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A rare and horrifying look at living conditions in an iPhone factory

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Screen Shot 2016-05-11 at 20.26.00
A Pegatron toilet that had to accommodate up to 40 workers.
Photo: The Daily Mail

A rare look inside the abandoned facilities where Chinese workers toiled away making iPhones reveals a grim environment that’s a long way from Silicon Valley’s plush lifestyle.

Depressing images reveal the tiny rooms where up to 12 Pegatron workers slept each night, the dirty dining areas where they ate, and the disgusting bathrooms where they washed.

Steve Jobs left an imprint on tech and the skin of some devoted fans

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Craig Sarich with a Steve Jobs tribute design tattooed on his arm.
Craig Sarich with a Steve Jobs tribute design tattooed on his arm.
Photo: Craig Sarich

Cult of Mac 2.0 bugApple fans felt a deep sense of mourning in 2011 when Apple founder Steve Jobs succumbed to cancer. With the fifth anniversary of his passing approaching, Cult of Mac looks at the artistic tributes that followed.

Nothing grants a person supreme being status like a tattoo. After all, the ink is permanent.

So even if the late Steve Jobs had a well-established legacy as the father of personal computing, some Apple fans felt the need to wear their devotion more deeply.

Backpack built for bikes lets you carry more on two wheels [Reviews]

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Get more out of your commute with one or two of these pannier backpacks.
Get more out of your commute with one or two of these pannier backpacks.
Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

Best List: Convertible Pannier Backpack by Two Wheel Gear

When I commuted to my office via bicycle a few years back, I had two choices, a backpack or a pannier bag. The backpack usually won out, because who wants to carry around a massive set of bags when they get to the office?

But a backpack can get heavy and sweaty as it sits on my back while I pedal furiously across town to get to work, so I’d end up trying the pannier thing every once in a while, dealing with the awkward carry when I’d arrive.

Two Wheel Gear has a nice compromise, however, a convertible bag that’s made to connect to your rear bike rack, pannier-style, that also converts into a handsome, rugged backpack to easily carry around once you reach your destination.

It’s the best of both worlds, really.

Win It Wednesday: Win 5 years of Adobe Creative Cloud [Deals]

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Get access to the world's most powerful suite of tools for digital creation.
Get access to the world's most powerful suite of tools for digital creation.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

If you use a computer to make content, you’re going to be working with Adobe. The company’s software is key to everything from photography and video editing to website design and digital document drafting. And all these powerful programs are contained within Adobe’s Creative Cloud suite.

Right now you can enter to win five years of free access to this indispensable suite of tools — a $2,999 value! — at Cult of Mac Deals.

Instagram’s gorgeous new logo comes with revamped iPhone app

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It's about time!
Photo: Instagram

Instagram is rolling out a brand new user interface on iPhone that ditches bright colors to make your photos look even prettier… but no one really cares about that. The real news is the brand new logo that comes with it.

Filled with beautifully bright colors like a sweet acid trip, it’s the first new logo Instagram has had since it launched five years ago, and it replaces the familiar retro camera, which was starting to look a little long in the tooth.

Nintendo will make Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem free-to-play

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Animal Crossing is coming soon to iOS.
Photo: Nintendo

Nintendo’s development partner has confirmed that its upcoming Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem titles for mobile will be free-to-play.

This will allow a greater number of fans to get their hands on them, but it’s big blow for those who despise in-app purchases.

How to transfer your iPhone media to Mac (and back again)

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Back up your iPhone to your Mac on the go.
Back up your iPhone to your Mac on the go.
Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

Want a quick way to move your photos, music and documents from your iPhone to your Mac? What about backing up your iPhone on the go?

iKlips Duo is an innovative little gadget that will do both. It’s a well-made, MFi-certified USB stick that lets you connect to your iPhone (or iPad) via its Lightning port and to your Mac via a USB 3 port. Toss it in your bag and rest assured that you’ve always got a way to get your data off your iOS device.

