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iMac redesign, cheaper HomePod, new Apple TV reportedly coming in 2020

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Apple iMac showing the Apple logo.
It's been almost eight years since the last iMac redesign.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

A redesigned iMac, a more affordable HomePod, and a powerful new Apple TV are just some of the products Apple has planned for 2020, according to one reliable reporter.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman also revealed expectations for the 5G iPhone lineup, scheduled to launch this fall, and for a 14-inch MacBook Pro during a Twitter Q&A with followers on Tuesday.

First iPhone SE reviews: Victory in value

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2020-iPhone-SE-lineup-hero
It might even make you miss the Home button.
Photo: Apple

The iPhone SE, with its iPhone 8 form factor, proves that you can teach an old dog new tricks. With the first reviews for the new handset having hit the internet, pundits are in agreement that, well, the iPhone SE is pretty darn great.

In fact, if Apple’s made any kind of misstep it may have been showing us that you can get a pretty amazing iPhone for the price of a mid-level handset. Here’s what the initial reviewers are saying:

Navigate and communicate your ideas with vivid flowcharts [Deals]

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Ent - Flow
Score three years of the simplest online software to create flowcharts with easy templates and one-click styling.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Flowcharts are one of the easiest tools for charting ideas and deciding next steps. Too bad they’re not always very easy to create. So this tool cuts through the clutter and makes the task of creating flowcharts quick and simple.

iOS vulnerability let hackers attack devices through Mail app

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iPhone hack
Hack has reportedly been fixed in latest iOS beta.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

San Francisco-based cybersecurity company ZecOps says that iPhones and iPads may be vulnerable to a flaw involving the Mail app, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

Unlike most email-based phone hacks, which involve making someone click a link or visit a website, this exploit does not require victims to do anything other than download (although not necessarily open) an email. It nonetheless could let hackers install malicious software on their devices.

A ZecOps blog post on the topic says that the vulnerability has existed in Apple’s mobile software as far back as iOS 6.

Samsung proves packaging can be more than just pretty trash

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Samsung-TV-box-cat-house
That's a cat house ... made from a TV box.
Photo: Samsung

We know Apple makes some of the prettiest packaging you’ll ever find wrapped around electronics, but it’s really just trash when you’re done with it. Samsung has found a terrific way to make its packaging useful.

Boxes built for the company’s newest TV sets can be turned quickly and easily turned into cardboard cat houses, small furniture, and other useful things when you’re done with them.

Avatarify lets you gatecrash your next Zoom call as Steve Jobs or Elon Musk

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Steve Jobs Zoom call
That's one way to liven up your next work meeting.
Photo: Avatarify

Zoom calls have exploded during the current coronavirus lockdown. But if you’ve already exhausted the possibilities of different angles and backdrops for your video calls, why not try being a different person entirely? You know, like former Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs.

At least, that’s the tech demo/experiment created by coders Ali Aliev and Karim Iskakov. They’ve developed an Animoji or Memoji-style tool called Avatarify that lets users superimpose a real-time mask onto themselves during video calls.

Facebook beta reveals hidden dark mode for iPhone and iPad

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Facebook-dark-mode
You can't activate it yourself just yet.
Photo: WABetaInfo

A new beta version of the Facebook app for iOS contains hidden resources that suggest a dark mode is on its way to iPhone and iPad.

The feature is expected to work in tandem with the system-wide dark mode settings on iOS for automatic activation and deactivation, but users should be able to toggle it manually, too.

Senator wants Tim Cook to take personal responsibility for contact-tracing data privacy

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bluetooth-tracing
Senator Hawley is concerned about Apple and Google's privacy for contact-tracing data.
Photo: Apple/Google

Sen. Josh Hawley wants Apple and Google to have some skin in the game when it comes to keeping data private in their joint coronavirus contact-tracing project. Hawley’s idea? That the Apple and Google CEOs — Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai, respectively — should take personal responsibility for ensuring the data is kept private.

“If you seek to assure the public, make your stake in this project personal,” the Republican senator from Missouri wrote Tuesday in a letter to Cook and Pichai. “Make a commitment that you and other executives will be personally liable if you stop protecting privacy, such as by granting advertising companies access to the interface once the pandemic is over.”

