Digital media and lyrics company Genius (previously Rap Genius) has teamed up with Apple to show its popular video series Verified on Apple Music.
Genius has produced more than 800 episodes of the show since 2016. The show features popular artists breaking down the lyrics to their own songs. Artists who have appeared include Billie Eilish, Sting, and Chance the Rapper.
If you’ve ever wanted to dive more deeply into the music you love, boy, have we got the announcement for you! Starting today, digital media company Genius (formerly Rap Genius) is teaming up with Apple Music to provide annotations and song lyrics to “thousands of songs” on the platform.
Welcome to another week of great new deals at the Cult of Mac Store. This time around we’ve got awesome noise-canceling Bluetooth headphones, and an app for staying on top of any project. There’s also a powerful VPN for safe and anonymous browsing, and an award-winning tool for protecting and repairing your computer’s drive. Everything is discounted by well over half, read on for more details:
It turns out that things made out of thin pieces of aluminum will bend under enough force. Who’d have thought it? But fortunately for those who are experiencing the well-documented “Bendgate” issue with a new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, Apple is not ignoring the problem: The company will replace devices under warranty so long as they pass a visual inspection.
Under the watchful eye of Tim Cook Apple’s gone from the most powerful tech company in the world to the most green. Yesterday’s new ad shone the spotlight on Apple’s environmental practices but the true celebrations of going green kicked off today for Earth Day.
Select Apple Stores around the world sprouted green leafed logos to go with new Earth Day shirts and lanyards for Specialists and Geniuses, but rather than driving all the way to your local store we’ve gathered shots of Apple Stores near and far celebrating Apple’s pledge to leave the world better than they found it.
Take a look:
This is Cult of Mac’s exclusive column written by an actual Apple Store Genius who answers all your questions about working at an Apple Store. Our genius must remain anonymous, but other than “Who are you, anyway?” ask anything you want about what goes on behind that slick store facade.
This week our Genius answers why the iPhone screen can be repaired in stores while the iPad has to be shipped away from special care. We also discuss whether working at the Apple Store can be turned into a solid career, plus the top 5 most annoying things customers do at the Apple Store.
Got a question you want the inside scoop on? Send us your questions and the answers will be published first in Cult of Mac’s Magazine on Newsstand. Send your questions to newsATcultofmac.com with “genius” in the subject line.
Q: On average, how many customers come in to ask for or buy the new Mac Pro?
You’d be surprised how often people ask about it. It’s a brand new product so a lot of people that come into the store are curious what it looks like, want to know the new features and ogle the new design the same way the iPhone and iPad tables are crushed after a launch.
On the other hand, it’s a professional machine with a price tag that would intimidate Bigfoot himself, so I personally haven’t met anyone who has bought one in the store, but we never have any in stock — orders are backed up until April!
Q: Would you leave your job at Apple for a higher-paying job?
Hell yes. Let’s be real, working at the Apple Store is fun but it’s not my dream job. I get to be surrounded by cool tech and great people who are uncontrollably excited about everything Apple. The pay is decent, Apple treats us pretty well, and you could make a career out of it if you want to, but at the end of the day it’s still a retail position.
A few friends that have left Apple told management they got a better offers from another company but management rarely tries to match an outside offer. Once that higher-paying job comes along, a lot of people leave.
The monotony of the job wears you down and it’s not like you’re actually working for Apple corporate, so it doesn’t feel quite as magical or special as I imagine working at HQ in Cupertino would. In the end, it really is just a job and lots of people come and go after finding greener pastures elsewhere.
Q: Is it true you are not allowed to go on rumor sites like Cult of Mac and MacRumors?
You’re not supposed to read them while you’re at Apple, but a lot of us read the rumor sites in our free time. We get just as excited about new iPhones, iPads and the possibility of an iWatch as all the other Apple fanboys, but we’re in the dark as much as regular customers about future products.
