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Samsung fires three execs over Galaxy S5 failure

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It’s pretty clear that Samsung’s mobile business is faltering at the moment, and members of its executive team are paying the price. Not only has Samsung recently posted dismal quarter profits, but it also wildly overestimated the appeal of the Galaxy S5, with the result that unsold units are now piling up in warehouses.

According to a new report coming out of Korea, to get things back on the right track Samsung has just sacked three top executives in its mobile business as part of large-scale reshuffling/downsizing effort.

The three heads on the chopping block include Lee Don-joo, head of the mobile business unit’s strategic marketing office, Kim Jae-kwon, chief of the global operations office, and Lee Chul-hwan, who was previously in charge of the mobile R&D office.

Cyber Monday: 10% off storewide with promotional code HAPPYCM10 [Deals]

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CoM_Cyber_Monday_2014

Cult of Mac Deals has tons of deals for Cyber Monday. In fact, every single thing in the store is offered with huge savings.

Use the promotional code HAPPYCM10 at check out to get 10% off your purchase.  Read on to see featured items such as the Limefuel LP200X, a package of 100 AA & 52 AAA Duracell Batteries, and The MiP Smartphone-Controlled Robot.

Tim Cook joins RED brigade for World AIDS Day

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Tim Cook
RED CEO Deborah Dugan and Tim Cook show up at the Georgetown Apple Store to mark World AIDS Day. Photo: Deborah Dugan/Twitter

Apple CEO Tim Cook surprised shoppers at the Georgetown Apple Store on Monday by making an appearance to support the company’s commitment to World AIDS Day.

Cook tweeted photos of his visit to the store in Washington, D.C. He was surrounded by Apple employees wearing red T-shirts to mark the day, which is aimed at raising awareness about the spread of AIDS, showing support for people living with HIV and honoring those who have died from the disease.

Meet House Forrester in new Game of Thrones video game

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Pretty good likeness, don't you think? Photo: Telltale Games
Pretty good likeness, don't you think? Photo: Telltale Games

In George R.R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire series, anyone can play the Game of Thrones, including little-known House Forrester.

Telltale Games, the house behind video gaming hits like The Wolf Among Us and The Walking Dead, have brought this more obscure Westeros family to the forefront of a brand-new game set in Martin’s Game of Thrones universe, and it looks delightfully dramatic.

Check out the trailer below, which includes some fine voicework from Natalie Dormer and Peter Dinklage as their respective characters from the show, wily Margaery Tyrell and diminutive Tyrion Lannister.

Cheap Chromebooks teach Apple a lesson: Price matters

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Apple and Google are very interested in taking over the U.S. education market from Microsoft, but when it comes to capturing marketshare, the Chromebook is teaching Apple an important lesson: Price matters.

For the first time ever, Google has passed Apple in the U.S. education market, according to IDC data obtained by The Financial Times, which shows Google’s Chromebook laptops are more popular now in the K-12 classrooms than the iPad.

Steve Wozniak is about to become a reality TV show

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Coming soon to a waxworks near you.
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak standing with the Apple II. Photo: Robert Scobble
Photo: Robert Scoble

Steve Wozniak has played a lot of roles over the last three decades – engineer, Apple co-founder, Segway polo champion, and university professor – but Steve is about to jump into an all new realm: Realty TV show host.

The Apple co-founder is reportedly tag-teaming with Mythbusters’ co-host Kari Byron for a new reality TV show about all-things tech called The Woz.

Now you can get your Girl Scout Cookies fix online

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Library of Congress photo
Girl Scout Cookies taste great, no matter how you buy them. Photo: Library of Congress

Honey Boo Boo was clearly ahead of her time when she got busted selling Girl Scout Cookies online last year.

Internet sales of the coveted cookies were prohibited at the time, but now the organization has taken its Digital Cookie program out of the oven. The new effort is designed to make cookies available to customers online (obviously) while also giving Girl Scouts new e-commerce skills, like online marketing and using apps.

Survey finds 10% of iPhone owners are ‘very likely’ to buy Apple Watch

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Original Apple Watch models
Are you planning to get an Apple Watch? Photo: Apple
Photo: Apple

No one has had a chance to try the Apple Watch on for size yet, but according to a report from UBS, that’s not stopping Apple fanboys from planning to scoop up the Apple timepiece once its available, and all those eager buyers could lead to a staggering 24 million sales in the first year.

According to a recent survey of iPhone owners, at least one in ten users say they’re ‘very likely’ to buy the Apple Watch once it hits stores, and while that figure doesn’t sound like a lot, the investment firm estimates it could lead to $3.4 billion in gross profit in the first few months alone.

‘Unusual’ trading spurs sharp drop in Apple shares

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Apple shares took an inexplicable beating from investors on Monday morning, leading to the stock’s single biggest fall since January 28th, 2014. And no one really know why.

An unusual spike in trading volume this morning sent the price of AAPL shares falling as much as 6.4 percent to $111.27 in early trading this morning, leading to a loss of more than $40 billion in market value in just a few minutes.

