Facebook is going into the voice-driven digital assistant race. Its AI tech will go into the line of Facebook Messenger-driven smart displays this social networking/advertising company launched last fall, as well as other future devices.
If I’m watching a TV show and a great song comes on, I usually try to find my iPhone in time to shazam it. I almost always fail, as 1) TV shows don’t tend to play entire songs without people talking over them and 2) I can never find my phone in time. Or rather I’m too lazy to look for it.
A similar thing happens for movies, only I promise myself that I’ll check the credits at the end, and I seldom do.
My dad, old-school guy that he is, likes to call up the TV company and ask them. Maybe I’ll do that when I’m retired, if there are still TV companies with phone numbers.
But did you know that there’s an almost 100% foolproof way to find that awesome track that played in that TV show you saw last night? It’s called Tunefind, and it’s great.
Samsung’s new Galaxy Fold smartphone has a serious problem with its folding display.
Multiple early reviewers are reporting that the display has broken after just one or two days of use. It appears that the hinge on some units is defective, causing the screen to be unusable.
Check out these tweets of the carnage:
Microsoft unveiled its vision for the future of collaborative computing today and if your business wants in on the action, it won’t be cheap.
The Windows-maker’s newest PC is giant touchscreen that can be wheeled around from meeting room to meeting room, allowing everyone in the office to work together on one display. There’s a 50-inch model that is set to come out in June, but the company also teased an ungodly 85-inch version of the Microsoft Surface Hub 2 that will come down the pipeline in the future.
It’s now easier than ever to pay for Uber Eats orders, thanks to the arrival of Apple Pay.
The food delivery service has finally adopted Apple’s mobile payments platform in almost 20 countries. It makes completing a transaction as easy as tapping your finger or scanning your face.
Find My iPhone and Find My Friends are currently separate applications, but Apple is reportedly going to merge them in future versions of iOS and mac OS, and add useful features.
In addition, the company is supposedly developing its own tracker tag that will apparently compete with Tile.
Apple has settled it’s long-running legal dispute with Qualcomm. It almost certainly means that Qualcomm will again supply modem chips for the iPhone. But we won’t see a 5G iPhone any sooner.
A new report warns that Apple will still struggle to catch up with rivals like Samsung, which have already launched 5G handsets, and that the first iPhone with 5G still won’t arrive before 2020.
AirSnap is back on our radar with a new 10% discount. As part of our Watch Store’s limited-time deals and discounts, over the next few days we’ll be offering price slashes on some of your favorite products and tech accessories.
A clear customer favorite, AirSnap is a super-tough, ultra-stylish leather case for AirPods. Compatible with Qi charging pads and your new wireless charging AirPods case (pictured above), this compact, portable case became a megahit in the Cult of Mac Watch Store.
Snap these up fast for a real deal before they sell out.
Apple and Qualcomm may have made up again, but the two parties aren’t going to spill the beans regarding exactly how much their financial settlement involved.
Speaking on CNBC today, Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf said that he wouldn’t discuss the payment Apple agreed to in the settlement. However, he did note that the two companies are excited about working together once again.
Apple is reportedly in talks with Lidar makers regarding sensors that could be used for its Apple Car initiative.
A commonly used surveying tool, Lidar measures distances between objects. It works by firing a pulsed laser light, then measuring how long it takes to bounce back. While not exclusively used in self-driving cars, that’s the application the technology is most synonymous with.
Reading is one of the best things we can do to stay informed and keep our minds sharp. But it’s also one thing for which there’s never enough time. Instead of stressing over the books you can’t get to, this service gives the gist so you’re not in the dark.
An abandoned 2016 musical about the rivalry between Steve Jobs and frenemy Bill Gates has resulted in the producer being sued for $6 million.
The musical’s producer allegedly told investors he had funding from Microsoft for the project. In fact, the musical was $1 million in debt at the time. It was ultimately canceled just two weeks before it was due to open.
“Don’t mess with Mother.” That’s the title of Apple’s newest Shot on iPhone film, which features a stunning collection of clips celebrating nature from around the world.
Check out the weird and wonderful wildlife and spectacular scenery — all filmed on an iPhone.
Plans for an iPhone SE 2 may have gone the way of the dodo, but Apple may not have abandoned its iPhone SE philosophy of squeezing new components into an old iPhone form factor.
