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‘Shot on iPhone’ mini-documentary goes under the sea

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A “Shot on iPhone” film about wildlife conservationists visits a watery realm.
A “Shot on iPhone” film about wildlife conservationists visits a watery realm.
Photo: Apple

A short documentary about the Maldives Whale Shark Research Programme is the latest entry in the “Shot on iPhone XS” campaign, which shows what’s possible with the the advanced cameras in Apple handsets.

The 8-minute video is a full of crystal-clear video taken beneath the waves. Watch it now:

Apple TV+ hires new head of documentaries

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Molly Thompson brings decades of experience to the Apple TV+ management team.
Molly Thompson brings decades of experience to the Apple TV+ management team.
Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac

Apple’s upcoming streaming video service now has someone in charge of documentaries. Molly Thompson previously held a similar role at A&E Networks.

Action and comedy shows have so far grabbed the most attention at Apple TV+, but clearly educational programming will play a big part too.

Apple unleashes barrage of fun new iPad Pro videos

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IPad Pro
You’ve never seen iPad tricks like these.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s campaign to convince everyone that the iPad Pro is a true PC replacement continued today with a barrage of six new videos extolling the tablet’s many uses.

Everything from wedding planning to music making has been highlighted in Apple’s new series of iPad Pro videos. Most of the new video are how-to videos, but there is a fun new ad that features a ton of fancy iPad Pro twirling and keyboard flipping as one iPad Pro lover takes his beloved device on an important trip.

Watch all six right here:

Smart speaker installed base could top 200 million this year

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HomePod Volume Controls
Perhaps a rising tide of smart speaker sales will help HomePod.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The number of smart speakers like Amazon’s Echo and Apple’s HomePod in use around the world is expected to keep growing strongly for years to come. It could pass 200 million in 2019, and pass 500 million in 2023.

Analysts from Canalys indicate the installed base of these devices is now surpassing the number of smartwatches in use. And smart speakers could even outnumber tablets before the end of 2021, they say.

Even Apple can’t save America’s dying malls

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Apple store
Mall owners might be overpaying to bring Apple to shopping centers.
Photo: Apple

U.S. shopping malls are losing customers at an alarming rate and there appears to be little Apple can do to help save them.

Apple stores are usually viewed as an anchor store for malls because of their high sales volumes and foot traffic they bring in. But a new study found that experimental tenants like Apple aren’t drawing in extra traffic.

Hacked Etch A Sketch takes a pretty good picture

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Hacked Etch A Sketch
Making a photograph with an Etch A Sketch was not exactly a snap.
Screenshot: Martin Fitzpatrick/YouTube

The Etch A Sketch has had a Hall of Fame career, but little has changed with the red-framed mechanical drawing toy.

Then Martin Fitzpatrick got a hold of the white knobs – and used the toy to take a picture.

How I wrote a shortcut to calculate the length of playlists

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Shortcut sign.
Shortcut sign.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

This weekend I made a shortcut that takes a list of songs, adds up the total duration, and shows it in a notification.

The first part was easy. The Shortcuts app has a great action that can tell you anything about an iTunes Media file (or any other media file), including its duration. I whipped up a shortcut to cycle through a list of music tracks, adding up the durations along the way. It took five minutes, tops.

Then things started to go wrong. The shortcut returned the total duration in seconds. I don’t know about you, but for me, a number like 4,166.867 isn’t that useful. I prefer something like 01:09:26, or 1 hour 9 minutes and 36 seconds. The problem was, I couldn’t get from one to the other.

Beats unleashes army of athletes in new Powerbeats Pro ad

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Beats
LeBron has been rocking Beats since day one.
Photo: Beats

Some of the biggest names in sports can be seen rocking the new Powerbeats Pro in the latest video put out by Apple’s headphone company.

Beats’ new ad unleashes the Powerbeats Pro everywhere from the basketball court to the skate park as superstars like LeBron James and Serena Williams train to dominate their respective games. With over a dozen athletes making a cameo, the action-packed ad has a lot to take in.

How many familiar faces can you spot?

Mozilla petitions Apple to boost privacy with rotating ad IDs

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ipad-pro-smart-keyboard-safari
Rotating advertiser IDs make a lot of sense.
Photo: Apple

Mozilla, the company behind Firefox, is calling for Apple to boost user privacy on iOS by introducing rotating advertiser IDs.

Most iPhone and iPad users don’t know that they can block access to their unique ID, Mozilla says. Regularly rotating IDs would make it harder for companies “to build profiles of us over time.”

Sign the petition to pressure Apple into making a change today.

Founder of Apple’s most famous supplier is stepping down

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Terry Gou
Foxconn founder Terry Gou (right) says he's making the U.S. a bigger focus in 2020.
Photo: Voice of America/Wikimedia Commons

The founder of Foxconn, whose biggest customer, Apple, helped it rise to be the world’s top contract electronics manufacturer, says he plans to step aside to allow a younger executive to take over.

CEO Terry Gou did not give a timeline when he confirmed to a Reuters reporter his plans to resign from the Taiwan-based company he started with a loan from his mom around the same time Steve Jobs launched Apple.

