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Apple claps back against Spotify, Tinder and Tile in antitrust letter

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Spotify is adding 2x as many monthly subscribers as Apple Music
Spotify is one of the companies that has taken issue with the App Store.
Photo: Spotify

In a letter to the judiciary subcommittee investigating antitrust complaints against Apple, the company takes aim at companies like Spotify, Tinder and Tile.

All three companies previously criticized Apple’s dominance of the App Store. But Cupertino says they are simply airing “grievances related to business disputes” rather than making legitimate arguments about competition-related issues.

Give your wardrobe a spring clean with Apple Pay’s latest offers

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Apple Pay
Apple Pay's spring deals are here.
Photo: Apple

If you don’t use Apple Pay yet, Apple’s latest set of offers may help convince you to give Cupertino’s mobile payments solution a try. Especially if your wardrobe is in dire need of an upgrade after more than a year of most folks being stuck home.

As part of a “Springtime savings” offer, Apple is offering Apple Pay users discounts at stores ranging from California clothing brand PacSun to sunglasses company Costa Del Mar to sporty apparel company Under Armour.

New AirPods and lossless Apple Music HiFi rumored for next week

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AirPods 3 might borrow some features of AirPods Pro.
Coming soon to an ear (or even two) near you.
Graphic: Cult of Mac

New AirPods could be on their way next Tuesday, a sketchy rumor shared by AppleTrack suggests. The rumor comes from a YouTuber named Luke Miani, who doesn’t have a record when it comes to Apple rumors.

AppleTrack, which tracks the validity of Apple rumors, says it has heard “privately” that Apple is set to release new AirPods in the coming weeks. According to the report, Apple will make the announcement on May 18 in a press release.

Mix and match modular wireless chargers with RapidX Modula5 [Review]

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RapidX Modula5 review
Daisychain RapidX Modula units to build a custom wireless charging station.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Many homes and offices have a collection of iPhones, Apple Watches and AirPods that need charging every night. Rather than a collection of these cluttered together, the RapidX Modula5 system offers wireless chargers that magnetically snap together and run off a single cable.

I used Modula5 in my multi-device home. Here’s why I like it.

Putting macOS on iPad is a terrible idea

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Putting macOS on iPad is a terrible idea
No. No, no, no, no. No.
Graphic: Cult of Mac

Apple’s smart decision to build an M1 processor into the 2021 iPad Pro renewed calls to port macOS to the tablet. “Put macOS on the iPad, you cowards,” read one particularly misguided headline.

Doing so would be a mistake so severe it would damage sales of both iPad and Mac. It would take years to clean up the mess.

No matter that Macs and iPads run on the same chip. macOS isn’t designed for a touchscreen. Apple would need to redesign the operating system to run on a tablet, and devs would need to alter third-party applications, too. And that would anger people using non-touchscreen laptops and desktops.

Plus, people happy with the iPad now wouldn’t like the change either.

Strong interest in AirTag shows Apple could have a winner

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Apple AirTag finally jumped from rumor to reality.
Lots of Apple users say they’re interested in getting an AirTag.
Photo: Apple

The Apple AirTag tracker will be a huge hit, if a new survey of iPhone and iPad users is correct. More than 60% of respondents said they planned to buy the accessory.

Most people in the survey said they were satisfied with AirTag’s $29.99 price. But they were mostly drawn to the item tracker because it’s tied into Apple’s global Find My network.

Return of Touch ID is the most-anticipated feature for iPhone 13

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Touch ID might be back in the iPhone 13
People sure like their fingerprint sensing.
Concept image: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Apple customers are seemingly always on the lookout for the next big thing when it comes to new products. That may not be quite true for the iPhone 13, though.

According to a survey by SellCell.com, the feature most Apple customers look forward to is actually the return of Touch ID, the fingerprint sensor Apple has been phasing out in favor of Face ID.

With these top-rated tablets and second screens, you can work and game anywhere

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tablets
Take your pick to upgrade your on-the-go computing experience.
Photo: Mobile Pixels

Some of the best things about the last year were the lessons we learned about flexibility — especially when it concerns working (and entertaining yourself) in different spaces. For workers who are on the go, and looking to connect anywhere with ease, modern technology has a lot to offer.

We rounded up the best portable monitors and tablets to take with you wherever. They’re perfect for drafting up emails, streaming your favorite content, taking video calls and more. And they’re all on sale!

Jony Ive touts power of ‘potent ideas’ in commencement address

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Former Apple design chief Jony Ive talks up big ideas in his virtual commencement speech.
Jony Ive has ended his partnership with Apple, ending a very productive 30-year relationship.
Photo: Nick Knight

Former Apple design chief Jony Ive emphasized the power of imagination and innovation in a virtual commencement address to graduating students from the California College of the Arts.

“Without imagination, without profoundly new thinking, and potent ideas, our practice has no purpose,” Ive said in a stylized video against a black background.