According to a new report, Apple plans to release a new version of the iPhone 8 with new, up-to-date internals. While users probably won’t get Face ID, they may get an A13 processor, redesigned printing circuit board, and more.
Planes have returned to Fortnite — but you won’t have to combat them in regular Battle Royale matches.
This week’s update brings a brand new Air Royale game mode, as well as new weapons and lots of big improvements. There’s also a new tournament with a $1 million prize pool.
Update: Apple and Google have both removed TikTok as requested. While the app is no longer available for download, those who have previously downloaded it can continue using it.
TikTok, the popular — albeit controversial — Chinese video-sharing app, has run into problems in India. The country’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has reportedly asked Apple and Google to remove the app from their respective app stores.
The issue will be heard in the Supreme Court on April 22, but the app could potentially vanish from stores before then.
Intel is getting out of the 5G smartphone modem business, meaning that we won’t get 5G Intel iPhones after all.
The news was announced by Intel hours after Apple and 5G pioneer Qualcomm revealed that they have resolved their multi-year legal battle.
Most people probably shrugged their shoulders at the news Apple and Qualcomm ended their long, bitter legal war. But this is actually going to benefit every iPhone user.
It means that Apple is almost guaranteed to introduce a handset with super-fast 5G next year. Before now, there was some question about whether that was possible.
The first-ever biography of Apple CEO Tim Cook hits bookstores today, and it’s written by none other than Cult of Mac founder, Leander Kahney.
I haven’t heard from Leander in god knows how long while he’s been writing this book. But based on the early reviews, it appears like it was all worth it. No one has written a full book about Cook until now. Leander’s book, Tim Cook: The Genius Who Took Apple to the Next Level, details how Cook took on Steve Jobs’ mantle. While nearly any other human would have crumbled under that pressure, Cook thrived.
Early reviews for the book have been coming in all week, and so far they’re pretty positive. Here are some of the highlights.
If you work on a computer, you deal with PDFs. The universal document format is great for sending and consuming written and visual content of all kinds, from simple reports or tax files to entire books. But try to edit one, and you’ll likely hit a wall.
Netflix doesn’t seem worried at all that Apple and Disney are launching their own competitive streaming services by the end of 2019.
In its latest report to investors, Netflix cited Disney and Apple as its biggest upcoming competition, but instead of fearing the two companies’ platforms, Netflix swears its actually excited about the competition.
The legal war between Apple and Qualcomm is finally over.
In a surprise announcement, the two companies revealed that they have agreed to drop all litigation against each other, bringing an end to a dispute over royalities and patent infringements that spanned multiple countries.
Installing the latest macOS version on a 2018 MacBook Air increases the maximum screen brightness.
Apple’s own description of this notebook indicates that the highest potential brightness level is now 400 nits. That’s much higher than with this laptop launched.
At first glance, the decade-old OP-1 synthesizer from Swedish musical instrument makers Teenage Engineering looks about as standalone as it gets.
The tiny device couples a short, piano-style keyboard with a screen. And it contains a drum machine, several synthesizers, a sampler, a handful of sequencers, a virtual four-track tape recorder and even an FM radio. You can create entire tracks on it with no other gear, or you can hook it up to electric guitars and microphones and bring the outside world in.
But it also pairs surprisingly well with an iPad. You can record audio back and forth, but things go much deeper than that. You also can use the OP-1’s hardware keyboard to play instruments on the iPad, and use iPad MIDI apps to control the synthesizers on the OP-1.
If you own both pieces of gear already, hopefully this how-to will give you some new ideas about making music with an iPad. But if you only own an iPad, this in-depth article will provide tips for using your tablet with other music gear.
And if you know nothing about the OP-1, or about Teenage Engineering’s work in general, you’ll learn why the company is kind of the Apple of the synth world. Teenage Engineering is known for its incredible interface design — and for having a quirky personality similar to 1984-era Apple, when the brand-new Mac was making waves.
Amazon and Best Buy are now offering some of the biggest discounts we’ve seen on Apple’s latest iPad Pro lineup. And you can make yours even more affordable by selling your old model when you upgrade.
Cult of Mac offers real cash for your old Apple devices, and we typically pay more than anyone else. What’s more, it’s incredibly quick and simple, and we will even buy back battered tech in need of repair.