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This is why the iPhone 6 didn’t get a sapphire screen

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Some of GT Advanced Technology's failed attempts to create sapphire for future iPhones. Photo: WSJ
Photo: WSJ

No matter what the reason, or who was at fault, the collapse in Apple’s relationship with former sapphire supplier GT Advanced Technologies came down to one thing: the latter company wasn’t able to meet Apple’s terms.

Now photos published by the Wall Street Journal show some of GTAT’s sapphire errors, made just days before Apple signed a deal for the company to produce sapphire displays to be used in next generation iPhones. The 578 pound sapphire cylinders — known as boules — featured multiple flaws, which rendered the majority unusable.

While Apple certainly pushes its manufacturers hard to seemingly achieve the impossible on tighter and tighter profit margins, the picture that emerges from the WSJ article is of GT as a chaotic company, struggling from the very start to fulfil Apple’s expectations.

Sony backs out of Steve Jobs movie, but don’t worry!

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A case of art imitating life: Steve Jobs was cast out of Apple in 1985, and now the Jobs movie has been thrown out by Sony. Photo: Ben Stanfield/Flickr CC
Photo: Ben Stanfield/Flickr CC

Just as Steve Jobs had to go through some frustrating years of failure before returning to Apple to turn in around, so too is the Aaron Sorkin Jobs biopic experiencing its fair share of setbacks.

Following the recent news that Christian Bale has, err, bailed on the project, now Hollywood magazine Deadline is reporting that the movie is being put into turnaround by its studio, Sony Pictures. Turnaround refers to a deal whereby the rights to a particular movie are sold from one studio to another in exchange for the cost of development, plus interest.

Exactly why the film is supposedly being dropped by Sony isn’t known, particularly since the Sony-owned Columbia Pictures did so well both critically and commercially from Sorkin’s previous true tech drama, in 2010’s The Social Network. It may, however, have something to do with schedules.

Slim Wallet is a spacious leather billfold that eliminates the pocket bulge

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The Slim Wallet's a stunner. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac
The Slim Wallet's a stunner. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

I’m really picky when it comes to buying new wallets. I don’t carry many cards and, much like the Queen of England, I rarely carry cash, so I hate anything that unnecessarily puts a big bulge in my back pocket.

With the Slim Wallet from Danny P, I’ve found a beautiful leather billfold that carries up to eight cards and a fistful of notes without ever getting too bulky.

Turn your iPhone into a retro typewriter courtesy of Tom Hanks

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tomhanks

My Cult of Mac colleague Killian is obsessed with the actor Tom Hanks to an almost worrying degree.

I’ve never been to his home before (Killian’s, not Hanks’ — although I’ve not been there either), but I like to imagine that it’s full of Forrest Gump and Castaway posters, with the focal point being a single lock of the actor’s hair kept in an airtight jar. Surrounded by candles, with an iPod dock playing the soundtrack to The Da Vinci Code on repeat.

At any other time of year this would seem irrelevant, were today not the occasion upon which Hanx Writer, a typewriter app created by actor and typewriter fan Hanks, went universal on iOS.

Scan documents anywhere and at any time with Doxie Go [Deals]

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CoM_Doxie Go

Every day, we receive countless pieces of paper: Receipts, important notes, and more. Typically, we put those pieces of paper into our pockets and promise ourselves we’ll sort and file them later – but we rarely do.

Now you can organize all of your papers throughout the day quickly and easily with Doxie Go, 30% off for a limited time with free shipping at Cult of Mac Deals..

iMessage encryption will kill kids, DOJ warns

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Federal judge shoots down down group iMessage lawsuit.
Photo: Apple
Photo: Apple

The U.S. Department of Justice has issued a chilling warning to Apple executives as a response to increased privacy protections added to iOS 8: Children might die because we can’t hack into bad guys’ iMessages.

Deputy Attorney General James Cole met with Apple executives last month, reports the Wall Street Journal, to discuss privacy issues, but after making the ridiculous claim that the blood of dead children will be on Apple’s hands if it doesn’t give the NSA access to iMessages, the talks have ended in a standoff.

How to make Apple Watch’s custom font the default on your Mac

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OSX-sanfrancisco

Apple took the wraps of WatchKit yesterday and revealed an entirely new font created just for Apple Watch called San Francisco. Designers are heaping praise on the sexy new typeface that condenses at larger sizes to take up less space, and becomes easier to read at smaller sizes, but we can’t help but wish it was coming to OS X soon.

For those that can’t wait to interact with San Francisco on the Apple Watch there’s good news though: A developer named Wells Riley has released a bundle on GitHub that swaps Yosemite Helvetica Neue system font for Apple’s new Sans Serif creation.

To make San Francisco your Mac’s system font, follow these steps:

Apple to preload Beats Music on iOS early next year

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Apple has big ambitions for its new music streaming service.
Apple has big ambitions for its new music streaming service.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

You’ll soon have Beats Music on your iOS device whether you want it or not.