Microsoft raids App Store for popular cross-platform email app

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Accompli. Photo: Acompli
Acompli's powerful email app is now owned by Microsoft. Photo: Acompli

Microsoft is digging its roots deeper into iOS and Android this week with the announcement that it has acquired the popular cross-platform email app Acompli.

News of the Acompli acquisition was posted today on Microsoft’s company blog, with VP of Office, Rajesh Jha, saying the company plans to integrate the app into the Outlook redesign his team is currently working on.

Cult of Mac’s guide to the best Cyber Monday and Black Friday deals

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Apple Pay. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
The biggest shopping day of the year is almost here, and you know what that means: deals, deals, deals and more deals. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

blackfriday logoBlack Friday is a shopper’s dream and worst nightmare. The blitz of fliers advertising post-Thanksgiving sales has already begun, with retailers large and small offering deals on just about everything imaginable.

How do you know what’s actually a bargain and what’s a cheap marketing ploy? Never fear! We’re keeping our eyes peeled for the very best Black Friday deals, and we’ll be adding them to this roundup. This isn’t a roundup for all of the millions of discounted TVs and kitchen appliances out there, just the stuff we think is really worth your attention. Keep this page locked for sweet savings on tech, entertainment and other cool gear.

T-Mobile knocks $100 off 64GB iPhone 6 for Cyber Monday

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iPhone
iPhone 6 and 6 Plus sure are koala-ty phones. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Photo: Jim Merithew

Still waiting for a good excuse to upgrade to the iPhone 6? If you didn’t take advantage of any of the Black Friday deals, T-Mobile announced this morning that it’ll give you a 64GB iPhone 6 for the price of the 16GB version.

The Cyber Monday deal only last for the next 24 hours, but will save you $100 on the price of the 64GB iPhone 6 which normally sells for $749.99 unlocked on T-Mobile.

Similar deals are also available for the 64GB iPhone 5s, which is now on sale for the price of a 32GB unit. You can also pick up a 32GB iPhone 5c for the price of an 8GB iPhone 5c, saving you $50 on each. The deal is web-only, so you can’t go into a T-Mobile store to pick one up, but you can still use the carrier’s $350 termination fee bonus to switch carriers.

Source: T-Mobile

Video interview with Steve Jobs will be evidence in $350m Apple antitrust case

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Evidence from Steve Jobs will form a large part of Apple's latest antitrust case. Photo: Ben Stanfield/Flickr CC
Photo: Ben Stanfield/Flickr CC

Previously unseen emails and a videotaped deposition of Steve Jobs is set to play a key part in a long-running class action antitrust lawsuit against Apple, which goes to trial this week.

First filed back in 2005, the lawsuit argues that Apple put itself in a monopolistic position by refusing to allow iPod customers to use non-iTunes music on their iPods, thanks to software upgrades issued by Apple. The case saw little action for its first seven years, but picked up steam with a judge’s ruling in May 2012, and is now finally arriving in the court room.

“We will present evidence that Apple took action to block its competitors and in the process harmed competition and harmed consumers,” the lead plaintiffs’ lawyer was quoted as saying in an article for the New York Times.

Apple Store logos go red for World AIDS Day

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All over the world, Apple Stores are turning their logos red to mark World AIDS Day. Photo: Maya Mossinson Frost
All over the world, Apple Stores are turning their logos red to mark World AIDS Day. Photo: Maya Mossinson Frost

Apple Store logos around the world turn red today to mark Apple’s commitment to raising awareness of World AIDS Day. Red is a color synonymous with World AIDS Day, and the battling of HIV, thanks to the red ribbons first introduced back in 1991.

Apple has changed the color of its Apple Store logos since 2012. Apple has described December 1 as part of its “biggest fundraising push yet”. Any items bought through brick-and-mortar Apple Stores today will have a percentage of their sales donated to the charity.

Best List: Heart-pumping, dart-thumping gear (and a blinkin’ Apple book)

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If you play darts, you know it's all about the doubles and triples. Landing your pointy projectile in those choice slivers of bristle board real estate make all the difference when you are playing to win.


The Bandit Plus ProTrainer ($65 from A-ZDarts.com) can help. On this fiendish and well-constructed training tool, the double and treble beds are just half the size of a regulation steel-tip dartboard. Practicing with this demanding mistress is the darting equivalent of running in ankle weights or sliding a doughnut on your bat while taking a few cuts in the on-deck circle. Spend some quality time with the ProTrainer at home, and those precious moneymaker slots will look gigantic when you step up to the oche during your next pub match. — Lewis Wallace


Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

If you play darts, you know it's all about the doubles and triples. Landing your pointy projectile in those choice slivers of bristle board real estate make all the difference when you are playing to win.

