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How to enter handwritten text with Scribble on iPadOS 14

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How to enter handwritten text with Scribble on iPadOS 14
iPadOS 14 includes Scribble handwriting recognition for quick text entry with a stylus.
Photo: Killian Bell/Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

iPadOS 14 brings handwriting recognition to Apple tablets, at long last. The new system is called Scribble, and it’s easy to use, fast and flexible.

Here’s how to enter text on your iPad with Scribble.

Apple Watch Series 6: Color us impressed [Review]

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Apple Watch Series 6
Apple Watch Series 6
Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

Almost all the reviews of the Apple Watch Series 6 say the same thing: Yeah, it’s great, but it’s an incremental upgrade, and if you already have a Series 5, skip the upgrade.

That’s sage advice, I guess, especially in the middle of a crushing pandemic that’s ruined the economy, left millions unemployed, and has lots of people thinking carefully about their expenses.

But I say stuff it!

If you have the money, run out and buy the latest Apple Watch. It’s frickin’ amazing! It blows my mind that you can have a mini-iPhone strapped to your wrist that can make phone calls, pay for groceries, give directions, monitor your blood and heart, and so, so much more. It’s a technological marvel, my favorite gadget — and it could possibly save my life.

Patricia Arquette becomes a wisecracking private eye in High Desert on Apple TV+

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boyhood-arquette-coltranejpg-b65fa56bc12064ec
Arquette bagged an Oscar for her role in Boyhood.
Photo: Universal Pictures

Apple TV+ on Tuesday unveiled High Desert, an upcoming half-hour comedy series to star Patricia Arquette, winner of several Academy, Golden Globe and Emmy awards.

Fellow comedian Ben Stiller will direct the first episode. Both Arquette and Stiller will serve as executive producers, too.

Apple leads the way in consumer satisfaction for Mac and iPad

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The 2020 iMac is faster, but didn’t get a new design.
Customers are pretty darn satisfied when it comes to Mac.
Photo: Apple

Apple fans love to complain every so often, but overall they remain pretty darn satisfied when it comes to the company’s personal computer offerings.

That’s according to data from the American Customer Satisfaction Index, which reports that Apple ranks No. 1 in user satisfaction for personal computers with a score of ACSI score of 82. This ranking covers iMacs, MacBooks and iPads.

This Mac app spices up your website with HTML5 animations

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Tumult Hype 4
Create beautiful, interactive HTML5 web content and animations with little to no coding required.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Websites have come a long way since the GeoCities days. But one fact remains the same: Nothing adds pizzazz to a website like animations. In 2020, sophisticated interactive animations make a website pop. And this Mac app makes it easy to add those elements to any site.

Mini LED chipmaker makes ‘better-than-expected’ progress in next-gen displays

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iPadOS 14 Home screen widgets aren’t nearly as flexible as they are in iOS 14
Expect Mini LED displays to come to Apple devices next year.
Photo: Apple

Chinese LED chipmaker San’an Optoelectronics is reportedly making “better-than-expected” progress developing Mini LED technology it hopes will be used in Apple’s future Mini LED iPad and MacBook devices, a Tuesday report by Digitimes claims.

If all goes according to plan, San’an Optoelectronics will join Taiwanese LED chipmaker Epistar in producing the screen tech for Apple. It is expected to enter trial production by the end of this year and receive orders from Apple in 2022. Apple’s first Mini LED devices likely will debut in 2021.

Tim Cook is impressed by how well Apple employees have managed working remotely

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Tim Cook will testify before a congressional antitrust subcommittee this week.
Cook says he hopes most Apple employees will be back next year.
Photo: Mark Mathosian/Flickr CC

Tim Cook is reportedly impressed by how well employees have managed to work remotely, and says that some of these new work habits will endure after COVID-19.

In an interview with the The Atlantic Festival on Monday, Apple’s CEO said he does not think the company will “return to the way we were because we’ve found that there are some things that actually work really well virtually.”

iOS 14 pushes custom widget apps to top of the charts

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iOS 14 widgets apps shot to the top of the iPhone App Store charts.
Applications that create custom iOS 14 widgets quickly became very popular.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

The top three applications on the App Store right now all focus on iOS 14 widgets. They let users create custom Home screen widgets that aren’t tied to other applications.

Apple’s latest operating system adds these mini-apps, and a small selection of them come built into iOS 14. Plus, many third-party applications like browsers and email apps recently released widgets.

But applications whose entire focus is adding useful widgets to the iPhone Home screen quickly found plenty of users. Here are some of the most popular ones available now.

Teardown shows new features packed into slimmer Apple Watch Series 6

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Apple Watch Series 6 teardown
An Apple Watch Series 6 teardown gets down to the tiniest screw and clip.
Photo: iFixIt

Apple Watch Series 6 adds a sensor for blood-oxygen levels, but that doesn’t make it thicker. A teardown of this new wearable shows how Apple actually managed to make it a bit slimmer than its predecessors.

Plus, it turns out the device is relatively repairable. More so than an iPhone.

iOS 14.2 public beta integrates Shazam music recognition into iPhone [Updated]

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Well, iOS 14.2 beta q didn’t take long
iPadOS 14 and the iPhone equivalent just went out, but Apple is already testing iPadOS 14.2.

Anyone can start testing iOS 14.2, along with the iPad equivalent, thanks to the new public betas released Monday by Apple.

