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Supreme Court sides with Samsung in patent battle with Apple

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A U.S. Supreme Court ruling Tuesday brought relief to Samsung in its lawsuit with Apple over smartphone design patents.
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling Tuesday brought relief to Samsung in its lawsuit with Apple over smartphone design patents.
Illustration: Cult of Mac

The U.S. Supreme Court dealt a major blow to Apple Tuesday when it sided with Samsung in a smartphone patent battle that had the South Korean company staring at hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties.

In a unanimous ruling, the Court ruled a patent violator does not have to turn over all its profits from sales if the stolen design involved certain components and the not the entire device.

How to use Portrait Mode like a pro

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The iPhone 7 Plus will completely change your photos.
The iPhone 7 Plus will completely change your photos.
Photo: Apple

Portrait Mode has quickly become the standout feature on the iPhone 7 Plus. When you get the new dual-lens camera in the hands of pro photographers, it’s not hard to see why.

Apple published a new guide today that reveals how photographers are using the new Portrait Mode. Most of the tips are pretty simple and can be mastered quickly.

Here’s how to get the most out of Portrait Mode with iPhone 7 Plus.

‘Netflix of Mac software’ lets you binge on apps

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Mac App Store
The email app BlueMail finds itself on the outside of the "closed garden."
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple’s Mac App Store has been a desolate wasteland of mediocrity for years, but a new service called Setapp wants to breathe new life into macOS apps.

Setapp app claims it’s an “Unstore” alternative to the Mac App Store. Instead of paying for apps individually, you’ll pay a monthly subscription fee for access to 300 popular apps.

How to resize images using Apple’s Preview tool in macOS

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Resize Featured
You don't need a fancy third-party app to resize your pictures because Preview works just fine.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

In addition to being a photo viewer, the Preview app for Mac offers basic image-editing functionality. If you want a quick and easy way to resize images, this built-in Apple app will do the trick.

Here’s how to use Preview to resize photos and other images in macOS Sierra.

Ditch the password and use your face or fingerprint to sign in [Deals]

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Replace or augment your passwords with personal features like face and fingerprint.
Replace or augment your passwords with personal features like face and fingerprint.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Passwords are too easy to forget or misplace, and after getting a few weird emails from friends’ hacked accounts it’s clear they don’t always work. True Key from Intel Security lets you switch from logging in with a string of letters and numbers to using your individual features, like face and fingerprints, as a security key. It’s a real game changer for personal data security and convenience, and right now you can get True Key for just $15.99 at Cult of Mac Deals.

The new MacBook Pro may have some battery issues

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Luminar
Some owners of the new MacBook Pro report unexpectedly short battery life.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s innovative new MacBook Pro may come with a battery that is a magnet for problems.

Several owners of the MacBook Pro with Touch Bar have taken to Apple’s support forums and Twitter to complain that the battery inside the new machine doesn’t last nearly as long as advertised.

Fitbit surges as Apple Watch stumbles

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Simple fitness trackers from Fitbit, Xiaomi and Garmin outsold Apple Watch during the third quarter.
Simple fitness trackers from Fitbit, Xiaomi and Garmin outsold Apple Watch during the third quarter.
Photo: David Pierini/Cult of Mac

Apple Watch may be the most recognizable product in the wearables space, but it isn’t the best-selling.

Sales of Apple Watch are down more than 70 percent, according to IDC Research, which cites third-quarter sales figures of the wearables market.

9 awesome Mac apps cost less than ever, but not for long [Deals]

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CoM - The Black Friday Mac Bundle 2.0
These nine apps add a range of new functionality to your Mac.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

The flagship Mac App bundle is back, packed with nine top-shelf apps for creativity and productivity, including PDF Expert, TripMode and AfterShot 3.

Right now, you can get the whole bundle for the lowest price ever. But after today, the price will go up by $1 every day until Saturday.

