Mobile menu toggle

Apple health team struggles to find a focus

By

Apple health care
Apple's health-tracking features have been a game changer.
Photo: Lewis Wallace/Cult of Mac

Tensions have been rising inside Apple’s health team over the last year or so, according to a new report that reveals some of the top employees from the division have left the company.

While healthcare has become one of Apple’s biggest focuses recently, the report claims the health team has seen a number of leadership changes and internal disagreements leading some employees to be disillusioned with the group’s culture.

Stop Apple’s spam notifications with this hidden setting

By

Nobody likes spam. Here's how to stop Apple spam notifications, i.e. marketing notifications.
Nobody likes spam. Nobody.
Photo: Jesper Sehested/Flickr CC

On a podcast this week, I heard the hosts complaining that they get all kinds of spam notifications from Apple. Their iPhones pop up promotional alerts about Apple Pay, apps, Apple Music, Apple Pay, podcasts and more.

“WTF?” I thought, because I don’t get anything like that. I checked through my notification preferences, sure that I’d find something in there, but no. So why wasn’t I getting all this Apple spam?

Because Apple hid the setting. You can turn off all those junky Apple spam notifications. You just have to know where to look.

Apple takes gambling apps off the table for kids

By

iPhone slots gambling
Kids can now play iPhone gambling apps, but not for much longer.
Photo: Hot Vegas Slot Machine Games!

Apple will soon allow parents to block children’s access to all games that include “Frequent/Intense Simulated Gambling” no matter where they are in the world. As it stands now, not all gambling applications are currently rated as 17+. That’s apparently about to change.

Original Macintosh keyboard takes control of iPhone

By

iPhone X Mac keyboard
And you thought the original Mac monitor was small.
Photo: Napabar/YouTube

iOS 13 makes it possible to use a keyboard and mouse to control your iPad. But one enterprising YouTuber has shown that it’s equally possible to rig up an old-school Macintosh keyboard and mouse to control an iPhone.

Sure, it’s a bit fiddly, but it’s undeniably fun in a geeky kind of way. You can check out the oddball demonstration in the video below.

Why sports apparel brands are giving up on fitness apps [Opinion]

By

Whatever happened to Nike+?
What ever happened to Nike+?
Photo: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac

Remember when every sports apparel brand needed an app to be cool? Ten years ago, the Nike+Apple partnership was in its ascendency, while Under Armour and Adidas were splurging millions acquiring fitness apps like MyFitnessPal and Runtastic.

Back then, brand owners hoped that by mining our workout data from these apps, they could target us with personalized offers. The big idea was that if you knew how often someone went running, you could tell when they needed new running shoes.

Today, things look very different. Nike removed workout tracking from its website. And Under Armour still can’t figure out how to unlock the potential of its apps. So what went wrong? What happened to the digital fitness revolution?

Fortnite’s new Junk Rift lets you drop dinosaurs on enemies

By

Fortnite-Junk-Rift
And cars, anchors, and more.
Photo: Epic Games

Fortnite Battle Royale players now have a new way to combat frustrating B.R.U.T.E. mechs. A new Junk Rift item lets you drop cars, anchors, and other heavy items on your opponents.

The version 10.10 content update, out today, also brings glitched consumables. But it’s bad news for fans of the soccer stadium.

Apple Card adds new rewards as it becomes available to all (in the US)

By

Apple Card
Just spend it.
Photo: Apple

Apple Card is now available to all iPhone users in the United States.

You can sign up for yours through the Wallet app. Users will enjoy 2% daily cash back on Apple Pay transactions, and 3% daily cash back on purchases made directly from Apple.

As the Apple credit card launched Tuesday, Cupertino also expanded its 3% daily cash back offer to include Uber and Uber Eats.

Siri’s former boss has jumped ship to Microsoft

By

HomePod siri
"Siri, why is my former boss using Windows?"
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Microsoft has snapped up the former Siri boss, who left Apple earlier in May 2019.

Bill Stasior joined Apple in 2012, taking over control of the Siri team not long after it made its debut with the iPhone 4s. In his job at Microsoft, Stasior will be corporate vice president of technology.

We have gear to toughen up your charging game [Deals]

By

Nomad Roundup
We've rounded up the sleekest, toughest iPhone charging solutions from Nomad.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Our phones and tablets depend on some pretty frail charging equipment. The soft white Lightning cables that come with iPhones fray and break so easily it’s easy to think they’re designed that way. It pays to sync and charge your devices with a cable that’ll last, so we rounded up some tough, innovative charging upgrades from Nomad:

Two gang member suspects arrested after brazen Apple Store robbery

By

apple-store-san-francisco
Liverpool Apple Store robbery took place last month.
Photo: Steve Rhodes/Flickr CC

Two people have been arrested for a brazen robbery at a U.K. Apple Store, which left customers shaken.

The robbery took place in the morning of July 4. A gang of six people entered the Liverpool store and began pulling iPhones and other devices off the display tables. They pushed customers out of the way during the rampage, and made off with 36 iPhones and a MacBook.

