| Cult of Mac

iOS 13 finally lets you (kinda) replace Apple’s default apps

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Launch any camera app from the lock screen with this incredibly useful iOS 13 trick.
Launch any camera app from the lock screen with this incredibly useful trick.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

In iPadOS and iOS 13, you can kinda replace the stock Apple apps on your iPhone or iPad. For instance, anytime you tap the Mail icon, Spark could launch instead. Or, and this is probably the most useful, when you tap the lock-screen shortcut for the Camera app, you could launch Halide instead.

This isn’t proper app replacement, but it is a pretty wild trick for iOS devices. We use a new feature in Shortcuts to make the magic happen. And for the Camera app, it works great.

Brilliant iPhone camera app takes long exposures without tripod

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Capturing the path of light and motion with Spectre Camera.
Ex-Spectre the unexpected.
Photo: Spectre

Halide, an iOS camera app that entered a flooded photo app category in 2017, quickly rose above most of the others as a must-have tool for serious iPhone photographers.

The creators, wanting manual camera settings and a RAW shooting option, rolled out a new app this week bringing ease to the otherwise complicated task of light and motion painting with long exposures.

The new app, Spectre, requires no technical skill – or even a tripod – to bring the streams of light to urban scenics shot on iPhone.

Intel redesigns processors to eliminate massive flaws

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Intel eighth-gen
Is Apple working on new Mac chips in Washington County?
Photo: Intel

Intel has redesigned its processors to help eliminate the Meltdown and Spectre flaws once and for all.

Its eighth-generation Core and Xeon chips use protection through partitioning, along with the latest software patches, to kill all three variants of the bug. Intel CEO Brian Krzanich warns, however, that “there is still work to do” to ensure users stay protected.

Intel fixes Spectre flaw in latest CPUs

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Intel-Kaby-Lake
Intel will task GPUs with antivirus scanning.
Photo: Intel

Intel has completed its Spectre fixes for its latest range of processors.

Patches for Skylake, Kaby Lake, and Coffee Lake chipsets are now available to computer and motherboard manufacturers. Apple has already rolled out macOS and OS X updates to fix the problem.

Intel confirms Spectre fixes can cause unwanted reboots

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Intel-Kaby-Lake
Intel will task GPUs with antivirus scanning.
Photo: Intel

Intel has confirmed that fixes for the widespread Spectre bug can cause unwanted reboots on many PCs. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the company has also revealed that its latest chips — including the Kaby Lake line launched in 2017 — are also susceptible to the bug.

How to speed up your iPhone if the Spectre patch slows it down

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ghosts
Ghosts are a bit like spectres.
Photo: Sean MacEntee/Flickr CC

Spectre is the worst kind of security flaw. Not only do the partial fixes not even protect against attacks, but they also slow down your iPhone, or other device. But things aren’t quite as bad as they seem. You can take steps to speed up your iPhone once again, and one of the fixes not only makes the web faster, but also fixes Spectre’s biggest attack vector.

Nvidia admits its graphics cards also harbor chip flaws [Update]

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NVIDIA-GeForce-GPU
Update your Nvidia cards!
Photo: Nvidia

Update: Nvidia reached out to Cult of Mac to explain that “recent press accounts about our latest software patches are incorrect.” We have updated the article below to clarify.

Nvidia has rolled out security updates for its graphics cards following widespread chip flaws. Its most popular products, including GeForce and Quadro, are being updated to combat the Meltdown and Spectre memory vulnerabilities.