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Here’s hoping first iOS 13.3 beta fixes that huge memory bug

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iPadOS 13.3 Developer beta
The first iPadOS 13.3 Developer beta is out, along with an iPhone version.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Apple has just begun beta testing the next updates for iPhone and iPad. It’s not known yet if iOS 13.3 and iPadOS 13.3 fix the serious memory management problem introduced in the previous version, introduced last week.

In addition, watchOS 6.1.1 also just entered beta testing.

How to give away your old AirPods

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Unpair airpods
New AirPods? Why not give your old AirPods away?
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

You’ve got your amazing new AirPods Pro, and now you have a set of perfectly good (if a little waxy) AirPods Normal just taking up mental space.

Should you keep them as spares? I guess that’s the safe route (just in case you misplace the Pros). But how about giving them away to a friend or family member? Today we’ll see how to unpair AirPods from your iCloud account so you can do just that. (Plus how to clean them before you pass them along.)

With the holiday season approaching, maybe you could make someone very happy.

Apple completely reimagines the iPhone case

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Apple proposed swinging iPhone case
This is the simplest way of configuring Apple’s highly innovative iPhone case concept.
Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac

Apple engineers dreamed up an iPhone case that’s also a stand and a handle. And maybe a keyboard. It’s surprisingly simple, but also a dramatic departure from typical cases.

And it’s possible the designers see this as more than an add on. They seem to be proposing that handsets and tablets have this case built in.

The first film Apple bought finally gets its first trailer

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Geraldine Viswanathan appears in Hala, chosen for the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.
Geraldine Viswanathan appears as the title character in Hala.
Photo: Parrish Lewis/Sundance Institute

Apple’s coming-of-age drama about a Pakistani American teenager will land on Apple TV+ and in theaters just in time for award season.

Hala, the first narrative feature film Apple bought, will premiere on the streaming service on December 6. That’s just two weeks after The Banker lands on Apple TV+. To hype up the release date, Apple published the first full-length trailer for Hala. The movie follows a girl who goes from picking up skateboarding to falling in love for the first time. Meanwhile, her Pakistani family starts unraveling.

These luxury bands are the ideal Apple Watch upgrade

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Clessant-2019-lineup
Clessant's newest luxury lineup.
Photo: Clessant

Don’t settle for the basic bands that ship as standard with your new Apple Watch. These leather straps from Clessant add a dash of luxury that will separate your new wearable from all the others.

Hand-crafted from the finest materials and available in a variety of styles, they’re smart, outrageously stylish, and unlike anything you’ll find in the Apple Store.

How to use running cadence on Apple Watch

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What does cadence tell you about your running?
What does cadence tell you about your running?
Photo: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac

The Apple Watch running cadence setting arrived in watchOS 5, but if you didn’t notice, you’re not alone. It tends to get buried in the myriad stats Cupertino provides for runners. Plus, there’s a lot of confusion about what it actually means and whether it’s useful.

But when you understand what your running cadence is telling you, it can help make you run faster and reduce your risk of injury. So it’s definitely worth taking the time to get your head around it. Here’s our handy guide.

Florida man murdered for not unlocking his iPhone

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iOS 12 makes two-factor authentication easy.
A Florida man died for refusing to turn his passcode over to his attackers.
Graphic: Apple/Cult of Mac

An off-duty firefighter in Florida was shot to death after refusing to give robbers the passcode to his iPhone.

The killers had spared Chris Randazzo his life after robbing him of his iPhone and other belongings in Broward. The three men sped off in a car but quickly turned around to demand Randazoo provide the phone’s security code. They shot Randazzo when he refused, police said.

Xiaomi’s Apple Watch clone packs some impressive features for just $185

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Xiaomi's Apple Watch clone packs some impressive features for just $185
Look familiar?
Photo: Xiaomi

Xiaomi today showed off its new Mi Watch wearable — and, as predicted, it looks pretty much exactly like Apple Watch. Only it costs a whole lot less.

The device, which starts at $185, runs a skinned version of Google Wear OS. This is packaged into a form factor with the familiar rectangular display, digital crown and pill-shaped button of the Apple Watch.

Speak up to 33 new languages with this highly reviewed language learning app [Deals]

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Mondly
Get a ton of tools and all the time you need to master any of 33 languages.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Learning languages is a lifelong endeavor, and there’s no single way to do it. Many language-learning apps revolve around one concept or approach, so they’ll limit the amount of progress you can make. But with a variety of technologies backing its lessons, Mondly offers powerful tools for learning languages.

Fortnite pro banned for life after public cheating

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Fortnite hand cannon
Epic won't tolerate Fortnite hacks.
Photo: Epic Games

Professional Fortnite player FaZe Jarvis has been permanently banned from the game for using hacks.

The 17-year-old uploaded videos of himself using an “aimbot.” Jarvis claims he cheated only to entertain fans, but Epic Games says it has a “zero tolerance policy” on cheat software.

The ban has reignited debates over Epic’s seemingly unfair and inconsistent punishment policy.

Sacré bleu! Mario Kart Tour will take players to Paris next

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Sacré bleu! Mario Kart Tour will take players to Paris next
Mario Kart Tour continues to roll out new courses.
Photo: Nintendo

Mario Kart Tour‘s world tour has so far taken players to New York, Tokyo and, err, Halloween. Now it’s headed to Paris, France for its next location.

