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Defending Jacob finally justifies the existence of Apple TV+ [Review]

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Chris Evans, Jaeden Martell and Michelle Dockery portray a family fighting suspicion in Defending Jacob.
Chris Evans, Jaeden Martell and Michelle Dockery portray a family fighting suspicion in Defending Jacob.
Photo: Apple TV+

With a hot cast and a true-crime sheen, Defending Jacob is one of the most highly anticipated Apple TV+ series so far. It’s based on a best-selling novel. It’s helmed by an Oscar-nominated director. And the first three episodes arrived Friday, primed for a literally captive audience seeking its latest obsession.

Apple calls its fledgling streaming service “the new home for the world’s most creative storytellers.” And for the first time, Apple TV+ has delivered a show that lives up to the hype — at least judging by the first three episodes.

One more song: Steve Jobs opera will stream for all this spring

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The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs will be broadcast this June.
Photo: Ben Stanfield/Flickr CC

Steve Jobs is coming to the radio. Through the medium of song, that is!

With theaters closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, Seattle Opera plans to treat listeners to some much-needed opera by broadcasting some of its past performances on the radio (and streaming them online). Apple fans might want to tune in for Grammy-winning opera The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, which tells the story of Apple’s iconic late co-founder and CEO.

These portable power banks are perfect to throw in your bag [Deals]

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RavPower Power Bank
Get a pocket-sized powerhouse with dual iSmart outputs, fast charging and up to 20,000mAh capacity.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

These days, traveling is stressful no matter what, so why add worries about iPhone battery life to the list? A good backup battery is one of the handiest tools you can have on hand when the time comes to go outside. And with these deals, cost is no excuse not to have one.

Apple Pay will finally be going live with Switzerland’s biggest bank

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Apple Pay UBS
It took long enough to reach this point!
Photo: UBS

Apple Pay is coming to Switzerland’s largest bank UBS after it refused to adopt it for years.

A report from the website MacPrime shared an image from UBS suggesting that Apple Pay will go live in the near future. No date has been announced for exactly when that will take place. However, it will reportedly be in the next few weeks.

Apple reassures worried workers that family comes first during COVID-19

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Apple Park
Work at Apple has certainly changed in the past couple of months.
Photo: Matthew Roberts

Apple has told its working-from-home employees that family comes first when it comes to the current coronavirus pandemic. But many employees with kids are still struggling in Silicon Valley’s hectic work culture, claims a new report from CNet.

The article, published Thursday, describes some of the challenges in a tough Silicon Valley working culture, but where — at least in California — schools won’t reopen until fall. Apple is doing whatever it can to help, however.

Apple insists big Mail app security flaws have not been exploited

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Mail app inbox
Nothing to worry about?
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple insisted on Friday that there is no evidence to suggest serious security flaws in its Mail app have been exploited.

The company says the issues do not pose an immediate risk to iPhone and iPad users. Its statement seems to dispute earlier claims from security researchers, who published details of at multiple suspected “attacks” on Wednesday.

Bag a bargain iPhone refurb for as little as $119.99 today only

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iPhone XS box gold
Go claim yours before they're all gone!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Woot’s spectacular sale on refurbished iPhones is back, with big savings to be had on a wide range of models. Prices start at a mere $119.99 for iPhone 7 and rise to just $509.99 for iPhone XS Max.

This sale is good for today (Friday, April 24) only. Enjoy it while you can!

This post contains affiliate links. Cult of Mac may earn a commission when you use our links to buy items.

iPhone 2024? Apple chipmaker already working on astonishing 2-nanometer chip technology

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Apple chipmaker racing ahead with its next next-gen nanometer process
Future chips will use transistors almost unimaginably small -- for almost unimaginably speedy results.
Screenshot: Apple

iPhone 2024 anyone? Apple chipmaker TSMC disclosed in its annual report to shareholders Friday that it has kicked off its 2-nanometer R&D process for future chips.

Going by Apple’s record trend of adopting a major upgrade (or, in terms of size, nanometer downgrade) in A-series chipsets every two years, that would mean the early stages of a new processor for the 2024 iPhone. This year’s iPhone is widely expected to come with a 5-nanometer A-series chip. The iPhone 11 has a 7nm processor.

