To lend a helping hand during coronavirus lockdown, Google Wednesday announced that it will be making its premium videoconferencing service Google Meet free to users starting in the next few weeks.
Google Meet is the business-oriented version of Google Hangouts. It supports up to 100 callers with no time limits on conversations, making it a good enterprise-focused video chat tool. While normally Google Meet comes with a price tag attached, it’s now free to all Google users through September 30.
A good video game is a great way to escape the COVID-19 pandemic and forget, just for a little while, about the nasty impact it’s having on the world. But which video games should you play? Which titles are proven to help?
A new study reveals the best games to play for reducing stress — and those that should be avoided if your primary goal is a positive, calming experience. We’ll highlight those you can enjoy on Mac and iOS.
Graphic design skills are useful for professionals and hobbyists alike. So whether you’re looking to boost your earning potential, or just make better use of your digital creative tools, this trio of courses in three top Adobe creative apps will give you the skills you seek.
The 2020 Adobe Graphic Design Certification School covers Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. And the whole thing is available at a small fraction of the usual cost.
Spotify has 163 million free, ad-supported users, and an impressive 130 million paid subscribers, the streaming music giant announced Wednesday in its financial earnings for Q1 2020. These premium subscribers are up 6 million from the end of the previous quarter, and 30 million year-on-year.
While Apple hasn’t released updated Apple Music subscriber figures for a while now, it last announced 60 million paying customers last summer. Although Apple Music has reportedly experienced a nice bump while people are stuck home during lockdown, that suggests that Spotify is still enjoying a comfortable lead in the streaming war.
Apple Watch supports a huge selection of workout types, but most of the popular ones, like running and swimming, you probably can’t do right now thanks to the coronavirus lockdown. Fortunately, if you delve a little deeper, you’ll find plenty of Apple Watch home workouts you can choose from that require little or no special equipment.
So why not take the opportunity to master a whole new kind of exercise? Here are 20 Apple Watch indoor workout options you can do at home right now.
Fortnite’s newest update is rolling out now across all platforms, bringing with it some big changes and new game modes. Players can expect aim assist adjustments, heavy sniper alterations, and brand-new Party Royale.
And that’s not all!
iPhone achieved 78 percent growth in India’s fast-growing smartphone market year-on-year for the first quarter of 2020, new figures from Counterpoint Research suggest.
While Apple is still a tiny fraction of the Indian smartphone market, that makes the iPhone the third fastest-growing brand in the country, following Realme and Oppo. There’s still a long way to go before it can threaten the top-selling likes of Xiaomi, Vivo, and Samsung, however.
Apple agreed to pay $18 million to claimants in a California class-action lawsuit that argued Cupertino broke FaceTime on older iPhone devices to save money.
The court filing, made Monday, means that members of the class action each will receive a whopping $3 for their troubles. However, that amount could increase if some members fail to cash their checks. The remainder of the money will cover lawyer fees and other costs.
The half-hour reunion special of Parks and Recreation, airing this Thursday, was entirely shot on iPhone due to the challenges of production during the current coronavirus pandemic.
The logistics of getting the episode together were “very difficult,” co-creator Mike Schur told trade publication Variety. Not only did the special have to be written in under three days, but it then had to be directed via Zoom, with the cast filming themselves using a “little rig with a tripod,” an iPhone, light, and microphone.
COVID-19 lockdown certainly brought a swift change from the norm for many people. We’re dealing with the added stress of different working situations, the struggle to get groceries, and in many cases, even acting as teachers or child care providers.
All of that can make it really challenging to feel accomplished and productive. Luckily, I finally found my groove in the last week or so, thanks to a couple of really useful apps (and some self-imposed rules).
Microsoft claims it won’t adopt the Thunderbolt standard for its Surface laptops and tablets because it’s inherently insecure, according to an internal company video leaked onto Twitter recently.
Thunderbolt was developed by Intel and Apple, and it’s widely used on Macs. It’s also been adopted by virtually every PC maker. But not Microsoft.
iPad Pros used in the field require hard-core protection, and there’s no better option than the OtterBox Defender. The case wraps the tablet in layer upon layer of plastic to cushion it from serious accidents. There’s even a built-in screen protector.