We’re not allowed to speculate about future products with customers. If a customer asks whether I’ve heard about X post on Y Apple blog about Z unannounced product, I’m supposed to act clueless, say I’ve never heard of it nor do I know anything about Apple’s plans, but really I’ll be chowing down on the latest iPhone rumors during my lunch break.
The official Apple Store app is finally available on iPad, more than three years after it made its debut on the iPhone.
It offers almost all of the features you’ve come to expect from the iPhone version, including high-resolution photography that lets you see products in “amazing detail,” the ability to find your nearest Apple store and make Genius bar appointments, and lots more.
A lot of fuss has been made about the iPhone’s lack of repairability ever since it debuted in 2007 without *gasp* a removeable battery. Six years of design updates later and the iPhone is still as hard to tinker with as ever, unless of course you work at Apple.
Yesterday, Cult of Mac revealed a few pictures of the new tools Apple created to make iPhone 5s and 5c repairs easier than ever for Geniuses. Now our tipster is back with a bunch of GIFs of Apple’s fancy new toys in action, straight from Apple’s official iPhone 5s and 5c repair training videos.
Along with detailed animations of the new iPhone 5s and 5c components, the exclusive shots below show the exact methods Apple staff use to repair broken iPhone 5s, thanks to an array of tools created to make the process more efficient, including a new Universal Display Removal Fixture and an iPhone Battery Fixture Apple keeps hidden in the back of Apple Stores.
Want to know how fix your iPhone the Apple way? Study the GIFs below and you’ll be swapping out batteries like a Genius in no time:
Even without taking into account the unique, astonishing way it wirelessly connects with a smartphone, the Vaavud wind meter is pretty neat little gadget.
It will measure wind speeds up to 25 meters/second (the Vaavud is Danish, hence the metric measurements and strange name), can share recorded data with the world through its free app—and it’s been tested for accuracy in a wind tunnel.
But the real stunner about the Vaavud is that it doesn’t use Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or any other power-draining wireless radio to connect. Instead, it uses magnets.
Why is it that some people can walk into their local Apple Store with a broken MacBook and walk away with a free replacement, and other people are turned away, with Apple claiming the repair is due to user error… even if it isn’t?
It has less to do with whether or not you actually voided your warranty than if Apple thinks they can prove you voided your warranty. And the most important tool Apple uses to prove you’re responsible for the damage to your own machine? It’s a tool that inspects dents.
Apple’s retail operations were mocked by everyone on the planet when the first Apple Store was opened. But now that the Apple Store is the most profitable retail store in the world, everyone wants to copy what Apple’s doing.
Thanks to some inspiration from the Apple Store, BMW has decided that starting in 2014 they will require all dealers to hire young tech-savvy employees to handle questions from customers about the vehicles on the showroom floor. They’ll even be equipped with iPads and be called Geniuses.
Reader James H. contacted me today, asking, “Now perhaps you can you tell me how to make the Genius work the way it used to? I don’t even know how to make a new Genius playlist build now.”
As you may have noticed, iTunes 11 has switched a few things around. One of them is how the Genius playlists work. Previously, once you started a Genius playlist, you could save it as a stand-alone playlist, or you could replace it with the next Genius list you created. That’s a bit different now in iTunes 11.
Apple is reportedly gearing up to bring the first double-row Genius Bar to its new Garden State Plaza store in New Jersey. The Cupertino company is planning to move the store into a larger space in the mall, and it’s said that the Genius Bar will be one area that sees the benefits of the additional space. For customers, that means more Geniuses on-site to fix your troublesome iPhone.
The Genius Bar is a great way to get help and support for the problems you’re having with your Mac and iOS devices. The problem is, with only 375 Apple stores worldwide, you usually need to live close to a big city to be close to a Genius Bar. But that’s no longer the case, because you can now speak to am Apple specialist from the comfort of your own home, via the company’s online store.
What does it take to become an Apple Genius? You’d think the biggest requirement would be a lot of technical knowledge, but really it’s empathy and knowing how to talk to people. Geniuses are the face of the company when customers are the most pissed off at Apple, so great customer service skills are key.
