Cult of Mac

This week on The CultCast: Apple’s readying a totally redesigned MacBook Pro with next-gen display! We discuss. Plus: Apple’s working on the next generation of MagSafe! Thank the gods. And we take a fascinating look at the unbelievable scale and size of Apple’s megafactories, from a bonus chapter of Leander’s new book, Tim Cook: The Genius Who Took Apple to the Next Level.

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Apple’s Palo Alto retail store was targeted by mask-wearing thieves this week, who stole MacBooks worth almost $20,000 in total.

The robbery took place in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Two thieves, wearing masks and hooded sweatshirts, smashed the glass doors outside using rocks. They proceeded to grab nine Macs, although two of these were dropped during their escape.

Apple display maker Japan Display revealed today that it has signed a 232 billion yen ($2.1 billion) deal that will bail-out the struggling company.

The deal gives a Chinese-Taiwanese conglomerate a 49.8% stake in the company, making it the biggest shareholder.

Disney’s new streaming service, officially announced for the first time on Thursday, will likely make its way to Apple TV.

That’s according to Disney CEO Bob Iger, who explained a Disney+ app will eventually be available through traditional distributors. You will also be able to enjoy it on Smart TVs and consoles.

Apple is increasingly moving toward subscription-based Services as a major source of income. However, it’s also doing the right thing by making sure that users actually want the subscriptions they’re purchasing — and aren’t just subscribing by accident.

To help cement this, it has added a new step into the App Store subscription process. Before subscribing to an app, users must now confirm a “Confirm Subscription” popup.

Charging on the go can mean carrying a power bank and a tangle of cords, especially if you tend to carry all your devices.

Tech accessory company Ugreen has a charger for the Apple Watch that’s cordless and no bigger than the watch itself.

Many people want their iPad to work more like a MacBook. A concept video proposes the opposite: having macOS function more like iOS on a tablet. That means no more free-floating windows.

Watch the video to see the idea in action:

Why would you bother to back up your iMessages? After all, they’re all stored in iCloud these days, right? Well, yes your messages are all stored in iCloud, but they’re not backed up up there. They’re synced, which means that if you delete a message thread, it’s gone forever. The answer is to make a local backup, which requires a Mac. Which is ridiculous in 2019, but there you go.

Here’s how to back up your iMessages in case the worst happens.

Apple came out with two new how-to videos for the Apple Watch today, showing customers how to take advantage of some of the new features introduced last year.

The two videos cover how to turn on heart health notifications and fall detection. Each video is only 30 seconds long and shows how to activate each feature in just three or four easy steps.

Watch them both right here:

Each of the 80 arresting iPhone images in an exhibition entitled #DRAFT #RUSSIA are a chapter in the life of the photographer Dmitry Markov.

The pictures may feel like a hard, unpleasant view of a fringe existence in a Russian province far removed from the economic bustle of Moscow, but Markov makes no apology.

The quick answer is “Yes, of course you should.” The more complex answer is “But only if you need it.” Your iPhone has an equalizer built in, although it’s not exactly easy to find. Annoyingly-hidden-yet-essential interface elements aside, there’s usually not much point in tweaking the EQ of your Apple Music library unless you have a problem in your setup.

But if you do want to use it, here’s how.

Captain America star Chris Evans is already hard at work on his next project now that Avengers: Endgame is nearly ready to hit theaters.

Evans was spotted on the set of his upcoming TV series, Defending Jacob, which is being made for Apple TV+. Evans shaved his beard for Endgame but it looks like it’s making a comeback in the Apple TV series.

Samsung’s very experimental and pricey Galaxy Fold takes a big step toward its launch tomorrow. This will be the first wide release of a folding phone in the U.S.

In addition, Samsung promised the Galaxy S10 5G will debut in the U.S in May.

Terry Gilliam’s 1981 movie Time Bandits is set to get the TV series treatment by Apple, but in a recent interview, Gilliam revealed he’s still not sure how involved he will be in the project.

Despite already getting an executive producer credit for the series, Gilliam says he still hasn’t signed his contract for the show. Even though he claims he’s delighted that Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi is taking the lead on the pilot episode, Gilliam is concerned about the overall tone of the show.

Every Android smartphone maker has a concept folding smartphone that turns into a tablet, but what if manufacturers used folding screens to make our smartphones smaller?

That’s exactly what Sharp has proposed with its first folding smartphone concept that turns a regular-looking smartphone into a clamshell phone kind of like the popular Motorola Razr.

Check it out in action:

Dutch regulators are investigating complaints by developers that Apple promotes its own apps over others in the App Store.

News of the anti-trust probe comes on the heels of Spotify filing a formal antitrust complaint with the European Union.

Epic Games has made a number of big changes to Fortnite’s Team Rumble game mode. Players can enjoy longer matches and more loot while having to combat fewer rocket launchers.

The changes rolled out just hours after we saw the release of Fortnite 8.30, which brought the brand new Reboot Van.

This post was going to be part of my new book, Tim Cook: The Genius Who Took Apple to the Next Level, but was cut for length or continuity. Over the next week or so, we will be publishing several more sections that were cut, focusing mostly on geeky details of Apple’s manufacturing operations.

As iPhone growth exploded, Apple struggled to keep up with demand. Every year, the number of iPhones sold would double, which meant that Apple kept adding new suppliers and assembly operations to keep up. It was a monumental struggle.

A mega-lawsuit from a so-called patent troll claims that Apple is infringing on 16 separate patents.

The lawsuit was filed in the Eastern District of Texas by Seven Networks, a software company which licenses technology related to network congestion and other areas.

It takes more than a good idea to get a business off the ground. You also need savvy, skills, a network, and other resources. You can’t do it alone, so don’t.

Apple shows an impressive commitment to sustainability, particularly when it comes to clean energy.

Today, it revealed that it has almost doubled the number of suppliers committed to running their Apple production on 100% clean energy. This brings the total number to 44. It means that Apple will exceed — by 1 gigawatt — its goal of bringing 4 gigawatts of renewable energy into its supply chain by 2020.

Apple’s newest services don’t deliver the “depth” investors want to see as iPhone sales fall for the Cupertino company.

Some analysts are particularly disappointed with the upcoming Apple TV+ video streaming service. They don’t believe Apple has any hope of competing with Netflix.

Germany’s finance minister Olaf Scholz has slammed tech giants that “pay taxes nowhere.”

It’s the latest shot at tech giants such as Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon which have previously clashed with the European Union on tax issues. In an interview with CNBC, Scholz argued that “we should find a global agreement” to shut tax avoidance loopholes.

Netflix has confirmed plans to launch its first comedy radio station.

Netflix Is A Joke Radio, which is being launched in partnership with radio streaming service SiriusXM, will go live on April 15. It will feature “highlights from top Netflix talent,” including Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, and Ricky Gervais.

Apple has overhauled the web interface for podcasts hosted on its platform. The refresh means that Mac users can now stream episodes directly from the podcasts.apple.com website, instead of being redirected through iTunes.

The change comes at a time when Apple is reportedly moving to break up iTunes, which has been bloated and increasingly un-user-friendly for years.