Save $379 on 512GB MacBook Pro refurbs before they’re all gone

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Save on 13.3-inch MacBook Pro from 2020
This deal is good for today only — enjoy it while you can!
Photo: Apple

Pick up a 2020 MacBook Pro refurb on Amazon today and save a whopping $379.01. The renewed units, which look and work as good as new, pack Intel Core i5 processors, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage.

A limited number of units are available and this deal is good for today only. Enjoy it while you can.

Apple Maps’ Look Around feature expands to Atlanta

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Atlanta, GA
Fancy a trip to Atlanta?
Screenshot: Apple

Apple Maps’ “Look Around” featured now works in Atlanta, Georgia, allowing users everywhere to scope out Centennial Olympic Park or Mercedes Benz Stadium as it looks from ground level.

This marks the 29th location that Apple’s rival to Google’s Street View is available in.

Apple parts ways with employee over past ‘misogynistic statements’

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Apple.logo.paris.store

Photo: Josh Davidson/Cult of Mac

Antonio García Martínez, the author of Chaos Monkeys and an ex-Facebook product manager, has been hired and apparently fired by Apple within a matter of weeks for sentiments expressed in his 2016 Silicon Valley memoir.

The book includes a description of women in the San Francisco Bay Area as “soft and weak, cosseted and naive despite their claims of worldliness, and generally full of sh*t.”

M1 iMac can’t match fastest Intel iMacs in early benchmarks

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24-inch iMac with M1 processor released in 2021
The M1 processor in the 24-inch iMac is faster than most Intel iMacs. But not all.
Photo: Apple

The first benchmark scores for the upcoming 24-inch M1 iMac are out, and the all-in-one desktop is just as fast as the laptops and desktop released in 2020 running this processor. And no faster.

That makes the new model 24% quicker than the 21-inch iMac it’s replacing. But it’s slower than the 27-inch iMac introduced in 2020 with a top-tier Intel processor.

Denzel Washington will murder his way through The Tragedy of Macbeth on Apple TV+

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‘The Tragedy Of Macbeth’ starring Denzel Washington will appear on Apple TV+ in Q4 2021.
Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand will star in the Scottish play on Apple TV+.
Photo: Wikipedia

Apple TV+ clearly hopes to win more awards by picking up the rights to The Tragedy Of Macbeth starring Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand. The film is set to premiere in theaters in the fourth quarter of 2021 before hitting Apple’s streaming service.

Preorder this portable powerhouse charger while it’s 50% off

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charger
This thing can charge your iPhone, iPad, AirPods, MacBook and Apple Watch all at once.
Photo: ScoutPro

As technology progresses, it seems that we all need more and more smart devices to power through our day productively: a smartwatch for better workouts, a laptop for better work production, wireless earbuds for better listening, and a smartphone for better communication. While all of these high-powered devices work hard to improve our lives, our reliance on them tends to drain their batteries — and sometimes, everything goes critical all at once.

This leather iPhone 12 Pro Max case won’t leave you feeling blue [Review]

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Woolnut iPhone 12 Pro Max leather case review: Blue to the max!
Woolnut's leather iPhone 12 case takes blue to the max.
Photo: Lewis Wallace/Cult of Mac

Woolnut’s slim leather cases look fantastic enough that you might not mourn covering up your beautiful iPhone. And when I put a blue one on my ridiculously huge iPhone 12 Pro Max, it did more than provide an acceptably luxurious layer of protection.

It actually made my phone feel better.

Add game to your iPhone with GameSir X2 side-by-side game controller

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GameSir X2 Bluetooth Mobile Gaming Controller works with iPhone and Android
The GameSir X2 Bluetooth Mobile Gaming Controller is compatible with Apple Arcade and cloud-gaming services.
Photo: GameSir

Clip the GameSir X2 Bluetooth Mobile Gaming Controller to an iPhone or Android to add physical controls to the handset. It uses a split design that puts the buttons and joysticks on either side of the screen.

GameSir also launched the F7 Claw Tablet Game Controller for larger devices.

You’ve got to see this iPhone notch ‘fix’ to believe it

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This iPhone M1 concept is by Antonio De Rosa from ADRStudio.
A new concept design thinks outside of the box on removing the iPhone notch.
Screenshot: ADRStudio/ConceptsiPhone

The screen notch isn’t anyone’s favorite iPhone feature, and an iPhone concept makes a radical suggestion for repositioning it: the artist suggests stretching the top of the handset to make room for the front-facing camera and other sensors.

Watch a pretend Apple advertisement from the concept artist demonstrating the innovative new device now:

Prevent downloaded music from taking up too much storage on iPhone

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Optimize music storage iPhone
Don't let songs take up all your space.
Image: Apple/Cult of Mac

If you like to store music locally on your iPhone so you don’t need a data connection to listen to your favorite tracks while you’re on the go, you may find that, over time, your music takes up too much space.

You can prevent that from happening by optimizing music storage on your device so the songs you don’t listen to anymore are automatically deleted to make room for other content. We’ll show you how.