While he was whipping up the most accurate and beautiful renders yet of what the iPhone 6 will look like when it is released next month, conceptual designer nonpareil Martin Hajek also decided to do something fun, blinging out the iPhone 6 with so much gold and encrusted gemstones that it would make a Saudi Arabian prince blush. More images after the jump.

Microsoft is hoping to appease Chinese workers who are unhappy about its massive layoff plans by offering them a free smartphone. Up to 300 employees can claim a free device every day, but only if they agree to resign.

It may dominate 80 percent of China’s high-end smartphone market, but one place Apple’s not racking up supporters or sales is in the Chinese government.

In fact, according to a new list drawn up by the country’s National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Finance, Apple products are persona non grata when it comes to high tech devices that public money is allowed to be spent on.

The reason is security concerns, in the wake of increased fears about hacking and cyberspying. “When the government stops the procurement of products, it sends a signal to corporates and semi-government bodies,” says Mark Po, an analyst with UOB Kay Hian Ltd. in Hong Kong. “The Chinese government wants to make sure that overseas companies shouldn’t have too much influence in China.”

Designed in collaboration with Steve Jobs by Norman Foster, the new Infinite Loop has Apple fans excited… but not architects. Informally polling a group of 6,000 architects around the world gathered for a South African conference, Fortune’s Philip Elmer DeWitt discovered that, by and large, the professionals he encountered hated Apple’s new Spaceship Campus.

But DeWitt reminds us all that Steve Jobs is no newcomer to architecture. He designed Pixar’s headquarters personally, and it’s a design that has resulted in some of the most creative cinema to come out of Hollywood in the last generation.

While everyone’s focused on which virtual assistant can provide the best automated response, the company behind storage solution iDrive has come up with a different idea: Why not hand the job over to humans?

Asking if users are “tired of trying to explain to a computer program what [they’re] searching for,” or are “sick of getting answers that have nothing to do with what [they] need” OOLOO is a free-to-download iOS app, which connects you to real people 24/7, able to give you the kind of personalized answer that you’re unlikely to get from a tool like Siri.

It’s unheard of that you get to watch an Apple product being developed before your very eyes, but that’s exactly what’s happening with Apple’s new mothership headquarters — which we once referred to as the biggest Apple product ever built.

Despite not touching down officially until 2016, we’ve seen a steady stream of new images of Apple’s new campus during construction, many courtesy of the aerial photography of Bay Area traffic reporter Ron Cervi.

In new images posted to his Twitter account, Cervi shows how the HQ is slowly taking shape, with concrete and rebar work continuing, alongside the digging of tunnels, ready for the foundation and retaining walls of the new structure.

It’s another episode full of story set up and a ton of talking this week on True Blood, the HBO vampire romance-drama that’s now seven episodes into it’s final season.

The plot moves inexorably on toward some sort of conclusion, but seems to be more of an exercise in arranging characters so that they can fall in love and have sex with each other. Eric and Pam continue their search for Sarah Newland, Holli and Andy keep looking for Adilyn and Wade, Sookie still holds out hope that there will be a cure for Bill, who she infected with the Hepatitis-V virus her own darn self.

Here’s hoping that the endless plot devices slow down and merge into a series finale we can all be excited about in the next three episodes before it’s all over and done with.

Keep reading to see all the spoiler-y detail of this week’s episode of True Blood.

Conceptual designer Martin Hajek has no peer when it comes to turning the latest Apple rumors into blisteringly sexy 3-D renders, and with the iPhone 6 just around the corner, he’s already made a number of mockups imagining what it will look like according to the latest rumors.

But with the iPhone 6 now set to be unveiled on September 9th, Martin Hajek has re-examined all of his old renders and every rumor and part leak for the iPhone 6 so far, to come up with the most realistic and accurate iPhone 6 renders yet, right down to a gorgeous exploded view of what all the components look like inside.

If the real iPhone 6 looks even half this good, it’ll be one of the most beautiful consumer objects ever released. Check out some more renders after the jump, and prepare to be absolutely astounded.

Battery life is one of the perceived iPhone weaknesses that rival manufacturers have often used to beat Apple over the head with — with both Samsung and BlackBerry dismissing iPhone owners as “wall huggers” because of the so-called short battery life of their iOS devices.

That may be about to change, however, with ESM-China analyst Sung Chang Xu (the same person who suggested that the iPhone 6 would come with a range of new sensors) claiming that the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 will sport a battery with a 2,100 mAh capacity, instead of the meagre 1,810 mAh unit previously reported.

Apple and Samsung have decided to drop all patent litigation in courts outside of the U.S. The decision ends cases that are open in Australia, Japan, South Korea, Germany, Netherlands, the U.K., France, and Italy.

Disputes over intellectual property related to the iPhone and Samsung phones will continue stateside, and neither party has agreed to a licensing arrangement of any kind.