It’s simple, easy and doesn’t require iTunes or iCloud. Here’s how to transfer your iPhone media to your Mac or PC, and then put it back, if you like, using the iKlips Duo.

John Sculley isn’t a believer in the Apple Watch just yet

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john-sculley
The Apple Watch is the only Apple product Sculley doesn't currently own.
Photo: Web Summit/Flickr CC

Even a year on from its launch, former Apple CEO John Sculley isn’t convinced the Apple Watch is a must-have Apple device just yet.

“I think the Apple Watch is beautiful, but it doesn’t have enough utility to be something that I feel I have to have at this point in time,” he says in a new interview with The Street, noting that it’s the only major Apple product he doesn’t use.

iPhone-size power pack will jump-start your car [Reviews]

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JumPack
Give your phone a jump-start with the JumPack.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

JumPack Power Pack CPP 8000 by Cobra

If you’re anything like me, you carry a ton of gadgets. Keeping them all charged is a juggling act and, inevitably, there’s always one device I’ve neglected to keep juiced.

Coming to my rescue though, Cobra sent over a JumPack Power Pack to charge up all my devices. Plus, it comes with an extra trick up its sleeve.

Check out the full video review below.

The value of old iPods could be music to your ears

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Tony Hawk, Madonna and No Doubt are just a few of the names whose signatures graced Special Edition models of the iPod Classic.
Tony Hawk, Madonna and No Doubt are just a few of the names whose signatures graced Special Edition models of the iPod Classic.
Photo: Ivan Chernov

Cult of Mac 2.0 bug Nick Wellings listens to music on his iPhone, preferring not to disturb any one of his 108 iPods.

He figures his collection would hold 231,000 songs, but only one has ever been touched or seen the light of day. They remain factory-sealed in their boxes.

The iPod’s status as an icon was brief but seismic, a sleek and at-times-colorful trigger of upheaval to the music industry in the middle of the century’s first decade. Soon the iPhone, which grew more powerful with each generation, relegated the iPod to junk drawers, closets and boxes, next to that cassette-tape-playing Sony Walkman.

Amazon just declared war on YouTube

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Can it win?
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Amazon is already battling Netflix and Spotify and plenty of other content providers, but it wants an even bigger challenge. The retail giant today unveiled Amazon Video Direct, a sharing platform that’s taking the fight to YouTube.

You aren’t too cool to learn to code [Deals]

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Learn to Code 2016

Coding isn’t just something nerdy developers and network specialists do — it’s becoming an expected skill for anyone who works with a computer. Learning to code has never been more valuable, and it’s also never been as easy, which this bundle of lessons proves. With 8 courses in Python, PHP, Ruby, and other essential elements to understanding and using code, it’s a great way to get the skillset you need to get the salary you want. And right now you can get the Complete 2016 Learn to Code Bundle for $59 at Cult of Mac Deals.

Comparison video drives home why iPhone 6s is Apple’s best ever phone

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That's quite the iPhone collection.
Photo: EveryApplePro

Particularly for those of us who have always used iPhones, it’s fascinating to be reminded of how far the technology has come in under a decade.

With that in mind, a recent video by YouTube channel EveryApplePro puts every iPhone model Apple has ever put out (with the exception, unfortunately, of the new iPhone SE) through a battery of tests to check everything from startup time to speaker output to, yes, even their heat signatures.

Check it out below.

Why Apple stock is far from dead

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iphone stocks app
Apple shares have been taking a beating!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

AAPL stock fell to a new 52-week low last week, signaling its longest loss streak in 18 years, but portfolio managers aren’t close to throwing in the towel on Apple just yet. In fact, this could turn out to be the equivalent of a Black Friday sale for anyone wanting to get their hands on some massively undervalued stock!

