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Adonit’s new iPad stylus doubles as a mouse

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Adonit Note-M combines a mouse and a stylus into one.
Why carry just an iPad stylus when the Adonit Note-M is also a mouse?
Photo: Adonit

You can use a stylus with your iPad, or a mouse. Or you could try the newly unveiled Adonit Note-M, which is both.

One end of this accessory acts as a stylus on the iPad display. Flip it around, and a motion sensor on the other end lets the Note-M function as a mouse on almost any surface.

Apple TV+ signs first-look deal with Martin Scorsese

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Martin Scorsese is the latest star to land at Apple TV+, this time thanks to a deal with his Sikelia Productions.
Martin Scorsese is the latest star to land at Apple TV+.
Photo: Thomas Hawk/Flickr CC

The next Goodfellas or Taxi Driver might be an Apple Original. Cupertino signed Martin Scorcese’s Sikelia Productions to a first-look deal that will see him direct and produce films and TV shows for Apple TV+.

It’s the latest high-profile pact signed by Apple execs as they seek to corner the market on the world’s most talented visual creators. The company continues to hustle, buying big-name properties and signing directors, actors, producers and other top Hollywood talent to exclusive deals.

Apple previously signed multiyear deals with Ridley Scott, Leonardo DiCaprio, Alfonso Cuarón, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Idris Elba. Snagging Scorsese adds another top-shelf visual storyteller to the mix.

Speidel’s beefy leather Apple Watch band includes protective case [Review]

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Speidel Light Brown Leather Luxury Watch Band and Protective Case for Apple Watch review
Speidel’s leather band and case bring a semi-casual look and extra protection to your Apple Watch.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Your Apple Watch is always with you, which exposes it to occasional rough treatment. The Speidel Light Brown Leather Luxury Watch Band comes with a case that wraps around all the edges and corners of your wearable, protecting it from bumps.

I tested this case, and the Watch band it comes with. Read on to see how they stood up to daily life.

iPhone clock may have struck a major blow against Kanye West’s presidential dreams

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Kanye West's new album Ye drops today on Apple Music (and elsewhere).
Kanye West wants to be the next president of the United States.
Photo: Mark Azali/Flickr CC

Noted Apple fan Kanye West is blaming the iPhone’s clock for his failure to turn in the correct nomination signatures on time in Wisconsin for his U.S. presidential bid.

State laws say the papers had to be filed “not later” than 5 p.m. local time on Monday. Unfortunately, West’s campaign submitted them 14 seconds after the 5 p.m. deadline. West’s lawyer argues that, because it was before 5:01 p.m., the paperwork should still be admitted.

Setapp, the app subscription service, lands on iOS with 8 awesome titles

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Setapp comes to iOS
A catalog of amazing apps, one small monthly fee.
Photo: Setapp

Setapp, the brilliant app subscription service from MacPaw, has finally landed on iOS. The service offers eight titles at launch, including task-management app 2Do and wonderful writing tool Ulysses.

A small monthly fee gets you complete, unlimited access to every app in the catalog, with more being added on a regular basis. And if you’re already a Setapp subscriber, you may get the iOS apps for free.

COVID-19 forces temporary closure of Montreal Apple Store

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Apple Sainte-Catherine closes due to COVID-19. Here's the store during happier, less socially distanced times.
The Apple Sainte-Catherine store during happier, less socially distanced times.
Photo: Sandra Cohen-Rose and Colin Rose/Flickr CC

The Apple Sainte-Catherine store in Montreal will be closed “until further notice” due to COVID-19 conditions.

“We take this step with an abundance of caution as we closely monitor the situation and we look forward to having our teams and customers back as soon as possible,” Apple said. The company would not confirm whether there was a positive case of COVID-19 at the store

Google was the No. 1 developer in the App Store last month

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Google
Google was a big winner on iOS in July.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

As the company behind Android, Google is frequently positioned as one of Apple’s biggest enemy when it comes to smartphones. But it’s actually doing incredibly well thanks to iOS — as a new Sensor Tower report makes clear.

Published Monday, the report notes that Google was the no. 1 mobile publisher in the App Store for July 2020, based on total number of installs. Google’s top apps include YouTube, Google Hangouts, Gmail, Google Calendar, and others.

Celebrate Elon Musk’s SpaceX Mars ambitions with custom iPhone 12 Pro

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Musk on Mars phone
All yours for around $5,000.
Photo: Caviar

The iPhone 12 isn’t out yet, and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has yet to fulfill his ambition of landing on Mars — but Russian luxury firm Caviar is getting ahead of the game.

This week, it announced a new limited series of 19 “Musk Be On Mars” iPhone 12 Pro handsets. Rather than being blinged out with gold and diamonds like previous Caviar iPhones, these special-edition units will feature “a piece from the SpaceX spaceship that was in space,” bas relief of the Dragon spacecraft, and a laser-engraved Musk signature.

All yours for a starting price of $4,990.

Parallels Desktop 16 for Mac takes Windows to macOS Big Sur

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Running Windows on a Mac with Parallels Desktop just got better. Again.
Running Windows on a Mac just got better. Again.
Image: Parallels

Parallels Desktop 16 for Mac launched Tuesday, bringing new features and performance enhancements that mean the virtualization software delivers the “ultimate Windows-on-Mac experience,” the company said.