Get some tax relief with 10% off select products [Watch Store]

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The Strapa Crocodilus leather Apple Watch band gives you that alligator look.
Taxes got you down? Time to save some quick cash on Apple accessories.
Photo: Strapa

Today is the dreaded deadline for filing U.S. income tax returns, and we know how much of a drag that is. So the Cult of Mac Watch Store is bringing you some tax relief with discounts on select watch bands, chargers, stands and cases.

We’ve rounded up offerings from these great companies: Ottm, Strapa, Twelve South and Wiplabs. Save 10% on these products at the Cult of Mac Watch Store this week!

iOS 13 details leak in juicy new report

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Logitech Slim Folio Pro review
Apple's market share climbed 4% last quarter.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

iOS 13 will bring big improvements and a whole bunch of new features to iPhone and iPad users this fall.

Many of the changes have been spilled in a new report that cites people familiar with the update. You can look forward to a real dark mode, better multitasking, a font manager, and more.

Apple Watch helps save 80-year-old woman in Germany

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fall detection
Fall detection was one of the big features introduced with the Apple Watch Series 4.
Photo: Apple

The ECG feature on the Apple Watch Series 4 gets the lion’s share of headlines about potentially life-saving incidents. However, it’s the wearable’s fall-detecting ability which is the hero of the latest story of this kind.

In Munich, Germany, an 80-year-old woman fell in her apartment. Fortunately, her Apple Watch recognized what had happened and called emergency services.

Construction halts on Apple data center in Denmark

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Irishcenter
A mock up of Apple's proposed data center in Ireland.
Photo: Apple

Construction has been abandoned on Apple’s new data center in Denmark, according to local reports.

“There is no life” at the site after hundreds of workers for main contractor Exyte were sent home. It is believed Apple has terminated its agreement with the company following a dispute.

Apple vs. Qualcomm court case could be worth up to $30 billion

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Qualcomm patents
This could be the most expensive case of its kind.
Photo: Qualcomm

Apple’s battle with Qualcomm is a meeting of two tech titans — and the monetary amounts involved reflect that.

According to a new report from the Financial Times, the amount of money at sake dwarfs any previous IP or antitrust case. Apple and four companies in its supply chain are seeking $30 billion in damages from Qualcomm. Since Qualcomm generated “just” $5.7 billion in 2016, the fallout could be absolutely enormous.

A13 chips for 2019 iPhone move toward mass-production

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Right to Repair
Apple's first 5nm chips are expected to ship in iPhone and iPad this year.
Photo: iFixit

Apple chip-maker TSMC is almost ready to start mass-producing next-generation A13 chips for this year’s new iPhone lineup.

The A13 will employ an “enhanced version” of TSMC’s N7+ fabrication process, according to a new report. It is likely to be Apple’s last 7-nanometer chip following the launch of TSMC’s new 5nm foundry at the Southern Taiwan Science Park.

Spotted: Tim Cook parties at Coachella

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Cook 1
Tim Cook was photographed at Coachella this weekend!
Photo: Diplo/Instagram

This weekend was Coachella — and one person who apparently needed no reminding of this fact was Tim Cook.

Apple’s CEO was snapped at the event, posing for a picture with DJ and music producer Diplo. “Some random guy came up to me and asked for a picture but I look good so here it is,” Diplo humorously captioned the photo.

Apple could invest $500 million in Apple Arcade

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Apple Arcade is something of a loot box for Apple.
Apple Arcade is something of an expensive loot box for Apple.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s upcoming game service could be getting some major seed money. A new report indicates the iPhone maker might be spending over $500 million to build its stable of games.

And analysts from HSBC predict Apple Arcade will bring in more revenue than Apple TV+, this company’s streaming video service.

Inside Apple’s megafactories [Cult of Mac Magazine 292]

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Exclusive outtakes from Leander's new book on Tim Cook take you inside Apple's innovative manufacturing process.
Exclusive outtakes from Leander's new book on Tim Cook take you inside Apple's innovative manufacturing process.
Cover: Marty Cortinas/Cult of Mac

In case you haven’t heard, our fearless leader (Cult of Mac founder and publisher Leander Kahney) has a new book coming soon. It’s called Tim Cook: The Genius Who Took Apple to the Next Level, and it offers an eye-opening look at the Apple CEO.

Unfortunately, Leander couldn’t squeeze all the info he gathered into a single book. So we’re publishing a series of outtakes dealing with Apple’s innovative approach to manufacturing the world’s greatest computers.

Catch up on all the outtakes so far — starting with a peek inside Apple’s megafactories — in this week’s free issue of Cult of Mac Magazine. Or use the links below to stay in your browser. Either way, you’ll get all the outtakes from the Cook book, plus the week’s best Apple news, how-tos and reviews.

Apple and Foxconn, a history [Cook book outtakes]

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Foxconn workers spell company's name
Workers spell out the company's name at one of Foxconn's giant plants.
Photo: Foxconn

Tim Cook book outtakes: How Apple's Operations department works 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.

Foxconn was founded around the same time as Apple, although 6,000 miles away on the other side of the world. In 1974, when 19-year-old Steve Jobs was working at Atari, 24-year-old Terry Gou borrowed $7,500 ($37,000 in today’s money) from his mother to start up a business.