Apple is planning to bake the streaming music service into iOS in early 2015, according to The Financial Times. The integration could happen “as early as March,” which would line up with the possibility of a media event to announce the rumored iPad Pro.

5 must-see films destined for the Oscars

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And that means Hollywood's finest are contending for coveted nominations. There are a lot of great films in the running, and we've gathered five in particular that are almost sure to be nominees, if not winners.

Photo: Sony Pictures Classics
And that means Hollywood's finest are contending for coveted nominations. There are a lot of great films in the running, and we've gathered five in particular that are almost sure to be nominees, if not winners.

Photo: Sony Pictures Classics


Beautiful cities are at your fingertips in Sim City for iOS

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Having been an avid Sim City player going back 20+ years, I will never not be excited about a new game in the franchise.

EA has just released a new trailer for its upcoming SimCity BuildIt worldwide launch, and it has to be said that it looks pretty darn fantastic.

Letting you do all the building, demolition, micro-management and, err, UFO survival the game series is known for, the mobile-only title incorporates full 360° controls, which means that you can explore your beautiful 3-D city from an angle you want.

Sex Pistols frontman blew $15,600 on iPad games

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The Great In-App Purchase Swindle. Photo:
The Great In-App Purchase Swindle. Photo: Denaflows/Flickr CC

Is there anything more punk rock than spending loads of money on in-app purchases for iPad games? If your answer is a resounding “yes, of course there is,” prepare to argue with former Sex Pistols screecher John “Johnny Rotten” Lydon.

Speaking with the U.K.’s Telegraph newspaper, Lydon claims he spent “10,000 f*cking pounds” (around $15,600) during a two-year app-buying bender on his iPad.

“I got into Game of Thrones, Game of War, Real Racing, and I just wanted to up the ante,” he said, making downloading apps sound like the new version of throwing TVs out of hotel windows. “[L]ike an idiot I didn’t check myself. I’ve been checked now. But there’s a kid in me, see? A bit of my childhood was taken from me and I’m determined to bring it back.”

Apple will save jobs in Arizona by repurposing sapphire factory

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GT Advanced
Back entrance to GTAT's sapphire plant in Mesa, AZ. Photo: Buster Hein/Cult of Mac
Photo: Buster Hein/Cult of Mac

Apple plans to repurpose its factory in Mesa, Arizona, following the spectacular implosion of its relationship with sapphire manufacturer GT Advanced Technologies.

A report from Bloomberg cites Mesa City Manager Christopher Brady as the source of the information. Apple, for its part, has said that it wants to focus “on preserving jobs in Arizona” and will continue to “work with state and local officials as we consider our next steps.”

How to access Google’s killer Inbox service on Safari

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Google Inbox is now on the Mac. Photo: Buster Hein/Cult of Mac
Google Inbox is now works in Safari. Photo: Buster Hein/Cult of Mac

Google’s new Inbox app is a godsend for people like me who seem to teeter on the brink of inbox bankruptcy weekly, but there’s one problem with the killer Gmail manager: it’s not only available on iOS, Chrome, and Android.

The Inbox team might not be in a hurry to bring its service to Safari, but if you want don’t want to defect to Chrome just manage play with Inbox, our friend Rishi at Zinx has discovered how to access Inbox from Safari.

Here’s how to do it:

5 most expensive Apple computers of all time

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One of the first arguments that springs up in the many debates of Mac versus PC is cost. Traditionally, Apple computers come with premium price tags, which are almost always well-deserved. But there are a handful of Apple machines that were priced well above what you would normally expect to pay, even for Cupertino’s latest computer.

In today’s video, we take a look at the five most expensive Macs of all time — and tell you how much they would cost today with their price tags adjusted for inflation. You might think the new Retina 5K iMac is outrageously expensive, but compared to some of Apple’s older machines, it’s not that pricey.

Apple slapped with $23.6 million fine for infringing pager patents

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Yo, Apple the 90's are paging you. Photo: Hades2K
Paging Apple: The '90s wants its tech back. Photo: Hades2K/Flickr CC

It’s been decades since pagers played a central role in our tech lives, but the beeper is causing some headaches for Apple lately. A federal jury just slapped Apple with a $23.6 million fine for infringing patents related to ’90s technology.

Mobile Telecommunications Technologies sued Apple last year for violating several of its patents that govern two-way exchanges of data. Apple services such as iMessage, calendar invitations and emoji allegedly violated the patents, and after six hours of deliberation, the jury found Apple was guilty of five out of the six charges.

Play games like it’s 1985 with the reinvented NES30 Bluetooth Controller [Deals]

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CoM_NES30

If you were a child of the 1980’s, you probably have a few fond memories. One of them would undoubtedly be playing rad video games on your Nintendo Entertainment System.

