The 9.7-inch iPad released this fall helped keep Apple on top of the tablet market. Photo: Ian Fuchs/Cult of Mac
There was a time the glory days of the iPad seemed over. Sales declined quarter after quarter. Then the iPad Pro line debuted, and now Apple has seen six straight quarters of increasing tablet shipments.
That’s not true for rival device makers. Samsung tablets haven’t experienced a quarterly shipment increase since at least 2016.
HomePod sales are "small but meaningful," according to a new report. Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac
The smart speaker contest may be a two-horse race between the Amazon Echo and Google Home, but Apple’s HomePod is starting to carve out a share as well.
According to new research from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, the total smart speaker market has now reached 50 million units in the United States. Among the installed base of U.S. devices, Amazon has 70 percent, Google has 24 percent and Apple has 6 percent.
A bezel-free iPad as it may appear later this year. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
This year’s iPad Pro will boast Face ID and a new iPhone X-style bezel-less design, code and assets hidden in the iOS 12 developer beta seemingly confirms.
The asset relating to the new asset was discovered in the battery usage user interface part of the new developer beta. It’s an icon depicting an iPad without home button and much thinner bezels.
Lisa Brennan Jobs, the oldest daughter of Steve Jobs, is coming out with her first book next month. Part of the story grapples with their complicated relationship. (He denied being her father at first.)
In an excerpt from her book, Small Fry, posted today, Lisa Brennan Jobs gives glimpses into some of her dad’s last months. She also talks about how it affected her psyche when he named the Lisa computer after her but didn’t admit it to her until she was 27.
The Galaxy Tab S4 is clearly designed to take on the 10.5-inch iPad Pro. So we compared the two. Screenshot: Samsung
Samsung just unveiled the first high-end Android tablet in years: With a 10.5-inch screen and a $649.99 price, the Galaxy Tab S4 takes aim squarely at the iPad Pro. As with Apple’s tablet, there’s an optional keyboard ($150) to turn this Android model into a 2-in-1 laptop.
Sam William Smith's new font menu design is simple, and perfect. Photo: Sam William Smith
If you do any work with fonts on the Mac whatsoever, you will have run up against the font picker. It’s a piece of design that dates back to when the Mac only came with a black-and-white screen, and yet it’s still the only way to select a font on an Apple computer. That wouldn’t be so bad if it was a good design, but it’s not. The macOS font picker is little more than a drop-down menu. Worse, it’s a drop-down menu that changes every time you use it.
You can use the Mac’s font panel in some apps, but even then you’re faced with long and confusing lists.
Sam William Smith, a designer from Glasgow, Scotland, decided to do something about this. He completely redesigned the Mac font menu, and it’s great.
The iPhone X screen cutout could be renamed the Android notch because so many devices running Google's OS are including one. Enough that new rules prevent overuse. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
The “notch” in the iPhone X drew heavy criticism when this device was first announced, but makers of Android phones have been quick to embrace it. So quick that Google felt compelled to step in and limit the number of screen cutouts allowed.
Phone designers were apparently going overboard if Google had prevent them from putting in three or more.
Clue helps you understand your body's reproductive cycle. Photo: Ian Fuchs/Cult of Mac
For the last few years, health has been a key focus area for Apple. Fitness tracking, sleep tracking, nutrition tracking, mindfulness and even reproductive health have made their way into the Health app. Unfortunately, when it comes to your sexual wellbeing, Apple’s offering is pretty minimal. With Clue: Period and Ovulation Tracker, you can track a wide range of physical and mental details and gain useful insights into patterns and abnormalities in your natural cycle.
Facebook is taking a page out of Apple's iOS 12 playbook. Photo: Facebook
Facebook has introduced new iOS 12-style Screen Time tools intended to help users manage their time on Facebook and Instagram. The new features give users an activity dashboard, daily reminders about usage, and a new way to limit notifications.
Well, that's the rest of our week sorted then! Photo: Bobby Li
There are few game franchises I poured more time and energy into as a kid than SimCity. From the mid-1990s, the classic metropolis-building strategy games were guaranteed a place on whichever computer I owned at the time.
Jump forward to 2018, and the not-dissimilar Pocket City has just landed in the App Store. And if you’re a fan of Will Wright’s construction classic, this loving tribute will certainly appeal. Check out the trailer below.