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Apple shares suffer worst month of 2019 so far

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Apple waives developer fees for nonprofits, others in 8 additional countries
This hasn't been a great few weeks for AAPL.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple shares are having a rough time right now — but, don’t fear, investors simply think this is a great opportunity to invest.

Shares in AAPL are currently trading at $177.39. That’s down from a high of $211.75 at the start of May. It’s also way down from Apple’s all-time high of $233.47 in October. Unless things turn around in the next couple of days, that will mean Apple posting its worst month of 2019.

MacBook Pro firmware update fixes T2 security chip problem

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The Apple T2 chip could be the source of mysterious crashes afflicting two of Apple's newest computers.
A new version of the macOS 10.14.4 just for last year’s 15-inch MacBook Pro is for the T2 co-processor.
Photo: IFIXIT

Users of recent 15-inch MacBook Pro models need to install an updated version of macOS that was just released this morning. Details are scanty, but Apple says this fixes an unspecified firmware issue related to the T2 security chip.

Factory makes other iPad synths look like toys

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Factory sounds great, and looks ok.
Factory sounds great, and looks ok.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Factory is an aptly-named new iPad synthesizer from SugarBytes. In fact, calling it a synth is underselling it — kind of like calling GarageBand a “tape recorder”. Factory does synthesize sounds, but it also has built-in effects, a sequencer, an arpeggiator, and a totally wild DJ-style crossfader, which lets you morph between presets.

The app is ultra-flexible, as capable of finely-crafted sound design as it is of sonic mayhem.

How to use Apple Watch SOS mode

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Watch out!
Watch out!
Photo: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac

If Apple Watch ever becomes as common as the smartphone, TV dramas will get a whole lot less dramatic. You know how when a beloved character is in danger — perhaps there’s a killer stalking them in their own home — and you scream at the screen, telling them what to do?

Well, the Apple Watch’s SOS Mode pretty much does everything you’re telling them to do. It can call the cops, notify a friend, and track your location, all with a squeeze (and maybe a swipe). That might not be great as a standard storytelling trope, but it’s fantastic for your personal safety.

Force Apple Music to play all songs at the same volume with Sound Check

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Sound Check evens out the volume of Apple Music songs.
Sound Check evens out the volume of Apple Music songs.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

The song you’re listening to on your iPhone is a bit too quiet, so you adjust the volume. Perfect. Then the song ends, and the next one blasts your ears. You fumble your iPhone from your pocket and tap the volume down a notch or two.

Thanks, Apple Music. Why can’t you just play all the songs at the same volume? Obviously that’s what everyone wants.

Wait, what’s that? You can? How?

How to create and delete alarms and timers with Siri

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Even Siri can manage to set alarms and timers without screwing it up.
Even Siri can manage to set alarms and timers without screwing it up.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Siri may still be hopeless, but one thing it’s always been good at is setting alarms. In fact, I don’t use Siri much at all any more1, but for alarms and timers, I use it exclusively. Even with iOS 12’s great 3-D Touch timer widget, Siri is quicker.

Today we’ll see how to tell Siri to create an alarm, set a timer, how to edit an alarm, and how to delete one.

Crazy ‘iPhone Z’ concept takes folding phones to a new level

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IPhone Z
This will never happen, but it’’s nice to dream.
Photo: Caviar

Caviar, the Russian company behind some of the craziest iPhone mods we’ve ever seen, has come out with its first folding iPhone concept design video today and as you’d expect, it’s absolutely wild.

Not satisfied with just one fold out display, Caviar’s ‘iPhone Z’ concept proposes having a display that folds twice. The end result is an iPhone that folds out to the same size as an iPad Pro, only its even more useful.

Prepare to be blown away:

New report spills details of 2019 iPhone refresh

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iPhone 11 cameras
Look at the size of those cameras!
Photo: Macotakara

This year’s iPhone refresh may bring more than just a spec bump.

A new report claims Apple’s flagship devices will get even bigger to accommodate an additional camera sensor and the largest lenses ever in an iPhone. They may also be ever so slightly thicker than their predecessors.