Want to use CarPlay in your classic 1960s Porsche? Now you can

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Classic Porsche CarPlay
Now all I need is the classic Porsche to go with it!
Photo: Porsche

Want to feel like a 1960s spy? Fire up your vintage sports car, take to a winding road in the Swiss alps, and then call up information on your auto’s touchscreen control panel.

Such a thing, once firmly in the realm of fiction, is now possible thanks to a new line of CarPlay radios created by Porsche. Allowing you to kit out cars dating back to the 1960s with high-resolution touchscreens, Bluetooth, DAB+, and Apple’s in-car infotainment system, the head units opens up CarPlay to a whole new audience.

First 3 episodes of Defending Jacob debut on Apple TV+

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Defending Jacob 1
Chris Evans stars as a man whose son may or may not have committed a murder.
Photo: Apple TV+

Defending Jacob, a new Apple TV+ murder mystery show starring Chris Evans (Captain America), debuted Friday on Apple’s streaming TV service.

The show tells the story of a small-town assistant district attorney whose family is turned upside down after his 14-year-old son is accused of murder. Downton Abbey’s Michelle Dockery plays Evans’ wife, while Jaeden Martell from It plays the titular Jacob.

Beastie Boys Story relives the beer-soaked glory days of hip-hop’s original hell-raisers [Review]

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Beastie Boys Story: Mike Diamond, Adam Yauch and Adam Horovitz in 1993 from an archival photo used in “Beastie Boys Story,” premiering globally on Apple TV+ on April 24.
Beastie Boys turned hip-hop on its head, and a new doc captures the magic.
Photo: Apple TV+

Beastie Boys Story, director Spike Jonze’s endearing Apple TV+ documentary about the first white rap phenoms, proves as powerful as it is screamingly funny.

Jonze, a confidant and collaborator of the group since the Beasties’ experimental mid-career, exhibits an easy candor with his subjects. That familiarity allows all of them to open up, which is important when it comes to discussing their failures and losses.

Tim Cook drops in on UK’s The Big Night In fundraiser

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“The Big Night In” was raising funds for charity, and Tim Cook dropped by the help.
Tim Cook appeared on The Big Night In to announce a sizable donation from Apple to the cause.
Photo: BBC TV

Apple CEO Tim Cook appeared on Thursday’s The Big Night In event on BBC One in Great Britain. He announced his company is making a “significant donation” to this fundraiser, which is raising money for Comic Relief and BBC Children in Need.

The Shrink Next Door starring Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd heads for Apple TV+

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“The Shrink Next Door” will star Paul Rudd and Will Ferrell
Paul Rudd and Will Ferrell appeared in the Anchorman movies, and now these brilliant comedians are headed for Apple TV+.
Photo: DreamWorks Pictures

Apple TV+ picked up a comedy starring a couple of household names on Thursday. Apple gave a straight-to-series order to The Shrink Next Door, a new, eight-episode limited series starring Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd.

OWC ThunderBlade external SSD offers 16TB of super-fast storage

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OWC ThunderBlade uses Thunderbolt 3 and can be part of a RAID.
With up to 16TB of capacity, the OWC ThunderBlade hold almost an entire day of 4K RAW footage.
Photo: OWC

Creative professionals working with 4K or 8K video, or anyone who just wants an enormous amount of portable storage, can turn to the OWC ThunderBlade.  Starting Thursday, this SSD now offers up to a whopping 16TB in capacity, and can transfer data at 2800MB/s.

OWC also updated its Envoy Pro EX line with 4TB version. And the Accelsior 4M2 internal SSD now also offers up to 16TB of capacity.

Amazing Darkroom photo app now does video

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Darkroom, the amazing iOS photo-editing app, now edits video
Darkroom, the amazing iOS photo-editing app, now edits video
Photo: Darkroom

Darkroom, one of the best photo library and editing apps on iOS, is now also one of the best video library and editing apps on iOS. In today’s update, Darkroom adds support for editing your videos. Not cutting and chopping them up, like iMove, but changing how they look, as if you were applying filters and edits to a still photograph. And the along thing is, it’s instant, just as fast as editing a still image.