The Bandit Plus ProTrainer ($65 from A-ZDarts.com) can help. On this fiendish and well-constructed training tool, the double and treble beds are just half the size of a regulation steel-tip dartboard. Practicing with this demanding mistress is the darting equivalent of running in ankle weights or sliding a doughnut on your bat while taking a few cuts in the on-deck circle. Spend some quality time with the ProTrainer at home, and those precious moneymaker slots will look gigantic when you step up to the oche during your next pub match. — Lewis Wallace

Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac


How to jailbreak iOS 8.1.1

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There's a new jailbreak in town. Screenshot: Cult of Mac
There's a new jailbreak in town. Screenshot: Cult of Mac

Here’s how the game of iOS cat-and-mouse jailbreak works. A team releases a working jailbreak for the most recent version of iOS to the public. Apple moves to eliminate the exploit that made the last jailbreak possible, releases a new version of iOS, and stops ‘signing’ previous jailbreakable versions of iOS, meaning they can no longer be installed on devices. Rinse and repeat.

The last version of iOS, iOS 8.1.1, closed the hole that made the Pangu jailbreak possible. But now a new jailbreak has been released, that will jailbreak iOS 8.1.1 on any device. Here’s how to install it.

This app lets you unlock your Mac with Touch ID

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Unlock your Mac with TouchID! Photo: FingerKey
Unlock your Mac with TouchID! Photo: FingerKey

First introduced with the iPhone 5s, Apple’s Touch ID fingerprint sensor is one of the easiest and most convenient ways to unlock your iPhone and iPad. And now, thanks to a new app, it’s also one of the easiest and most convenient ways to unlock your Mac.

Good good gifts for Apple fans and why your iPhone 6 supports 4K on The CultCast

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This week: Gobble gobble y’aall! Ever wonder what a Thanksgiving meal with Tim Cook might be like? Ok, probably not, but come imagine it with us anyway. Then: why Apple quietly included 4K support in iPhone 6 and iPad Air 2; Amazon is building an ad-supported Netflix streaming competitor; plus stay tuned for our favorite products of the year in the CultCast gifts-we’d-love-to-get gift guide.

Heartily guffaw your way through each week’s best Apple stories! Stream or download new and past episodes of The CultCast now on your Mac or iDevice by subscribing on iTunes, or hit play below and let the chuckles begin.

Our thanks to Fracture for supporting this episode. Fracture prints your photos directly onto glass so they really pop. And they come ready to hang on a wall or sit on your desk and make great gifts. Check them out at Fracture.me and save 15% off any order with code CultCast.

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9 great TV shows to binge-watch this holiday weekend

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Thanks to a money-hungry decision to split the final season, a la Breaking Bad, the last episodes of Mad Men won’t air until next year. On the plus side, that means this is the perfect time to play catch-up before the world goes Don Draper crazy one last time.If for some incredible reason you’ve never seen Mad Men before (and how I envy you if that’s the case), the show follows the lives of a few Madison Avenue ad men and women during the 1950s and '60s. We’ve now reached the point of the Apollo 11 moon landing, and things are set for a grand finale.Photo: HBO

Thanks to a money-hungry decision to split the final season, a la Breaking Bad, the last episodes of Mad Men won’t air until next year. On the plus side, that means this is the perfect time to play catch-up before the world goes Don Draper crazy one last time.

If for some incredible reason you’ve never seen Mad Men before (and how I envy you if that’s the case), the show follows the lives of a few Madison Avenue ad men and women during the 1950s and '60s. We’ve now reached the point of the Apollo 11 moon landing, and things are set for a grand finale.

Photo: HBO


Black Friday Deals: 10% off entire store, including 10-foot, MFi-certified iOS Lightning Cable [Deals]

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Go to Cult of Mac Deals now to save big on the best tech and tech related products. Everything at Cult of Mac Deals is on sale for 10% off when you enter the code ‘HAPPYBF10’ at check out.

Read on for great deals on The 10 Ft. MFi-Certified iOS Lightning Cable, TRNDlabs Knitted Touchscreen Gloves, The NES30 Bluetooth Controller, and The Bluetooth Shower Speaker. There’s tons more just like these at Cult of Mac Deals now.

12-inch ‘iPad Air Plus’ schematics point to spring 2015 release

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Are you ready for the giant-sized iPad Pro? We are. Photo: CURVED
Photo: CURVED

Enough reports have accumulated for us to say with fair certainty that there will be a larger iPad ‘Pro’ in the first half of next year, although nothing super concrete has been agreed upon regarding specs.

Now Japanese magazine Mac Fan has published what it claims are schematics for the “iPad Air Plus,” but here’s to hoping Apple doesn’t actually give its rumored 12.2-inch tablet that name.

How to fix OS X Yosemite’s annoying, overflowing save sheet bug

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Another annoying Yosemite bug. Screenshot: Cult of Mac
Another annoying Yosemite bug. Screenshot: Cult of Mac

Since installing OS X Yosemite, I’ve had a problem: Every time I try to save anything in Chrome, the Save Sheet interface is so long it runs off the screen, making it impossible for me to click “OK” or “Cancel.” I assumed it was something I had done, but nope, it’s a particularly annoying Yosemite bug. Here’s how to fix it.