The update also preps the popular software for the upcoming release of macOS Big Sur. That required a major effort from Parallels’ engineers.

“We had to re-engineer all of the (kernel extensions) that we would need from scratch to work with the new macOS kext that’s integrated into the product,” said John Uppendahl, Parallels’ VP of global communications, during an online briefing about the software. “And to give you context, that alone took 25 man-years of engineering work.”

Tim Cook joins the billionaires’ club

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Tim Cook earnings apple
Tim Cook’s net worth has gone up, up, up!
Illustration: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The CEO of Apple reportedly passed a huge milestone: He’s now a billionaire. Tim Cook’s net worth has risen significantly, partially as a result of Apple stock more than doubling in value in the past 12 months.

But Cook is not likely to stay a billionaire. And not for the reason you might think.

Why the new iMac is still a great buy, even without Apple Silicon

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2020 iMac: The new iMac looks just like the old one (only faster).
The 2020 iMac is certainly worth your cash.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s newest iMac is by far the fastest yet, with huge increases in both CPU and GPU performance. It also ships with improved speakers and microphones. And yet, it seems a lot of Apple fans don’t care.

The reason? The new iMac is powered by Intel processors, like all its predecessors since 2006, instead of Apple Silicon. Since Apple revealed its plan to switch to its own custom chips at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June, Intel processors just don’t hold the same appeal.

But there are some great reasons to continue buying Intel-powered Macs in 2020. Here are a few.

Google Maps finds its way to Apple Watch

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Google Maps on an Apple Watch
Google Maps fans can now get turn-by-turn directions on their Apple Watch.
Photo: Cult of Mac/Google

A version of Google Maps for the Apple Watch starts rolling on Monday. The goal of this app is to allow users to navigate by car, bike, public transit or on foot, without having to look at an iPhone.

Also, Google Maps for Apple’s CarPlay Dashboard got some convenient new features today.

You’ll flip for this iPhone 12 Flip concept

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An iPhone concept shows a realistic folding iPhone design
If Apple makes a foldable iPhone, it might look like this concept design.
Screenshot: ConceptsiPhone

When Apple gets into the foldable phone market, as arch-rival Samsung has already done, its first model might well look much like the iPhone 12 Flip. But for now, this is only a concept design.

Watch a video of it now:

Boys State is a timely and terrifying political documentary [Apple TV+ review]

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Ben Feinstein appears in the terrifying Apple TV+ documentary Boys State
Ben Feinstein appears in the terrifying Apple TV+ documentary Boys State.
Photo: Apple TV+

If you looked at the crowds of white nationalists bearing tiki torches at the infamous Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and wondered what took them from innocent children to gimlet-eyed monsters of borrowed ideology, Boys State is a harrowing but necessary research tool.

The new Apple TV+ documentary by Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss delivers a frightening look at a time-honored tradition that appears to have actively made the world a worse place.

Sundance Grand Jury Prize Winner Boys State, which premieres Friday on Apple TV+, may nauseate you. But you’ll be glad you saw it, if only because it’s a shocking and sobering reminder that the next generation of conservatives is ready to step in and replace the one about to die — and they’re no less efficacious.

Mom and son duo sentenced for massive fake iPhone warranty scam

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Iphone11
Pair got their hands on 111,000 iPhones during scam.
Photo: Apple

A 34-year-old Chinese citizen living in Switzerland has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail for a massive fraud involving Apple’s AppleCare+ warranty system. His 56-year-old mom, who helped him pull off the scam, was given a suspended 18-month jail sentence.

The pair, who have not been named, bought cheap copycat iPhones from China, before swapping them out for 111,000 new authentic iPhones. AppleCare+ allows customers to replace defective devices with new models when they are damaged.

Apple reportedly imported clothes from Chinese company accused of forced labor

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Apple Paris
Apple staffers' uniforms may have been partly manufactured by an accused company.
Photo: Apple

A Chinese company facing U.S. sanctions for using forced labor provided clothing or raw materials to Apple, possibly in the form of uniforms for its retail employees, claims The Guardian.

Changji Esquel Textile is one of a group of 11 companies that reportedly violated human rights in China’s western Xinjiang region. The company denies using forced labor “anywhere” in its business and says it will appeal its inclusion on the sanctions list.

Celebrate Woz’s 70th birthday with star-studded, live-streamed event

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Woz 70th birthday
Apple's co-founder turns 70 this week.
Photo: Steve Wozniak

Want to go to Apple co-founder Steve “Woz” Wozniak’s 70th birthday party? Of course you do — and, thanks to Woz’s wife Janet Hill, you can.

To celebrate her famous husband’s landmark birthday this Tuesday, Hill is throwing Woz a massive online birthday bash, and you can tune in to watch it streaming live at 5 p.m. Pacific time on Wozbday.com and Twitch.tv/inspirehouse. Oh, and there’s a typically Woz-style event you can participate in as well.

Booting WeChat from the App Store could hit global iPhone shipments hard

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WeChat
It's hard to overstate WeChat's importance in China.
Photo: Virginia Werner/Cult of Mac

Booting WeChat out of the App Store could drive down worldwide iPhone shipments by up to 30%, claims respected Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

While WeChat’s total removal from the App Store seems an unlikely prospect, it could be the worst-case scenario of President Donald Trump’s recent executive order to stop U.S. transactions with WeChat and parent company Tencent.