iOS 15 brings the many advantages of boredom to the iPhone.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
iOS 15 is kind of boring. It brings some welcome new features, but nothing that will change the way you use your iPhone forever.
Some people might find the lack of earth-shaking new features dull. But the bottom line is, when it comes to something as integral to our daily lives as the way you interact with your iPhone, “boring” is shorthand for “good.”
Picture-in-Picture video from YouTube will soon be back for everyone. Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
YouTube will reportedly soon allow all iPhone users to watch video from its application in a small window while another app is open. This feature has come and gone several times since Picture in Picture support debuted in iOS 14. Now it’s apparently coming back to stay.
Parallels Pro headlines this award-winning Mac app bundle. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
The All-Star Mac Bundle Featuring Parallels Pro is the ultimate curated app collection. In addition to Parallels Pro, which lets you run Windows apps on your Mac, the bundle boasts five award-winning apps that will boost your productivity, secure your data and more. But hurry, this deal ends on Tuesday, June 22.
These apps are trusted by millions of users worldwide to be among the best of the best in their fields. Typically retailing for $876, this bundle of five great Mac apps is on sale now for just $25 with coupon code ALLSTARMAC.
As governments around the world scrutinize Apple’s App Store policies, the U.S. Congress is pondering legislation that could stop the company from preinstalling default apps on iPhones.
Apple critics suggest that such a move would level the playing field and give smaller developers a chance to compete. But would it actually benefit consumers, the purported goal of such antitrust legislation?
I’m not sure it would. In fact, it might simply make owning an iPhone a lot less enjoyable.
Julianne Moore and Clive Owen go to a strange place in this week's episode. Photo: Apple TV+
Our widowed protagonist comes face to face with the bane of her existence in this week’s episode of Lisey’s Story, the Stephen King miniseries currently giving Apple TV+ a welcome shot of weird. Lisey must face some painful memories in order to avoid an even more painful future.
The 12.9-inch iPad Pro has a super-fast M1 processor and a gorgeous mini-LED display. Photo: Apple
The 12.9-inch version of the 2021 iPad Pro is such a hot item that Apple can’t keep it in stock, but that didn’t stop Amazon from having a sale. Buyers can pick up this tablet with 256GB of storage for the same price the 128GB configuration ordinarily sells for.
And now for an M1 Mac and a long arm for the laptop stand. Photo: KhanathanJr
These days, the M1-processor Macs are calling to a lot of people, and Redditor KhanathanJr is no exception. He’s a first-time MacBook fan wielding a formidable 2019 16-inch MacBook Pro packing an 8-core Intel i9 processor, 16 GB of RAM and a reasonably good graphics card, but … you know.
Apple Silicon is good for Apple and its customers. Bad for Intel. Screenshot: Apple
Intel will experience a big decline in market share in 2022 as Apple further shifts away from Intel processors to Apple Silicon, Digitimes reports. It suggests that Intel will lose close to half its Apple orders this year. This is en route to Apple ditching all its Intel orders in the near future.
A vrey fun wrod gmae to snik yuor tteeh itno. Photo: Klemens Strasser
Looking for a fun brain-teaser this weekend? Look no further than Letter Rooms, a letter-jumblingly fun word game created by award-winning developer Klemens Strasser, maker of Subwords, Asymmetric and Elementary Minute.
The new $1.99 anagram-based game boasts more than 200 puzzles, broken down into a dozen topics — including animals, sports, pop culture, and more. What better way to dust off your mind after lockdown?
Hurry, hurry, hurry. Those Frenzic Industries Power Cores won’t build themselves, you know. Photo: The Iconfactory
Frenzic: Overtime, an arcade-style puzzle game, is the latest addition to Apple Arcade. Match the colorful pieces and shapes before the clock runs out.
And that’s not all. Game Dev Story+, an updated version of the App Store classic, debuted on Apple’s gaming service on Friday as well.
Many things can get in the way of a perfect day of golf, from lousy weather to a lack of convenient tee times. If your dad likes to golf, and you’re still hunting for the perfect Father’s Day gift, this could be a hole in one.
Apple chip manufacturer is looking to the future. Concept: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is already looking beyond the A15 chip that will come with this year’s iPhone 13. According to a Friday report, the world’s biggest chip fab is “fast advancing” its 4-nanometer and 3-nanometer processes ready for mass manufacturing.
Digitimes reports that TSMC’s 4-nanometer process will move into risk production in the third quarter of 2021. Risk production is a smaller production run of new hardware to sort out any problems. If there are none, TSMC can then progress to volume production. The same report also claims that TSMC’s 3nm production process will commence volume production in the second half of 2022.