The first developer beta of iOS 14.2 and iPadOS 14.2 went out Thursday, just a day after the full release of iOS 14. The most notable new feature in the new betas builds the Shazam music-recognition service into the Control Center.

It’s not clear what’s happening with iOS 14.1, but it isn’t part of Apple’s testing program for developers.

How to change the iOS 14 or iPadOS 14 default email application

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How to change iOS default email application
Changing the iPhone or iPad default email application is now possible. And easy.
Graphic: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Apple just removed one of the biggest remaining restrictions from the iPhone and iPad. It’s finally possible to change the default email application in iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 to something other than Apple Mail.

Making the change is easy. However, a current limitation will delay many people from taking immediate advantage of it.

European Commission may not appeal Apple’s tax verdict victory after all

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iPhone with gavel.
Court case concerned Apple's $14.8 billion tax bill.
Photo: Tingey Injury Law Firm/Cult of Mac

The European Commission has yet to appeal its loss to Apple in the landmark multi-billion dollar tax bill case. And it may not do so at all.

The EC lost lost its court case about Apple’s $14.8 billion tax bill in July. At the time, it was widely assumed that the EC would appeal the case. However, with the deadline looming on Friday it has yet to do so.

Done with Netflix? Watch more than 5,000 movies of all genres on any device

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FlixFling
Watch over 5,000 movies, including hard-to-find gems, of all different genres on a variety of devices, with no ads.

Staying home means streaming a lot more shows and movies. That means running down the list of content available on streaming video services like Netflix and Amazon. Luckily, there are other options — and they’re more affordable, too.

Apple’s smallest iPhone 12 could be called ‘iPhone 12 mini’

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These iPhone 12 dummy units show what the real handset might look like.
The smallest could be the iPhone 12 mini.
Photo: Marques Brownlee

For the first time ever, Apple will adopt its “mini” branding for the iPhone, claims Apple leaker L0vetodream. According to the tipster, Apple will use the name “iPhone 12 mini” for the smallest of four models coming this year.

The other ones would be called “iPhone 12,” “iPhone 12 Pro” and “iPhone 12 Pro Max.”

Trump will let TikTok keep ticking in US

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U.S. investigations of TikTok gather steam.
There are still questions about ownership, though.
Photo: Kon Karampelas/Unsplash CC

President Trump has given his blessing for TikTok to remain in the U.S. after approving a deal involving Walmart and Oracle taking a financial stake in the company.

However, CNBC reports that Trump’s claims that TikTok’s North American operations have “nothing to do with China” are incorrect. In fact, a new report claims that Beijing-based ByteDance retains an 80% stake in the company.

Apple has lost more than $500 billion in market cap so far this month

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Money on Unsplash
That's a whole lot of cash.
Photo: Pepi Stojanovski/Unsplash

Apple has lost more than $500 billion in market cap since the start of this month, CNBC reported over the weekend.

To put that figure in perspective, it’s slightly more than the market cap it took Apple its first 36 years of existence to climb to. (Apple only passed $500 billion in 2012, the year after Tim Cook took over as CEO.)

The Morning Show’s Billy Crudup takes home Emmy for best supporting actor in a drama

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Take a bow, Billy Crudup! The Morning Show wins its first Primetime Emmy. Billy Crudup for best supporting actor in a drama series.
Take a bow, Billy Crudup!

Apple TV+’s The Morning Show took home one Emmy award at Sunday night’s 72nd Emmys. Actor Billy Crudup won the category of “best supporting actor in a drama series” for his performance as eccentric network executive Cory Ellison.

Crudup saw off competition from Succession, Better Call Saul, The Handmaid’s Tale, Westworld and, err, The Morning Show (fellow actor Mark Duplass, who plays Charlie Black). This is Apple TV+’s first Primetime Emmy Award.

Convert any DVD to MP4, ISO image for free with MacX DVD Ripper Pro

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Rip DVD content to many formats with MacX DVD Ripper Pro.
Rip DVDs in almost any condition to many formats with MacX DVD Ripper Pro.
Photo: Digiarty

This DVD copy and backup post is presented by Digiarty.

Many of us would love to say we long ago converted our stacks of DVDs to digital file formats, but … not so much. If you must know, our old DVDs are stashed in a closet. If you’re in the same boat, you might try MacX DVD Ripper Pro, a super-fast backup and ripping tool for Mac. It can handle discs in almost any condition and convert them to many formats for you to store and play on various devices while freeing up precious shelf or closet space. Even better, for a limited time you can even get it for free in the MacX DVD Ripper Pro giveaway.

Master iOS 14’s best new features [Cult of Mac Magazine 367]

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Now that you've upgraded, it's time to take advantage of all the new iOS 14 features.
Now that you've upgraded, it's time to take advantage of all the new features.
Cover: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

If you downloaded iOS 14 — and you really should — you probably know it’s packed with tons of new features. Find out how to make the most of all the latest additions with our roundup of iOS 14 tips and how-tos.

And, naturally, we’ve got plenty of coverage of this week’s big “Time Flies” event. Get the scoop on the new Apple Watches, iPads and Apple services in the latest edition of Cult of Mac Magazine. It’s free, and it’s a blast to read on your iPad or iPhone.

You’ll also get the rest of our Apple how-tos and product reviews. And, if you don’t want to download the mag (did I mention that it’s free?), you can get the week’s top stories in your browser below.