| Cult of Mac

NYC cops give away 500 AirTags to help curb car theft

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If you can track your stolen car with an AirTag, you can help police get it back.
If you can track your stolen car with an AirTag, you can help police get it back.
Photo: Photo: Đức Trịnh/Unsplash License

Car thefts are on the rise in New York City, and Gotham’s finest are turning to Apple’s AirTag trackers for help. On Sunday, Mayor Eric Adams and the NYPD said 500 free AirTags would go to residents by request in the police precinct hardest hit by car thieves.

“This simple device, this simple AirTag, hidden in a car location that a person is not aware, of is an excellent tracking device,” Adams said. “It’s easy to monitor. You can see in real-time where the vehicle is located.”

NYC police upgrading from paper notepads to an iPhone app

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The NYPD already issues police officers iPhones.
The NYPD developed its own iPhone app to let officers write activity logs while on duty.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

New York City police officers will soon use an iPhone application to record their daily activities. The officers previously used paper memo pads for these notes, going back to around 1900.

The NYPD’s switch to an iPhone app for taking notes is yet another step in the force’s modernization using Apple devices.

New York City built a $10 million iPhone-cracking lab

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GrayKey can bypass iPhone security
A passcode is the key to iPhone encryption. It keeps out criminals, and the police too.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

New York City works every day on hacking into thousands of iPhones, Androids, iPads, etc. The district attorney of Manhattan believes these contain evidence of crimes, and spent $10 million on a lab to find ways around or through iPhone encryption.

AT&T 5G network expands to NYC and five other cities

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AT&T
5G is finally on the way.
Photo: Mike Mozart/Flickr

The race to build the nation’s best 5G network ahead of the 5G iPhone’s launch is heating up with AT&T expanding its 5G low-band service to six new cities, including NYC.

AT&T now boasts 19 cities with some 5G coverage. Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Washington D.C., Detroit and Baltimore are the four other cities added recently.

Apple Pay with Express Transit en route to San Diego, Philadelphia and other cities

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Apple-Pay-Express-Transit-London
Paying for your journeys just got a lot faster.
Photo: Apple

One of the best features of Apple Pay is finally starting to roll out to more public transit systems in the U.S. next year.

After being adopted by Washington D.C. and New York City this year, Apple Pay with Express Transit mode will reportedly be adopted by Philadelphia and San Diego next year, with other major cities planning to support it out by 2023.

Cinematic iPhone XR video shows intimate side of NYC

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Andy To iPhone XR
Andy To loves New York City and here's the proof.
Screenshot: Andy To/YouTube

Andy To is a rising creative with a poetic touch to video and quickly becoming a name to know.

His name is now on the mind of Apple CEO Tim Cook, who gave the young filmmaker a shoutout on Twitter for a short on life in New York City captured all on the iPhone XR.

Apple logo goes into redesign overload ahead of October event

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Apple logo
Just a sampling of some of the different Apple logos.
Photo: Apple

Apple finally made its October keynote official this morning with one of the most unique event invites we’ve ever seen. Instead of just using one standard design, Apple sent nearly every journalist an invite with an Apple logo that was unlike the one sent to others.

We’ve tracked down over 20 variations of the Apple logo on the invites and compiled them below. You can also go to Apple’s updated event website and every time you refresh the page a different Apple logo will show up.

New LTE tech brings screaming speeds — but not to iPhones

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T-Mobile LTE speed test

Photo: T-Mobile

T-Mobile has increased LTE speeds to a staggering 500Mbps in New York City. It has become the first carrier to test commercial Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) technology, which sends 4G signals over unused 5GHz Wi-Fi channels to increase bandwidth, in the United States.

LAA will soon be expanding its reach across the U.S. — but you won’t be able to enjoy it on iPhone.

Apple’s giant glass triangle touches down in Brooklyn

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Apple store
The new Apple store in Brooklyn New York.
Photo: Neil Hughes/Twitter

New York City is getting a new Apple store this week, only instead of replicating the iconic Fifth Ave glass cube, this time Apple’s going with a giant triangle.

The new store will be Apple’s second retail location in Brooklyn after the company opened a store in Williamsburg last year. Apple’s glass-sided triangle store opens December 2 and is located down the street from the Atlantic Terminal and Barclays Center.

Take a closer look: