Delta has become the first airline to adopt Apple’s Business Chat feature.
The service will be used to conveniently connect customers to a Delta representative when they need support. It will be tested with a select group of users over the summer before expanding its reach this fall.
Fall detection was introduced with the Apple Watch Series 4. Screenshot: Apple
The Apple Watch Series 4’s fall detection feature has been credited with potentially helping save an 87-year-old woman’s life after a car accident.
Maine octogenarian Dotty White was on her way back from grocery shopping when she was involved in a collision. Fortunately, her trusty Apple wearable was on hand (literally) to help.
You can tune in for free if you’re a Prime subscriber. Photo: Amazon
Amazon is going all-out for Prime Day 2019. Not only will the event run for 48 hours, offering massive discounts on more than a million products, but it will also feature a music concert with some huge acts.
Shoppers will get to enjoy performances from Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa, Becky G, and more. And it’s completely free for Prime subscribers.
Sky: Children of the Light, the much-anticipated game from the makers of Journey, has been delayed.
You’ll have to wait another week for the title to hit the App Store — but you can preorder it right away. Developer thatgamecompany wants a little more time to “better align our global marketing efforts.”
Japan Display currently makes LCD screens for the iPhone XR. Photo: Apple
Apple could give struggling supplier Japan Display a boost by investing $100 million in the company. This will offer a valuable lifeline as Japan Display goes through restructuring after a key investment fell through.
Apple currently represents 60% of Japan Display’s sales. Thanks to the deal, it could soon make up even more.
Apple’s Vision Framework is a sophisticated machine-learning method to identify Fluffy. Screenshot: Apple
Coming to iPhone and Mac is a tool that examines images looking for cats and dogs. But the goal isn’t an app that allows people to walk around with an iPhone identifying the species of random critters. As fun as that might be, Apple is using machine learning to provide developers a powerful tool for identifying object of any type in images.
Apple Watch along with several iPad tablets are options for Xfinity Mobile customers. Photo: Apple
In a better-late-than-never scenario, Comcast’s Xfinity Mobile wireless carrier will soon begin offering two recent iPad models along with last year’s Apple Watch. These are the first non-smartphones available from this company, and all have built-in 4G LTE wireless networking.
This might be the best data deal we've ever seen. Photo: Verizon
Verizon Wireless is finally offering a truly unlimited talk, text and data plan through the company’s Visible brand. It only costs $40 per month and is powered by Verizon’s 4G LTE network.
Visible revealed full details of the updated plan today. And if you’re already a Visible or Verizon subscriber, you will want to jump on this ASAP.
Does Polar Ignite have the raw strength to take on Apple Watch? Photo: Polar
Polar calls its latest wearable a GPS fitness watch, but the Ignite goes deeper into health monitoring than that description suggests. Many of the features are related to sleep tracking, including overnight heart rate measurement.
Of course, the Polar Ignite will have to take on the Apple Watch, which dominates wearables partially because of its health-tracking abilities.
Shopify bought into Apple Business Chat for easier customer interactions. Photo: Shopify
Shopify customers can reach out to business owners with the Messages app on their iPhone or Mac thanks to integration with Apple Business Chat. It’s even possible to make purchases via these text messages.
"Yay! More Instagram ads!" -- said no one ever. Photo: Ian Fuchs/Cult of Mac
Get ready to see even more ads on Instagram.
The social media platform has been milking every inch of screen space for ads over the last five years. Now the company says it plans to slowly roll out ads into the Explore page, starting with an advertisement for IGTV that should start showing up today.
Everyone should play Human: Fall Flat. Photo: 505 Games
Human: Fall Flat, the wonderful puzzle platformer from 505 Games, has made the leap to the App Store.
This unique title lets you play as a wobbly human who gets stuck inside surreal dreams and has to find the exit. You have no superpowers or special abilities, which makes the open-ended, physics-based gameplay all the more fun.
Ableton has put a synth school into the browser. Screenshot: Cult of Mac
Did you ever wonder how a synthesizer works? It’s all just “electronic noise,” right? Well, yes, it totally is. But if you’d like to know a bit more than that, Berlin-based Ableton will teach you. The electronic music giant launched a website that puts a synthesizer inside your browser, and uses it to teach you exactly how a synth works.
The synth simulator works great in Mobile Safari, too, but if you use Google’s Chrome, you can hook up an actual keyboard to your Mac and use it to play. That’s thanks to Chrome’s support for Web MIDI, which Safari doesn’t offer.
Let’s have a quick look at this cool teaching tool.
Apple's impressive chip team just got more impressive. Photo: LinkedIn
One of the top CPU architects in the world has joined Apple’s chip team.
Mike Filippo, who created some of ARM’s most impressive CPUs over the last few years, was hired last month by Apple, signifying the company could be gearing up to switch to ARM CPUs on the Mac.
Apple spent more on its own shares in Q1 than any company ever before in a single quarter. Photo illustration: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Apple’s stock buybacks in Q1 totaled more than any other S&P 500 company by a wide margin. The iPhone maker poured $23.8 billion into purchasing its own shares, more than it has ever done before. And that’s saying a lot, as Apple been spending billions on buybacks for many years.
Apple employees marching in the SF Pride parade. Photo: Tim Cook/Twitter
Some of Google’s LGBTQ+ employees have petitioned the San Francisco Pride board of directors to kick the search engine giant out of the SF Pride parade slated for this weekend.
The Google employees posted an open letter this morning saying they’ve spent countless hours trying to get Google to improve policies and practices regarding the treatment of LGBTQ+ persons, but the company has done nothing. Even though they might get in trouble for writing the letter, nearly 100 employees signed it, urging the parade to reject Google’s failure to act.
Samsung is yet to iron out the teething troubles it has suffered with the Galaxy Fold. But that hasn’t stopped the South Korean company from diving head first into developing a sequel.
A new rumor claims Samsung’s second model will feature a larger screen and S Pen stylus. And it could arrive a lot sooner than fans anticipated.
We've rounded up four premium Mac apps that are available for massive discounts. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
We’ve always got great deals on gear, gadgets and apps. But sometimes they stack up, so we get to share them all at once. That’s what happened with these four Mac apps – Luminar 3, MacX DVD Ripper, PDF Reader Pro, and iMazing 2. These apps cover productivity, photo editing, iOS management, and more. Most are discounted by more than half off, read on for more details:
The burgeoning trade war with China has caused Apple no end of headaches. But an end could be in sight, according to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
Speaking with CNBC, Mnuchin said that the U.S. and China have a “path to complete this.” He notes that both parties were “90% of the way there” during previous talks, before discussions broke down.
Oppo’s efforts to eliminate the notch have led to the world’s first selfie camera that sits under your smartphone’s screen.
The new technology, which was showcased to the public at MWC Shanghai this week, will be making its way to commercial handsets “in the near future.” And it promises to be just as good as existing selfie cameras.
Having gotten out of the 5G smartphone modem game, Intel is auctioning off its IP related to cellular wireless technology. In total, a massive 8,500 assets will be up for auction.
Intel made the call to get out of 5G modems after Apple made up with Qualcomm. At the time, Intel noted that there was no profitable route forward.
Apple News will shine a light on 2020 Democratic candidates. Photo: Apple
Apple has launched a special guide section for Apple News, featuring coverage of 20 Democratic candidates in the lead-up to the 2020 U.S. Elections.
The section of the app curates content from a variety of news sources. It also includes basic information about the different candidates who will take place in the first debate. This includes their biography and current position on key issues.