Apple and Pixar CEO Steve Jobs had some advice for director Brad Bird when he was making decisions about merchandise on the 2004 movie The Incredibles: “fewer things, better things.”
Bird recalled the advice during a recent online chat with Training Day director Antoine Fuqua (who, incidentally, just had his last movie acquired by Apple). Bird also recalled speaking with Jobs about the Apple Store, around the time the company was busy opening the first ones.
Keeping our devices topped up means carrying around power packs and cables that eventually need a bag of their own. Personal tech is supposed to be convenient. If you’re carrying a tangle of cables, it’s time to simplify your setup.
Apple is giving businesses which host paid events online via the App Store reprieve on having to pay Apple a 30 percent cut.
Apple reversed the policy late last week, although it will reportedly only do so for three months as businesses reel to try and come up with new ways to make money during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Feeling like you missed out on proper summer vibes this year due to coronavirus, and it’s now too late to dream of soaking up some beach rays? Apple Music feels your pain, and has some appropriately party playlists to take you back to the 2020 summer vacation that never was. Including one by everyone’s favorite Luther star.
New playlists added to Apple Music include DJ sets from independent dance label Defected Records. One is from recent Glitterbox Virtual Festival and includes the likes of Idris Elba (yes, he DJs as well as acts), Jellybean Benitez, and Boys Noize. The other includes sets from Ibiza in 2019, featuring Roger Sanchez, Gorgon City, Sam Divine.
The TikTok story has taken another twist as a Washington judge has blocked the Trump administration’s ban on the popular short-form video app. The ban on the Chinese app would have kicked in at 11:59pm on Sunday. TikTok now has a stay of execution until at least November.
US district judge Carl Nichols granted a preliminary injunction to TikTok owners ByteDance. Nichols declined to block additional commerce department restrictions on the app “at this time.”
Wireless charging is like something straight out of the future, so why does it already seem so ho-hum? The future was supposed to be sleek and shiny and multicolored — and that’s just what this hybrid, cyberpunk-style phone stand/charging hub brings.
Customizing iPhone Home screens is all the rage right now, thanks to a cool new feature in iOS 14 (and a hacky workaround using the Shortcuts app). See what this new craze is all about, and find out how you can do it yourself, in our top stories this week.
Plus, we might know exactly when to expect next month’s big iPhone event. And don’t miss our Apple Watch Series 6 review.
You will find all that and much more (including reviews of new Apple TV+ series Tehran and Tiny World) in this week’s free issue of Cult of Mac Magazine. Grab it and get to reading!
We serve up a lot of great deals on gear and apps at Cult of Mac. In fact, we do it every day, so it’s likely you may have missed good stuff. Just in case you did, we rounded up some of the best recent deals on personal audio, wireless charging, smartphone video gear and more for your weekend shopping pleasure.
Want an iPhone that offers some of Apple’s latest and most impressive technologies without breaking the bank? Check out Amazon’s latest deal on renewed iPhone XS units, which are now up to $434 cheaper.
You can pick up a 64GB model that looks and works as good as new, fully unlocked for use on any carrier, for under $460. But you’ll need to act fast — remaining stock won’t last long at this price!
This iPhone case post is presented by Totallee.
These days, you may be looking for ways to shop online rather than venturing out into the world. Here’s a good thing to shop for from the comfort and safety of home: Your iPhone needs protection and Totallee is offering its super-thin cases for 30% off at Amazon right now.
Apple Fitness+ will enter a crowded market when the service launches later this year. Established players like Peloton and Adidas already have a significant head start.
But Apple is in great shape to give them a run for their money. Fitness+ is a logical next step for Cupertino. The upcoming service plugs some significant gaps in Apple’s fitness offering while intelligently leveraging the power of its platform to gain an advantage.
After Apple Fitness+ sprints off the starting line, the competition might find itself struggling to keep up.
This week on The CultCast: Don’t miss our one-week reviews of Apple Watch Series 6! We’ll tell you if it’s worth upgrading. Plus: Multiple sources are now confirming a second Apple hardware event coming October 13, where a new “iPhone 12 mini” may be announced — we’ll tell you what we know. And stick around for more Apple stock talk! Erfon reveals what his big investment is worth now, following this month’s depressing AAPL stock plummet, and we’re talking real numbers.
Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. Easily create a beautiful website all by yourself, at Squarespace.com/cultcast. Use offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.
The new emoji set to appear in 2021 will help you express relief or confusion. Or show that your heart’s afire, or that it’s mending.
Those might seem fairly ordinary, but there is something extremely odd about the the list of upcoming emoji: It’s very short. The group responsible for coming up with new emoji picked just seven new designs to debut next year. The reason is simple: COVID-19.
An image that reportedly shows iPhone case stickers seemingly adds more evidence that Apple will call its smallest iPhone 12 model the “iPhone 12 mini.”
The pictures, posted on Twitter Thursday evening by Apple leaker DuanRui, follow a recent report from @L0vetodream suggesting that this year’s models will be called the iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max.
Nothing makes a project pop like good visuals. But since not everyone is a graphic designer, sometimes coming up with even simple imagery can seem like a tall order. This powerful but accessible graphic design app offers a suite of tools and resources that will help you get the job done.
Contrary to reports suggesting otherwise, the European Commission has revealed that it will appeal a recent court decision that went in Apple’s favor concerning a massive $14.8 billion tax bill.
The EC made the tax demand to Apple in 2016, accusing it of benefitting from illegal state aid from Ireland. However, Apple appealed the decision and, in a July hearing, had its objections upheld. Now the EC is asking another court to overturn that verdict.
It’s a packed day for Apple TV+ as the service debuted multiple episodes of new shows. The crown jewel of the bunch is Tehran, a new spy series about a Mossad hacker-agent who tries to infiltrate Tehran to destroy Iran’s nuclear reactor.
Apple TV+ dropped the first three episodes of the acclaimed show (check out Cult of Mac‘s effusive review) Friday. New episodes will debut each subsequent week.
Apple quietly snapped up podcasting app Scout FM, which tries to make podcasting sound more like tuning into radio stations, for an undisclosed amount earlier this year.
Scout FM worked by letting users choose particular topics, then automatically customizing a radio station-like podcasting listening experience for them. It was intended as a way to cut through the findability clutter of hundreds of thousands of available podcasts.
Apple TV+ invites you to take a look at the things beneath your feet in its new documentary series Tiny World. Narrated by Paul Rudd, this show is charming, if maybe too cute for its own good.
Tiny World, which premieres on October 2, is the first of three new docuseries coming to the streaming service this fall. It’s a shrewd and promising start, as Apple TV+ positions itself as a provider of episodic nonfiction content to match its high-profile dramas and films.
This portable storage post is presented by HyperAccessory.
If you’re a photographer, videographer or content creator who likes to travel light, leaving the laptop behind, we found a must-have storage device for you. HyperAccessory’s skyBox features all-in-one portable SSD storage with built-in wireless connectivity and universal compatibility. It will have you streaming and sharing media on the go with gusto.
Mac users can update their computer on Thursday with macOS Catalina 10.15.7. It’s important for anyone who’s noticed their computer not connecting to Wi-Fi like it ought to. There are no new features.
This might be the last Catalina version before the big macOS Big Sur upgrade gets introduced.
Fortnite developer Epic Games has warned iPhone and iPad users that they could lose access to its hit battle royale game when updating to iOS 14. But there is a way to ensure that doesn’t happen.
We’ll show you how before you start installing the latest update.
Amazon on Thursday unveiled a cloud gaming service that can play console-quality games on mobile devices and a range of other computers. Unlike rival streaming services from Google and Microsoft, Amazon Luna will be available on iPhone and iPad. It’s also coming to Mac.
Apple released a bug-fix update to iOS 14 on Thursday. iOS 14.0.1 removes a number of problems — most notably, a bug that prevented users from permanently picking a new default email app and web browser. And iPad users get iPadOS 14.0.1 with the same fixes.
There are also bug fix updates out for Final Cut Pro and some of Apple’s other media-production applications for Mac.
The new iPad 8 is only a “speed bump” version of the seventh-generation model, but it certainly offers a noticeable increase in performance. Benchmarks show this recently released tablet is about twice as fast as its predecessor.