Starting tomorrow, players logging into the game today should be able to access the Paris Tour course. In addition to landmarks like the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, and more, the Paris tour adds new characters as well.

Chinese smartphone CEO who made his name dissing Apple declared a ‘deadbeat’

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Chinese smartphone CEO who made his name dissing Apple declared a 'deadbeat'
Smartisan CEO said that Apple lost its soul after Steve Jobs died.
Photo: Allogo Wang/Flickr CC

The founder of a Chinese smartphone company which has been a vocal critic of Apple has landed on China’s official list of deadbeats. This is a national database held by China’s Supreme Court which can be described as a credit blacklist.

Smartisan Technology CEO Luo Yonghao is barred from taking flights or high-speed train journeys. He can also no longer stay in luxury hotels, spend money in nightclubs, or buy property.

Apple TV+ blesses us with highest-quality 4K streams

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AppleTV+
How are Apple Originals looking on your TV?
Photo: Roku

If you’ve been enjoying Apple TV+ and wondering why your vision is suddenly better, it’s not that you’re getting younger. It’s that Apple’s new service streams the highest-quality 4K content yet.

That’s according to new tests that measure the bitrate of video streams. They reveal See has the highest bitrate so far, closely followed by The Elephant Queen.

Bernie Sanders has a big problem with Apple’s $2.5 billion housing crisis fund

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Bernie Sanders has a big problem with Apple's $2.5b housing crisis fund
Sanders thinks Apple helped create the problem it claims to be fighting.
Photo: CafePress

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is less than impressed by Apple’s pledge of $2.5 billion to help support affordable housing in California.

Apple pledged the money Monday, saying it wants to be “part of the solution” when it comes to California’s sky-high housing prices. However, Sanders accuses Apple of “throwing pennies” at a crisis it “helped create.”

Apple TV is far more popular than you realize

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Apple TV HD on the Apple Store
Millions of people have purchased Apple TVs.
Screenshot: Apple

Apple TV owners, you are not alone. In fact, almost of a quarter of Apple’s US customers own one of its set-top boxes boxes, according to a new survey. They’re actually more widely used than Apple Watch or AirPods.

Get the best from hundreds of business bestsellers in just 12 minutes each [Deals]

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ReadItForMe
Grasp the important concepts of best-sellers with Readitfor.me
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

The world moves at lightning speed. There’s more content created now than at any other point in human history. Valuable information whizzes past so quickly it’s nearly impossible to even identify it all, let alone consume and internalize it.

So with all that going on … how do you possibly find time to read?  And we don’t mean pulpy bestsellers, either. We’re talking about the latest in business strategy and training to stay abreast of what’s taking the corporate world by storm and how you can use that knowledge to advance your own career.

You mainline it, of course.

Adobe Illustrator joining Photoshop on iPad in 2020

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Adobe Illustrator for iPad
This early glimpse show what Adobe Illustrator for iPad will probably look like.
Photo: Adobe

Adobe plans to launch a version of Illustrator for Apple’s tablets next year. But this won‘t be a straight port — the user interface will be changed substantially to run on a touchscreen with a stylus.

The company also just introduced Photoshop for iPad (and revealed plans to launch Adobe Photoshop Camera, a camera app that adds lenses and filters).

How to play relaxing, ambient sounds with your HomePod

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HomePod, Siri, music
What could be more relaxing than this?
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Stressed? On edge? Struggling to block out the annoying construction work down the street? Or do you just hate silence, and the way it reminds you that your life is tick-ticking away? Then you need some room-filling ambient sounds.

How about a nice, relaxing rainstorm to help you fall asleep? Or some white noise to fill the space left by your grownup children when they left you behind to start their own lives? If you have a HomePod running iOS 13.2 or later, your smart speaker stands ready to help blank out the soul-bleeding silence of your empty life. You just need to ask.

Dropbox Transfer makes sharing huge files from your iPad a snap

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Dropbox Transfer
Dropbox Transfer simplifies sending and receiving up to 100GB of files.
Photo: Dropbox

iPhone and iPad can now take advantage of Dropbox Transfer, which allows users to more easily send and receive up to 100 GB of files.

It doesn’t have the size restrictions of email, and is simpler than Dropbox’s traditional system for sharing files.

The Banker shows how black businessmen challenged racist real estate laws

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Apple's first original film The Banker
Apple's original film The Banker hits theaters in December.
Photo: Apple

The first trailer for Apple original film The Banker showcases the shrewd financial moves of two black entrepreneurs who took on racist real estate laws in the Jim Crow era.

Based on a true story, the film stars Samuel L. Jackson and Anthony Mackie as ambitious businessmen who used a clever scheme to shake up the establishment in the 1950s.

Adobe’s new camera app brings ‘AI magic’ to iPhone photos

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new camera app from Adobe
Raise the cool factor on your iPhone photos with the Adobe Photoshop Camera app.
Photo: Adobe

After finally bringing Photoshop to iPad, Adobe says it will roll out a new smartphone camera app with a slew of creative lenses and AI powers that come at the point of capture.

The upcoming Adobe Photoshop Camera seems to borrow the lens-swapping feature of Hipstamatic. Adobe promises it will give users “Photoshop-grade magic right from the viewfinder.”