Best List: Moshi’s AirPlay Spatia speaker looks old-fashioned but is anything but [Review]

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Moshi's Spatia Wireless AirPlay Speaker speaker has retro looks, but is thoroughly modern under the hood.
Moshi's Spatia Wireless AirPlay Speaker speaker has retro looks, but is thoroughly modern under the hood.
Photo: Lyle Kahney/Cult of Mac

Best List: Spatia wireless speaker by Moshi

Wireless speakers tend to be cheap and nasty — or fantastic and expensive.

There are exceptions, though, and Moshi’s Spatia wireless AirPlay speaker is one of them.

At $399, the Spatia isn’t cheap by any means, but its sound and features rival systems costing much more.

And does it sound sweet. With five drivers, including a subwoofer, the Spatia serves up a rich, wide soundstage. Lots of speakers claim “room-filling sound,” but the Spatia truly fills the bill.

Filmborn, Tiny Wings, and other awesome apps of the week

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Awesome Apps
'Appy weekend everyone!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

In a week in which the App Store went red to mark World AIDS Day and we got a big update on when Apple’s AirPods are set to ship, here are the apps which were keeping us busy.

From a great new game for Apple TV to a superb photography app for iOS, check out our picks for the latest awesome apps.

Drones, big boxes of geeky goodies, and more [Week’s Newest Deals]

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Fly in first person and execute tricky maneuvers all with the world's smallest drone.
Fly in first person and execute tricky maneuvers all with the world's smallest drone.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Maybe it’s because we’re getting closer to Christmas, but each new shipment to the Cult of Mac Store seems better than the last. This week, we’ve got a super small 1st-person drone, software for totally unlocking PDFs, a powerful tool for capturing and converting YouTube videos, and a set of Loot Crate deliveries. Read on for more details:

Essentials to reinvent your data management [Week’s Best Deals]

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inCharge puts a Lightning cable right on your keychain.
inCharge puts a Lightning cable right on your keychain.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Considering all the new forms and formats our data take with each passing year, sometimes we need to catch up. This week is the one to do it, as the best deals that have come through the Cult of Mac store are all ways to upgrade your data game: a set of keychain-sized Lightning cables; a MicroSD adapter for seamlessly expanding MacBook drive capacity, a lifetime of cloud storage, and a hub that converts USB-C into five familiar formats. Read on for more details:

Hackintosh monster Macs and iPhone 8’s marquee feature, on The CultCast

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Could this be the next Mac Pro?
Could this be the next Mac Pro?
Photo: Nvidia

This week on The CultCast: Why building a Hackintosh can get you the monster Mac you’ve always wanted. Plus: Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reveals iPhone 8’s marquee feature; AirPods ship date is finally revealed; and stick around for our top Apple AirPort router replacement picks!

Our thanks to Casper for supporting this episode. Casper’s American-made mattresses have just the right amount of memory foam and latex, and people everywhere love them. Learn why and save $50 off your order at casper.com/cultcast.

Are smartwatches doomed?

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swimmer wearing apple watch
Is fitness really all that Apple Watch is fit for?
Photo: Apple

The writing has been on the wall for smartwatches ever since Cupertino chose to focus on sports and fitness features for Apple Watch Series 2. Smartwatch sales are plummeting, and fitness seems to be the only profitable area remaining in the wearables sector.

More evidence of this trend emerged this week, with smartwatch trailblazer Pebble reportedly being acquired by fitness wearables specialist Fitbit. We might very well be witnessing the demise of the smartwatch as we know it.

So how did we get here? Is Apple Watch really only fit for fitness, or could it still one day fulfill its destiny and become a true wrist-based computing platform?

Score lifelong access to a powerful VPN [Deals]

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Get a lifetime of secure, high speed browsing with a premium VPN.
Get a lifetime of secure, high speed browsing with a premium VPN.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Getting online, you want to make as sure as possible that you’re not being snooped on, or vulnerable to theft. Hotspot Shield offers a significant layer of defense against these things by encrypting all your online activity via a private, high speed network. As part of the rollout of their new Elite Plus plan, you can get access for as many as 10 devices simultaneously for just $69.99 at Cult of Mac Deals.