T-Mobile and Sprint start combining their 5G networks

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Nationwide-5G-Map
T-Mobile's 5G nationwide network.
Photo: T-Mobile

T-Mobile is wasting no time expanding — and solidifying — its 5G network in the U.S. following its recently completed merger with Sprint. The two companies, now one, are combining their networks following the landmark merger.

On Tuesday, T-Mobile announced that its 5G 2.5 GHz mid-band spectrum is now live in parts of Philadelphia, offering T-Mobile customers with compatible 5G phones the opportunity to take advantage of the new super-speedy connectivity — with peaks of nearly 600 Mbps.

Marvelous iPhone 12 concept makes that smaller notch look totally hot

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This iPhone 12 concept reflects all the latest rumors.
Note the substantially smaller notch in this iPhone 12 concept.
Photo: svetapple.sk

A set of concept 3D renders released Tuesday depict all the latest iPhone 12 rumors, including a recent report that this upcoming handset will have a substantially smaller screen cutout.

The images also include other features widely expected to be part of the autumn 2020 iPhone, like a LiDAR scanner.

Wow! Stay-at-home catapults Netflix to almost 16 million new customers in first quarter

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netflix.logo
Netflix owes a guy now in prison for a lot of its almost 16 million new subscribers in the first quarter.
Photo: Brad Gibson / Cult of Mac

Apple and its Apple TV+ streaming service could only dream of numbers this big.

Call it the ‘Tiger King effect’ or whatever you like, but Netflix benefited from the stay-at-home, shelter-in-place directive by adding 15.77 million new subscribers worldwide in the first quarter, according to earnings results released Monday.

Save big: Refurbished Apple Watch Series 5 hits Apple Store

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Refurbished Apple Watch Series 5 units are available now
A refurbished Apple Watch Series 5 is up to 15% less than a new one.
Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac

One way to score a deal on the the latest Apple Watch Series 5 is buy a unit that someone purchased then returned to Apple. These get rigorously refurbished, then are offered to the public at up to 15% off the regular price.

Tuesday is the first day Series 5 units have been available refurbished.

Apple preps 11-inch iPad Air, 23-inch iMac for 2020

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The new iPad Air adds support for Apple Pencil and the Smart Keyboard.
The 2020 iPad Air could sport a larger display than this 2019 model.
Photo: Apple

Apple is going to increase the sizes of the displays in the 2020 iPad Air and an iMac model also coming later this year, according to an unconfirmed report coming out of Asia.

But neither of these will be MiniLED screens, as Apple will reportedly not have any computer using this type of display until 2021.

How to record Digitakt into Ableton Live with Overbridge 2 [Video]

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Digitakt close up
The Digitakt drum sampler is even more awesome paired with Ableton Live.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Overbridge 2 is an amazing new app/plugin from Swedish drum machine and synthesizer maker Elektron. As its name suggests, it acts as a bridge between your computer and Elektron’s hardware boxes.

Using Overbridge, you can plug in, say, the Digitakt drum computer and sampler, and stream all eight of its audio tracks to your Mac or PC over a single USB cable.

Get an inside track to Apple Music execs with a donation to a children’s charity

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Larry Jackson, Global Creative Director of Apple Music, at a Cartier event in 2019
Make the right donation to charity and you can take a meeting with Larry Jackson, Global Creative Director of Apple Music.
Photo: Larry Jackson/Instagram

If your music career or business would be boosted by meeting with someone high up at Apple Music, then this is your lucky day. Three high-level executives at Apple’s music streaming service are auctioning off private meetings.

Proceeds from these auctions go to the Pablove Foundation, which invests in pediatric cancer research.

Huawei’s latest deceptive ads try the same old camera stunt

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Weibo post busting Huawei for misleading ad
Huawei needs to have more confidence in its smartphone cameras.
Screenshot: Huapeng Zhao/Weibo

The cameras in Huawei smartphones are class-leading. Yet, the company was caught again using a photo shot with a DSLR in an ad to promote pictures produced with their handsets.

