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Score a refurbished Magic Mouse, keyboard and more [Week’s Best Deals]

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Deals of the Week
We've rounded up some of the very best deals in the Cult of Mac Store this week.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

This has been a banner week at the Cult of Mac Store, so we’ve rounded up some of the best deals we saw. Below you’ll find massive discounts on refurbished Magic Mouse and Keyboards, 12-minute book summaries, access to vast stock photo libraries, and a powerful personal finance tool. You’ve gotta see these deals …

iOS 13 bug is a ‘total game killer’ for Fortnite and PUBG

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Fortnite-X-Borderlands
Think twice before making the jump to iOS 13.
Photo: Epic Games

Don’t upgrade to iOS 13 if you love playing Fortnite or PUBG on your iPhone or iPad.

Gamers quickly discovered that iOS 13’s new three-finger gesture interrupts gameplay. While players try to aim and move with a 4 finger claw-like input method it brings up a new text editing bar that prevents you from doing anything so you’re just a sitting duck for opponents.

Got a new iPhone? Now get the best price for your old one

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iPhone 6 Plus
Your old iPhone might be worth a small fortune.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Picked up a shiny new iPhone 11 today? Now it’s time to start thinking about how you’re going to make back the fat stack of cash you just dropped on an upgrade. It might be easier than you think!

Start by selling your old iPhone to Cult of Mac. It’s quick and easy, we pay real cash, and we typically offer more than other buyback services. Get a quote today and find out how much your old handset is really worth!

Why Series 5 might be my first Apple Watch

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Apple-Watch-Series-5-colors
Finally.
Photo: Apple

The Apple Watch has been around for almost four and a half years, and I’m just about to (maybe) buy my first one. This isn’t a new habit. I held off the iPhone for five years, until I could get a decent cellular data plan without a contract, and I’m still using an old iMac as my only Mac, 10 years after buying it.

So what is it about the Apple Watch 5 that finally makes it attractive? Well, there’s one obvious answer — and one reason that’s a lot less obvious.

Aging iPhone 11 batteries won’t take such a toll on performance

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iPhone-11-Pro-performance
Years from now, even with a nearly worn-out battery, an iPhone 11 should still be up to high-end games.
Photo: Apple

All types of phone batteries provide less power after years of use, but the new iPhone 11 minimizes the performance reduction that is an inescapable result.

The result should be iPhones that perform better after years of use.

Netflix CEO: Apple and Disney will take streaming wars to ‘whole new world’

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75% of Netflix users have no plans to jump ship to Apple TV+ (right away)
75% of Netflix users have no plans to jump ship to Apple TV+ (right away)
Photo: Stock Catalog/Flickr CC

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings almost sounds excited about the increased competition his company is about to face from the biggest tech companies in the world.

After basically creating the entire TV streaming market, Netflix is about to go up against new services from Apple and Disney. In an interview with Variety, Hastings admitted it’s going to be a whole new ball game in just a few months, but Netflix doesn’t plan to change much.

For All Mankind is Apple’s attempt to make space for inclusivity

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New episodes of The Morning Show, See, and For All Mankind are up
Apple has a more diverse, inclusive view of space.
Photo: Apple

Maybe Apple should tweak the title of For All Mankind, its space race sci-fi show. A new teaser for the upcoming Apple TV+ series reveals that the drama will inject a strong shot of female empowerment into its alternate-history storyline about Russians beating the United States to the moon.

The 15-second clip, released Friday, shows actress Sarah Jones in the role of Tracy Stevens. “Look at you, Tracy Stevens,” says an off-screen male character. “You’re going to be an astronaut candidate.”

“No,” Stevens says. “One day I’m going to be an astronaut.” Cue a shot of an all-female astronaut ensemble.

Save up to 73% on a pro vector graphics app [Deals]

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Gravit Designer PRO
Score access to a powerful, intuitive, and affordable vector design app.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

If you’re doing digital design work, you have to work with vector graphics. The scalable format is fundamental to today’s designers, but subscriptions with the big platforms like Adobe can get expensive. So this affordable alternative from Gravit is a great way to do the work while saving dough.

Tim Cook opens the doors for Fifth Avenue Apple Store reopening

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Tim Cook opens doors
Tim Cook and retail boss Deirdre O’Brien were both present for the reopening.
Screenshot: CNBC

Tim Cook opened the doors at the reopening of Apple’s iconic Fifth Avenue Apple Store in New York, just as the iPhone 11 went on sale.

Cook counted down to the 8am EST opening with fans, then pushed open the large glass doors to let customers inside the refurbished Apple Store. He even threw out high fives as people filed into the store to buy their new handsets and Apple Watches Series 5s.

An unlikely friendship: Woz and Steve-O visit the Apple Store

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Steve O
Caption contest entries in the comments.
Photo: Steve-O

Back in the 1970s, Steve Wozniak made friends with another Steve called Steve Jobs. They went on to found a $1 trillion company called Apple. Here in 2019, Steve Wozniak is friends with another guy called Steve. Former Jackass star Steve-O. Yes, really.