“Things aren’t as bad as everybody thinks,” said Dan Morgan, senior portfolio manager at Synovus Trust, speaking on CNBC‘s “Squawk on the Street.” “[Apple has] a tremendous amount of room to grow.”

Steve Jobs may have influenced Apple Watch more than you know

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Why Salesforce chief gave up AppStore.com for Apple
What would Steve do? The Apple Watch, apparently.
Photo: Ben Stanfield/Flickr CC

The Apple Watch is the first major new Apple product line to be launched under Tim Cook, but according to Apple analyst Tim Bajarin (who, unlike many Apple commentators, actually knows a lot of the people he writes about), it’s a product which owes a tremendous amount to Steve Jobs and his experiences.

Here’s how Bajarin explains it:

Siri’s sequel beats the heck out of Apple’s AI assistant

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Viv
Viv is going to blow you away!
Photo: Viv

Dag Kittlaus and Adam Cheyer, creators of the artificial intelligence technology that brought Siri to the iPhone, today showcased a new virtual assistant that’s even more amazing.

Viv, which has been secretly in development for the past four years, is a much more open platform that works closely with a whole bunch of different services to be even more powerful than its predecessor, and to take AI to a whole new level.

Strikingly simple Yohann iPad stand works all the angles [Reviews]

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Yohann iPad stand updated photo
It's just one piece, but it does basically everything you need.
Photo: Evan Killham, Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

I have a pretty decent iPad cover that lets me easily prop up my tablet in case I want to stay in bed and watch Netflix all day like someone who does not suffer from depression at all. But the recently released Yohann iPad stand makes my existing system look like cheap garbage.

It’s genuinely a beautiful and elegantly designed piece that looks great whether it’s holding the iPad or not, and it’s also incredibly useful. You’ll pay for every bit of that ingenuity, but if you have the scratch, this belongs in your home.

iPhone 7 might kill two of iPhone 6s’ worst design flaws

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It's convincing, but is it real?
Photo: MacRumors

This year’s iPhone upgrade probably won’t be a spectacular one, but it could kill two of our biggest design complaints with the latest models.

An iPhone 7 dummy unit promises more discreet antenna bands that are nowhere near as ugly, and a flush camera lens. It also reignites hopes of a Smart Connector.

Microsoft more profitable than Apple at $1 trillion milestone

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Windows 10 Mobile
Lumia's failure hasn't hit Microsoft too hard... yet.
Photo: Microsoft

Apple may have quaffed all the champagne at the $1 trillion in revenue party before Microsoft even got its invite, but the Windows maker rocked up in a bigger limo.

Last quarter, Microsoft finally reached the major milestone that Apple celebrated back in 2015, and it currently boasts even more profit.

Coffee table book is self-taught photographer’s valentine to Apple design

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Jonathan Zufi's book ICONIC has been popular with Apple fans.
Jonathan Zufi's book ICONIC has been popular with Apple fans.
Photo: David Pierini/Cult of Mac

Cult of Mac 2.0 bugThe fun Jonathan Zufi had playing RobotWar on his high school’s lone Apple II in the early 1980s re-emerged one day. He just had to play it again.

The lark that led Zufi to an online search for an Apple II to play the game grew into the acquisition of more than 500 vintage Apple items, which he lovingly photographed, but then sold to fund production of a coffee table book that has sold more than 15,000 copies.

Liberate your iPhone data with this compact flash drive [Deals]

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The new iKlips DUO offers improved design and an updated management app.
The new iKlips DUO offers improved design and an updated management app.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Every day, our iPhones become home to more and more of our most important data — photos, music, documents, not to mention the countless apps we can’t do without. iPhone data is a precious resource and often inconvenient to manage, especially when space for it runs out. That’s what made the first iKlips so popular, an elegant solution for adding storage and creating more flexibility for transferring data between iOS devices. The iKlips DUO adds a bevy of improvements and refinements that make it an even better way to store and move your stuff on any iOS device, and right now you can get one for just $71.