How to change your Apple Pencil tip

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Apple Pencil tips are as easy to swap as they are to lose.
Apple Pencil tips are as easy to swap as they are to lose.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Ounce for ounce, Apple’s replacement Apple Pencil tips are probably more expensive than gold1. It will cost you $20 for four of the tiny things, all of which are ridiculously easy to lose.

But if you use your Pencil for anything more than the odd casual stroke, sketch or swoosh, you’ll eventually need to replace a worn tip. The good news is that it’s easy. The bad news? That price.

Is News+ the future of journalism? [Opinion]

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Can News+ succeed where Newsstand failed?
Can News+ succeed where Newsstand failed?
Photo: Takeshita Toyooka/Flickr CC

Apple is here to save the magazine and newspaper industry. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Back in 2011, Apple’s Newsstand made the same promise.

Newsstand was a kind of odd hybrid app/folder, and you could subscribe to individual magazines. Some were specially designed to work on the then-new iPad, and others were repurposed PDFs. Publishers thought it would prop up their failing print sales, but it did nothing of the sort.

Will Apple News+ be any different?

Are AirPods 2 worth the price of an upgrade?

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AirPods 2. AirPods S, more like.
The second-gen AirPods are like an "S" upgrade.
Photo: Apple

Will you buy Apple’s new AirPods? They look fantastic. They offer longer battery life, quicker connections, “Hey Siri” support, and there’s even an optional wireless charging case. But are all those extras enough to make you upgrade if you already own first-gen AirPods?

How to print from your iPhone using AirPrint

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AirPrint is how printers should always have worked.
AirPrint is how printers should always have worked.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

There’s still something kinda magical-feeling about printing documents from your iPhone. Maybe someone sends you a long Word or Pages document that you prefer to read on paper. Or maybe you must sign a hard-copy version of a PDF and send it back via real paper mail.

You may be used to facing a task like this in your iPhone’s email app, and putting it off until you get to your Mac or PC. But chances are, if you own a fairly modern printer, you can just print right from the iPhone. In fact, once you get a taste for it, you’ll prefer printing from iOS. You will never need to deal with drivers, or pick up your 100-page print job only to find every sheet printed too small.

The answer is AirPrint. It’s how printers always should have worked.

How to sign PDFs on your iPhone or iPad

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Apple Pencil vs dumb stylus: This old Wacom Bamboo is more than enough
Signing and returning PDFs on your iPhone is easier than doing it on paper.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Scenario: Your divorce papers finally came through, and you can’t wait to sign the things. The trouble is, your spouse already took your office and your home, and you have no way to print or fax the documents.  Or perhaps you need to stick your autograph on some other document, but all you have is your iPhone or iPad.

No worries. With recent versions of iOS, it’s easier than ever to sign a PDF form and return it to the sender. In fact, you don’t even need to leave the Mail app to do it.

Shift Keyboard lets you tap out your messages on Apple Watch

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Apple Watch
Coming soon to a wrist near you.
Photo: Adam Foot

Right now, the easiest way to write messages on Apple Watch is using voice control or Apple’s recommended responses. But one intrepid developer wants to go back to the past by adding a keyboard to Apple’s wearable device.

His app, Shift Keyboard, just launched in the App Store. Developer Adam Foot spoke with Cult of Mac to try and sell us on the idea.

How to get 1080p YouTube videos in iPad Safari

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Safari can now show 1080p video on YouTube
Safari can now show 1080p video on YouTube.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Up until recently, the only way to get 1080p YouTube videos on the iPad was to use the YouTube app. Now, and possibly for a limited time (knowing YouTube’s fickle support of features), you can view full 1080p video in Mobile Safari on your iPad.

It looks amazing on the 2018 13-inch iPad Pro screen, and it’s one tap away on every YouTube page.

How to search your Google search history

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Google is watching, all the time. Turn it to your advantage.
Google is watching, all the time. Turn it to your advantage.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

How many time have you tried to remember that site where you read that thing last week? A million, probably. And how many times have you found it? Less than a million, for sure. But did you know that you can use Google to search only sites that you have visited?

You can, and it’s awesome.

How to back up your iCloud Photo Library

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Back up your precious — and totally non-creepy — memories.
Back up your precious — and totally non-creepy — memories.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Wait, what? Why would you want to back up your iCloud Photo Library? Apple takes care of that, right? After all, the clue is in the name — the library is stored in iCloud.