Sprints is giving up on its dream to buy T-Mobile and merge into a mega-carrier powerful enough to take on AT&T and Verizon, after months of pursuing a multi-billion acquisition of the magenta-hued UnCarrier.

Winning approval from regulators was deemed to big an obstacle for the merger to overcome, and according to the Wall Street Journal, Sprint has decided to end acquisition talks altogether.

Samsung vowed to end child labor in its supply chain once and for all with its new ‘zero tolerance’ policy on child labor, but after coming down hard on Dongguan Shinyang Electronics this summer for employing under age workers, the Android maker has decided to just enforce 30% of its policy.

There are really only two players in the smartphone race: Apple and Samsung. According to new data from Canadian investment firm Canaccord Genuity, Apple and Samsung command a whopping 108% of smartphone profits combined.

The above chart is for the second quarter of 2014. Apple’s cash cow has been the iPhone for years, and it’s easy to see why; no one comes close to raking in the same kind of profit off hardware.

Over the years, one of my favorite Mac apps has always been iStat Menus by Bjango. In anticipation of OS X Yosemite launching, version 5 was released today with a completely new design and some cool feature additions.

The main purpose of iStat Menus is to show you everything you need to know about your Mac’s system from the menubar. Everything from available disk space to battery charge cycles to GPU activity is available in a clean, attractive interface.

It’s hard to believe it’s only been four years since the reveal of the original iPad. Over the years the iPad has gone from “just a big iPhone” to becoming a common staple in the household, the office and everywhere in between. With four years behind us, four different iPad models and a new mini generation, this fall calls for yet another addition.

Take a look at today’s video where we rundown all the latest leaks, rumors, and other iPad Air 2 tidbits, to give you an early glimpse at the design, possible specs, and more.

Watch our full report above and subscribe to Cult of Mac TV on YouTube to ensure you don’t miss any of our newest videos.

A U.K. man has been charged with murder after using Find My iPhone to track down and kill the thug who stole his son’s iPhone at knifepoint earlier in the day.

Derek Grant reportedly used Apple’s tracking software to locate the nearby thief after his son was robbed on his way home from work at McDonalds. When Derek confronted the thief and demanded he return the iPhone, the thief blinded him with a knife to the eye, which Grant says caused him to lash out in self defense and kill him.

Pebble today added three new additions to its popular smartwatch lineup, but they’re not the all-new Android Wear competitors you may have been hoping for. Instead, they’re actually original Pebbles with fancy new paint jobs — and they’re only available for a limited time.

Since Apple announced its Q3 2014 earnings last month everyone seems focused on less-than-stellar iPad sales, but along with the impending launch of the iPhone 6, Apple’s got a lot to celebrate as the company told CNBC that the App Store had record-setting revenue numbers in July.

Apple says it saw a record number of customers making transaction on the App Store in July, prompting Tim Cook to launch a celebratory tweet to developers:

Months of leaks and hundreds of rumors are finally set to culminate with the official unveiling of the iPhone 6, and according to Re/code we’re only a month away from the big day.

Google today rolled out a new Chrome beta for OS X — officially dubbed Chrome Canary — which finally takes advantage of the 64-bit processors built into the latest Macs. The change should mean better performance when browsing the web, but it isn’t quite ready to become your daily driver just yet.

When the original iPhone launched in 2007, the only thing worse than its abysmal camera was the cellular data provided by AT&T’s sluggish, outage-prone network.

Even Steve Jobs thought AT&T’s data speeds sucked, and according to Re/Code’s Walt Mossberg, Jobs wanted to circumvent the need for cellular data altogether by creating an open WiFi consortium.

Cult of Mac Deals has put together a package of 7 terrific courses that can teach you the skills to be a master web developer. With this package, anyone can learn how to build an awesome web page using the latest web development techniques.

The best part is this package, valued at over $1000, is that it’s available for whatever you want to pay. That’s right, Cult of Mac Deals presents The Name Your Own Price Front End Master Bundle. Simply pay what you want and, if you beat the average price of all packages sold, you get all 7 of these amazing courses!

It’s not easy being Samsung!

After missing sales targets, and being knocked off the top smartphone spot in China by low-end rival Xiaomi, the South Korean Lex Luthor to Apple’s Superman is also apparently being hit hard by Apple’s embrace of other component makers for its devices.

In a recent press conference, Samsung executives admitted how its role as third party chip manufacturer (something which makes up half of Samsung’s microprocessor business) is being negatively affected by Apple’s decision to work with other partners like TSMC.

The San Diego Comic Con has a rich history of giving us our first look at the best upcoming sci-fi movies. Case in point: on August 4th, 1979, Comic Con was where George Lucas showed an excited crowd the very first live-action trailer for The Empire Strikes Back.

For thirty-five years, this trailer was thought to be lost, but it has now popped back up online, and it features some footage from Empire that was left on the cutting room floor… including a very icky scene between Luke and Leia.