I encased my 2020 iPad Pro in the latest version of the OtterBox Defender to do some real-world testing. Here’s what I found out.
Waqas Qazi may be a freelance Hollywood colorist, but his desk setup is worthy of an emperor. His jaw-dropping rig boasts three monitors to play with, and a trio of bookshelf speakers to pump out the audio. Plus, he has a DaVinci Resolve Mini Panel, for color-grading and editing, and the Elgato Stream Deck XL, which is great for multitasking.
And don’t forget that cheese-grater Mac Pro!
A handful of Apple and Google employees turned a novel approach to fighting COVID-19 from a spark of an idea to a pandemic-fighting tool in less than a month. The tech giants combined forces in March, intent on creating a contact-tracing app capable of monitoring the movements of people who might have come in contact with someone infected with the coronavirus.
CNBC reported inside details Tuesday on how Apple’s initial contact-tracing project — code-named “Bubble” — went from two employees to dozens, and enlisted the help of others at Google.
The official Apple Support iOS app got a facelift, including adding step-by-step guides to fixing common problems. And Dark Mode, too.
The app runs on iPhone or iPad, but offers information on Mac, AirPods and many other Apple products and services.
Apple has added COVID-19 testing locations throughout the United States to its Apple Maps, effective Tuesday. Users can search for COVID-19 testing locations or browse for them on visual maps.
Multiple companies that created software to hack into mobile phones now offer versions of their products to trace the spread of COVID-19, according to a published report Tuesday.
Very different from contact-tracing technologies that focus on finding the virus but at the same time protect privacy, these new systems would not need a patient’s consent to gain entry into the device.
It would be easier to make a foldable iPhone or iPad if it could include a flexible battery. Apple is investigating these as a power source, and was granted a patent on the technology on Tuesday.
In recent years, the company received many patents related to computers built around folding displays. They’re proof that Apple is actively exploring using these in future products.
What better way to upgrade your home office than with a brand-new Mac? Amazon is currently offering big discounts on the latest models, like $49 off the 2020 MacBook Air and $200 off the 16-inch MacBook Pro.
You can also pick up the 13-inch MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and more at reduced rates. Order yours today before the prices return to normal.
Full-screen mode on a Mac is pretty great. Unlike Windows, where full-screen apps have been the default since forever, the Mac’s full-screen abilities are a fairly recent addition. And the default is still for apps to launch in smaller windows, which is the Mac Way. But what if you want those apps to launch in full-screen every time you open them? Well, by changing one setting — and abandoning an ingrained habit — you can have exactly that.
Bonus: Full-screen app launching will only apply to the apps you choose, leaving the rest of them to behave normally.
Simon Property Group, the biggest mall owner in the United States, will reopen 49 of its shopping centers in early May — potentially bringing 13 now-shuttered Apple Stores back online.
The locations span across seven states, in major cities including Atlanta, Oklahoma City, Indianapolis and Austin, Texas.
Ulysses, the outstanding writing app for Mac and iOS, just got its big version 19 update. It brings full mouse and trackpad support on iPad, as well as a number of neat improvements to things like keywords and Files integration.
It also boasts a new feature dubbed Material sheets, which allows you to mark sheets you’ve used for brainstorming and research, and have them excluded from counters, goals, and exports.
Video-calling apps are booming right now, but which ones can you trust when it comes to security? A Mozilla report published Tuesday assesses all the major platforms, noting which apps do and do not pass the privacy-conscious foundation’s minimum security standards.
The big takeaway? Most of the top video conferencing apps, FaceTime included, are actually impressively secure. But there are a few outliers.
Everybody loves a good sale, so we rounded up the biggest price drops currently offered by Cult of Mac Deals. We’ve got a powerful iOS alternative, noise-canceling headphones, language courses and five years of at-home exercise, all discounted by 75% or more.
The coronavirus pandemic might have wreaked havoc on the economy, but consumer spending on tech gadgets actually seems to be up during lockdown. Like, way up.
According to NPD analyst Stephen Baker, there was a surprising 23% hike in consumer tech sales year-on-year for the week ending April 18. That compares to an overall decline of 23% across all industries the firm tracks.