The NES controller was, in particular, a joy to use. It featured a simple design, which was great when paired with the simple joy that gaming provided. Now you can relive those days when you play modern games with The NES30 Bluetooth Controller available for a limited time at Cult of Mac Deals.

Facebook’s latest app is dedicated to groups

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Screen Shot 2014-11-18 at 7.54.55 PM

Another day, another app from Facebook.

That seems to be the trend lately for the social networking giant, as seemingly every aspect of its service has been siloed into its own app. The latest is Facebook Groups for, you guessed it, managing and interacting with different groups.

Geeky Apple Watch details buried in WatchKit

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apple-watch

With the Apple Watch release still months away, plenty of details — like the timepiece’s price and battery life — remain unknown. But the release of WatchKit this morning sheds new light on Apple’s most personal product ever.

We dug through the new WatchKit programming guide and Apple Watch human interface guidelines this afternoon and found a few details that weren’t mentioned in the keynote, such as a special new font designed to look good at any size on the Apple Watch’s tiny face.

Here are five new Apple Watch details buried in the WatchKit SDK:

How to send buddies your location details with iMessage

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How to share your location from Messages on your iPhone. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
How to share your location from Messages on your iPhone. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Sometimes it’s important to let your buddies or loved ones know your location. Whether you need to share this information for safety reasons, or because you like them knowing where you are on our beautiful planet, iOS 8 and your iPhone make it super-simple.

There are two ways to let your friends know where you are at any given time with iOS 8. You can either send your location immediately, or you can share your location details with people over a prescribed amount of time.

Both options are right in an app you use all the time anyway: Messages. Here’s how.

iOS 8.2 beta arrives with support for Apple Watch

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A new day, a new iOS bug...
iOS 8.2 is here. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

The mad dash to develop the first wave of Apple Watch apps has just begun, and to go along with the new WatchKit for devs, Apple has also released the first iOS 8.2 beta this morning.

iOS 8.2 beta 1 includes support for WatchKit, which allows Apple Watch apps to connect to and run processes on your iPhone in the background. In a press release announcing the update’s availability, Phil Schiller said, “With the iOS 8.2 beta SDK, developers can now start using WatchKit to create breakthrough new apps, Glances and actionable notifications designed for the innovative Apple Watch interface and work with new technologies such as Force Touch, Digital Crown and Taptic Engine.”

Release notes for the beta don’t mention other major new features, but we’ll report on any surprises we find, once we get it installed. The iOS 8.2 beta is available to registered developers in the iOS Dev Center, along with a new Xcode 6.2 beta as well.

You can also grab iOS 8.2 from the direct download links below:

Tick tock, devs: WatchKit brings tools for making Apple Watch apps

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Apple Watch supply is finally catching up with demand.
Apple Watch supply is finally catching up with demand.
Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

As promised, Apple has given third-party developers tools to start making apps for the upcoming Apple Watch. Today the company announced the availability of WatchKit, its new SDK for creating app experiences on the wrist.

With WatchKit, developers will be able to make actionable notifications, Glances “for timely information accessible by an easy, quick look,” and eventually full-fledged apps. Early WatchKit partners like ESPN, Instagram, and American Airlines have already tested the new APIs for future versions of their apps.

Stylish cases to cradle your iPhone 6, according to you

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Photo: Hex
Photo: Hex

We got a lot of great feedback from last week’s minimal iPhone 6 case roundup. Many of you suggested other cases to check out, and we got so many good recommendations that we decided to share them with everyone.

Not all of these cases are necessarily super slim and minimal, but they’re worth checking out if you’re in the market for something stylish and functional to cradle your precious iPhone 6 or 6 Plus.

Big investors think Apple could hit $1 trillion market cap in 2015

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You know what's cool? A new kind of social network. Photo: Columbia Pictures
Apple could be set for a trillion dollar valuation in 2015. Now that's cool. Photo: Columbia Pictures

“A million dollars isn’t cool,” says Justin Timberlake’s Sean Parker during one scene in The Social Network. “You know what’s cool? A billion dollars.”

If that’s the case, then people are going to need to come up with new words to describe Apple, because according to some of Wall Street’s best and brightest, the company could hit a trillion dollar valuation as early as next year.

How to restart or send your Mac to sleep from Spotlight

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logout-system

Pulling up apps and finding files is super easy on OS X Yosemite thanks to the new Spotlight feature, and thanks to GitHub user slong1987, you can now use Spotlight shortcuts to shutdown, restart, logout and put your Mac to sleep.

The clever workaround uses four small apps that you can download from GitHub and then add to your Applications folder. Once installed, all you have to do is pull up Spotlight (CMD+SPACE) type in Restart, hit Enter and you Mac will reboot.

I’ve found the Sleep shortcut especially useful at coffee shops when you have to step away for quick second. Slong1987 says shortcuts for Empty Trash and Securely Empty Trash are also in the works.