In a new video posted to Steve-O’s YouTube channel, he takes a trip to the Apple Store with Woz to buy a new MacBook. Because, as co-founder of Apple, Woz gets a 10% employee discount on all products. Check it out.

iOS 13 spills ‘Items’ tracking ahead of Apple tags

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Tile will speak out against Apple in Congress antitrust hearing
Tile will speak out against Apple in Congress antitrust hearing
Photo: Tile

iOS 13 screenshots have revealed a new “Items” tracking feature that appears to pave the way for rumored “Apple Tags.”

Baked into the Find My app, but currently hidden in the public version of the software, the Items section appears alongside People and Devices and lets you “keep track of your everyday items.”

Apple fans line up around the world for iPhone 11, Apple Watch 5

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iPhone 11 line
Fans line up to get their new shiny items.
Photo: Apple

For most iPhone fans, the only day more exciting than Apple unveiling its latest iPhones is when they actually start shipping to customers.

In 2019, that day is… well, today. As September 20 rolls around, iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max, and Apple Watch Series 5 are officially on sale. And with that comes the customary Apple Store lines and tweets about exciting postal deliveries.

How to use iOS 13’s Audio Sharing

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Audio sharing in iOS 13
Look how friendly these people are. Just look.
Photo: Apple

In iOS 13, you can share songs and watch movies with a friend, with each of you using your own AirPods. The new feature is called Audio Sharing, and it lets you instantly — and temporarily — pair a second set of AirPods to your iPhone or iPad. It’s like the olde schoole method of using a headphone splitter to plug two sets of headphones into one jack socket, only way more expensive and fancy.

Here’s how to use it.

Check out these great hidden features in iOS 13’s Reminders app

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iOS-13-reminders-app
The new iOS 13 Reminders app.
Photo: Ben Geskin

Apple’s Reminders app gets a massive update in iPadOS and iOS 13. It’s no longer a joke app that needs a million taps just to set a notification time on your action item. We already know about the new layout, which splits tasks into Today, Scheduled, All and Lists, and we also know about the excellent new natural-language input, which makes typing a reminder as easy as dictating it to Siri.

But the big update also brings some other new features you likely haven’t heard about yet: Today Notifications and Type to Siri (right there in the Spotlight screen).

How to get around with Apple Maps’ Look Around in iOS 13

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Look around on iPad
Look Around is like GTA, only you can't steal cars or murder people.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Look Around is Apple’s answer to Google’s Street View, and it’s about a zillion times better — if your area has coverage, that is. Look Around is just getting started, and covers very few places. Street View, on the other hand, is available for pretty much anywhere, including underwater, up mountains and on hiking trails.

Why is Look Around better? Well, it’s faster, for one. And it just looks nicer. The images are super-high-resolution and full-screen. Using it on a 13-inch iPad Pro feels like taking a virtual street tour of a neighborhood.

Fun new Dickinson trailer puts feminism front and center

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Emilydickinson
Coming November 1.
Photo: Apple

Downton Abbey fans may have a great new costume drama to jump ship to thanks to Apple TV+. A new trailer for Apple’s upcoming TV show Dickinson gives us our best glimpse yet of the new series, which stars Haile Steinfeld as iconic poet Emily Dickinson.

The fight for women’s rights lands front and center in the lengthy new trailer. It shows just how “eccentric” Dickinson’s peers consider her ideas at the time.

Check it out:

Check out the amazing new iOS 13 video-editing features

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iOS 13 video editing
Confused?
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

In iPadOS and iOS 13, you can edit videos just the same way you’ve always ben able to edit photos. You can crop them, rotate them, add filters and adjust their color. And — finally — you can simply save the edited version instead of spawning a copy every time you make a simple trim. No need for iMovie — the iOS Photos app can now perform radical edits to videos. This isn’t limited to the iPhones 11, either. You can do all this on any iPhone or iPad running iOS 13.

Check out the great new iOS 13 video editing features:

3 ways to block annoying calls and messages in iOS 13

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Red pillarbox
It's even simpler to block email, messages and unknown callers in iOS 13.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

The trouble with modern technology is that anyone can try to reach you, at any time. Your boss can leave a passive aggressive email at the top of your inbox overnight, so you see it when you want to check personal mail. Anyone can send you an SMS or iMessage. And anyone with your phone number can spam you, any time.

Currently in iOS, you can block iMessage senders. But in iOS 13, you gain two new ways to keep stalkers, weird friends and over-sharing co-workers out of your digital life. Now you can block unknown phone callers and email senders.

Get your game on: Apple Arcade opens for business [Review]

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Apple Arcade
Apple Arcade has a surprisingly wide array of games for a service launching today.
Photo: Apple

You can write off being productive for the rest of the day because Apple Arcade just launched. This all-you-can-play gaming service brings dozens of titles in a variety of genres. The monthly cost is fairly low, and games can be played on almost every type of Apple computer.

Thanks to early access, I’ve been enjoying Apple Arcade for several days. Here’s why I think you’ll like it too.

8 great iOS 13 and iPadOS features (and 2 terrible ones)

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With iPadOS, you're one step closer to replacing your Mac with an iPad.
With iPadOS, you're one step closer to replacing your Mac with an iPad.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

iPadOS 13 brings some real game-changing new features, plus a lot of excellent comfort tweaks that make using it much easier. And iOS 13 is no slouch.

Today I’ll list my favorite new features in iOS 13 and iPadOS, along with a few changes I’d be happy to live without.