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Score 4 premium Mac apps for less than $20 each [Deals]

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We've rounded up four top-shelf productivity apps for Mac, each discounted by more than half.
With big discounts on new Macs, it’s a great time to upgrade.
Photo: Cult of Mac

To make the most of your Mac, you’ve got to have the right apps. So we’ve rounded up four top-shelf apps at super-low prices. There’s a pair of powerful iTunes alternatives, a superpowered calendar app, and an enhanced contacts app.

Best of all, each is going for less than half the usual price!

Apple employee spotted walking streets wearing giant backpack with sensors

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Apple Maps
Google has been doing this for years.
Photo: Dante Cesa

Apple’s mapping fleet is moving on two feet to get a closer look at your local streets.

We’ve seen Apple’s mapping vans roaming the U.S. for years now, but this week an Apple employee was spotted walking around San Francisco with a huge backpack that packed a bunch of sensors to gather data for the Apple Maps revamp.

Check out the setup:

Face off! Developers cook up custom Apple Watch faces

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watchOS 5 Face
Apple's new watch faces are great, but we want more!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The pressure is building on Apple to finally add third-party watch faces to the Apple Watch after a couple of developers have shown how easily they can be made.

Custom watch faces have been the most-requested feature for the Apple Watch since the original version came out in 2015. Nike and Hermes have been the only sources for third-party watch faces, but iOS developer Steve Troughton-Smith has found a hack around that. If you’re curious about the best Apple Watch face options available, there are some fantastic choices.

Use Shortcuts to share a beautiful grid of your photos

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Shortcuts created this photo grid with just a few taps.
Shortcuts created this grid with just a few taps.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Today we’re going to make a Siri Shortcut that takes a bunch of photos you took — today, or any day — and combines them into a great-looking photo grid. It then shares that grid with friends. All you have to do it tap a button or speak a Siri command.

This is a really great way to share photos of an event, a trip to a fancy restaurant, or just an overview of your day. It also shows how easy it is to build a powerful shortcut to perform a task that would take forever to do manually in Photoshop. Let’s check it out.

Apple Phone concept brings new twist to iPhone’s iconic notch

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Meet the Apple Phone.
Meet the Apple Phone.
Photo: Antonio De Rosa

Apple’s iconic notch on the iPhone X and iPhone XS has already spawned a number of Android imitators, but concept designer Antonio De Rosa has an idea that could throw a curveball at the competition: move the notch to the left.

In a series of new concept renderings, De Rosa argues that Apple should change the name of the iPhone to Apple Phone while also giving it a new look and a fancy stylus.

Take a look:

Your new iPhone deserves a minimalist case that lets it shine

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Totallee's latest line of iPhone cases offer a layer of protection that doesn't obscure the devices' subtle design.
Totallee's latest line of iPhone cases offer a layer of protection that doesn't obscure the devices' subtle design.
Photo: Totallee

This post is presented by Totallee.

Apple devices are appealing for many reasons, and chief among them is their exacting design. The in-hand feel of an iPhone is as key to owning one as any other hardware or software features. So why would you want to hide that subtlety inside a bulky case?

How to check if your Facebook account was hacked

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FAcebook
Some of the alerts you might see in the Facebook app.
Photo: Facebook

30 million accounts on Facebook were recently hacked with attackers gaining access to highly sensitive personal information.

The FBI is investigating the hacking an has asked the company not to reveal who was behind it. Facebook originally disclosed the hack to the public two weeks ago saying 50 million accounts were compromised. That number has now been reduced to just 30 million, but the amount of data stolen makes it the worst attack in Facebook’s history.

Instagram wants to tap out on infinite scrolling

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Instagram lawsuit
A Chrome extension can bring your hidden "Likes" out in the open.
Photo: Pixabay

The days of scrolling through your entire Instagram feed may soon be coming to an end.

Instagram is reportedly testing a new feature that would allow users to move through posts by tapping on the screen. The feature works similar to the way you currently navigate through Stories and could make people spend even more time in the app.