It’s surprisingly easy to crack iOS 10.1.1’s Activation Lock

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When it was introduced in iOS 7, Apple called Activation Lock
When it was introduced in iOS 7, Apple called Activation Lock "a really powerful theft deterrent."
Photo: Apple

Since its introduction with iOS 7, Activation Lock has gotten stronger and stronger. But every so often, researchers stumble across a bug that allows it to be cracked. The latest is found in iOS 10.1.1, and it makes it surprisingly easy to get into a locked iPhone or iPad.

How to find out if your iPhone 6s battery is eligible for replacement

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The iPhone 6s has more junk in the trunk.
The iPhone 6s has more junk in the trunk.
Photo: Apple

Apple is offering iPhone 6s customers a free battery replacement for devices that unexpectedly shut down. The problem mostly affects iPhone 6s units made between September 2015 and October 2015.

If you’re not sure when your iPhone 6s was made, you can use a new tool created by Apple to find out if your device has a faulty battery.

Here’s how to check:

Get lifelong cloud storage for less than a hard drive [Deals]

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Get a lifetime of secure and convenient cloud storage to round out your data backup.
Get a lifetime of secure and convenient cloud storage to round out your data backup.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

It is not practical (or all that smart) to keep all your data on a single device. Even external hard drives can give up the ghost before you’ve backed the up, making cloud storage a necessary part of any sensible data plan. Cloud storage can usually be pretty expensive, but pCloud is offering a deal that’s tough to refuse. Right now you can get half a terabyte of cloud storage for life for $59.99 at Cult of Mac Deals.

Apple will use drones to make Maps better

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Apple Maps reservation OpenTable
Drones could be key to improving Apple Maps.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple plans to use a combination of drones, indoor mapping and other smart tech to improve its Apple Maps service, claims a new report.

Employing drones could help Apple catch up with industry leader Google. The search giant has routinely outpaced Apple on mapping technology ever since Cupertino entered the space with its (initially disastrous) Apple Maps in 2012.

Apple may be cutting iPhone 7 orders as demand falls

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iPhone 7 back
Interest in the iPhone 7 is already falling.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple is reportedly cutting iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus orders less than three months after their debut due to falling demand.

Momentum has fallen “significantly” in China and other markets, according to sources in Apple’s supply chain, and component makers are already shifting their focus to iPhone 8.

Fitbit said to be planning $40 million Pebble acquisition

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Pebble might be dead, but your watch isn't.
Can Fitbit breathe new life into Pebble?
Photo: Pebble

Fitness band maker Fitbit is said to be in the process of acquiring Pebble, the company that kickstarted the smartwatch generation. Sources say the acquisition will cost between $35 million and $40 million, and will include the entire Pebble portfolio — including its intellectual property.

Apple’s long-awaited AirPods will ship in ‘next few weeks’

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x
After a disappointing delay, Tim Cook says AirPods will land soon.
Photo: Apple

The wait for Apple’s new wireless AirPods is nearly over.

Apple revealed the earbuds alongside the iPhone 7, promising an October delivery date, but anxious customers have not been able to buy a set. But Apple CEO Tim Cook supposedly says they’re being finalized right now.

3 surge-protected outlets and 4 USB ports in one strip [Deals]

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Kinkoo multi-outlet surge protector
Get three standard and four USB outlets in one compact strip.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

The more devices we get, the more crowded and complicated the power situation becomes. Wall outlets can quickly become a tangle of wires, plugs and adapters, which is more than unsightly — it’s unsafe.

Kinkoo’s multi-outlet surge protector helps clean up and coordinate your charging needs at home and on the go, with three standard outlets, three standard USB charging ports, and a USB-C port, all in one durable, surge-protected power strip that’s less than 8 inches long.

How to watch Netflix offline

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The new Netflix app reveals your internet speeds.
Finally, watching Stranger Things on the subway is a reality.
Photo: Photo: Shardayyy/Flickr CC

If you’ve been dying to watch Netflix offline, your life just got better. An update to the official Netflix app lets you download TV shows and movies so you can view them without munching through your data allowance.

Anyone who’s dreamed about watching Stranger Things or The Crown on the subway to work, or at 35,000 feet, this is your lucky day! Here’s how to get in on the action.