Best, of all, the gaffe was discovered by the winner of an iPhone photography contest.

Brilliant Magic Keyboard ad reflects Apple’s crazy attention to detail

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iPad-Pro-Float-GIF
Did you catch it?
Photo: Apple

Apple famously boasts the greatest attention to detail in consumer technology. Some say it’s been disappearing over the years, but if you look for it, you’ll find plenty of examples today.

Take the new ad for iPad Pro’s Magic Keyboard, for instance. Pause it at just the right moment and you’ll see the time Steve Jobs announced the very first iPhone beautifully reflected in the eye of a hummingbird.

Access your Mac’s hidden Bluetooth debug menu

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bluetooth keyboard mouse
Troubleshoot your Mac's Bluetooth connections.
Photo: Amy Hirschi/Unsplash

Got Bluetooth problems like a glitchy mouse or an unreliable keyboard? Maybe a screwy trackpad or poor headphone connection? Any of those problems could result from a glitch in your Mac’s Bluetooth radio. Maybe you’ve already tried everything — unpairing your devices, resetting them or even creating a pristine new user account on your Mac solely for troubleshooting purposes. If you’re stuck in a situation where your mouse isn’t working, here’s a guide on how to turn Bluetooth on Mac without mouse.

You may even know about the hidden Bluetooth menu that appears when you option-click on the Bluetooth menu bar icon. But did you know that there’s another, deeper, super-hidden menu with extra troubleshooting tools? There is. Here’s how to fix Bluetooth problems when nothing else seems to work.

Kuo: 5G iPhone delayed until October; iPhone SE Plus pushed back until late 2021

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iPhone 12 with LiDAR scanner
The 5G iPhone allegedly won‘t be out quite as soon as many might hope.
Photo: svetapple.sk

The first iPhone with 5G reportedly won’t debut alongside the other new iOS handsets early this autumn. Trusted analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicts Apple will begin producing a pair of 4G handsets in September, but won’t start making the 5G model until October.

Kuo also says an iPhone SE Plus with a larger screen than the current one might come out far later than he originally thought.

6-in-1 charger rolls out the welcome mat for all your Apple devices

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Air Omni 6-in-1 charger
The charger for the Apple fan who carries everything.
Photo: Pitaka

If you live in an older house where places to plug in are few in number, you begin to appreciate the idea of a charging station for multiple devices.

Pitaka’s Air Omni is a wireless charger for up to six devices that does away with multiple chargers and cords. And it will prevent you from having to cut additional sockets into the walls of your vintage digs.

Adobe bundles Photoshop, Fresco for iPad into one affordable sub

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Adobe-Fresco-iPad
Enjoy both apps for just $9.99 a month.
Photo: Adobe

Adobe on Tuesday delivered a new bundle for iPad users that provides access to its Photoshop and Fresco apps for just $9.99 a month. That’s half the price users would have paid for both apps before.

In addition, Photoshop on iPad now has the ability to automatically find and update missing fonts in your work, and there’s a brand-new coloring book to enjoy.

Take it to the Max: HBO’s new streaming service debuts next month

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Friends
It'll be the only place to stream Friends (and a bunch more movies and TV).
Photo: Warner Bros.

HBO isn’t playing around when it comes to streaming video subscription services. The company, which already has its HBO Now subscription video-on-demand, will launch HBO Max on May 27 — complete with original shows, Turner TV shows, and Warner Bros. movies.

Check out more of the details, along with the first trailers for Max Originals, below.

Apple bets big on 5G iPhone lineup despite demand concerns

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iphone-12-pro
An artist's take on 'iPhone 12' with 5G.
Photo: The Hacker 34

Apple is asking suppliers to “crank out” components for its upcoming 5G iPhone lineup, despite some fears that it could launch to weak demand as a result of COVID-19, a Tuesday report claims.

The company is said to have confirmed plans to make around 213 million iPhone units in the 12 months through March 2021 — an increase of 4% over the same period last year.

Some suppliers are concerned that initial orders could end up being “significantly lower.”