FCC boosts Wi-Fi speeds by opening 6 GHz spectrum

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6 GHz Wi-Fi is coming to many devices. Eventually.
Lots of computers in a small space is a scenario where 6 GHz Wi-Fi is expected to shine.
Photo: Pixels CC

The FCC on Thursday approved an expansion of Wi-Fi to the 6GHz band. This adds almost five times the bandwidth to the short-range wireless networking standard. It should bring Wi-Fi connections that are up to 2.5 times faster, with less interference from nearby computers.

Thursday’s FCC vote on this expansion was unanimous, and the change has strong industry support.

Third-gen AirPods to enter production in early 2021

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AirPods sales
That means a lengthy wait for your next upgrade.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple’s third-generation AirPods will enter mass-production during the first half of 2021 ahead of a release next year, according to one reliable analyst on Thursday.

Apple hopes the refresh will save falling demand for second-generation AirPods. Its next AirPods Pro units won’t enter mass-production until the fourth-quarter of next year at the earliest.

How to protect yourself against the iOS Mail attack

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insecure mailbox
Would you put your mail in this mailbox?
Photo: Pineapple L/Unsplash

Right now, you shouldn’t be using the Mail app on your iPhone or iPad. Thanks to a serious exploit, a hacker can take control of your iOS Mail app just by sending you a malicious email.

You don’t need to open that mail for it to do its bad business. In fact, you don’t even have to have the Mail app open for the attack to work. Yesterday, we covered the news of this attack, and you can read all about the consequences. Today we’ll show you how to protect yourself by changing just one setting.

Bye-bye, blog roll: Welcome to the new Cult of Mac

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Cult of Mac redesigned front page
Our redesign is live at last.
Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

Welcome to Cult of Mac’s new look.

We redesigned the site’s front page to better display the day’s most important stories, make it easier to find content, and to surface parts of the site that are sometimes not easy to find.

We hope you like the result.

PSA: Remove Apple Watch bands before repairs or lose them for good

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Monowear-Urban-Canvas-Apple-Watch-1
Apple won't send back your bands anymore.
Photo: Adel Neal/Cult of Mac

Apple Watch owners who send their device in for repair must remove bands first or risk losing them for good.

Apple has updated its support documentation to make it clear that it does not return bands and other add-ons. “Please remove them before sending your Apple Watch in for repair,” it states.

Apple Music app comes to Samsung smart TVs

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Apple Music is preparing for invasion
Apple Music subscribers can listen to playlists on Samsung smart TVs.
Photo: Apple

Apple Music invites people to “Lose yourself in 60 million songs.” Today, you can on a new device – a Samsung smart TV.

Samsung announced Thursday an Apple Music app is now available for its most recent smart TVs. Until the Samsung, an Apple Music app was only available with an Apple TV set-top device.

Lil Wayne will host new radio show on Beats 1 for Apple Music

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Young Money Radio 1
And you don't have long to wait, either.
Photo: Lil Wayne/Apple Music

Hip hop luminary Lil Wayne, one of the most well-known and respected rappers of the 21st century, is headed to Apple Music!

No, Lil Wayne (or Weezy F. Baby as the kids call him) isn’t debuting an exclusive new album on Apple’s streaming music service. Instead, he’ll be playing host on Young Money Radio, a new show debuting on Beats 1 Friday, April 24 at 7pm EST/4pm PT.

Mr. Pumpkin 2 adventure game lets you explore legendary Kowloon Walled City

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Kowloon Walled City 1
A point-and-click adventure is just the thing for lockdown.
Photo: Lilith Games

Mr. Pumpkin 2: Walls of Kowloon, a surreal, but intriguing, new game created by the makers of the popular Isoland game series (and the original Mr. Pumpkin Adventure, natch!), has landed in the App Store.

A hand-drawn point-and-click adventure that allows you to explore Hong Kong’s endlessly fascinating Kowloon Walled City, it’s the perfect game to play in lockdown. You know, to remind you that actually being able to walk around cities is a thing most of us used to do!

Check out the trailer below.