlessly for Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron this summer, there’s another big contender for tiny superhero dominance: Ant Man.

Starring Paul Rudd as Scott Lang, Ant Man will show up on the big screen this July. The new trailer below gives us the first glimpse of Rudd in his Ant Man suit, which gives the character superhuman strength, the ability to shrink to a miniscule size, and the ability to communicate and control ants.

It’s a pretty ridiculous set of powers, but, as Rudd says near the end of the trailer, “I know; it wasn’t my idea.”

New Terminator trailer brings big twist to familiar franchise

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We've never seen a robot like this. Photo: Paramount Pictures
We've never seen a robot like this. Photo: Paramount Pictures

The crazy machines are at it again, only this time it’s not what we’ve come to expect from the long-running Terminator franchise, now coming to theaters in July as Terminator: Genisys

In the first film, Arnold Schwarzenegger played the original bad-ass invincible robot from the future out to kill Sarah Connor, originally played by Linda Hamilton, and her son John. Subsequent movies with the governator messed with the formula a bit, bringing in the scary liquid metal terminators and placing the original metal skeleton monster into a savior role.

But none of the movies have gone this far in messing with our heads or the plotline.

Spoilers abound; consider yourself warned.

Final Cut Pro X update makes it easier to sell your own movies on iTunes

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Final Cut Pro X on the MacBook Pro. Photo: Apple
Final Cut Pro X on the MacBook Pro. Photo: Apple

Apple gave its video editing software Final Cut Pro X a big new update this morning that includes new features like 3D titles and GPU-accelerated RED RAW processing. A number of updates were also added to Final Cut Pro X’s companion apps Compressor and Motion.

The Final Cut Pro 10.2 release is the 15th update since Apple drastically overhauled its video editing software in 2011, bringing more professional features to draw in more video producers. Perhaps the biggest features is the addition of iTunes Store Package to Compressor that makes it easier than ever for movie makers to package and sell an films on iTunes.

“From Hollywood blockbuster directors to first time movie makers, Final Cut Pro X is changing the way we edit movies today,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “The updated Final Cut Pro X, Motion and Compressor make it even easier to edit, title and package everything from short videos to feature-length films.”

Here’s some of the changes coming today:

King Kong ain’t got nothing on this drone-fighting chimp

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This chimp did not appreciate being filmed by a drone and took Kong-trol by knocking it out of the air. Photo: Royal Burgers Zoo
This chimp did not appreciate being filmed by a drone and took Kong-trol by knocking it out of the air. Photo: Royal Burgers Zoo

You would have thought King Kong taught us never to fly too close to primates.

Like the giant silver screen ape swatting fighter planes out of the air, a chimpanzee at the Royal Burgers’ Zoo in the Netherlands defended its habitat with a long stick to knock down a camera-carrying drone flying over its habitat.

The GoPro camera survived the crash and managed to record everything, from the stick-wielding chimp making a ferocious face as it made a direct hit to the quadrocopter to the crash aftermath of the curious chimps looking into the camera before it destroyed the drone.

Your next iPhone could be designed in California, made in India

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Foxconn employees accused of $43 million iPhone scam
Tim Cook meets a worker at one of Foxconn's China factories. Photo: Apple
Photo: Apple

Up until now, the majority of iPhones have been built in China, but long-time Apple manufacturer Foxconn could be setting its sights on a new developing market: India.

According to the Economic Times, the Foxconn Technology Group is set to pour money into three new facilities in India — based in the country’s Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh provinces — with a view to building iPhones for its biggest client.

Save 70% on a lifetime of hacker protection with VPN Unlimited

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CoM_VPN Unlimited Lifetime

The internet is the western world’s business hub. We use it to communicate with family, friends, and colleagues; to conduct our banking and other financial transactions; and also to shop worldwide, often paying for goods and services by credit card.

The point is that we enter an enormous amount of sensitive data about ourselves on the internet every single day, making us vulnerable to security breaches. It’s easy to protect yourself though. All you need is a lifetime subscription to VPN Unlimited, 70% off at Cult of Mac Deals for a limited time.

Pro tips for traveling with your MacBook

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Keep your MacBook safe whilst on the move. Photo: Quentin Meulepas/Flickr
Keep your MacBook safe while you're on the move. Photo: Quentin Meulepas/Flickr

Being a workaholic means I’m always taking my MacBook with me wherever I travel, but carrying around a $2,000 machine is a constant risk. In today’s s video I show you everything you need to know to keep your MacBook safe while you’re on the move.

The electrical outlet that puts USB ports in your walls

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The SnapPower USB charger has raised more than $600,000 on Kickstarter. Photo: SnapPower
The SnapPower USB charger has raised more than $600,000 on Kickstarter. Photo: SnapPower

There are just two of us in the apartment, but power strips and bulky USB adapters charging our various devices take up room in every room.

The founders of SnapPower are building a company around the electrical outlet to bring order to household cords.

After the success of an outlet plate with built-in LED lights, the Orem, Utah company already has raised thousands of dollars on Kickstarter to produce an electrical outlet cover with a sleek, built-in USB charger.