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Massive Android flaw left Camera app vulnerable to hijackers

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Pixel 3a
Here's another reason to ditch Android.
Photo: Google

Security researchers revealed a huge vulnerability in Google’s Android operating system that could have allowed hackers to access users’ photos and camera without their knowledge.

The camera app vulnerability was potentially on hundreds of millions of Android phones and tablets. Tech security firm Checkmarx highlighted the dangers of the flaw by creating a proof-of-concept weather app that can record phone calls, snap photos and pictures and send all the data to a remote server.

How to highlight text and add post-its in Safari

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Highlighter for Safari.
Highlight in Safari.
Photo: Denise Jans/Unsplash

There are a handful of webpages I keep referring back to, often reading the same parts over and over. They may be part of an instruction manual, or other reference material1. And sometimes, while researching an article, I want to highlight sections and phrases to find them more easily. Just like using a highlighter marker on a sheet of paper.

Until now, I’ve never found good way to do it. Apps required me to sign up for an account, or store my highlights on their servers, or pay a subscription. Or the app was just plain clunky. Then I found Highlighter for Safari.

The best accessories for your new 16-inch MacBook Pro

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WaterField Designs Executive Leather Laptop Briefcase
Bag 'em! It's time to accessorize that monster laptop.
Photo: WaterField Designs

Your shiny new 16-inch MacBook Pro arrives this week, and of course you want to deck it out with all the latest accessories. What you need will depend on what you use your computer for, but almost everyone will want a case, a keyboard and a mouse. And there are plenty of other MacBook Pro accessories you might need to get the job done.

Check out our guide for dongles, cables and even battery packs that will help you get the most out of your new MacBook Pro.

Amazon one-ups Apple with free music on iOS

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Amazon-Music
Start enjoying it today.
Photo: Amazon

Start blasting those holiday tunes with free Amazon Music on iOS.

The streaming service can now be enjoyed without a paid subscription for the first time on iPhone and iPad, giving it a big advantage over Apple Music.

But just like other free music plans, it does come with ads … and some restrictions.

Max out your Mac mini with this multiport stand

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The Satechi Stand & Hub puts the Mac Mini ports front and center.
Satechi Type-C Aluminum Stand & Hub really matches the look of the Mac mini.
Photo: Satechi

A just-released stand adds an array of front-facing ports to a Mac mini, and it matches the look of this tiny desktop. The Satechi Type-C Aluminum Stand & Hub not only elevates the computer, it includes six expansion ports.

Crafty covers turn your AirPods into a turkey

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This turkey-shaped crochet AirPods cover is the baste.
This AirPods cover is the baste.
Photo: Dana Davis

Crafty entrepreneurs came up with a fun way to make your AirPods — or at least the charging case they come in — stand out. Crochet AirPods covers ensure that nobody will mistake that little white case for a pack of dental floss.

If you feel like dismissing crochet as something from your grandmother’s era, you haven’t looked around your coffeeshop, bus or subway car recently. If you do, you might notice that a new, hip generation of creators discovered this analog textile art.

Updated Apple Maps rolls out in Pacific Northwest and Midwest

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Updated Apple Maps rolls out in Pacific Northwest and Midwest
Have you seen the new Apple Maps version?
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Apple is almost done with its quest to revamp Apple Maps across the United States. In its latest update, Apple rolled out its revamped Apple Maps app in the Pacific Northwest and parts of the Midwest.

Locations covered by the update include Washington, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Wyoming and more.

European Commission is only just getting started with tech giants

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European Commission is only just getting started with tech giants
Margrethe Vestager is tough on tech.
Photo: European Parliament/Wikipedia CC

Margrethe Vestager, head of the European Commission’s Competition department, has handed out giant fines to tech companies — such as Apple’s massive $14.5 billion bill in 2016.

But a new report suggests that Vestager isn’t done with tech companies by a long shot. In fact, the next several years could make the previous five look uneventful for Silicon Valley companies.

Take your pick of 4 super-handy power banks on sale today [Deals]

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Power Bank Sale
We've rounded up a wide range of seriously discounted power banks.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

You likely never leave home without your mobile devices. Unfortunately, our phones and tablets aren’t (yet) solar-powered, so you shouldn’t be leaving without a backup power bank, either. That’s why we rounded up four of the best portable power packs we’ve seen.

From uber-slim to super-small to mega-capacity, there’s something here to match anyone’s day-to-day needs — and they’re all discounted heavily right now.

Facebook Whale is a brand-new app for … making memes?

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Facebook-Whale
Yup. Just for making memes.
Photo: Facebook

Just when you thought you couldn’t possibly dislike Facebook any more, the social networking giant has started rolling out a brand-new app dedicated to making memes.

Whale (that really is its official name) makes it easy to add text and special effects to your images. You can then share them instantly to other Facebook apps, including Messenger and Instagram.

Samsung wants to follow Apple in building a giant services business

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Samsung wants to follow Apple in building a giant services business
Samsung wants to build a $50 billion-a-year services business. Who doesn't?
Photo: Mathieu Turle/Unsplash CC

Samsung wants to copy Apple’s success in services by establishing a $50 billion-a-year services business. This would help the company make up for falling smartphone sales with subscription sales.

Having invested heavily in software over the past four years, a senior Samsung executive said the company is working to turn this into, “meaningful customer experiences.”

WWDC app is now called the ‘Apple Developer’ app

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WWDC app is now called the 'Apple Developer' app
It's the app developers have dreamed of.
Photo: Apple

To showcase the increasing utility of its WWDC app, Apple changed the app’s name to something that sounds relevant all year long. The app formerly known as the WWDC app is now know as the Apple Developer app.

While Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference takes place for just one week in June, the WWDC app increasingly included “in-depth information” from Apple experts throughout the year. And the new name is just the beginning — Apple plans to make the app even more useful for developers.

AirPods and other Apple gear top teens’ holiday wish lists

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Demand could far exceed supply for AirPods this holidays
AirPods are the gift teens want most this holiday season.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Anyone at a loss for what to get a hard-to-buy-for teenager need look no further than the Apple Store. Specifically, AirPods. That’s a conclusion of a survey done by a market-research firm.

Surprisingly, this same firm sees slowing interest in Fortnite.

Apple to host surprise event for apps and games on December 2

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apps
The best apps of 2019 will be showcased at the event.
Photo: Apple

Members of the press received surprise invitations from Apple this morning to attend a first-of-its-kind event to honor 2019’s top apps and games on December 2 in New York City.

Apple routinely gives out awards for the best apps of the year, but this is the first time the company has hosted an event to hand them out. Get ready for the Oscars of apps.

New clips, cases bring olloclip to iPhone 11

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New clip for olloclip on iPhone 11 Pro
New clips let you fit olloclip lenses to the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro or iPhone 11 Pro Max.
Photo: olloclip

Smartphone lens pioneer olloclip has launched a new line of clips and protective cases to make its lenses compatible with the iPhone 11 series.

Apple rolled out the iPhone 11, 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max this past fall, forcing accessory companies to redesign their products around a square camera module. The Pro series handsets gave olloclip designers a new challenge: come up with a single clip with mounting points for the Pro line’s three cameras.

Teardown shows 16-inch MacBook Pro is full of Magic Keyboard goodness

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16-inch MacBook teardown by iFixit
Explore the inside of the new 16-inch MacBook with a teardown by iFixit.
Photo: iFixit

Disassembling the new 16-inch MacBook Pro finds plenty to like. There’s a keyboard that’s almost certainly more reliable, a revamped thermal system and a bigger battery.

On the other side of the coin, repair company iFixit did a teardown and gives this laptop a low, low rating for repairability.

Pure Acid, the best drum and bass machine on the iPad (and iPhone!)

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Pure acid
Here’s Pure Acid with a fetching gold makeover.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Pure Acid is a bass synthesizer and drum machine app for the iPad, and it might just be the best drum machine app ever. It is, for me, the first app that actually feels like you’re using physical drum machine hardware instead of just another touchscreen app. Part of this is down to the one-screen interface, where everything is (mostly) always in the same spot — just like real buttons. And part is due to the app design genius of Pure Acid’s creator, Dmitrij Pavlov (aka Jim Pavloff).

US Senator proposes new law aimed at limiting Apple data flow to China

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China
Tim Cook meeting with China's vice premier.
Photo: Tim Cook

One of tech’s biggest opponents in Washington D.C. proposed a new bill this week that could have huge implications on Apple and TikTok’s business operations if put into law.

GOP senator Josh Hawley from Missouri introduced legislation today that would prevent the Chinese company that owns TikTok from collecting information on American users and sharing it with the Communist Party of China. The bill would also stop American companies like Apple from storing user data in China.

How to crop, straighten and unskew photos on iPad and iPhone

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Crop photos
It’s not better, but it offers a different perspective.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

You’ve always been able to crop photos on your iPhone and iPad. It’s easy to “zoom” into your images, cutting out cruft and distraction at the edges of the frame to focus on what’s important. But now, in iOS 13 and iPadOS, you can do more than crop and chop. Now you also can skew images — aka correct perspective errors — all inside the Photos app’s edit mode.

You can do all kinds of things with this new Photos tool. If you snapped a picture of a painting in the gallery, and didn’t hold your iPhone parallel to the wall, you can fix that. Or you can get more radical, perhaps by “fixing” an image of a skyscraper to stop it from disappearing to a point in the distance. The good news is that these perspective tools are fun and easy to use. Let’s check them out.

iOS 13.2.3 arrives with fresh fixes for Messages, Mail and more

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iOS Apps Main
It's time to update your iPhone again.
Photo: Cult of Mac

Apple is continuing its push to patch the numerous bugs that still plague iOS 13 with a new software update for iPhones and iPads.

iOS 13.2.3 was released this morning as a free update that promises to fix a number of issues with the system search on iOS while also resolving issues with the Mail app and problems with iMessage.

Give your AirPods Pro a custom paint job

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ColorWare customizes AirPods Pro
ColorWare can make a set of AirPods Pro uniquely yours.
Photo: ColorWare

Apple sells AirPods Pro in any color you want, as long as it’s white. But ColorWare brings some style to these in-ear headphones. The company offers 64 color options, and shoppers can decorate each AirPod differently.

The case can even be a third color.

Tim Cook will join Salesforce’s Marc Benioff for fireside chat this week

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2018 interview with Tim Cook suggests Apple was working on iCloud backup encryption
Apple and Salesforce announced partnership last year.
Photo: Apple

Tim Cook will join Salesforce founder Marc Benioff for a fireside chat at the Dreamforce 2019 conference in San Francisco. The event will take place at 1:30 p.m. PST at the Yerba Buena Theater.

Salesforce also today announced the launch of its two latest apps for iOS. The redesigned Salesforce Mobile App and new Trailhead Go learning app represent the first products coming from a strategic partnership between Apple and Salesforce, which began in 2018.