Taking the new Apple Watch Series 4 on vacation [Review]

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Mickey Mouse Disney Apple Watch Series 4
The Apple Watch Series 4 made a vacation to Disney World more convenient.
Photo: Ian Fuchs/Cult of Mac

In 2015, I purchased my wife a stainless steel Apple Watch (series 0) for her birthday. Since then, she’s used it to track hundreds of workouts, reply to thousands of texts, and triage countless notifications. She’s also told me nearly every day for the past year that she hates it and it never works right.

While that might be a bit of an exaggeration, she has a point. The original Apple Watch is slow and unresponsive. Plus, some features have become frustratingly unreliable (looking at you, Siri).

This year, we decided to upgrade her Apple Watch in time for our family vacation to Disney World. It was the perfect opportunity to test Apple’s magical wrist communicator at the most magical place on Earth.

New Apple case shows iPhone XR’s true colors

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Clear case 2
Coming soon to an iPhone XR near you.
Photo: 9to5Mac

Apple didn’t make a big thing about iPhone XR accessories that will be available when the less-expensive device launches later this month. However, an eagle-eyed iPhone XR fan (try saying that several times fast) spotted a new clear iPhone XR case mentioned in one of Apple’s regional press releases.

In Canada, and potentially other locations, a line tucked away in the iPhone XR press release notes that Apple will release a clear case for its LCD handset. We presume it will be available in the U.S. as well.

Sell your iPad now in time for a big upgrade

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iPad-Pro
Grab yours before it’s too late!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Even surge protectors are getting smart [Deals]

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Gain complete control of your power usage with this WiFi-enabled smart surge protector.
Gain complete control of your power usage with this WiFi-enabled smart surge protector.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Just a couple years ago, few imagined owning a HomePod or Echo, but now we’re shouting to one from the kitchen asking for recipes. Everything’s going smart these days, from refrigerators to light bulbs and everything between. So don’t be surprised if soon you find yourself plugging in a smart surge protector.

You can now use Apple Pay at CVS

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Apple Pay Terminal
Shopping at CVS just got easier.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

CVS Pharmacy has finally completed its Apple Pay rollout in stores across the U.S.

It slowly started adding support a few weeks ago, but customers should now be able to enjoy it at all locations nationwide. The rollout comes several months after Tim Cook promised that CVS and 7-Eleven would be adopting Apple Pay.

Is Apple prepping big Mac updates for an October event? Catch our discussion on The CultCast

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CultCast 357 MacBook Pro
Almost the entire Mac line is due for an update.

This week on The CultCast: Is Apple preparing to dump a bunch of much-needed Mac updates on us? We discuss. Plus: Something very strange is going on with the Mac — we fill you in. And is MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar actually useful? We give you our brutally honest opinions. And stay tuned for another episode of CultCast 2nd Hour. This time: Siri Shortcuts, explained!

Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. It’s simple to accept Apple Pay and sell your wares with your very own Squarespace website. Enter offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off your first hosting plan or domain.

Nintendo’s Dragalia Lost is killing it on mobile

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Dragalia Lost
Are you playing Dragalia Lost yet?
Photo: Nintendo

Dragalia Lost, the latest mobile game from Nintendo, has been killing it during its first two weeks of availability — despite being available only in a handful of markets.

New data reveals the action RPG pulled in an estimated $3.5 million during the first five days alone, making it more successful than the beloved Animal Crossing: Fire Camp. More than half of its players are on iOS.

TMSC will be Apple’s exclusive manufacturer for next year’s A13 chips

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Gather_Round_A12Bionic 2
The A12 Bionic chip was great. What will the A13 chip offer?
Photo: Apple

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has been the exclusive manufacturer of Apple’s A-series mobile chips since 2016, and it appears that this arrangement will continue on into 2019.

According to a new report, TSMC will be producing all of the orders for Apple’s A13 series chip next year, thereby continuing to cement its position as one of the most dominant chipmakers in the industry.

Photo shows what may be Thailand’s first Apple Store

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Thailand Apple Store
A glimpse at the (possible) new Apple Store.
Photo: Siampod

We may well have confirmation of the opening of the first Apple Store in Thailand, thanks to an image shared on social media. While it doesn’t reveal the retail store in all its completed grandeur, it does show a building with recognizable glass exterior and, of course, that all-important logo.

