Have you bought yours yet? Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max sales have started off so strongly that they’ve helped Apple’s average selling price reach record heights, new data suggests.
The latest flagships accounted for 16 percent of all Apple handsets sold in the U.S. last quarter, despite being on sale for just ten days of it. Last year’s iPhone X continues to sell well despite being outdated now, while iPhone 8 and 8 Plus were the most popular options.
21-year-old Kerem Albayrak allegedly tried to hold up Apple for cyber-cash. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
An alleged hacker who reportedly threatened to sell the personal details of 319 million iCloud users is having his day in court. 21-year-old IT analyst Kerem Albayrak supposedly filmed himself accessing people’s accounts and posted footage showing this online.
He then asked Apple to pay him $174,000 worth of Bitcoin and $1,100 in iTunes vouchers to avoid doing anything with the accounts.
Take a deep dive into social media marketing, earning certification that'll boost your resume and marketability. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
Making money online means knowing how to leverage social media. Whether you’re trying to get an idea out, elevate a brand, or sell a product, social media marketing is essential. So this massively discounted social media certification course is a must-see.
The European Commission has decided that it won’t sue Ireland over delays in recovering a 13.1 billion euro ($15 billion) disputed tax bill from Apple.
You've already spent a fortune on your new iPhone XS, let Cult of Mac cover the rest literally. Photo: Kristal Chan/Cult of Mac
For the next several weeks, we’re giving away dozens of brand new iPhone XS cases on Instagram. We’re kicking off with a bundle of six sexy cases from Spigen, Urban Armor Gear, and Casemate. The six cases all fit the latest iPhone XS (not the Max), and together are worth a tasty $245.
Another great deal for Apple Pay users. Photo: Apple
The latest Apple Pay promotion offers shoppers $25 off Oakley gear.
Apple encourages users to “gear up for the season” in its promotional email. It might also come in handy for those who have already started their Christmas shopping — but there is a catch.
Spotify today rolled out a big update for its iOS app, introducing a refreshed design with personalized search. It also adds a new feature called Artist Radio, which offers an endless playlist of tracks based on your favorite musicians or songs.
Coming soon to an iOS device near you. Photo: 10tons Ltd
Tesla vs. Lovecraft is coming to iOS, and, no, sadly that’s not a racing game in which Elon Musk’s electric cars challenge the driving supremacy of Cthulhu. It’s still pretty darn great, though.
Instead, the game is a top-down steampunk shooter pitting inventor Nikola Tesla against a horde of Lovecraftian horrors, using a static-powered mech and assorted other inventions to do so.
Being the exclusive manufacturer of Apple chips isn't a guarantee of record-breaking earnings. Photo: Apple
It might be the exclusive manufacturer of Apple’s A-series chips, but Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) isn’t raking in quite as much cash as expected. Or, at least, as much as analysts were hoping for.
Twitter wants to make itself a more welcoming place for users. Photo: Twitter
Twitter wants to make it more obvious when a tweet is in breach of its Twitter rules. As a result, it is introducing a small interface tweak to make it more transparent when a tweet has been taken down.
The mophie powerstation USB-C 3XL is loaded with advanced features, but has a price to match. Photo: mophie
mophie’s name for thepowerstation USB-C 3XL doesn’t roll off the tongue, but there are plenty of MacBook/MacBook Pro users who should check it out anyway. This 26,000mAh battery is designed to quickly recharge an Apple tablet via USB-C, and can send power to an iPhone at the same time.
Just be warned, the price is enough to turn away some potential customers.
This is the $58,995 version of Brikk's Lux Apple Watch series 4. Photo: Brikk
If you think $529 is a lot to pay for a new Apple Watch then you aren’t the target market for a Lux Watch 4. These are produced by Brikk, who takes Apple’s wearable and lavishes on gold and precious gems, Prices start at a mere $28,995 and go up to over $1 million.
USB-C battery packs, chargers, hard drives, cables and hubs will future-proof newer Macs. Photo: Anker
USB Type C — it’s no longer a novelty but an emerging connectivity standard for Apple products. As a newer, more powerful variation of the same USB we all know and love (well, kinda), USB-C features higher power and faster data transfer than its predecessors via a smaller connector.
