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Laurene Powell Jobs invests in Apple TV show maker

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Laurene Powell Jobs (center) at the Female Founders Conference 2016 in San Francisco.
Laurene Powell Jobs (center) at the Female Founders Conference 2016 in San Francisco.
Photo: Y Combinator/Flickr CC

Reese Witherspoon is definitely doing something right when it comes to TV production. First, Apple invested in three shows being produced by the Hollywood actress, which will be among the most prominent of Apple’s original TV efforts.

Now, a new report claims that Laurene Powell Jobs, philanthropist, media mogul and widow of the late Steve Jobs, is helping to finance Witherspoon’s production company, Hello Sunshine.

Apple pulls third-party SDKs from Shazam in latest update

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Apple acquisition meant that Shazam turned a profit in 2018
Apple acquisition meant that Shazam turned a profit in 2018
Photo: Apple

Apple has pulled all but one third-party SDK from Shazam in its latest update.

The move wipes out analytics firms, ad networks, open-source projects, and more — including Google AdMob, Facebook Ads, Amazon Ads, and DoubleClick. Only HockeyApp, a Microsoft platform for beta testing, is still available.

Apple dethroned as Fast Company’s most innovative company

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Apple adds 5 new vice presidents to its executive lineup
Apple tumbled all the way down to seventeenth place.
Photo: Lyle Kahney/Cult of Mac

Fast Company has released its 2019 list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies — and, unlike last year, Apple’s no longer number one.

This year, Apple falls substantially to 17th place. “They didn’t really break new ground with their devices, and hardware sales were sluggish,” Fast Company senior editor Amy Farley told CNBC. But the business publication does give Apple props for its dazzling A12 Bionic chip.

Apple gives a glimpse inside its self-driving vehicle program

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Project Titan
Apple is putting tremendous effort into ensuring test autonomous vehicles are safe, safe, safe.
Photo: Idiggapple/Twitter

A whitepaper describing the elaborate safety procedures used in Apple’s automated car development program seems intended to assure government regulators and the public that the company is making every effort to prevent accidents.

As a bonus, the document gives some insight into the automated vehicle Apple is creating.

Spectrum TV brings 60 channels to your Apple TV for $15

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You’ll be able to watch Spectrum TV Essentials through Charter’s iOS app.
You’ll be able to watch Spectrum TV Essentials through Charter’s iOS app.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Charter Communications, the US’s second largest cable company, is launching an inexpensive streaming TV service. For just $14.99 a month, subscribers will be able to watch 60+ live channels on an Apple TV, iOS device, Mac, or other computer.

Spectrum TV Essentials is scheduled to go live in March, when it will have to compete with similar services, like Sling TV and YouTube TV.

Galaxy S10 vs. iPhone: Samsung gives us so many reasons to switch

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Galaxy S10+ camera
Can Samsung's top-rated camera system convince you to switch?
Photo: Samsung

Samsung just delivered a keynote packed with new devices, including an all-new Galaxy S10 lineup and the exciting Galaxy Flex, its first foldable smartphone. But are any of them worth considering for an iPhone fan?

We’ve compared all four of Samsung’s new devices with the iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR to see how they stack up. Whether you want the best display, cameras, security, or performance, we can help you choose the right phone for you.

6 ways Samsung just leapfrogged Apple

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Samsung
Samsung's Unpacked event was actually pretty impressive.
Photo: Samsung

Samsung put Apple and the rest of the tech industry on notice today during its massive Unpacked event.

During the biggest tech event of 2019 so far, Samsung unveiled a slew of new smartphones, wearables, earbuds and more. Even though Samsung has a rep for copying Apple — and there was certainly a lot of that at Unpacked — the company is setting the tone for the rest of the industry. Samsung even leapfrogged Apple’s products in some ways.

Here are six things Apple should take note of.

The one dongle every MacBook owner needs

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Calbit dongle
We found the one dongle to rule them all.
Photo: Erfon Elijah

The 2018 MacBook Pro is one of the sexiest machines Apple’s ever made. There’s just one problem: you need a bunch of dongles to use all your favorite accessories.

Because the MacBook Pro only has USB-C ports you’ll need a dongle for ethernet, a dongle for an HDMI display and another dongle to connect your gadgets that use USB-A, which is like everything. CultCast host Erfon Elijah, aka The Gadget Hunter, has been on the search for the perfect dongle solution for people on the go. In his latest video he reveals his favorite new dongle of 2019.