Not so fast. That’s true, but what if something screws up at Apple’s end? What if you lose access to your iCloud account? What if, what if, what if? In most cases, you’ll be fine, but being a good computer nerd, you probably understand the value of redundant backups. So today we’ll see how to make sure all your images are safely stored. Just in case.

How to erase the background in your photos

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This needs some fine-tuning, but took just seconds to do.
This needs some fine-tuning, but took just seconds to do.
Photo: Cult of Mac

There are a bunch of reasons to remove the background from a photo. You might just hate the background — a perfect portrait ruined by crowds, or ugly construction work, or both. You may want to remove the background in order to extract the subject — maybe you’re doing some kind of Photoshop trick, or making a greetings card.

Whatever your reasons, it’s easy to do. Removing the background from an image used to be a nightmare. Now, you just need the right app. And if you’re a regular with our Cult of Mac photo how-tos, you probably have that app already.

New iPhone XS battery case works with iPhone X. Sort of.

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APple Smart Battery Case iPhone XR
You can use the new Apple Smart Battery Case with the iPhone X if you’re willing to put up with some hassle.
Photo: Apple

Apple clearly says its new battery cases aren’t compatible with the iPhone X but some users of that handset claim that they’ve gotten the two to work together.

The designs of new iPhone XS and older X are nearly identical and the 2017 model mostly fits in the Smart Battery Case. Nevertheless, the handset gets power only under some conditions.

Aura band makes your Apple Watch even smarter

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Aura Band
Everything that makes the Aura Band great is coming to Apple Watch.
Photo: Aura

CES 2019 bugThere aren’t many health and fitness statistics Apple Watch can’t track, but to make up for some of those that are missing, there’s the impressive new Smart Strap from Aura.

By sending electricity through your body (without hurting you), the Smart Strap can measure your weight, fat, muscle mass, and more. It won’t cost you much more than a regular Apple Watch band, either.

Brilliant Pod Case concept turns Apple Watch into iPod

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Podcase
This needs to be a thing.
Photo: Joyce Kang

iPod lovers have been waiting years for Apple to resurrect its portable music player, but a brilliant new concept case could give us the next best thing.

Designer Joyce Kang created a brilliant mockup of a case for Apple Watch that transforms it into a music player reminiscent of the original iPod. The tiny case even comes with a working click wheel — and still gives you access to Apple Watch’s best features!

Jony Ive’s $250,000 ring dazzles with a unibody diamond

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Jony Ive ring 1
A one-piece diamond ring looks spectacular. But it'll sure as heck cost you!
Photo: Sotheby's

Want to show your Apple-loving significant other that you really care about them? If so — and you happen to have $150,000-$250,000 at your disposal — you might want to participate in a new Sotheby’s auction for a diamond ring designed by none other than Sir Jony Ive and BFF Marc Newson.

The one-of-a-kind ring was designed to raise money for (RED), a charity that raises money to fight HIV and AIDS in Africa. Over the years, Apple has raised millions of dollars for the charity — and Ive has had the chance to design one-off objects such as minimalist desks in the process.

Try these powerful 2018 iPad Pro keyboard tricks

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The iPad loves a nice bit of keyboard action.
The iPad loves a nice bit of keyboard action.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Did you know that the Smart Keyboard Folio you just bought for your new iPad Pro can do a lot more than just type letters and words into your apps? Just like the Mac, the iPad can use keyboard shortcuts to make life a lot easier. In fact, the iPad shares many keyboard shortcuts with the Mac, so once you’re through with this list, you should try out your favorites.

And don’t worry if you don’t have a Smart Keyboard. These shortcuts work with any connected keyboard, be it Smart, Bluetooth, or USB. In fact, most keyboards actually do more for the iPad than Apple’s own.

New MacBook Pros with updated graphics are coming next month

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macbook pro
The new graphics will be a big boost the video editors.
Photo: Apple

Apple didn’t totally leave out the MacBook Pro from receiving some new features today, even though the company didn’t give its most powerful notebook any stage time at today’s event.

While the MacBook Air, Mac mini and iPad Pro were the stars of today’s keynote in New York, Apple quietly revealed on its website that the MacBook Pro is getting a spec bump too.