While older USB Type A and B were a great gift for Mac users — few mourned the passing of ADB and SCSI — USB is often finicky. Just plugging in an old-school USB cable can prove challenging, since you must position the connector just so for it to slide smoothly into the port. That often means several tries to achieve the proper angle and orientation.
Those obstacles disappear with USB-C because, in addition to its smaller size, it is designed to be reversible — with no up or down orientation, just like a Lightning cable — and the cables can have the same type of connector on both ends.
Sooner than you might think, MacBooks could use Apple's own chips instead of Intel processors. Photo: Apple
A major change to Mac laptops and desktops could be coming in the next few years. A respected analyst is the latest to say that Apple will put its own A-series processors in its Mac computers rather than Intel chips.
The A series was originally created for the iPhone, but has evolved to the point where its performance rivals desktop processors.
Woz is ready to put his magic fingers to work at investing. Photo: Reddit
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is ready to hop aboard the blockchain hype train with his latest venture that specializes in blockchain tech.
Equi Global, a venture capital firm powered by blockchain, revealed that Steve Wozniak is one of its co-founders and that the company is looking at 20 companies to invest in before it even launches.
Shoot your own comic-book remake of A Scanner Darkly. Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac
iOS 12 has a great new camera filter: Comic Book. It turns your selfies and photos into pretty convincing pen-and-ink-style drawings, complete with flat blocks of color. It even works with Animoji selfies.
But hold on one second. You won’t find this filter in your iPhone’s Camera app, or even in the Photos app. Instead, you need to fire up the Messages app and use the camera there.
A huge collection of classic Macs like this one is up for sale. Photo: The Apple Guy/YouTube
If one Mac is good then 1,100 of them is better, right? That used to be the philosophy of Roland Borsky, but the costs of storing a computer collection that dates back decades is forcing the Austrian man to sell it.
Borsky warns that if he can’t find a buyer all the computers are going to be thrown away.
Apple continues to put privacy front and center. Image: Apple
Apple’s refreshed Privacy website is live, giving U.S. users the ability to download all of their data from Apple. The website explains how and why Apple products are “designed to protect your privacy.”
Apple stresses that “your data belongs to you” and insists that it never sells users’ info to advertisers or other organizations.
The website even gives users the ability to delete an Apple account — and all associated data — if desired.
The latest release also includes Chromecast support. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac
The music industry loses $2.65B annually because small businesses are using music streaming services like Apple Music or Spotify without a license.
Nielsen Music surveyed 5,000 small business around the world and found a majority streamed music with a personal account, with many not knowing a business license for streaming music is required by law.
You have until October 31 to enjoy it! Photo: Nintendo
Nintendo’s newest mobile game just kicked off its first event in time for Halloween. Dragalia Lost players can enjoy playing with new adventurers, Wyrmprints, and dragons. You will also bag a Tenfold Summon ticket just for logging in.
If you’ve ever dreamed of controlling a state-of-the-art drone with just a few taps of the wrist, today is your lucky day. That’s because a new software update for Californian drone-makers’ Skydio quadcopter lets you take this high-end UAV to the skies — via your Apple Watch.
Learn to develop user friendly sites and apps with this 9-course bundle Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
The way we interact with our machines is changing fast. That means tons of opportunity to make your mark in a fast-growing field. But one does not simply walk into the UI/UX field; you need to learn the ropes first.
Award-winning smart mug will now tell iOS users how much coffee they’re drinking. Photo: Ember
It’s not every day that a coffee mug becomes one of TIME magazine’s inventions of the year. But that’s exactly what happened with the Ember smart mug, a drink receptacle which uses high tech thermal technology to maintain coffee or tea at its users’ perfect drinking temperature.
Now the mug (and its travel mug variant) has received a new update for iOS-loving coffee drinkers — allowing Apple’s Health app to estimate and make sense of your caffeine intake. That’s without you having to manually enter a whole lot of information manually.
Some Apple employees are thinking of deleting their Facebook accounts. Photo: Cult of Mac
The recent Facebook data breach freaked out several Apple employees enough for them to consider deleting their accounts, according to an anonymous survey of tech employees by the app Blind.
Of 256 Apple employees who responded to Blind’s survey, 22 percent said they will close out their Facebook accounts, while another 20 percent said they were not on Facebook.