Podz launched its "Audio Newsfeed" on iOS in February. Photo: Podz
As part of the podcasting arms race between tech giant, Spotify has acquired Podz, an AI podcast discovery service for an undisclosed amount of money. Podz generates (or generated) short audio clips that populated a Instagram Stories-style timeline users could flip through to find podcasts they were likely to enjoy listening to.
Attach the Sanho HyperDrive USB-C 6-in-1 Hub to your iPad to use a wide variety of accessories. Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
The Sanho HyperDrive USB-C 6-in-1 Hub clips to an iPad and adds a collection of ports, allowing the tablet to make use of a variety of popular accessories, from mice and headphones to external displays. The multiport adapter offers outstanding functionality in minimal space.
The original version is one of the best iPad accessories ever. I tested the followup and it’s even better.
The SurfacePad wraps an iPhone 12 in leather and provides slots for two cards. All without getting in the way of MagSafe charging. Photo: Twelve South
The Twelve South SurfacePad is a folio leather wallet case for iPhone 12. It’s designed to hold ID and credit cards and protect the handset’s screen. And it does so without interfering with MagSafe wireless charging.
Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd will play the leads in “The Shrink Next Door,” premiering autumn 2021 on Apple TV+. Photo: Apple TV+
Apple TV+ gave a first look at a hotly anticipated comedy starring the brilliant Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd. A trailer for The Shrink Next Door premiered on Thursday, and the streaming service revealed that the limited series will debut November 12.
Apple has awarded $5 million in “Innovation Grants” to four historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the United States. Alabama A&M University, Howard University, Morgan State University, and Prairie View A&M University will all receive funds from Apple as part of its $100 million Racial Equity and Justice Initiative.
The money, given over three years, will be used to help prep students for future careers in both hardware technology and silicon chip design. In other words, while there’s no guarantee of this, Apple could be helping provide the training that will up-skill future Cupertino employees. If that pays off, it’s a great investment on Apple’s part, as well as being a positive social contribution.
Take advantage of iOS 15 and learn to develop your own apps
iOS 15 is a big deal — and it’s coming soon, with lots of exciting new features. From FaceTime movie sharing to a new Focus feature that allows you to concentrate without distraction, iOS 15 will make our lives simpler.
But the arrival of iOS 15 isn’t just good news for Apple users: It’s also a great opportunity for app developers. The pandemic boom that started in 2020 looks unlikely to go bust anytime soon.
LG got out of the phone business earlier this year. Now it could start selling iPhones. Photo: LG Electronics
LG Electronics threw in the towel on manufacturing smartphones earlier this year. Now, according to a new report, it’s considering stocking Apple products in its 400 LG Best Shops stores in South Korea.
The companies supposedly are negotiating for an Apple store-within-a-store setup that will sell iPhones, iPads and Apple Watches. This sounds similar to when Apple set up mini-stores inside CompUSA outlets around the United States in the late 1990s. As with the CompUSA mini-stores, the new LG outlets might be staffed by Apple employees.
Facebook is getting into the podcast game. Photo: Facebook
Facebook is gearing up to launch its own podcast platform later this month. Facebook’s podcasts feature will launch June 22, an attempt by the social media giant to muscle in on the incredibly popular and fast-growing podcast market.
Facebook confirmed the news in an email to podcast page owners, seen by The Verge. Users will be able to listen to podcasts directly on Facebook, as well as via a new podcasts tab that has yet to launch. Facebook is also working on a feature that will let listeners create clips from their top shows.
Want an affordable iPhone that offers some of Apple’s latest and greatest features? Pick up a “grade A” refurbished iPhone XS Max, complete with a Super Retina display and Face ID, for under $485 on Woot.
This deal is good for today only, so don’t miss out!
You’ll get the 2021 iPad Pro far quicker if you order it from somewhere other than Apple.com. Photo: Apple
The online Apple Store might not be the best place to buy the 12.9-inch iPad Pro. Place an order for 2021’s hottest tablet on Apple.com on Wednesday and you could wait a month or more to have it shipped to you. But other stores have the device in stock now.
This distinctive-looking charging pad does double duty. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
If you’re looking for the ultimate multitasking device, check out the Teamwork 2-in-1 Wireless Phone & Apple Watch Charger. It can safely and effectively charge your iPhone and Apple Watch — or any other Qi-compatible device — at the same time.
Tim Cook (shown here at WWDC 2021) is not a fan of sideloading iPhone apps. Screenshot: Apple
Apple’s CEO told the audience at France’s VivaTech conference that a critical part of the European Union’s proposed Digital Markets Act isn’t in the best interests of iPhone users. The proposal would require Apple to allow users to sideload applications, something CEO Tim Cook and the company are adamantly opposed to.