Porsche’s debut all-electric car will be the first with built-in Apple Music

By

Porsche Taycan Apple deal
Coming soon to a Porsche near you. Well, so long as long as you live near a dealership or some very rich people.
Photo: Porsche

Porsche and Apple have brokered a deal to allow the new electric Porsche Taycan can stream Apple Music directly in-car.

“It’s about innovation,” said Klaus Zellmer, President and CEO of Porsche Cars North America. “…It’s about brand values that we share. And that’s why we were really excited when the project started.”

Tim Cook lights up World Photography Day with gorgeous iPhone pix

By

Tim Cook retweets photo for World Photography Day
Beautifully #shotoniphone in the Netherlands.
Screenshot: Patrick Smit/Twitter

Apple CEO Tim Cook never has to think about how best to observe World Photography Day. He can search Twitter for the hashtag “Shot on iPhone” and look for moving images to repost.

Cook’s curation never disappoints as evident by today’s observance of an unofficial holiday honoring dedicated shooters.

Preorders for colorful Powerbeats Pro open Wednesday

By

Powerbeats Pro
These are all the colors Powerbeats Pro will be available in soon.
Photo: Beats

Apple’s Powerbeats Pro wireless headphones have been available in any color you want, as long as it’s black. That’s going to change later this week when pre-orders finally start for ivory, moss, and navy options.

Ulysses adds iPad full-screen view, and keyword manager

By

Ulysses Summer 2019 edition.
Ulysses Summer 2019 edition.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

I’m writing this post in Ulysses, a text-editing app that separates the writing part from the printing/publishing/exporting part of the process. And today I’m writing in the brand-new Summer 2019 edition of Ulysses, which adds new features and a new, super-clean iPad full-screen mode.

Ulysses is therefore better than ever before. Come with me, and check out all the new stuff contained in Ulysses 17 for iOS.

Leak shows off Sonos’ first portable Bluetooth speaker

By

leaked photo of Sonos Move
Sonos makes its Move into the Bluetooth speaker market.
Photo: via WinFutre

Smart speaker maker Sonos is getting ready to launch a product with a feature it has long resisted – Bluetooth connectivity.

Reports of a Sonos Move first surfaced earlier this month. Today, a Germany tech site published leaked marketing photos ahead of an Aug. 26 Sonos press event.

Astronaut uses iPad to DJ an out-of-the-world party

By

DJ astronaut from ISS
DJ Astro Luca provided the tunes for a party while on the International Space Station.
Photo: BigCityBeats

A DJ providing music from an iPad is no big deal… unless he’s 250 miles above the Earth traveling at 17,000 miles an hour. That’s what astronaut Luca Parmitano did, casting music from the International Space Station.

Watch his set now:

First iPhone jailbreak in years made possible by Apple security screwup

By

Cydia
We haven't Cydia on our iPhones in forever.
Photo: Alex Heath

Jailbreaking your up-to-date iPhone and iPad is finally possible again for the first time in years thanks to a big software goof by Apple.

Security researcher Pwn20wnd published a full jailbreak for iOS 12.4 today after discovering that Apple accidentally unpatched a security flaw in iOS 12.4 that it had fixed in iOS 12.3. The jailbreak makes it possible to completely customize nearly all aspects of your iPhone and iPad software, but there are some risks too.

Apple drops macOS Catalina beta 6 to all [Updated]

By

WWDC 2019
Catalina was unveiled in June and expected to hit Macs everywhere in September.
Photo: Apple

The day iTunes goes away for good moved a bit closer today with the release of a fresh developer beta of macOS Catalina. This is the sixth such, and the first in two weeks.

A version of this beta for the general public is expected shortly.

UPDATE: As expected, all can now access macOS Catalina Public beta 5. Devs got an extra beta early in this process, so this is the same version as Developer beta 6.

How to stop your MacBook from powering up when you open it

By

Walking boots on beach
AutoBoot joke.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Mac laptops made in the last few years have an annoying/convenient feature. Open one up, and it powers on. MacBooks have woken from sleep when you open the lid for years, but now they boot from cold, too. Want to clean the keyboard without turning the thing on? Tough.

Or is it? If you want to stop this behavior, it’s easy. Here’s how.

Want to get laid? You could try using more emojis

By

emoji swap
But don't let the emojis do all the work.
Photo: Cult of Mac

People who frequently use emojis in their messages have more active sex lives than those who don’t, according to a new study.

Emoji users are also more likely to get a first date, but only 28% of single Americans use them on a regular basis.

Apple shows its ambitions with first trailer for The Morning Show

By

Morning Show producers blame bad reviews on 'Apple haters'
The first Apple TV+ show is, err, about the making of a TV show.
Photo: Apple

The first full trailer for The Morning Show makes Apple’s upcoming series look a lot more serious than the goofy onstage presentation at Cupertino’s March keynote let on.

The Apple TV+ show, which stars Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carell, looks very #MeToo-era. It could prove pretty darn interesting if it lives up to the trailer, which Apple released this morning.