If you’re ready to taste the sweet relief of living life with just one dongle, pay attention:

Galaxy S10 cameras look promising, but will they deliver?

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Galaxy S10 cameras
Lots of new Samsung Galaxy smartphones, all with multiple cameras.
Screenshot: Samsung

The cameras on the Samsung Galaxy smartphones have always ranked among the best. But there were always two or three other smartphones that kept the Samsung cameras from being the leader.

Samsung hopes to change that after launching new smartphones today that feature multiple cameras, new effects and a partnership with Instagram that builds the photo-sharing app directly into the native camera.

Samsung steps up fitness game with two new wearables

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While Galaxy Watch Active functions more like Apple Watch, Galaxy Fit looks more like a straight-up fitness tracker.
While Galaxy Watch Active functions more like Apple Watch, Galaxy Fit looks more like a straight-up fitness tracker.
Photo: Samsung

Samsung really wants to compete with Apple Watch on the fitness front, as shown by a pair of new wearables the Korean company unveiled Wednesday. The Galaxy Watch Active offers a “full smartwatch experience,” the company said, while the Galaxy Fit works more like a stripped-down fitness tracker.

Framing both new devices as essential for health in the modern world, Samsung ripped a page from Cupertino’s successful health-centric marketing of Apple Watch. But it also dunked on Cupertino with some features that will make Apple Watch owners drool.

A radical Safari tabs trick that’s hard to explain in the title

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A desert, not unlike the Mojave, where you could go on safari.
I’m getting desperate for Safari-related images for these how-to posts.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

This tip is exhibit A in the case for Apple being really, really good at hiding features. I imagine if you went around to Apple’s house for dinner, and the company asked you to set the table, you’d have some real trouble finding the cutlery. Maybe you’d open the cutlery drawer and see only the spoons. Then you’d open the drawer below, expecting that Apple had just set things out differently, as usual.

But in that second drawer you’d find nothing but fruit. WTF Apple? And then you’d notice that the top drawer is a little thicker than it appears when open. You try the top drawer again. This time you see that if you press down on one of the wooden spoons, the others move aside — animated a little too slowly — to reveal the knives and spoons. But where the hell are the forks?

Back to today’s tip. It’s a combination of two tricks you may already know:

  • Search the open Safari tabs on your iPhone.
  • Long-press the tabs button to close all tabs.

What do you think today’s tip might be?

New Samsung Galaxy Buds try to steal AirPods’ thunder

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Galaxy buds
Watch out AirPods, Galaxy Buds have arrived.
Photo: Samsung

AirPods have become the ultimate status symbol among Millenials, but Samsung is ready to steal some of the shine with its new line of Galaxy Buds.

Just like AirPods, the new Galaxy Buds give wearers a convenient, cord-free solution for listening to music on the go. However, Galaxy Buds pack some impressive features that AirPods don’t have and it could be bad news for Apple.

U.S.’s crappy 4G service costs far more than it should

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Speedtest will show you that 4G LTE service in the US is often quite slow.
Speedtest will show you that 4G LTE service in the US is often quite slow.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Many other countries have much faster 4G service than the United States, according to a new study.  About the only places the US beat were emerging economies.

To add insult to injury, a recent study also found that Americans pay far more for mobile internet access than other developed countries.

Samsung Galaxy S10 is iPhone’s toughest rival yet

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Galaxy S10 lineup
The Galaxy S10 will blow your socks off.
Photo: Samsung

Samsung just “unpacked” its latest Galaxy lineup at an event in San Francisco — and it’s everything fans will have been hoping for.

The Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10+, and Galaxy S10e deliver Samsung’s largest screens yet, with slimmer bezels, better cameras, brand new chips, and exciting new features. They’re pricey, but well worth it — and Apple should be worried.

Apple Pay adoption soars, but still lags in U.S.

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Apple Pay adoption
Target stores are now accepting Apple Pay.
Photo: Apple

The number of Apple Pay users continues to climb, but the country with the slowest adoption is the United States.

Year over year figures show a 135 percent increase in Apple Pay users, a meteoric climb likely fueled when Apple added peer-to-peer payments at the beginning of 2018.

Samsung’s new foldable phone is a pricey taste of the future

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Galaxy-Fold-inside
Could it be here any day now?
Photo: Samsung

We won’t have flying cars and hoverboards in 2019, but thanks to Samsung, we do have foldable phones.

