Everybody’s quick to read through our many social feeds. But when it comes to reading more substantial things like articles or books plenty of us could use a speed boost.
Self-driving car startup Drive.ai is reportedly shutting down — and Apple is scooping up the talent.
Drive.ai, which made kits that turn regular cars into self-driving cars, notified the Employment Development Department of California that it was shutting down and laying off all 90 of its employees. Apple was reportedly looking into acquiring the company earlier this month. Instead, Cupertino decided to just hire some of its key employees.
OWC makes an eye-opening claim about the Envoy Pro Ex: the company claims its latest solid-state drive is faster than any rival with a USB-C connection.
In addition, the portable drive can stand up to dust and even immersion in water.
Moshi passed a critical first test as I opened up the box containing a review unit of its new roll-top backpack the company calls Captus.
My wife liked the looks of it.
Over the years, she has seen me review backpacks and messenger bags and while I reach nuanced conclusions for each, her evaluations are consistently blunt – most bags skew masculine.
Apple’s suite of iWork productivity apps received a big batch of updates today for both the Mac and iOS versions.
Keynote, Numbers and Pages for the two platforms added a bunch of new features. The biggest addition is some new outline styles. There are also a couple of new customization options for Apple Pencil and a face detection feature that intelligently positions people in placeholders and objects.
Some people were freaked out by the recent report that phone overuse causes spikes to grow on people’s skulls. Well, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
A group of experts created a 3D model showing changes they see coming to humanity by 2100, including permanently hunched backs and claw hands. It seems each and every American will be ready to star in a horror flick.
The Pokémon Company will reveal new information about upcoming mobile game Pokémon Masters this week.
Its first presentation since the game was confirmed ahead of E3 is just a couple of days away. We know very little about it so far, but we have been promised battles against Pokémon Trainers from the main RPG series.
Two companies just unveiled portable batteries that include built-in wireless chargers.
The Mophie Powerstation Hub also includes built-in foldable AC power prongs. The Kenu BingeBank, on the other hand, sports a kickstand so it props up your iPhone while charging.
It seems inevitable that a camera will eventually find its way onto the Apple Watch, the only question is ‘how’? The USPTO awarded a new patent this week that reveals one pretty novel idea Apple has come up with that would allow the Apple Watch camera to be reversible.
It doesn’t look very sleek, but it could be pretty useful:
We’ve explained why it’s really not a great idea to update to the iOS 13 and iPadOS public betas right now — and the same goes for macOS Catalina. Not only is it unstable in its current form, but some things don’t work properly.
One of those is multiple iTunes libraries. As things stand, you will have access to only one. And if it’s not the right one when you first install Catalina, there’s nothing you can do about it.
Ever dreamed of penning a Hollywood blockbuster? Turns out there’s an app for that: social reading and writing app Wattpad.
With more than 70 million monthly users (and growing fast), Wattpad is a low-key App Store hit. The app is like Instagram, but for sharing stories instead of photos. It’s a great way to find fantastic new stories — and it’s flipping the script on how Hollywood makes movies.
Fortnite’s newest content update is out now.
Players can look forward to a long list of weapon changes for Battle Royale — including the return of the pump shotgun and the arrival of the new revolver.
The macOS Catalina public beta is here, so if you’re feeling brave, you can go ahead and install it on your Mac. But should you bother? Is early access to Project Catalyst apps, Voice Control, the Photos app redesign, Sidecar and Screen Time worth the risks?
Probably not. Or not yet, at least. But if you want to go ahead and install macOS Catalina on your Mac, here are a few tips and warnings.
Your vanity for selfies is limited only by your technology. Now it’s time to add 360-degree selfie videos, like the slow-motion variety made famous by the movie The Matrix.
But those scenes from the cult classic required a circular array of more than 100 cameras. A bizarre gadget on Kickstarter will help you get the effect with a single GoPro camera.
Apple has declined to remove the Euro Fatwa app from the App Store, despite critics’ allegations that it contains hate speech and is a tool for Islamic radicalization.
Google removed the Euro Fatwa app from its store last month shortly after its launch. However, Euro Fatwa remains available in the App Store. Apple says the app does not fall afoul of its guidelines.
Apple Watch is going from strength to strength, with shipments of the device growing 22% last year. That’s according to Counterpoint Research, which pins the cause on the excellent Apple Watch Series 4.
Analyst Satyajit Sinha notes that the Apple Watch Series 4 was the year’s “star performer.” Sinha says that it sold 11.5 million units in 2018, making it the year’s best-selling smartwatch.
Apple just dropped its first public beta builds of iOS 13 and iPadOS, making it easy for anyone to try them out months ahead of their official launch. But you should really resist the urge to install them right now.
Don’t assume these betas are ready for everyone just because they’re available to the public now. If you upgrade your primary iPhone and iPad early, you’re almost certainly going to run into frustrating problems.
I’ve suffered all kinds of issues since upgrading — and I’m not the only one.
A lobbyist representing tech companies including Apple has warned that tariffs on Chinese products will have a catastrophic impact.
Sage Chandler, of the Consumer Technology Association, said that President Trump’s proposed import tariffs will cause the price of consumer products to rise significantly.
Amazon just confirmed the details of Prime Day 2019 — and it sounds like it’s going to be a corker.
This year’s event will run for a full 48 hours, making it the longest Prime Day so far. It also promises to be the best yet, with big discounts to be had on more than 1 million products across almost every category.
An insurance firm and apartment complex in New Jersey are suing Apple over a fire allegedly involving an iPad. The February 2017 fire caused the death of apartment tenant, Bradley Ireland.
Lego Games just broke the Guinness World Records title for the largest Lego Brick Diorama. The massive structure is a real-world representation of Lego Tower, an upcoming game in which players manage their own tiny skyscrapers where Minifigures live.
Harry Potter still has his magic… if by magic you mean the ability to make tons of money in a short amount of time. An augmented-reality game set in J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World pulled in nearly three million new players its first weekend. And they spent a lot of real muggle money.
The mayor of Seattle confirmed today that Apple is making a major play to move into Amazon and Microsoft’s backyard.
During a press conference today, Mayor Jenny A. Durkan revealed that Apple plans to increase its expansion into Seattle by hiring an additional 2,000 employees in the next five years.
There’s a innovative option for people who want to make the most of the limited number of USB-C ports on their MacBook or iPad Pro: the Minix Neo Storage is a 4-port hub that also includes up to 240GB of built-in storage. And the price for all this is under $100.
UPDATE: Cult of Mac has published a Minix Neo Storage review.
The iOS 13 and iPadOS public betas are here. And if you plan to test them, you need to take a few steps to get ready. And remember, you will be testing them. Or, more likely, you’ll be testing your own patience.
The early betas are almost always buggy, screwy and crashy. You may lose work. Weird things may happen to your iCloud data. Your favorite (and essential) apps may flat-out fail to launch.
But still, these public betas are already more stable than the very raw early developer versions. If you’re planning on trying them out, here’s how to do it.