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

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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

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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]

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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]

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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

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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

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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

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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.

Cat-heavy puzzle game will take you to A.I. school

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Machine learning game while True: learn() comes to iOS this week.
An oddly named game about cats and machine learning lands on iOS this week.
Screenshot: Nival

Do you want a fun iPhone game that combines cats with a stealth lesson in artificial intelligence and machine learning?

Of course you do. And thanks to the oddly titled while True: learn(), you’re about to get your chance. Check out the game’s new trailer, which landed ahead of this week’s release of while True: learn() on iOS.

Apple supports more than 325,000 jobs in South Korea

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Apple-Garosugil-Seoul
The Apple Store in Garosugil, Seoul.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s impact on South Korea is much larger than most fans will have anticipated.

Cupertino directly employs 500 workers of its own, and has created hundreds of thousands of jobs on Samsung’s home turf. Local App Store developers have earned a whopping 4.7 trillion won.

Amazon wants to challenge CarPlay and Android Auto

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Connect the Amazon Echo Dot to your existing speaker system, and you bingo! -- your speakers just got smarts.
Amazon wants to move Alexa from the home into our cars.
Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

Amazon is trying to move in on Apple’s CarPlay and Android Auto by convincing carmakers to bake in Alexa as an in-car infotainment technology.

According to a new report, Amazon is scaling up its Echo Auto ambitions. It has already convinced BMW and Audi to adopt the tech. It is now supposedly trying to get other automakers to sign up as well.

Learn from the pros about how to get into the podcasting game

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Podcast
Learn from industry leaders about the many aspects of launching and growing a successful podcast.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

These days, seems like everybody has a podcast, but that doesn’t mean they’re doing it right. Podcasting remains one of the most vibrant and growing areas of media, so there’s plenty of opportunity to make a mark and build a business. You just need to learn the ropes.

Apple will donate to US National Parks for Apple Store purchases

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Apple Pay
Apple pays $10 for every Apple Pay purchase you make from, well, Apple.
Photo: Apple

Apple will make a $10 donation to the National Park Foundation for every Apple Pay purchase in the Apple Store.

The charitable donation program runs through this week, concluding on Sunday, August 25. It covers purchases made via both Apple’s online and physical retail stores.

Spotify Family Plan is finally getting explicit content filters

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Spotify is adding 2x as many monthly subscribers as Apple Music
Spotify is adding 2x as many monthly subscribers as Apple Music
Photo: Spotify

Spotify is finally making its Family Plan more family-friendly by giving parents greater control over the music their kids can listen to.

It will soon be possible to block out explicit tracks with a password-protected setting that only parents have access to. Spotify is also adding a “Family Mix” playlist.

Employees put Apple Arcade subscription gaming service through its paces

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Apple Arcade is something of a loot box for Apple.
Coming this fall.
Photo: Apple

Apple has kicked off internal testing of Apple Arcade, putting the upcoming subscription gaming service through its paces before it launches to the public.

For the preview, Apple employees can pay 49 cents for a one-month trial. That includes access to early builds of games including Way of the Turtle, Down in Bermuda and Hot Lava.