The Galaxy Fold finally got its official unveiling today at Galaxy Unpacked, and it wants to replace your phone and your tablet. Samsung calls it “a whole new world of mobile,” but it looks more like a prototype than a final design. And that futuristic folding phone certainly won’t come cheap.

Hyperspektiv app glitches up your photos and videos [Review]

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Imagine this moving, and you might start to get seasick.
Imagine this moving, and you might start to get seasick.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Hyperspektiv is a contradiction. Photo-editing apps are designed to make your photos look better by making them look nicer. Hyperspektiv is designed to make your photos look better by making them look worse.

Not only that, it’s one of a handful of photo apps that don’t try to mimic the limitations of film photography, like grain and light leaks. Instead, it ditches the nostalgia and uses truly digital means to glitch up your images, turning them into stills and videos that would look fantastic in a music video.

iOS 12.2 beta 3 brings changes to Apple News, TV remote app and Group FaceTime fix [Updated]

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animoji
The new animoji of iOS 12.2.
Photo: Apple

Update: The latest beta of iOS 12.2 is now available to the public, not just developers.

Apple just released the third beta build of iOS 12.2 to developers this morning, bringing a bunch of fixes and new features to the iPhone and iPad.

iOS 12.2 beta 3 arrived just over two weeks after developers received the last build. There are also new betas out for tvOS 12.2 and watchOS 5.2 to go with the macOS 10.4.4 beta that came out yesterday.

Apple may finally preview a revamped Mac Pro at WWDC 2019

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Mac Pro
The new Mac Pro will be modular again, just like this one.
Photo: Apple

Apple may finally give fans a first look at its revamped Mac Pro at WWDC 2019.

The company promised in the spring of 2017 that it would “rethink” its high-end desktop following feedback from professional users. The new model is expected to come with a more modular design that can be easily upgraded, but we’re still waiting for an update on Apple’s progress.

Rap T-shirt designer gives Steve Jobs the hip-hop fashion treatment

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Marino Morwood 2
Marino Morwood's designs have been worn by some crazy popular rappers.
Photo: Marino Morwood

Steve Jobs may have been referenced in a hip-hop track or two, but Apple’s co-founder and urban fashion aren’t exactly things you’d expect to find together.

That did not stop rap T-shirt designer Marino Morwood from picking Jobs as the subject of his latest creation. Having focused stars like Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. for his previous designs, his Steve Jobs T-shirt could bring Apple’s late CEO to a whole new audience!

Qualcomm renews efforts to block certain iPhone imports in U.S.

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Qualcomm headquarters
Certain iPhone models could potentially be blocked from sale in the U.S.
Photo: Qualcomm

Qualcomm has ramped up its efforts against Apple as part of the long-running battle between the two tech companies.

The chip maker has asked U.S. trade regulators to reverse a previous judge’s ruling. This would allow it to block the import of certain iPhone models into the United States.

Pocket a wireless charging powerhouse [Deals]

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This portable battery sports massive capacity, tons of connections and even wireless charging.
This portable battery sports massive capacity, tons of connections and even wireless charging.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

One thing that’s always good to have on hand is extra power for our mobile devices. But as we carry more, and more power-hungry devices, the typical portable battery won’t cut it. So, it’s time for a better battery.

Student faces lengthy prison spell for drug-dealing iOS app

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Mascot 2
The app was named after UC Santa Cruz's banana slug mascot.
Photo: Mike Fernwood/Flickr CC

Drugs on a college campus? To paraphrase an old Apple slogan, it turns out there’s an app for that.

Created by 18-year-old University of California, Santa Cruz student Collin Riley Howard, the Banana Plug app allegedly allowed customers to place orders for drugs — including cocaine, “Molly” and “shrooms” — from the comfort of their iOS devices. Howard then communicated with buyers via Snapchat to set up the sale, authorities say.

Apple’s latest ad will make believe an Apple Watch can fly

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Flight 2
Apple's best commercial of 2019 so far.
Photo: Apple

The latest Apple Watch ad likens the Apple Watch Series 4’s cellular capabilities to the power of flight.

It features 29-year-old Finnish-American athlete Inka Tiitto, best known to U.S. audiences for her appearance in America’s Got Talent. It depicts Tiitto running through woods and mountainsides, before eventually being hurled upward into the sky for a dazzling skydiving display.

Check it out below.