Apple wants your iPhone to warn you of spoofed calls

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Fraudster steals $16k from victim posing as Apple tech support
"Hello ma'am, this is, ugh, John from your bank. Could you tell me your account number?"
Photo: Donald Tong/Pexels CC

Everyone loathes telemarketers, but  phone scammers are much worse. Spoofers are people who trick the phone system into mis-identifying the number they are calling from. This causes people to believe they are talking to their bank or credit card company, not a criminal. Apple wants to help prevent phone spoofing.

The company filed a patent application for a system to automatically identify when an incoming call isn’t coming from where it says it is.

Kanye surprises Apple store with bizarre tabletop ‘keynote’

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Kanye West's new album Ye drops today on Apple Music (and elsewhere).
Ye, Ima let you finish, but Steve Jobs was the greatest keynote speaker of all-time.
Photo: Mark Azali/Flickr CC

Customers at the Apple store in Washington D.C. we’re taken by surprise this afternoon by an impromptu keynote hosted by Kanye West.

After telling Trump this morning that Apple should make the president an iPlane, West apparently went to a nearby Apple store and asked if he could hold a keynote on top of iPhone and iPad display tables.

The entire scene looks amazingly bizarre:

Over 50% of iPhones and iPads now run iOS 12

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iOS 12
iOS 12 runs on any device that supported iOS 11.
Photo: Apple

iOS 12 is now officially the most popular version of iOS in existence, according to the latest adoption numbers from Apple.

After being released to the public less than a month ago, Apple is reporting that iOS 12 is now being run on 50% of all iPhones and iPads, making it one of the fastest adopted upgrades yet.

Facebook turns iPhone bokeh images into 3D Photos

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Facebook can turn a Bokeh image into a 3D one.
Facebook can turn a Bokeh image into a 3D one.
Photo: Facebook

Bokeh images look sort of three dimensional, with their subjects in focus and their backgrounds blurry. Facebook took this idea and ran with it. The social networking service created tech to turn bokeh pictures into 3D images.

How to use Instagram’s new secure two-factor login

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Here is yet another lazy photographic metaphor for computer security.
Here is yet another lazy photographic metaphor for computer security.
Photo: Jon Seidman/Flickr CC

Instagram has finally added proper secure authentication to its iPhone app. Previously, you could have Instagram send you a one-time login code via SMS every time you signed in. But SMS isn’t secure, making it relatively easy for people to hijack.

Now, you can use your favorite authenticator app — Google Authenticator, for instance — to generate a one-time code any time you need to sign in to Instagram.

NSA can’t find evidence of Chinese spy chips in Apple servers

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computer chip
If there are Chinese spy chips concealed on Apple data servers, the NSA can't find them.
Photo: JÉSHOOTS/Pexels

The tech world has been rocked by allegations that companies, including Apple and Amazon, were sold data servers compromised by Chinese spies. However, a senior cyber security advisor to the National Security Agency says that no one he knows of has found any sign of this.

Kanye wants Apple to build Trump an ‘iPlane 1’

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Kanye
Oh look, Kanye said something crazy again.
Photo: Bloomberg

Kanye West wants President Donald Trump to ditch Air Force One and force Apple to build him a really neat concept airplane that he saw a GIF of on the internet.

No, this is not a new episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians. This is what American politics have devolved to. During a visit to the White House today, West shared a bunch of his outlandish ideas with the president — while revealing his totally insecure iPhone passcode in the process.

New sign indicates iPad Pro update is imminent

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2018 iPad Pro concept art
The new iPads can't come soon enough.
Photo: Álvaro Pabesio

The long wait for new iPad Pros may be nearly over if a recent filing by Apple in Asia is any indication that Apple has finalized its product lineup.

This week it was discovered that Apple just registered three new iPad models with China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). Apple also registered a new Bluetooth device with MIIT, which could be a new Apple Pencil for the iPads.