Gizmodo just unearthed Apple’s official Genius Training Student Workbook and it’s oozing with secrets, like words a Genius can’t use to describe a problem.
Scott Trattner, the executive creative director behind the “Genius” advertising campaign — which was quickly killed by Apple shortly after its debut — has left his role at TBWA/Media Arts Lab in favor of a new role with advertising agency 72andSunny.
Apple’s controversial “Genius” TV ads have been unofficially killed. While Cupertino hasn’t said anything about the ads, they’ve removed the TV spots from their YouTube channel and the Apple.com marketing page. Apple stopped airing the ads on television days after they were introduced because of criticism that the ads made Mac users look clueless.
It’s fairly easy as a longtime Apple fan to dismiss the recently aired “Genius” ads as nothing more than a misstep in a rather stellar marketing history by the, well, geniuses in Cupertino. However, a new study by Brandindex Buzz shows a shift in the demographic trends for the Apple brand, which may go to explain the goofy ads as more specifically targeted advertising.
By now you’ve probably heard: a shiny new iPhone is right around the corner. But some in the tech world have been asking if Apple’s new trinket will only be playing catchup to more advanced, and more feature-rich, Android phones. We think that’s crap, and on our latest CultCast, we’ll tell you why.
Then — Apple’s embarrassing new Olympic Mac ads have just been pulled; we’ll tell you why we thought the ads needed to go, and so will our special guest, former Apple ad guy and longtime Steve Jobs’ collaborator, Ken Segall.
Subscribe to The CultCast now on iTunes, or easily stream new episodes right on your iPhone or iPad with Apple’s newly updated and freshly debugged Podcasts App.
Show notes ahead!
The Geniuses at your local Apple Store are used to dealing with a wide assortment of complaints and problems. Broken harddrive, cracked iPhone screen, kidnapped woman? They can handle it all.
A few nights ago a kidnapped woman from Kentucky was forced to walk into an Apple store with her kidnapper who was trying to force her to purchase a bunch of Apple products with her credit cards. But thanks to an alert Apple Store employee, the woman was rescued and her kidnapper is now in the slammer.
Quite a bit of chatter has arisen over Apple’s newest “Genius” television ads. Some have called them “embarrassing.” Others? “Ehhh?” Even Ken Segall, one of Apple’s former advertising creative directors has given the ads a big thumbs down.
But are they really so terrible? If you take a look back, you’ll see rather quickly that Apple has produced much worse. In fact, I’d go as far to say that some of Apple’s previous ads make the new ones seem not just good, but absolutely amazing.
Don’t believe me? Check out this gallery I compiled of what I believe to be the top 10 worst Apple ads of all time. Watch out- some of them are pretty shocking.
Tonight during the Olympics, Apple aired several new Mac focused ads. The spots are drastically different than the kind of style Apple has been using in its TV ads for products like Siri and the iPad.
One features a man on a plane receiving assistance from a Genius with iMovie on his Mac, and another features a conversation between the same Genius and a customer who has just been tricked into buying “basically a Mac.” The third ad shows a scene in which a frantic dad explores iPhoto with a Genius.
As Apple’s devices become increasingly popular, so do its retail stores. It’s almost impossible to walk into one and see a Genius without an appointment, and even with an appointment you can almost guarantee there will be a lengthy wait. But Apple hopes to improve this with a new Genius Bar layout that increases capacity from 7 to 12 customers, simply by turning a table 90° and adding a few extra stools.
25 iPhones worth over $16,000 have been stolen from an Apple Store in Northlake Mall in Charlotte, North Carolina. Unlike the familiar attacks in which thieves smash in Apple’s trademark glass doors, the suspect in this case was an Apple store employee and had easy access to the store’s stock room.
Apple has released a software update for the Apple TV that brings Genius recommendations for movies and TV shows to the set-top box. The service works like Netflix’s recommendations to give you suggested titles based on your previous purchases.
